Map of the area attacked by 19th (Western) Division on 25th September 1915. But on 25th September 1915, and for a few days after, it was the center of one of the most intense and bloody battles of the First World War. An Anglo-French would attack eastward in Artois (with the British at Loos) as the French attacked northwards in Champagne. Loos was a failure – 8,500 men fell on the first day. Loos hotel reviews. For a more thorough and fresh analysis, see Lloyd 2006. | Header image by Schima Martos, 1917, Contact: contactUs@wwitoday.com | Haig and Foch, commander of the groupe des armées du nord (Northern Army Group), wanted the reserves closer, to exploit a breakthrough on the first day; French agreed to move them nearer to the front but still thought they should not be committed until the second day. [27] James Edmonds, the British official historian, gave German losses in the period 21 September – 10 October as c. 26,000 of c. 141,000 casualties on the Western Front during the autumn offensives in Artois and Champagne. [6] Prior to the British attack, about 140 long tons (142 t) of chlorine gas was released with mixed results; in places the gas was blown back onto British trenches, while in others it caused the Germans considerable difficulty. [8] The British preparatory bombardment, which amounted to desultory fire for about twenty minutes apparently inflicted no casualties. The Loos attack was renewed by the British on 13 October, when further heavy losses combined with poor weather caused the offensive to be called off. [15] German machine gunners reported being "nauseated" from the sight of so many corpses and ceased firing so that the British could retreat with their wounded. At a conference on 6 September, Haig announced to his subordinates that extensive use of chlorine gas might facilitate an advance on a line towards Douai and Valenciennes, despite the terrain, as long as the French and British were able to keep the attack secret. The Battle of Loos was the major British offensive of 1915 on the Western Front. During the battle the British suffered 50,000 casualties. It was the biggest British attack of 1915, the first time that the British used poison gas and the first mass engagement of New Army units. This exhibition was launched to mark the 100th anniversary of the start of the Battle of Loos, held at the National Trust (NT) property Gunby Hall, near Spilsby in Lincolnshire. Casualties of the Battle of Loos . The Battle of Loos was fought from 25 September until about 16 October 1915 in an area of coalmines and mining villages near the town of Lens, north of Arras. Wanting to be closer to the battle, French had moved to a forward command post at Lilliers, less than 20 mi (32 km) behind the First Army front. John Shea Casualties were particularly high among Scots units. Some partners do not ask for your consent to process your data, instead, they rely on their legitimate business interest. This photograph was taken by author and historian John Giles in the 1960s and shows a view from the slopes of Hill 70 towards Hulluch. Patrick MacGill had enlisted with The London Irish Rifles upon the outbreak of war in 1914. The gas caused some defenders to panic, but they regrouped, and the British troops, advancing in columns of 1,000 men, were slaughtered by German machine guns. [8] French had already been criticised before the battle and lost his remaining support in the government and army due to the British failure and a belief that he handled poorly the reserve divisions. II, Battles of Aubers Ridge, Festubert, and Loos' by Brigadier-General J.E. Loos is a small mining town between Lens and La Bassee in northern France. [3], Sir French decided to keep a reserve consisting of the Cavalry Corps, the Indian Cavalry Corps and XI Corps (Lieutenant-General Richard Haking), which consisted of the Guards Division and the New Army 21st Division and 24th Division, recently arrived in France and a corps staff (some of whom had never worked together or served on a staff before). The battle was the British component of the combined Anglo-French offensive, known as the Third Battle of Artois. We and our partners process personal data such as IP Address, Unique ID, browsing data for: Use precise geolocation data | Actively scan device characteristics for identification.. French's combination of poor tactical planning, lack of knowledge of the conditions and poor execution in releasing the reserves was blamed for the British failure by John Keegan in 1998. 1916 witnessed two of the longest and most notorious battles of the First World War. German losses are estimated at around 25,000. Oosterbeek echoes to the battle of Arnhem: my tour guide’s vivid war memories Jan Loos volunteers at Oosterbeek’s Airborne Museum A memorable meeting with 90-year-old local Jan Loos … The maps and the breakdown of casualties by unit are particularly valuable. He left most of his staff behind at GHQ and had no direct telephone to the army HQ, which attacked at 6:30 a.m. on 25 September, sending an officer by car to request the release of the reserves at 7:00 a.m.[8], In many places British artillery had failed to cut the German wire before the attack. [36][37][38], British infantry advancing through gas at, Autumn battles, Champagne and Artois 1915, Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment), "Second Supplement to the London Gazette", Recording 'Laidlaw's Last Lament' song by David Kilpatrick, Armistice between Russia and the Central Powers, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Battle_of_Loos&oldid=1013671268, Battles of World War I involving British India, Battles of World War I involving the United Kingdom, Battles of the Western Front (World War I), Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 22 March 2021, at 20:49. Loos hotels map. Sir Richard Cyril Byrne Haking. Field Marshal Sir John French and Douglas Haig (GOC First Army), regarded the ground south of La Bassée Canal, which was overlooked by German-held slag heaps and colliery towers, as unsuitable for an attack, particularly given the discovery in July that the Germans were building a second defensive position behind the front position. The Battle of Loos took place on the Western Front in September-October 1915. The 46th North Midland Division in the 2nd Army, under the command of General Plumer, moved south at the beginning of October 1915, to take part in the Battle of Loos, (pronounced Loss). But, alas, neither ammunition nor reinforcements were immediately available, and the great opportunity passed. an historically important grouping of 2 1915 dated 1/10000 scale trench maps , still with the 1915 mud on from the battle of loos. Subsequent operations [edit | edit source] The Loos Memorial commemorates over 20,000 officers and men who have no known grave, who fell in the area from the River Lys to the old southern boundary of the First Army, east and west of Grenay, from the first day of the Battle of Loos to the end of the war. The German attack was repulsed with 3,000 casualties but managed to disrupt British attack preparations, causing a delay until the night of 12/13 October. The French and British tried to break through the German defences in Artois and Champagneand restore a war of movement. [4], Haig was hampered by the shortage of artillery ammunition, which meant the preliminary bombardment, essential for success in trench warfare, was insufficient. At the end of the war, the commune of Loos-en-Gohelle was completely destroyed. The terrain across which they attacked was gently sloped with some steeper ridges and little cover for the advancing troops. [25] French was replaced by Haig as Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in December 1915. will not split. [9] The engineers manning the poison gas cylinders warned against their use, because of the weakness and unpredictability of the wind but they were overruled by General Sir Hubert Gough. With only 533 guns and a shortage of shells to cover 11,200 yd (6.4 mi; 10.2 km) front with two German trench lines to bombard, the British would probably be attacking positions that had not been disrupted enough to cause a breakthrough and reliant on the success of the gas attack. Most Unfavourable Ground: The Battle of Loos 1915. At the time, it was the largest British offensive of the First World War and witnessed the Army's first use of gas. ‘Battle Lines: Archie and the Battle of Loos’ (March to October 2016). [34], The Loos Memorial commemorates over 20,000 soldiers of Britain and the Commonwealth who fell in the battle and have no known grave. From 'Military Operations France and Belgium, 1915, Vol. Tower Bridge 1915. [13] British attempts to continue the advance with the reserves were repulsed. Of these, 7,766 men died. one marked on the reverse ' scout office 10th glosters' . More than 61,000 British casualties were sustained in this battle. The Battle of Loos came to an stand-still. The French attacked the area south of Lens, at Vimy Ridge. Despite that, the British advanced.On the night of the 25th, the Germans counter-attacked, suffering heavy losses.The death toll at Loos exceeded that of previous battles, with the British losing 50,000 men to 20,000 Germans. [1] On 3 May, the British decided to use poison gas in military operations in France. Maps from various histories of the war: French was doubtful that a breakthrough would be achieved. The Battle of Loos took place from 25 September – 8 October 1915 in France on the Western Front, during the First World War. In places the gas drifted back into the British lines and caused more British than German casualties. [31][32] The British made a final attack on 13 October, which failed due to a lack of hand grenades. An Anglo-French would attack eastward in Artois (with the British at Loos) as the French attacked northwards in Champagne. French visited Haig from 11:00 to 11:30 a.m. and agreed that Haig could have the reserve but rather than using the telephone he drove to Haking's headquarters and gave the order at 12:10 p.m. Haig then heard from Haking at 1:20 p.m. that the reserves were moving forward. [35] The community of Loos in British Columbia, changed its name from Crescent Island to commemorate the battle and several participants wrote of their experiences, Robert Graves described the battle and succeeding days in his war memoir Goodbye to All That (1929), Patrick MacGill, who served as a stretcher-bearer in the London Irish and was wounded at Loos in October 1915, described the battle in his autobiographical novel The Great Push (1916) and J. N. Hall related his experiences in the British Army at Loos in Kitchener's Mob (1916). The British gas attack failed to neutralize the defenders and the artillery bombardment was too short to destroy the barbed wire or machine gun nests. The only two things that prevented our advancing into the suburbs of Lens were, firstly, the exhaustion of the "Jocks" themselves (for they had undergone a bellyfull of marching and fighting that day) and, secondly, the flanking fire of numerous German machine-guns, which swept that bare hill from some factory buildings in Cite St. Auguste to the south of us. [a][18], The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) came under the command of Brigadier-General Hugh Trenchard. [2], The battle was the third time that specialist Royal Engineer tunnelling companies were used to dig under no-man's-land, to plant mines under the parapets of the German front line trenches, ready to be detonated at zero hour. Site Map, The Champagne-Loos-Artois Offensive, Autumn 1915, Military Operations France and Belgium, 1915, Vol. Haig did not hear until 10:00 a.m. that the divisions were moving up to the front. On 8 October, the German 123rd and 117th divisions lost 3,000 casualties. 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