The British Campaign in France and Flanders, 1915Doyle, Arthur Conan
History
The British Campaign in France and Flanders, 1915
Doyle, Arthur Conan
World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- Western Front
The temporary check to the advance of the First Division had exposed
the left flank of its neighbour to the south, the Fifteenth
(M'Cracken's) Scottish Division of the New Army. The two divisions
were to have met at Fosse 14, but the Fifteenth Division arrived
there some hours before the others, for the reason already stated.
In spite of this a very fine advance was made, which gained a
considerable stretch of ground and pierced more deeply than any other
into the German line. The 46th Brigade was on the left, consisting
of the 7th Scots Borderers and {190} 12th Highland Light Infantry in
front, with the 8th Borderers and 10th Scottish Rifles behind them.
It was upon the parapet in front of this brigade that Piper Laidlaw
marched up and down before the attack under a heavy fire, warming the
blood of the crouching men with the maddening scream of his
war-pipes. Not until he was shot down did this gallant man cease to
urge forward his comrades. The 46th Brigade dashed forward at the
signal, and with a fine fury flooded over the German trenches, which
they carried at a rush, storming onwards across the Lens road and up
the long slope of Hill 70, taking Fosse 14 upon the way, and
eventually reaching the summit of the incline. The 45th supporting
Brigade came along after them, detaching, as they passed, 100 bombers
of the 6th Camerons to help the First Division to get forward. These
brave Highlanders held the advanced line for some hours under heavy
fire from the Lens batteries.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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