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.

The Loss of the "Birkenhead" - On this day in Scottish military history - 1852

“Women and children first”. You may not know it but this chivalrous shout when disaster strikes has a name. It is known as The Birkenhead Drill.

It’s so called because on this day one hundred and sixty years ago the actions of the soldiers and sailors on board a Royal Navy transport ship called the ‘Birkenhead’ changed the way men behaved when a passenger ship foundered. Although never enshrined in maritime law, for decades after the H.M.S. ‘Birkenhead’ sank off Africa in 1852 it would have been unheard off for a gentleman to board a lifeboat if there were women and children still on board the sinking ship.

The ‘Birkenhead’ had sailed from Cork on 17th January 1852 with five hundred and two soldiers from ten regiments. (Over two hundred were from three Highland regiments. The 73^rd Highlanders, 74^th Highlanders and 91st Highlanders) Most were destined for service in the 8^th Cape Frontier War in Cape Colony but because some were heading on to India for garrison duty there were twenty five wives and thirty one children on board too.

On 26^th February the ship had called in at the Cape naval base at Simon’s Town to drop off some passengers and take more on for the short journey round the coast to Port Elizabeth. That was the town nearest the Xhosa homelands where the Cape Frontier War was in progress and where the 74^th and 91st were going to disembark. The ‘Birkenhead’ left Simon’s Town with six hundred and thirty one crew and passengers on board, but soon ran into trouble.

The Captain had taken the ship nearer the Cape Colony coast than usual to cut down his voyage time. This was at the urging of Governor Sir Harry Smith in Cape Town because the new recruits were urgently needed for the war. Unfortunately a large swell forced the ship even nearer land and it hit a submerged rock* about a mile offshore at the aptly named Danger Point in Gans Bay. The situation at that stage was not hopeless but a decision by the captain to order his ship astern to get it off the rocks broke the back of the ship.

It was obvious to all that the ship was doomed so the priority was to launch the three small boats the ship carried and get as many people off it as possible. Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Seton of Mounie of the 74^th Highlanders had the most recruits on board (seventy -three 74th Highlanders) and was also the most senior army officer on the ship, so was in charge of all the soldiers. Seton immediately grasped the situation and ordered the soldiers to help the sailors clear debris of the deck, get the horses off the ship** and help the sailors get the seven women and thirteen children into the boats first. Once they were safely on one of the small cutters the other two boats were filled with soldiers. There were still hundreds of men on board.

Their hope would have been that the small boats would row to shore and then return for more men but the ‘Birkenhead’ was breaking up under their feet. Only twenty five minutes after hitting the rocks and just a few minutes after launching the small boats it was obvious that if the remaining soldiers and sailors headed for the water before the ship sank they would swim to the small boats and swamp them.

Seton quickly issued his orders. The soldiers would fall in on deck as if on parade and this would allow the boats with all the women and children to row away from the sinking ‘Birkenhead’.

According to eye-witness reports the soldiers behaved impeccably. Many were new recruits but they all stoically followed their orders. Lined up on the sea-washed deck they held their position as the ship broke-up beneath them. Seton’s calm authority had ensured that not one of the women or children on board the ‘Birkenhead’ were lost; every boat reached the shore unharmed.

The men left behind on the ship were not so lucky, the ‘Birkenhead’ was close enough to shore to allow strong swimmers the chance of survival but Great White sharks and a nasty clinging seaweed claimed many who had not already drowned when the ship sank. A few managed to swim ashore and a handful managed to cling to debris until picked up the next day by a rescue ship. Colonel Seton and forty seven of his officers and men of the 74th were amongst the four hundred and forty five men lost with the ship.

In Glasgow Cathedral there is a plaque to the 74^th Highlanders. It lists the campaigns the regiment had fought in between its first action in 1789 and 1886 when the plaque was unveiled, after the 74^th had become the 2^nd Battalion Highland Light Infantry. It lists the battles of the Napoleonic Wars the colonial wars of the nineteenth century. It also lists the "Birkenhead".

For the 74^th Highlanders the actions of Lieutenant Colonel Seton and his new recruits on the ‘Birkenhead’ were important as any in the history of the regiment. The bravery and fortitude shown by his men on that day matched any of the battles the regiment had been in over the previous one hundred years. That bravery not only inspired the men who enlisted into the 74^th and later the HLI in future years but also other people around the world. The King of Prussia made every man in his army listen to the tale of the ‘Birkenhead’ to make sure they knew how proper soldiers should behave in adversity.

Colonel Seton’s example inspired generations of Victorians and Edwardians. The poet of Empire couldn’t let it pass and Kipling’s “Soldier an' Sailor Too” published in 1896 devotes a verse to the Drill.

Men who survived the sinking of the ‘Titanic’ were sometimes branded cowards because it was suggested that they had ignored the Birkenhead Drill. That was unfair because many boarded the boats at the orders of the ship’s officers. The public were shocked when they read how many women and children had perished and surviving men faced a backlash.

One hundred years on from the sinking of the ‘Titanic’ and one hundred and sixty years to the day from the foundering of the ‘Birkenhead’ would the men of 2012 stand back when disaster strikes? The recent foundering of the ‘Costa Concordia’ suggests otherwise.

* Now known as the Birkenhead Rock.

** According to Wikipedia some of the horses which swam ashore from the ‘Birkenhead’ were the ancestors of a feral herd that roamed the plains east of Gans Bay until late in the 20th century.

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.

On this day in Scottish Military History - The birth of John Moore - 1761

Today is the 250th anniversary of the birth of Glaswegian general and army reformer Sir John Moore. You'd be hard pressed to find many modern Glasgow residents who have heard of him. Even if they knew of his statue in George Square they would probably not know what he is famous for.

We've already covered his life in one of our Who's who articles so you can read that to find out more about him.

As we remember the dead of more recent wars on this remembrance Sunday, spare a thought for the Scotsmen lost fighting Napoleon's tyranny and the brave Sir John Moore, killed in action 16th January 1809.

The Admiralty issues AFO 2239/31 - On this day in Scottish Naval History, 1931

On this day in Scottish naval history the Royal Navy posted an Admiralty Fleet Order AFO 2239/31 on ships' notice boards. This order had been anticipated by the crews of many ships in port. News of it had leaked on 12th September and the Sunday newspapers, read by many sailors on shore leave, had picked it up. The contents of the order confirmed the rumours and sent shockwaves through the Atlantic Fleet anchored at Invergordon Naval Base.

The Royal Navy had conducted a savings review as part of the previous Government's belt-tightening exercise because of the financial fallout of the Wall Street crash of 1929. The huge cuts needed in public expenditure had split the Labour Government and in August 1931 it had to resign. A new National Government was formed from all parties which forced through the cuts. Each part of the government needed to make savings and the armed forces were no exception.

Morale was already at a low ebb within the forces as they had been repeatedly starved of money and new equipment after the First World War, and these new cuts were always going to be unpopular. As with all big business the biggest cost is personnel; so the Admiralty Fleet Order reported that from 1st October 1931 there would be a pay cut across all ranks of the Royal Navy.

Officers, Non-commissioned officers and ratings who had enlisted after 1925 would face a 10% pay cut, but any sailor below the rank of Petty Officer who had joined before 1925 would face a cut which would see them receiving the same pay as the post-1925 men. This would be comparable to a 25% pay reduction.

Unsurprisingly the long service men facing the biggest cuts were not happy. There was little animosity felt to their officers and petty officers because they were also facing pay cuts but there was still simmering discontent both ashore and on the ships anchored in the Cromarty Firth.

A fleet exercise was being planned for 15th September 1931 which would bring matters to a head. The Invergordon Mutiny was still two days away but the posting of the AFO on this day eighty years ago was the lighting of the touch paper.

General Monck takes Dundee - On this day in Scottish Military History - 1651

Thanks again to Karen Nichols of Dundee for today's 'On this Day'. Karen is steeped in the history of Dundee and runs several themed tours of the City. Her Royal Burgh Tour covers the old town and includes a stop at George Monck's former lodgings.

The Siege of Dundee 1651

The 1651 siege of Dundee by General George Monck is one of the few episodes in the city’s history that most residents are sure they know. During the Civil War there was a six week siege that ended with a nine year occupation by the English.

According to legend the royal burgh was assailed by Cromwell’s General for six weeks before an innocent boy climbing over the dilapidated town walls gave Monck the information that the guards were in the ale-house for breakfast and drunk by lunchtime. This allowed a brutal assault and dishonourable execution of the Governor followed by three days of looting and mass murder that ended when Monck himself came across a suckling infant at the breast of his dead mother. During the occupation the treasures of the town were placed on 50 ships for export to England. The discovery of human remains throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries seems to add weight to this legend. As with most legends the key facts have been forgotten and unsubstantiated details are now ‘fact’.

After assaulting St. Andrews, Dundee was called upon to surrender on 26th August 1651 by General Monck. The royalist Governor of Dundee, Robert Lumsden, replied that as a king’s officer he desires all that bear arms against the king to lay them down and conform with his Majesty’s declarations. Not surprisingly this request was not considered. On the last Sunday of August firing began against the walls and continued throughout the night. On the morning of 1st September 1651 an assault took place either from 4am or before 10am. The town was stormed at the east and west as well as by gunboats on the River Tay. The Governor and his loyal men had taken possession of the first floor in St. Mary’s Tower and were shooting through a rose window towards the invaders until smoked out. After surrendering in the honoured fashion in the kirk yard an un-named English commander made a decision to shoot the Governor and gave the order for his decapitated head, still in its helmet, to be placed on a spike of pinnacle on the south-west corner of the Steeple’s lower parapet. It allegedly fell down of its own accord in 1660, which is coincidentally the year of Charles II’s Restoration.

By 1811 newspaper accounts had every house broken down and pillaged with every man and officer shot down at the Yarn and Fish markets, where ‘lust, rapacity and cruelty reigned supreme’. Indeed, men were ‘robbit, evin to the sark’. Another nineteenth century account allows for no quarter until the market place. The discovery of a cast-iron musket ball found in the woodwork of a house being demolished 235 years later suggests fighting was still heavy in that market-place. Although Monck granted 24hr plunder with ‘nane escaping their handis’ the order to cease had to be repeated, with increasing punishments threatened, on each of the following three days. With booty recorded at in excess of ‘twa millions and halffe (£) Scots’, it has been speculated that the average booty for each of the soldiers was £60 Scots.

The church stables that had been ‘made useless’ by the Marquis of Montrose six years earlier seemed capable of stabling Monck’s horses and reputedly Bonnie Prince Charlie’s in 1745. There is no evidence for Monck repeating his 1643 visit to Peterborough when he ‘did miserably deface the Cathedral church, break down organs and destroy the glass windows, committing many other outrages on the house of God…’.

The population loss during the massacre 'cannot be estimated at much less than 1/5 of the whole population.’ Monck’s chaplain and chronicler, Gumble, strangely accounted for seven score women killed and twenty-two Edinburgh men. Nicolls in his Diary offers ‘be estimation of wyse men wes about ten or ellevin hundredth beside four or five hundredth prissoneris’. It is known that up to 300 prisoners were captured and placed on ships leaving nearby Broughty Ferry for London. Ironically, the population had been temporarily increased as many saw the walled town as a safe retreat for their bodies and possessions in the troubled times. The 1791 Statistical Accounts names many visitors to the town, including a minister, a parson and the former Governor of Stirling. Their fate is undetermined. Also slaughtered were two battalions of Duffus' regiment and another battalion at the Fishmarket. For the interested, Robertson’s account of the siege goes into greater detail.

The remains of an unknown woman and child were found in Thorter Row, adjacent to the parish church, in 1810 and have been immortalised as victims of the massacre. This area has been subjected to regular development and is now notorious for producing human bones. Indeed, when internal changes were being made to the parish church so many bones were found that it was thought to relocate the remains in a pit to the north. However, this plan was foiled when the chosen spot uncovered even more bones. Hearth tax records in 1690s indicate a population of approximately 8,250, which is a third below that of pre-war figures.

Gumble, Monk's chaplain and chronicler, talks of Dundee as a 'very rich and thriving place' and '60 ships taken in the harbour, & sent away loaded with booty, consisting chiefly of plate and money'. Unfortunately ‘the ships were cast away …and the great wealth perished without any extraordinary storm … ill got, soon lost.’ Although Dundee’s port was the second in Scotland it is doubtful if 50 or 60 ships could be berthed simultaneously. In one action Dundee was reduced from a position of wealth to destitution.

The effects of this second attack compounded the losses after Montrose’s attack, which were calculated at £162,000. The town walls that had cost £162 to repair after the 1645 attack by Montrose were now declared as ‘inconvenient’ and ordered to be dung doon. By the following year the state owed the royal burgh £26,500 for outstanding war funds, £31,000 for quartering of troops and £35,000 for fortifications. From dues totalling £250,000 they received a mere £20,000. Despite losses and a financial decline worse than Aberdeen that suffered similar military action the burgh remained the 2nd highest revenue payer in Scotland until overtaken by the Glasgow tobacco lords from the 1670s. This speaks volumes of the wealth of the royal burgh as do the fragments of architecture that survive from the period.

It took three Acts of Parliament to restore the losses by granting privileges and revenues on imports, a national collection for harbour repairs and the inauguration of two eight-day annual fairs. As if that wasn’t enough a 1649 Act excused the burgh two months maintenance because of a plague outbreak that put the town in quarantine.
Dundee’s trade had always been based on imports and exports through the harbours. Due to Cromwell’s war with the Dutch this trade diminished and again during the 1665-67 war. The following year a great storm that swept up the River Tay broke the seawalls of the harbour causing ruination of the ships and their goods. By 1707 the burgh that was attacked by both sides of the same argument faced bankruptcy. Contemporaries blamed the attacks by Montrose and Monck.

Further Reading

Diary of public transactions, J Nicolls, 1836
Dundee and the Civil Wars, 1639-60, J. Robertson, Friends of Dundee City Archives, 2007.
Dundee, Renaissance to Enlightenment, C, McKean, B Harris, C Whatley (eds), Dundee University Press, 2009
Lost Dundee, C. McKean, P Whatley, Birlinn, 2008
Statistical Accounts, 1791-99, J Sinclair, (ed) Vol XIII

The first Shetland Bus operation - On This Day 1941

When war broke out in September 1939 the islanders of Shetland probably thought that it would be unlikely that the actions of Hitler's Germany would impact them directly. They were a long way from Poland and the battlefields of Europe. Even the naval blockade of the North Sea would be operated from Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands further south.

The events of Spring 1940 changed all that; Norway was invaded by the Germans and a hastily assembled British and French expeditionary force was beaten back home with their tails between their legs.

By the summer of 1940 the Germans may have been in charge in Norway and had a few tame collaborators like Vidkun Quisling to help them but there were many brave Norwegians who were ready to resist.

It is often quoted that Oslo is nearer Shetland than London; and so it was to the Northern Isles where the Norwegian section of the Special Operations Executive looked to when they were wanting a base for incursions into Norway. They went to Lunna near Lerwick first, but then moved to a purpose built pier at Scalloway.

Using Norwegian fishing boats crewed by a mix of fishermen and sailors who knew the coasts of Norway like the backs of their hands the SOE ran agents and supplies into Norway. They returned with intelligence, volunteers and men and women in danger of arrest by the Nazis. In 1943 the heavy losses of fishing boats led to the US Navy lending them three fast submarine chasers, and the civilian volunteer crews joined the Royal Norwegian Navy. With their new boats there were no more losses.

Between August 1941 and May 1945 the SOE ran 198 operations across the North Sea. 44 men of the operation died in those three and a half years but through their sacrifice they landed 192 agents and 383 tons of weapon and supplies in Norway. They had retuned with 73 agents and 373 refugees.

Throughout the war years the already close relationship between Shetland and Norway was strengthened further. Today on Scalloway's Main Street a magnificent memorial to the Norwegians of the Shetland Bus shows a small fishing boat battling the sea. It is a fitting subject. At night and in winter it was a perilous journey across the North Sea, but German patrol ships and aircraft added extra perils for these brave volunteers

On this day seventy years ago the defeat of Germany would have seemed a long way off. But for the brave Norwegians of the Shetland Bus their first mission from Lunna Voe on 30th August 1941 would mean the liberation of their country would happen that little bit sooner.

The Release of "Highlander" in UK -On this day 1986

OK, I'm prepared to take a bit of abuse for this being today's 'On this day', but let's be honest how many Hollywood films can you name which start off with a 16th Century Scottish clan battle? I don't think you'd even need to have all your digits to be able to count them on one hand. It also finishes with an RAF jet tearing along a glen so I think on that basis it can be included here.

Shean Connery'sh Shpanish accshent leaves a lot to be desired, as does Christopher Lambert's Scottish accent. But forget the ridiculous plot and the appalling sequels and enjoy some of this 1980's movie thanks to YouTube...

Scots Army Invades England - On this day in Scottish Military History - 1651

Three hundred and sixty years ago today during the War of Three Kingdoms General George Monck laid siege to Stirling Castle.

Since breaking the deadlock at Inverkeithing he had moved his New Model Army forces across the Central belt towards one of the most strategic positions in Scotland.

At the same time the Scots Army was not approaching Stirling; it was heading South.

In alliance with Charles II the Scots were heading for London. They intended to steal a march on Cromwell's forces who were now behind them, and rally Royalist Englishmen on the march south.

On this day in 1651 the Scots crossed the border into England. Little did they know they were playing into Cromwell's hands.

The Battle of Harlaw - On This Day in Scottish Military History, 1411

Today marks the 600th Anniversary of the Battle of Harlaw.

The battle was fought to resolve competing claims to the Earldom of Ross, and was fought between Lowland clans commanded by Alexander Stewart, Earl of Mar and Highland clans led by Donald of Islay, Lord of the Isles. Despite fierce fighting there was no clear victor.

The wikipedia page on the battle is well detailed and worth a look to discover more information. You can also download a map from the Battlefields Trust showing the approximate deployments.

The battle spawned a ballad entitle "The Ballad of Harlaw". Here is a video of it being performed, with the lyrics reproduced below.



As I cam' in by Dunideer and doon by Nether Ha'
There were fifty thoosand' heilan' men a-marchin' tae Harlaw

Chorus (after each verse):
Wi' a diddy aye o' an' a fal an' doe
And a diddy aye o' aye ay

As I gaed on an' farther on and doon an' by Balquhain
Oh it's there I saw Sir James the Rose and wi' him John the Graeme

"It's cam' ye fae the Heilan's man, cam' ye a' the wey?
Saw ye MacDonald and his men as they cam' in fae Skye?"

"It's I was near and near eneuch that I their numbers saw
There was fifty thoosan' heilan' men a-marchin' tae Harlaw"

"Gin that be true," says James the Rose, "We'll no cam' muckle speed
We'll cry upon wir merry men and turn wir horse's heid"

"Oh na, o' na," says John the Graeme, "This thing will nivver be
The gallant Graemes wis nivver beat, we'll try fit we can dae"

Well, as I gaed on an' further on an' doon an' by Harlaw
There fell fu' close on ilka side sic straiks ye nivver saw

There fell fu' close on ilka side sic straiks ye nivver saw
An' ilka sword gaed clash for clash at the Battle of Harlaw

The Heilan' men wi' their lang swords, they laid on us fu' sair
And they drave back wir merry men three acres breadth and mair

An' Forbes tae his brither did say, "Noo brither, can't ye see
They've beaten us back on ilka side and we'll be forced tae flee"

"Oh na, na, my brither bold, this thing will nivver be
Ye'll tak yer guid sword in yer haun', ye'll gang in wi' me"

Well, it's back tae back the brithers bold gaed in amangst the thrang
And they drave back the heilan' men wi' swords baith sharp and lang

An' the firstan stroke that Forbes struck, he gart MacDonald reel
An' the neistan straik that Forbes struck, the brave MacDonald fell

An siccan a ptlairchie o' the likes ye nivver saw
As wis amangst the Heilan' men fan they saw MacDonald fa'

Some rade, some ran and some did gang, they were o' sma' record
For Forbes and his merry men, they slew them on the road

O' fifty thoosan' Heilan' men, but fifty-three gaed hame
And oot o' a' the Lawlan' men, fifty marched wi' Graeme

Gin onybody spier at ye for them that marched awa'
Ye can tell them plain and very plain they're sleepin' at Harlaw

The Battle of Inverkeithing - On this day in Scottish Military History - 1651

The Battle of Dunbar in 1650 is considered one of Scotland's worst defeats and one of Oliver Cromwell's greatest victories. It didn't mean the collapse of Scottish resistance though and north of the Forth the Scots were still in a strong position.

David Leslie retreated to Stirling and dug in. Cromwell's army was not strong enough for a frontal attack so he chose a diversionary attack through Fife threatening Leslie's flank at Perth. This would draw the Scots away from Stirling which would allow Cromwell to march north into the central belt.

Flat bottomed rafts were constructed and delivered to Cromwell at Leith. On the night of 16th / 17th July the first of Cromwell's troops crossed at the narrows between South and North Queensferry and landed in Inverkeithing Bay.

They quickly dug in because news of their landing would soon reach Leslie in Stirling.

Leslie quickly despatched a large force to Inverkeithing but still held on to plenty of men at Stirling. Cromwell was thwarted and retreated to Linlithgow but his diversionary attack at Inverkeithing was more succesful than he dared hope.

The inexperienced Scots made tactical errors in their advance and were totally outclassed by Cromwell's experienced New Model Army when the two armies met.

Nearly 800 Scots died on this day three hundred and sixty years ago and their defeat allowed the English to outflank Leslie.

The defeat of the Scots on 20th July 1651 meant Cromwell could cross the Forth with all his army. Their victory had finally ended the strategic deadlock. His New Model Army now commanded the Forth and Fife.

With Cromwell now in the North-east of Scotland King Charles II decided to make a thrust south. Charles was playing into Cromwell's trap. A small Royalist / Scottish army would be no match for his consolidated New Model Army in the flat open landscape of England.

Inverkeithing is almost forgotten today but it had far reaching consequences for Scotland and England.

The Childers Reforms - On this day on Scottish military history - 1881

1st July 1881 was the date when the Childers Reforms of the British Army were implemented. On that date the old numbered regiments of the army officially disappeared, and many new paired regiments first appeared on the Army List.

The first twenty five regiments of foot already had two battalions so there was very little change for them. For the 26th Foot and the regiments numbered above that then a new name was needed and old traditions and uniform distinctions had to be agreed on. For Highland regiments there was an added twist to this amalgamation because the uniform for each regiment was so distinctive and in many ways so different.

In some cases the pairing led to one battalion completely taking over the identity of the other. The 92nd Highlanders were the junior partner in the amalgamation with the 75th Stirlingshire Regiment but it was the 75th who took on the uniform and name of the Gordon Highlanders. In fact in all cases where kilted regiment amalgamated with a trewed regiment, the new regiment ended up wearing the kilt.

In 1881 there were ten Highland regiments on the army establishment but only five wore kilts. The rest wore trews. The 71st, 72nd, 73rd, 74th and 91st Highlanders had originally been raised as highland regiments in kilts, but in 1809 they had been clothed as line infantry. They had only been allowed to assume a highland identity after hard battles with Horse Guards in London but it was in kilts not trews in which they were clothed.

The 1st Royal Scots, 21st Royal Scots Fusiliers, 26th Cameronians, and 90th Perthshire Light Infantry were all Scottish regiments too, but until 1881 wore the standard line infantry uniform used by English, Welsh and Irish regiments. In 1881 that all changed. Scottish regiments from Lowland to Highland adopted diced bands, tartan and doublets.

Over the years stories have surfaced of the unhappy unions, and the fights over traditions and uniforms. In the Highland Light Infantry the 1st Battalion continued to call itself the 71st, and the 2nd Bn continued to call itself the 74th and each continued to use traditions and uniform distinctions peculiar to their old regiments.

This is understandable given the forced union between many regiments. However that shouldn't have been the case. Since 1873 the infantry regiments of Scotland had been operating a linked depot scheme introduced by the Cardwell Reforms. Each pair of regiments shared a depot in one location which had counties assigned to it for recruiting. Then while one regiment was abroad on overseas imperial duties its linked regiment at home in the UK (including Ireland) would train the new recruits and send drafts of reinforcements when needed. The system worked well and the pairings seemed to suit both parties.

Here are the links and the depots used Between 1873 and 1881 by the Scottish regiments

1st Royal Scots - (2 battalion regiment) at Glencorse
21st Royal Scots Fusiliers - (2 battalion regiment) at Ayr
26th Cameronians and 74th Highlanders at Hamilton
42nd Black Watch and 79th Cameron Highlanders at Perth
71st Highland Light Infantry and 78th Ross-shire Buffs at Inverness
72nd and 91st Argyllshire Highlanders at Stirling
73rd Highlanders and 90th Perthshire Light Infantry at Hamilton
92nd Gordon Highlanders and 93rd Sutherland Highlanders at Aberdeen

The 25th Foot and 75th Foot were not considered Scottish regiments at this point. The 25th was a two battalion regiment at York, and the 75th was linked with the 39th Foot at Dorchester in Dorset.

When Hugh Childers came to reform the regiments it should just have been a case of forming these already linked and similar regiments together into new regiments. That was a sound plan until the proposals were laid before Queen Victoria for her royal assent.

The problem was the proposed amalgamation between the 42nd Black Watch and the 79th Highlanders. The 79th were actually the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders. They were her own highland regiment and she was certainly not amused at the prospect of them becoming 2nd Battalion Black Watch.

At the eleventh hour the proposed amalgamations were thrown into disarray and hurriedly redrawn to accommodate the wishes of the Queen-Empress.

The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders were not to be amalgamated, and for the next sixteen years were to be the only one battalion regiment in the British Army. That meant a new second battalion was needed for the Black Watch, and a reshuffle akin to musical chairs took place to find suitable pairings.

The first change was that the 73rd Highlanders would now move from Hamilton to Perth to become the 2nd Bn Black Watch. This was a sensible move since the 73rd had originally been formed as a second battalion of the Black Watch way back in 1780, before becoming a regiment in its own right in 1786.

The 90th Perthshire Light Infantry had missed the chance to go back home to Perth and stayed in Hamilton. It would now merge with another Hamilton based regiment, the 26th Foot Cameronians, to form Scotland's only green-jacketed rifle regiment as the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles). The 1st Battalion as the Cameronians and the 2nd Battalion as the Scottish Rifles.

The 26th's old partner, the 74th Highlanders was to stay at Hamilton too; and it would now be paired with another trews wearing highland regiment, the 71st Highland Light Infantry. This was probably the most controversial of all the moves. The HLI had been very happy being paired with the 78th at Inverness. They had always considered themselves as a proper highland regiment and had petitioned for the return of the kilt on several occasions over the previous seventy years. The Childers reforms had finally promised that chance as they would have adopted the Mackenzie kilt of the 78th instead of their Mackenzie trews. Their amalgamation at Hamilton with another Lowland regiment robbed them of that chance. As a sop to the senior partner the new regiment adopted the 71st's name and tartan but it was not a happy union on either side.

With the 78th now needing a new pairing the 72nd Highlanders at Stirling was chosen. This suited both parties as both had been raised by Mackenzies, and in this case the 72nd were happy to ditch their garish Royal Stewart tartan trews and adopted the Mackenzie kilt of their junior partner. They happily merged as the Seaforth Highlanders using the 72nd's Stag's head badge.

This left another gap at Stirling, and the 91st now paired with the 93rd Highlanders. In this case too the junior partner was given 'top billing' and it was originally called the Sutherland and Argyll Highlanders. It was another few months before it took on the more familiar name of Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.

Finally the 92nd at Aberdeen needed another regiment. There were no more regiments available in Scottish depots so an old Scottish regiment now depoted outside Scotland was needed. The 94th Scotch Brigade at Armagh, or the 99th Lanarkshire regiment at Devizes could have been chosen; but it was the 75th Foot, the old Stirlingshire regiment which was poached from Dorset and sent north to Aberdeen. The West Countrymen were to become Highlanders overnight. The 75th's place in Dorchester was taken by the 54th regiment, which had been paired with the 95th at Derby, and in turn was replaced by the 45th which had been at Leicester with the 17th Foot. Luckily the 17th Foot was a two battalion regiment so no more reshuffling was needed.

Well not quite. The 25th Foot was at York in 1881, but in 1887 the King's Own Borderers became the King's Own Scottish Borderers. The old Edinburgh Regiment was given the whole of the Scottish Borders from Berwick to Galloway as a recruiting area from the Royal Scots, and Royal Scots Fusiliers; and a depot at Berwick-upon-Tweed from the Northumberland Fusiliers.

By then the process of adapting new names, uniforms and badges had been adopted by the other Scottish Regiments. The KOSB finally came into the fold six years after the others but it was on this day one hundred and thirty years ago that the paired regiments (Cameronians, Black Watch, Highland Light Infantry, Seaforths, Gordons and Argylls) which became famed throughout the world for their service in two world wars, came into being.

Royal Scots return to Leith from Russia - On this day in Scottish Military History 1919

On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918 the guns stopped in France and Belgium. The Armistice with Germany signalled the end of the Great War and the end of four years of fighting.

For one Scottish unit it was a different story. On 11th November 1918 whilst the cease fire took place on the Western Front a Royal Scots battalion from Linlithgow was fighting a bitter battle against the Communist Bolsheviks in the snow of North Russia.

The reasons for British troops being in North Russia in 1918 go as far back as 1915 and the debacle at Gallipoli where so many Lothian men had died.

By 1915 Britain and France needed to help prop up their ally Russia. Russia was unprepared for war against an industrialised country like Germany and all sorts of arms and equipment were being shipped to Russian ports to support their war effort. With their victory at Gallipoli the Ottoman Turks controlled the Straits of Marmara which connected the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. That meant the Black Sea ports in Southern Russia were now out of reach to the British and French ships.

Instead the stores and supplies had to go up to the Arctic Circle to the port of Archangel and later to the British-built port at Murmansk. Throughout 1916 and 1917 the Allies landed thousands of tons of arms and equipment in the North Russian ports but poor transport links and mismanagement within Russia meant that huge stock of these stores were piling up at the docks and were not being shipped south to be used against the Germans and Austrians.

By late 1917 Russia was in turmoil. Revolutions in March and October 1917 left the Bolsheviks in nominal control of the country. They immediately sued for peace with Germany and then turned their attentions to defeating their enemies the ‘Whites’.

In Spring 1918 with the winter snow melting, the Bolsheviks started shipping the stockpiled British arms from Archangel south to fight the Whites. The British decided these arms and stores should be used by the Russian White Armies instead. With British and French backing it was thought the Whites could defeat the Bolsheviks and then start fighting the Germans again on the Eastern Front to ease the pressure on the Western Front. By late March the Royal Navy landed Royal Marines at Murmansk and the British started to put together an expeditionary force to be sent to Russia to advance on Archangel.

In late August 1918 as the war in France was reaching its climax the 2/10th Battalion Royal Scots, Territorial Force was approaching Archangel. The 2/10th Battalion had originally been raised in Linlithgow in September 1914. Its role had been to replace other first line Territorial units which had gone overseas. Up until 1918 it had only served in Scotland and Ireland. 935 of the fittest and able men had been drafted to other units on the Western Front and the men who served in the unit in 1918 were category B1, B2 and B3 – all considered unfit for active service. Every available man who could fight was already at the front fighting the Germans so when the task force being sent to Russia was being put together it was from home defence units serving on garrison duty in the UK.

The Royal Scots recruited up to their war strength of 1,000 men with drafts from other regiments and had sailed on the S.S. ‘City of Cairo’ from Newcastle on 17th August 1918. They arrived in Archangel on 25th August 1918 to a port caught up in a civil war, with troops and sailors from several nations based in and around it.

On the Allied side apart from the British were Canadians, Australians, French, French Colonials, Italians and Americans. There were also some Poles and Serbs who had been serving on the Eastern Front alongside the Imperial Russian Army. They all had their own reasons for joining the fight against the Bolsheviks and continuing the fighting on the Eastern Front against the Germans. (Elsewhere in Russia at the same time there were more British and French troops, as well as Belgian, Czech, Greek and Japanese troops; but they are not part of the 2/10th Battalion’s history).

Also fighting with the allies were local Russians recruited into an auxiliary regiment of the British Army (The North Russia Rifles) and there were also White Russian soldiers and sailors.

Against them were the Bolsheviks and just to add to the confusion the Finnish Army and their allies the Germans were also a potential threat to the Allies from the nearby Karelia Peninsula

By the time the Royal Scots arrived the Allies had been in North Russia for five months. They had captured the city of Archangel and were holding a line far south of the city along the River Dvina and across to the railway line running south out of the port of Murmansk.

On their arrival the Royal Scots marched through Archangel behind a US Marines band, over their shoulders were Mosin–Nagant rifles. The ‘City of Cairo’ had also been carrying a consignment of US made Russian rifles for the British and American forces in North Russia, and the Royal Scots were issued with them instead of the usual Lee Enfield rifle.

The next day most of the battalion sailed South up the River Dvina on barges to Bereznik where the Dvina meets the River Varga, and with some Royal Marines, Poles, Russians and some Royal Navy manned boats they formed a battle-group called ‘C’ Force.

‘D’ company of the Royal Scots moved to another part of the front and also served alongside some Royal Marines and Russian levies and they were called ‘D’ Force.

During September 1918 the Royal Scots of patrolled in forest and marshland on both sides of the Dvina around Bereznik and fought several engagements with Bolshevik troops. In mid September ‘C’ Force was bolstered by the American 339th Infantry Regiment.

By October 1918 the Bolshevik forces were attacking more frequently and in strength using gunboats and artillery. At the same time winter was starting to grip around the White Sea. The port of Archangel was frozen by the end of October and the Royal Navy’s ships were trapped in the ice. This allowed the Bolshevik river boats to sail up the Dvina and it forced the Allies to retreat back towards Archangel. By this time the Royal Scots had 100 wounded men in the hospital in Borok and they had to be evacuated in the retreat.

On November 11th 1918, Armistice Day on the Western Front, the Royal Scots of ‘C’ Force were attacked by 1,000 Bolsheviks at Toulgas. Their target was the Canadian Artillery of the Force and bitter hand to hand fighting developed as the Royal Scots struggled to repulse the attacks. On the day the people of the Lothians celebrated the end of the Great War for Civilisation the 2/10th Royal Scots suffered casualties of 19 men killed and 34 more men wounded. They were also awarded three Military Crosses, two Distinguished Conduct Medals and three Military Medals

For the troops in North Russia the conditions were now very harsh. In some places they had to patrol through snow over 10 feet deep. To deal with the conditions the Royal Scots adapted to patrolling on skis, snowshoes and on sleighs.

The skis especially were a hit. The ordinary soldiers of the Royal Scots could take some comfort from their miserable posting with the thought that it allowed them to indulge in a rich-mans sport which before the war had been the preserve of those who could afford to travel to the Alps.

The skiing was a small respite from the extreme cold and the constant attacks from the Bolsheviks. All this time the Bolsheviks were gaining in strength whilst the White Russian forces were suffering from poor morale, desertion and mutiny. In January 1919 without the support of the ice-bound Royal Navy the Allies were forced further back towards Archangel.

The British realised that they needed to send more troops to defend Archangel and prop up the Whites so volunteers from the troops returning from France who wished to stay in the Army and serve in Russia were formed into a new Brigade which would be sent to Archangel when the winter ice broke up.

In May 1919 as the Bolshevik 6th Red Army prepared for a new offensive the fresh British troops arrived. The Royal Scots got the welcome news that they were to be relieved of their front line duty and would return home.

On 6th June 1919 the 2/10th Bn Royal Scots were replaced by 2nd Bn The Hampshire Regiment and the Royal Scots moved to Murmansk to wait for a troopship.

A few days later the battalion embarked at Murmansk for home. By happy coincidence they were to land in Leith. The ‘Czartisa’ sailed into the Imperial Dock on 18th June 1919.

Along with the 277 Canadian Artillerymen, and 51 other soldiers who had sailed with them, the 987 men of the battalion marched through cheering crowds from the docks to Leith Central Station. They then travelled the short distance to Gorgie Station and marched up to Redford Barracks where they were to be demobilized.

Two days later they were entertained along with men from the recently retuned 1/9th Battalion Royal Scots by the Provost and City at Forrest Hill drill hall and then marched along Princes Street.

The 1/9th Bn had a long and distinguished war service on the Western Front but the service of the 2/10th Bn in Russia had been well reported in local papers. The men of the 2/10th Bn who had left the UK ‘unfit for active service’ returned as battle hardened soldiers and were treated as the equals of the veterans of the 1/9th Bn that day.

Over the next few days the battalion was wound up and on 25th June 1919 the 2/10th Battalion Royal Scots officially ceased to exist.

It wasn’t quite the end though. Not all the men had been demobilized and were sent to the 3rd Reserve battalion of the regiment. A few days later a party of 50 former 2/10th Bn men returned to the headquarters of the battalion at Linlithgow for another reception where they were warmly received.

The 2/10th Bn had missed the celebrations on Armistice Day but they were included in the Peace celebrations when the war officially ended in 1919. A grand peace march was organised in Glasgow on 4th August 1919 with 10,000 men and women from all branches of the armed services and those involved in war work taking part. Contingents from every Scottish regiment marched through George Square and one of the biggest cheers of the day were for the men who had served in the 2/10th Royal Scots. Coming from the city of ‘Red Clydeside’ for an Edinburgh regiment which had been fighting the Communist Bolsheviks it shows how much of an impact the actions of the Royal Scots had made at home.

The battalion had been in existence for nearly five years but had only served overseas for just less than ten months. In that time it suffered 132 fatalities. That was only a fraction of the number of casualties suffered by the Royal Scots battalions which served at Gallipoli, the Somme and at Arras; but they had served on a distant and almost forgotten battlefield on the edge of the Arctic Circle. They suffered from swarms of mosquitoes and horseflies in malarial marshland in the summer, and the bitter cold of the deep forests in the Russian Winter. They had to fight an enemy who never gave up and had to rely on White Russians who frequently did give up. In the ten months in Russia the battalion had been turned from unfit boys fit only for guard duty into soldiers praised by their commanding generals, and fêted in their homeland.

There was one more act in the history of the 2/10th Bn Royal Scots. On 18th July 1920 former officers and men of the battalion assembled at Linlithgow and were presented with a King’s Colour. No other 2nd Line Territorial battalion of the Royal Scots was issued one. With the battalion disbanded it was handed over to the safe keeping of St Michael’s Parish Church next to the Palace. On it was proudly displayed the Battalion’s only, and hard earned, battle honour - Archangel 1918-1919

*Many thanks to Alistair McEwen for the images

William Angus wins the Victoria Cross - On This Day in Scottish Military History, 1915

Today's event is of particular interest to me. William Angus lived in Carluke, the village I currently reside in, and there are many references to him throughout the town: I'll come to them later on.

The events of the 12th June 1915 are fairly well know, but it's worthwhile mentioning the citation for his Victoria Cross again:

"For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty at Givenchy on 12 June 1915, in voluntarily leaving his trench under very heavy bomb and rifle fire and rescuing a wounded officer who was lying within a few yards of the enemy's position. Lance-Corporal Angus had no chance whatsoever in escaping the enemy's fire when undertaking this very gallant action, and in effecting the rescue he sustained about 40 wounds from bombs, some of them being very serious"

There are many aspects of the Angus VC story that make it particularly interesting. Some of them are true, some of them have become a little "twisted" after time, and some of them seem so unlikely that you are left wondering if they could be true or not.

I thought that rather than go over old ground, describing in detail the actions of that day, I would instead look at a couple of aspects of the story that have perhaps become muddled over time or are thought of a part of the "myths" of the tale.

One of the main things you are often told is that Angus is the "Celtic VC". The Celtic aspect is a little unclear. It's often described that he struggled to break into the team, and that his appearances were restricted to a mere handful. Other reports state that it was only one game played for them. Contemporary reports, however, state that although he was employed by Celtic Football Club at one time, he never played a game for them.

There is certainly some evidence to back this up. In the Mitchell Library is a book published a few years ago, which lists all the players who appeared for Celtic. It seems fairly comprehensive, even mentioning Allan Lynch, who only ever appeared for Celtic as a trialist - William Angus is not listed in this book. That would seem to suggest he did not play for them.

However, I do not blame Celtic or their fans from "claiming" him as one of their own. He was employed by them - if it was my club I would claim him too.

We are on firmer ground when we discuss the "40 wounds" aspect of the story. Forty wounds seems ridiculous. Surely it was made up?

Well...perhaps not. Take a look at this:

that is a section from the service record of William Angus, available to download on Ancestry. As you can see, that's a fairly serious list of wounds. From what I can read (and deciphering some of the jargon) here's what he received:

• Gun shot wounds to his right leg
• Bomb wounds to his head, shoulders and foot
• Grenade wounds to his left eye socket, leg and arm
• Bomb wounds to his right eye socket and eye, left side of his body, right thigh and foot

and as you can clearly see, they removed his eye the following month. Notice how all of these entries are plural: "wounds", not wound. Forty wounds? Seems like it's not such a myth.

It was pleasing to me to read that entry from his service record. I've always had an interest in the Angus story. It's a story of one incredible action by a man who by all rights shouldn't have survived.

Like I said above, I live in Carluke, and there are references to Angus all over. Carluke is a very small village (albeit larger now than in Angus's time) so it's incredible that it can lay claim to being the home of not one or even two, but three winners of the Victoria Cross. All three are fondly remembered - they all have streets named after them, and there is a stone in the market place where they are all listed.

In addition to this I remember seeing one of the local football teams (it may have been a school team, or a junior side. I'm afraid I didn't make a note at the time) who use an image of the Victoria Cross as their badge, and the recently opened community centre has a focal display of stained glass with images of local landmarks and items of note. One of the panes of glass features three VCs.

Travel slightly farther afield and you can view his medals in the National War Museum at Edinburgh Castle. fittingly they are displayed next to those of Lieutenant James Martin, the man from the same village whose life he saved 96 years ago today.

All this fuss may have embarrassed Angus had he known of it. By all reports he was a modest man and would only tell his story if prompted. Whatever his feelings about it, he was a remarkably brave man, and he deserves to be remembered as an inspiration and example to all.

The One O'Clock Gun is fired at Edinburgh Castle for the first time - On this day in Scottish Military History 1861

At one o'clock eack weekday and Saturdays on Princes Street in Edinburgh a strange thing happens. Locals look at their watches and visitors look up and around them to see where the loud bang came from.

The reason is of course because at the Mills Mount Battery of Ediburgh castle a blank round from a L118 105mm gun has been fired.

The piece of artillery may have changed, and up until fairly recently it was a 25 pdr, but the same ritual has been going on now for 150 years.

On 7th June 1861 the idea of firing a cannon from Edinburgh Castle at exactly the same time a ball dropped from Nelson's Tower on Calton Hill, as a time signal for ships in the Firth of Forth, was first put into practice.

Even though the original purpose may have been overtaken by technological advances the firing is still going strong all these years later. The current District Gunner, who is responsible for firing the gun, is Sergeant Jamie Shannon

The Victors of Jutland return to base - On this day in Scottish Military History - 1916

It may not have been clear to them at the time but the Royal Navy ships which limped back to their home ports in Scotland on this day ninety five years ago had just won the greatest naval battle of the First World War. The Germans may have inflicted more damage at Jutland but they were the ones who ran away. The Royal Navy ruled the waves once again.

It had been a terrible day for the Royal Navy. They had lost fourteen ships and thousands of men were killed and wounded. When they returned to port the injured men were taken to naval hospitals and the dead were buried.

The Battlecruiser squadrons from Rosyth shipped their casualties to the pier at Port Edgar in South Queensferry and then were taken the short distance to Butlaw Naval Hospital (The Queen Mary and Princess Christian Emergency Naval Hospital). The dead were buried in South Queensferry's Dalmeny and South Queensferry Cemetery.

Others lost in the battle were buried at Cromarty Cemetery on the Black Isle and Lyness Naval Cemetery at Hoy in Orkney.

Two of the ships erected crosses over the mass graves of the sailors who had died. HMS Barham and HMS Malaya at Hoy.

Scotland hears of the loss of the Hood - On this day in Scottish Military History - 1941

A nation was stunned seventy years ago today when news filtered through that HMS 'Hood' had been sunk by the 'Bismarck'. The pride of the Royal Navy had been completely outclassed by the German warship, and was sunk on 24th May 1941 with the loss of nearly all hands. Only three sailors survived out of a compliment of 1,418

The Clydebuilt battlecruiser 'Hood' had been ordered by the Navy in 1916 after losing three battleships at Jutland. She was launched from John Brown's shipyard in August 1918 and fitting out was done at Rosyth. She was commissioned into the Royal Navy in May 1920 and from the start she was seen as something special. She was the only one of her class built, so there was no other warship like her. Memories of people who saw her, and served on her, talked of a powerful yet beautiful ship. The Scotsman from seventy years ago today reported her loss and recorded that she was 'The largest warship afloat by tonnage'.

John Brown's large scale model of her still exists and you can get an idea of what she looked like from that. (The model used to sit in the Transport Museum in Glasgow and I hope it is in the new museum at the Riverside when it opens)

During the 1920s and 1930s the Hood travelled all over the world flying the flag so she was well known throughout the Empire where her size and armament earned her the nickname 'Mighty Hood'. In 1935 she had sailed round Scotland and into Loch Eriboll on the North Coast. Whilst anchored there a party of sailors went ashore and on the hillside at Laid set out white painted stones in 6 foot high letters spelling 'Hood'.

In those happy times just before the Second World War no-one expected that she would be lost in so violent a manner and that the white painted stones in the remote Highlands would be one of the few mementos of her service and connection to Scotland.

In recent years children from the local primary school at Durness in Sutherland have kept alive the memory of the 'Hood' by repainting the stones and those of other Royal Navy ships which have followed her in laying out stones in the name of their ship.

The latest ship to do it was the Type 23 Frigate HMS 'Sutherland'. Although a Duke Class frigate, so named after the Duke of Sutherland, the people of the County of Sutherland have adopted her, and men from the 'Sutherland' have visited Loch Eriboll a couple of times to help repaint all the stones at Laid.

The last Jacobite town falls - On this day in Scottish Military History - 1746

On 15th April 1746 the Jacobite forces in the Far North under the Earl of Cromartie were routed at Golspie. On 16th April The Duke of Cumberland decisively beat the Jacobites on Drumossie Moor at the Battle of Culloden. On 18th April the Highland Army disbanded at Ruthven Barracks and Fort Augustus, and Bonnie Prince Charlie went on the run.

It was all over for the Jacobites in the British Isles. Except for one isolated spot. In Kirkwall in Orkney the Jacobites were still in control.

The British Government and Royal Navy were busy in late April and early May stamping out the Jacobites on the mainland but by late May it was time to remove them from Orkney.

On this day two hundred and sixty five years ago, and six weeks after Culloden, the last Jacobite occupied territory was retaken. A party of Royal Marines under local man Benjamin Moodie of Melsetter was landed by Royal Navy ships and without much of a fight retook the islands in the name of King George.

Rule Britannia.

Highlanders in Palestine - On this day in Scottish Military History - 1936

We usually do the Scottish military 'On this days' ourselves but I came across this one on the 'New York Times' website. It comes from the files of the 'International Herald Tribute' from seventy five years ago and mentions two Highland regiments.

The recent news of a Palestinian State being discussed between Israel and the United States of America shows that the issue of the West Bank and Jerusalem goes back further than 1967 and even 1947.

1936 Troops Arrive in Jerusalem

The situation here continued critical today, with Arabs firing shots at buses and cars entering the city, although they were accompanied by armed convoys. Motor traffic in the southern half of the country is allowed to proceed only with police permits. Relief was felt today when more British troops arrived, comprising the First Battalion of the Seaforth Highlanders and a field company of the Royal Engineers dispatched from Egypt to reinforce the Cameron Highlanders. The Highlanders received orders to suppress shooting and sniping by Arabs and street fighting. The Royal Engineers will have the duty of ensuring communications and safe guarding transport and will also be responsible for running trains and working telephones. Arab leaders have disclaimed responsibility for the strife which has lasted for five weeks.

The Relief of Mafeking - On This Day in Scottish Military History - 1900

One hundred and eleven years ago today, the Siege of Mafeking was lifted when British forces under the command of Colonel B T Mahon fought their way into the town.

(We say today, but varying accounts place the date as the 16th, 17th or the 18th. We'll take it as the 17th and ready ourselves for the complaints...)

This event isn't particularly notable as a Scottish event, but today we feature two items that have a Scottish hint to them.

The first is a film made in 1900, offering a dramatised reconstruction of the Siege which was probably filmed in New Jersey. The description of this film on this page states that Highland soldiers are featured, although it's hard to tell who is who!



No Highland regiments were present during the siege. The Gordon Highlanders were under siege at Ladysmith - perhaps the film makers got their towns confused? Or perhaps they just liked the look of the Highland lads?

The second item is a poem from the proclaimed "World's Worst Poet" - William Topaz McGonagall. Enjoy!

The Relief of Mafeking

Success to Colonel Baden-Powell and his praises loudly sing,
For being so brave in relieving Mafeking,
With his gallant little band of eight hundred men,
They made the Boers fly from Mafeking like sheep escaping from a pen.

'Twas in the year of 1900 and on the 18th of May,
That Colonel Baden-Powell beat the Boers without dismay,
And made them fly from Mafeking without delay,
Which will be handed down to posterity for many a day.

Colonel Baden-Powell is a very brave man,
And to deny it, I venture to say, few men can;
He is a noble hero be it said,
For at the siege of Mafeking he never was afraid.

And during the siege Colonel Baden was cheerful and gay,
While the starving population were living on brawn each day;
And alas! the sufferings of the women and children were great,
But they all submitted patiently to their fate.

For seven months besieged they fought the Boers without dismay,
Until at last the Boers were glad to run away;
Because Baden-Powell's gallant band put them to flight
By cannon shot and volleys of musketry to the left and right.

Then long live Baden-Powell and his brave little band,
For during the siege of Mafeking they made a bold stand
Against yelling thousands of Boers who were thirsting for their blood,
But as firm as a rock against them they fearlessly stood.

Oh! think of them living on brawn extracted from horse hides,
While the inhuman Boers their sufferings deride,
Knowing that the women's hearts with grief were torn
As they looked on their children's faces that looked sad and forlorn.

For 217 days the Boers tried to obtain Mafeking's surrender,
But their strategy was futile owing to its noble defender,
Colonel Baden-Powell, that hero of renown,
Who, by his masterly generalship, saved the town.

Methinks I see him and his gallant band,
Looking terror to the foe: Oh! The sight was really grand,
As he cried, "Give it them, lads; let's do or die;
And from Mafeking we'll soon make them fly,
And we'll make them rue their rash undertaking
The day they laid siege to the town of Mafeking."

Long life and prosperity to Colonel Baden-Powell,
For there's very few generals can him excel;
And he is now the Hero of Mafeking, be it told,
And his name should be engraved on medals of gold.

I wish him and his gallant little band every success,
For relieving the people of Mafeking while in distress;
They made the Boers rue their rash undertaking
The day they laid siege to the town of Mafeking.

For during the defence of Mafeking
From grief he kept the people's hearts from breaking,
Because he sang to them and did recite
Passages from Shakespeare which did their hearts delight.