Loos 1915

The battle of Loos was one of the most hard-fought battles that the British Expeditionary Force ever waged on the Western Front during the First World War. In three weeks of intensive fighting—which not only witnessed the first British use of poison gas but also the debut of New Army divisions filled with citizen volunteers—British forces managed to drive up to two miles into the German positions. However, they were unable to capitalize on their initial gains. After suffering nearly 60,000 casualties and being driven from the German second line in some disorder, bitter recrimination followed. Nick Lloyd presents a radical new interpretation of Loos, placing it not only within its political and strategic context, but also discussing command and control and the tactical realities of war on the Western Front during 1915.