“The K.S.L.I. can call on C Company The Buffs for support, if necessary, and the Y. and L. on D Company.

“Should the enemy drive us back and follow on, these two companies must counter-attack at once without hesitation.”

The battalion took its places at 6.30 p.m. on the 8th. A Company, so as to be ready to occupy the positions vacated by C and D should they be called upon to move up, and B Company remaining as battalion reserve. At 2.45 a.m. on the 9th the British bombardment opened and a terrific fire was brought to bear on the hostile lines. The infantry attack followed about 3.10, the assailants having already crept up close to the enemy’s lines, and the brave men from Yorkshire and Shropshire suffered pretty heavily, but were completely successful. D Company of the Buffs was called up to help by the York and Lancaster Regiment. The K.S.L.I. had rushed into the crater with great rapidity and found much hand-to-hand fighting to do when they got there. The telephone lines were soon useless, being cut to pieces by the incessant fire. In the small hours of the 10th August the Buffs were ordered to relieve both the York and Lancasters and the Shropshires. D Company, therefore, advanced obliquely to its right flank and took over the crater and half the recaptured line which belonged to its brigade, the remainder being occupied by A Company, under Captain Gould, who placed one platoon in support of both these advanced companies at H.12. C Company remained where it was and B, with Battalion Headquarters, came up to a ruined farm, a tactical point in the neighbourhood. Heavy shelling occurred during the night, but the expected German counter-attack did not eventuate. A and D Companies found great difficulty in getting into touch with friends on either flank. It is true that some troops of the neighbouring 18th Brigade had, during the previous day, got into the crater and stables, but these were themselves now adrift from their units.

Four machine guns had been placed at intervals along the whole front, and these, to judge by German prisoners’ letters, had a discouraging effect on the projected enemy counter-attack, but nevertheless the position occupied by the two forward Buff companies was very far from being a satisfactory or pleasant one: the trenches and crater were full of dead and wounded, chiefly German, but with many English, too, and this fact impeded free movement; shell fire was heavy and continuous, and the Heavy artillery enfilade fire from the direction of Hill 60 was in particular very annoying and dangerous; while the supply of bombs, food and water was precarious and difficult owing to the lack of proper communication trenches to the rear. The want of water was particularly felt, and made worse by the fact that the men were within easy sight and distance of the Bellewaarde Lake.

The night of the 10th/11th was a very busy one. Every kind of work was urgent and of great importance. The removal of the wounded was no easy task, and great praise was due to Captain Jones, the Buffs’ Medical Officer, who did wonders. Indeed, this officer was remarkable for his coolness and gallantry, and continued his business, though wounded twice himself, in a manner which has become a sort of tradition amongst our army doctors. He was admirably backed by the regimental stretcher-bearers. There were dead to be buried everywhere; there was no doubt in anyone’s mind of the urgency of this. Communications in rear were organized, the trenches were improved, and many other matters made this night a busy one. The night was, moreover, by no means peaceful. The German bombers were persistent and dangerous on the left of A Company, but a somewhat serious bomb attack just before midnight in this quarter was repelled by Captain Gould, though not without loss. D Company was also being heavily bombarded by high explosive and shrapnel, and Captain R. W. Homan was struck on the head and fatally wounded. He had exposed himself with great gallantry in organizing the defence, and his death was much felt. The 11th August passed like the previous day and was a strenuous one. There was abnormally heavy shelling. The parapets were destroyed both in A and D Companies’ portions of the line, and one shell, landing where the supporting platoon lay, demolished the telephone dug-out and destroyed the operators, but not the instrument. Pte. Wilson came forward and continued to work this, the nearest telephone to the firing line, and as from here all messages had to be carried, Corpl. Foote of A Company greatly distinguished himself at this task. D Company was under a most accurate fire this day, but was materially aided by the French artillery.

About 10 p.m. a violent bomb attack took place on the left of A Company, both from a small side trench on the left of ours, which was still in the enemy’s hands, and from Germans who had crawled out from their retained line in rear. These latter were made to suffer somewhat severely. 2nd Lieut. Ferguson led a counter-attack under somewhat critical circumstances and was twice wounded. However, the enemy’s attempt was repulsed, and at 11.30 a relief of the battalion was successfully accomplished under company arrangements, superintended by the commanding officer, Lt.-Colonel Finch Hatton, aided by Captain Lucas (second-in-command) and Lieut. Birrell (adjutant). The battalion retired to the ramparts of Ypres by the Menin Gate, having lost since the 5th of the month 25 killed, 162 wounded and 5 missing.

At this period not only the Buffs, but the 16th Brigade generally, were suffering badly from the lack of senior and experienced officers. A considerable period of routine work was now the fate of the battalion. As a rule, billets in or about Poperinghe alternated with trench duty, generally at La Brique. This trench duty continued to take its toll of casualties and was not without its deeds of daring, notably the rescue and bringing in of the body of Captain Colville of the Shropshire Light Infantry, who was killed in front of Forward Cottage near La Brique on the 21st September, 1915, for which act Lieut. Clouting and C.S.M. Baker received the M.C. and D.C.M. respectively.

II. Loos

In order to understand the parts taken in the battle of Loos by the 2nd, 6th and 8th Battalions of the Buffs, it would be well to have a general idea of why the battle was fought. Turning, therefore, to Sir John French’s despatches we find that after a serious consultation with General Joffre and a full discussion of the military situation it was arranged that the Allies should make a combined attack from certain points of their line during the last week in September.

Very many brave soldiers died in the prolonged and desperate struggle which followed, and which is known as the battle of Loos, though it was in reality a series of bloody combats. It still remains a question whether the British sacrifices there made were worth the results obtained.