The squat, battle-scarred tower of the parish church of Loos-en-Gohelle rises against a pale northern French sky, its medieval stone courses blackened with age, while two small children blur in motion at its base — a fleeting trace of civilian life in a town that would be consumed by some of the most savage fighting of the First World War just years after this image was captured. Loos-en-Gohelle, in the Pas-de-Calais coal-mining belt, was the site of the Battle of Loos in September 1915, the largest British offensive to that point, and the first use of poison gas by British forces. This sepia real-photo card, published by Edit. E.M. of Béthune, documents the church as it appeared in quieter pre-war or early-war days, before the town was virtually obliterated. The image is labeled no. 6 in a local series.