took place just north of the town of Loos when the germans launched an attack against

the 16th Irish Division. Through most of 1915 Loos had seen bitter fighting with both sides suffering terrible casualties. The 16th Irish were part of the British 19th Corps. The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers on the night of the 27th suffered a heavily concentrated German chlorine gad attack near the German held village of Hulluch, a mile north of Loos. The Germans began the attackby first releasing smoke, followed by gas one and a half hours later. This subterfuge caused many of the troops in the line to dispense with their Phenate-Hexamine Goggle helmets after the smoke was released, resulting in heavy casualties during the actual attack. Other units of the 16th Irish Division, including the Royal Irish Rifles, the Royal Munster Fusiliers and the Royal Dublin Fusiliers were called to stem the German attack. On the 29th, the Germans attacked with gas again, but this time the wind changed direction blowing the gas back upon the attackers, crippling and killing a great number. Hulluch was one of the most heavily concentrated gas attacks of the war.

* On researching this offensive i could not really find a great deal of information so delved into my own collection of ' old books ' and found two very interesting refrences to this battle that were written during the Great War itself ( The books themselves were printed during the Great War ) It is important to remember that these articles were written in the style and atmosphere of the time. This is probably the first time that these accounts have been published on a website referring to the Irish in action at Hulluch. The first account starts:

" For the next noteworthy incident along the British Front Line, the scene shifts to the dreary field of Loos, where the endless battle was still raging round such vital points as the Hohenzollern Redoubt, the Quarries, and Hulluch. Here in the hour of Loyal Ireland's anguish, when Dublin was in the throes of the Sinn Fein rebellion, the Germans chose to make an attack on the 16th Irish Division, holding the British Line between Hulluch and Vermelles. They had already insulted the Munsters and other Irish regiments by hoisting placards announcing the pitiful outbreak in Dublin as a national revolution, and calling on the troops to desert the British Lines.
A letter to Mr John Redmond from his brother William Redmond, while serving with one of the Irish regiments at the front, relates how the Irishmen responded:-
" The Germans in the trenches opposite certain Irish regiments ( he writes ) put up the following notices:

' Irishmen! In Ireland revolution
English guns are firing on your wives
Children. The English Military Bill
Has been refused. Sir Roger Casement
Is being persecuted. Throw away your arms
We give you a hearty welcome '.

' We are Saxons. If you dont fire, we won't ' .

' Irishmen! Heavy uproar in Ireland,
English guns are firing on your wives and children '

The Irishmen replied by singing Irish airs and ' Rule Britannia ! ' to the accompaniment of mouth organs and melodeons. The Munsters at one point determined to avenge the insult by capturing the placards, two officers with twenty five men crawling out after dark towards the enemy's trenches for that purpose. All went well for a time. They cut their own wire, and crawled stealthily half-way across No Man's Land: but were the discovered by the German search lights . Machine guns were immediately trained in their direction.

Some men were hit. All lay perfectly still for hours. Then gradually they resumed their perilous mission; cut through the enemy's wire entanglements and leapt in the dark among the astounded Germans who promply turned and fled. It was not long before the placards were in the Irishmen's hands and borne back in triumph to their trenches, bearing marks of the bullets which they had already been subjected even before the raid had been decided on. They were sent to London for safe custody to form part of the regiment's collection of war trophies. Perhaps it was in revenge for this ungrateful conduct that all their benevolent planning and scheming on Ireland's behalf that the Germans chose the Irish lines for their gas attack at dawn on April 27th in the same neighbourhood. Unluckily for themselves they picked out battalions of the Royal Irish and Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, regiments which had won undying honour not only on the fields of France and Flanders but also in Gallipoli and the Balkans. With such inspiring records behind them the two battalaions of these famous regiments in the 16th Irish Division ( Second New Army ) now winning their spurs side by side in the trenches near Hulluch, were not likely to fail. Nor did they. The poison gas came pouring thickly and suddenly into their trenches at daybreak, but the Irishmen were ready for it, as well as for the infantry assualt, while the enemy's artillery cut them off by a ' barrage ' or curtain, of lachrymatory and other shells extending for a considerable distance over the support and reserve lines. The infantry attack did not mature until after an unaccountable delay of some two hours and a further discharge of gas. On the right it crumpled up at once under the Irishmen's annihilating fire. Only a few survivors returned unwounded to their trenche. On the left where the enemy's concentrated artillery fire had pounded the trench and parapets to pieces he succeeded for a time in hurling himself through the gap but only for a time. A counter-attack was immediately organized and within half an hour the only live Germans in the British trenches were either wounded or prisoners.
A similar attack in the same region was made two days later and was equally unsuccessful. On this occasion after formidable prelimanaries only a small assault was attempted and was easily repulsed. " the more serious advance which appears to have been intended " writes Sir Douglas Haig " was probably rendered impossible by the fact that a part of the enemy's gas broke back over his own lines, to the visible confusion of his troops, who were massing for the attack " Their lossesboth from this cause and our artillery must have been considerable judging from the number of ambulances seen coming up to Hulluch. Behind the enem's line the ground was found to be coloured by gas on a front of about 1000 yards to a depth of some 3000 yards.

Above, aerial view of a gas attack being unleashed from the German front line trenches.