The 4th Yorkshires were in the front line astride the Fortuin Road, just South of St.Julien, near Ypres, in the very same area in which they had stopped the German breakthrough a week before. They were attacked by the Germans, using poison gas, on both the 1st and 2nd of May, but they managed to maintain their positions despite the most ferocious fighting and the terrible effects of the gas. No effective counter-measures had been developed for the gas at this time and the soldiers found that their only way of reducing its effects was to urinate on a piece of cloth and clamp it tightly over their mouth and nose.
Despite the bitter fighting which took place, the Germans were more successful on other parts of the front and the 4th Yorkshires were ordered to withdraw from their positions on 3rd May as part of a general withdrawal, as the Germans tightened their net around the town of Ypres. The 4th Yorkshires had lost 34 men killed during the two days, of which 5 are named on the local memorials. These five are:
Because of the ferocity of the fighting, the fact that the troops were forced to withdraw, and the fact that the area continued to be bitterly fought over for the next three years, none of these men's bodies were recovered and they are all commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial at Ypres.