The British Campaign in France and Flanders, 1915Doyle, Arthur Conan
History
The British Campaign in France and Flanders, 1915
Doyle, Arthur Conan
World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- Western Front
The 64th Brigade (Gloster) was in support some little distance to the
right rear of the 63rd, covering the ground between the Lens-Hulluch
road and Loos. About noon a message was received by them to the
effect that the 63rd was being very strongly pressed, and that help
was urgently needed. The 14th Durham Light Infantry was moved
forward in support, and came at once under heavy fire, losing its
Colonel (Hamilton), 17 officers, and about 200 men. The 15th Durham
Light Infantry was then thrown into the fight, and sustained even
heavier losses. Colonel Logan, 18 officers, and 400 men were killed
or wounded. About one o'clock the two Durham battalions were in the
thick of the fight, while Captain Liebenrood, machine-gun officer of
the 64th Brigade, did good work in keeping down the enemy fire. The
two battalions of Yorkshire Light Infantry (9th and 10th) were held
in reserve. About 2.30 the pressure upon the front of the 63rd
Brigade had become too great, and both it and the two Durham
battalions were driven back. Their resistance, however, seems to
have taken the edge off the dangerous counter-attack, for the Germans
did not come on past the line of the road and of the Chalk Pit Wood.
It will be remembered that when the two advanced {214} brigades of
the Fifteenth Division established themselves in hastily-dug trenches
upon the western slope of Hill 70, they threw back their left flank
obliquely down the hill towards Fosse 14 in order to avoid being at
the mercy of any force which endeavoured to get behind them on this
side. Only a very thin line of men could be spared for this work,
under a young Australian subaltern named M'Neil. These soldiers held
the post for twenty-four hours, but when the heavy German
attack--which drove in the Twenty-first Division and cut off the
Lincolns--struck up against them, they were all killed or wounded,
including their gallant leader, who managed, with several bullets in
him, to get back to the British line. This led to the final
retirement down Hill 70 of the men of the Scotch Division, who dug
themselves in once more at the foot of the hill, not far from the
village of Loos.
[Sidenote: The losses.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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