The Scots Guards In The Great War 1914 1918 Illustrated Edition

Includes 15 maps and plans. “In 1914 the Scots Guards (Third Regiment of Foot Guards) consisted of two battalions, both in England and two week after the outbreak of war the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion was formed; this battalion did not go abroad but during the course of the war it provided drafts of 11,201 all ranks for the 1st and 2nd Battalions. The 1st Battalion went to France with the 1st (Gds) Brigade, 1st Division on 14 August and served on the Western Front throughout the war; the 2nd Battalion joined the 20th Brigade of the 7th Division when it formed in September 1914, and landed in Belgium on 7 October 1914 and also served on the Western front for the whole of the war. Losses numbered 111 Officers and 2730 Other Ranks; 30 battle honours and 5 VCs were awarded. In August 1915 the Guards Division was formed in France and both battalions were transferred to it, the 1st to the 2nd Guards Brigade, the 2nd to 3rd Guards Brigade. ...This book is set out in chronological order, and though the battalions were not in the same division during the first twelve months of the war their actions are not recorded under separate headings. Thus both battalions were in action during First Ypres and they both appear in the chapter covering that battle. Apart from war diaries, there are extracts from letters and other contributions from those who were there making up the narrative and the result is a plain, straightforward account. From time to time the list of officers present in both battalions is given as are the names of those who became casualties during any specific action.”-Print ed.

This is a story of soldiers at war against the background the two battalions of the Scots Guards who served in Belgium and France from 1914 to 1918. The author's purpose is to display - by getting in amongst them - what they knew, saw, heard, felt and experienced around them and who they were as people. It is clear that the author has attempted to look and listen mostly through these men's eyes and ears - and sometimes through those of others who watched and listened nearby. In conveying how the war appeared to them, the author has not sought to achieve any wider view - nor to explain more than what is considered to be essential. What went on when the men were not in the trenches or fighting a battle holds just as much interest as when they were. The book is written in a chronological, narrative form - using as a basis the war diaries of the battalions, and supplemented from August 1915 by the two volumes of Cuthbert Headlam's History of the Guards Division in the Great War 1915-1918. The main content of the book stems from diaries, letters, notes, occasional pieces of verse, military documents and reports - as well as some press cuttings and any relevant published works. There are three key elements to the book: the first is that a great deal of the material used forms part of private collections and thus has never before; second is the intensive research which has been conducted into individual officers and soldiers; the third element is the blending together of all the research into a coherent whole so that there is a steady flow in an extraordinary story which is full of shocks and surprises, enjoyment and laughter - and (even in the most inauspicious situations) sorrow, joy and determination. These officers and men were ordinary human beings who experienced extraordinary events. In all other ways, they behaved as soldiers do, in that they did what they had to do - often misbehaving out of the line, but rarely in it; enjoying what there was to enjoy and grumbling about much else. Among themselves they had their personal likes and dislikes, but all had to depend on each other and work together. Because of the comradeship borne of the shared experience at close quarters, they got to know each other very well indeed. One cannot be but humbled and moved by their resilience amid dire adversity - not least in the winter conditions of 1916-17. It is extremely important when reading to remember that they had no idea how long the war would continue - and it is not surprising how unexpected and unreal the announcement of the Armistice was for many. The Scots Guardsmen's understanding of what others were doing at any time was limited to what they saw and heard - very rarely anywhere near the whole story and often inaccurate (and sometimes, however unintentionally, unfair). Those British soldiers who took part in the Retreat from Mons saw and were well aware of the plight of the refugees - and they could see behind them the fires as the advancing Germans burnt farms and villages. Those who landed at Ostend and Zeebrugge early in October 1914 were similarly well aware of the plight of refugees. Those in the area east of the Somme battlefields after the Germans withdrew to the Hindenburg Line in March 1917 saw the scale of calculated destruction. Those in the last weeks of the war who advanced across largely unfought-over Belgian and French territory (in the case of the Scots Guards, east of Cambrai) first met pathetically grateful civilians. Whatever else the war was about, it was also about liberation.

Includes 27 maps “History of the four active service battalions in the Great War with details of officers’ services during the war. The Coldstream Guards had three battalions in August 1914, all three committed to the BEF: the 1st Battalion was in the 1st (Guards) Brigade, 1st Division; the 2nd and 3rd were both in 4th Guards Brigade, 2nd Division. As soon as war broke out a Reserve battalion (the 4th) was formed which provided drafts of 16,860 all ranks during the course of the war. In July 1915 a further battalion was raised as the Guards Pioneer Battalion for the Guards Division which was then being formed. This battalion was numbered 4th and the reserve battalion became the 5th. In all the Regiment suffered 14,137 casualties of which the dead numbered 180 officers and 3,860 other ranks. Seven VCs were won and 36 Battle Honours awarded. Volume I takes the story to the end of the Somme offensive, volume II begins with the situation at the end of 1916 after the Somme and carries through to the return of the Regiment to London in March 1919 and the Royal Review on the 22nd of that month when the Guards Division marched past their Colonel in Chief, the King. This is a well written history in which the author gives a good and detailed account of the Regiment’s actions, often with casualty details following various battles and nominal rolls of officers present for duty. He also comments on the wider issues, some of which had nothing to do with the Coldstream, not only on higher strategy on the Western Front but also on other campaigns such as Gallipoli, Mesopotamia, Palestine and Italy where no Guards battalions served, and it is in discussing these wider issues that he is sometimes frankly critical, allocating blame where he feels it belongs.Print ed.

Includes the First World War Illustrations Pack – 73 battle plans and diagrams and 198 photos “An account of the Front Line from the Guards Brigade The Guards have always been known as ‘The Gentlemen’s Sons’ and it seems that the author of this book was no exception. At work in ‘the City’ when war broke out and he managed initially to be elected to that other gentleman’s club of the time—The Honourable Artillery Company. It was with the HAC that he went to the continent and saw action in the early engagements of the war before selection for cadet school and a commission. Upon returning to the Front, Fryer embarked on a wartime career that would keep him in action almost constantly throughout the hostilities and which he would report with nothing less than the casual savoir faire one would expect of him. Despite his style Fryer clearly saw hard campaigning at Givenchy, Loos, the Hohenzollern Redoubt, Ypres, the Somme and many other brutal and significant actions until the final offensives of 1918.”-Print Ed.

Includes 27 maps “History of the four active service battalions in the Great War with details of officers’ services during the war. The Coldstream Guards had three battalions in August 1914, all three committed to the BEF: the 1st Battalion was in the 1st (Guards) Brigade, 1st Division; the 2nd and 3rd were both in 4th Guards Brigade, 2nd Division. As soon as war broke out a Reserve battalion (the 4th) was formed which provided drafts of 16,860 all ranks during the course of the war. In July 1915 a further battalion was raised as the Guards Pioneer Battalion for the Guards Division which was then being formed. This battalion was numbered 4th and the reserve battalion became the 5th. In all the Regiment suffered 14,137 casualties of which the dead numbered 180 officers and 3,860 other ranks. Seven VCs were won and 36 Battle Honours awarded. Volume I takes the story to the end of the Somme offensive, volume II begins with the situation at the end of 1916 after the Somme and carries through to the return of the Regiment to London in March 1919 and the Royal Review on the 22nd of that month when the Guards Division marched past their Colonel in Chief, the King. This is a well written history in which the author gives a good and detailed account of the Regiment’s actions, often with casualty details following various battles and nominal rolls of officers present for duty. He also comments on the wider issues, some of which had nothing to do with the Coldstream, not only on higher strategy on the Western Front but also on other campaigns such as Gallipoli, Mesopotamia, Palestine and Italy where no Guards battalions served, and it is in discussing these wider issues that he is sometimes frankly critical, allocating blame where he feels it belongs.Print ed.

The Grenadier Guards began the war with three battalions of which only one, the 2nd, was committed to the BEF; it was in the 4th Guards Brigade, 2nd Division. As soon as war was declared the 4th (Reserve) Battalion was formed and within five days 1,700 reservists had reported. In September 1914 the 7th Division was formed and the1st Battalion was allocated to 20th Brigade of the new division. On 14th July 1915 another Grenadier battalion was formed and numbered the 4th, the Reserve battalion then became the 5th. A month later the 4th battalion went to France to join the newly created Guards Division, and it was at this stage, also, that the 3rd Battalion, which hitherto had been retained in London by Kitchener for some undefined reason, was sent out to join the new division. Thus, by August 1915 there were four battalions of Grenadiers on the Western front where they remained for the rest of the war. By the end the Regiment had suffered 11,915 casualties of which 203 Officers and 4,508 Other Ranks were dead, seven VCs had been won and 34 Battle Honours awarded. This, as might be expected, is a very good history with detailed descriptions of the fighting and of the conditions the men endured. One sentence in particular paints a graphic picture of the state of the trenches in January 1915: The gruesome task of removing the dead was effected by floating the bodies down the communication trenches. The author tells the story in chronological order; vol I takes the record of the four battalions to the end of 1915, vol II to the German offensive of March 1918 and vol III to the armistice and beyond to the division's march into Germany. Each volume is paginated separately with its own contents list though the chapters run consecutively through all three. Each chapter covers a specific period and the chapter heading indicates which battalions are involved. There are plenty of maps to support the narrative, showing tactical details. Among the appendices are the Roll of Honour, a list of officers wounded with dates, lists of Awards, Mentions in Despatches and of Divisional Certificates of Gallantry and an account of the 7th (Guards) Entrenching Battalion. There is a table naming all other ranks who were commissioned during the war showing the regiment or corps to which they went. Finally there is an index to the names of officers.

n the 1st the 3rd Battalion marched from Merville to Laventie and went into billets vacated 2by the 2nd Battalion Scots Guards. On the 3rd it took over the left sector from the 1st Battalion Scots Guards, with the Battalion Headquarters at Wangeric Farm. Forty-eight hours in the trenches followed by forty-eight hours' rest was the routine for the next fortnight. The trenches in this sector were in a very good state, and it was possible, therefore, to go in for refinements and erect splinter-proof shelters; but the enemy's artillery was very active, and expended a great deal of ammunition on the reserve trenches and communications. During this fortnight a troop of Wiltshire Yeomanry was attached to the Battalion for instruction and did very well although it was quite new to trench warfare. On the 12th Colonel Corry relinquished command of the Battalion, and on the 14th Lieut.-Colonel Jeffreys took charge of it temporarily, pending the arrival of Major Sergison-Brooke.