The second battle of Ypres is but one drop in the sea of her epic courage; yet it would fill full a canto of a poem.

So spent was Britain's single line, so worn and thin, that after all the men available were brought, gaps remained.

No more ammunition was coming to these men, the last rounds had been served.
Wet through, heavy with mud, they were shelled for three days to prevent sleep.

Many came at last to sleep standing; and being jogged awake when officers of the line passed down the trenches, would salute and instantly be asleep again.

On the fourth day, with the Kaiser come to watch them crumble, three lines of Huns, wave after wave of Germany's picked troops, fell and broke upon this single line of British--and it held.