British soldiers, victims of 'scientific savagery' during a German gas attack pictured by the artist Steven Spurrier from a sketch by an officer with the British Expeditionary Force. Gas was used for the first time by the German at Ypres on 22 April 1915, provoking outrage at their barbaric war methods. The pictured is headed with a quote from General Sir John French, 'That mean and dastardly practice, hitherto unheard of in civilised warfare.'