British artillery and heavy guns at the Battle of Loos in 1915

This graph shows the total number of artillery and heavy guns used by the British forces during the Battle of Loos 1915. The Battle of the Loos took place between September 25, and October 8, 1915, with most of the bombardments coming in the week leading up to the July 1st attack. This was the largest British offensive during 1915, and was the first time that many of the 'New Army' units saw action. The front line during the battle was over 10km long, and the lack of ammunition made it difficult for the artillery to effectively cut the enemy barbed wire and suppress the German forces. This resulted in many casualties for the British forces, although they were eventually successful in their advance due to their numerical superiority.
The most commonly used gun was by far the 18PDR field gun, of which 304 were deployed during the Battle of Loos. This was also the most frequently used field gun of the British Royal Field Artillery in the entire First World War, followed by the 4.5- and 6-inch Howitzers. There was also a smaller number of naval railway-guns used to provide heavier fire and strategically targeted enemy roads and railways in order to disrupt their supply chain. The smaller guns and Howitzers were used not only to bombard the enemy, but also to destroy the masses of barbed wire that occupied no-mans-land and to clear a path for the soldiers (although this was not very effective during the Battle of Loos).