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quintinshill rail disaster
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C . R . TRA I N REG I STER
THE END OF THE BATTALION’S WAR
The British counter-attack began on 8 August, described by General
Ludendorff in his memoirs as
“the Black Day of the German Army. It put
the decline of our fighting powers beyond all doubt”
. 1/7RS entered the
battle on 23 August advancing rapidly and taking many prisoners, guns,
mortars and machine guns. It was not entirely one-sided, however, as by
3 September, when it was relieved, while the Battalion had
only lost a total
of 17
all ranks killed,
a further 396 had been wounded.
On 8 November the
Battalion crossed the frontier into Belgium before the Armistice took
effect at 11am on 11 November 1918. The reaction in the Battalion was
recorded as:
“Strange though it may appear this announcement failed to raise any
excitement probably owing to the fact that the feeling of strain was to
take a long time to wear off,and the one idea ofAll Ranks was to get into
billets and have a sound and prolonged sleep. Billets were arranged in
Herchies, and for the first time for many months no sound of guns came
to disturb‘the rest of the weary’ that night.”
Thus ended the 1st/7th Battalion’s War. The Battalion remained in
Belgium/France over the winter of 1918–19 preparing for demobilisation,
reduced to minimum strength in March 1919 and returned to
Edinburgh for final disbandment in May. The 1st/7th, although having
a more varied war than many, was only one of a total of 35 Battalions of
The Royal Scots, more than in any other Scottish Regiment that served
inWorldWar I, of which 18 saw active service.
In all, over 100,000 men served in the Regiment of whom 11,213 were
killed
(including over 550 from 1/7RS)
, again more than in any other
Scottish Regiment and equating to roughly 10% of the total Scottish
military deaths in theWar, a staggering percentage from a single regiment.
In addition to those killed, over 40,000 Royal Scots were wounded, a total
casualty rate of over 50% among those who served.
Nemo me impune lacessit