Just found something I had written before, all about the fighting at Hooge:
On 2nd June 1915, a severe German bombardment from 5am to noon, followed by an infantry attack from the Northeast, led to the loss of the ruins of the Chateau and Stables at Hooge. At this time the position had been occupied by regiments of the 3rd Cavalry Division. During the evening, two Companies of the 1st Lincolns and one of the 4th Royal Fusiliers of 9th Brigade of the 3rd Division counterattacked and successfully recovered the Stables.
At 7pm on 19th July 1915, a large mine was exploded by 175th Tunnelling Company RE, under a German trench position. The spoil from the detonation threw up a lip 15 feet high, around a crater 20 feet deep and 120 feet wide. After the firing, it was immediately occupied by two Companies of the 4th Middlesex (8th Brigade of 3rd Division). British artillery quelled all signs of German attempts to recover the crater.
German retaliation came on 30th July 1915. The Hooge sector was now being held by 41st Brigade of 14th (Light) Division, which had taken over the area only a week before. The 8th Rifle Brigade held the near crater lip, with the 7th KRRC on their right, across the main Menin road. These battalions had relieved the others of the Brigade during the night. At 3.15am, with dramatic suddenness, the ruins of the Stables were blown up, and jets of flame shot across from the German trenches. This was the first time in warfare that liquid fire flamethrowers had been used. Immediately a deluge of fire of all kinds fell on the Brigade, and on all support positions back to Zouave Wood and Sanctuary Wood. The ramparts of Ypres and the exits from the town were also shelled. The Germans achieved complete surprise, but although the British front lines were evacuated, they did not follow beyond them. There was intensive hand to hand fighting in some trenches; eventually virtually all of the positions held by the Brigade were lost. The 42nd Brigade on the left was not attacked, and the left battalion of the 46th (North Midland) Division on the right, held on. Division rushed up reinforcements, and a new line along the edge of the woods was formed. At 11.30am, orders were issued for a counterattack by the 41st and 42nd Brigades. A feeble 45 minute bombardment preceded this. The 41st Brigade attack at 2.45pm, by the 6th DCLI, failed, with no man approaching closer than 150 yards the new German positions; the 9th KRRC of the 42nd fared better and recovered some of the lost lines. The 43rd Brigade relived the badly-hit 41st during the late afternoon and evening. During the night, another flamethrower attack was repulsed, but further effort by the 14th Division on the 31st came to nothing against heavy German shellfire.
A surprise attack by 6th Division on 9th August 1915 regained all of the ground lost, including the ruins of the Chateau Stables.
