“Hulluch. A village strung out along a small stream lying less than half a mile south-east of Cite St. Elie and three thousand yards north-east of Loos.
“Puits 14 Bis. Half a mile north of Hill 70; another coal mine possessing great possibilities for defence when taken in conjunction with a strong redoubt situated on the north-east side of Hill 70.”
The attack was admirably delivered, and it is noteworthy that a complete division of the new armies took a distinguished part in it. This was the 47th, a Scottish unit. Loos and Hill 70 were gained, and altogether the first day was a success and caused Field-Marshal French’s apprehension that a dangerous gap might occur between ourselves and the French to be considerably modified. He now ordered the Guards Division up from Nœux les Mines and the 28th to move south from Bailleul. At nightfall, after a heavy day’s fighting and numerous German counter-attacks, the line ran from the Double Crassier south of Loos by the western part of Hill 70 to the western exit of Hulluch, thence by the quarries and western end of Cite St. Elie, east of Fosse 8, back to the original line.
Our hold on Fosse 8, backed as it was by the strong defences and guns of Auchy, was distinctly precarious.
In the course of the night of 25th/26th September the enemy delivered a series of heavy counter-attacks along our new front, and near the Quarries they were more or less successful, though repulsed elsewhere.
On the 26th the 7th Division retook the Quarries, but attacks on Hulluch and on the redoubt on the east side of Hill 70 were anticipated by the enemy, who organized a very strong offensive from that direction. These attacks drove on the advanced troops of the 21st and 24th Divisions (in the latter of which the 8th Buffs were serving) which were then moving forward to attack. Sir John French adds these words: “Reports regarding this portion of the action are very conflicting, and it is not possible to form an entirely just appreciation of what occurred on this part of the field.”
During the 29th and 30th September and the early days of October, fighting was almost continuous along the northern part of the new line, particularly about the Hohenzollern Redoubt and neighbouring trenches, to which the enemy evidently attached great value. His attacks, however, almost invariably broke down with very heavy loss under the accurate fire of our infantry and artillery. Nevertheless, the enemy recaptured part of the Hohenzollern Redoubt on the 3rd October. There was particularly severe fighting in this direction on the 8th and 9th, the hostile attack being repulsed with enormous loss. The Commander-in-Chief reports in his despatches that we attacked about noon on the 13th October, with troops of the 11th and 4th Corps, against Fosse No. 8, the Quarries and the German trenches on the Lens-La Bassee road. The objective of the 12th Division (in which were serving the 6th Buffs) was the Quarries.
The day began with an artillery bombardment of the objectives in which the French assisted. Shortly before the attack was launched at 2 p.m. smoke was turned on all along our front, and under cover of this smoke the attack was started. At the same time the heavy artillery lifted to further objectives, while the enemy’s front trench system was subjected to shrapnel fire. At 2.45 the 4th Corps reported having captured 1,200 yards of trenches on the Lens-La Bassee road, but as the left battalion of the corps had failed, the Corps Commander did not consider it practicable to undertake any further offensive towards Hulluch. The information received during the remainder of the day was very conflicting, though it was known that one battalion of the 12th Division had gained the south-west edge of the Quarries. In the course of the next two days the whole attack died down without attaining the objective aimed at, and the situation on that part of the line remained much the same for some considerable time.
III. 8th Battalion
The 8th Battalion of the Buffs, under Colonel Romer, C.B., C.M.G., landed in France, as we have seen, on the 1st September, or twenty-four days only before the battle of Loos. After two days at Boulogne it went into billets at Maninghem, near Etaples, and there remained a fortnight, completing divisional training, and marching on the 21st to take part in the concentration prior to the battle of Loos with the rest of the 72nd Brigade, which was commanded by Br.-General B. M. Mitford, C.B., D.S.O., himself an old Buff. The march to Bethune, which was reached in the very early morning of the 25th September, was a trying one done by night, mostly over bad roads. On the second night no less than twenty-two miles were covered and the Buffs recorded only one man as falling out. Other battalions had many more—even as many as two hundred.