228
The Ypres Times.
On November 28th the Scots Guards were inspected by Sir John French. The latter
part of December they were at Cuinchy, which was near the almost impregnable position
of the Germans on the La Bassée ridge. They were kept busily engaged in this part of
the line, and a great battle for
the possession of a keep fol
lowed, in which a determined
German attack was well re
pulsed and the ground held
until the tired Guardsmen were
relieved. Before retiring into
billets they had the satisfaction
of seeing the battlefield covered
with German dead.
Their record passes next
to the zone of Richebourg
d'Avoue, to the west of which
there was a position known as
the Rue du Bois, a place
which members of the regi
ment will remember, for' here
took place one of the most
wonderful instances of heroism
that the war produced. When
the battalion next to them had
given way, and they hung in
the air, so to speak, two officers and eighty men of the Scots Guards, remembering the
traditions of the regiment that the Guards must stand and die, kept to their trench and
fought to the last cartridge. When riddled with bullets they were proud there were un
mistakable signs of how dearly they had sold their lives, for all round were heaps of
German corpses. They had died, but first the enemy had paid the price of their valour.
O, would that I had seen them lying there,
A dauntless few amid the German dead,
With twisted rifles and bayonets spread
Amid long grass that surely looked more fair,
Seeing it kept a vigil unaware
Of all the glory hovering o'er the bed
Of brave, proud men, who forgot as they were led,
While thinking of the fame the Scots Guards bear.
bet someone mark the place whereat they fell,
And hedge it round, for in the after-time
Their fame will draw the many who would dwell
Upon those deeds that made an hour sublime.
I hear them shouting there Surrender, Never!
Take the last cartridge here. Scotland for ever!
On December 19th, Private J ames Mackenzie, of the 2nd Battalion, gained the Victoria
Cross, rescuing a comrade who lay, severely wounded, in front of the German trenches.
Later that same day he was killed while performing a similar gallant act. Fighting at
Richebourg, trench duty at Vermel les, and participation in the attack at Festubert
finished the spring, and then the J ocks had nothing particular to speak of until the great
advance at Loos, where they covered themselves with glory. Whatever may be doubtful
about the fighting at Hill 70 and at the Hohenzollern Redoubt, this much is certain, that
there the Scots Guards made a particularly painful impression on the enemy. They
certainly helped to capture the Redoubt, and they certainly advanced up the military
position, if not the geographical position, known as Hill 70.
Lines written by Captain R. Henderson Be and, late Gloucester Regiment.
Imperial War Museum] [Photo Crown Copyright.
A COMPANY HEADQUARTERS, FESTUBERT
