240704 G. Wilfred Foster British Army 47th Field Ambulance Royal Army Medical Corps Dvr. G. Wilfred Foster, 47th Field Ambulance, RAMC wrote of Loos "At six-thirty the Guns ceased, ten minutes later the boys mounted the trench, some mad with excitement others half drunk with Rum they had given them to raise they [sic] spirits, but very few went far, they were mowed down, with heavy explosives, whizz-bangs, and terrible Machine Gun fire... Two hours later they were in Loos, having taken the Towers and the village and still advancing. It was at this point that our Guns Killed Hundreds of our own men, and that the Horse Ambulances where called on the battle field, a sight which I never hope to see again, there were Hundreds calling for us but we could not do anything to help them...the Enemy Observation saw us, immediately We were set at a Gallop but was caught, over came three High Explosives all together and smashed us up, with the exception of three... We loaded our Wagons, twenty-five in Each than waited until three Artillery Guns came past at the Gallop then returned, having to pass over dead bodies, Horses and broken Wagons, it was just over the same Hill returning, that the Germans put there Machine Guns on us.
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