A deposition by Captain Bertram, Eighth Canadian Battalion, was
carefully taken down by Lieutenant McNee. Captain Bertram was then in
the clearing station, suffering from the effects of the gas and from a
wound. From a support trench, about 600 yards from the German lines, he
had observed the gas. He saw, first of all, a white smoke arising from
the German trenches to a height of about three feet. Then in front of
the white smoke appeared a greenish cloud, which drifted along the
ground to our trenches, not rising more than about seven feet from the
ground when it reached our first trenches. Men in these trenches were
obliged to leave, and a number of them were killed by the effects of the
gas. We made a counter-attack about fifteen minutes after the gas came
over, and saw twenty-four men lying dead from the effects of the gas on
a small stretch of road leading from the advanced trenches to the
supports. He was himself much affected by the gas still present, and
felt as if he could not breathe.
The symptoms and the other facts so far ascertained point to the use by
the German troops of chlorine or bromine for purposes of asphyxiation.
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