Before the battle there were a number of things that needed to be done; the the 21st and 24th Divisions needed to be closer to the front, those who were taking part needed to be positioned at their start points, and the gas units needed bringing forward and positioning.

The 10th Battalion leave for France Troops move to front line Gas is to be used

As the site is primarily built around the 2nd, 6th and 10th Battalions of the York and Lancaster Regiment I will start off by taking an extract from the battalion history of the 10th Battn. 

“The commander of the 21st Division when first constituted (Sep 1914) was Lieut.-General Sir E.T.H. Hutton, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., and that of the 63rd Brigade (containing 10th Battn) was Colonel G.J. FitzM. Soady. The Division was ordered to be stationed at Halton Park, between Tring and Wendover, the men being billeted in Tring and neighbourhood; but by May, 1915, huts had been erected in Halton Park and these were occupied until early August, when the Division moved to camp at Witley, where the final training was carried out.  After spending just a month here the 21st Division embarked for France, where at this time reinforcements were greatly needed, in view of the Allied Armies embarking upon operations on a very much larger scale than had hitherto been attempted.

Marching to Milford on the morning of the 10th September the Battalion entrained there for Folkestone and embarked at 10.30 that night in the Duchess of Argyll for Boulogne, which was reached at 1.30 a.m. on the 11th.  A very few hours were spent in the rest camp at Ostrohove, and then at 5.15 in the afternoon the Battalion proceeded by train to Watten, marching thence to Norbecourt, where some ten days were passed in training.  Ere this date the command of the 21st Division had been assumed by Major-General G.T. Forestier-Walker, and that of the 63rd Brigade by Brigadier-General H.T.Nickalls.

On the eve of the battle the Guards Division was at Lillers - west of Bethune - the 21st was north-west of Beuvry and the 24th just west of Noeux-les-Mines........the Commander-in-Chief (was) holding back in reserve the Guards, 21st and 24th Divisions of the XI Corps, with, as stated by Sir John French in his despatch, “a view of ensuring the speedy and effective support of the I and IV Corps in the case of their success.” But it was not until 9.30 on the morning of the 26th, when Loos had fallen, that these reserve divisions were placed at General Haig’s disposal, the nearest of these divisions being then some eight miles from the new front, and having to move forward by roads which were terribly congested, while the country on either side was cut by trenches and enclosed by wire; rain was also falling nearly throughout the march.”

The 21st and 24th dividions were ordered forward on the 20th September, but they were at that time west of St Omer and would need to march a considerable distance in hot sticky weather.  On the third night march they were planned to march across each others routes, a difficult manouevre for experienced formations, and these were not experienced. Their final position would still be some sixteen miles behind the lines at Loos, making them a long way back if they were to constitute the reserve force.

The move forward to the lines was started at 19.00 on the 24th September, but it was something of a shambles. It involved marching at night and sleeping by day, tiring in itself but made worse by the lack of organised ‘up’ and ‘down’ routes for units to move to and from the front. To make matters worse for the individual troops the Corps Commander, General Haking, had ordered that cookers would not be moved up, instead troops would make do with an iron ration; an extra cheese portion, a piece of bread and cheese and cold pea soup.  These were tired new troops, it was raining and they were soaked through and hungry.  Instead of a reserve of rested troops the 21st & 24th were exhausted and their new officers, working off very poor maps were not able to do a good job of getting them into their correct positions.

The following extracts come from an article in No. 73 of “Stand To”, the publication of the Western Front Association. It is from the war diary of Lance Corporal James Carpenter of the 8th Buffs who were in 24 Division and had so were part of the reserves like the York & Lancs.  On the 21st Sept. they started a move towards Loos. “We used to start off in really excellent spirits but after a few hours of ‘foot slogging’ our spirits gave out and our feet became sore.”

22 Sept. All night long as we neared the line we could hear the distant guns booming away ......  We knew then we were marching towards Loos.  We all felt wonderfully cheered at this especially as we were weary and fearfully hungry, and sincerely hoped the war would not be over before we arrived.

23 Sept. We reached Bethune about 3.00 am and rested in a deserted convent for a few hours.  About 8.00 am we paraded in battle order, that is with extra ammunition. In those days we carried our packs into action. Why? I do not know, except that they greatly impeded our movements. Unfortunately our rations had been lost so we marched away from Bethune very hungry.  When one hears so much about the wonderful organisation of the army, it is rather a surprise for people to be told that at least one whole division went into the battle of Loos without rations.

25 Sept. On we went through the ruined town of Vermelles and there we were extended and lay down for a short rest. On our right was Noeux-les-Mines and half left the village of Hulluch whilst straight in front we could see the iron towers of Loos. All around us the guns were firing and the noise was terrific.  It was all so very thrilling and wonderful to us for we had never seen them really in action before.

In October 1916 Major Jack had to take his men into action at Le Transloy when they were tired and unrested; “Although the men were exhausted by working and marching all night under considerable shell fire..... I was forced to order them to dig hard till daylight.... so breakfast had to wait.   While realising the difficulties of High Command and their staffs, all formerly gallant and capable regimental officers, one feels that in many cases they are out of touch with the fighting troops, with the effects of mud, shells and exhaustion. It seems to me that commanders have few duties more important than ensuring, if possible, that their men go into attacks fresh.  Wearied soldiers are well able to defend positions, but in that state they are neither physically nor mentally at their best to attack....”

The following table is taken from the War Diary for the 10th Battalion and it shows the amount of night route marching they were having to do to get from their initial position to the battle. Also note that on the 25th they started a route march at 3 p.m. and then on arrival went straight into action. These were not only raw troops, they were not rested.

Watten 11/9 11 p.m. Arrived proceeded at once by march route to NORTEBECOURT Nortebecourt 12/9 2 a.m. arrived close billeted Nortebecourt 20/9 6 p.m. march route via St OMER Campagne 21/9 1 a.m. arrived close billeted Campagne 21/9 7.30 p.m. march route via AIRE St Hilaire 22/9 12.45 a.m. arrived close billeted St Hilaire 22/9 7 p.m. march route to AUCHEL close billets Auchel 22/9 10 p.m. arrived close billeted Auchel 24/9 7 p.m. march route to SAILLY LA BOURSE bivouacked for night Sailly La Bourse 25/9 3 p.m. march route to VERMELLES Sailly La Bourse 25/9 10 p.m. arrived and went straight into action towards HULLUCH-LENS ROAD and HILL 70. Relieved by the Scots Guards 3.30 a.m. 27/9 Hoyelles Les Vermelles 27/9 7 a.m. Returned from action having lost approx 360 all ranks. [later corrected on 3/10 to 14 officers 306 O.R.] killed, wounded, missing.  1 Riding Horse, 1 H.D. horse, 4 Draught Mules, 5 Pack Mules.

But the 21st and 24th Divisions would not be in the initial attack, those units who were would need to move from their positions behind the lines into the trench system, and so work their way forward to their start points. This was an exercise that would take quite a few hours. In Philip Warner’s book their is an account by Capt. Escombe in 47 Division, of their move to the front, and the battle itself. His unit (1/20 London Regiment) started out sometime after 8 p.m. to make their way forward and then at about 1.15 a.m. they had the final orders from their CO before moving into the communication trenches; “It takes about an hour to get the whole battalion into position in the various lines, for although the men move in without a hitch, the progress is necessarily slow owing to the narrowness of the trenches and the bulky equipment the men are carrying........Having seen No. 8 (platoon) disposed at the four saps leading from the second line, I make my way laboriously up to the front. I squeeze along the line talking to the men as I pass.  The special REs with their green, red and white armlets are busy getting the gas and smoke cylinders ready. We saw the Irish carry these up at dead of night about a week ago. Everything was done with the utmost secrecy. The cylinders arrived at the advanced RE dump near Maroc mine in GS waggons with muffled wheels..........I satisfy myself that all my platoons are in position and then retire to my place in the second line.  There is nothing to do now but wait as calmly as possible.  The guns are not very busy and a drizzle is falling so I select a spacious fire-step, get under my waterproof sheet and doze off into a light sleep, waking every now and then to see if anything is happening.  The faithful Andy is close by sharing the same step.  The rain soon makes the ground sticky and the men lying or sitting about are already covered with patches of chalky mud.  It is very chilly in these early morning hours and one gets stiff and cramped as there is little space to move in.  We have been told that the gas attack will probably start at 4.50 a.m. so at 4.30, no orders having reached me I squeeze may way to Battalion Headquarters.” And that would have been going on all down the line as units moved up.

This was to be the first time that the British had used gas as a weapon, and a lot of work was required to position the cylinders and pipes that would be needed to release it along the front.  And it all had to be moved along narrow twisting trenches.  “The cylinders themselves weighed sixty pounds and each cylinder contained another sixty pounds of liquid gas. With frequent and necessary halts to rest, it took two men carrying one between them as much as four hours to cover a mile and a half to the front line. They also had to carry other equipment - the seven foot long connecting pipes, the ten foot parapet pipes that would carry the gas well away from the trench to drift towards the German lines and, in case something went wrong, the Vermorel sprayers to be placed at intervals along the trenches to clear them of gas if the need arose.

It was not easy to carry the long pipes through the narrow trenches and round traverses but somehow it was accomplished. By 20 September all the cylinders had been carried to the front line and installed by the Royal Engineers in specially dug emplacements, well sandbagged for protection.  It had taken many hours of labour and much cursing and swearing to undo the tight domeheads which might easily have been untightened at Gorre. The special gas squads were in charge now and it would be their job to discharge the gas when the moment came.”

The following is also from Lyn Macdonald’s book, it describes gas training for the troops; “After the lecture we all had to pass through the gas. They had a cylinder of gas on the edge of one of the trenches, hissing it out in our faces, as we passed along the trench in single file. We only had the plain helmets on, with the piece of mica for a window, and my helmet was by no means gas proof.  After getting a whiff of it which mad me cough, I held my breath, but the queue in front was very slow in moving and I got held up with the cylinder blowing the stuff right into my face!” [My father told me that my grandfather was gassed twice, and his lungs never recovered.]

When the Germans first used gas in 1915 it drew some very strong reactions from those who were on the receiving end, Richard Holmes quotes Ernest Shephard; “...When we found our men were dying from fumes we wanted to charge, but were not allowed to do so.” And next day Shephard again; “The bitterest Sunday I have ever known or wish to know......several of my best chums are gone under. Had we lost as heavily while actually fighting we would not have cared as much, but our dear boys died like rats in a trap, instead of heroes as they all were.”

The picture above shows one of the early British ‘gas hoods’ with the mica windows.  They were not very effective, and dreadful to wear when you think that the soldier was also expected to move and fight wearing this.  Both the German and the British gas masks relied on the chemicals in which they had been dipped, but they were only effective for a limited time, so it was calculated that the British gas would have to be sufficient for the clouds to envelop the Germans for about 40 minutes; they did not possess that much gas, so a modified plan was drawn up.  For the first twelve minutes six cylinders would discharge gas, then at two minute intervals four smoke candles would be lit, then another twelve minutes of gas followed by another six minutes of smoke with a larger quantity of smoke being discharged for the last two minutes while the troops climbed out of the trenches for the assault.  It was hoped that this would ensure that the Germans kept wearing their masks.  Of course, gas being a cloud, it was dependent on the wind being of the right strength (sufficient to move it, but not so strong as to disperse it) and in the right direction (towards the enemy!).  More of this later.

Some 8,000 men laboured to move 5,500 cylinders, some 150 tons of the gas, but this was not enough to do what the plan called for.

The following is taken from the January 6, 1916 edition of the weekly ‘War Budget’, something of a propaganda periodical.  In this edition they ran an article on Gas, and the photo above of the gas hood comes from that article. At one point there is a comment from Sir John French on the first use of gas by the Germans; “I much regret that during the period under report (the second Battle of Ypres) the enemy has shown a cynical and barbarous disregard of the well-known usages of civilised war, and a flagrant defiance of the Hague Convention.”

Later in the article the writer goes on; “It is common knowledge that at the great Battle of Loos we used gas of our own make - a seething, fleece-like cloud backed up by bombers - grim hooded figures looming like wraiths of death in the vengeful smoke and vapours of the Hohenzollern Redoubt.

“They ran like rabbits,” we hear of the first prisoners. Our own gas pumps are in charge of corporals in the Chemical Corps of the Sappers.  These non-coms, when at home are often men of high scientific attainment. One at least is Lecturer in Chemistry at a great University. But he left his test-tubes and quantitative analysis for the greater allurement of laying out Huns with mysterious puffs in the drear, west trenches of Flanders and France.

“Our gas is humane,” he tells me, none too humanely. “They don’t deserve it, but it doesn’t produce the dry-land drowning that their gas does. It just puts ‘em out of business till our walk-over is complete.”

I suspect there were men on both sides at Loos who would not agree with this summary!

A nurse working at the front described the effects of gas on the soldiers, this is taken from the book ‘At the going down of the sun’.

“Gas cases are the worst.  They cannot breathe lying down or sitting up. They just struggle for breath, but nothing can be done.  Their lungs are gone - literally burnt out. Some have their eyes and faces entirely eaten away by gas and their bodies covered with first-degree burns. We must try to relieve them by pouring oil on them.  They cannot be bandaged or touched. We cover them with a tent of propped-up sheets.  gas cases must be agonizing, because usually the other cases do not complain, even with the worst wounds, but gas cases are invariably beyond endurance and they cannot help crying out.  One boy today, screaming to die, had the entire top layer of skin burnt from face and body. He was wheeled out just before I came on duty. Where will it end?.... “