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View Online Or Download the Article As A 10 Text : Christian Defrance Scots, bagpipes, kilts and courage BlueBlue BonnetsBonnets O’erO’er thethe BorderBorder 5 SEPTEMBER 1915, the Battle of Loos. The deafening sound of bombs, bullets whistling through the air, and 23 August 1918 : the 2nd Battalion 2cries of pain and terror. Suddenly, a traditional Scottish the Royal Scots attacks the Germans sound seems to drown out the hail of bullets. Piper Daniel entrenched in Courcelles-le-Comte Laidlaw has climbed out of the trenches with his bagpipes to from the rear. The soldier Hugh accompany his comrades towards the German lines. McIver, a company runner, heads off alone to attack an enemy posi- tion. He kills six Germans, captures “Play for them Laidlaw. along with a leather sporran, and twenty more, and seizes two machine For the love of God, play for a beret on their heads. These sol- guns. When a British tank homes in them!” The piper plays Blue diers made a real impression, so on the wrong target, aiming at its own Bonnets O’er the Border then On much so that the Germans referred side, McIver climbs on to the vehicle the Braes O’Mar. Despite being to them as “Damen von Hölle”, and re-adjusts the shot – heroic acts hit twice in the leg, he continues the women from hell; the local which earned him the Victoria Cross, to advance. When his comrades population was astonished to come awarded posthumously to his parents have achieved their target, he across them without any unde- in 1919 as Hugh McIver was killed returns to the trench with his rwear! The “women from hell” on 2 September near the Bois de bagpipes. Piper Laidlaw’s sortie was perhaps an apt term as cou- Vraucourt. He was 28 years old. is one of the more unusual epi- rage and commitment epitomised sodes of the Great War. Having the Scottish units in every battle 23 August 2008 : following consi- returned home alive from the they were involved in. derable research, and as a result of the conflict, Daniel Laidlaw played Close to 150,000 Scots died perseverance of Christophe Guéant, himself in the film “The Guns during the First World War, which a keen local historian who for two of Loos” in 1928, also appearing represents 20% of British losses. years had received the support of The five years later in “Forgotten To get an idea of the slaughter, Somme Remembrance Association, Men”. “On 25 September 1915, a comparison needs to be made Courcelles-le-Comte welcomed men my hair turned white in just with Australia. Australia and from the 1st Battalion the Royal a few hours”, explained Daniel Scotland each had a population Regiment of Scotland and forty or so Laidlaw, who died in 1950. The of five million in 1914: 60,000 members of Hugh McIver’s family, who piper of the 7th Battalion King’s Australians died in 1914-18 com- had come to attend the inauguration of Own Scottish Borderers symbo- pared with 147,000 Scots. The a “Franco-English-Scottish” memorial lises “to a T” the Scottish pres- losses were huge during the Battle to honour the memory of this Scottish ence in the British army – a pres- of Loos: 50% of the men in each During the Great War, the Valenciennes artist Lucien Jonas (1880- soldier, Hugh McIver (born in Linwood, ence that hardly passed unnoticed of the eight battalions of the 15th 1947) painted more than 2,000 sketches and portraits of Allied officers Paisley), but also to “salute the sacrifice given that Scottish soldiers wore Scottish Division who attacked the and soldiers, publishing a total of fifteen albums. made by a generation for freedom”. their own uniform: a kilt, of course, village and Hill 70. Photo: “Three Scottish soldiers” (Hugues Chevalier private collection) Irish, from the north and south “united” in the trenches NIONISTS and Nationalists. Protestants and Catholics. North and South. An island divided, even more so after the bloody events of the 1916 “Easter O’Leary, an Irish hero, was URising” in Dublin (the rebellion against the British occupation and the awarded the Victoria Cross for terrible repression that followed). However, a similar hell existed in the trenches his actions at Cuinchy for the 210,000 Irish who served in the British army during the First World War, in which 35,000 of them lost their lives. Yet, it wasn’t until 1998 that, as a sign of reconciliation, the “Island of Ireland Peace Park” was inaugurated in Messines. Having arrived in France at Le Havre from front of the trenches recalling the events of the 18 December 1915 onwards, the16th Irish “Easter Rising” on 24 April. In August 1916, Division had their first taste of the trenches in the 16th Division adopted new positions in the early 1916. From 27 to 29 April, it was fully Somme. In June 1917, the Catholics from this engaged in the Battle of Hulluch, one of the 16th Division joined up with the Protestants battles of the Great War in which poisoned from the 36th Ulster Division near Messines, gas was used. During the German attack on taking the village of Wijtschate side-by-side 27 April, out of the 1,980 victims, 570 died, on 7 June. Following action at Péronne and to be followed by numerous wounded later on Hamel, the 16th Division was relieved in early Posters proliferated to encourage the Irish both emi- as a result of respiratory problems. To incite April 1918, following an order for it to return to grants and those who had remained in the country to the Irish, the Germans had placed posters in England via Aire-sur-la-Lys and Samer. rejoin English, Canadian and Australian regiments etc..
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