THE BPdIVISION WTAR SKETCHES BY FRED.A.FARRELL /d /M UCSB LIBRARY THE 5 1ST (HIGHLAND) DIVISION WAR SKETCHES HOTEL I)E VILLE, ARRAS, 1918. THE 51'"^ (HIGHLAND) DIVISION WAR SKETCHES BY FRED. A. FARRELL WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY NEIL MUNRO EDINBURGH T. C. & E. C. JACK, LTD. 35 & 36 Paternoster Row, London, E.G. 1920 LIST OF SKETCHES. PLATE HOTEL DE YILLE, ARRAS, 1918— Frontispiece. 1. MACHINE CxUN IN HOUSE AT MAING. 2. BOMBING RAID ON HYDERABAD REDOUBT. 3. CROSSING OF THE ECAILLON. 6th R. H. (BLACK WATCH). October 1918 (in Colour). 4. THE HYDERABAD REDOUBT. 5. 7th GORDONS CLEARING "Y" RAYINE. 6. BATTERY POSITIONS BETWEEN AUCHONVILLERS AND MAILLY MAILLET WOOD. 7. "JUMPING-OFF" GROUND FOR LAST ATTACK BY DIVISION. 8. THE "EDGE OF THE UPLAND" FROM LIEU ST. AMAND ROAD. 9. END OF THE CHARGE. 6th A. & S. H. AT FAMARS (in Colour). 10. LIEU ST. AMAND (in Colour). 11. "PHEASANT FARM," YPRES SALIENT, NEAR LANGEMARCK. 12. "PHEASANT TRENCH"— THE RIDGE BEFORE "PHEASANT FARM." 13. THE STEENBECK— YPRES SALIENT. 14. "HINDENBURG FARM "—YPRES SALIENT. 15. MAJOR T. DAVIDSON, D.S.O., AT ROBECQ (in Colour). 16. RCEUX AND THE CHEMICAL WORKS. 17. POINT DU JOUR REDOUBT. 18. THE MAIN STREET, A^EILLE CHAPELLE. 19. "SCOTS FARM," CAMBRAI-BAPAUME ROAD. 20. MCEUVRES FROM "SCOTS FARM." 21. MAJOR H. G. HARCOURT, D.S.O., M.C., OF THE MACHINE GUN CORPS AT BEAUMETZ-VELU (in Colour). 22. BOURLON WOOD. 23. FONTAINE-NOTRE-DAME. 24. BOURLON WOOD FROM THE BOIS DE L'ORIVAL. 25. CANTAING VILLAGE— CAMBRAI IN THE DISTANCE. 26. A PASSING REFLECTION— WRECKED CHURCH IN HORDAIN. 27. 404th field COMPANY, R.E., AT THIANT, October 1918. 28. IWUY, WHEN THE CIVILIANS WERE RETURNING. 29. ENTRANCE TO CAMBRAI FROM ARRAS. LIST OF SKETCHES. vii PLATE 30. TOMMIES' WARD— IN A CASUALTY CLEARING STATION. .31. 8th royal scots AT CULVERT AT THIANT. 32. 6th GORDONS AT RCEUX CHEMICAL WORKS. 33. ■' SURRENDER ENGLANDER !"— NEUVILLE ST. VAAST, April 1016 (in Colour). 34. ATTACK BY 4th SEAFORTHS, April 9, 1917. 35. BEAUMONT-HAMEL, November 13, 1916 (in Colour). 36. LIEUTENANT J. GILLESPIE, M.C., 256th BRIGADE, R.F.A., BEFORE LIEU ST. AMAND, October 13, 191S. 37. OBSERVATION POST, 255th BRIGADE, R.F.A. 38. 5th SEAFORTHS ON THE LAWE, April 1918. 39. DAYLIGHT RAID BY THE 6th GORDONS AT ROCLINCOURT (in Colour) 40. 7th a. & S. H. DEFENDING THE LAWE AT LOGON. 41. RAID ON DELBAR WOOD BY THE 6th SEAFORTHS, September 1918. 42. 9th royal scots ATTACK "CRUMP TRENCH." 43. 4th GORDONS CLEARING THE CREST OF GREENLAND HILL AND "WINDMILL COPSE," September 1918. 44. DIVISIONAL AMMUNITION COLUMN LOADING UP AT A DUMP. 45. BREAKING THE HINDENBURG LINE, November 20-23, 1917. 46. R.A.M.C. OF THE DIVISION LOADING AMBULANCE CARS AT ESSEX FARM DRESSING STATION, July 31, 1917. 47. LIEUTENANT HUNTER, 256th BRIGADE, R.F.A., AT THIANT. 48. 7th black WATCH BEYOND RCEUX CHEMICAL WORKS. 49. COLONEL ROBIN CAMPBELL'S INCIDENT AT RGEUX. 50. MAJOR-GENERAL R. BANNATINE-ALLASON, C.B. 51. LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIR G. M. HARPER, K.C.B., D.S.O. 52. MAJOR-GENERAL G T. C. CARTER-CAMPBELL, C.B., D.S.O. 53. BRIGADIER-GENERAL L. C. L. OLDFIELD, C.B., C.M.G, D.S.O. 54. BRIGADIER-GENERAL SIR W. C. ROSS, K.B.E., C.B., C.M.G. 55. BRIGADIER-GENERAL H. PELHAM BURN, C.M.G., D.S.O. 56. BRIGADIER-GENERAL J. K. DICK-CUNYNGHAM, C.M.G., D.S.O. 57. BRIGADIER-GENERAL K. GRAY-BUCHANAN, C.M.G., D.S.O. 58. BRIGADIER-GENERAL DOUGLAS CAMPBELL, C.B. 59. COLONEL C. M'LEOD ROBERTSON, D.S.O., T.D. 60. COLONEL P. SINCLAIR, D.S.O., C.F. 61. COLONEL D. RORIE, D.S.O. 62. COLONEL S. J. L. HARDIE, D.S.O. „o (MAJOR S. V. KENNEDY, M.C. bd. \ MI .\JOR G. FOX, D.S.O. CHIEF BATTLES. I. FESTUBERT, June 15, 1915. II. HIGH WOOD (Somme), July 191G. III. BEAUMONT-HAMEL, November 13-14, 1916. (A mile north-ea.=^t of the river Ancre. Last notable Battle of Somme. Greatly helped in Spring Advance leading to Bapaume, 1917.) IV. ROCLINCOURT (Arras), April 9-11, 1917. (Part of the advance which won Vimy Ridge.) V. FAMPOUX AND CHEMICAL WORKS, April 23, 1917. VI. RCEUX AND CHEMICAL WORKS, May 16, 1917. VIL NORTH-EAST OF YPRES, July 31, 1917. VIII. POELCAPELLE ROAD, September 20, 1917. IX. SOUTH-WEST OF CAMBRAI, November 20-23, 1917. X. EAST AND WEST OF BAPAUME, March 21-26, 1918. XI. RIVER LAWE, April 9-12, 1918. XIL BATTLE OF THE ARDRE VALLEY, July 20-31, 1918. Xrn. NORTH BANK OF RIVER SCARPE, including fighting in which Green land Hill was captured, August 15 to September 14, 1918. XIV. PLOUVAIN AND GREENLAND HILL, September 26 to October 3, 1918. XV. IWUY TO FAMARS, October 1918. POPFPIMGHF ( nvifci BRIELEN LANGENW.RC'K PILKCM*,— >•/ ^' - \l •POELCAPELLE AjrjiiLIEN * VLAMCRTINGriF ©YPRES PAGRCHENDAELE KEMMFL ARMENTIERES STVENANT ROB WmyiELlE CHAPELLE HINGE LoepN 'ON . ™ /<7N '' ^ \ ^•FESTI/BgRT \ bethl/ne INBEKMAP OPERATION ARFAS OF THf= 5|ST (HIGHLAm) DIVISION ON THE 'BRITISH front' JUNE 1915 — OCTOBER I9I8. {li^ercnee to 1 >:^ LIST OF BATTLES J «GlVENCHY 1 » la bassee siiulLoch LOOS ^O / kENS NEUVILLE «VIMY SrVAAST ,THELUS DOUAl ROC LI NC CURT ^^--^^^^^N ' WyyA,:N ARRAS . , DBIBAU -VITRY #PELVES •monchy QUEANT VALENCIENNES ^ / • TAMARS /•MAING •c^ » •MONCHAUX —^BOUCHAI nV^^ D , , depi£:rre /»1WUY ^AY^SNES I • LE SEC • NAVES ®/* 1-lfiU STAMAN ^/ ' MOULrSJ DE /»1WUY * AYES f • LE / • NAVES •bourlon.^CAMBRAI MOEUVRES ■°° .SCOTS BEAUMONT AUC>IONyil-LE,lfs^* .ILLY^IAILLET* MAI MILLANCOURT V BAPAUME HIGH WOOD FOIvrAINE NOTRE DAME ^^ll CAt&AING DOIGNIES ~ LAFOLIBWOOD ,_, ® ©FLESQUIERES ^•beaijmetz <, „^ havrincoupt , *VELU ^ '^ MERMItS •ribecourt ALBERT OELVILUE WOOD SCALE S THE 5 I ST (HIGHLAND) DIVISION. INTRODUCTION. NO division of the line in the British Army that fought against Germany in the Great War came through the years of campaign in France and Flanders with more renown than the Fifty-first. From the Battle of Beaumont-Hamel, on the Somme, in November 1916, till the taking of Greenland Hill and the fighting from Iwuy to Famars in October 1918, its name was on every lip, not only in the army, but at home, where its exploits and its reputation made it unquestionably the star performer among all our infantry divisions. From every war some unit of command — a regiment or brigade — comes through with popular laurels, a name for ever after to be illustrious. In this greatest of wars that glory went to a whole division, and that a Scottish one, composed entirely of Highland territorials. They had been, in the bantering fashion of the army, known as "Harper's Duds" months after they had gone to France — a nickname inspired by the distinguishing mark (S) on all the Division's vehicles. Though their record at Festubert, High Wood, and the Labyrinth was evidence enough of the stubborn and enduring stufi" they were made of, a ridiculous underestimate of their quality, due to their purely citizen composition, kept them more or less in the background till the great offensive found them thrust into the most furious battling on the Somme. General Harper had never had any doubt of how his tartaned corps would bear themselves when their blood was up. He must have smiled at times at the wonder and the praise of his chiefs as gradually but swiftly they awakened to the truth that his "duds" were among the most intrepid and audacious units of the army ! 13 14 THE 51sT (HIGHLAND) DIVISION. The Fifty-fii-st paid dearly — in toils, in trials, agonies of entlurance, wounds, and death — for that eminence of renown that henceforth came to it. Thereafter it was chosen for the posts most critical ; without intermission it was used in every menaced situation, hurled into the bloodiest attacks. Season after season passed, and Scotland knew her heart's blood streamed in the tracks of that kilted cor'ps d' elite. Again and again its personnel was changed beyond i^ecognition ; its component regiments were repeatedly cut down by casualties to little more than cadres ; there were desolating roll calls that seemed dread- ful to the survivors of the shattered lines assembled after fierce engagements, and meant, for Scotland, anguished valleys, stricken little towns. But the terrible blanks were filled as soon as they were created ; Scotland, to the last, sent drafts of gallant man- hood from the same shires to uphold the reputation of a Division that was now her special pride. From the Somme to the Arras front it passed in the spring of 1917 ; saw bitter hours in the shallow valley of the Scarpe ; was rushed to the Lys to stem in April 1918 the break-through of the Germans below Armentiferes ; swept south again to the south-west of Reims, where it fought beside the French in the terrible Ardre Valley ; and in the autumn of 1918 stormed again through the Roeux defences, and hewed its way along the Scarpe, the most vital point of the battle. " Wherever the battle rages hottest, there is the Fifty- fii-st," wrote an English correspondent. "The French now talk of it with almost i-eligious fervour." In July of 1918, said the same writer, "it walked across a valley swept by a thousand machine guns, stormed Marfaux, and clinched the German defeat." Not once or twice in the war he had heard officers say, "Thank God, the Fifty-first are next to us!" Another correspondent rejwrted that in a document cajjtured "the Germans placed the Fifty-firet first in formidableness on a list of hard fighting British divisions." THE 51sT (HIGHLAND) DIVISION. 15 There was for our Allies, the French, no more fixmous British division ; for the peasantry behind the lines no more portentous appearance than that of those kilted troops, whose presence in any quarter, they had learned to know, meant imminent battles, critical hours. Even the enemy seemed impressed by the Fifty- first's ubiquity and stubbornness ; their aviators one time dropped a message over it — " Good old Fifty-first ! Still sticking it ! " These redoubtable Scottish troops, as has been stated, were exclusively territorial. They had practically just completed their short annual summer training in Scottish camps and returned to their homes, when the command came for mobilization, and fi-om then till May 1, 1915, when they crossed to France, had undergone a most drastic training in Bedford, where they were among the earliest to volunteer for active service abroad. They were men of the Highland counties, and of the Lowlands most contiguous to the Highland line ; and when the Division was moulded into shape it was composed as follows : — 152nd Infantry Brigade. 5tli Seaforth Highlanders, . . . from Sutherland and Caithness. 6th Seaforth Highlanders, . . . ,, Morayshire. 6th Gordon Highlanders, . . . ,, Banff and Donside. 8th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, „ Argyll. 153rd Infantry Brigade. 6th Royal Highlanders (Black Watch), . from Perthshire. 7th Royal Highlanders (Black Watch), . „ Fife. 5th Gordon Highlanders, . . . „ Buchan and Formartin. 7th Gordon Highlanders, . . . „ Deeside. 154th Infantry Brigade. 4th Gordon Highlanders, . . . from Aberdeen. 7th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, „ Stirling, Clackmannan, and Kinross. 9th Royal Scots, „ Edinburgh. 4th Seaforth Highlanders, . . . ,, Ross-shire. This list, however, does not apply to the whole period of the 16 THE 51sT (HIGHLAND) DIVISION. Fifty-first's campaigning ; it is given merely as typical of the composition of the Division in the years of its highest renown. For a short period the 154th Brigade was made up of four gallant English territorial regiments, temporarily introduced to replace four of the kilted battalions that had gone to France, and between August 1914 and September 1918 there were changes made in all the Division's three brigades, which, for historical accuracy, it is essential here to indicate. While in Bedford the Division was at first made up as follows : — Ar^'yll and Sutherland Infantry Brigade — 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. Gordons Infantry Brigade — 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th Gordons. Seaforths and Camerons Brigade — 4tli, 5th, and 6th Seaforths, and 4th Camerons. In October and November 1914 the 4tli Seaforths, 6th Gordons, and 7th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders went to France, and were replaced by the 2/4th Seaforths, 2/Gth Gordons, and 2/7th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. In February 1915 the 4th Camerons, 4th Gordons, and 9th Argyll and Sutherlands went to France, and were replaced by the 2,4th Camerons, 2/4th Gordons, and 2/9th Argyll and Sutherlands. April 1915 found the Division reorganized as follows, and with this composition it went to France : — 152nd Infantry Brigade — 5th and Gtli Seaforths, and fith and 8th Argyll and Sutherlands. 153r(l Infantry Brigade— 5tli and 7th Gordons, and 6th and 7th F^lack Watch. 154th Infantry Brigade— l/4th lioyal Lancaster Regiment, I /4th J..oyal North Lancaster Regiment, l/8th Liverpool (Irish) Kegitnent, and 2/5th Lancashire Fusiliers. At the cimI of Mav 1915 the 2'5tli Lancashire Fusiliers went THE 51sT (HIGHLAND) DIVISION. 17 to St. Omer for further training, and were relieved by the 6th Scottish Rifles. Two months later the Fusiliers returned to duty, and the 6th Scottish Rifles remained as an extra battalion in the 154th Brigade. In August 1915 the 8th Royal Scots joined the Division as its pioneer battalion. In December the four English bat- talions of the 154th Brigade left to join the 55th Division ; the 6th Scottish Rifles were reduced to cadre strength and sent to the base, and the 154th Brigade was reconstituted as follows : — 4th Camerons. 4th and 5th Black Watch. 4th Seaforths. Two months later, owing to the reduced strength of the 4th Camerons and 4th and 5th Black Watch, these battalions were sent to the base. The 4th Camerons were reduced to cadre, and the 4th and 5th Black Watch were amalgamated, made up to strength again, and sent to another division. They were replaced in the 51st Division by the 4th Gordons, 7th Argyll and Sutherlands, and 9tli Royal Scots. The new brigade therefore consisted of: — 4 th Seaforths. 4th Gordons. 7th Argyll and Sutherlands. 9th Royal Scots. In June 1916 the 6th Argyll and Sutherland battalion of the 152nd Brigade, owing to grievous losses in the Laby- rinth, was reduced so much that it had to be replaced by the 6th Gordons. Soon after, however, the 6th Argylls were made up to strength and joined the 5th Division as a pioneer battalion. On the reorganization of all infjxntry brigades on a three- battalion basis in February 1918, one battalion, as under, was 18 THE 51sT (HIGHLAND) DIVISION. taken from each brii^ade. Tlicse three battalions were grou])(Ml together, and joined the 61st Division as a Higliland brigade: — 152nd Brigade — 8th Argyll and Sutherlaiids. 153rd Brioade — 5th Gordons. 154th Brigade-— 9th Royal Scots. After the German offensive in May 1918, these battalions were taken away from the 61st Division and sent to the 15th Scottish Division. In September 1918 the 7th Gordons were broken up, and the personnel was distributed between the 6th Gordons of the 152nd Brigade and the 4th Gordons of the 154th Brigade, while the 7th Gordons were replaced in the 153rd Brigade by the 6th Argylls from the 5th Division. No further changes took place in the Division, whose A.S.C. and R.A.M.C. were both composed of Highhmd units. Its artillery were territorial units from Renfrew, Aberdeen, Dundee, and Edinburgh ; and the D.A.C. was recruited from Argyll, Bute, and Ross-shire ; while its engineers were the 1/lst, l/2nd, and 2|2nd Highland Field Companies of the R.E. When the Division went to France, under the command of Major-General R. Bannatine-Allason, it was called the 1st Highland Territorial Division, a designation soon changed — some- what to the chagrin of its personnel — to the Fifty -first. For a while it was not in any close engagements, though it met with some serious casualties. It was in reserve for the Second Battle of Ypres, and at Richebourg in May 1915. At Festu- bert the Division, which had moved into the neighbourhood of Estaires to be ready to support the operations of tlie First Army, was attached to the Indian Corps for operations at La Quinque Rue, with the Canadian Division on its right. In that battle the enemy was driven from a position which was strongly en- trencheii and fortified, and ground was won on a front of foui- miles to an average deptli of six hundred yards. It gave Field- THE 51sT (HIGHLAND) DIVISION. 19 Marshal French his first experience of territorial divisions, and he found them thoroughly trustworthy and ethcient. The Fifty- first at Festubert lost 1,500 men. For a month thereafter it took over the sector in front of Laventie, and on 26th July started, on a long journey 'da Calais and Amiens to Mericourt on the Somme, where Lieutenant- General G. M. Harper took over the command from Bannatine- Allason in September. It was the first time the peasantry of Picardy had seen the jupe eourte — the kilt ; it was destined to be almost as familiar to them as breeches long before the war was over. Round Bresles, and spread over a great area of the countryside, the Highlanders found billets in villages and farm steadings. Instantly they took a great hold upon the imagination and fancy of the inhabitants. There may not be much in the popular theory that the days of the "Auld Alliance" are still afiection- ately remembered, Vjut the cordiality between the French people and these Highland troops was marked enough to be attributable to any kind of romantic sentiment. Probably it arose less from a knowledge of history books than from the freemasonry, so to speak, which must ever exist between all essentially country folks. Picardy soon became rather knowing about the difierent tartans — Black Watch and Argyll, Seaforth, Gordon, or Cameron ; it quickly learned to distinguish them more readily than do many folk at home. But, after all, the most obvious reason for the unquestionable popularity of all the Highland corps was that they were quiet, sober, well-behaved, honest, and cheerful fellows. Their pipes brought up the dawn to the tune of "Johnny Cope," and at evening hamlets echoed with old mountain airs ; wherever were the Highlanders there were, in hours of leisure, volunteers for the labour of the fields, and even for the humblest domestic offices of the simple Picardy people. At the end of July the Division went out of billets and took 20 THE 51sT (HIGHLAND) DIVISION. over the line at Autliullle, Aveluy, and La Boisselle. from French troops, a little later extending to the sonth bank of the river Ancre and relieving the Indian Cavalry Division. It was here till the end of December. From the beginning of the new year till F('l)ruary the Fifty-first was out of the line and resting in the Villers-Bocage area, where the men made acquaintance with Amiens, the first French town of any importance they were privileged to visit. Some weeks of training followed at Corbie, and early in March the Division was again on trek to the Labyrinth, that ugly sector of the line extending from Neuville St. Vaast to Roclin- court, where it relieved the French. April came in with sunshine and bland airs that uplifted spirits wondrously ; for the Highlanders, though well inured to austerities of climate, found the mud of the Labyrinth and its trenches even more hateful than the Boche, and the spring came to them like a tonic. Unceasingly the enemy harassed them. His miners were active day and night, and it took all the craft and subtlety of a detachment of New Zealand Engineers, who were in the Division, to circumvent them by countermining. The most persistent enemy mining took place on the 152nd Brigade's front, and one morning a chain of five mines was touched off in front of the 8th Argylls and 6th Seaforths. The Germans followed this demonstration with an attack which penetrated the Highlanders' front line ; but they had hardly entered it when they were driven out with the bayonet. In these irritating raids the 6th Argylls, the Paisley battalion, had inveterate bad luck : each time they took over the line they had it blown up under them. They were finally so depleted in numbers that, in the absence of adequate drafts, they had to be withdrawn from the Division and replaced by the 6th Gordons. While still at Neuville St. Vaast the 152nd Brigade was the somewhat unwilling performer in as odd a camouflage as any to be recorded during the whole war. The men for a time THE 51sT (HIGHLAND) DIVISION. 21 discarded the Higldand garb, and were served out with breeches, Englisli tunics, and ordinary infantry caps. Thus masquerading as an English corps they took the place of troops in the 25th Division area, while the 152nd and 154t]i Brigades ex- tended their lines so as to cover the space previously occupied by the three Highland brigades. The 25th Division had been badly cut up by a counter-attack from the enemy, and thus was their relief effected. But this piece of camouflage was dictated by further considerations : the 51st Division was now holding a front really much too long for safety — from south of Souchez to the north of Arras — yet the strategy of the Higher Command required a still further thinning out preparatory to the forthcoming Somme offensive. On 12th July the Division left the Neuville St. Vaast sector, and went to the rest area between St. Pol and Aubigny. Its " rest " was transitory. A week later it was at Me'ricourt, and on 22nd July moved up by night through the amazing concentra- tion of camps in the valley to the front of Bazentin-le-Grand and Bazentin-le-Petit. It was the most bitter period of the Somme oflensive, and the Fifty-first, for all its grim earlier experiences, was at the very top of its form, still largely composed of pre-war, non-conscript, old Scottish territorials. Its hour of eclat came in the attack on Beaumont-Hamel, when, to the surprise of the Higher Command, it did what had not been expected of it. The Battle of the Ancre, whereof the storming of Beaumont- Hamel was a vastly important operation, opened on November 13, 1916, at six o'clock on a foggy morning, after two hours' intense bombardment, which destroyed the greater part of the German wire entanglements. Behind a terrific artillery barrage three divisions advanced to the attack, the Fifty-first being in front of Beaumont-Hamel, with the 63rd Naval Division on its right and the 39th Division on its left. A serious natural obstacle confronted the Highlanders in a 22 THE 51sT (HIGHLAND) DIVISION. deep fold of the ground known as Y Ravine, which ran down from the village to the German trenches, and the ground in general over which their advance was made was horrible with the dead and the litter of the struggle here in the previous July. The 152nd and 153rd Brigades led the attack, which quickly carried the front Ger- man lines and swept througli the Y Ravine after a bitter bayonet conflict ; and the whole Division, now hurled into the assault, burst in upon the village with its sinister network of caverns and strong points with a Highland elan that was irresistible. It was, said the Corps Commander, "one of the greatest feats of the war, and to those who know the ground and its defences it must ever be a marvellously fine performance." Six or seven thou- sand prisoners were taken by the Division, whose casualties, though grievous enough, were considerably less than had been calculated on. This latter fact, no doubt, accounts for the Fifty-first being the only Division to go back immediately into the line again. In the end of November it took over from the Canadians trenches at Courcelette, between Albert and Bapaume, that were the worst it had ever experienced — up to the waist in mud throughout the whole period of occupation. Then, finally, the Highlanders left the valley of the Somme. Their task in that stricken plain was done. Well might their pipes play vaunting airs as they turned their backs upon it ; to many, however, " Farewell to the Somme " was a lament — for comrades young and gallant to be left behind commingled with the soil of the France of whose beauties they had witnessed nothing, only great fields unspeakably foul and mutilated, the debris of towns and villages. No fewer than 8,000 men of the Fifty-first were lost in the struggle for this dreadful valley; their graves are thick in Picardy. Hard winter frost was still in the ground when the High- landers found themselves in the line near Arras, again at Roclincourt, braced up by a period of intensive training and un- remitting rehearsal for the April 1917 attack on the enemy's lines THE 51sT (HIGHLAND) DIVISION. 23 in the valley of the Scarpe, where every Scottish regiment in the array was represented by the best — and in some cases by most — of its battalions. The Battle of Arras, on a front twelve miles from Lens to Arras, started on 9th April at half-past five in the morning. The 51st Division, which was in the XVII Corps under Sir Charles Fergusson, and part of Allenby's Third Army, was opposite Thelus and facing the outer spurs of Vimy Ridge, in front of which, to the Division's left, lay four Canadian divisions, while on its right was the 34th Division. A fierce enemy barrage pre- luded the attack ; yet Gordons, Black Watch, Argylls, Seaforths, and Royal Scots swept through the first objective line of the German trenches as though they had been a triumphal arch. Only at one point called " The Pump " and the trenches east of it was the 152nd Brigade for a little checked by an appallingly concentrated fire ; two hours later they were assailing the second line with the invaluable aid of the tanks. So far the progress made was considered to be cheaply bought, though we may accept as typical the experience of one battalion which went into the attack with 23 ofiicers and 521 men, and had 12 ofiicers and 175 men killed or wounded. This first day of the Arras battle was the greatest blow delivered up to date by the British Army, for 13,000 prisoners were taken and an enormous number of guns. The inevitable counter-attacking by the enemy followed. Then, from 23rd April onward, Haig, who seemed to have pinned his faith on his countrymen for this particular stubborn con- flict, kept three Scottish divisions continuously hammering at it. There were most sanguinary engagements for the possession of Oppy, Gavrelle, Fampoux, Roeux, and the Chemical Works. The enemy had concentrated an unexampled array of machine guns on these positions. With unabated ardour the Highlanders, after a brief breathing-space behind the lines on the St. Pol- Arras road, came back on the 23rd, carried the Chemical Works 24 THE 51sT (HIGHLAND) DIVISION. and tlie Corona Trench beyond it with great dash, and fought bloodily for their retention during the whole day, though com- pelled at last to fall back upon a line a little to the east of their farthest advance. The most stubborn of Prussian troops were brought against the Fifty-first on the 23rd ; how close and fierce was the fighting may be gathered from the fact that on the steps of Roeux Cemetery a Prussian and a sergeant of the Argylls were found grappled in death — the Prussian with his teeth in the Highlander's wrist the Highlander with his in the Prussian's throat. They had been killed by a shell. Roeux and the Chemical Works were not permanently oui-s till 14tli May, when the Fifty-first took them over from the 4th Division and held them through desperate counter- attacks. Two days later a new division of the enemy thrust forward north of the Scarpe under an exceedingly heavy barrage, and for a while seriously menaced the Fifty-first in a very awkward situation alongside a railway embankment, flanking it and actually getting to its rear. But this force was virtually destroyed before its daring move had fully developed. " Convey to 51st Division my congratulations on their great gallantry at Roeux and Chemical Works," wired General Allenby to the Third Army three days later. From the Corps Commander, also, came this message : " Heartiest congratulations to you all on fine work on 15th and Ifith, and especially to General Burn and 152nd Infantry Brigade, whose tenacity and pluck saved an awkward situation. The Division may well be proud of their latest achievement." During the whole month's fighting on the Scarpe — as intense as any in the war — while the Germans were surrendering in hordes, they themselves got practically no British prisoners, and none unwounded. At the end of May the Highlanders moved north to the Lys, and took part with the XVIII Corps in the Third Battle of Ypres, which opened on 31st July. For many weeks there had been THE 51sT (HIGHLAND) DIVISION. 25 formidable preparations in the Salient for an attack against the low Flanders ridges, of which the enemy was fully expectant, and for which he was prepared with an amazing concentration of " pill-box " fortresses. The Fifty-first advanced with a valour there was no withstand- ing on the dismal morning of the 31st. Every obstacle went down before them ; thev had learned all that was to be learned about "pill-boxes" and the tactics for them, and these much-vaunted devices of the enemy, with few exceptions, proved comparatively easy to circumvent and put out of action. Mopping up the ground behind them, the Highlanders readied their objective — the line of Steenbeck — where they dug themselves in and beat off all counter-attacks. So far as the north of the Arras sector was concerned, that opening day of the Arras battle was a decided victory for Britain. A miserable month, for weather, followed ; all active opera- tions were impossible, and only once again on this front — on 20th September, on the Poelcapelle road — did the Fifty-first get into grips with the Germans. These were Prussian troops whom they handsomely thrashed. Before the Highlanders quitted the XVIII Corps at the end of September, the Corps Commander wrote to say how much he had appreciated their services throughout three montlis of strenuous fighting. " What has struck me most," he said, " is the thoroughness of the organization within the Division, and the fact that all usual war problems have been thought out beforehand, discussed in detail, and are embodied in simple doctrines well known to all ranks. The result is the Division always fights with gallantry, and can be depended on to carry out any reasonable task which may be allotted to it in any battle. For this reason I venture to place it among the three best fight- ing divisions I have met in France during the past three years." Mid-November found the Fifty-first in the Cambrai sector, and hotly engaged to the south-west of Cambrai itself. 26 THE 51sT (HIGHLAND) DIVISION. In tlie first phcase of the battle of the 20th November the Division had severe losses in its assault upon the strongly organized village of Flesijuieres, the approach to which was a long slope swept by machine-gun fire, which rendered the co- operation of the tanks unsatisfactory. By evening, however, the Highlanders had worked round Flesqui^res, and on the following day it fell. They carried on for nearly three miles farther, taking Cantaing with 500 prisoners, and finally storming Fontaine-Notre-Dame with the aid of tanks and some squadrons of the 1st Cavalry Division. They were pushed out of Fontaine on the following afternoon, and suffered grievously in an attempt at its recapture on the 23rd, It was obvious from the second day of the Battle of Cambrai that the maximum objectives were not to be attained ; and though the taking of Cambrai itself was no }>art of the plan of Haig, whose main design was to capture the high ground of Bourlon Wood, the isolation of Cambrai by his cavalry on the first day was in his programme — a coup which did not come oflf ; and when the enemy came on again Mith heavy reinforcements from his Eastern front on 30tli Noveml)er, the struggle, which began as a British victory, ended in a draw. Lieutenant-General Fergusson, commanding the XVII Corps, wrote afterwards to the commanding officer of the Division : "I am proud and delighted with the Division, as they might well be themselves with the grand fight they put up. " In March 1918 " Uncle Harper," as its commander was affection- ately known to his men, was transferred to the command of the IV Army Corps, and succeeded in the 51st Division by Major- General G. T. C. Carter-Campl^ell. It was virtually on the eve of the German oftensive, which the Highland Division experienced in all its intensity east and west of Bapaume. The German attack opened at 5 a.m. on the 21st March with a terrific bombardment of the trench areas occupied by the Fifty-first, and by heavy shelling of the back areas. This lasted THE 51sT (HIGHLAND) DIVISION. 27 for four or five hours before the infantry attack developed under cover of an efi'ective smoke barrage aided by thick ground mist. The enemy broke through the front of the division on the left, and by an enveloping attack on the left flank captured the front line, in this flank, of the battle zone as far as Louverval. The attack was not unexpected, for there were many presages of it in front of the Fiftv-iirst ; but the failure to withstand it was due to the fact that the Division's nine battalions were holding a line of 5,400 yards, with a responsibility for lines of defence nearly 4,000 yards deep, which made it impossible for the G.O.C. to retain any reserves in his own hands. Units of eight German divisions were found facing them astride the Bapaume-Cambrai road. For three days the Division fought in trenches, then for two days fought stubborn rear-guard actions, during which its right flank was continually in the air and menaced from the rear. During those critical days of March the casualties of the Division numbered 219 otficers and 4,666 other ranks, of which 2,714 were missing. When, on 29th March, the Fifty-first was transferred from the Third Army to the First Army, the Hon. Sir J. H. G. Byng, commanding the former, sent the Division a message speaking of its "splendid conduct during the stage of the great battle just completed." " By their devotion and courage," he said, " they have broken up overwhelming attacks, and prevented the enemy gaining his object — namely, a decisive victory." "We all know the Fifty-first!" said King George with significance, when visiting his troops at the front in March. His Majesty on that visit i>aid many compliments to those men whom the Germans had placed at the head of the list of British divisions most to be feared as Bernhmte. " Its deeds will be memorable in the history, not only of the war, but of the world," said the Prime Minister. Once more in Flanders, where the Division went to refit with 28 THE 51sT (HIGHLAND) DIVISION. large new drafts of officers and men, it was considerably less than satisfactorily reorganized when, between Robecq, its Head- quarters, and the river Lawe, the German offensive opened, and the Fifty-first had to "stick it" again. It went into battle to save the situation created by the German offensive from the Aubers Ridge thrusting in the Portuguese, and lost 132 officers and 2,896 men. In the middle of July the Highlanders entrained from the area east of St. Pol for Champagne, where they fought alongside Foch's French. On 15th July the enemy launched an offensive on an eighty-kilometre front from Chateau-Thierry to Tahure. The Fifty-first, who were with the Fifth French Army near Epernay, joined in the counter-attack, and Berthelot's praise of his kilted allies was eloquent of the impression their three weeks' co-operation with the French created. In those three weeks the Division lost 175 officers and 3,390 men. It was again to the Scarpe the Division went from the Marne, and, fighting over ground made poignantly familiar to it by the battles of April and May of 1917, it now carried on a series of minor but important advances in August, culminating in its capture of Greenland Hill, the position on which the great move forward to the Canal du Nord pivoted. October found it between Cambrai and Valenciennes, and from the lltli till the 29th it pushed the enemy back on a line one thousand yards north-east of Iwuy for a distance of ten miles, delivering four attacks on a two-brigade front and two on a one- brigade front. It was the final fight of tiie Highlanders, costing 2,872 casualties ; a few days later brought the Armistice. After the Armistice, until reduced to cadre and sent home for di.sembodiment, the Division remained around La Louviere, in r.elgiuin, between Mons and Charleroi. Sj)eakiiig in Ghisgow University in 1919, the French President, M. Poincare, took the opi)ortunity of making special ri;fereuce to (he Division. THE 51sT (HIGHLAND) DIVISION. 29 " The 51st Division," he said, " which had won everywhere the admiration of the Allies, sig'nalized itself in 1915 at Festu- bert, where it lost 1,500 men ; in 1916, on the Somme, where it lost 8,500 men, and on the Ancre, where it lost 2,500 men ; in 1917, at Roeux, where it lost 3,000 men ; in Flanders, where it lost in two battles 2,500 men ; round Cambrai, where it took Havrincourt, FIesquit;res, Fontaine-Notre-Dame, and lost 2,500 men ; in 1918, in the section of Morchies-Bapaume, where it lost 5,000 men and was honourably mentioned in the dispatches of the Commander-in-Chief; and, lastly, in the month of July 1918, amidst the French armies of Champagne, where it bravely attacked the Huns before Reims, and lost again 2,000 men. How many valiant Scots are thus lying on the soil of France, after fighting for the common ideal of both our nations ! To the mothers and widows of those heroes I give the assurance that their image will ever be engraved in the memory and the heart of my country, and that the French women will take care of their graves as if they were those where their husbands and children are sleeping." While the Fifty-first was in France during the latter part of the war, Mr. Fred. A. Farrell, the Scottish etcher, was attached to its Headquarters Staff as official artist, and took the opportunity of traversing all the ground covered by the Highlanders in France and Flanders from Beaumont-Hamel onwards. He made careful studies of the salient scenes associated with its battles, and his sketches, which will be found on the following pages, associated with incidents of these battles as minutely described by actual participants on the spot, wojaderfully reproduce the aspect and evoke the emotions of high historic hours. If in Mr. Farrell's sketches there be little to recall old battle scenes as painted by Meissonnier, De Neuville, or Lady Butler ; or any of those magnificently imagined but quite untruthful canvases that, on the walls of Versailles and many national galleries, make war seem romantic and beautiful, it is because the greatest 30 THE 51sT (HIGHLAND) DIVISION. war in liistoiy was marked by no scenic s])lenilonr, thrilling panoramic eftects, or great isolated incidents capable of re})resenta- tion by theatrical posturing afterwards before the easel. It is probable that the old fictitious type of battle picture Avill never be painted again by serious artists. Mr. Fan-ell's sketches will be recognized by all who were in France and Flanders in the fighting lines as truthful representations of the character and aspect of modern war. His figures in action are, generally speak- ing, portraits of actual men and officers of the Fifty-first, and his piu'ely portrait ])lates have been got from sittings of the oflicers. NEIL MUNRO. PLATE 1. MxVCHIXE GUN IN HOUSE AT MAING. TIEU TENANT DAVIES, M.C., of the Machine Gun Corps, placed a -Ligun in the upper window of a house in the village of Maing, and gave excellent support to the attacking forces on Famars Ridge. Names of Officer and Men appearing in the Sketch : — Lieutenant Davies, M.C. ; Corporal Wonnall ; Lance-Corporal N. Troy ; Privates W. Jones and E. Tyler. I'LATE 1 PLATE 2. BOMBING RATI) ON HYDERABAD REDOUBT. LIEUTENANT W. W. SPEED, M.C., of the 7th Black Watch, with ^bombing party, working up a trench on the Hyderabad Redoubt, East Neuk. PLATE 2 PLATE 3. CROSSING OF THE ECAILLON. (jth R. H. (BLACK WATCH). OCTOBER 1918. ON October 24, 1918, the morning of the attack (which was launched at 4 a.m.), platoons were carrying duckboards with petrol tins on the ends, designed to enable the crossing of the river to be made. It was found extremely difficult even to approach the river, especially on the Monchaux side, and, in the case of Second-Lieutenant J. M'Caig- Walker, one end of the board caught in the fence, the other dropping into the water close to the bank. On the opposite bank the enemy could be seen, in the glare of V^ry lights and gun flashes, busily setting wire. Lieutenant Walker decided to swim the river. Goino^ down to the edsfe of the duckboard, he jumped into the water, followed by his corporal and the remainder of the platoon, his Lewis gunner on the bank covering the crossing. On their gaining the opposite bank the Germans withdrew. Walker followed up and cleared out two machine guns stationed in the houses on the left, and thirteen " nests " in the villag-e of Monchaux on the riffht of his position, where they had been working considerable havoc amongst troops crawling down the slope to the river and holding up the whole attack. For this action Lieutenant Walker was awarded the D.S.O. Names of Officer and Men appearing in the Sketch : — Lieutenant J. M'Caig- Walker, D.S.O. ; Sergeant Symon ; Privates Black and Storrar. PLATE 4. THE HYDERABAD REDOUBT. TTERE the Division saw bitter hours. There was constant bombing, -*-- '-and the desolated flat was a network of trenches, a tangle of wire, and a havoc of shell-holes. The few trees runninof from the left of the sketch mark the Arras-Lille road, and on the right, in the distance, is Gloster Wood. Forward from the latter, and in the angle of the trenches, is the "East Neuk" of the 7th Black Watch. PLATE 5. 7th GORDONS CLEARING "Y" RAVINE. ON November 13, 1916, in the advance on Beaumont-Hamel from the Auchonvillers region — a shell-broken plateau — a veritable nest of machine guns had to be cleared before the deep ravine could be occupied for the attack on the hill behind Beaumont-Hamel. Lieutenant R. G. Lindsay, M.C., with " C " Company, 7th Gordons, had the right arm of the ravine to " mop up," and he is shown at the end of the plateau directing the advance to the junction and the clearing of the dug-outs. Beyond is the hill with the Boche reserve line (Munich Trench) under our artillery fire from Auchonvillers to Mailly-Maillet. Names of Officers and Men appearing in the Sketches " Roclincourt" and "'Y' Ravine": — Captain :M'r)uff, for the late Captain Donald Clark, D.S.O., M.C.; Lieutenant R. G. Lindsay, M.C.; Privates J. Kay, W. Emslie, A. Chisliolm, W. Shearer, J. Robertson, J. Newlands, W. M'Gregor, J. Trail, C. M'Lean, and P. Steuart. PLATE 6. BATTERY POSITIONS BETWEEN AUCHON- VILLERS AND MAILLY-MAILLET WOOD. rpHE guns were massed here for the clearing of " Y " Ravine and the J- advance of the Highlanders on Beauinont-Hamel. The Division's " hour of eclat came in the attack, when, to the surprise of the Higher Comiuaud, it did what had not been expected of it." ! V 0. PLATE 7. JUMPING-OFF" GROUND FOR LAST ATTACK BY DIVISION. ON left, The Chateau wall, Avesnes-le-Sec ; on right, Moulin de Pierre, Battalion Headquarters, 6/7th Gordons, 6 p.m., October 12, 1916. Lieutenant-Colonel J. G. Thorn, D.S.O., M.C., was shot while observing from the superstructure of the mill. In the distance, from right to left, Chateau Wood, Iwuy, Iwuy church spire, churches of Escaudoeuvres, Cambrai ; and, bearing to left, Naves, which was Divisional Headquarters during the battle. The sketch shows the ground of attack from the German position on crest of upland. I A te..v PLATE 8. THE "EDGE OF THE UPLAND" EKOM LIEU ST. AMAND KOAD. THE right flank of the attack. From right, MouUn de Pierre, wood and chateau, Avesnes-le-Sec, and the flat field of fire running to the wood on the left. This wood was unregistered on our maps, and was strongly held by machine guns, .whose fire, with that from positions in the shrubs and willows, swept the skyline. So intense was the fire that the American doctor with the 6/7th Gordons, Captain Burton jSlaltb}-, M.C, could only save his wounded by laying them out behind the Moulin de Pierre in a line parallel to the direction of fire. The mill was his only screen, and when a wounded Hisfhlander gave up his soul the body had to be pulled into the field of fire to give place to a living man. f >■- i i ^ k < CL. PLATE 9. END OF THE CHARGE. Gth a. & S. H. AT FAMARS. " f^ " Company, Lieutenant W. D. Bissett in charge of one platoon, set out ^before dawn, and early in the day, owing to machine-gun defence and heavy casualties. Lieutenant Bissett was the only officer left to command. He decided that the allotted objective, which they had reached, would be difficult to hold, there being no field of fire. He reconnoitred with Sergeant W. Cunningham and Sergeant Sinclair, and led his men forward to an open position in front of the railway. This movement was observed by an enemy aeroplane, and soon afterwards a heavy "box" barrage of high velocity and gas shells cut ofl:' any possibility of com- munication. The enemy, strongly holding the trench on Bissett's left front and above him on the slope of the ridge, made two attacks, which were repelled at the cost of all the ammunition the party carried. The Germans were seen to be bringing up strong reserves in front, while parties of them had got round on the right fiank and were keeping up a harassing machine- gun fire. Realizing the danger. Lieutenant Bissett retired to the railway, temporarily saving the situation. The enemy, however, continued to force matters, and Lieutenant Bissett, with odds of thirty to one massing against him, determined to go forward with the bayonet as a last hope. The charges were brilliantly carried out, and thirty-two men mustered on the bluff facing Famars. Bissett aggressively waved an empty revolver, and the party made a feint of having enough annnunition to repel any attack. This is the moment depicted in the sketch, when only annihila- tion was expected. The Boche, however, having lost his positions and some fifteen hundred prisoners, had retired on the village. This action gained for the Division an advance of four hundred yards, Famars, and Mont Hucy. Lieutenant Bissett was awarded the Victoria Cross. Navies of Officer and Men appearing in the Sketch : — Lieutenant W. D. Bissett, V.C. ; Sergeants W. Cunningham and A. Siiicl.air; Lance-Corj)oral G. Stevens ; Privates J. Adams, A. Leishman, R. M'Neill, and J. Bonner. •^/>(r. S'oif -**7 ^(6' ,'» ■ '•■• ♦ •f' 1 1 1 ^,* " - v PLATE 10. LIEU ST. A:\rAND. rpHE left Hank of oiu- attack again commanded the top of the hill, J- sweeping it with a murderous fire from machine guns in the houses and on the sunken part of the road from Avesnes-le-Sec. Here the advance was held up until Lieutenant Gillespie, 256th Brigade, R.F. A.., brought his gun under the hill and shelled the village. I ,j* ■i PLATE 11. 'TIIEASANT FAEIM," YPRES SALIENT, NEAR LANGEMAliCK. THIS shows the hideous country from " Pheasant Trench " and the Hne of approach of the 4th Seaforths when they captured the "pill-boxes." r i f \ ¥ rf^i E- PLATE 12. "PHEASANT TRENCH"— THE RIDGE BEFORE "PHEASANT FARM." T^EATH gazed from the ridges upon men who met it with unflinching -L^'eyee, their vision strained as long as it was dayhght; at night, when they crawled between opposing trenches on some duty of war, it was with the sense of hearing almost incredibly intense and alert. ^''V PLATE 13. THE STEENBECK— YPRES SxVLIENT. AT this point Colonel Booth of the 6th Black Watch and thirty men of -" D " Company advanced over a plank bridge and captured the gun emplacements. PLATE 14. IIIXDEXBUrvG FAEM"— YPRES SALIENT. THE immense "pill-bnx" known as " Hindenburg Farm," and the cluster of smaller ones seen from " HIltIi Command Redoubt." It is almost impossible to realize that our men advanced over this sea of lakes and ruts, barbed wire and .sjiikes, to attack, far less capture, such a position. F M-". J 'LATE 15. MAJOU T. DAVIDSON, D.S.O., AT ROBKOQ. A SUDDEN attack just before dawn on the 12tli April broke thmuifli -^^the left centre of the 51st Division al)0ut Pacaiit, and but for the gallantry and resource of two batteries of the 255th Brigade, R.F.A., couunauded respectively by Major T. Davidson, D.S.O., and INIajor F. C. Jack, M.C., might have enabled the enemy to cross the La Bassee Canal. About 5.30 a.m. word was sent to the batteries of the 255th Brigade that Headquarters were surrounded, and that batteries must look after themselves. " A " and " B " batteries decided to hold the brido-ehead across the canal. JNIajor Davidson met the last gun of each batteiy on the drawbridge, placing "A" battery's gun under the command of Lieutenant Jenkins and " B " battery's gun under Major F. C. Jack. " A " gun was placed in action close to Mont Bernenchon, and cover- ing the footbridges across the canal at that point. " B " gun was placed immediately opposite to, and about four hundred yards from, the bridge which the remainder of the batteries had succeeded in crossing. Complete silence reigned for about a minute after the trails of the guns had been dropped, and it is this period which is illustrated. jMajor Davidson is seen consulting with Lieutenant Jenkins, acting as No. 2 of " A " battery's gun, at the moment when the hedge had been cut, the gun laid, and the first round was coming up. The enemy were advancing less than eight hundred yards ofl", and Major Davidson's task was to hold the advance in that sector, at the same time reserving ten rounds until more ammunition should arrive. A patrol of the enemy did get to the bridge, but were dispersed by fire. It was upon the house on the left of the drawing that Major Jack fired after waiting until the enemy had occupied it. IMajor Davidson received a bar to his D.S.O., and was specially men- tioned for having held the German advance at Mont Bernenchon ; Major Jack received the D.S.O., and was specially mentioned for his gallant })art in the operations ; and Lieutenant Jenkins was awarded the M.C. Names of Officers and Men appearing in the Sketch :— Colonel T. Davidson. D.S.O. ; Major T. Jenkins, M.C. .; Sergeant J. Conn ; Gunners M. Bristow, J. Collard, J. W. Gray, and H. Davenport. s PLATE 10. Ra^]UX AND THE CHEMICAL WOlUvS. MOWING the Arras road. On the left of the road the Chemical Works and Ro?ux ; Arras in the distatice. -^ si E- < PLATE 17. POINT DU JOUli KEDOUBT. A shell-swept waste north-east of Arras. -J PLATE 18. THE MAIN STREET, VIEILLE CHAPELLE. AT the bridgehead one company of the 6th Gordons held the position -'-^for some time after being completely snrri»unde(l, fighting till they were all killed or taken prisoners. kf '/■;-4 5f \ a. PLATE 19. SCOTS FAE^r;' CAMBRAI-BAPAUME ROAD. Q4. BOURLOX WOOD FRO:\r THE 130IS i)E LOiaVAL. THE graves inclutle those of Captain MacDonald, of the 4th Seaforths, and Lieutenant Macintosh, 5th Seaforths, attached to the 4th. Lieu- tenant Macintosh made a reputation during his service in France for his poems. V. i it PLATE 25. CANTAING VILLAGE— CAMBRAI IN THE DISTANCE. TN the foreground the defensive works wliich the Huns compelled the J- civilians to dig. PLATE -M. A PASSTXG REFLECTION— WRECKED CHURCH IN H ORDAIN. rpHIS shows in part the Boche method, lie seems to have destroyed J- bridges by blowing up both ends and allowing the bridge to break its back in the fall. A similar plan would seem to have been followed with regard to churches. Almost invariably both ends of the nave were mined, perhaps with the idea that the weight of the steeple would crash through a fractuied roof. This rarely happened, with the result that most churclies looked like this one at Hordain, where the 6th A. & S; H. quartered after the Armistice. % I'LATE 20 J PLATE 27. 404T11 FlKLl) CO]\rPANY, HE., AT THIANT. OCTOBER lyiS. riEUTENANT E. F. SMITH and |.arty building bridge over the -L^Ecaillon at Thiant in October 1918. The engineers found that two fifteen-foot decks could just span the crossing, and they constructed this bridge from standard parts in eighteen and a half minutes under heavy shell fire. Names of Officer and Men appearing in the Sketch : — Lieutenant E. F. Smith ; Coy. Sergeant-Major C. S. Boyle ; Sergeant W. Moir ; Corporal J. JIacInto.sh ; Lance-Corporals W. M'Kay and J. Lynch; Sappers T. M. Young, A. Snook, E. Evan.s, A. Oliver, J. Swinton, W. D. Leggatt, J. H. Minitie, J. Stewart, G. Christmas, J. R. Rattray, W. T. Hastie, aiui J. IMitcheli. PLATE 28. IWUY, AYHEN THE CIVILIANS WERE KETUKNIXG. TOEVOND the mud there was nothing to see but the Bocho sentry-box *-^doing duty for the guard at the 7th Black Watch Headquarters. The houses indicate the type of billets. A house had no sooner been re-roofed, linen-windowed, and otherwise made habitable, than the civilians, with an almost uncanny intelligence, returned to claim it. r I'LATK 2S PLATE 29. ENTRANCE TO CAMBKAI FKOM ARRAS. QIHOWS cleuiolition of canal locks and road bridges. Marwitz Barracks ^seeu on right. Underneath, a Canadian hoard : " No Souvenirs — Keep Out." On the Arras side of the temporary bridge was another : " This Town is Out of Bounds to All Troops. Those on Duty — Enter ; Those Not— Beat it." ''-^^^^M4M^ Jin " -f-7 //'U ^-..>.^ I'l.ATK 2U PLATE 30. To:\r:\rTES' ward. In a casualty clearing station. Name of Sister appearing in the Sketch .■ — Sister A. E. Millmrn. a H ■< J (^ PLATE 31. 8th royal scots AT CULYEIIT AT THIANT. ^pHE tliree-span railway culvert had been completely wrecked, and the -L road to the dresshig station — a main road — entirely blocked. The 8th Royal Scots, as pioneer battalion, are shown when they had cleared the debris sufficiently to allow of ambulance cars, walking wounded, and civilians passing over the ramp that had been made. The road had subsequently to be cleared to ground level to allow heavy guns and ammunition columns, lorries, etc., to pass ; and the work went on day and night, with many interruptions owing to heavy traffic, shelling, etc., till the road was cleared for all traffic. Jft^anies of Officers and }fen appearing in the Sketch: — Lieutenant R. D. Lawrie ; Second-Lieutenant D. C. Ross ; Sergeant J. Coutts ; Corporal J. Dalgleish ; Privates P. Smith, T. M'GafiF, J. Lorimer, J. Kelly, H. Smitli, and .J. Hanlon. f=5 -3 PLATE 32. (h'H GOKDOXS AT liG^UX CHJLAIICAL AVOKKS. r\S April 23, 1917, the 6th Gordons attacked the Chemical Works. ■-^At the outset they had to move over a tract of ground commanded by enemy machine-gun fire from Greenland Hill. Very heavy casualties were suflcred, the Commanding Officer and Adjutant both being wounded. Small parties, however, continued to press on independently, and, after heavy fighting, succeeded in reaching the Chemical Works and driving out the enemy. Between April 1917 and September 1918 the Chemical Works changed hands many times, but in September 1918 the Germans were finally ejected, this time also by the 6th Gordons, in the final great advance to the Canal du Nord. Karnes of Officer and Men ajipearing in the Sketch : — Captain Ralph Risk, M.C. ; Corporal D. Denoon ; Lance-Corporal J. "Wright. V B«* I'LATE 32 PLATE 33. " SURRENDER ENGLANDER ! "— NEUVILEE ST. YAAST. APRIL 1916. AN N.C.O. of the 8th A. & S. H. and another man were stationed at a -^ saphead. In the darkness a German officer cHnibed the facine, pointed his revolver into the trench, and cried, " Surrender Englander ! " The N.C.O. had a bomb in his hand, and without taking time to pull the pin, he threw it at the Boche, shouting, " I am no Englander ; I'm a Scotsman ! " The force of the blow killed the German, who dropped more silently than he had risen. Throughout the night nothing further happened on this sector. It was afterwards discovered from German prisoners that this incident had stopped an organized attack, the enemy thinking we were holdincf in force. I'LATK 33 PLATE '^4. ATTACK BY 4tii 8EAF0RTHS. APKIL 9, 1917. pAPTAIN C. HAMILTON HARRIS, M.C., and party reaching the ^-^^Boche second line. This shows the method of bayonet attack. Names of Officer and Men appearing in the Sketch: — Captain C. Hamilton Harris, M.C. ; Reg. Q.M. Sergeant T. Gumming ; Corporals N. Ross and Irvine ; Privates J. Wilson and E. Robb. 1 PLATE 35. BEAU]\rONT-HAMEL. NOVEMBER 13, 1916. ATTACK by the 152nd Infantry Brigade, approaching what was to be afterwards known as "Windy Corner," in the mist of the early morning, prior to carrying the attack thi'ough what had been the village, over the quarry to " Munich Trench." •<■ d A ^ * «»J PLATE 36. LIEUTEXANT J. GILLESPIE, :\LC., 25GT11 BRIGADE, R.F.A., BEFOIIE LIEU ST. AMAND. OCTOBER 13, 1918. LIEUTENANT GILLESPIE was in charge of a forward section in ^close support of the advancing infantry. Observing that one of his ammunition wagons had been set on fire by enemy shelling, he promptly ordered it to be emptied to obviate danger, personally helping in the work. He subsequently carried on with one gun, sufficiently reducing the machine- ofun fire in and in front of Lieu St. Amand to allow the infantrv to continue their advance. His initiative and gallantry on this occasion gained him a bar to his Military Cross. Names of Officer and Men ajipearing in the Sketch : — Captain J. Gillespie, M.C. ; Sergeant E. Newall ; Signaller F. Fallon ; Gunners E. H. Lacy, S. Bull, H. !Mills, and J. P. Rowe ; Drivers D. J. Reynolds, J. Gilmore, D. Burnett, W. Masson, and L. Tilbury. fT ♦."• ^f^'kt'S PLATE 37. OBSERYATIOX POST, 25oth BRIGADE, R.F.A. anOWING Major F. C. Jack, D.S.O., M.C., Major J. C. Dulllis, .M.C., ^^and signallers reporting observations to batteries. Names of Men appearing in the Sketch : — Bombardier A. Gardner and Gunner W. S. M. Allan. r PLATE 37 PLATE 38. 5th SEAFOKTHS on THE LA WE. APRIL 1918. ''PHIS shows Lieutenant William Thorburn and party in trench covering J- the Hooded area below Locon. At one period they had actually crossed the Lawe at a point between " The Fosse " and Zelobes. Xames of Officer and Men appearing in the Sketch: — Lieutenant W. Thorburn ; Coy. Sergeant-Major J. Mowat ; Sergeant George Hotchkiss; Privates K. M'Kav and .T. Rolla. 4 t, >• W'o^^fn ^ PLATE 39. DAYUGIIT U\U) BY THE Giii GOKDOXS AT KOCLINCOUKT. rpHIS shows Lieutenant Clark and party leaving the old French trench -*- in the morning, following the barrage. There had been a slight fall of snow that morning, as indicated in the drawing. On the left is seen Thelus Wood, on the edge of Yimy Ridge. For Karnes of Officers and Men appearing in the Sketch, see the "7th Gordons clearmg ' }" Ravine" Plate 5. 1»LATE 40. 7th a. & S. II. DEFENDING THE LAWE AT LOCON. ''PHIS shows Captain Gladstone ]\[illar and his men in "scoop-out" holding -L the flank that bent back but was not broken. The uncertain nature of the fighting is illustrated here, in that, unknown to the Argylls, the flank of the adjacent brigade had been turned on the north, and the first party of the enemy had actually crossed the river and were pressing the left flank, before Cajitain ^fillar's i>arty were aware of anything untoward having hapjjened. Names of Officer and Meti appeiu-iny in tin' Sl,-fl,li .• — Captain Gladstone Millar, M.C. ; Sergeants T. Kurr and G. Jolinston; Lance-Corporals J. Smith and Alan Ferguson. PLATE 41. KAII) ON I)F;Lr,AR WOOD BY THE Gth SEAFORTHS. september 1918. ^PHE drawins; shows the apparently casual though cautious method of attack. J- The Valley of the Scarpe and ruins of Pelves village in the distance. A^atnes of Men appearing in the Sketch: — Corporal J. Sinclair ; Lance-Corporal Armour. t ' .^^->':2, •c- -'V -■■^^i 4 ^ 1 J PLATE 42. 9th KOYAF. scots attack "CKUJMP TliENCH." / \X April 23, 1017, the 9th Roj-al Scots took part in an attafk on Rcbux. ^-^Advancing along the side of the river Scarpe, with Roeux Wood on the right and Mount Pleasant Wood on the left, they were held up at the edge of the wood. With the assistance of a tank, however, they took the trench which was impeding the advance, together with a number of prisoners. The di-awing shows the men rising from "Creek Trench" to attack " Crump Trench," where the enemy were stubbornly holding out. Monchy is in the distance. Names of Mm appearing in the Sketch : — Coy. Sergeant-^rajor D. Walker ; Corporal .T. ITanna ; Privates R. Jameson and C. Arnott. PLATE 43. 4th GOT^DOXS cleaning THE CREST OF GREENLAND HILL AND "WIND:\rTLL COPSE." SEPTEMBER 1918. SHOWS the final attack on these historic strongholds, where the Division had already lost so many men. The capture of Gi'eenland Hill was of particular significance, as it might be described as the position ou which the great final move forward to the Canal du Xord pivoted. Names of Officer and Men appearing in the Sketch : — Lieutenant N. S. Williamson ; Serge.int fl. Tliain ; Privates J. Stewart, J. Wilson, G. jNI'Donald, and J. Stewart. ■»■■, — -\ s ^i 'ii- ^ \ a. PLATE 44. DIVISIONAL AMMUNITION COLUMN LOADING UP AT A DUMP. THE aiiimunition dumps in France and Flanders were carefully chosen, witli .sj)ecial regard to accessibilit}' and protection from enemy observation. On a demand for ammunition being received from a battery, the Divisional Ammunition Column wagons, which were always full, proceeded to deliver the ammunition to the battery concerned, returning to the dump to refill, and proceeding then again to the guns or to the Divisional Ammunition Column. The work was usually done at night, especially in Flanders, where the absence of hills rendered observation possible at considerable distances. The work was at all times hazardous, and especially so when a "strafe" was in progress, as the ammunition had to be delivered at the guns at all costs. A^ames of Men appearing in the Sketch: — Brigade Sergeant-Major F. Shepherd ; Sergeant A. M'Dougall ; Drivers A. Duncan, R. Douglas, J. A. M'Pliail, W. Tl)omson, F. Murray, and T. Cairns. PLATE 45. r>REAKIXG THE HTXT)i:XBURG LINE. NOVEMBER 20-23, 11)17. THE drawing shows the second phase of the attack on Flesqui5res. This was the first assault in which tanks were used as a substitute for a preparatory barrage. The whole movement had been very carefully re- hearsed for a long time behind the lines. Seventy tanks swept across the Hindenburg Line ami up the support systems. Half were with 152nd Briirade and half with 153rd Brisjade, and divided into three waves. The first, formed of twelve " rovers " or wire-cutters, set out one hundred and fifty yards in front of the second wave to cut the wire and tackle machine guns and posts. The second wave — thirty-six fighting tanks — dealt Avith the trenches. The third wave, composed of those remaining, had to form up at Grand Ravine at zero plus ninety minutes with the survivors of the preceding wavjes. Each of the tanks carried a fascine for dropping on any trenches encountered. The attacking tioops are seen at the rail line below the ridge, and to right and left of the village. Just out of sight on the extreme edge of the drawing, on the right, the village of Ribecourt, and on the left Havrincourt. '0^ ^■^J iM > '^^ >. PLATE 46. R.A.:\r.r. of the division loading AMBULANCE CAKS AT ESSEX FAKM DRESSING STATION. JULY SI, 1917. THE dressing station sustained many direct hits during the bombardment- before and on the date of the offensive. Just behind the ambulance car in the picture is the famous " Bridge 4 " over the Yser Canal, which was always a particularly nasty quarter. Xames of Officers and Men appearing in the Sketch: — Lieutenant^Colonel G. W. Miller, D.S.O., T.D. ; Captain H. N. Browne, M.C. ; Staff-Sergeant W. L. Smith ; Privates G. Allan, A. Scorgie, \V. P. Leith, and A. Donald. r ,k: \ 1 sfc?-- / i': V %^' ^^' a- i PLATE 47. LIEUTENANT TTUNTER, 250x11 BRIGADE, R.F.A., AT THIAXT. L lEUTENANT HUNTER turning the guns at Thiant. His battery was the first up to get a crossing over the Ecaillon, but the Engineers had only l)eirun the construction of a bridsre when he arrived. His movements havinor been observed by enemy aeroplanes, a very heavy fire was directed on the village, laying out his gun teams. Lieutenant Hunter and his men, however, by sticking to their job and with assistance from Second-Lieutenant J. R. Hardern, managed to get teams together and pull the guns away. Lieutenant Hunter was awarded the Military Cross. Names of Officer and Men appearing in the Sketch : — Captain Hunter, M.O. ; Sergeant-Major Hodderson ; Sergeants J. N. Gray, C. Wood, and S. Robertson ; Privates D. Dunn, J. Stewart, and H. Kaj-e. ^\ ^l N^^SlIU- I: y ^;^ 5 :^ ^^ ^: 11- ^- -i^. ^^ ^>£^ i; .^'" -J V V. ■■«.•> T ■■ M PLATE 48. 7tii black watch BF.YOND RCEUX CHEMICAL WOKKS. "f TTAITIXG for one of the numerous counter-attacks made by the Boche in * ' this sector. Names of Officers and Men appearing in the Sketch : — Major James P. Beveridge, M.C. ; Lieutenant James B. Cable, M.C.; Coy. Sergeant-Major Mitchell (for Sergeant J. AJams, killed). i PLATE 49. COLONEL ROBIN CAMPBELL'S INCIDENT AT RCEUX. Ox Mi\y 16, 1917, at 3.30 a.ni., the Germans, under cover of an exceedingly heavy barrage, counter-attacked the sector of the front under the com- mand of Lieutenant-Colonel Robin Campbell, D.S.O., of the 8th A. & S. H. At the time of the assault a relief was in progress on part of the sector, and the situation resolved itself into a matter of withstanding the strong attack and at the same time carrying out relief In the heavy fighting which ensued, Colonel Campbell found himself forced back from the Chemical Works to the south side of the railway by 4 a.m. Gathering every available man, including men from Headquarters in the quarry, he resolved to chance an attack. He re-formed his line, with the 6th Seaforths on the right and the 8th Argylls on the left ; and mounting to the top of the railway embankment, he personally led the attack forward from there. Rifle grenades were used with much effect in forcing the enemy out of the shell-holes, and he drove his way forward again until once more the enemy had been swept from the Chemical Works. For his personal gallantry and leadership Colonel Campbell was awarded a bar to his D.S.O. IPLATE 49 PLATE 50. MAJOR-GEN. II. BANNATINK-xVLLASON, C.B. FORMERLY of the Roj'al Artillery, served in Afghanistan, the Sudan, South Africa, Manchuria (with the Japanese), and the Indian frontier prior to the outbreak of the Great War. He took command of the 51st Division on mobilization, and took it to France in May 1915, where he commanded it on active service till September 1915, when he was transferred to England and subsequently commanded the 61st (South Midland) Division and the 64th (Highland) Division. '^ \ H ^' P :\ " / i /: I ■- "y / V. /J A-^ e ."'fc**' PLATE 50 PLATE 51. LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIE G. M. HARPER, K.C.B., D.S.O. AFTER having held an appointment on the Insti'uctional Staff at the -Staff College, was ordered in 1911 to the War Office. He was respon- sible for working out the plans of concentration of the Expeditionary Force. On the outbreak of war in August 1914 he was appointed Director of Military Operations at General Headquarters. Early in 1915 he was ajjpointed to command the 17th Infantry Brigade, and in September of that 3'ear he took over command of the 51st Division. The General led the Division through all its battles from that date till the beginning of March 1918, when he was appointed to the command of the IV Army Corps; which appointment he had hardly taken over when the German offensive of March 1918 was launched. It was in this corps that the 51st Division played such a gallant defensive part from 21st to 2Gth March 1918, and contributed in large measure to the failure of the offensive on Anjiens. He was known to all in the Division as " Uncle Harper." t (C V, '^ /- ^^ J; ^ "^ iV" PLATE 51 PLATE 52. ISrAJOR-GENERAL G. T. C. CARTER-CAMPBELL C.B., D.S.O., WAS commissioned in October 1889 as Second-Lieutenant in the 2nd Scottish Rifles, and served in the South African War as Adjutant of tliat battaUon, being promoted Brevet Major and twice mentioned in dispatches. On the outbreak of the Great War he proceeded to France with the 8th Division as second in command of the 2nd Scottish Rifles, and was wounded at Neuve Chapelle on March 10, 1915, being awarded the D.S.O. and Order of St. Stanislaus (3rd class). He subsequently commanded the bat- talion till September 23, 1915, when he was appointed Brigadier-General to command the 94th Inftmtry Brigade. While holding the latter command he was promoted Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel and finally Brevet Colonel. He assumed command of the 51st Division on March 17, 1918, and was its G.O.C. till he was transferred to the Rhine to take command of a brigade there, shortly before the Division proceeded home for demobilization. While in command of the Division he was awarded the C.B. and Legion d'Honneur (Croix du Commandeur). I'LATK PLATE 53. BRIGADIER-GENEEAL L. C. L. OLDEIELD, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., TTTAS Lieutenant-Colonel commanding a brigade of artillery when war *' liroke out. He was transferred from the 6th Division to the 51st Division as C.R.A. on July 3, 191G, and was present with the Division during all its battles from that date until the signing of the Armistice. He was once wounded — at St. Venant, in April 1918. During the war he was awarded the C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., was made Officier du Legion d'Honneur, and was mentioned in dispatches seven times. On the Division returning home for demobilization he was transferred as C.R.A. to the London Division on the Rhine. ?i I ' i > wm -r-. -'-1 •f % / 2~ ../' ■; '•■/ fr ^o HLATE 53 PLATE 54. BRIGADIEE-GENERAL SIR W. C. ROSS, K.B.E., C.B., C.M.G., /~10MMENCED his military career in the Militia in 1875, transferring to the ^Regular Army two years later. He served in the Afghan War of 1879- 1880, and was successively Adjutant of the 68th Light Infantry, Adjutant of the G. L. P. Railway Volunteers, Assistant Military Secretary, Bombay, and subsequently the Punjab. He served in the South African War with the Mounted Infiintry, being dangerously wounded and three times mentioned. He was awarded the C.B., and retired as Colonel in 1908, when he became Secretary of the Territorial Foi'ce Associations (Five Northern Counties), Scotland, in which capacity he served until the outbreak of war in August 1914. In November 1914 he was given command of the brigade afterwards known as the 152nd Infantry Brigade, which he took to France and com- manded till July 1916, when he reverted to the Retired List. On 1st October of that year he was appointed to command the 214th Brigade, being transferred to the command of the 221st Brigade in Decembei'. In the same month he was appointed to command the 228th Brigade in the Salonica Force, where he remained till he again reverted to the Retired List in February 1919, having received the C.M.G. and been mentioned four times. He resumed secretaryship of the Northern Territorial Force Associations in July 1919, and in 1920 was created K.B.E. PLATE 54 PLATE 55. lUv»TGADIER-GENEKAL II. PELIIAM BURN^ C.M.G., D.S.O., JOINED the Gordons in May 1901, and went to France with tbeni in October 1914. Was appointed Adjutant of the 1st BattaHon in November 1914 till February 1915, when he was appointed Staff-Captain of the 8th Brigade, 3rd Division. He was appointed Brigade-Major of the Brigade in March 1915, and transferred as Brigade-Major to the 76th Brigade, 3rd Division, in October 1915. In December he was given command of the 10th A. & S. H. He was successively commanding the 8th Gordons and 8/1 0th Gordons, being finally transferred to the 51st Division to command the 152nd Brigade in April 1917. "J 1-^ , J] 1,. ■ ^t I 1 i ^'V7 i) r^'^N^ ??t V-l C '■'•h.vx;/ ::,-^.. Mel? - -M- ' '■ vC / * ^ r'? ^^ -/i>" ■?y- /^ '"'«* :l^ Yh^ ' ' ^ - -^c? PLATK 37 PLATE 58. BRIGADIER-GEN. DOUGLAS CA]MPBELL, O.K. JOINED the Seaforths in ]\ray 1885, and served in India with tho 2iid Battalion, taking part in the Hazara Campaign of 1888 and the Relief of Chitral in 1895. He commanded the 2nd Seaforths from 1909 to 1913, and at the outbreak of war was in command of the South Wales Infantry Brigade. He was transferred to the Gordon Brigade, Highland Division, at Bedford, in February 1915; but this brigade was re-formed before proceeding overseas, and was eventually composed of the 6th and 7th Black Watch and the 5th and 7th Gordons. On its arrival in France the brigade was renamed the 153rd Brigade. He commanded this brigade till May 5, 1917, when he was transferred to command the 2 1 7th Infantry Brigade. He took part in all the Division's actions from Festubert in May 1915 up to the capture of the Chemical Works at Rceux in April 1917. He was awarded the C.B. in January 1917, and was three times mentioned. ■^> \.^ f, . 7Q.-v-l^i' PLATE 58 PLATE 59. COLONEL C. ]\r'LL01) ROBERTSON, D.S.O., T.D., CO^rMENCED his military career in September 1893, when he was gazetted as Second-Lieutenant to the Argyle and Bute R.G.A. (V.) and appointed to the local company at Millport. He was promoted Lieutenant in 1895, and Captain two years later ; and on the disbanding of the Argyle and Bute E.G. A., consequent on the inauguration of the Territorial Force, he was transferred to the Bute Battery, 4th Highland (Mountain) Brigade, R.G.A. (T.), being promoted Major to command that battery on April 1, 1908. In November 1912 he was promoted Lieutenant-Colonel on being given command of the brigade. On the outbreak of war he mobilized with his brigade, and remained in Bedford training till the Division was ordered to France in April 1915, when he took command of the Divisional Ammunition Column. He served with the Division during its whole period of active service, being the only combatant commanding officer to do so, and finally came home in command of the cadre of the Division in April 1919. In recognition of his length of service in the field he was promoted Colonel on August 5, 1918. He was twice mentioned, was awarded the D.S.O. in January 1918, and the Croix de Guerre of France (with silver star) for the operations on the Marne in July 1918. He also has the Territorial decoration which he received in 1913. / W//^^) m\:% \^ ,Sf.'- J-,*.' (Hi « A. J- PLATE 89 I'LATE GU. COLONEL P. STXCLAIR, D.S.O., C.F. IN pre-war days " Padre Sinclair" was jiarish minister of Urquhart, Elgin, and Territorial Chaplain to the 6th Seatbrths. On the outbreak of war he offered his services, and was posted to the Highland Division and attached to the Artillery. On the Division leaving for France he was appointed Senior Chaplain, ^^•hich post he held during the whole war. Though nominally attached to Divisional Headquarters, he yet invariably billeted with the Field Ambulances which were in charge of the advanced dressing stations. He was promoted Lieutenant-Colonel in March 1916, men- tioned in dispatches in December 1917, awarded the D.S.O. in January 1918, and captured at the advanced dressing station at Doignies on March 21,1918. He was repatriated from Germany on November 3, 1918, and rejoined the Division on November 26, 1918. He was once wounded — on August 6, 1917. He was most unselfish, and risked his life constantly in the front areas in his anxiety to see that every man obtained a decent burial. He disdained to use either car or horse, and was a familiar fiofure on the French roads on foot or bicycle. His quiet, unostentatious demeanour, combined with an impulsive generosity and unfailing cheerfulness, even in captivity, made him one of the most popular members in the Division. (n ff r*^"^' V I IV .:.^l ix^^ii^\,a >~\ :k- '^■ff^%B ' iT-^ >^ •, !•<: 11'-")-. . 'i'S S ^■^, PLATE 60 PLATE 61. COLONEL D. RORIE, D.S.O. Dn. David Rorie (M.B., CM.) was in practice at Cardenden, Fife, and .subsequently at Cults, Aberdeenshire, prior to the outbreak of war. He joined the Volunteer Force in 1903, and was a Lieutenant in the Black Watch Bearer Company, of which he raised the Fife section. In 1905 he was transferred to the Aberdeen Companies, R.A.M.C. (V.). On the inauguration of the Territorial Force he was apj^ointed Cajitain in the 1st Highland Field Ambulance, R.A.M.C. (T.), and shortly after mobilization in 1914 was posted to the 2nd Highland Field Ambulance. He was promoted ^lajor in September 1914, and went to France with the Highland Division in May 1915. In May 1917 he was promoted Lieutenant- Colonel, and oriven command of the 2nd His^hland Field Ambulance. On Colonel Fleming, D.S.O. , being killed in action, Dr. Rorie was promoted Temporary Colonel A.M.S., and A.D.M.S. of the Highland Division. He was awarded the D.S.O. and mentioned in dispatches in June 1917. In December 1918 he was promoted Brevet Colonel and again mentioned, also receivintj the Croix de Chevalier of the Lea:ion d'Honneur of France. ki3r?v, I'll' i^^^ ,^ 'K^ WW^^-. ■^ r'^\\ -'# ^" r^ /^ ?U^¥^ PLATE 61 PLATE 62. COLONEL S. J. L. HARDIE, D.S.O., "TT TAS a Second-Lieutenant in the Gth A. & S. H. at the outbreak of war, ' ' and was mobilized with that battalion on August 4, 1914, proceeding to Bedford, where the Division was stationed until it left for active service. He proceeded to France with his battalion, which formed part of the 51st Division, on April 30, 1915, and has fought in all the battles in which the Division has been engaged as a machine-gun section officer, machine-gun company officer, divisional machine-gun officer, and eventually commanding the 51st Battalion, M.G.C He came through the whole period scathless, was awarded the D.S.O. in 1916, and three times mentioned in dispatches. It has been said of Colonel Hardie that his ranging of fire could be depended on " to a foot." ^^ if'- ? A f x w V f: \ ^"^ , ;i is ' \v'* PLATE G2 PLATE 63. MAJOR S. V. KENNEDY, M.C. OF the 13th Hussars, was appointed D.A.A.G. of the 51st Highland (T.) Division in February 1917, and held that post till February 1919. Previous to his transfer to the Highland Division he was Staff-Captain of the 27th Infantry Brigade (9th Division). The ^lajor thus was with the Division during its most strenuous years, and there was no more popular member of the 51st. MA JOE G, FOX, D.S.O., /^OMMEXCED his military career in 1902 in the 1st Queen's, in which ^-^ regiment he served till 1904, when he resumed civil life. Shortly after- wards he qualified in London as M.R.C.V.S., and went to the Argentine, where he remained until the outbreak of war. On the commencement of hostilities he returned- to England, and joined the 8th Queen's as Lieutenant. He went to France with the battalion as Major, and was appointed Staff-Captain, 72nd Infantrj- Brigade, in October 1915. In March 1917 he was appointed D.A.Q.M.G. of the 51st Division, and remained with the Division in that capacity until demobilized in Ai)ril 1919. His honours include the D.S.O., Croix de Guerre of France (with silver star), and four Mentions. ? / . vV, \ ^-VA ^1 :x,.^^ 1 ' '1 J P. PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY THOMAS NELSON & SONS, LTD. liCSB LIBRARY X-7?34'| /