The History of the 51st (Highland) Division 1914-1918 — John Shaqi
The History of the 51st (Highland) Division 1914-1918Bewsher, F. W. (Frederick William)
History
The History of the 51st (Highland) Division 1914-1918
Bewsher, F. W. (Frederick William)
Great Britain. Army. Division, 51st (Highland); World War, 1914-1918 -- Regimental histories -- Great Britain
Discussing this question, a Brigadier-General once related how when he
first arrived in France as a company commander he saw a "woolly bear"
burst over a wood in which his company was lying in mass. He turned and
galloped back to the wood _ventre à terre_ in a frenzied state of mind,
certain that he would find numbers of his men dead and dying. He was
amazed to find that, on the contrary, not a single man had been touched.
A veteran would, of course, have regarded the woolly bear in its true
light--as a vulgar and ostentatious beast that usually burst too high
and seldom took any effect on the ground.
In the other direction one remembers the novice who, during his period
of initiation, cut up a duck-board (a most impious act in itself) in a
forward sap and kindled a smoking bonfire on which to boil a mess-tin of
water, and his indignant astonishment at the shower of rifle grenades
which he unwittingly but naturally provoked.
Indeed, the debutante Division entering its first theatre of battle may
well be excused a certain amount of shyness concerning its behaviour,
however well prompted it may have been before it left home.
General Davies, commanding the 8th Division, however, gave the 51st
every possible assistance, even lending them his own instructors to help
to complete their training. His assistance proved most valuable.
On 26th May Divisional Headquarters was shelled out of Lacouture. This
bombardment was attributed to an article which had appeared in the
press, and which disclosed the location of units about Lacouture,
including Divisional Headquarters and a Canadian 60-pounder battery. The
Germans appear to have taken full advantage of this information, as
both the Divisional Headquarters and the 60-pounder battery were heavily
shelled. Several of the Divisional Headquarters signal section were
killed or wounded, and General Bannatine-Allason had a narrow escape,
the wind screen of his car being shattered. After this episode it was
noticed that the censorship of articles appearing in the press became
more rigorous.
On taking over the line, the clearing of the battlefield had to be
undertaken in addition to the work of consolidation. The bodies of men
who had been killed in the recent operations lay thick throughout the
whole area. Even the wounded had not all been brought in. The men were
thus quickly introduced to war in its worst aspects, in a manner which
clearly revealed to them the power of modern destructive weapons.
Officers and men still speak of the depressing effect which the
spectacle of so many dead had on them. This feeling was augmented by the
unpleasant duty of searching for the bodies in the polluted atmosphere
and burying them, which had to be undertaken during their first few days
in the line.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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