Experience of Scots on the Western Front

Experience of Scots on the Western Front

1. Battles

   • Loos
     • German machine guns used to devastating effect
     • 950 Cameronians went into battle - 700 were casualties
     • 1st time that the British used gas
     • 30,000 Scots took part
     • 5 VC's awarded to Scots
     • 1/2 of the infantry battalions were Scottish
     • 1/3 of the fatalities were Scottish
   • Somme
     • Seaforth Highlanders & Highland Light Infantry fought
     • 1/3 of shells were duds
     • overall 51 Scottish infantry battalions took part
     • McCrae's battalion lost 12 officers & 573 soldiers

2. Martial Tradition

   • Scots were good soldiers
     • legacy from fighting abroad & in the Jacobite rebellion
   • popular stories of heroism
     • Jacobites
   • 688,000 Scots Enlisted
   • distinctive, bagpipes, tartan etc.
   • clan system lent itself to army structure

3. Field Marshal Haig

   • condemned as overoptimistic in his battle plans
   • kept sending troops in despite the slaughter
   • under pressure to push forward but wanted more time to prepare
   • needed to maintain trust with France
   • Germany also suffered heavy losses
   • did a lot of work to help veterans post-war

4. Trench Life

   • vermin
   • mundane routine
     • boredom
   • fear
     • death
     • loss
   • rations
   • diseases
     • trench foot

5. Overall

   • Glasgow alone lost 18,000 men
   • rural communities most badly effected
   • estimates of casualties range between 100,000 & 150,000