06/18/2026
In early June 1915, the 13th Battalion (Royal Highlanders of Canada) moved into the line at Givenchy, relieving the 5th Canadian Battalion. A name that would echo through Canadian war history — the battalion's summer was spent in and around it.
The days that followed were the unglamorous work of holding a "quiet" sector that never really was: improving fire positions, mending trenches by night. On the 23rd, Lieutenant Eagle and two scouts were wounded reconnoitring a vacant German trench near the sunken road.
By the 24th, the 2nd Gordons relieved them out — the wind right for enemy gas, snipers busy to the last. The cost of the tour: two killed, five wounded. The slow, daily arithmetic of attrition that defined a "holding" line.
04/22/2026
Commemorating the Second Battle of Ypres
On this anniversary of the Second Battle of Ypres, we honour the Canadians who stood in the path of an unprecedented assault in April 1915. Among them were the men of the 13th Battalion (Royal Highlanders of Canada) and the 16th Battalion (Canadian Scottish) — units whose actions helped hold the line when the Allied front nearly collapsed.
Lieutenant‑Colonel R.G.E. Leckie of the 16th Battalion left us one of the most vivid personal accounts of those days. Writing to his family on 13 May 1915, he described the opening bombardment with stark clarity:
> “Very heavy shelling of Ypres took place… Houses crumbled up with one shot… Soldiers helped women and children. Many casualties.”
As the French line broke under the first chlorine gas attack, the 13th and 16th Battalions were among the Canadian units rushed forward to plug the gap. The Highlanders of the 13th, positioned near St. Julien, advanced into the chaos with little information and no protection against the gas that still lingered in the air.
Leckie recalled the intensity of the night advance:
> “When about 300 yards from the enemy he opened rapid fire… It was a terrific fire and it is a wonder anyone got through.”
The 13th Battalion faced the same storm. Their counterattack toward Kitcheners’ Wood — carried out shoulder‑to‑shoulder with the 15th Battalion — became one of the most ferocious bayonet charges of the war. They fought through dense woods, shattered fences, and entrenched German positions, suffering devastating casualties but driving the enemy back.
In the midst of the violence, Leckie insisted on maintaining humanity toward captured German soldiers:
> “I would not let any of the men deal harshly with the prisoners… Some seemed paralyzed with fright.”
By 23 April, the battlefield had become almost unrecognizable. Leckie wrote:
> “Whole place a shambles. Wounded and dead lying about every place. Horrid smell of blood.”
The 13th Battalion, exhausted and reduced in strength, continued to hold the line under constant shellfire. Their steadiness under impossible conditions helped prevent a breakthrough that could have opened the road to Ypres — and perhaps the Channel ports beyond.
Senior commanders later told Leckie that the Canadian counterattacks “saved the position for the British.” The 13th Highlanders were a crucial part of that stand.
Why We Remember?
The Second Battle of Ypres was a turning point, not only in military history, but in the human experience of war. The courage of the 13th and 16th Battalions, and of every soldier who stood with them, remains a defining chapter in the story of the Canadian Expeditionary Force.
Today, we honour their sacrifice, their resilience, and their legacy.
Lest we forget.
04/13/2026
In the early spring of 1915, the German Army around the Ypres Salient was quietly reshaping the battlefield — long before anyone on the Allied side understood what was coming.
Behind the front, supply columns moved under cover of darkness. Strange steel cylinders were hauled forward and buried into the parapets by specialist pioneer units. Officers received sealed instructions. Ordinary infantrymen noticed unusual activity but were told little beyond the need for strict secrecy.
Meteorological teams — a rarity in frontline warfare at the time — began taking constant wind readings. German commanders knew their next operation depended not on artillery or infantry strength, but on the weather itself. Every day, reports were sent up the chain, waiting for the right conditions.
Meanwhile, engineers and chemists worked side by side with frontline troops, testing equipment, drilling procedures, and preparing for a method of attack unlike anything used before on the Western Front.
By mid‑April, the German lines around Langemarck and Poelcappelle were a hive of controlled tension. Something was being readied — something the Allies had not yet imagined.
03/31/2026
April 1915.
One week, it’s route marches, inspections, and lectures.
The next, it’s gas clouds, collapsing lines, and relentless shellfire.
In the war diary of the 13th Canadian Battalion, the rhythm is almost jarring:
“Afternoon was a general holiday.”
“Quiet and uneventful.”
“Battalion resting and cleaning up.”
And then—
“A terrific bombardment…”
“A great cloud of gas…”
“Many unburied dead between the lines.”
This is the reality of the Second Battle of Ypres—not constant action, but a brutal cycle of waiting and surviving. Long stretches of routine and boredom, broken in an instant by chaos and fear.
For the soldiers, the hardest part wasn’t just the danger.
It was never knowing when the quiet would end.
Watch for our posts on the Second battle of the Ypres this month.
