The Henson Journals

[195]

Saturday, April 24th, 1915.

264th day

The newspapers report an advance of the Germans north of Ypres gained by the use of bombs discharging volumes of asphyxiating gas, the effect of which extended for more than a mile. The French troops exposed to this hideous & disgusting form of attack could not but fall back. It matters nothing to the Germans that the Hague Conference disallowed the use of such missiles, & that the German Government assented to the rule. I wrote to Mary, addressing her for the first time as a married woman, & sending my letter to Kashmir, where she and her husband are honeymooning. I read with extreme interest F. W. Newman's "Phases of Faith", a sad and illuminating book.