The Battle of Loos took place from 25 September to 8 October 1915 in France on the Western Front, during the First World War. It was the biggest British attack of 1915, the first time that the British used poison gas and the first mass engagement of New Army units. The French and British tried to break through the German defences in Artois and Champagne and restore a war of movement. Despite improved methods, more ammunition and better equipment, the Franco-British attacks were largely contained by the Germans, except for local losses of ground. The British gas attack failed to neutralize the defenders and the artillery bombardment was too short to destroy the barbed wire or machine gun nests. German tactical defensive proficiency was still dramatically superior to the British offensive planning and doctrine, resulting in a British defeat.
General Frederic Augustus Thesiger, 2nd Baron Chelmsford, was a British Army officer who rose to prominence during the Anglo-Zulu War, when an expeditionary force under his command suffered a decisive defeat at the hands of a Zulu force at the Battle of Isandlwana in 1879. Despite this defeat, he was able to score several victories against the Zulus, culminating in the British victory at the Battle of Ulundi, which ended the war and partly restored his reputation in Britain.
General Sir Walter Norris Congreve,, was a British Army officer in the Second Boer War and the First World War, and Governor of Malta from 1924 to 1927. He received the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
Lieutenant General Sir George Tom Molesworth Bridges known as Sir Tom Bridges, was a British Army officer and the 19th Governor of South Australia.
Lieutenant General Sir Frederick William Stopford, was a British Army officer, best remembered for commanding the landing at Suvla Bay in August 1915, during the Gallipoli Campaign, where he failed to order an aggressive exploitation of the initially successful landings.
The Royal Berkshire Regiment (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1959. The regiment was created in 1881, as the Princess Charlotte of Wales's (Royal Berkshire Regiment), by the amalgamation of the 49th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) (Hertfordshire) Regiment of Foot and the 66th (Berkshire) Regiment of Foot. In 1921, it was renamed the Royal Berkshire Regiment (Princess Charlotte of Wales's).
Lieutenant General Samuel Holt Lomax, was a British Army officer who commanded the 1st Division during the early battles of the First World War. He was fatally wounded in action in October 1914 at the First Battle of Ypres, being one of the most senior British officers to die on active service during the war.
Major General George Handcock Thesiger, was a senior officer in the British Army during the First World War who was killed in action during the Battle of Loos by German shellfire. His career had encompassed military service in Egypt, South Africa, Ireland, British India and France and had been rewarded with membership in two chivalric orders.
Major General Sir Thompson Capper, was a highly decorated and senior British Army officer who served with distinction in the Second Boer War and was a divisional commander during the First World War. At the Battle of Loos in 1915, Capper was shot by a sniper as he reconnoitered the front line during an assault by his division on German positions. He died the next day in a casualty clearing station from wounds to both lungs; his grave is in the nearby Lillers Communal Cemetery.
Major-General Hubert Ion Wetherall Hamilton, was a senior British Army officer who served with distinction throughout his career, seeing battle in the Mahdist War in Egypt and the Second Boer War in South Africa, before being given command of the 3rd Division at the outbreak of the First World War. Just two and a half months later, at the height of the Race for the Sea, Hamilton was killed by artillery fire while surveying the front line, the first British divisional commander to be killed in action during the conflict. He had received several honours for his service and was popular amongst his men, who nicknamed him "Hammy" and expressed sorrow at his death; each regiment in his division despatched representatives to his funeral, despite being involved in heavy fighting less than a mile away.
Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick William Nicholas McCracken, was a British Army officer who saw regimental service in Africa during the late nineteenth century, and later held senior command during the First World War. He commanded an infantry brigade in the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) of 1914, was appointed to command 15th (Scottish) Division in the New Armies from 1915 to 1917, and then briefly commanded XIII Corps on the Western Front before being posted to a home command in the United Kingdom.
Sir John Lindesay Keir was a British soldier and general of the late 19th and early 20th century. He fought in the Second Boer War, and commanded the 6th Division and the VI Corps of the British Army on the Western Front during World War I.
Lieutenant General Sir Hew Dalrymple Fanshawe, was a British Army general of the First World War, who commanded V Corps on the Western Front and the 18th Indian Division in the Mesopotamian campaign. He was one of three brothers who all rose to command divisions or corps during the war.
Major-General Sir Archibald Paris, was a Royal Marine officer who commanded the Royal Naval Division in the First World War. His son, Brigadier Archibald Paris, served in the Second World War in Malaya.
Lieutenant General Sir Hugh Sandham Jeudwine, was a British Army officer who served as Director General of the Territorial Army from 1923 to 1927.
Brigadier-General Harry Townsend Fulton, was a British Indian Army officer who served with the New Zealand Military Forces during the Second Boer War and First World War.
Major-General Edward Charles Ingouville-Williams was a British Army officer of the First World War. He was killed in action while serving as commander of the 34th Division during the Battle of the Somme in July 1916.
Brigadier-General The Honourable John Frederick Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis,, known as 'Jack Tre', was a British Army officer in World War I. At the time of his death he was the youngest Brigadier-General in the British Army.
Brigadier-General Hon. Charles Strathavon Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, was a British Army officer in the Second Boer War and World War I.
Major-General Sir Archibald Buchanan Ritchie, KBE CB CMG was a British Army officer, who commanded the 11th (Northern) Division and 16th (Irish) Division during the First World War.
United Kingdom 
British Army 