Chapter Seven: The Battle of Loos

15GW913 After reviling the Germans for using poison gas at Ypres, the British used gas for the first time at the Battle of Loos. An artist’s impression of the charge.

15GW914 A street in Loos after the town’s capture. The distinctive pithead gear, known as Tower Bridge, remained largely intact for a short while.

15GW906 Lord Kitchener and Mr Asquith entering a car en route for the conference between ministers of Britain and France and the two commanders-in-chief at Calais. The subject for discussion was: how best to drive the Germans out of French and Belgian territory before the end of 1915.

15GW907 French and British Naval Ministers; M. Augagneur, walking with Mr Balfour, First Lord of the Admiralty, Tuesday 6 July 1915, at the Calais conference.

15GW909 General Joffre and Lord Kitchener go in to the conference together. The French Minister of Munitions, M. Albert Thomas, is on the left.

15GW911 Leaving the Hotel after the conference: M. Delcassé; M. Viviani, President of the Council; Lord Crewe and Lord Kitchener. Behind them is General Joffre and M. Albert Thomas.

15GW908 Calais Railway Hotel, 6 July 1915: the British Commander-in-Chief, Sir John French, in conversation with French General Huguet, Chief of the French Mission to the British Expeditionary Force.

15GW910 Colonel Fitzgerald and Field Marshal French seen leaving the hotel after the conference.

15GW912 At the Anglo-French conference at Calais, 6 July, 1915.
French General Joffre and Field Marshal Kitchener, who was opposed to a ‘too vigorous’ an offensive against the German line, reached a compromise, which was to carry out a ‘local offensive on a vigorous scale’. Further, Kitchener agreed to deploy New Army divisions to France. Joffre’s plan was for an Anglo-French offensive in the Champagne and Artois areas with the purpose of capturing German railway centres at Attigny and Douai thus forcing a German withdrawal. The ground in the British sector was overlooked by German-held slag heaps and colliery towers and was regarded by some British commanders as unsuitable for an attack. However, they persuaded themselves that the Loos attack could well succeed as the British were intending to use poison gas. It was planned for 25 September.

15GW1010 General Sir Douglas Haig, commander of the British First Army, was not too keen on attacking in the area designated because of the flat nature of the land. Also, as gas was to be used for the first time by the British, much depended on the weather. He decided to attack with six infantry divisions.

15GW1009 Outside British Army Headquarters in France, Mr Asquith, Prime Minister, with General Joffre and Field Marshal Sir John French. General Joffre’s strategy involved the French Army attacking two sectors of the German line. He requested that the British attack in the area of Loos, in support of the French offensive to the north of Arras.

15GW994 Southern section of the British attack in the area of Loos: flat terrain over which the troops were to make their advance with spoil heaps housing German observers and machine guns dominating the ground. Further, it was noted that thick lines of barbed wire ran across the intended line of advance.

15GW1000 Troops moving up for the attack on the German lines at Loos. London buses are seen in use as transports for troops and supplies.

15GW993 Men of a Scottish battalion marching to the front for the offensive in the Loos sector – August/September 1915.

15GW957 Ruins of Bethune with its belfry; familar to the British troops moving up for the Battle of Loos.

15GW1001 Men of the Gordon Highlanders, 15th (Scottish) Division, in position for the coming attack.

15GW995 The British would be using poison gas for the Battle of Loos.

15GW954 Men of a South Staffordshire battalion in the area opposite the Brickstacks.

15GW1011 A fortified house which has been incorporated into the trehch system.

15GW996 British troops training for the attack, becoming used to gas protection.

15GW986 The village of Grenay, behind the British lines, was a mining village in 1915.

15GW978 Two graves in the ruins of the village of Vermelles, each bearing a French memorial wreath.

15GW1008 The Welsh Guards, newly formed in February 1915, moving forward to assemble for the attack on Hill 70.

15GW963 British artillery in action: prior to the attack the German positions were bombarded for four days.

15GW964 North of the La Bassee Canal, looking over No Man’s Land; to the right is a railway embankment which had been entrenched as a strongpoint by the Germans. This was named Tortoise Redoubt by the British. For the Battle of Loos this northern part of the attack was undertaken by the British 2nd Division, which straddled the canal.

15GW976 Sector of the Front astride the La Bassee Canal: at the bottom left corner is a string of craters along No Man’s Land caused by intense mining activity. The oblong shapes are stacks of bricks where the Germans concealed machine guns and snipers.

15GW980 The brick stacks immediately behind the German Front Line south of the Bassée Canal, which provided vantage points for artillery spotters, snipers and machine guns.

15GW1013 Ruins of Grenay in 1915, which, at the time of the Battle of Loos, lay close to the Franco-British boundary line. The British 47th Division (IV Corps) occupied it. From here on 25 September the division moved to attack the German position known as the Double Crassier (two spoil stacks); also the Chalk Pit and Loos pit stack. The defending German force was 22 Reserve Infantry Regiment.

15GW1003 The distinctive twin winding gear, nick-named Tower Bridge by the British troops, looms over the occupied houses of Loos; the photograph was taken shortly before the attack.

15GW1004 A trench map showing the German trenches defending the position.

15GW645 A party of B Company, 1st Battalion Scots Guards in Big Willie Trench, Loos, October 1915. This was originally a German trench which led off from the Hohenzollern Redoubt. Three of the men are priming handgrenades.

15GW961 The Front south of La Bassée Canal, looking towards the German lines, where the 2nd Division would attack on the morning of 25 September.

15GW982 German machine gun crew posing in the open beside their Maxim 08 which could fire 600 rounds per minute.

15GW962a/b The Front looking towards the colliery associated with Fosse 8, which is on the German Front Line; directly in front and jutting out across No Man’s Land is a German strongpoint known as the Hohenzollern Redoubt. Battalions of the British 9th (Scottish) Division were to assault this position.

15GW951 Looking from the British lines towards Vendin-le-Vieil colliery south of Hulluch; the German Second Line ran in front of the coal mine. This area was crossed by the 8/Royal West Kents, 8/Buffs and 9/East Surrey battalions of the 7th Division. They found the wire uncut and were forced to retreat with heavy losses.

15GW959 Royal Welsh Fusiliers moving up for the attack towards the village of Cambrin.

15GW988 Observing the German lines.

15GW969 Scottish troops before the attack; an officer is holding a flare pistol.

15GW974 View from ground east of Grenay village looking towards the German lines.

15GW973 Explosion from a British-placed mine.

15GW985 Germans loading a 75 mm Minenwerfer.

15GW1015 A Royal Field Artillery 18 Pounder Field Gun being loaded by its gun crew.

15GW1014 Fighting underway around the Hohenzollern Redoubt by the 46th (North Midland) Division. This took place in a later phase of the battle, between 13 and 14 October, when the 46th Division fought to recapture the position. In the centre of the picture a pit head gear can be seen – this is Fosse 8. The Redoubt is in front and can be seen marked by sandbags stretching across the landscape.

15GW901 Taken by a soldier of the London Rifle Brigade showing the attack on Loos on 25 September.

15GW998 An artist’s impression of the period depicting the attack by the British 15th Infantry Division.

15GW983 The Germans employed their machine guns with skill, ensuring the best possible results from the weapons’ employment.

15GW977 German infantry throwing bombs to repel attackers.

15GW999 Lying among the barbed wire are British dead of 1 Infantry Brigade, 1st Division. Among the attackers on the fortified town of Hulluch were two Kitchener battalions, 8th Battalion Royal Berkshire and 10th Battalion Royal Gloucestershire Regiments.

15GW968 A German machine gun position attacked by men of the 5th Division. Dead of the 2nd Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment litter the ground around a gap in the German wire. One man has got through this and been killed close to the trench parapet.

15GW1007 Dead horses and smashed wagons destroyed by German shelling litter the road on either side of a road on Grenay Ridge.

15GW970 A Captured German fire trench.

15GW967 Grenay Ridge, where Royal Artillery horses have been killed by a German artillery barrage.

15GW965 German wire entanglements smashed and thrown about but still forming a formidable barrier for attacking infantry.

15GW984 A German 25 cm Schwerer Minenwerfer, a heavy trench mortar, being loaded by its crew.

15GW972 A captured trench, where fierce fighting took place.

15GW991 View from the German Front Line across No Man’s Land and the direction of the British attack.

15GW992 A captured German position, with dead bodies of the defenders gathered for burial. Judging by the paperwork scattered about they appear to have been searched for useful documents.

15GW990 The bodies of casualties of 7th Battalion, King’s Own Scottish Borderers Regiment, 15th Division, killed attacking Loos Road Redoubt, lie among the wire entanglements.

15GW1005 The southern outskirts of Loos, with a colliery spoil heap dominating the area under attack.

15GW1006 The 1/7th London Battalion attacked the German strongpoints on the two spoil heaps called the Double Crassier (slag heap) and captured the dugouts and trenches.

15GW1016 The main coal mine around Loos was the one with the twin pit head winding gear, known as London Bridge, which dominated the village; it can be seen through the smoke.

15GW997 An artist’s impression of what the British attack looked like. Far too many attackers are depicted as bunched up, shoulder to shoulder.

15GW989 A German 77 mm field gun position captured in the fighting.

15GW1017 An artist’s impression of the fighting in the streets of Loos.

15GW979 Loos Church shortly after the capture of the village and before its tower collapsed.

15GW1018 A British soldier entering a ruined building to take up a sniping position. His gas hood has been pulled back and is being worn around his cap.

15GW1002 Loos shortly after its capture.

15GW952 British wounded from the Battle of Loos in the main street of Vermelles.

15GW953 British wounded from the Battle of Loos in the main street of Vermelles.

15GW1019 A group of English and Scottish soldiers wounded at the fighting round Loos. They wear a label describing the nature of their injuries.

15GW1020 Wounded men on their way by train to the rear. Their clothing is still stained with mud from the battlefield.

15GW1021 Wounded men at a refreshment stop on the way to a Base Hospital. Some men are still wearing their gas hoods.

15GW1043/15GW1044 One of the stone quarries at Hulluch where heavy fighting took place and many German prisoners were taken.

15GW1046/15GW1039/15GW1038 German prisoners captured during the fighting around Loos arriving at Southampton on Wednesday 29 September 1915 and were marched off to a PoW Camp.

Field Marshal Sir John French issued a number of bulletins as the number of prisoners grew; on the 28 September his report stated: ‘The number of prisoners exceeds 3,000; the number of machine guns captured is 40. Many more have been destroyed in our bombardment.’ The number of divisions initially employed in the fighting was six – attacking three German divisions; casualties were: British 59,2470 and the German losses were estimated at 26,000. Despite the parading of enemy prisoners and displaying of captured equipment the battle was viewed as a failure. The Field Marshal lost support from both the Government and the Army as a result of the British failure at Loos and his ajudged poor handling of his reserve divisions. He was replaced by Haig as Commander of the British Expeditionary Force in December 1915.

15GW1037 One of the over twenty German guns captured at Loos on board a railway carriage heading for a Channel port and England.

15GW1048 Horse Guards Parade, London, with German field guns captured at Loos on display for the publi.

15GW1022 Trophy from the Battle of Loos, a German field gun captured by the 20th Battalion, London Regiment, was featured in the Lord Mayor’s Show, in November 1915.

‘THE WHITE COMRADE – “LO, I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS”’
Following the Battle of Loos this painting by G. Hillyard Swinstead was reproduced in the Illustrated London News and The Illustrated War News, (6 October edition) also it was on display at the War Exhibition at Prince’s Skating Rink, London, in 1915. Thus all the death and maiming being suffered was made to appear as divinely sanctioned.

Meanwhile Jesus was brought in to favour all the German soldiers in this postcard depicting a blessing underway:
For Thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever – Amen!

Information used in this chapter was based on the following titles in the Battleground Europe series of guide books:

Loos – Hohenzollern and Loos – Hill 70 by Andrew Rawson

These are available from Pen & Sword History Books Ltd.