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Born-Shoreditch

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.

At 6.30am on 25^th September, 1915, 9^th (Scottish) Division, in action for the first time, attacked towards the village of Auchy. But in order to capture that village they would first have to overcome a formidable German stronghold, the Hohenzollern Redoubt. This was successfully achieved by 26 Brigade.  28 Brigade, attacking on the left of 26 Brigade had a much harder time.  The wind was unfavourable and the gas blew  back over and behind the British line.  German artillery laid a barrage on the Brigade’s front line and some gas cylinders were hit.  Three strongpoints in the German front line faced 28 Brigade, ‘Strong Point’, ‘Mad Point’ and ‘Railway Redoubt’  Only ‘Mad Point’ had been badly damaged by the bombardment but even that was still occupied.  Machine guns in the other two covered all 700 yards of Madagascar Trench that 28 Brigade was attacking.  On the right 6^th Scottish Borderers reached the German wire which was uncut but were then hit by the machine guns in ‘Strong Point’ with devastating results and only 70 survivors managed to crawl back during the morning.  To their left, 10^th Highland Light Infantry rose from their trenches and came forward under heavy fire from ‘Railway Redoubt’.  The first line was practically annihilated after 20 yards and successive lines lost heavily in moving up in the open from the support lines. At this stage the supporting battalions became involved.  At 9.30am, 9^th Scottish Rifles  sent two companies to Madagascar Trench to support 10^th Highland Light Infantry but when it became obvious there were no 10^th Highland Light Infantry in front except dead and wounded, the order was cancelled.  Shortly after noon and after a further but inadequate bombardment, 9^th Scottish Rifles and some of 11^th Highland Light Infantry attacked again with the same fatal results.  Brigade and Divisional HQ’s seemed neither to realise the great losses already suffered nor the importance of the three strongpoints.  Advancing in rushes with no covering fire they were slaughtered.  Only a few men of 11^th Highland Light Infantry on the extreme right managed to penetrate the German trenches.  The failure of 28 Brigade, mostly due to uncut wire and enfilading machine gun fire, adversely affected the whole of 9^th Division’s attack.