Battle of Loos

battle of loos

ADVANTAGE

The two Scottish New Army Divisions performed magnificently

on their baptism of fire. The Kitchener volunteers, with their

regular and territorial counterparts, who participated in the

battle, were justifiably proud of their achievements.

Despite their losses the men had

maintained the high standards of martial

glory expected of the Scottish soldier.

Lance-Corporal Paddy Fee, 11th Argyll and Sutherland

Highlanders, a former amateur boxing champion, wrote ‘I have

often bragged about my Irish blood, after that glorious 25th and

26th, I was proud I was a Scotsman born, for they fought that

day like heroes and devils’.

Writing to his father in Selkirk,

Private Christopher Reekie, 10th Gordons, had a similar view

of the Scots’ contribution. ‘Everything was a great success,

and not only were the trenches taken, but soon we captured the

village; prisoners galore; and up the Hill, as only Highlanders

can go’.

Lance-Corporal Philip Kerr, 8th Seaforth Highlanders, a footballer

with Longcroft Thistle, was of the same opinion. ‘I believe we

have made a great name. We were left pretty much to ourselves, and

it says a lot for the individual Scottish Highlander that the work

was so well done. There were hordes of Germans killed – it was

awful. There will be a lot of sad homes in bonnie Scotland; but,

thank God, I am a Scotsman – they are bonnie fechters...

The Germans are afraid of the ‘kilties’’.

There is no doubt that the men were convinced of their

reputation as ‘The Ladies from Hell’. In a letter to his sister,

Private Thomas Brown, 9th Black Watch, a Dumfries soldier,

described his battalion’s role in events. ‘The Germans have a

terrible dread of the Black Watch boys’.

The men felt a unique

pride in their regiments. Notwithstanding its losses, an officer

maintained ‘the spirit of the 8th Seaforths is undaunted’.

52 The Fife Free Press, Saturday, 6 November 1915, 2.

53 The Southern Reporter, Thursday, 7 October 1915, 6.

54 Daily Record and Mail, Tuesday, 12 October 1915, 6.

55 Dumfries and Galloway Saturday Standard, Saturday, 9 October 1915, 9.

56 Dumfries and Galloway Saturday Standard, Saturday, 6 November 1915, 8.