Current Information:

Age-25

Enlisted-London

Dud Corner Cemetery, Loos, France

The Battle of Loos, fought by the British Army from 25^th September, 1915 through to 13^th October, was conducted along a six-and-a-half-mile front running north from the mining village of Loos on the outskirts of Lens in Northern France. It was the largest offensive carried out by the British so far in the war. The opening day involved an attack by six divisions, with others entering the fray as it progressed and it was part of a much wider offensive with the French launching their own attacks in Champagne and at Vimy. It was the first time that the British used gas during the war, despite their condemnation of the Germans for doing the same in April 1915. There were some encouraging results on the first day but no major breakthrough was achieved and in the successive days the offensive became mired in trench warfare. By mid-October the battle had petered out with the British having suffered over 60,000 casualties during its course.

1^st Division attacked along 1400 yards of front from a point opposite the Loos Road Redoubt to the Vermelles-Hulluch road.  Jumping off trenches had been dug 300 yards in front of British line but the German trenches were still 300-400 yards off and on the other side of the crest of the Grenay ridge.  To gain visibility, the Germans had run out saps and manned them with machine guns.  At 5.50am on 25^th September, 1915, a heavy British bombardment commenced and the gas cloud of chlorine was released.  1 and 2 Brigades made the attack As the two Brigades would be attacking on divergent lines, an independent force made up from the fifth battalion of both Brigades, 14^th London(London Scottish) from 1 Brigade & 9^th Liverpool (Kings) from 2 Brigade, and known as  Green’s Force, was to fill the gap.  The attack would then continue on the German second line and would be supported by 3 Brigade and in co-operation with 15^th Division to the south. Shortly after 9.00am, orders were sent to Green's Force to advance but all runners carrying this message were hit and the orders were not received until 10.55am and it was just after noon before the advance took place. A direct frontal attack by the 14^th London  and 9^th Liverpool (Kings) was made either side of Lone Tree with short section rushes across no-man’s land but by now the Germans had recaptured Bois Carre and the attack failed.  The wire was still intact and they were met by close range  fire.  9^th Liverpool (Kings) brought across a machine gun under a hail of fire which gave marginal assistance and a  line was established close to the wire in whatever cover could be found. 14^th London had over 250 casualties as a result of this attack.