The Camerons came, with the greater part of the British force in France, to the fighting in the north-west which foiled the German attack on Calais, and from this part of the battle line one account has come through. "We were fairly giving it to the Germans," says a wounded man from this quarter. "In the morning we started advancing in single line by sections at three paces interval across open fields at the double, and the shells were landing all round us as fast as the enemy could fire them, but we managed to get into our positions. We had a bad time of it there, but we managed to put a stop to the German advance, and then we took up another position, and held it. When the enemy were within about eighty yards of us the officer in charge of the company gave the order to fix bayonets, and we charged, at which the Germans ran away. We opened fire on them, and at about two o'clock on that day I was wounded. I was lying in a hollow of the ground which we had just cleared, and I had to lie there for hours until the enemy were driven back by a British regiment. Shortly after I was wounded the Germans gained the crest of a hill, and one of the Scots Guards lying there wounded put up his hands for them not to shoot, but one of them came to within two yards of him and shot him through the stomach, and he rolled over again and died about two hours afterwards."
Against this cold-blooded savagery must be set the account given by an officer of the 1st battalion of the Camerons, who states that he was shot through the leg just before the enemy charged in great numbers and drove the British out of their trenches. One of the men tried to get the officer along in the retirement, but could not do so, and he was made a prisoner. "They banged me about a bit at first, and tied my hands behind my back, and tried to get me to walk, but of course I could not. At last one splendid German came forward and took me off to their own wounded in a farmhouse. He stayed by me the whole time, and was most wonderfully good to me. They dressed my wound and got me some water, and did what they could for me. Next day, at two in the afternoon, my company charged back at the house and drove the enemy back, rescuing me and the one or two other wounded prisoners in the house."
Another officer writes, concerning the time on the Aisne: "The way the Germans treat property is disgusting. While passing through a village not long ago the greater part of the furniture of all the houses had been dragged out and broken up, all the crockery smashed, all the bedding dragged out into the open street, and there left to be soaked by the rain. It is awful to see the poor peasants wandering about, homeless and starving.
"Everywhere is the fearful smell of dead horses. It seems to saturate the atmosphere, and one marches through miles of it."
Carrion and ruin! And "one splendid German," who stands out from among his fellows because he exercised the simple instincts of humanity! Surely in this one incident is as great accusation against the German race as in the other and worse accounts.
Meanwhile the Camerons fight on, with the courage that their regiment has shown from the time of Abercrombie's campaign in Egypt unto this day.
CHAPTER IX THE ARGYLL AND SUTHERLAND HIGHLANDERS
The threat against Britain by the French Republic in 1794 led to the raising of the 1st battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, the battalion having been formed in that year by the then Duke of Argyll, under the title of the 91st Regiment of Foot. The present 2nd battalion was raised by the Earl of Sutherland six years later, and numbered the "93rd Foot." These two battalions were united under their present title in 1881.
Active service was first seen by the 2nd battalion at the Cape, where its men played a prominent part in the defeat of the Dutch army of 5,000 men engaged in the defence of Capetown. The turn of the 1st battalion came during the Peninsular campaign, when the Argylls formed the rearguard at Corunna and were seven times engaged with the enemy. Later, they joined Wellington in Spain, and were conspicuously engaged at the Nivelle, at the crossing of the Nive, and on to the siege of Toulouse. The 2nd battalion formed part of the force that courted disaster at New Orleans in 1814, and no less than 520 officers and men fell in that fatal attack—futile as fatal.
Missing Waterloo, the regiment next won distinction in the Kaffir wars at the Cape, where it underwent five years of active service. There were "91st" men on the Birkenhead in 1852, and though the name of the ill-fated vessel is not borne on the colours of any regiment it might well be inscribed on those of the Argylls. Their next active service was in the Crimean campaign, where the 2nd battalion formed part of Sir Colin Campbell's Highland Brigade, and took the heights beyond the Alma under as destructive fire as a British regiment has ever faced. At Balaclava the Highlanders were in deadly peril, but their coolness saved them for work in the trenches before Sevastopol, and for a share in the final assault.
Still under Sir Colin Campbell, their chief in the Crimea, the Highlanders took part in the suppression of the Mutiny, and marched to the relief of Lucknow, avenging the tragedy of Cawnpur at the action of Secundra Bagh, where with the loyal Sikhs they piled up a heap of 2,000 dead sepoys. On the same day the regiment took a hand in the capture of the Shah Nujjif, a strong building that was taken by desperate hand-to-hand fighting. From the top of the building the regimental colour of the Highlanders, waving, announced to the sorely pressed Lucknow garrison that relief was approaching—and the rest of the story of the relief is an oft-told one.
Zululand and frontier work in India next claimed the attention of the regiment, and then in 1899 the 1st battalion sailed for South Africa, to join Lord Methuen's force and take part in the battle of the Modder River, at which the Argyll and Sutherland men lost heavily. Joining General Wauchope's Highland Brigade, the battalion marched on to Magersfontein, where the commanding officer was among the killed. With the rest of the brigade the Argylls moved on to Paardeberg and the capture of Cronje and his force; and from that time onward to the end of the war the record of the battalion is one continuous story of marching, fighting, and the general work of the campaign, up to the time of the signing of peace at Vereeniging. The total of marching accomplished by the battalion during the course of the war was not less than 3,500 miles. Seven Victoria Crosses had been won by members of the regiment up to 1902.
The deeds of the regiment are rather scantily told by its men in France. The personal accounts begin with an appreciation of the bravery of the Hon. R. Bruce, Master of Burleigh, in the retreat from Mons. "He was too brave for anything," says a private who saw him at that time. "He simply wanted to be at 'em, and at 'em he went. I don't know where his sword was, but he hadn't it when I saw him—he had a rifle with the bayonet fixed, just like the rest of us. I saw him at the time he was wounded, and he just fought on gamely till he and his party of brave fellows were cut off and surrounded."
The next account concerns the battle of Soissons, on the Aisne—a place variously pronounced by the troops, many of whom gave it the name of "Scissors," as being a near thing to the real method of pronunciation. "For about a week," says the narrator, "it rained night and day. You may imagine us marching all day, from daylight in the morning till dark at night, and then having to lie down in a field on the wet ground—nothing to cover ourselves with and nothing underneath us—and living on biscuits and corned beef. I feel sorry for the poor French people, and you may be thankful you are living in England. We passed through village after village on the march, and there was not a living soul in the houses; doors and windows were smashed open, and everything was broken in the way of furniture and fittings. We passed one house where the two women who lived in it had just returned after the Germans had passed. As we went by they gave us a drink of water—it was the only thing the Germans had left them."
Another man of the regiment, speaking of the earlier engagements, remarks—"You would think you were in hell." He tells of the adventures of Lieutenant Campbell of the Argyll and Sutherlands, who went out with eleven men to reconnoitre in the early days of the campaign. As none of the dozen returned, and careful searches failed to reveal any traces of the party, they were given up as captured. To the surprise of their comrades, however, they all turned up safe and sound some eleven days later. It seemed that the party had unwittingly penetrated through the German lines, and, managing to escape notice, had eventually found their way out again. This story is supplemented by one which tells of a trick played by the French during the German retreat from Paris. The Argylls were located about thirty miles away from Paris, and in rear of them a large body of the enemy were encamped in a wood. During the night, according to this account, the French crept up to the wood without being observed by the German sentries, and placed bundles of straw among the trees, setting fire to the straw before they retired. The timber in the wood was very dry, and the trees caught fire, causing a fierce blaze in the course of a few minutes. The enemy were thrown into confusion, which was completed by the artillery fire searching the wood and making rout of the German retreat.
There is one letter concerning the doings of the Argyll and Sutherland men which is worthy of quotation, and calls for some question. The writer says: "We have distinguished ourselves a good many times since we commenced operations here, and we have lost heavily, an occurrence much to our sorrow. It is not my place to speak of the honour that has been conferred upon us as a Scottish regiment for our bravery, and at one time we saved the British Army from defeat. We are fortunate to have any one left to relate the experience. The kindly eye of Providence has overlooked me, and I am thankful. I don't know yet how I escaped. Once I was lying in a line of sixteen men, eight of whom were killed or severely wounded by the shell fire of the enemy."
This letter comes undated, with the place of origin suppressed. It is curious, if the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders—either or both battalions—"saved the British Army from defeat," that there should be only this one account of the affair—which must have been tremendous. British soldiers, as a rule, are very quick to acknowledge the bravery of their comrades, and it is strange that no man of any other regiment has yet recognised that the whole of the British Army has been saved from defeat by this one regiment—or possibly by one battalion of this regiment. On the whole, one is tempted to regard the letter as a hoax, though its solemn tone would go far to dispel that idea.
One other letter there is, worthy in a different sense of full quotation, for it tells of individual bravery and resourcefulness on the part of a member of the regiment. "We had worked our way up to within eighty yards of the German trenches," says the writer, "and then got the order to charge, which we did with effect. One fellow belonging to the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders made a lunge with his bayonet at an opponent, and his intended victim promptly warded off the blow, but, much to the German's astonishment, the canny Scot brought the butt end of the rifle to the jaw like a flash, and, felling him like a bullock, finished the job with the bayonet. It was the work of a moment, done without hesitation, and is typical of the bravery and resource of the Highlanders generally."
These few records of the men of the regiment go to prove that the Argyll and Sutherland men went down from Mons to the Aisne, fought at Soissons—and that is all. Of their presence in Flanders there is no evidence so far, and at the time of writing they may still be living the life of cave-dwellers down where the old German front is still maintained against the thinned Franco-British line, or they may be round Arras, in those fierce struggles whence the wounded come back by the hundred and many men come back no more. Not till the "fog of war" has cleared utterly away will all their story be told, but we may rest assured that the story will not be one of which the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders need be ashamed.
CHAPTER X THE HIGHLAND LIGHT INFANTRY AND THE CAMERONIANS
The Highland Light Infantry—a title shortened in the Army to a colloquial "H.L.I.," were originally known as "Macleod's Highlanders," and were raised as the 73rd Foot in 1777, being embodied at Elgin in April of 1778. Lord Macleod, after whom the regiment was named, was its first commanding officer, and under his command the original members of the 73rd went to Madras in 1780, their voyage lasting no less than twelve months. The valour of the regiment in those early days of its history may be judged from the fact that between the time of landing in India and 1806, a matter of only twenty-six years, there were emblazoned on the regimental colours no less than six names—those of Carnatic, Sholingur, Mysore, Hindustan, Seringapatam, and Cape of Good Hope. To these might well be added that of Perambaukum, for in that first action in which the H.L.I. took part the flank companies were cut to pieces in a truly heroic stand against irresistible odds. After the formation of new flank companies came the principal battles of the Carnatic, and in the attack on Cuddalore the H.L.I. lost half their strength of officers and men, and won the grateful thanks of their commander-in-chief.
In 1786 the regiment became the "71st," and their next spell of active service was in the Mysore campaign, where they took part in all the principal engagements, including the storming of Bangalore and Seringapatam. They went from India to the Cape, and thence formed part of General Whitelock's expedition to Buenos Ayres, in which, through no fault of the Highlanders, who captured the city, Britain definitely lost a footing in South America—the result of the expedition led to Whitelocke being court-martialled and dismissed from the service. For their gallantry in the capture of Buenos Ayres the H.L.I. were specially commended by Lieutenant-General Floyd on the occasion of the presentation of new colours to the regiment.
Their next exploits were in the first Peninsular campaign, through which they came to Corunna. They were at Torres Vedras, at the fierce encounter of Fuentes d'Onor, and they took a prominent part in the battle of Vittoria, where they routed the enemy and lost their commanding officer, who fell dying while leading his men in the attack. Like Wolfe, the commanding officer of the H.L.I. had a last thought for the defeat of the enemy, and died happy in the knowledge that the battle was practically won. Near on four hundred of his men fell with him on this field.
No less than sixteen special medals were presented to men of the Highland Light Infantry in the Peninsular campaigns for special personal bravery, and then at Waterloo they shared in the last attack on Napoleon's Imperial Guard, with which the day ended. Earlier in the day the Highland Light Infantry formed the square in which the Duke of Wellington had his place at the time the French cavalry charged.
The regiment took part in the Crimean campaign, serving in the trenches before Sevastopol, and in the expedition to Yenikale. In the Central Indian Campaign of 1858 the H.L.I. were heavily engaged, and at the Morar Cantonments engagement the first Victoria Cross of the regiment was won.
The history of the 2nd battalion of the regiment—the old 74th, is very similar to that of the 1st battalion, including as it does the storming of Seringapatam, the principal engagements of the Peninsular campaign, and—here the history diverges—the sinking of the Birkenhead off the Cape. The two battalions were first definitely named "Highland Light Infantry" in place of their old-time numbers in 1881, when the Territorial system came into being as regards the Regular Army.
The 2nd battalion of the regiment took part in the Egyptian campaign of 1882, and won a Victoria Cross at Tel-el-Kebir. In the Malakand Campaign of 1897 and again in Crete in 1898, the regiment saw active service, and in the South African War the 1st battalion went through the action of Modder River and on to Magersfontein, where another Victoria Cross was won by Corporal Shaul of the regiment. Together with the rest of the Highland Brigade, the H.L.I. were "in" at the capture of Cronje at Paardeberg, and at the capture of Prinsloo they played an important part. No less than eighty-one officers and men were left behind by the regiment at the close of the South African campaign.
Four Victoria Crosses are reckoned to the credit of the regiment, but to these must be added the sixteen special medals for gallantry won by the H.L.I. in the Peninsular War, before ever such a thing as a Victoria Cross was instituted. Of medals for distinguished conduct, there are many in the H.L.I.
Personal accounts of the fighting in which the regiment has been engaged in France are few, up to the present time. A definite account has been received of the death of Lieutenant Sir Archibald Gibson Craig. It is stated that the lieutenant had told his servant some time previously that, in case of his death on the field, the servant was to take charge of all his personal belongings; and at a place not named—or a place of which the name has been excised—he was in charge of a party of sixteen men, who were proceeding to a rather steep hill, when they came in contact with a large number of the enemy, estimated by the Highlanders at between 300 and 400. The men had not been aware that they were so near the Germans, but when the lieutenant saw the position in which they were placed he drew his sword and shouted, "Charge, men! At them!" His men fired at the German force, and then charged with fixed bayonets, at which the enemy thought the British party was far stronger than it was in reality, for they began to retreat. The Highlanders, however, had to retire, since two of their number were killed and three wounded, which left a dangerously small force of effectives. They retired in good order, carrying their dead and wounded, but Sir Archibald Craig was shot through the mouth, and killed instantaneously.
This is the most circumstantial account that has come to hand regarding the work of the regiment, so far. Another story of a wounded man states that during the fighting on the Aisne, in the village of Vera Neuil, he received two pieces of shrapnel in the chest. "We were not safe anywhere, not even in the hospital, as the Germans shelled that too. I was wounded on Tuesday, September 15, when I was eating a biscuit at the time I was shot."
An officer of the H.L.I. gives an account of the way in which the Germans are conducting their fighting.
"An officer dressed as a French officer went up to some Coldstream Guards and asked if Bulkley, the machine-gun officer, was in that battalion. He then shot the officer he was talking to. Others dress up as British staff officers, and drive about in motor cars, and when they meet transports of convoys shout at them—'The Germans are advancing on you from just ahead,' which causes a stampede. That happened to us, for a long column of transport was ahead of us as we were retiring, and all of a sudden a supposed French officer came galloping down the road the reverse way, shouting 'Les Allemands, les Uhlans!' All the transport was thrown into confusion, and some of the waggons came back at a gallop. We were just behind, but mercifully the road was broad. There was a little confusion at first, but they rallied splendidly when I shouted to them, and we all advanced up the road with fixed bayonets, to find absolutely nothing.
"The Germans actually dress themselves up in our men's great-coats to disguise themselves, get close, and then shoot."
These accounts demonstrate the presence of the Highland Light Infantry on the great retreat, and also at the battle of the Aisne. From the latter position they may have gone on to Flanders—the more likely alternative—or they may have remained as part of the thin defensive line left along the Aisne positions.
* * * * *
The present "Cameronians" were formed from the old-time "26th Cameronians," from whom the regiment takes its title, and from the "90th Perthshire Light Infantry," the first of which regiments fought for religious liberty against the King's troops at Bothwell Bridge in old days. Until the revolution which placed William of Orange on the throne they stuck to their principles, and then in one day there was enrolled from among them a regiment to support the cause of "Dutch William," a regiment which, under the Earl of Angus, held Dunkeld against a force four times their own strength. They fought at Landen, and lost their colonel, the Earl of Angus, at Steinkerk; they shared in the capture of Namur, and then in Marlborough's battles they so fought as to be able to emblazon the names of Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, and Malplaquet on the regimental colours. They shared in the defence of Gibraltar in 1727, fought and endured through the American War of Independence, and served under Sir John Moore at Corunna. Meanwhile the 2nd battalion, formed by Thomas Graham (subsequently Lord Lynedoch), served under Sir Ralph Abercrombie in driving out Napoleon's "Invincible Army" from Egypt, and captured a French eagle at Guadeloupe.
In the Chinese campaign of 1840 the Cameronians 1st battalion took a share, being first to scale the walls of Amoy. The 2nd battalion saw service against the Kaffirs of South Africa in 1846 and the following year, and went on to the Crimean campaign, having among its officers a certain Lieutenant Wolseley, who was destined for great things.
In the Mutiny the 2nd battalion formed a part of Havelock's force at Lucknow, and subsequently assisted in stamping out the last traces of the great rebellion. The 1st battalion took the field in Abyssinia in 1868, and went on with Napier to Magdala. Another famous British officer shared in the exploits of the 1st battalion in the person of Sir Evelyn Wood, during the strenuous work of the Zulu campaign of 1878, when the battalion fought from Inhlobane to Ulundi, where Cetewayo was overthrown.
The Cameronians shared in Buller's advance through Natal in the South African War of 1899-1902, forming part of General Lyttleton's brigade at Colenso, reinforcing the Lancashire Brigade in the action of Spion Kop, sweeping the Boers off Vaalkrantz, and sharing in the furious charges at Pieter's Hill—until the way to Ladysmith lay open. Through the fighting for Laing's Nek, and in the guerilla warfare that lasted out the rest of the campaign, the Cameronians played their part nobly. No less than three South African campaigns are commemorated on the colours of the regiment.
Of their work in France, less personal accounts are to hand than concerning the work of any other Scottish regiment. There is one statement by a wounded man with regard to a German ruse of driving on sheep in night attacks on the trenches. The sheep were heard moving in the darkness in front of the trenches, and while the Cameronians opened fire on them, the Germans tried to get round their flank—but two Maxim guns drove them back with a loss of over 200 dead. The incident is related with no reference to place or date.
A non-commissioned officer of the regiment speaks of the secrecy of movement that has to be maintained. None are made aware of probable movements, destinations, or reasons for any plans, and commanding officers are not informed of what is about to be done until it is absolutely imperative that they should know. The reason for this lies in the great number of German spies who are arrested in all kinds of disguises, British and French uniforms, civilian clothes, chauffeurs' uniforms, and all possible forms of dress. "The leakage of information is astounding," says the writer, "and we quite appreciate the necessity for secrecy in all our doings, and fully understand its wisdom, as we have been saved from complete destruction more than once through this secrecy."
Even of things that took place months ago, however, there is no record yet. Of how the Gordons were cut off, and of what the Cameronians have done and where they did it, we know little or nothing—concerning all things that individual units have accomplished there is scarcely more record than the stories collected here, which make no pretence at giving a full history of the doings of the Scottish regiments at the front, but simply stand as detached records of the deeds of brave men.
And as for the London Scottish and their bravery, that story belongs to the record of Territorial regiments at the front, in which it will in due course be told.
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