22/09/2026
This September marks the 111th Anniversary of the Battle of Loos during WW1, and with it the baptism of fire for many of the battalions of Kitchener's New Army. Tens of thousands of the vast swathe of volunteers, who had joined en mass a year prior at the outbreak of the war, went over the top for the first time. Two of the New Army Divisions were the 9th Scottish Division and 15th Scottish Division entirely comprised of battalions from Scottish Regiments. Combined with Scottish battalions present within the Regular Divisions along with the Scottish Territorial units which had gone over to France as reinforcements, meant that 1 in 2 of the British battalions involved in the battle were of Scottish origin. This fact, along with the horrific casualties suffered and the resulting impacts on communities, has led to Loos often being referred to as “Scotland’s Somme”.
Over the next week, we shall be examining the experiences of the battalions in involved the battle from the regiments the museum covers. We shall begin with 5th Bn. Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders, 7th Bn. Seaforth Highlanders, and 9th Bn. (Pioneers) Seaforth Highlanders of 9th Scottish Division. All three battalions were of the New Army and, with being some of the first units of volunteers to have been raised, had the honour of being in the senior New Army Division, the first to have been sent to France.
In the short time they had been in France, the Highlanders had already been able to experience the trenches and learn more about the realities of warfare, but Loos was to be their first time going over the top, into a major assault. It wasn’t just them making their debut, the plan of attack included the first use of gas by the British in the war. The gas would be unleashed across no man’s land to assail the German line, a smoke screen would then be deployed, and the Highlanders would be close behind, their target the formidable Hohenzollern Redoubt, a maze of defences and interlocking trenches which had the potential to wreak havoc on any assault.
There were problems right from the start, German artillery fire caught some of the gas canisters before release, bursting them in the midst of the Highlander’s own trenches, worse much of the gas which was released blew backwards to their own lines due to the wind, resulting in many men choking before they had even a chance to fight. Donning their gas masks, the Highlanders went over the top into the green yellow smoke cloud. Visibility was hard enough as it was yet heavy breathing made the sockets on their gas masks steam up making orientation even more awkward, and then there was the German fire, it was chaos. With Officers going down, it was a difficult challenge for the debuting troops, yet it was one the Highlanders would rise to. 5th Camerons and 7th Seaforth assaulted the redoubt together. Pushing forward they fought their way through 7 German trench lines, taking the redoubt, before battling through the narrow streets of the village of Corons and taking Fosse 8, a looming tower of steel, and a sign of the prewar mining nature of the area.
It was an incredible achievement and after all their exertions, the Highlanders surely felt they had done more than enough to warrant a rest. During the night, they were relieved by the arriving 71st Brigade, also comprised of New Army troops. The next morning saw the 71st come under heavy German counterattack which threated to break the line. Resting in the rear, the Highlanders could hear the struggles of their comrades, after everything they had already experienced, one wouldn’t blame them for staying where they were, yet unordered, the Highlanders got up and headed to the firing line, many conducting a mass bayonet charge to plug an emerging gap, while others spread out to bolster positions. The welcome arrival of their Highland comrades steeled the 71st, under the stress of combat for the first time, and together the New Army battalions, all intermixed, held the line.
It should also be noted that during this entire time, the Pioneers of 9th Seaforth worked tirelessly in no man’s land, digging communication trenches to link up the British lines to the captured positions. The Pioneers were under near constant artillery fire and heavily exposed, even having to double as infantrymen to combat German units which got past the main line.
Kitchener’s New Army, doubted by many of the Regulars, had proved themselves worthy of the faith put in them. It had come at horrific cost however, 7th Seaforth suffered nearly 500 casualties during the battle and of the 820 men of 5th Camerons who went over the top, only 72 were left by the end, the rest either dead or wounded. For those that had survived the first battle, the loss of so many of those they joined up with, trained with and lived with for the last year, in just 2 days was a sobering experience indeed, the cherry optimism of August 1914 giving way to the harsh realities of the front.
If anyone has ancestors who served with 5th Camerons, 7th Seaforth and 9th Seaforth or their comrades at Loos in WW1, please do share your stories in the comments.
