Hulluch

The Gas Attacks at Hulluch were two German cloud gas attacks on British troops during World War I, from 27 to 29 April 1916, near the village of Hulluch, 1 mi (1.6 km) north of Loos in northern France. The gas attacks were part of an engagement between divisions of the II Royal Bavarian Corps and divisions of the British I Corps. Just before dawn on 27 April, the 16th (Irish) Division and part of the 15th (Scottish) Division were subjected to a cloud gas attack near Hulluch. The gas cloud and artillery bombardment were followed by raiding parties, which made temporary lodgements in the British lines. Two days later the Germans began another gas attack but the wind turned and blew the gas back over the German lines. A large number of German casualties were caused by the change in the wind direction and the decision to go ahead despite protests by local officers. German casualties were increased by the British, who fired on German soldiers as they fled in the open. The gas used by the German troops at Hulluch was a mixture of chlorine and phosgene, which had first been used on 19 December 1915 at Wieltje, near Ypres. The German gas was of sufficient concentration to penetrate the British PH gas helmets and the 16th (Irish) Division was unjustly blamed for poor gas discipline. It was put out that the gas helmets of the division were of inferior manufacture, to allay doubts as to the effectiveness of the helmet. Production of the Small Box Respirator, which had worked well during the attack, was accelerated.

Bénifontaine (French pronunciation: [benifɔ̃tɛn]) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region in northern France.

Haisnes (French pronunciation: [ɛn]) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France.

Douvrin (French pronunciation: [duvʁɛ̃]; West Flemish: Doverin) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France.

The Canton of Douvrin is one of the cantons of the arrondissement of Béthune, in the Pas-de-Calais department, in northern France. Its seat is the town Douvrin.

The Canton of Wingles is a canton of France, located in the Pas-de-Calais department, in the Hauts-de-France region.

The Hohenzollern Redoubt action, 2–18 March 1916 was fought on the Western Front during the First World War. The Hohenzollern Redoubt was a German defensive position north of Loos-en-Gohelle (Loos), a mining town north-west of Lens in France. The Redoubt was fought over by the British and German armies from the Battle of Loos (25 September – 8 October 1915) to the beginning of the Battle of the Somme on 1 July 1916. Over the winter of 1915–1916, the 170th Tunnelling Company RE dug several galleries under the German lines in the area of the redoubt, which had changed hands several times since September 1915. In March 1916, the west side was held by the British and the east side was occupied by the Germans, with the front near a new German trench known as The Chord. No man's land had become a crater field and the Germans had an unobstructed view of the British positions from the Fosse 8 slag heap. The British front line was held by outposts to reduce the number of troops vulnerable to mine explosions and the strain of knowing that the ground could erupt at any moment. The 12th (Eastern) Division was selected to conduct an attack to capture the crater field, gain observation from crater lips over the German defences back to Fosse 8 and end the threat of German mine attacks. Four mines, the largest yet sprung by the British, were detonated on 2 March and followed up by two battalions of infantry, which captured the new craters, several German occupied craters, Triangle Crater which had not been seen until it was overrun and a large length of The Chord, most of the rest being obliterated in the explosions. The main entrance of the German mine galleries was discovered in Triangle Crater and the 170th Tunnelling Company RE crossed no man's land to demolish the entrance. German counter-attacks concentrated on the recovery of Triangle Crater, which was re-captured on 4 March. The recovery by the Germans of the gallery entrance threatened the positions captured by the British, who attacked Triangle Crater on 6 March and were repulsed. The British tunnellers got into the German gallery system from a British tunnel and were able to demolish the system on 12 March, which relieved the threat of another German mine attack. Skirmishing around the craters diminished and it was thought that the Germans were concentrating on consolidating new positions. On 18 March, the Germans surprised the British with five mines which had been quietly dug through the clay layer above the chalk. The German attack had nearly as much success as that of the British on 2 March, forcing them back to the original front line, before local counter-attacks regained some of the craters. When the fighting died down after 19 March, both sides occupied the near lips of the craters. Brigadier-General Albemarle Cator, the 37th Brigade commander, recommended that attempts to occupy craters should end and the near lips be held instead, because craters were death traps against howitzer and mortar fire; observation from the crater lip was obstructed by its convex shape and the large lumps of chalk brought to the surface by the explosions.

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 in the north and Champagne at the south end of the Noyon Salient and restore a war of movement. Despite improved methods, more ammunition, better equipment and gas, the Franco-British attacks were contained by the Germans, except for local losses of ground. The British gas attack failed sufficiently to neutralise the defenders and the artillery bombardment was too short to destroy barbed wire and machine gun nests. German defensive fortifications and tactics could not be overcome by the British who were still assembling a mass army suitable for Western Front conditions.

Loos-en-Gohelle is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France.

Wingles (French pronunciation: [vɛ̃ɡl]) is a commune of the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France.

The canton of Lens-Nord-Ouest is a former canton situated in the department of the Pas-de-Calais and in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of northern France. It was disbanded following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015. It had a total of 16,928 inhabitants (2012).

The Battle of La Bassée was fought by German and Franco-British forces in northern France in October 1914, during reciprocal attempts by the contending armies to envelop the northern flank of their opponent, which has been called the Race to the Sea. The 6th Army took Lille before a British force could secure the town and the 4th Army attacked the exposed British flank further north at Ypres. The British were driven back and the German army occupied La Bassée and Neuve Chapelle. Around 15 October, the British recaptured Givenchy-lès-la-Bassée but failed to recover La Bassée. German reinforcements arrived and regained the initiative, until the arrival of the Lahore Division, part of the Indian Corps. The British repulsed German attacks until early November, after which both sides concentrated their resources on the First Battle of Ypres. The battle at La Bassée was reduced to local operations. In late January and early February 1915, German and British troops conducted raids and local attacks in the Affairs of Cuinchy, which took place at Givenchy-lès-la-Bassée and just south of La Bassée Canal, leaving the front line little changed.