Ypres east of the town. The first gas attack occurred against Canadian, British, and French soldiers, including both metropolitan French soldiers as well as Senegalese and Algerian tirailleurs (light infantry) from French Africa. The gas used was chlorine. Mustard gas, also called Yperite from the name of this town, was also used for the first time near Ypres, in the autumn of 1917. Of the battles, the largest, best-known, and most costly in human suffering was the Third Battle of Ypres (31 July to 6 November 1917, also known as the Battle of Passchendaele), in which the British, Canadian, ANZAC, and
British home army in the First World War the authorities with antipathy and censure, but it was formally recognised in 1916 as an official military auxiliary and incorporated, as the Volunteer Force, into the anti-invasion plans. A shortage of manpower at the end of 1917 resulted in further significant reductions in the home army. Four of its eight divisions were disbanded, and the partially-trained 19-year-olds in the remainder were replaced with raw 18-year-old recruits. The problem was exacerbated by the heavy losses suffered as a result of the German Spring Offensive in March 1918. The home army was stripped of all available personnel, leaving its ranks populated by