1915 Battle of Loos : simplebooklet.com

Copyright © heritagewalks.london 2019 75 West Street, Harrow on the Hill, London HA1 3EL info@walkingthepast.co.uk First published in the UK in 2012 Text and images copyright © Michael Strachan Michael Strachan has asserted his rights to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, by photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. (The cover illustration shows British soldiers advancing to the attack at Loos).

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1915 Introduction 1914 had ended with the Christmas ‘truce’ between the British and German troops. The next year brought harsh reality to the military leaders and ﬁghting men in the trenches. For the British Commander, General French, it was becoming clear that subor-dination to the plans and offensives of the French High Command would be difﬁcult. The French Army had launched furious attacks against the Germans on their Eastern border, failing disastrously with massive losses of 900,000 men. Meanwhile, on the British side there was active criticism of the conduct and attitude of General French, not least by Douglas Haig. Aeroplanes were used by both sides for scouting and photography with ﬁghter and bombing roles emer-ging. For the civilians back in Britain the war in the air took an ominous turn when the ﬁrst Zeppelin airships appeared in the night skies and bombed London. However, they were gradually mastered and des-troyed by brave pilots using new technological developments in weapons. The Royal Navy continued to dom-inate the high seas but the Germans retaliated with an unprecedented and unrestricted undersea campaign using submarines. However, the sinking of the Lusitania was a huge propaganda weapon for the British, (see poster above). The poster also reminds us of the huge contribution made by the Irish population to an empire which had mis-treated many of them through the years! ( )3

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On the Eastern Front the Russian armies had been crushed in the battle of Tannenberg. From now until the Russians collapsed in 1917 the Germans could hold this front with fewer troops than they had expected. This put further pressure on the Western Front where the British Army began a series of battles to support the French. These set-piece battles showed the new problems of this kind of static warfare especially in the effective use of heavy artil-lery. Some British politicians and Generals began to look for an altern-ative to the growing slaughter in France and a more traditional role for British forces. Gallipoli was the place chosen for a massive attack from the sea to take the Turkish allies of the Germans out of the war and support the Russian Empire. It failed disastrously. After many months of struggle and sacriﬁce the British, Australian and New Zealand troops had to be withdrawn. This disastrous campaign had been promoted and supported by Winston Churchill and it appeared to end his political career. He found a ﬁghting command role in the trenches until his career could resume and served with credit. For the Australian and New Zealand troops and their countries this was a searing experience that has never been forgotten. To listen to this introduction and overview just click this link ( )4

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The Zeppelin Raids"Airships and aeroplanes were novelties in the years leading up to the war. Amongst the many pioneers and developers was Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin - a visionary who drew on his experience of military balloons during a visit to America during the Civil War. After retirement von Zeppelin began work on a prototype that made its initial ﬂight from a ﬂoating hangar on Lake Constance, near Friedrichshafen, Germany, on July 2, 1900. The LZ-1 (Luftschiff Zeppelin 1) was 420 feet long, 38-1/2 feet in diameter, and contained approxim-ately 399,000 cubic feet of hydro-gen in 17 gas cells made of rubber-ized cotton fabric. Beneath the craft a structure, similar to a keel, connected two external cars, each of which contained a 16-horsepower engine geared to two propellers. Vertical control was carried out by using a sliding weight secured to the keel allowing 1Count von ZeppelinModel Z2 Zeppelin in 1908

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the nose to be raised or lowered, while rudders provided for ho-rizontal control. The craft attained speeds approaching 32 km (20 miles) per hour. Many of the early problems had been solved by August 5, 1908 when LZ-4 was forced to make an emergency landing in a ﬁeld at the town of Echterdingen during the 24-hour endurance ﬂight. However, the fervent ﬁnancial and political support of the Ger-man public and government following the crash allowed the Count to establish the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin (Zeppelin Construc-tion Company) in September, 1908 and in the years leading up to the war the airships were vastly improved and the engineers and crews built up their experience. Overshadowed by the massive Blitz campaigns of World War 2 and the Allies’ bombing of Germany in retaliation, the Zep-pelin raids were still a terrifying experience for civilians and a foretaste of what was to come. These huge airships 2

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carried a signiﬁcant bomb-load at a higher altitude than could be reached by defending aircraft or anti-aircraft ﬁre. The ﬁrst Zep-pelin raid on England took place in January 1915. From then until the end of the war over 50 bombing raids were carried out. There were 20 raids in 1915 in which 37 tons of bombs were dropped killing 181 and injur-ing another 455 people. Fortunately these airships were seriously affected by adverse weather and night ﬂying navigation problems - bombs were often dropped miles off target and their military value was negligible. However their affects on civilian morale were dramatic and the casualties made the Zeppelins an object of hatred. In over 50 strategic bombing raids 557 people were killed and another 1,358 injured. More than 5,000 bombs were dropped on towns across Bri-tain, causing £1.5 million in damage. 84 airships took part, of these 30 were lost, either shot down by British aircraft using improved munitions, such as incendiary bullets, or lost in accident. In September 1916 the German Army aban-doned airship raids and developed the Gotha bomber aeroplanes. The Navy, un-der FK Peter Strasser, continued with air-ships, although there were only six in 1917 and four in 1918. The last Zeppelin raid on Britain took place in August 1918 when four ships bombed targets in the Midlands and the North of England. The raid also saw L70 shot down in ﬂames over the North Sea killing Strasser and the crew. 3First Zeppelin bomb 16 Arkham Road Hackney Click on plaque icon for ‘what3words’ locationFK Peter Strasser

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The Battle of Dogger Bank This naval battle was fought near the Dogger Bank in the North Sea on 24 January 1915, planned as another trap based on de-coded radio intercepts. The smaller and slower German squadron were intercepted by a squadron of British cruisers led by Admiral Sir David Beatty and ﬂed for home. In the chase the lead German ship, Seydlitz, was soon ablaze and 192 of its crew members died. The oldest and biggest German ship, Blucher, was sunk, killing 782 men. The Germans, under Admiral Franz von Hipper, put the British ﬂagship HMS! Lion out of action with heavy damage but only 15 British sailors died. 4Map 1

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Due to a signalling mixup, the remaining British ships broke off the pursuit to sink Blücher and the German squadron escaped having sustained heavy damage. For more about how Blücher was designed and how it was to be fought follow the link above. The German Navy had failed and the Kaiser’s imposed restrictions on its future use were profound. The action was considered a British victory but some commanders who were thought to have shown poor judgement were replaced, and both navies adapted their tactics and improved their ships as a result. 5Vice Admiral David Beatty

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line to the Aubers Ridge and possibly Lille, when a supporting French attack was cancelled the British First Army carried on. The plans were drafted in great detail and tactical sur- p r i s e w as achieved and an initial break-through was made. After this success, however, the fog of war quickly descended and there were unexpected delays and communication problems leading to a failure to bring up reserves to maintain the momentum of the attack. The German defend-ers were able to rush in reinforce-ments and dig a new line behind the British break-in. The BEF had achieved a magniﬁcent break-in but could not break out. The artillery bombardment, aided by photo reconnaissance, was too light and ammunition quickly ran short. Sir Douglas Haig, the First Army commander, cancelled further attacks and ordered the cap-tured ground to be consolidated, ready for a new attack further north. Although an overall failure, the French and German High Commands began to take the BEF seriously as a ﬁghting force. And this battle set the pattern for future British attacks. In the four British Divisions taking part 544 ofﬁcers and 11,108 other ranks were killed, wounded and missing. German losses, including 1687 prisoners, were also about 12,000. Many Indian soldiers took part in this battle, including Gabar Singh Negi, born at Manjood village near Chamba, Tehri Garhwal district, Uttarakhand. At 21 years old he had served in the 7General Sir Douglas Haig

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2/39th Garhwal Riﬂes since 1913 and was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions on 10 March 1915 at Neuve Chapelle: "during an attack on the German position Riﬂeman Gabar Singh Negi was one of a bayonet party with bombs who entered their main trench, and was the ﬁrst man to go round each traverse, driving back the enemy until they were eventually forced to sur-render. He was killed during this engagement. Order of battle: First Army (Haig): IV Corps (Rawlinson): 7th and 8th Divisions Indian Corps (Willcocks): Lahore and Meerut Divisions 8Indian Soldiers in battle

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Gallipoli Fearing a bloody stalemate on the Western Front some British politi-cians, such as Winston Churchill, and a few military advisers, started to look for a less costly alternative strategy. The Gallipoli campaign was intended to force Germany’s ally, Turkey, out of the war and weaken the Central Powers’ resolve. It began as a naval campaign, with British battleships sent to attack Constantinople (now Istanbul). This failed when the warships were un-able to force a way through the straits known as the Dardanelles. 9

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A third of the battleships were sunk or dis- abled on a single day, 18 March 1915. This was a costly disaster but the Gallipoli strategy continued into another equally bloody phase. A fresh plan was devised that did not involve the Royal Navy so heavily. The army under Sir Ian Hamilton would occupy the Gallipoli peninsula and this would eliminate the Turkish land and shore defences thus open-ing up the Dardanelles for the pas-sage of the navy. There were two movements in this plan. The ﬁrst involved British troops capturing the tip of the peninsula on 25 April, then advancing northwards. Meanwhile the Anzacs would land on the western coast north of Gaba Tepe, at a narrow point on the pen-insula. The Turkish forces would be trapped between these pincers. The British Commander, Sir Ian Hamilton, (shown above) was con-sidered by many to be brave, sensit-ive and intelligent. But he was ill-suited for a campaign that deman-ded strong leadership and was probably doomed from the start; he was not able to inspire his com-manders and never gained the conﬁd-ence of his troops. He was also opposed by German-trained Turkish troops who were brave and dogged ﬁghters. They were led by 10General Sir Ian HamiltonKemal Attaturk

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an inspiring general - Kemal Ataturk - (shown above) who later became the virtual dictator and moderniser of Turkey. After watching the landing at Anzac from HMS Queen Elizabeth, Hamilton wrote: “The landing was in full swing; shrapnel was bursting over the water; the patter of musketry; the machines guns spluttered. They are not charging up into this Sari Bair range for money or compulsion. They ﬁght for love – all the way from the Southern Cross for love of the old country and of liberty.” Eventually, however, his command came under scrutiny, partly because of complaints circulated by the Australian correspondent Keith Murdoch, later the founder of the Murdoch media empire. Finally, on 15 October he was replaced; it was effectively the end of his military career, although he went on to become the President of the Royal British Legion. 11

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His successor, General Charles Monro, re-commended the evacuation of the forces from Gallipoli as the British and Anzac forces had only succeeded in getting a toe-hold on the peninsula. Over the next eight months little pro-gress was made, and the Anzacs were evacuated in December. By January 1916 the last British troops were withdrawn, and the invasion was abandoned. Churchill was forced out of ofﬁce as First Lord of the Admiralty and sought to rebuild his reputation as a ﬁghting soldier on the Western Front. The Australians and New Zealanders were hailed as heroes, and their sacriﬁce has become more revered and respected. Kemal Attaturk went on to lead his country’s struggle to maintain and reinforce Turkey’s complete independence. He led the mod-ernising and secular reforms that established the modern state and is revered as the ‘father of his people’. 12General Munro

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U Boats and the Lusitania By 1915, Germany declared the North Sea a war zone and U-boats adopted a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare. Ger-many publicly declared its submarines would destroy all enemy merchant vessels in the waters around Great Britain, especially those suspected of carrying munitions. Kapitanleutnant Walther Schwieger commanded U-20 as it left Emden, Germany on 30 April 1915 heading northwest across the North Sea, plan-ning to enter the Irish Sea and attack ships going in and out of Liverpool.! During the 5/6 May, U-20 sank several mer-chant ships but Schwieger allowed their crews to evacuate before sinking them.! The survivors of these sinkings were rescued, yet the Lusitania re-ceived no speciﬁc warnings as it entered the war zone. 13Kapitan Schwieger

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On the morning of 7 May, visibility was poor and U-20 was low on fuel and had just three torpedoes. The British cruiser Juno, having received warning of submarine activity off Queenstown, passed the submerged submarine as it headed home. The Lusitania was sighted at 1:20 p.m. and Schwieger ordered the submarine to submerge. Only one torpedo was ﬁred which caused two explosions, ﬁrst from the initial strike and then an in-ternal explosion (caused by illegal munitions according to Ger-man sources). Schwieger could see the unfolding chaos and refused to “ﬁre a second torpedo into this crushing crowd of humanity trying to save their lives.” U-20 maintained radio silence on the attack until she was almost back to Germany, where the news was ﬁrst received as a great triumph. The United States formally protested the sinking to Berlin, and Germany then sought save her international repu-tation and prevent the United States entering the war. Although Kaiser Wilhelm now ofﬁ-cially suspended unrestricted sub-marine warfare, but the sinking and loss of 128 American lives helped build public support for the United States to join the side of the Allies, which it did two years later. The controversy over whether the Lusitania was carrying muni-tions still rumbles on to this day. 14

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The Battle of Loos This was the largest British offensive mounted in 1915 on what was now known as the Western Front. Compared with the small-scale British efforts of spring 1915, this attack of six Divisions was referred to at the time as 'The Big Push'. The British had been asked to take over another 22 miles of the front in order to release French reserves for the renewal of the Artois offensive by the French Tenth Army. The BEF was still very much the junior part-ner in the ground war in France and the British Commander, Sir John French, had little choice but to agree to General Joffre’s suggestion that they should also attack to the north of the French 10th Army. The British would have preferred to remain on the defensive until the BEF numbered 36 divisions and had built up sufﬁcient stocks of ammunition and heavy artillery. However this meant waiting until Spring 1916 and, with the Russians under severe pressure on the Eastern front and the Gallipoli campaign faltering, this was politically impossible. Meanwhile Sir John French's anxiety over the lack of suitable mu-nitions had unwisely led him to involve the Times newspaper and its star military reporter Charles Repington. This action ignited a huge controversy back in Britain over the lack of proper muni-tions to achieve a decisive breakthrough and General French lost the conﬁdence of many politicians and the support of King George V. Meanwhile relations between Generals French and Haig were poor and getting worse. 15General Joffre

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General Foch, commanding the bigger French Artois offensive, re-jected British requests for changes in the line of attack and insisted that it must be made south of the La Bassée canal. Thus the British Army - clearly not ready for a major offensive in terms of manpower or munitions - was be-ing committed by the Allies to: • a battle not of its choosing, • in an area felt by the British to be unsuited to an attack, • without clear objectives and • with its major commanders at loggerheads. The opening of the battle saw the ﬁrst use of poison gas by the British Army, following its introduction by the Germans, and the battle was the ﬁrst mass engagement of New Army units. Despite heavy casualties, there was considerable success on the ﬁrst day in breaking into the deep enemy positions near Loos and Hulluch. However, even the bravery of men like Sgt. Harry Wells VC could not overcome the desperate resistance of the Germans. The British reserve divisions were apparently held too far from the battle front to be able to exploit the undoubted initial suc-cesses and the whole attack became bogged down. Despite improved methods and planning, more ammunition 16General FochSgt Harry Wells VC

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and better equipment the Franco-British attacks were held by the German armies, except for local losses of ground. Casualties were high on all sides. Sir John French had already been much criticised before the battle and his perceived poor handling of his reserve divisions in the battle led to his remaining support in both the Government and Army being severely eroded. He was replaced by Haig as Com-mander of the British Expeditionary Force in December 1915. The poet Robert Graves described the battle and succeeding days in his war memoir Goodbye to All That (1929). 17Sgt Harry Wells VC Dud Corner Cemetery

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The Execution of Edith Cavell Nurse Edith Cavell was the daughter of a parson from the village of Swardeston in Norfolk. Edith moved to Belgium, where she worked as a Governess and she was soon ﬂuent in French. She returned to Swardeston when her father became very unwell and Edith assisted with nursing him back to health. This act is what probably inspired her to become a nurse. She trained at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel. After completing her training and working in a number of roles in hospitals in the UK, Edith was invited back to Brussels to nurse a sick child. Her skills were soon recognised and she was invited to be Matron of the ﬁrst Nursing School in Belgium. When the war broke out, she was at home in Norfolk, but her devout christian faith compelled her to re-turn to the nursing team and the college that she had set up in Belgi-um, now occupied by the Germans. She became part of an informal group which smuggled some 200 allied soldiers into the Netherlands, which was then neutral, in or-der to save them from falling back into the hands of the Germans. Inevitably, she was betrayed and arrested in August 1915. She freely admitted her role and was tried for treason. Sir Horace Row-land of the British Foreign Ofﬁce stated that they were powerless to save her and, despite appeals for clemency from the US and Spain, she was shot on the morning of 12 October 1915, aged 49. 18

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She showed great courage, based on her faith, as she faced death and refused to criticise those who condemned her or failed to help her. Her devotion and strength of character inspired many and she became part of the Allied propaganda campaign. Details of the ﬁlm of this tragically heroic episode can be found by following this IMDb link… 19

1915 Battle of Loos

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