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Born-Camberwell

The Battle of Loos

This battle, fought by the British Army from 25th September, 1915 through to 13th 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.

On 25th September, 1915, 15^th  (Scottish) Division attacked on a frontage of 1500 yards astride the Béthune to Lens and Vermelles to Loos roads with their objectives being the Lens road and Loos road redoubts then to advance east down the valley and take the village of Loos. Their next objective was the German second position running between Hulluch and Lens. Over the next two days they were engaged in fierce fighting and all units available would have been employed in the attack, including the Cyclist battalion, but they would not have taken their bikes with them.