The First Battle of the Scarpe - On this day in Scottish Military History - 1917

The attack and capture of Vimy Ridge by the Canadian Corps ninety-five years ago will be in the news today. Five thousand Canadian students and the Governor-General will be among the many paying their respects at the magnificent memorial which stands on the ridge and commemorates the eleven thousand men of the C.E.F. who died on the Western Front and have no known grave.

Vimy Ridge was just one part of a larger offensive which started on 9th April 1917 and would last until 16th May. It would also involve thousands of soldiers from Britain, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Newfoundland (this island colony was not actually part of Canada until 1949).

On the same day the four Canadian divisions attacked Vimy Ridge the three Scottish Divisions on the Western Front were also in action around Arras as part of Third Army, in what is officially known as The First Battle of the Scarpe (after the River Scarpe which runs through the centre of the battlefield). 

15th (Scottish) Division was in VI Corps, while 9th (Scottish) Division and 51st (Highland) Division were in XVII Corps. In total fifty-two Scottish infantry battalions across several divisions, including the three Scottish divisions and 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 30th, 33rd and 34th Divisions, fought at Arras during the offensive* 

In fact since thousands of Scotsmen enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force there were probably more Scots in action around Arras on this day ninety-five years ago than Canadians. 

One particular Scottish regiment paid a heavy price in the Arras Offensive. All the battalions of the Seaforth Highlanders on the Western Front were in the front-line on the first day. The three Territorial Force battalions - 1/4th (Ross-shire); 1/5th (Sutherland and Caithness) and 1/6th (Morayshire) all served in the 51st (Highland) Division. The 1/4th suffered two hundred casualties, the 1/5th three hundred. 

The 7th (Service) and 9th (Pioneers) Battalions served in the 9th (Scottish) Division and the 8th (Service) Battalion was in the reserve in 15th (Scottish) Division.

The regular 2nd Battalion was in the 4th Division and on 9th April it advanced four and a half miles inside German lines. It was too good to last and two days later at Fampoux the German counter-attack cost the 2nd Seaforths five hundred and twenty six casualties or ninety-three percent of their strength. One of the casualties was Lieutenant Donald Mackintosh whose bravery on that day would earn him a posthumous Victoria Cross. 

When it came to picking a spot on the Western Front after the war to erect the Celtic Cross war memorial to the eight thousand four hundred and thirty two Seaforth Highlanders who died in the First World War it was the site of the 2nd Battalion's heavy casualties at Fampoux which was chosen  - at the heart of the Battle of The Scarpe where seven of the eight front-line battalions of the regiment were in action on the same day**. 

Seaforth Highlanders
War Memorial, Fampoux

Not far away from the Seaforth's Celtic Cross at Fampoux is a massive and very Scottish Cairn***. It is the First World War memorial to the 9th (Scottish) Division. Like the Seaforths the sacrifices of the Division at places like the Roeux Chemical Works made Arras the choice of location out of all the battles the Division had been in; from Loos in 1915 to the final offensives of 1918. Its inscription commemorates one Scottish division but its sentiment could be applied to the tens of thousands of Scots who served near Arras on 9th April 1917 and the bloody days which followed. 

When you hear about the Canadians on Vimy Ridge today then also...

Remember with honour

The 9th

Scottish Division

Who on the fields

Of France

And Flanders

1915-1918

Served well

Unveiling of the 9th (Scottish)
Division War Memorial

Notes
* Not included are 2nd Dragoons, Royal Scots Greys in 2nd Cavalry Division; 4th Regt South African Scottish in 9th Division; the four Tyneside Scottish battalions in 34th Division; London Scottish in 56th Division and the men serving in the artillery, engineers and other corps recruited in Scotland and attached to the Scottish divisions.
**The other battalion - 1st Bn Seaforth Highlanders was on the front-line in Mespotamia on 9th April 1917
*** In 2006 the 9th (Scottish) Division memorial was moved a short distance from its battlefield location at Athies to a location next to Point du Jour British Military Cemetery to accommodate road improvements.

On this day in Scottish Military History - 16th Bn HLI hold Frankfurt Trench - 1916

"The Somme" by Lyn MacDonald is probably my favourite book about the First World War. I have a well thumbed copy on my bookshelves and tonight I will bring it down again and read the epilogue.

1st July 1916 overshadows every other phase of the Battle of the Somme, but the battle was not fought on one day; it officially ended with the end of Battle of the Ancre just over ninety five years ago. Amongst the Scottish troops in action during the last battle were the 51st (Highland) Division. They captured Beaumont Hamel (and a place in history) on 13th-14th November. Their bravery that day is commemorated by the magnificent bronze highlander which was unveiled by Marchal Foch in 1924.

They weren't the only Scots in action in the last phase of the Battle. The 16th Battalion, Highland Light Infantry attacked the German trenches east of Beaumont Hamel on the what was officially the last day of the Battle - 18th November 1916. The battalion reached its objectives of Munich and Frankfurt trenches but were beaten back by the Germans.

Three days later, on this day ninety-five years ago, it was realised that not all the Highland Light Infantry had retreated. Some of 'D' Company, 16th HLI still held Frankfurt Trench. They were surrounded, and lesser men would have surrendered, but the Glasgow Boys' Brigade battalion men were made of sterner stuff and held on, hoping to be relieved.

This takes me back to Lyn MacDonald's book. The story of the fight of the men of 16th (Service) Battalion (2nd Glasgow), Highland Light Infantry in November 1916 is the subject of the epilogue of her book. I'm not going to go into more detail here. Nothing I could write could come close to Lyn MacDonald's moving description to the events which closed the 1916 fighting on the Somme. Instead I'd encourage you to find a copy in a shop or a library and read it.

In the mean time have a look at the Glasgow Roll of Honour which we have just published. Many of the men listed are just like the ones MacDonald describes in her book. "The shipping clerks, errand-boys, stevedores, railway porters, grocers' assistants, postmen"; the men of Glasgow who answered the call in 1914.

Scottish Regiments in TV Programmes and Films

A few years ago I compiled this list of Scottish regiments I had seen in films and television programmes. It has been a while since I updated it so recent appearances of Scottish troops on large or small screen may not have not been noted. If anyone can add any more, or correct any mistakes please leave a comment here or on our facebook page.

Note that most entries are for highland regiments. As far as I know, no KOSB or HLI soldiers have featured in a film.

Real Regiments

Scots Guards

TV Film ‘Tumbledown’ – Robert Lawrence’s story based on his own book about his time with the Scots Guards before and during the Falklands Conflict.

TV Drama ‘The Camomile Lawn’ – Character Hector is in Scots Gds in WW2. Service Dress tunic on screen is of Grenadiers but his wife refers to the three button spacing of his tunic in another scene.

Film ‘Paratrooper’ – Harry Andrews’s Para RSM is ex-Scots Guards.

Royal Scots Greys

Film ‘Waterloo’ – Charge of the Union Brigade. See also Gordons

Royal Scots Fusiliers

TV Series - Poirot special. Chronologically the first story but not first one made. See also unknowns

Black Watch

Film ‘The Sand Pebbles’ – Extras in scenes in Shanghai Bund

TV Series ‘Strathblair’ – Son is a Black Watch Major

TV Series ‘Monarch of the Glen’ – Flashback special where one character is a Boer War period Black Watch officer.

Film ‘Gunga Din’ – Easy to identify British soldiers for the US movie goers

Film ‘Soldiers Three’ – Easy to identify British soldiers for the US movie goers

Film ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ Black Watch on march behind Allenby in one scene

TV series ‘Northern Exposure’ – The former astronaut’s father or grandfather was an ex- Black Watch piper. His kilt and pipes are found in his loft.

Seaforth Highlanders

TV Series - Evelyn Waugh autobiographical comedy / drama – One of the officers wears a Seaforth glengarry

Film ‘Tobruk’ - Nigel Green’s colonel is a Seaforth.

Film ‘Appointment with Venus’ – David Niven as Seaforth Commando

TV Series - Blood Red Roses – Crippled father is a Seaforth. Fought in N.Africa, Italy N.W. Europe and Norway in the script. No Seaforths in Norway.

74th Highlanders

Film 'The Rare Breed'- James Stewart Western about breeding cattle. Brian Keith is a rival rancher and Scottish ex-soldier who turns up in 74th Full Dress to impress Maureen O'Hara. Keith’s ridiculous accent is more than matched by the fiery thatch of ginger facial hair he sports. (Rip Torn recreates this ridiculous combination of hair and tortured accent as a drunken Scottish sailor in Goldie Hawn / Kurt Russell comedy ‘Swept Away’)

Gordon Highlanders

TV Series ‘The Monoc’led Mutineer’ – Involved in rioting in town.

Film ‘Waterloo’ – Several scenes. See also Scots Greys

Film ‘Zeppelin’ – Michael York as a half-German, half-Scots Gordon

Film ‘The Heroes of the Krait’ Gordons officer leading Operation Rimau against Japs – all captured, tortured and beheaded.

Film ‘The Highest Honour’ Gordons officer leading Operation Rimau against Japs – all captured, tortured and beheaded.

TV Series ‘The Heroes’ Gordons officer leading Operation Rimau against Japs – all captured, tortured and beheaded.

Film ‘The Drum’ – Volunteers from regiment help Political Officer Roger Livesey on North West Frontier during the 1930’s

Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders

TV Film ‘Kim’ – Deserter is a Cameron

Film ‘Whisky Galore’ – Island in Inverness-shire. Home Guard in Camerons uniform

Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders

Film ‘Too Late the Hero’ South-East Asia 1941/42

Film ‘To End All Wars’ – Several key characters are Argylls

Film ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ – 93rd Highlanders

Film ‘The Captive Heart’ – Blind Gordon Jackson is an Argyll. See also unknown regiment section.

Recent TV Film ‘The Thirty Nine Steps’ – Set in 1914. Wrong sporrans.

The Highland Regiment

TV Sitcom ‘Dad’s Army'

Canadian Scots

Film ‘The Devil’s Brigade’ – Canadian contingent led by Pipe Band. Several Canadian Scots regiments represented.

Seaforth Highlanders of Canada

Film ‘Paratrooper’ Alan Ladd joins Paras via Seaforths of Canada. Also Harry Andrews is an ex-Scots Guards RSM

Unknown regiments

Poirot special – In military hospital red tartan kilt. Canadians? See also RSF

Film ‘The Captive Heart’ – Reformed 51st Div personnel used as extras playing captured 51st Div. men using real POW camp in Germany for film set. See also Argylls

Film ‘The Man who Would be King’ Sean Connery and Michael Caine laughing about one of the pipers in their old regiment during their campaign in Afghanistan. Could be 72nd or 92nd Highlanders?

Confused Soldiers

Sean Connery in 'Murder on the Orient Express' is a Royal Scot in one scene and a Scots Guard in another

Richard Todd is referred to as a Cameronian and but dressed as a Cameron Highlander in the ‘Hasty Heart’. Both regiments had battalions in Burma where it is set.

Made-up Regiments

Caledonian Highlanders - Film ‘Bonnie Scotland’ Laurel & Hardy. Uniform based on Black Watch and Camerons

Spofforth Highlanders - Film ‘The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer’. The Colonel of the Regiment, Julian Glover, is bribed to steal the Swiss gold reserves for Britain to avoid amalgamation. Can’t remember uniform details (Camerons?)

Third Foot and Mouth - Film ‘Carry-on Up the Khyber’ – Uniformed as Camerons

Un-named Highland Regiments

Film ‘Tunes of Glory’ - Hunting Scot tartan for the kilts. Lion rampant replaced the St Andrew of the Cameron's badge. The regiment in the book is based on Gordon Highlanders. See also the book George McDonald Fraser’s ‘The General Danced at Dawn’ which has characters very obviously based on the same real life people as Kennoway’s ‘Tunes of Glory’)

TV Series ‘The Avengers’. Episode from 1st series ‘Esprit de Corps’. Duncan MacRae. Roy Kinnear, John Thaw. 1960s Jacobites in Camerons uniform.

Film ‘The Amorous Prawn’ hard up General uses his HQ as a Country house hotel. Camerons? turn up at the end.

Film ‘Bedknobs and Broomsticks’ – Song & Dance scene in Portobello Road. Uniform of government tartan kilt, Black Watch bonnet badge (Not hackle).

TV Pathologist Series from early 1990’s. Officer Presiding at a Court martial. QOHldrs glengarry with a thistle badge. Couldn’t identify kilt.

Film ‘You Must be Joking’ – Several military / secret service folk are set some tasks around London to assess their suitability for a mission. Lionel Jeffries as Sgt. Maj. McGregor turns up in Full Dress including feather bonnet. Argyll uniform?

Others

I have a feeling that Alexander Korda had a Highland regiment in his Sudan shots in ‘The Four Feathers’. This story has been remade several times and pretty much all of them re-used Korda’s footage so there may well be several more films with these Highlanders in them.

I’m not sure that ‘Young Winston’ has some Highlanders in the Battle of Omdurman scenes but it has been many years since I have seen that film so can’t be sure. The Seaforths and Camerons were both involved in this Campaign. In the same film Edward Woodward plays an officer in the Boer War train derailment scene. In real life Churchill was travelling with Royal Dublin Fusiliers but in the film I’m pretty sure the officer had a helmet flash of the Douglas tartan of the Cameronians.

Viscount Haldane - Who's Who in Scottish Military History

Today is the 155th anniversary of the birth of the politician Viscount Haldane. The Edinburgh born and bred MP came from a distinguished family of Perthshire soldiers and sailors, but he himself never served in the armed forces. He was a tubby intellectual once described as a speaking penguin. A Renaissance man not cut out for military life.

He is our Who’s Who in Scottish Military History today because in 1907 he was responsible for the Acts which transformed the British Army and prepared it for the First World War. His reforms also changed the Scottish Volunteer regiments into the Territorial Force. It was his reforms which led to the creation of two of Scotland’s most famous volunteer units; the Lowland Division and the Highland Division. They would achieve undying fame in two world wars as the 51st and 52nd Divisions and the name still lives on today in the 6th and 7th battalions of the Royal Regiment of Scotland.

Richard Haldane was born in 1856 in Charlotte square in Edinburgh, just round the corner from where Douglas Haig was born in 1860. Coincidentally the two would work closely together in the Edwardian War Office when Haldane was Secretary of State for War and Haig was a general and the Director of Staff Duties.

I’ll not go into detail of the life of Haldane in the years before 1905 because this is about Haldane the army reformer, not Haldane the politician.

He was appointed Secretary of State for War, the minister responsible for the army, in December 1905. He had been aware of the short-comings of the army since the 2nd Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902. The Empire had won but had been humiliated on many occasions by the mostly volunteer Boer army. Haldane knew he needed to shake up the demoralised army from top to bottom. As far back as 1901 he stated he wanted ‘a comparatively small Army - one extremely efficacious and capable for foreign service’, but not one able to ‘compete with the enormous armaments of Europe’. Four years later he was in a position to put his theory into practice.

Almost immediately he was forced to create the British Expeditionary Force. Secret negotiations between the British and French governments in January 1906 committed Britain to sending an army to France in the event of a European War. Haldane created a BEF of six infantry divisions and one cavalry division out of the regular army troops garrisoned in the UK. Each infantry battalion, artillery battery, medical corps ambulance and engineer squadron was allocated to a brigade and division; and would be ready for war within a matter of days.

He then wanted to improve training. This was when he first came into contact with General Douglas Haig who was working as Director of Staff Duties at the War Office at the time. With Haldane’s help in quashing objections from other generals, Haig produced two volumes of the Field Service Regulations. For the first time the army had one set of manuals which covered the training and organisation of all branches of the army, including front line and line of communications troops. When war came all units would now be singing from the same hymn sheet.

Haldane’s next major reform was the creation of the Territorial Force. Haldane saw that the rifle volunteers formed in the 1850s and 1860s to defend Britain against French invasion could be reorganised into brigades and divisions to defend Britain from an attack by Germany. They could also potentially be used overseas too if the men volunteered.

He used the old Yeomanry units as the cavalry for his fourteen new territorial divisions. He also changed the status of the Militia. It was now renamed the Special Reserve and would be the holding unit for the regular battalions of a regiment for reserve soldiers recalled to the colours in the event of war.

At the same time as converting Yeomanry, Militia and Volunteers into an integrated defence and training force for a modern war, he also introduced the Officer Training Corps to schools and universities to train future officers. This part of his reforms alone would guarantee a pool of trained young officers ready to fill the ranks of the rapidly expanded army in 1914.

His last major reform at the War Office was the creation of the General Staff, and shortly afterwards the Imperial General Staff. Once again he worked with Haig on this reform, and this would pay dividends in the later war years when Haig was commander-in-chief in France, and responsible for large contingents of troops from Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand and South Africa.

The one thing he didn’t do was introduce conscription. He resisted calls for it and was a great believer in his territorial force and OTC in producing hostilities-only soldiers out of keen volunteers.

In 1910 Haldane left the War Office. Haig who had worked closely with Haldane over the previous three years later called him "the greatest Secretary of State for War England has ever had". Haldane was hoping to go to the Admiralty and start his reforms there. His father had been in the Royal Navy and whilst in the cabinet Haldane had seen how unprepared the Navy was for a modern war against a European power. The job went to Churchill instead. It is now one of history’s what-ifs. What if Haldane had reformed the navy as successfully as he had the army?

Haldane had always had many German friends and spoke German fluently. Before 1914 he worked hard to keep the peace but one man could not stop the momentum building up in Europe for war. On the outbreak of war the prime minister called him back to mobilise the army. No-one knew what was needed better then Haldane. Asquith offered him his old job back at the War Office but Haldane turned it down and suggested an experienced soldier like Kitchener instead. Once again we have another what-if. Kitchener dismissed some of Haldane’s carefully prepared mobilisation plans. He reduced the BEF from six divisions to four and ignored the Territorial Force as reinforcements and instead called for his volunteer army to be raised. What if Haldane had been in charge? How would he have created an army of seventy divisions to fight a war against the most powerful army in Europe?

In August 1914 Haldane’s reforms were put to the test and they more than stood up to them. Crucially for the first time in a major war the British regular army knew exactly what to do on the outbreak of war. The divisions moved to France within days and the contemptible little army gave the Kaiser’s army a bloody nose at Mons and Le Cateau. The Territorial Force quickly moved to their war stations and almost to a man volunteered for overseas service. By 1915 many TF units were in action in France and Gallipoli and held the line before Kitchener’s New Army units were ready for action.

Ironically the man who had done so much to reform the army and prepare it for war found he was sidelined during the war because of his supposed German sympathies. His former allies failed to support him against the hostile press and he was forced to resign as Lord Chancellor just at the time his Territorial Force was going to war.

He remained a committed parliamentarian for the rest of his life serving both Liberal and Labour parties. He didn’t forget his homeland though and he had spells as Lord Rector of Edinburgh University, Chancellor of the University of St Andrews and was made a Freeman of the City of Edinburgh.

This most unlikely of Scottish Military heroes died at his family home in Perthshire in August 1928 just a few months after his old colleague Douglas Haig. ‘The Scotsman’ reported that the local territorials including the 6th/7th Bn Black Watch T.A. lined the roads for his funeral service at Auchterarder. Local resident General Sir Ian Hamilton was in attendance and a Black Watch piper played The ‘Flowers of the Forest’ at his graveside in Gleneagles Cemetery.

Twenty years after he had shaken up the war office the army had not forgotten that Haldane was the man responsible for their ability to fight in 1914, and fourteen years later they gave him a fitting send-off.

Cameron Highlanders return to site of a Concentration Camp in the Netherlands

Today's Scotsman has a story about a party of Cameron Highlanders returning to the Dutch town of Vught. In 1944 they liberated the town and were the first Allied troops in North-West Europe to come across a concentration camp.

The full story is here.

From the description of the other units involved I think they were serving in the 5th Bn Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders in 152 Brigade, 51st Highland Division.

Major-General Douglas Neil Wimberley - Who's Who in Scottish Military History

There are some moments where a person is appointed to the ideal job for them. A perfect moment in time results in the right man in the right place at the right time. Such a moment was the moment Douglas Wimberley was appointed to command the 51st Highland Division.

Douglas Wimberley had been born in Inverness in 1896, and had been commissioned into the Cameron Highlandes in 1915, winning the Military Cross in 1917. After the war he saw service in a variety of places, including during the Irish War of Independence, where he served under Bernard Montgomery for the first time.

At the outbreak of the Second World War he was commanding the 1st Battalion of the Cameron Highlanders and he went with the battalion to France. He was not to see action with the battalion in France as in December 1939 he was appointed Chief Instructer at the Senior Officers School at Sheerness. After a succession of positions, he was appointed to command the 51st Division in June 1941.

Wimberley was perhaps the ideal man for the job. The 51st Division was not the crack unit of the First World War. It was in fact in reality the untried 9th Division, which had been renamed after the surrender of the 51st Division at St Valery the previous year. In some way the Division was perhaps still suffering from the effects of that surrender.

What Wimberley did was to instill a sense of esprit de corps into the Division. He used the Division concert party to travel round the individual regiments conveying the tone and spirit of the Division as a whole. He encouraged the wearing of kilts and tartan. He would regularly "poach" Scottish troops from other units for his Division, and would, where possible, rejected "sassenach" troops.

In doing so he forged the Division into what it had been before, and was again - a tightly knit, crack Division. Little wonder that the 51st Division played a large part in the Battle of El Alamein. Throughout North Africa, the Highlanders were there - in many cases painting their famous HD logo wherever they could - not for nothing were the nicknamed the Highway Decorators.

By the end of the Sicily campaign Montgomery had decided that Wimberley was tired and needed a rest. He was appointed Commandant of the Staff College at Camberley, and then was Director of Infantry from 1944 until he left the army in 1946.

After the war he became principal of University College, Dundee. There he tried to instill the same kind of esprit de corps which had revitalised the 51st Division, working closely with the staff and pupils. He worked hard to improve conditions and facilities. He had to stand down in 1954 due to the rotation of principal seats. He is remembered by the annual Wimberley Award which is given to the student who has contributed most to university life.


In later life Wimberley wrote his memoirs - a five-volume work entitled Scottish Soldier. It remains unpublished but was deposited at the National Library of Scotland along with other papers and diaries.

Wimberley died in 1983, but the affection and pride that the 51st Division is still held in to this day is testament to the hard work and dedication of the man who was known as "Tartan Tam".

Distinguished WW2 hero Chandos Blair dies, aged 91

From The Scotsman:

Lieutenant-general Sir Chandos Blair, the first British Army officer to return home after his Scottish regiment was imprisoned by the Germans during the Second World War, has died. He was 91 and died on Saturday.

The soldier, who was awarded the Military Cross for his bravery, later became General Officer Commanding Scotland and Governor of Edinburgh Castle.

He was also chosen to undertake a diplomatic mission to try to secure the freedom of writer Denis

Hills who had been sentenced to death by Ugandan dictator Idi Amin.

As a young second lieutenant in the 2nd Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders, he was determined to escape after the original 51st (Highland) Division surrendered to Rommel's 7th Panzer Division at St Valery in northern France in June 1940.

The former fighting patrol officer managed to abscond from a work party the following year and spent eight days fraught with danger, walking 75 miles to neutral Switzerland, arriving home in January 1942.

The young soldier was later to distinguish himself again after being posted to the 7th Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders, part of the 15th (Scottish) Division which saw action during the Normandy invasion in June 1944.

He was awarded a bar to his MC after helping to repel a heavy counter-attack while wounded.

In 1959 he took command of the 4th Battalion, King's African Rifles in Uganda.

Among his troops was a young sergeant he promoted to lieutenant "because of his hard work and toughness on the battlefield". The soldier was Amin, the future dictator.

In 1975, Blair began an eight-year tenure as Colonel of the Queen's Own Highlanders, an amalgamation of his old regiment and the Camerons.

He was appointed OBE in 1962 and KCVO in 1972.

He married Audrey Travers in 1947 who predeceased him. They had a son and a daughter.

Re-dedication of Black Watch memorial

From The Courier:

RINCE CHARLES will be in Dundee on Sunday to attend the rededication service of The Black Watch memorial his grandmother, the late Queen Mother, unveiled on the outskirts of the city exactly 50 years ago.

The bronze of a Black Watch soldier stands at Powrie Brae against the backdrop of the Angus countryside and commemorates the sacrifice of more than 440 4th and 5th Battalion Black Watch soldiers who died in the second world war.

Over the years it has proved a site of pilgrimage, remembrance and reflection for those associated with the wartime Dundee City and County of Angus battalions.

“The landmark statue stands with his feet in Angus but overlooks the city of Dundee, commemorating the loss of lads from both the rural and urban battalions,” Black Watch Association secretary Major Ronnie Proctor said.

“Unfortunately years standing out in all weathers had taken their toll on our old soldier and urgent restoration was required to stop it deteriorating beyond repair.”

Around £12,000 was raised by grant aid and Black Watch Association fund-raising to restore the statue and on Sunday Prince Charles will follow in the Queen Mother’s footsteps as royal patron of The Black Watch Association to rededicate the memorial.

The prince will be joined by second world war veterans of the Dundee and Angus battalions, some of whom attended the original ceremony in October 1959.

Serving Black Watch soldiers of 3rd Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland, Territorial Army soldiers of the 51st Highland Volunteers, members of the Angus and Dundee Battalion of the Army Cadet Force, Black Watch veterans and their families will also join civic heads and the public to mark the occasion.

Sunday’s service will begin at 12.30pm and will be conducted jointly by the Right Rev Vincent Logan, Bishop of Dunkeld, former Black Watch national serviceman the Rev Canon Peter Allen, and the Rev Bob Wightman, Dundee Combined Forces Association chaplain.

Codebreaker

An interesting article appeared in the Scottish Sun today. Text "borrowed" below for anyone who doesn't buy the paper.

I did a little bit of homework into Berenger Bradford, as I was curious about the medal ribbon in the photograph published. The National Archives has three results for him inb their lists of recommendations for honours and awards. Two DSO and a Military Cross, although on looking at one of them it states he had previously been awarded an MBE and a Mention in Despatches. Apparently he was wounded in Normandy but recovered sufficiently from his wounds to take command of the battle and lead his troops by sitting on the front of a tank and directing it to the front line. A brave fellow, all told.

THE son of a World War II hero has cracked a secret code in his dad’s letters home — nearly 70 years on.

Captain Berenger Bradford escaped from a PoW camp in Germany and went on the run to France and Algeria before getting back to Britain to lead an assault in the Normandy Landings.

Fan mail ... proud son Andrew

He travelled nearly 5,000 miles in a year while fleeing the Nazis and sent a string of encoded letters to the War Office and his parents in Aberdeenshire.

Trigger

When Bradford died in 1996, his son Andrew, 54, discovered the cache of letters and has spent years unravelling their secrets.

Andrew, the Laird of Kincardine Castle and Estate, said: “In his writing he secreted the message by weighting some of the letters slightly lighter than the normal text.

“When you glance at the letter you cannot see this so you then have to produce a trigger to alert the reader.

“I looked at one letter for days then suddenly something twigged — it was very exciting when you saw the words coming out.

“In some of his later letters he had concealed messages within the lining of the envelope. He was just trying to feed what information he could and tell his father where he was.”

After navigating 700 miles back to Britain in a 17ft boat from Algeria, Bradford became a colonel and led soldiers from the 51st Highland Division into battle in Normandy in 1944.