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Remembered Today:

Loos remembered


onesearch

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As many will know the battle of Loos began on the 25th September 1915. It seems like a long time ago now, its beyond living memory but I think it still needs to be remembered. Growing up I had no idea that my grandfather had been there, so this is for him & all the others that were there, & for those that still are. Perhaps with a special thought to those of K1 & the 6th Service Battalion  The Kings Own Scottish Borderers.

Edited by onesearch
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good morning,

I have a great interest in this battle because I am from Loos to gohelle.
hence my nickname.
there is not a day when I try to understand the evolution of this battle.
to understand the role that each battalion played in this hell.
the discovery of objects or insignia brings me as close as possible to the daily life of each soldier whatever his camp.

here is a picture of the battlefield taken from the positions of the 15th Division to the Hohenzollern redoubt via the Lone tree, square wood, pit 13 of Hulluch
 

DSC_0084.JPG.a24f43dc7d90bb30bba499bd03bfdb7e.JPG

lone tree - 1st Division :

DSC_0110.JPG.d6dad807f0d407abb2bba25e8d74edb3.JPG

chalk pit wood + pit 14 bis - part 15th Div. + 21st Div. + Guard Div. :

487778079_chalkpitwood(3).JPG.9d8a4212659fdf6ddaa094261ce07962.JPG

tower bridge (then & now) - 47th Div. + 15th Div. + 3rd Cavalry :

2002468256_loosengohelle(3).jpg.98ff8e832b46977cda4dce4a9bee42c8.jpg

1894181211_IMG(4).jpg.05c8ef85fe80aad2b500fe85bc9e2a1e.jpg

some post card about this battle :

571744780_loosengohelle(18).jpg.a1abbe2cc893a59e3262745059528030.jpg

1882339959_loosengohelle(19).jpg.ff097f4f82fd0ca3a5c248f9c424e0e2.jpg

513582785_thowerbridge.jpeg.39d70841cf75587f9b2c83df653341e2.jpeg

1338283209_loosengohelle.jpg.202aef8e2439913d73297632dfd3e238.jpg

here is a special tribute to a gunner of the 21st Div. :

McALLISTER William - 41438 - C Bty - RFA - 96th Brigade - 21st Division - 03 octobre 1915

131693878_McAllister-41438-RFA-died3rdoct1915(2).jpg.6181cd7a37241600285288a73b954d3a.jpg1218602485_mcallister-41438-RFA-3rdoct1915(3).JPG.e55bc0cee863015da54bca3074594600.JPG1179015143_mcallister-41438-RFA-3rdoct1915(4).JPG.1bdfefbb7d0c61f6c7420bae6b15184f.JPG

:poppy:

michel

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Those images.......especially the view looking towards the Hohenzollern Redoubt.......... terrible ground to attack across. 

I sat down last night witah the thought of starting this post & remembered some of the things I have read about the battle, both in terms  of an overview & more specific accounts relating to Divisions, Battalions & in some cases individuals. I can say that out of all those accounts I can  recall those written in the publication From Bordon to Loos with the 6th Service Battalion the King's  Own Scottish Borderers is the one that I found the most revealing & the most moving. It was a difficult read not just because of a family connection. 

 

Just spent fifteen minutes writing a bit about this book, deleting some bits, adding others, deleting the lot & starting again. A few lines are insufficient & seem so inappropriate that I think its best not to even try to describe some of its content.  

 

Many veterans never talked about their experiences....I think this book gives an insight into why many of them did'nt.  Perhaps it says what many of us think we know but this says it how it was by someone who was there & its rerrible.

 

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Loos battlefields this morning 

BBBC58CA-B455-47D4-9C2E-15161D22CE3D.jpeg

D2056409-6F9E-4F4F-B198-F019849AF015.jpeg

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1914-15 Star Trio and Memorial Plaque awarded to 17912 Private William Watters 8th Battalion Kings Own Scottish Borderers who died of wounds sustained at the Battle of Loos on the 25th September 1915. Pte Watters was from Leven in Fife .Medals are in a frame with a photo of him and KOSB cap Badge 

 

0BBBD5C8-A38A-4708-BAEF-437554A36C42.jpeg

441C74CE-ECDA-4087-B8B0-EB4D937E6DF3.jpeg

Edited by nemesis
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I have always had a deep interest in the Battle of Loos, especially in the second day when the inexperienced battalions of the 21st and 24th Divisions of the New Army were so casually sent to their deaths. We talk endlessly, and rightly, about the Battle of the Somme, but we tend to forget that the battalions of the 21st and 24th Divisions were amongst the first of the Kitchener battalions to see action.

Just over three and a half weeks in France and they had not even been in the trenches before they were sent over the top at 11 am on 26th September, after a long and difficult overnight march and without having eaten a hot meal since the previous evening. A year in the making and an hour or two in the destroying.

Loos 002.JPG

Loos 007.JPG

Loos 008.JPG

A German post card.

Loos 003.JPG

Loos 004.JPG

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3 hours ago, onesearch said:

Many veterans never talked about their experiences....I think this book gives an insight into why many of them did'nt.  Perhaps it says what many of us think we know but this says it how it was by someone who was there & its rerrible.

 

my maternal grandfather was in the war along with all his brothers, I was too young to realise, as far as I know , he never talked about it BUT my father did tell me he was a cantancerous man , easily wound up and angry. 

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12 hours ago, onesearch said:

As many will know the battle of Loos began on the 25th September 1915. It seems like a long time ago now, its beyond living memory but I think it still needs to be remembered. Growing up I had no idea that my grandfather had been there, so this is for him & all the others that were there, & for those that still are. Perhaps with a special thought to those of K1 & the 6th Service Battalion  The Kings Own Scottish Borderers.

To your grandfather and all those who took part in this horrendous battle, we will remember them.

Richard

 

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In memory of Guardsman Robert Shirkie, 1st Battalion, Scots Guards, died 27th September 1915 ( a Monday).

“Early in the morning of the 27th, the 1st Battalion Scots Guards marched into Loos, which had been taken on the 25th, and held since, under a continuous rain of German shells, of which many were gas. The battalion went into trenches north of the village, and remained there till the afternoon, still suffering from the German bombardment. The Chalk Pit and the Wood were taken without much difficulty, the latter now forming a protection for the left of the Scots Guards in their final advance up the slope leading to Puits 14bis. The 1st Scots Guards started on their advance of 1,500 yards, of which the first 1,100 downhill were passed at the double under shell-fire only, which did not cause serious casualties.

As they then started to move uphill they began to suffer heavily from machine- guns about the Puits and the Bois Hugo in front, and even more from the German trenches on Hill 70. The losses of the Scots Guards as they moved up the slope were terribly heavy from the machine-gun fire above mentioned, but they persistently carried on, and gained the Puits and the Keep. By this time, however, there was left only a small portion of the Scots Guards”.

( Extracted from THE SCOTS GUARDS IN THE GREAT WAR 1914-1918 by FV Loraine Petre : Wilfrid Ewart and Major General Sir Cecil Lowther K.C.M.G., C.B., C.V.O., D.S.O., 1925).

The rolling slopes approaching Hill 70 from the NorthWest are peaceful farmland. It is hard to comprehend that beneath the surface lie the remains of thousands of men and boys, MIA, their bodies never recovered.

RIP Great Uncle Robert

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The biggest day of killing on the Western Front in the entire war, I daresay.

CWGC commemorate more than ten thousand deaths in France and Belgium that day : obviously mainly attributable to the Loos attack.  Add on to that something in the order of twenty five thousand French dead who are estimated to have fallen that day, in Champagne and Artois, and then the unknown thousands of Germans who perished, and I reckon that this day 106 years ago might be the most deadly in modern military annals.

Worthy of remembrance indeed.

 

Phil

Edited by phil andrade
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War diary entry for 6th KOSB 

 

24.9.15 Battalion returned to trenches (Z.O. section) in relief of HLI Capt. A C Campbell wounded

25.9.15 Attack by IXth Division on enemy’s position in front of Haines-Auchy-Les La Basse. The bn. Formed right with of 28th Bde. With 10th HLI on left. Battn assaulted German trenches at Mad Point & S.E. of Madagascar trenches at 6.30 am. The position was reached & at some point entered. Severe machine gun fire chiefly from flanks, un-destroyed obstacles & uncertain effect of gas caused severe losses & prevented attack from succeeding. Bn. Reinforced at 9.30 by 2 Coy. 11th HLI. At 2.15 after 2nd bombardment further attack by 28th Brigade ordered. This attack failed to reach the trenches. During rest of the day the survivors of the Battn. Under senior NCO assisted 11th HLI manning the trenches & carrying dead & wounded. The reserve machine gun section under Lt Evans was placed during this action in support of 9th SR. Weather very wet

Casualties

Officers, killed 12, wounded 8, missing 0

Other ranks, killed,189, wounded 266, missing 169, gassed 6.

26.9.15 The Bn. Under Lt Hills was attached as a Coy. To 11th HLI & occupied the old fire trenches as a support, sniping & some shelling all day. Operations at Fosse 8 & Hohenzollern Redoubt by Brigade in the night caused constant orders to “Stand To”. Wounded brought in under difficulties owing to snipers. Reserve machine guns as on 25th. Weather very wet.

 

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good evening,

here is the slope of hill70 (bois rasé to hill 70) :

seen from the British position :

1098636543_lignecanadienne(2).JPG.80d1022aa7e84d36c8eecddb5392a112.JPG

1643857177_lignecanadienne(3).JPG.bb55079dbbfab22afaf2e5637bd7fd4e.JPG

741089039_lignecanadienne(4).JPG.a39ecca7bd5f204ec69fe8e30b39dd88.JPG

1 hour ago, historian9 said:

In memory of Guardsman Robert Shirkie, 1st Battalion, Scots Guards, died 27th September 1915 ( a Monday).

“Early in the morning of the 27th, the 1st Battalion Scots Guards marched into Loos, which had been taken on the 25th, and held since, under a continuous rain of German shells, of which many were gas. The battalion went into trenches north of the village, and remained there till the afternoon, still suffering from the German bombardment. The Chalk Pit and the Wood were taken without much difficulty, the latter now forming a protection for the left of the Scots Guards in their final advance up the slope leading to Puits 14bis. The 1st Scots Guards started on their advance of 1,500 yards, of which the first 1,100 downhill were passed at the double under shell-fire only, which did not cause serious casualties.

As they then started to move uphill they began to suffer heavily from machine- guns about the Puits and the Bois Hugo in front, and even more from the German trenches on Hill 70. The losses of the Scots Guards as they moved up the slope were terribly heavy from the machine-gun fire above mentioned, but they persistently carried on, and gained the Puits and the Keep. By this time, however, there was left only a small portion of the Scots Guards”.

( Extracted from THE SCOTS GUARDS IN THE GREAT WAR 1914-1918 by FV Loraine Petre : Wilfrid Ewart and Major General Sir Cecil Lowther K.C.M.G., C.B., C.V.O., D.S.O., 1925).

 

The rolling slopes approaching Hill 70 from the NorthWest are peaceful farmland. It is hard to comprehend that beneath the surface lie the remains of thousands of men and boys, MIA, their bodies never recovered.

 

 

RIP Great Uncle Robert

view from the German position (fosse 14 bis to hill 70) :

873827580_ligneallemande(4).JPG.0e02baca034c647e071d52ca4269c206.JPG

1702444346_ligneallemande(3).JPG.1b4b5cc9456bc472be37c7c87475c187.JPG

1529560951_ligneallemande(2).JPG.c9d6a38e6b657bb5ae2e861a7ed18d5d.JPG

531457983_ligneallemande(1).JPG.c9bb75b7d9eed87fa0a23efffb79fe0d.JPG

:poppy:

michel

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About 6 months ago I discovered that one of my great grandmother’s cousins was killed on the 25th of September at Loos. According to the CWGC, he was killed together with more than 70 of his comrades from the 15 DLI on this date.

Thomas Brown (23964) from Chester-le-Street, Co. Durham had been in France for 2 weeks. Reading about the training conditions his battalion endured at Halton Park in the UK, their march to the Front after they arrived in France with 21st Division, and then Loos itself, I can’t even begin to imagine the utter hell they must have gone through.

He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Loos Memorial together with the others from the 15 DLI who died on the 25th.

Edited by KernelPanic
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I'd  like ro echo the thanks from historian9 about the photos. I'd  also like to thank all who have contributed to this thread & thank dickaren for his kind words too.

 

Loos was just one of many battles where tradedy & sorrow abunded, 've seen it refered to as the forgotten battle so I find it reassuring that it has been remembered here ,

Best regards to all

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These NCOs and men belong to 9. Kompagnie of Prussian Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment 22 (RIR 22), one of the regiments of the unfortunate 117. Infanterie-Division which were in the front line assaulted by the BEF on the opening day of the offensive. This picture is hand-dated 9th September 1915, and shows the Kompagnie-Feldwebel (CSM - standing on the steps with the French lady) and his subordinates standing outset their billet in Cité St. Pierre. According to the text on the reverse, the reinforced cellar has been designated as a 'bombensicherer Unterstand' (shell-proof dugout). RIR 22 was badly affected by the gas on 25th September, overrun by the assault of 47th Division and suffered grievous losses (as did the entire 117. Infanterie-Division). Only remnants of the regiment were still fighting by the end of the day.

RIR22_9KSept1915_2.jpg.cc1801793a34be7ddb2c54dac45260e5.jpg
 

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good morning,

here is a group of operators of the 117th Division photographed 1 month before the Battle of Loos.
1080729285_Fernspech-Doppelzug117-29aout1915(1).jpg.7f75a41c51fb76d5b1a1740b7e13a0d0.jpg

915352936_Fernspech-Doppelzug117-29aout1915(2).jpg.96f4ab5d6f14677372b256ac478c83f2.jpg

401492192_Fernspech-Doppelzug117-29aout1915(1)-Copie.jpg.0c28816dbeb8fcd9cdcdab77651c942c.jpg

michel

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thre is one shoulder strap of JR 157 positioned between Dud Corner and Lone Tree against the British 1st Division.

1617124008_157m14.jpg.6d6c9082139393b00d352cbd46d0b249.jpg

michel

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and one part the 7th Division IV A. K. on hill 70 :

36760080_26m14.JPG.19381ff1cb9fff799d93ad8ace578719.JPG 772026854_27m14.JPG.1922e5a2b1fcd780374dca7827378a43.JPG 169063702_165m14.JPG.850a143e67bbcd0ad9c326c71acce105.JPG

michel

Edited by battle of loos
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L/10710 Pte. William Rose. 2nd battalion, The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment), killed in action 25th September 1915.

More loos 003.JPG

Edited by high wood
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