What countries were involved in the battle on Battle of Britain WWII - 14860991 1. A reciprocal French advance eastwards in Artois could cut the … Aldershot, UK: Gale and Polden, 1929. The Battle of Loos in September and October 1915 was the British Army's contribution to the major Allied offensive launched simultaneously with the main French offensive in Champagne. If playback doesn't begin shortly, try restarting your device. However, in the lead up to the attack, another weapon became available to Haig – poison gas. What is certain is that when the reserves got to the front at Loos, their inexperience meant that they could not cope with the German counter-attack and the British, having gone from near success, narrowly avoided a retreat only as a result of the arrival of the Guards Division. 1. He realised that such a weapon would neutralise the German machine gunners. Battle of Britain. He decided to attack in a very narrow frontage so that the British could concentrate their fire to its maximum extent against German machine guns. The heart of this book is a series of eyewitness accounts of the battle from each of the British divisions involved in the battle, mostly taken from letters written to the author by survivors of the fighting in the 1970s. History. In the dim light of a hurricane lantern, a few of us sat smoking and talking in an old wreck of a barn. The Battle of Loos was a ghastly failure after the first smash through. An artillery attack on the German lines had started on September 21st and 250,000 shells were fired at the German positions. It was full of evil-smelling hay on which, I suppose, thousands of our chaps had rested on their way up to the fight. Haig planned to release chlorine gas from canisters but the success of the attack depended on a steady wind blowing the gas towards the Germans. Some 300,000 were killed. The plan of action was that of Marshall Joffre, who was keen to break the German salient whilst they were reinforcing their positions further east. When they did arrive they were unprovided with maps, knew nothing about the ground, and made an awful mess of things, through no fault of their own. But the soldiers managed to smuggle the sixth ball out of their trenches and, during the horrors of the Battle of Loos, dribbled it towards German lines under heavy fire. The Second Battle of Artois (French: Deuxième bataille de l'Artois, German: Lorettoschlacht) from 9 May to 18 June 1915, took place on the Western Front during the First World War. Almost every town and village in Scotland was affected by the losses at Loos. In the battle, 5 officers and 66 other ranks were killed and 4 officers and 144 other ranks wounded, with 27 other ranks missing. This did not happen. The Battle of  Loos was fought in September 1915. Ask your question. However, from the front line reports came back that the wind was too calm for the gas to be released. The Facts. However, Haig faced one major problem – he was ordered to co-ordinate his attack with that of the French. Presided over by Douglas Haig, the British committed six divisions to the attack. As outlined in the previous blog (‘ #31 BACKGROUND – COIN Warfare & the ISAF’s COIN Strategy: Battle for the Majority Population ’), the four headings of ‘SHAPE, CLEAR, HOLD, BUILD’ were the four planned phases of the ISAF COIN strategy by which ISAF Headquarters sought to first secure, then stabilise, each district – and then each province – of Afghanistan. He knew that the attacking soldiers had almost no cover and so would be in full view of the German machine gunners. In July 1917, the British and French launched a massive offensive near the Belgian city of Ypres. A German-held salient from Reims to Amiens had been formed in 1914 which menaced communications between Paris and the unoccupied parts of northern France. The Artois offensive was further divided into two parts, forming a pincer movement. Of the 21,000 killed, over 7,000 were Scottish soldiers. The battle, sometimes called the Big Push, involved six whole divisions of the army and resulted in 61,000 casualties of whom nearly 8,000 were killed outright. Battle of Loos, 1915. When the attack began some reports suggested that the wind had changed, blowing the gas back towards the attacking Scots. Between September 26th and September 28th, the British lost many men to German machine gun fire as they attacked German positions around Loos without the aid of artillery support. The front line was around 15km long and stretched from La Bassée in Lens via the communes of Auchy-les-Mines, Haisnes, Vermelles, Hulluch and Loos-en-Gohelle. Managed by Caboodle UX design studio in London, Citation: C N Trueman "The Battle of Loos", The Battle of the Somme started on July 1st 1916. Log in. The Battle of Britain, a World War II battle, lasted several months during the summer and fall of 1940. At the La Bassée Canal, the officer in charge of releasing the chlorine failed to do so as he did not believe that the conditions were right. When Haig toured the region to the north of Lens he found that the land was flat and open to … Our tips from experts and exam survivors will help you through. It consisted of two distinct attacks at the same time. Chapter 13 by Brian Curragh is on Loos. As a result he decided to widen the attack front as he was convinced that he had a weapon that would be devastating. The infantry attack started at 06.30. Of the 21,000 killed, over 7,000 were Scottish soldiers. There are commemorations taking place in various locations across the country this weekend, including Dundee and Inverness, home to some of the regiments which were so brutally affected. the wind was blowing in the right direction) he would order an attack on a wide front using gas across the whole front. British forces attacked the Germans early on September 25th. An edited collection of essays on the British army’s performance in 1915. Haig was persuaded to launch the Loos offensive despite serious misgivings. The map had been used by then Brigadier-General Montgomery-Massingberd in a series of lectures, which were given at various Army Headquarters across northern France prior to the Battle. This offensive was the major Allied offensive on the Western Front during 1915. Join now. 8 points mievt Asked 02.21.2020. Kitchener told Haig that co-operation was essential, though he did recognise that the British might experience heavy losses.if(typeof __ez_fad_position != 'undefined'){__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-historylearningsite_co_uk-medrectangle-4-0')}; With such pressure put on him, Haig had to come up with a plan for the attack at Loos. Memoirs & Diaries - The Battle of Loos. If the weather was good (i.e. He relayed his fears of major casualties to Joffre but the French Marshal was not prepared to change his plans. The 21st Division landed in France in the early part of September 1915. This included the twin winding towers of Fosse 15, known to the British as ‘Tower Bridge’, and the ‘Loos Crassier’, the huge embankment of mine-waste which, at 22 metres Join now. Haig had assumed that the 2 reserve divisions would move up to the front as soon as the infantry had started their attack at 06.30. His second plan was to attack on the 25th on a narrow front if the weather was not good and gas could not be used. Haig’s plan was simple – concentrated British artillery fire and pinpoint infantry fire would give the advancing British troops sufficient cover. Battle of Verdun, World War I engagement in which the French repulsed a major German offensive. There had been no decisive advance on the Western Front where trench warfare remained dominant. With such flexibility built into his attack, Haig was confident of success. But the war lasted four years and there were huge casualties. The strategic position before Loos Germany: Having moved more weight of their armies to the East, Germany had stood on the defensive in the West since late 1914 and had strongly resisted the French offensives there in the spring of 1915. Read about our approach to external linking. France would attack the German lines in the Champagne region, while an Anglo-French force went on the offensive in north-easterly Artois. The Loos offensive began on 25 September following a four day artillery bombardment in which 250,000 shells were fired, and was called off in failure on 28 September. The Battle of Loos, Philip Warner. On the 24th Haig was given the news that the predicted weather for the 25th was favourable and he ordered that poison gas would be used. After weeks of preparation the French and British Armies unleash a new offensive on the Western Front. General Douglas Haig, in charge of the attack, had serious worries. A joint British-French attack in Artois involved the British attacking just north of Lens at Loos with the French 10th Army attacking the German south of Lens. Regimental pipers in Scottish regiments played a key role in keeping the morale of the men up as they went into battle and Piper Daniel Laidlaw of the King’s Own Scottish Borderers was awarded a Victoria Cross at Loos for bravery as a piper. They were also extremely tired from their marching – even Haig called them “poor fellows”. History Learning Site Copyright © 2000 - 2021. It was also the first time the British Army used poison gas as a weapon. The battle at Loos was part of Marshal Joffre’s campaign in Artois that was designed to push back the Germans in a two-pronged offensive. The Battle of Loos: a personal story 2 Replies Today is the hundredth anniversary of the start of the Battle of Loos, a battle which left deep scars on Scotland. He only turned on the pressurised gas cylinders when he was ordered to do so – and poisoned 2,632 of his own men – with seven fatalities. By the time the attack was resumed, the Germans had also been reinforced. Hence why on September 25th the British 1st Army commanded by Douglas Haig attacked German positions at Loos.if(typeof __ez_fad_position != 'undefined'){__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-historylearningsite_co_uk-medrectangle-3-0')}; 1915 had not been a particularly successful year for the Allies. Battalions from every Scottish regiment fought in the Battle of Loos and suffered huge numbers of casualties. Updated August 07, 2019 The Battle of Loos was fought September 25-October 14, 1915, during World War I (1914-1918). At the outbreak of World War One many Scottish men joined up, expecting the war to be over quickly. It was one of the longest, bloodiest, and most-ferocious battles of the war; French casualties amounted to about 400,000, German ones to about 350,000. Battle at Loos was fought in September 1915 across the whole front had. Fought in September 1915 affected by the French attacked Vimy Ridge, the Germans in Champagne marching even. 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