James Aitken

Killed in Action on the 25/09/1915 at Cambrin on the opening day of the Battle of Loos

Grave Reference - (G.4)

The Battalion arrived in Boulogne on the 14/14/1914 and were part of the 19th Infantry Brigade, 2nd Division when James fell. James arrived in France on the 23/02/1915. The Battalion were in billets at L'Armee on that day.

The Battle of Loos - 6.00am : A diversionary attack north of the La Bassee canal at Givenchy was launched by elements of 2nd Division. At first, the advancing Battalions moved easily past well-cut wire and into the German front trench which they found evacuated. Approaching the second line they were assailed by machine-gun fire and forced to take cover. Shortly after, they were counter-attacked and were among the first units this day to discover that German grenades were much more effective than British ones when it came to close-quarter fighting. Later that day the leftmost 2nd Division attack along both banks of the La Bassee canal met with no success at all, at a very heavy cost in casualties. Its role was to create a protective flank to enable the 9th Division on the right to move forward unimpeded by fire or counterattack from the canal area. On the front of 19th Brigade, South of the canal, two large mines were blown by 173rd Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers ten minutes before zero, which had the effect of putting the enemy on full alert. Here too the gas blew back into the trenches, and men fell. As the infantry advanced, they were forced to bunch together to avoid the craters and were mown down by concentrated machine-gun fire as they did so. The enemy were seen to stand on their parapets in order to take advantage of such an easy target. By 9.00am it was clear that no progress was going to be made, and Brigade gave orders to withdraw to the original front lines. Men of the 1st Middlesex Battalion could not from no mans land and took whatever cover the could until dark. Some men of the 2nd Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders Battalion occupied an empty German trench, but only 11 returned at night, the rest having been killed or captured. They were part of the first wave of the 19th Brigade, on the Cambrin road.

The Battle from the 25th September - 15th October 1915 was the first genuinely large scale British offensive action but once again only in a supporting role to a larger French attack in the Third Battle of Artois. British appeals that the ground over which they were being called upon to advance was wholly unsuitable were rejected. The Battle is historically noteworthy for the first British use of poison gas.

Scottish Regiments lost a huge amount of brave men at Loos

Here is a list of Infantry Battalions who lost more than 500 men at the Battle of Loos from 25/09/1915 to 16/10/1915:- 7th (Service) Battalion Cameron Highlanders (687, of which 19 were Officers), 9th (Service) Battalion Black Watch (680, of which 20 were Officers), 6th (Service) Battalion King's Own Scottish Borderers (650, of which 20 were Officers), 10th (Service) Battalion Highland Light Infantry (648, of which 20 were Officers), 7th (Service) Battalion King's Own Scottish Borderers (631, of which 20 were Officers),8th (Service) Battalion Devonshire Regiment (619, of which 19 were Officers), 8th (Service) Battalion Royal West Kent Regiment (580, of which 24 were Officers), 8th (Service) Battalion Buffs (East Kent Regiment) (558, of which 24 were Officers), 12th (Service) Battalion Highland Light Infantry (553, of which 23 were Officers),8th (Service) Battalion Black Watch (511, of which 19 were Officers), 1/5th Battalion North Staffordshire Regiment (505, of which 20 were Officers), 8th (Service) Battalion Seaforth Highlanders (502, of which 23 were Officers).

The 2nd Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders lost 330, of which 15 were Officers.

James was 1 of 99 men remembered on the Coatbridge Memorial who fell during and from injuries from the Battle of Loos. I personally visited James' grave in Cambrin Churchyard Extension in July 2023 and placed a Poppy Cross at his resting place. The Poppy Cross has a picture of James, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders Cap Badge and the words "L/CPL JAMES AITKEN, FROM FELLOW COATBRIDGE MEN, LEST WE FORGET". James' Grave Inscription reads "THY WILL BE DONE".

One of the photos of Andrew's headstone was kindly donated by Mick McCann at the British War Graves website who supply grave photos from around the world FREE OF CHARGE. Mick was a huge help when I started out researching the men and kindly sent me photos of many men's headstones and names on Memorials.

One of the photos of Andrew's headstone with Poppy attached was kindly donated by my friend in France, Thierry Dericbourg who has personally travelled to many Cemeteries and Memorials all over France taking photos of where the men who left for war from Coatbridge lie or are remembered on Memorials.