The long road to victory

C.M.G. 34

V. THE I5TH DIVISION AT Loos. By Captain

HIGHLANDERS.

HHHE Battle of Loos was the first occasion when the A New Armies of Britain were engaged in a battle of the first magnitude, and it laid the foundation of the reputation of more than one division whose names were afterwards to become household words. In this chapter I will try to give an account of the impressions of one officer of the New Armies in his first great action.

HIGHLANDERS.

tion, in one battalion taken at random there were among the officers a Presbyterian minister, a director of a famous engineering firm, a well-known civil engineer, a lawyer, two chartered accountants, two stockbrokers, several bankers, two International football players, an amateur golf champion, several landed proprietors, and a professor of science. Among the men in the same battalion were to be found lawyers, accountants, bankers, engineers, and champion athletes. This was an average battalion, representative of the division. The division consisted of the 44th, 45 th, and 46th Brigades, and was commanded from the beginning, during the Battle of Loos, and long afterwards by Major- General M'Cracken (now Lieutenant-General Sir F. W. M'Cracken). In the 44th Brigade were the Qth Black Watch, the 8th Seaforths, the roth Gordons, and the yth Camerons ; in the 45th Brigade, the i3th Royal Scots, the yth Royal Scots Fusiliers, the 6th Camerons, and the nth Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders ; in the 46th Brigade, the 7th and 8th K.O.S.B., the loth Scottish Rifles, and the 1 2th Highland Light Infantry. The Divisional Pioneers were the 9th Gordons.

THE FIFTEENTH DIVISION AT LOOS. 119

At last final orders were received and zero hour definitely fixed. In the area of the i5th Division the direct assault on Loos was to be launched by the 44th Brigade, of which the Qth Black Watch and the 8th Seaforths were to form the point of the attack, with the 7th Camerons in support, and the loth Gordons and two companies of the Qth Gordons following. The 46th Brigade was to advance on the left of the 44th Brigade, and work round so as to close in on Loos from the north. The 45th Brigade, together with the two remaining companies of the Qth Gordons, was to be held in divisional reserve. The village of Loos was the first objective, and Hill 70, to the east of it, the second. The plan of battle, however, allowed for the attack to proceed beyond Hill 70 should circumstances be favour- able. This last order was modified just on the eve of the battle, and Hill 70 made the limit of the advance. Unfortunately there was insufficient time left to explain this change clearly to all the troops concerned, and the leading battalions were in doubt about their final ob- jective. We shall see the serious loss which this mis- understanding was to cause.

PREFACE.

All the chapters are by eye-witnesses, except those on the Worcesters at First Ypres, and the South Africans at Marri&res Wood. The former is the work of a soldier who has made a special study of that battle, and the latter I have written myself, since I have had the privilege of being the official historian of the South Africans in France. In one case there are two chapters on the same battle. Major Hot black has told the story of the Tanks at Cambrai as one who was concerned with the higher direction of that great exploit, while Mr. Macintosh's standpoint in his chapter is that of an officer of one of the Tanks themselves. In theory these narratives should end with the Armistice of November n, 1918 ; but I have ventured to add Lieutenant-Colonel Skeil's account of the work of the Royal Scots in North Russia during the winter of 1918-1919 — a performance, to my mind, of extraordinary merit, considering that the men engaged in it were mostly either under age or in " B " or " C " category, and that the Armistice had already brought the main campaigns to an end.

VI. THE FIGHTING IN THE AIR DURING THE BATTLE

VIII. THE TANKS AT CAMBRAI. By Lieutenant J. C.

BY MAJOR F. E. HOTBLACK, D.S.O., M.C.

" I meant four hours to zero hour, the beginning of the great battle — the Battle of Cambrai I expect they will call it. That's Our Day ; the Tank Corps lives or dies in the result of this show. If we succeed, we shall multiply and fill the earth ; if we have another failure, the Tanks are going to be abolished."

THE TANKS AT CAMBRAI. 199

Turning about, the Tanks made once more for their woods. Their petrol was exhausted, and no further attack could be thought of. The crews turned with characteristic versatility to an inspection of the innumerable deserted camps round them ; and the subsequent appearance of many A.S.C. winter coats, of extra blankets, even of a surplus Sunbeam and three cows, seem to show that they did not neglect many opportunities. Next day they received orders to return to winter quarters, and the Battle of Cambrai was over.