Post by Waverley on Jul 13, 2007 8:12:54 GMT 1
91 year ago this weekend the 9th Highland Light Infantry were involved in the attack on the German held High Wood on the Somme. In his book Warrior and Pilgrimage, Lt Colonel G.S.Hutchison refers to the fighting at High Wood and how his brigade were deployed behind the 9th H.L.I. as they lay down in the long grass in the scorching sun awaiting for the signal to attack. Hutchison noted that he could see 'broad kilted buttocks' and 'bronzed thighs and knees' of the 9th H.L.I. lining the slope in front of him before they rose and swept forward under the cover of a weak bombardment. It was the first of several attempts that day to take the Wood...alas the 9th Highland Light Infantry were virtually annihilated...suffering 470 casualties of whom 192 were killed in action.Of the men of 'C' Company that returned from the attack, just one sergeant, a corporal and ten privates mustered for roll call. On the 21st November 1972 Alex Aitken the Glasgow author of the book Courage Past unveiled a memorial to the men of the 9th H.L.I. who took part in the attack on High Wood, which included his father and uncle. The memorial took the form of a Scottish cairn made up of 192 stones which were taken from High Wood near Culloden Moor and topped with a cobble stone from the streets that Glasgow Tramway 'Caurs' routes. The height of the memorial is 5 feet 7 inches which was the required height to enlist in the Glasgow Highlanders. There is a Gaelic inscription on the stone which translated into English reads 'Just here , Children of the Gael went down shoulder to shoulder, on 15th July 1916' and each year on the eve of the 14th of July, a French Tri-colour and a Scots Saltire are flown to commemorate Bastille Day and the night the Glasgow Highlanders approached High Wood for their attack.
The men of the Glasgow Highlanders who were recruited and enlisted at the 9th H.L.I. Drill Hall in Greendyke Street and often drilled on the Glasgow Green facing the old Drill Hall at Lanark Street next to Charlotte Street School lie in the cemeteries in and around the small French village of Longueuval.
"Ici fleurira toujours le glorieux chardon d'Ecosse parmi les roses de la France." (Here the glorious thistle of Scotland will flower forever among the roses of France.)
The men of the Glasgow Highlanders who were recruited and enlisted at the 9th H.L.I. Drill Hall in Greendyke Street and often drilled on the Glasgow Green facing the old Drill Hall at Lanark Street next to Charlotte Street School lie in the cemeteries in and around the small French village of Longueuval.
"Ici fleurira toujours le glorieux chardon d'Ecosse parmi les roses de la France." (Here the glorious thistle of Scotland will flower forever among the roses of France.)