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24
battle of loos
WIVES, MOTHERS, SWEETHEARTS
On the Seaforth’s right, 9th Black Watch also encountered
determined opposition. Formed in early September 1914, 9th Black
Watch recruited from across Scotland as well as the traditional
Black Watch recruiting areas of Fife, Dundee, Angus and Perth.
Many volunteers came from Lanarkshire, with distinct groups
from Lancashire and South Wales. The battalion’s first objective
was the heavily defended Lens Road Redoubt. Major John Stewart,
second-in-command of the battalion, had taken an opportunity
to survey the battlefield some days before.
‘The German wire is damned strong and will take some crossing
but I don’t think there will be very much left of it when once
we get to work with our guns’.
33
The men of 9th Black Watch awaited the order to advance.
‘Prior to getting over the parapet... many of the men, in the
knowledge of what lay before them, but confident and cheerful,
brought out the portraits of their nearest and dearest – wives,
mothers, sweethearts, as the case might be – and said to each
other as they gazed upon the faces that were an incentive and
inspiration, “Better let’s us have a last look at them, boys”’.
34
At 6.30 a.m., the men received word to ‘mount the parapet’.
The battalion’s War Diary describes the attack on the German
front line.
The Battalion gallantly charged out of our trenches and
captured the enemy’s first line trenches. The portion
of enemy’s line allotted to the Battalion was extremely
strong¤ our casualties here were far heavier than any other
Battalion of the Brigade. Between our own trenches and
the German fire trench 6 Officers were killed, one mortally
wounded and about 100 Other Ranks killed.
Three of four 9th Black Watch company commanders were killed
in the opening moments of the action. Major Michael William
Henderson, joint agent of the Linlithgow branch of the
Commercial Bank, was mortally wounded. His last words to his
company were ‘Keep going’.
35
Major Stewart made an entry in his
diary, describing the costly struggle for the 9th Black Watch’s