Steenstrate: the first gas attack

This cross stands more or less on the spot where the Germans launched their first large-scale gas attack with chlorine on 22 April 1915. As a result, they punched a six kilometre wide hole in the Allied lines, mainly held by the French but also, in this sector, by the Belgians. However, the German Army was unable to take advantage of this 'success'.

As the war progressed, the armies on both sides experimented with ever more deadly types of gas, such as mustard gas or Yperiet. The Allies had been warned of the attack a week in advance by a loose-tongued German prisoner of war, August Jäger, but they took little account of what he said...

The use of gas increased the psychological strain of the war still further, but also lost the Germans the support of many neutral countries. The German military also questioned the value and morality of gas as a weapon. And it was not only the generals who had their doubts. The woman of the person most directly responsible for the use of gas also took matters into her own hands in the most dramatic manner...

In comparison with other causes of death, gas actually caused relatively few fatalities during the First World War, and 65% of these were Russians fighting on the Eastern Front.

The cross of reconciliation was erected in 1961 to replace the original monument that had been erected in 1929, but was blown up by the occupying German forces during the Second World War in 1941.

You can find out more about gas at Carrefour des Roses, not far from here, and at Hill 60.

Vl. Toeristisch bezienswaardigheden