It was arranged that the First Corps, consisting of the Second, Seventh, and Ninth Divisions, under Lieut.-General Hubert Gough, should attack the line between La Bassée Canal and Vermelles, while the Fourth Corps (First, Fifteenth, and Forty-seventh Divisions), under Lieut.-General Sir H. Rawlinson, attacked from Vermelles to Grenay, the Hulluch—Vermelles road forming the boundary between the two Corps.
The attack began at 6.30 A.M. on September 25, after four days' continuous bombardment by our massed guns. Gas was employed, but unfortunately the wind was unfavourable, and it moved so slowly that it retarded the advance. Further, the wire in some places had hardly been touched, and consequently the Second Division was held up from the start. Meanwhile the Ninth Division started well, and even managed to reach the northern end of "Little Willie," but was unable to maintain its advanced position on account of the check to the Second Division. The Seventh Division captured the first line of the trenches and cleared the quarries half-way between the front line and Cité St. Elie, while the leading troops even penetrated as far as Cité St. Elie itself.
By mid-day the First Corps had secured the whole of the German front from the Hohenzollern Redoubt southwards and had pushed forward to the second line at three points. But in this achievement it suffered heavy casualties, and was left too weak to do more than hold on to the position it had gained.
In the Fourth Corps the First Division swept forward, carried the first two lines of German trenches, and reached the outskirts of Hulluch, where it waited for reinforcements, but as these did not arrive it had to fall back on the Lens—La Bassée road. As for the Fifteenth Division, whose objective was Cité St. Augusté, it pushed through not only to Loos, but even over Hill 70, and the 44th Brigade in this division actually reached the outskirts of Cité St. Laurent.
Sept. 26-27.
On the afternoon of the 26th the Eleventh Corps was placed at the disposal of Sir Douglas Haig; it consisted of the Guards Division and the Twenty-first and Twenty-fourth Divisions. The two latter were at once hurried up into the firing line, the Twenty-first Division sending two brigades to Loos while the Twenty-fourth went to the Lens—La Bassée road.
Throughout that Sunday the fighting was very severe, and it was only with the greatest difficulty that we held on to Loos. The First Corps was also being strongly counter-attacked, and the quarries changed hands several times. All day the Crown Prince of Bavaria, who was in command of the army facing the British divisions, was engaged in bringing up reserves from other parts, and by next day he had strengthened his whole line. The German line ran from Auchy—La Bassée over comparatively flat country to the Vermelles—Hulluch road, where the ground became undulating and culminated in Hill 70.
Early on Monday the advance was renewed, but the Germans had started counter-attacking, and a confused struggle went on, with varying success. Several times our line gave way, only to be rallied and go forward again. We managed to maintain our ground on the right and centre of Hill 70, but on the extreme left the enemy pressed the line back towards Loos. In the meantime the 64th Brigade of the Twenty-fourth Division was being driven back and subjected to withering enfilade fire. The line from the Chalk Pit to the northern end of Hill 70 had to be abandoned, and Loos was thus left exposed to an attack from the north-east. A brigade of the Third Cavalry Division was then brought up to reinforce the hard-pressed troops who were holding Loos.
The Guards Division
The Guards Division arrived early on Sunday morning at Haillicourt, more than ten miles off, and marched through Noeux-les-Mines and Sailly-la-Bourse to Vermelles. For the first time since its creation the Guards Division was to go into action, and naturally, after the fame individual battalions had won in the earlier part of the war, a great deal was expected of it. All the troops were cheered by the news that the Division had arrived and was going in, but the situation had altered a good deal since the attack was first launched. All element of surprise had disappeared, and the Germans had had time to recover from the effects of the first blow and to collect reinforcements. It is doubtful whether the Guards Division ever had any real chance of succeeding in its attack. It had to start from old German trenches, the range of which the German artillery knew to an inch, while the effect of our own original artillery bombardment had died away.