were rumours in both British and French circles, probably baseless, that Kitchener coveted French's job for himself. French also objected (2 April 1915) to rumours that Joffre was trying to put the BEF under Foch's command. A GHQ memorandum (4 April) on the lessons of Neuve Chapelle emphasised registration of artillery. The French had achieved better results at Vimy by a long and methodical bombardment. French and Kitchener discussed ammunition (14 April). By April 1915 the BEF had grown to 900,000 men in 28 divisions. Second Ypres French continued to be dissatisfied at Smith-Dorrien's grip on his army and in March was concerned that the rate of sickness was running at three times the rate in Second Army as in First. The Germans attacked (22 April) ground which Smith-Dorrien had recently taken over from the French, using poison gas, causing some French units to break on the British flank. Sir John spurred on Smith-Dorrien in costly counterattacks, but thought the French had made "a horrible mistake" and "Joffre ... really deceived me" in holding the line so thinly. Sir John was angry (26 April 1915) that French troops had broken under German gas attack, commenting that French troops had also failed to hold their positions in the retreat of 1914. Smith-Dorrien suggested withdrawing to the so-called "GHQ Line". French privately agreed, but was angered that the suggestion came from Smith-Dorrien. Plumer was the given responsibility for the Ypres Salient (27 April). Smith-Dorrien was finally relieved of command of Second Army (6 May). Aubers Ridge On 2 May French, who appears to have persuaded himself that a short sharp bombardment might work once again, assured Kitchener that "the ammunition will be all right", a declaration which Kitchener passed on to Asquith. This caused Asquith to claim in a public speech that there was no munitions shortage in the BEF. The attack at Aubers Ridge, against stronger German positions (9 May), failed. French watched the battle from a ruined church and attributed the failure to lack of HE shelling ("it's simple murder to send infantry against these powerfully fortified entrenchments until they've been heavily hammered", he wrote to his mistress). He returned to GHQ to find an order to send shells to Gallipoli, although after protest replacement shells were sent from the UK within days. Fighting still continued at Ypres, and Sir John was under pressure from Joffre to renew the attack