Description: “To the Undying Memory of the Officers, Non-commissioned Officers and men who fell during the Great War” 7th Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders The Great War 1914-1919 This is the First Edition, circa 1925 Front cover and spine Further images of this book are shown below Publisher and place of publication Dimensions in inches (to the nearest quarter-inch) Printed by Robert Cunningham and Sons Ltd, Longbank Works, Alva, Scotland 4¾ inches wide x 7¼ inches tall Please note the book's small dimensions. Edition Length There is no date of publication listed; however, the final images are of the War Memorial, which was unveiled on Sunday, 28th September 1924, so a date of circa 1925 seems appropriate. 103 pages Condition of covers Internal condition Original green cloth, gilt blocked on the front cover (but with no spine titling). The covers are rubbed and dull, with evidence of old staining (the most noticeable being around the top corner of the front cover) and some variation in colour, together with a few, generally inoffensive, marks. The covers have also bowed out a little at the top. The spine ends and corners are bumped and frayed with some splits in the cloth, the worst being at the tail of the spine. There is a forward spine lean. There is a gift inscription on the front front free end-paper, in early ballpoint pen, dated 4/6/50: "With kind remembrance of old times Alan Stein" (please see the final image below). There is also a small mark on the front free end-paper. The text is generally clean throughout, printed on good quality semi-gloss paper which has darkened or tanned a little with age, particularly in the margins; some pages, however, have grubby marks or small stains. A few pages are chipped or torn at the edge (for example, page 90, shown below, where there is a small tear in the bottom margin) and some corners have been creased down. There is some separation between the inner gatherings. Dust-jacket present? Other comments No This First Edition is in quite dull covers, with some old staining on the front, but is generally clean internally, though some pages have grubby marks. While the text portion of this short account is fairly perfunctory, this is more than compensated for by the very large number of illustrations. Please note the book's small dimensions and short length. Illustrations, maps, etc Contents There are a great many illustrations including 136 portrait photographs, some of which are shown below. Please see below for details Post & shipping information Payment options The packed weight is approximately 400 grams. Full shipping/postage information is provided in a panel at the end of this listing. Payment options : UK buyers: cheque (in GBP), debit card, credit card (Visa, MasterCard but not Amex), PayPal International buyers: credit card (Visa, MasterCard but not Amex), PayPal Full payment information is provided in a panel at the end of this listing. 7th Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in the Great War NOTE. Acknowledgment is made of the excellent assistance rendered by Captain A. Scott, D.S.O., M.C., and by Colonel A. Bain, M.C., in preparing the following summary of events ; also of the kindness of all ex-officers and other ranks of the 7th Argylls who sent photographs of general interest to be included in this Album. A. D. M. LIST OF BATTLES. THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES, April 1915. HIGH WOOD, July 1916. BEAUMONT HAMEL, November 1916. VIMY RIDGE, April 1917. ROEUX CHEMICAL WORKS, April 1917. POELCAPPELLE, September 1917. CAMBRAI, November 1917. THE GERMAN OFFENSIVE, March 1918. THE RIVER LAWE, April 1918. THE MARNE, July 1918. GREENLAND HILL, August 1918. THE FINAL ADVANCE, October and November 1918. LIST OF COMMANDING OFFICERS Lieut.-Col. J. CRAIG. Embarked with the Battalion, 15 : 12 : 14. Relinquished command, 10 : 3 : 15. Lieut.-Col. D. A. CARDEN. Assumed command, 11 : 3 : 15. Died of wounds 24 : 5 : 15. Lieut.-Col. J. M. SCOTT, D.S.O. Commanded from 29 : 5 : 15 to 15 : 9 : 15. Major J. A. M'CULLOCH. Commanded the Battalion from 15 : 9 : 15 to 8 : 11 : 15. Lieut.-Col. H. G. HYSLOP, D.S.O. Assumed command, 9 : 11 : 15. Appointed to command 59th Infantry Brigade, with temporary rank of Brigadier-General, 26 : 7 : 17. Lieut.-Col. E. C. HILL-WHITSON. In command from 5:9: 17 to 11 : 10 : 17. Lieut.-Col. D. F. BICKMORE, D.S.O. Took over command on 11 : 10 : 17. Relinquished on 5 : 11 : 17. Lieut.-Col. J. A. DURIE, M.C. Commanded, 5:11:17 to 15:5:18. Lieut.-Col. L. GARTSIDE, D.S.O. Commanded, 3 : 6 : 18 to 31 : 12 : 18. Lieut.-Col. J. A. DURIE, M.C. Resumed command on 1 : 1 : 19, and came home with the cadre after the cessation of hostilities. 7th Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in the Great War Excerpt: 1915 At Helfaut the Battalion was re-organised on a four company basis as in regular battalions, instead of having eight single companies as at first. Thence it moved by Hazebrouck and Bailleul to Nieppe, where it was initiated during January and February 1915 into the mysteries of trench warfare as part of the 10th Infantry Brigade, 4th Division. During this time parties of officers and N.C.O.'s went into the line for instruction by the 2nd Seaforth Highlanders and other units of the 10th Brigade just north of Ploegsteert The Battalion's first independent tour in the trenches took place on 1st March 1915. "Plug Street," "Petit Douve," "The Blue Mill," " The Piggeries," and " La Grande Munque Farm," are names that will recall the infancy of their fighting days to those, who sailed on the Tintoretto. Early in April, the Battalion was relieved and withdrew from the trenches to rest billets in the neighbourhood of Meteren to prepare for a " minor operation" near Houplines. While this training was going on, however, the now famous gas attack by the enemy on the Canadians east of Ypres was launched. On 22nd April the 7th Argylls received orders to stand by, and the same evening, with the rest of the 10th Infantry Brigade, began a series of forced marches which by dusk on the 24th brought them close to Ypres. By that time the roads were almost blocked by straggling crowds of refugees from the city, which was being heavily shelled and which was then on fire in many places. Packs were dumped in huts near Vlamertinghe, and preparations made to " take over the line " from the harassed Canadians. The situation, however, turned out to be much more serious. At 1.30 a.m. on Sunday, 25th April, a column consisting of one battalion each of the 1st Royal Irish Fusiliers, the 2nd Royal Dublin Fusiliers, the 1st Royal Warwick Regiment, the 2nd Seaforth Highlanders and the 7th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders marched out in fours from St. Jean towards Wieltje to form up for a counterattack in the engagement now known as the Second Battle of Ypres. We are not concerned with the larger aspects of that or any other battle, but solely with what happened to the 7th Argylls. The attack was to be made on the sector including the village of St. Julien. Behind, in Ypres, the Cloth Hall was a blazing mass, and incendiary shells were starting new fires all over the town. Added to the general noise of a great battle going on in front, were the crackling of flames and the regular rumble and devastating explosions of the enemy's seventeen-inch shells, to which our men were then introduced for the first time. The night was cold. Rain poured down steadily. The Brigade moved up in column of route at 2 a.m. Orders were issued on the march that the attack must be made at once. Dispositions were decided upon there and then. The 7th Argylls were ordered to give close support to the Warwicks in their advance to the wood on the west side of the village of St. Julien. While still in column of fours, the leading battalion came under machine-gun fire and at once deployed. The place at which the Warwicks had been ordered to form up for attack turned out to be in the enemy's hands. Heavy shelling was added to the machine-gun fire. Casualties were heavy. Eventually the attack was pressed forward. A few of the main body of the Warwicks reached the wood, and the Argylls came up to reinforce them, but it was now broad daylight and machine-gun fire from the upper storeys of some farm buildings caused terrible losses. The advance was held up, and the survivors dug in. "Stick it out, Argylls," was the exhortation of Major Ellis, Brigade Major, 10th Brigade, as, himself wounded in two places, he limped along the line. These pages will show how the Battalion acted up to that slogan. Six of our officers and 100 men were killed in the advance, 6 officers and 175 other ranks were wounded and 150 men were missing. It is recorded in the diary of the Battalion that the Canadians who were on the left might have co-operated, but in point of fact the Canadians were too dazed and tired to assist, as a result of four days' incessant fighting. For the next week the Battalion remained in the salient in the front line, in support or in reserve, but followed wherever it went by bursts of shell-fire. Little rest could be got by day or night. During the week the first gasmasks were issued, mere pads of cotton waste enclosed in bags of mosquito netting, to be damped in a soda solution and tied over the mouth and nostrils. As a protection they inspired little confidence. On the 2nd of May the troops in the forward trenches were badly gassed and heavily shelled. Under the strain, some of them retired, leaving wide gaps in the front line. Acting on his own initiative Colonel Carden ordered the 7th Argylls, who were in support, to fill the blanks. There was no time for detailed instructions, nor need for them. In small parties, but without hesitation, the whole remnant of the Battalion doubled forward through the gas and shelling, and spread out along the vacant trench. No one who took part in that rush will ever forget the shouts of " Here are the Jocks ! " with which they were welcomed by the few stout-hearted defenders who had stuck to their posts. This exploit drew the following message from General Hull. " Well done, Argylls. You have won your spurs to-day." On the 3rd of May the same position was again violently bombarded, and Germans could be seen collecting for an assault. Several times the enemy did actually leave their trenches and begin to advance in extended order, but each time were met by such a volume of rifle and machine-gun fire that the attempts withered away, and must have cost them heavy casualties. For another week the Argylls held their line. It was now the story of a rapidly dwindling Battalion " sticking it out " doggedly, and taking more blows than it could give. On the 7th of May relief came up, and our men bivouacked on the north side of the Yser Canal. On the following morning the men were taken further back for a badly needed rest, but had no sooner settled down for the night than word came that the enemy had broken our line and were digging in South-West of Wieltje. The 7th Argylls would at once (a) turn the enemy out of Wieltje and (b) gain touch with the troops on right and left thereafter. The advance was made, touch was gained on right and left according to plan, but there was no enemy in Wieltje or South-West of it. Having rested for five days in the neighbourhood of Vlamertinghe the Argylls returned to the line for tours of duty in the trenches. On the night of 23rd May the Battalion "side-stepped " to the right and took over the front line on the high ground immediately East of Wieltje. The trenches had been badly knocked about, and were, in parts, knee-deep in mud. About 3 a.m. in the morning twilight, a gas attack of greater intensity than any before, was made by the enemy. It bleached the sandbags, it withered the grass, it corroded the buttons on the men's tunics, and jammed the mechanism of their rifles. The shelling that followed beat down the crumbling breastworks. Gas and shell-fire, between them, took a tremendous toll. At intervals throughout the day the shelling was renewed. Colonel Carden, the Commanding Officer, and Major King, the second in command, were both mortally wounded, and before night 19 officers out of the 24 in action had become casualties. The Battalion holding the line on the immediate left of the Argylls was completely wiped out, and its trenches occupied by the enemy. Three separate attacks were made against the 7th's front but were all beaten off—one, after the enemy had got to within ten yards of our men. The 7th and 9th Battalions of the Argylls were then reorganised as a composite Battalion under Captain J. M. Scott, and during the whole of June acted as pioneers to the 10th Infantry Brigade, bivouacking near Les Trois Tours Chateau. It was no sinecure, for, as the working parties marched to and from their daily (or nightly) tasks in the forward area, they had to run the gauntlet over the canal bridges, which the German gunners now had registered to a yard. By 20th July the two units were able to resume their independent status. At the end of the month the 7th Battalion moved South to Beaussart in the region of Beaumont Hamel and carried on with daily working parties during August, September, and October, until the remaining gaps in the ranks were filled. On 25th October, His Majesty The King and the President of the French Republic inspected the 4th Division at Acheux, and during this period the Battalion won the 4th Division Football Cup for the second time. From then until the end of January the 10th Brigade held the line between Beaumont Hamel and Auchonvillers. 1916. February 1916 was spent in training and re-equipping near Doullens. On 1st March 1916 the 7th Argylls joined the 154th Brigade of the 51st Division and almost immediately proceeded to the notorious "Labyrinth" in the Arras sector. The remainder of the Battalion's service during the war was with that Brigade. Until July the Division held the line in front of Ecurie. On 1st July the Battle of the Somme began. On the 20th the Highland Division moved to the neighbourhood of High Wood and prepared for attack. On the night 21st-22nd July the 51st relieved the 33rd Division, the 154th Brigade taking over the front line with the other two Brigades in reserve. On 22nd July the attack was delivered on the North-East and North-West edges of High Wood and a switch trench running from the North-East edge westwards. The 5th and 19th Divisions were on the right and left respectively. The objectives were taken, counter-attacked and held. One Company of the 7th Argylls went out over the top to meet the enemy as they advanced and occupied a new line in front which had formerly been held only by isolated posts. The casualties for the unit were 1 officer killed, 2 officers wounded, 8 other ranks killed, and about 80 wounded. On 1st August the 6th Gordon Highlanders were relieved by the 7th Argylls in the support positions at Mametz Wood where, owing to exceptionally heavy shell-fire, numerous casualties occurred. On the 14th August the 51st relieved the Anzacs (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) at Armentieres and held the line there until the 22nd of September when the front was taken over by Brigade groups of the 5th Australian and 34th Divisions. This period is notable for a series of raids. The beginning of October found the Battalion at Bus-les-Artois, whence it marched by stages to Forceville, back into the Beaumont Hamel area, this time, indeed, in preparation for the capture of that stronghold, which was culminated a few weeks later. Those who served in that area then had ample opportunities of becoming very familiar with the lie of the land. The " White City" for example, still remains in their memories as a very sticky stretch of white clay soil in which our trenches had been dug . . . Please note: to avoid opening the book out, with the risk of damaging the spine, some of the pages were slightly raised on the inner edge when being scanned, which has resulted in some blurring to the text and a shadow on the inside edge of the final images. Colour reproduction is shown as accurately as possible but please be aware that some colours are difficult to scan and may result in a slight variation from the colour shown below to the actual colour. In line with eBay guidelines on picture sizes, some of the illustrations may be shown enlarged for greater detail and clarity. Please note the book’s small dimensions and short length. There is a gift inscription on the front pad, in early ballpoint pen, dated 4/6/50: "With kind remembrance of old times Alan Stein" (please see the final image below). There is also a small mark on the front free end-paper. U.K. buyers: To estimate the “packed weight” each book is first weighed and then an additional amount of 150 grams is added to allow for the packaging material (all books are securely wrapped and posted in a cardboard book-mailer). The weight of the book and packaging is then rounded up to the nearest hundred grams to arrive at the postage figure. I make no charge for packaging materials and do not seek to profit from postage and packaging. Postage can be combined for multiple purchases. Packed weight of this item : approximately 400 grams Postage and payment options to U.K. addresses: Details of the various postage options can be obtained by selecting the “Postage and payments” option at the head of this listing (above). Payment can be made by: debit card, credit card (Visa or MasterCard, but not Amex), cheque (payable to "G Miller", please), or PayPal. 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Prospective international buyers should ensure that they are able to provide credit card details or pay by PayPal within 7 days from the end of the listing (or inform me that they will be sending a cheque in GBP drawn on a major British bank). Thank you. (please note that the book shown is for illustrative purposes only and forms no part of this listing) Book dimensions are given in inches, to the nearest quarter-inch, in the format width x height. Please note that, to differentiate them from soft-covers and paperbacks, modern hardbacks are still invariably described as being ‘cloth’ when they are, in fact, predominantly bound in paper-covered boards pressed to resemble cloth. Fine Books for Fine Minds I value your custom (and my feedback rating) but I am also a bibliophile : I want books to arrive in the same condition in which they were dispatched. For this reason, all books are securely wrapped in tissue and a protective covering and are then posted in a cardboard container. If any book is significantly not as described, I will offer a full refund. Unless the size of the book precludes this, hardback books with a dust-jacket are usually provided with a clear film protective cover, while hardback books without a dust-jacket are usually provided with a rigid clear cover. The Royal Mail, in my experience, offers an excellent service, but things can occasionally go wrong. However, I believe it is my responsibility to guarantee delivery. If any book is lost or damaged in transit, I will offer a full refund. Thank you for looking. Please also view my other listings for a range of interesting books and feel free to contact me if you require any additional information Design and content © Geoffrey Miller
Price: 125 GBP
Location: Flamborough, Bridlington
End Time: 2025-02-05T17:19:20.000Z
Shipping Cost: 26.06 GBP
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Return postage will be paid by: Buyer
Returns Accepted: Returns Accepted
After receiving the item, your buyer should cancel the purchase within: 30 days
Return policy details: If any book is significantly not as described, I will offer a full refund, including return postage. All books are securely wrapped and posted in a cardboard container.
Binding: Hardback
Place of Publication: Alva, Scotland
Non-Fiction Subject: History & Military
Language: English
Special Attributes: 1st Edition, Illustrated
Author: Anonymous
Publisher: Printed by Robert Cunningham and Sons Ltd, Longbank Works
Year Printed: 1925
