General Sir Richard Cyril Byrne Haking,, was a senior British Army officer who is most notable for being the commander of XI Corps during the majority of the First World War.
Haking in 1918
Generals Tamagnini and Gomes da Costa, together with General Haking.
The Mayor of Lille and Lieutenant-General Richard Haking, GOC XI Corps, saluting the British national anthem outside the "Préfecture du Nord" at Lille, 18 October 1918. Note the firemen keeping back the crowd.
General Haking (4th from right) as member of the Armistice Commission in Spa.
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 and Champagne and restore a war of movement. Despite improved methods, more ammunition and better equipment, the Franco-British attacks were largely contained by the Germans, except for local losses of ground. The British gas attack failed to neutralize the defenders and the artillery bombardment was too short to destroy the barbed wire or machine gun nests. German tactical defensive proficiency was still dramatically superior to the British offensive planning and doctrine, resulting in a British defeat.
Battle of Loos
British infantry advancing through gas at Loos, 25 September 1915.
Dud Corner Cemetery