The Battle of Loos Remembrance Trail

This self-guided route will take you across the battlefields of Loos, visiting some of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) cemeteries where many of those killed in the battle lie buried.

At each site, an information panel will help you to discover more about the battle and the experiences of those who fought it.

The Loos battlefield is located just north of the A21 / Lens ring road, between Lens, La Bassée and Béthune. It is within 30 minutes driving time from Lille and Arras.

Loos is easily accessible by car from the Calais ferry port or the Eurotunnel terminal. Travel time is around one hour (60 miles).

This trail has been designed to be visited in sequence. The total distance covered is less than 20 miles, with an approximate total driving time of around one hour. Our suggestion is to spend the day exploring these sites.

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Our cemeteries and memorials are evocative and moving settings to experience the battlefields and reflect on the experiences and sacrifices of those we commemorate.

Look out for the distinctive green and white CWGC road signs. They will help you find our sites.

Visiting Our Sites

Most cemeteries and memorials have a Register Box, which contain a register listing the names of those buried or commemorated, a plan of the site and a Visitors’ Book. Please feel free to leave a personal message.

A common architectural focal point is the Cross of Sacrifice. Designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield, this reflects the faith of the majority.

In our larger sites you will find a Stone of Remembrance. Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, this secular ‘altar’ is inscribed with words chosen by Rudyard Kipling: ‘Their Name Liveth for Evermore.’

The nature of the fighting here meant that many of the dead could not be recovered until after the war was over, more than three years later. The headstones of those who could not be identified bear the inscription ‘Known Unto God’, and their names are inscribed on the Loos Memorial at Dud Corner Cemetery, where this tour ends.

Please be aware that there are no amenities at CWGC sites. Each has parking facilities nearby, but when leaving your vehicle always take sensible precautions and do not leave valuables visible inside.

Our War Graves App is a great tool for finding our sites. Download it for free at http://www.cwgc.org/app

In September 1915 the French and British armies launched a major offensive on the Western Front, intending to break through enemy lines and strike a decisive blow against the German army. While French forces attacked in Champagne and Artois, the British First Army would attack along a ten-kilometre front between Loos and La Bassée. This would be the British army’s largest effort of the war so far, with 75,000 men involved on the first day alone. It became known at the time as ‘the Big Push.’

The industrialised mining area around Loos was difficult terrain for an offensive. The ground was flat and open, easily swept by machine-gun fire, the many pit heads and spoil heaps providing

The Battle of Loos: September – October 1915

defensive positions which were heavily fortified by the Germans. Many British army battalions were formed of inexperienced wartime volunteers, and their supporting artillery was short of heavy guns and shells. To compensate, the British would use poison gas for the first time.

On the morning of 25 September 1915, after a four-day artillery bombardment, six divisions attacked through clouds of smoke and gas. In the north of the battlefield, the gas hindered the attack of the 2nd Division along the La Bassée Canal, and it was driven back with heavy casualties. In the centre, the 9th (Scottish) Division managed to seize the formidable Hohenzollern Redoubt and the vital observation point of Fosse 8, while the 7th and 1st Divisions battled forward towards the Lens-La Bassée Road, with some units reaching the village of Hulluch. In the south, the gas had been more successful and the 47th (London) Division reached the distinctive spoil heaps known as the Double Crassier, while the 15th (Scottish) Division swept through the village of Loos and on to the stronghold of Hill 70.

By nightfall, reserves were urgently needed to exploit the gains. But by the time the 21st and 24th Divisions saw action the following day, they were already exhausted by a long march, and German reinforcements were counter-attacking. Despite hard fighting, the British reserves suffered heavy casualties and were driven back, until the arrival of the Guards Division stabilised the position. Fosse 8 and the Hohenzollern Redoubt were lost over the following days, and an attempt to regain them on 13 October by the 46th (North Midland), 12th (Eastern) and 1st Divisions ended in failure.

The Battle of Loos was part of the final attempt by Franco-British forces to push the German Army out of France before the onset of winter in 1915. Sir John French, the Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force, was recalled shortly after the battle, to be replaced by Sir Douglas Haig. The casualties on 25 September were the worst yet suffered in a single day by the British army, including some 8,500 dead. In total, the battle resulted in casualties of over 50,000, of whom some 16,000 lost their lives.

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Guards Cemetery, Windy Corner

Cambrin Military Cemetery

Cambrin Churchyard Extension

Quarry Cemetery

St. Mary’s A.D.S. Cemetery

Ninth Avenue Cemetery

Loos British Cemetery

Maroc British Cemetery

Philosophe British Cemetery

Dud Corner Cemetery

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Extra Visit Sites:

Vermelles British Cemetery

Bois-Carre Military Cemetery

St. Patrick’s Cemetery, Loos

Directions:From Calais: Take the E15/A26 motorway in the direction of Arras and Paris and exit at Junction 6 towards Bethune. Keep on the D941 (signposted towards Lille) and follow signs for La Bassee. You will go through Cambrin, and on leaving the village you will see a large petrol station on the right. At the roundabout, take the 2nd exit on the D166 towards Cuinchy. You will pass green CWGC signposts on your right marked Woburn Abbey and Cuinchy Communal Cemetery. After crossing the bridge over the La Bassée Canal you will come to a crossroads with a green CWGC sign for Guards Cemetery. Turn left on to Rue Marcelin Berthelot. The cemetery is 100 yards along on the right.

GPS: 50.52880 2.74165

To turn around more easily, follow the road for 400 yards

Guards Cemetery, Windy CornerJust to the east of here in 1915 was a crossroads which came under frequent fire from German artillery, and became known to British troops as ‘Windy Corner.’ This cemetery was begun in January 1915, and the original graves can be found in Plots I, II and III. It was greatly enlarged after the war with graves brought from smaller cemeteries and battlefields nearby, including those of men killed during the battles of Aubers Ridge and Festubert in May 1915.

Look for :

Rows of adjacent headstones near to the entrance which mark the graves of men of the Highland Light Infantry who died on the first day of the Battle of Loos.

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Cambrin Military CemeteryIn 1915 this was known as ‘Chateau Cemetery’, due to its location behind the mayor’s house. It was never more than a kilometre behind the front line for most of the war. On 25 September, British troops launched their assault from positions just to the east of here, some of them enveloped by their own gas cloud while waiting to attack.

Look for :

Row D, where more than 50 men of The King’s (Liverpool Regiment) who died on the first day of the battle are among those laid to rest.

Directions:Turn around and go back to the crossroads. Turn right and go back over the bridge to the D941. Turn right at the roundabout, and after 250 yards you will see a green CWGC sign marked Cambrin Churchyard. Turn left onto the Rue de Noyelles towards the centre of the village. Cambrin church is on the left just after the war memorial. Park in the large car park here. Walk back towards the main road along the small street opposite the car park and cross the road. There is a green CWGC marked Cambrin Military Cemetery. Follow the path for 400 yards.

GPS: 50.51013 2.74138 Travel Time: 5 minutes

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Cambrin Churchyard ExtensionThe churchyard at Cambrin was first used to bury soldiers by the French army – the graves of French soldiers are marked here today by crosses. Within range of German artillery, the church suffered severe damage from shell fire. The spoil heaps of the famous ‘Double Crassier’ can be seen to the south. A familiar landmark in 1915 – although smaller at that time – they marked the southern edge of the British attack.

Look for :

Headstones that are very close together, some touching, marking the graves of soldiers from the Highland Light Infantry, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, the Middlesex Regiment, and the South Wales Borderers. Touching headstones often indicate a trench burial rather than individually dug graves.

Directions:Return to the car park and enter the churchyard through the metal gates. Walk through the civil memorials to the right, along the gravel path, and take the steps leading down to the war plot.Cambrin Churchyard Extension is open during working hours (08:00 - 18:00). If visitors find the gates locked during these times, please contact the Marie de Cambrin at:

94 bis boulevard Louis Lesage 62149 CAMBRIN

Tel: +33 (0) 321 63 26 63

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Quarry CemeteryOnly around 500 metres to the east of here was the formidable German strongpoint known as the Hohenzollern Redoubt. A labyrinth of trenches and machine-gun posts, it protected an important German artillery observation point known as Fosse 8, and was considered to be one of the strongest positions on the entire Western Front in 1915. This was where the 9th (Scottish) Division attacked on 25 September.

Look for :

Headstones bearing the inscription ‘buried near this spot’. This area regularly came under fire which destroyed many original grave markers, so today the precise locations of over half the graves here are unknown.

Directions:Turn left out of the car park and continue along the D166 leading away from the village. After one mile, turn left onto a narrow unsigned road towards Vermelles. At the mini-roundabout, take the 2nd exit. On reaching the centre of the village, turn right at the junction and then take the 2nd exit at both roundabouts onto the D39 for Wingles and Hulluch. On reaching a sharp right bend continue straight ahead along Rue Voltaire. The road becomes narrower: beware of approaching traffic. After one mile you will see a track to the right marked with a green CWGC sign for Quarry Cemetery. Follow the track and park in front of the cemetery.


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St. Mary’s A.D.S. CemeteryOn the morning of 25 September, this area was captured by the British 1st Division. An Advanced Dressing Station (ADS) was established here to care for those wounded close by, named after St. Mary’s Hospital in London where many of its staff had trained. To the east is the town of Hulluch, reached by scouting parties of the Cameron Highlanders – the furthest advance by any British forces during the battle.

Look for :

The inscription devised by Rudyard Kipling for the graves of men who could not be identified: ‘A Soldier of the Great War, Known Unto God’. The names of those buried beneath these headstones are inscribed on Memorials to the Missing. Rudyard’s son, John Kipling, is commemorated here (Plot VII, Row D, Grave 2).

Directions:Return to the road and turn left towards Vermelles. At the crossroads, turn left towards Hulluch on the D39. After 2 miles you will see the cemetery on your right. Park in front.


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Ninth Avenue CemeteryA British trench known as ‘Ninth Avenue’ ran across what is now the northern side of this cemetery. A large shell hole served as a grave for the dead of the battalions who held this position in late September. Of the 46 commemorated here are 42 men of the 1st Battalion, The Cameron Highlanders, all of whom died during the battle in September 1915.

Look for :

The unusual stone in front of the Cross of Sacrifice marked ‘Grave No. 5’, the original name of the site.

Extra Visit : The track continues to Bois-Carre Military Cemetery. Although most of those laid to rest there died in 1916, several of the men buried in Plot A died during the Battle of Loos.

Directions:The next site is located behind St Mary’s ADS, along a track 200 yards further down the main road. Please be aware that the track is uneven and turning is restricted. Alternatively, you can leave your vehicle at St Mary’s ADS and walk the short distance to the track and then to the cemetery.

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Loos British CemeteryIn 1915, this area was dominated by a huge spoil heap known as the Loos Crassier and a distinctive mining structure known to the British as ‘Tower Bridge’. Nearby Hill 70 – about a kilometre to the east – was a key position on the Loos battlefield, briefly reached by British forces on 25 September before they were driven back. More than 2,000 of the 2,800 graves here are unidentified. Most are believed to have died during the Battle of Loos.

Look for :

Canadian graves - Hill 70 would not be captured and held until 1917, when the Canadian Corps first began this cemetery. Some 450 of those laid to rest here fought with Canadian forces.

Extra Visit : St. Patrick’s CemeteryLocated in Loos, you will pass this cemetery en-route to the next site. It was begun in the winter of 1915 by French and British aid posts. Look for men of the Irish battalions who held the line here in the summer of 1916.

Directions:Continue along the D39 towards Hulluch. At the roundabout, take the first exit onto D947 towards Loos-en-Gohelle. After one mile take the D165 into Loos-en-Gohelle. At the roundabout, take the 4th exit onto Rue Roger Salengro. Continue over the small mini roundabout and the road starts to rise uphill. The cemetery is on the left hand side, with layby parking in front of the gates.


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Maroc British CemeteryOne of the most southerly cemeteries on the former battlefield, this was close to where the French and British sectors met, and the site was first used in August 1915 by the field ambulance units of both forces. The French graves here are a powerful reminder of the Allied forces with which the British army fought. Former enemies are also commemorated here: among the graves are those of some 23 German soldiers.

Look for :

An distinctive plot marked by a single stone, which stands above the graves of 87 men of the 1st/6th Battalion of the London Regiment (City of London Rifles).

Directions:Drive back down the hill into Loos-en-Gohelle and cross the mini roundabout. At the main roundabout take the 3rd exit onto Rue Alexandre Maniez. You will see the green CWGC sign for St Patrick’s Cemetery. Follow the road, and St Patrick’s will be on the right. At the crossroads with D943, turn right and then after 100 yards you will come to a roundabout. Take the third exit onto D165 towards Grenay. Cross the next roundabout and the cemetery is approximately one mile further on the right hand side. There are dedicated parking bays on the curb.


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Directions:From Maroc, follow the road for a quarter of a mile and take the first right onto Rue André Dupire. Go straight over the crossroads and then branch left at the end of the road onto the Rue du Périgord. At the end of the road, turn right onto Rue Arthur Lamendin (D165/E1). After 2 miles you will reach Mazingarbe and the green CWGC sign for Philosophe British Cemetery. Turn left onto the track and park outside the entrance to the cemetery.


Extra Visit : After visiting Philosophe Cemetery, you may wish to continue into Vermelles to visit Vermelles British Cemetery. The chateau here was used as a dressing station during the battle, and many of the graves in Plot I date from that time.

Philosophe British CemeteryBegun in August 1915, this was first used as a burial place by medical units stationed in the cellar of a nearby brewery. In the early hours of 26 September 1915, men of the 21st and 24th Divisions – the ill-fated reserves – passed nearby on their way to the front line. Many of the graves are a reminder that this area continued to see heavy fighting. Among those buried here are men of the 16th (Irish) Division who held the line in this sector in 1916. Others died in 1917, when the area around Lens saw heavy fighting in preparation for the taking of Hill 70 in August.

Look for :

Plot III and IV, and the graves of men of the 9th Battalion, The Black Watch, who died on 25 September 1915 while assaulting the Lens Road Redoubt – now the location of Dud Corner Cemetery and the Loos Memorial. The spoil heap which is visible from this cemetery was used as an observation post during the fighting.

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Dud Corner Cemetery & The Loos MemorialThis was the site of a German strong point – the Lens Road Redoubt – which was captured by the 15th (Scottish) Division on 25 September 1915. The name ‘Dud Corner’ came from the large number of unexploded shells found when the area was cleared to create the cemetery after the end of the First World War. The Loos Memorial, designed by Sir Herbert Baker with sculpture by Charles Wheeler, was unveiled on 4 August 1930, and bears the names of more than 20,000 servicemen who died in this sector during the First World War and have no known grave.

Look for :

Stairs which lead up to the roof of the shelter building. The view is a panorama of the battlefield: to the north-east is St Mary’s ADS Cemetery, to the south-east is the village of Loos and the rise of Hill 70 beyond, and to the south-west is the Double Crassier.

Directions:Return to the main road and turn left. At the junction with the D943, turn right and cross over a roundabout. Follow the road and you will see Dud Corner and Loos Memorial on your left. There is a roundabout a quarter of a mile further down the road: turn around here and return to the cemetery, parking in the layby on the right.


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T H E I R N A M E L I V E T H F O R E V E R M O R E

T H E I R N A M E L I V E T H F O R E V E R M O R E

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission

(CWGC) is responsible for the commemoration

of almost 1,700,000 members of the

Commonwealth forces who gave their lives in

the two world wars. The graves and memorials

of these men and women, who came from all

par ts of the Commonwealth and who were of

many faiths and of none, are found around the

globe in 154 countries.

Enquiries on the location of individual burials or

commemorations can be directed to the offices

below or to the Commission’s website at

www.cwgc.org where there is an online

searchable database.

Commonwealth War Graves CommissionWestern Europe Area

France OfficeTel: +33 (0) 3 21 21 77 00 Belgium OfficeTel: +32 (0) 57 22 36 36Email: [email protected]

Documents

The Battle of Loos Remembrance Trail