Loos
End of the first day
Although there had been some improvements since the May battles at Aubers Ridge and Festubert, the British Artillery still lacked the means to adequately cut the wire or destroy German strong points.
The first use of gas had been a mixed affair with the cloud aiding in areas on the southern side of the battlefield but causing problems on the northern sector where the wind had not been kind. The smoke hoods that the soldiers were required to wear were exceedingly restricting and many soldiers preferred to risk being asphyxiated by the gas rather than half suffocated by the protective equipment.
Despite all this, the situation was looking reasonably good. Only on the 2nd Division’s front had there been a complete failure of the attack. Elsewhere it had either been partially or completely successful.
The right flank of the battle field had been assured by the 47th Division, the 15th Division had taken Loos and reached Hill 70 and the 1st Division had reached the Lens Road.
A problem with the 15th Division’s assault on Hill 70 was that instead of going straight over it they had veered off to the south; run into heavily defended positions and then been forced back.
In I Corps’ sector, the 7th Division had also reached the Lens Road and the 9th Division had taken the Hohenzollern Redoubt, Fosse 8 and the Dump.
All of this had been achieved at a high cost in casualties and General Haig now required the three Divisions in general reserve to shore up his scattered front line — which was far from continuous.
As evening fell the word coming through from the French, on the far side of Vimy, would have been that limited gains had been made — but once again at great cost despite the far superior weight of artillery that the French had available in comparison to the British.
Général Foch commanding that French assault had every intention to continue pressing the Germans, and the British as junior partners were required to continue their own efforts to break the Germans’ second position.
What followed, part military and part politic, assured the removal of Sir John French as Commander in Chief (Replaced by Haig himself), and was responsible for the British failure to hold onto much of the territory they had gained.