Experience of Scots on the Western Front

Battles
1. Loos
  1. German machine guns used to devastating effect
  2. 950 Cameronians went into battle - 700 were casualties
  3. 1st time that the British used gas
  4. 30,000 Scots took part
  5. 5 VC's awarded to Scots
  6. 1/2 of the infantry battalions were Scottish
  7. 1/3 of the fatalities were Scottish
2. Somme
  1. Seaforth Highlanders & Highland Light Infantry fought
  2. 1/3 of shells were duds
  3. overall 51 Scottish infantry battalions took part
  4. McCrae's battalion lost 12 officers & 573 soldiers
Martial Tradition
1. Scots were good soldiers
  1. legacy from fighting abroad & in the Jacobite rebellion
2. popular stories of heroism
  1. Jacobites
3. 688,000 Scots Enlisted
4. distinctive, bagpipes, tartan etc.
5. clan system lent itself to army structure
Field Marshal Haig
1. condemned as overoptimistic in his battle plans
2. kept sending troops in despite the slaughter
3. under pressure to push forward but wanted more time to prepare
4. needed to maintain trust with France
5. Germany also suffered heavy losses
6. did a lot of work to help veterans post-war
Trench Life
1. vermin
2. mundane routine
  1. boredom
3. fear
  1. death
  2. loss
4. rations
5. diseases
  1. trench foot
Overall
1. Glasgow alone lost 18,000 men
2. rural communities most badly effected
3. estimates of casualties range between 100,000 & 150,000

Resource summary

	Created by Rosie:) over 10 years ago