DIVISION 1914-1918***


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THE HISTORY OF THE 51ST (HIGHLAND) DIVISION


[Illustration: LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIR G. M. HARPER, K.C.B., D.S.O.]


THE HISTORY OF THE 51ST (HIGHLAND) DIVISION

1914-1918

by

MAJOR F. W. BEWSHER
D.S.O., M.C.

Formerly Brigade Major, 152nd Infantry Brigade,
and General Staff Officer, 2nd Grade,
51st (Highland) Division







William Blackwood and Sons
Edinburgh and London
1921




                             Dedicated

                    _TO THE YOUTH OF SCOTLAND_.

        _In the hope that this record of the courage, skill, and
        endurance of a Highland Division may strengthen
        their purpose, when their time comes, to uphold in no
        lesser degree the great traditions of their forebears._




                             FOREWORD.


If it were possible for the General who for three years commanded all
the British Divisions in France, and was served with equal gallantry,
devotion, and success by each, to admit a predilection for any of them,
my affection would naturally turn to the Division that drew so many of
its recruits from the same part of Scotland where my boyhood was spent
and my own people lived. Those who read the pages of this book will find
therein a tale of patient endeavour and glorious achievement of which I
claim a good right to be as proud as any of my fellow-countrymen. The
51st Division does not need to boast of its prowess or its record. It
can point to the story of its deeds, plainly and simply told, and leave
the world to judge.

                                                           HAIG
                                                       OF BEMERSYDE,
                                                           F.M.
  _8th August 1920._




                              PREFACE.


In compiling the 'History of the 51st (Highland) Division' I have been
beset by various difficulties, which have contributed towards the long
delay in its publication.

In the first place, it has been written in circumstances in which
military duties have afforded little leisure for continuous effort;
secondly, the work has been carried out in many places, most of them
highly unsuitable for research, such as the desert of Sinai, native
villages and the deserts of Lower Egypt, Jerusalem, Bir Salem, and at
sea.

Not only had the difficulty of transporting from station to station the
large mass of available material to be overcome, but also the conditions
of life in huts and under canvas in an eastern climate are seldom
conducive to clear and consecutive thinking.

Further, the material available has been unequal. Up to the conclusion
of the battle of Arras, no completed narratives of the operations
carried out by the Division were compiled. To this point, therefore, the
only resources were the bald and rather incomplete entries in the
official war diaries and personal diaries, which threw little light on
the operations in their broader aspects.

From the third battle of Ypres onwards a detailed account of all
engagements was published by Divisional Headquarters shortly after the
conclusion of each operation. These have rendered the compiling of the
'History' from this point considerably less laborious, and have allowed
it to be carried out in greater and more accurate detail.

It has been necessary, owing to the increased and increasing cost of
production, to keep the size of this book within certain bounds, and to
reduce as far as possible the number of maps. On this account there has
been no alternative but to restrict the detail in which actions are
described. It is regretted that in consequence much material which
officers and men of the Division and their relatives have submitted,
often at my request, has been necessarily omitted.

It was only thus that the book could be kept sufficiently reduced in
size to prevent its price prohibiting the circulation desired.

The 'History' is now presented with every consciousness on the part of
the author that full justice has not been done to its great subject.
Indeed, it is doubtful if full justice can be done to the part played by
the British Army in the Great War until a generation not intimately
involved in it has arisen and has come to regard the burdens sustained
for over four years by the British soldier in the true perspective.

My thanks are due to all those who have assisted me in the compilation
of this work by the loan of diaries, maps, documents, &c., and in
particular to Lieut.-General Sir G. M. Harper, K.C.B., D.S.O.;
Major-General R. Bannatine-Allason, C.B.; Brigadier-General L. Oldfield,
C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O.; and Colonel Ian Stewart, C.M.G., D.S.O.

General Bannatine-Allason kindly wrote for me the first chapter, and
spared himself no pains in assisting to procure for me information
concerning the early days of the Division in France. Had it not been for
him and Colonel Ian Stewart, information would have been so scanty that
it is doubtful if the earlier chapters could have been written.

To Captain A. Scott, D.S.O., M.C., 7th Argyll and Sutherland
Highlanders, late staff-captain 154th Infantry Brigade, I am
particularly indebted. Captain Scott has kindly relieved me of the
labour of reading through the proofs and of completing the final
arrangements for the publication of this book, a labour which residence
in the Near East would have made it difficult for me to perform.

Lastly, I am indebted to Mr James Blackwood, in no small degree, for
taking upon himself, while I have been abroad, much of the burden of the
preparation of this book for the Press, which would normally have fallen
upon the author.

                                                            F. W. B.
  HEADQUARTERS, 3RD (LAHORE) DIVISION,
         BIR SALEM, PALESTINE.




                             CONTENTS.


  CHAP.                                                             PAGE
      I. MOBILISATION                                                  1

     II. ARRIVAL IN FRANCE--FESTUBERT                                 10

    III. THE PERIOD OF APPRENTICESHIP                                 28

     IV. TRAINING AND REORGANISATION--THE LABYRINTH.                  51

      V. THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME--HIGH WOOD                           73

     VI. ARMENTIERES AND HEBUTERNE                                    87

    VII. THE BATTLE OF THE ANCRE--BEAUMONT HAMEL                     100

   VIII. COURCELETTE                                                 127

     IX. THE BATTLE OF ARRAS                                         138

      X. THE BATTLE OF ARRAS (_Contd._)--ROEUX AND
           THE CHEMICAL WORKS                                        160

     XI. THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES                                   192

    XII. POELCAPPELLE                                                216

   XIII. THE BATTLE of CAMBRAI                                       233

    XIV. THE GERMAN OFFENSIVE                                        263

     XV. THE GERMAN OFFENSIVE (_Contd._)--THE BATTLE
           OF THE LYS                                                296

    XVI. WITH THE FRENCH IN CHAMPAGNE                                321

   XVII. THE CAPTURE OF GREENLAND HILL                               356

  XVIII. THE OPERATIONS TOWARDS VALENCIENNES                         372

    XIX. CONCLUSION                                                  408




                           ILLUSTRATIONS.


                             PORTRAITS.

  LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIR G. M. HARPER,
  K.C.B., D.S.O                                          _Frontispiece_

  MAJOR-GENERAL R. BANNATINE-ALLASON, C.B.               _Facing p._ 46

  T/MAJOR-GENERAL G. T. C. CARTER-CAMPBELL,
  C.B., D.S.O.                                                 "    274


                               MAPS.

     I. ATTACK NEAR FESTUBERT, 15TH JUNE
        1915                                                    "    18

    II. HIGH WOOD, JULY 1916                                    "    74

   III. BEAUMONT HAMEL, 13TH NOVEMBER
        1916                                                     "   114

    IV. CAPTURE OF VIMY RIDGE, 9TH APRIL
        1917                                                     "   150

     V. THE CHEMICAL WORKS, ROEUX                                "   162

    VI. THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES: ADVANCE
        TO THE STEENBEEK, 31ST JULY 1917                         "   200

   VII. POELCAPPELLE, 20TH SEPTEMBER 1917                        "   222

  VIII. THE BATTLE OF CAMBRAI: POSITION
        AT