Unwilling and Unready

Arguably the largest British-led action on the Western Front in 1915, the ill-fated Battle of Loos was a scrap the British did not want and were not ready for. Professor Peter Caddick -Adams examines the seeds of defeat

'THE CHARGE OF THE SCOTTISH REGIMENTS AT THE BATTLE OF LOOS', BY DUDLEY TENNANT, SHOWING SCOTS SOLDIERS OVERWHELMING GERMAN TRENCHES

UNIVERSAL IMAGES GROUP/GETTY

BRITISH VOLUNTEERS FOR "KITCHENER'S ARMY" WAITING IN THE CHURCHYARD OF ST MARTIN-IN-THE-FIELDS, TRAFALGAR SQUARE, LONDON. AUGUST 1914

OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPH

“I Jack Shipley of the 1st/5tam writing with very mixed feelings,” wrote Corporal South Staffords, a Midlands infantry battalion, to his parents in October 1915. “I cannot say what may happen, but whatever comes I shall not budge. If I do not return from the attack, think of me as doing my duty – not a slacker.”

If there is a ‘forgotten year’ of Western Front World War One studies, it is 1915. A German assault at the Second Battle of Ypres (April 22-May 25) was halted at great cost, despite the attackers’ use of weaponised gas for the first time.