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Born-Stratford

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. 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 of the battle it became bogged down in brutal trench warfare. By mid-October the battle had petered out with the British having suffered over 60,000 casualties during its course.

By the beginning of October, 1915, the British offensive at Loos had come to a standstill. Some ground had been gained, but not much and the Germans were launching a series of counter attacks. Nevertheless the Battle still had legs in the opinion of the high command and fresh divisions were sent to the battlefield to relieve those that had been shattered in the earlier stages of the action. One of these new divisions was the 12th Division which arrived from Ypres on 30th September, 1915, and relieved the Guards in the front line near Vermelles. Here the enemy artillery was very active but despite these dangers, 9th Essex of 35 Brigade, along with the other units of 12th Division were set to work preparing trenches, roads and gun positions for the renewal of the offensive. 9th Essex held the front line trenches opposite the Quarries from 3rd October until 5th October. On 4th October the shelling was more severe than usual and 9th Essex and especially D Company suffered accordingly.