The History of the 51st (Highland) Division 1914-1918. F. W. Bewsher
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F. W. Bewsher
The History of the 51st (Highland) Division 1914-1918
Published by Good Press, 2019
EAN 4064066202989
Table of Contents
CHAPTER I. MOBILISATION. (By Major-General R. Bannatine-Allason, C.B.)
CHAPTER II. ARRIVAL IN FRANCE—FESTUBERT.
CHAPTER III. THE PERIOD OF APPRENTICESHIP.
CHAPTER IV. TRAINING AND REORGANISATION—THE LABYRINTH.
CHAPTER V. THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME—HIGH WOOD.
CHAPTER VI. ARMENTIÈRES AND HEBUTERNE.
CHAPTER VII. THE BATTLE OF THE ANCRE—BEAUMONT HAMEL
CHAPTER IX. THE BATTLE OF ARRAS.
CHAPTER X. THE BATTLE OF ARRAS (Contd.) —ROEUX AND THE CHEMICAL WORKS.
CHAPTER XI. THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES.
CHAPTER XIII. THE BATTLE OF CAMBRAI.
CHAPTER XIV. THE GERMAN OFFENSIVE.
CHAPTER XV. THE GERMAN OFFENSIVE (Contd.) —THE BATTLE OF THE LYS.
CHAPTER XVI. WITH THE FRENCH IN CHAMPAGNE.
CHAPTER XVII. THE CAPTURE OF GREENLAND HILL.
CHAPTER XVIII. THE OPERATIONS TOWARDS VALENCIENNES.
FOREWORD.
If it were possible for the General who for three years commanded all the British Divisions in France, and was served with equal gallantry, devotion, and success by each, to admit a predilection for any of them, my affection would naturally turn to the Division that drew so many of its recruits from the same part of Scotland where my boyhood was spent and my own people lived. Those who read the pages of this book will find therein a tale of patient endeavour and glorious achievement of which I claim a good right to be as proud as any of my fellow-countrymen. The 51st Division does not need to boast of its prowess or its record. It can point to the story of its deeds, plainly and simply told, and leave the world to judge.
HAIG
of Bemersyde,
F.M.
8th August 1920.
PREFACE.
In compiling the ‘History of the 51st (Highland) Division’ I have been beset by various difficulties, which have contributed towards the long delay in its publication.
In the first place, it has been written in circumstances in which military duties have afforded little leisure for continuous effort; secondly, the work has been carried out in many places, most of them highly unsuitable for research, such as the desert of Sinai, native villages and the deserts of Lower Egypt, Jerusalem, Bir Salem, and at sea.
Not only had the difficulty of transporting from station to station the large mass of available material to be overcome, but also the conditions of life in huts and under canvas in an eastern climate are seldom conducive to clear and consecutive thinking.
Further, the material available has been unequal. Up to the conclusion of the battle of Arras, no completed narratives of the operations carried out by the Division were compiled. To this point, therefore, the only resources were the bald and rather incomplete entries in the official war diaries and personal diaries, which threw little light on the operations in their broader aspects.
From the third battle of Ypres onwards a detailed account of all engagements was published by Divisional Headquarters shortly after the conclusion of each operation. These have rendered the compiling of the ‘History’ from this point considerably less laborious, and have allowed it to be carried out in greater and more accurate detail.
It has been necessary, owing to the increased and increasing cost of production, to keep the size of this book within certain bounds, and to reduce as far as possible the number of maps. On this account there has been no alternative but to restrict the detail in which actions are described. It is regretted that in consequence much material which officers and men of the Division and their relatives have submitted, often at my request, has been necessarily omitted.
It was only thus that the book could be kept sufficiently reduced in size to prevent its price prohibiting the circulation desired.
The ‘History’ is now presented with every consciousness on the part of the author that full justice has not been done to its great subject. Indeed, it is doubtful if full justice can be done to the part played by the British Army in the Great War until a generation not intimately involved in it has arisen and has come to regard the burdens sustained for over four years by the British soldier in the true perspective.
My thanks are due to all those who have assisted me in the compilation of this work by the loan of diaries, maps, documents, &c., and in particular to Lieut.-General Sir G. M. Harper, K.C.B., D.S.O.; Major-General R. Bannatine-Allason, C.B.; Brigadier-General L. Oldfield,