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battle of loos
11
PURE HELL
To the south, Scotland’s two New
Army Divisions would take a leading
role in the main assault. The 9th
(Scottish) Division was tasked with
capturing a series of heavily defended
German positions beginning with the
formidable Hohenzollern Redoubt.
Only two hundred yards from the Scots’ trenches and set forward
from the German front line, the Redoubt had a commanding view
over No Man’s Land both north and south. To the left, 28th
Brigade, comprising the 10th Highland Light Infantry and 6th
King’s Own Scottish Borderers, with 9th Cameronians and 11th
Highland Light Infantry in close support, came under withering
machine gun fire as soon as the leading battalions crossed
the parapet. Finding the German barbed wire intact, and with
casualties mounting, there was no option but to withdraw.
Loos Battleground