Henry Dundas : Scots Guards
A Memoir

Excerpts:

"1ST BN. SCOTS GUARDS, B.E.F., Monday, 18th September.

" Just to intensify the general jolliness of the situation, the rain has been driving in sheets across this foul plain since early this morning. The casualties keep rolling up, and, to crown all, comes the news that we have got to go back to-morrow night and relieve the 20th Division in the line. Hell ! One can't realise the casualties just yet, but old Willie has been killed, Oliver Leese very badly hit, also Lionel Neame. In the 2nd Coldstream, their Battalion, only Reggie Craufurd and one Laing came out unhit. In the 3rd Coldstream only 2 also. In our Brigade the 2nd Irish had 10 officer casualties. The 3rd Grenadiers 17, including 6 killed, of whom Eric's brother was one, and the wretched 1st Coldstream had about 16 or 17 10 killed. Perfectly heart- rending. The officer casualties have been out of all proportion to the men. The latter were bad, however. The whole thing was completely done in by the Staff. You will have read about the ' Tanks.' A good idea, but must be improved upon. The things are under horse-powered. This rain will probably stop any more ' biffing,' and I hope to Heaven it does. Almost all the Divisions down here are about 3000 strong, and the Germans have got lines behind stretching for miles. Our artillery are improving amateurs c'est tout. Of course, having all one's friends killed makes one rave rather but this attacking is a failure, I'm certain. We lose far more than the Germans do. And then one sees that 180,000 are employed on the air defences of Great Britain. Stout fellows 1 Zeppelin in 2 years. Jolly good, and the filthy Press and the damned people go on as if it were the biggest thing of the whole War. Poor Raymond Asquith was a gallant man could have been on any staff he'd wanted."



" IST BN. SCOTS GUARDS, B.E.F., Tuesday, 19th September.

" Still in this camp, but we probably go up into the reserve trenches at Waterlot Farm to-night. It has been pouring since yesterday morning early, but now, thank Heaven ! it has stopped, and it looks as if we might have a dry march up. A big draft has just come in from the Entrenching Battalion, and we have now got about 700 men in the Battalion once more ripe for the slaughter. Poor old Guy Baring, the Colonel of the 1st Coldstream, was buried yester- day. The rain poured down the whole time a melancholy spectacle. But very impressive. Leslie Childers, I'm glad to say, is going on as well as can be expected, but poor David Barclay is very bad. Shot in the face somewhere, he is blind in both eyes, and his hand is very badly shattered and only 19½, 5 days younger than I am. What a wicked thing this damned War is. I should like to have pointed out to me just precisely where all the honour and glory lies. It is curiously elusive. I am quite the hard- worked young officer just now, as I am doing Bombing Officer and ordinary company duty as well. Barne, the second in command, has taken on * B ' Company till we get more Company Commanders out. Jack Stirling is commanding the 2nd Battalion till the advent of Norman Orr- Ewing. He will feel Tim's death frightfully, as we all do, but especially myself. He was always perfectly charming ever since I came out, and of course one's Company Commander can make or mar one's happiness more or less. I shall miss him frightfully.

" Well, will write from Waterlot to-morrow, but perhaps we may not go up till then."



" IST BN. SCOTS GUARDS, B.E.F., 20th September.

" Our departure from this camp, originally intended for yesterday, has been put off till this evening, when we go off to a place about a mile away, where the 2nd Battalion have been. They, with the rest of the 3rd Brigade and the 1st Brigade, go up to-night. We the 2nd Brigade- are in support this time. The newspapers afford us food for much bitter merriment. Even the ' Daily Mail ' announces ' Light losses in the Great Advance.' The Guards Division losses are 4500 men and about 150 officers that is, out of, roughly, 8400 man and 216 officers : not too bad.

In the 2nd Brigade Machine-Gun Company our Brigade there were 9 officers 7 were killed and 2 wounded. Poor Mark Tenn? u nt, after coming through the actual biff, was killed by a shell on Saturday afternoon, just along the trench in which we were. I think a rather charming little officer in the Prussian Guard summed up the situation. On being asked what was going to happen, he simply said, ' Well, you won't win the War, nor shall we. We can't kill all your men, and you can't kill all ours.' That is just about it. My watch arrived yesterday all right. The French are doing a biff this morning at least there is the hell of a bombardment going on towards the south. . . . Well, don't get alarmed if you don't hear from me for a day or two. I'll try and write to-morrow, or at any rate shoot off a Field Post- card.

"Beith couldn't have written 'The first 100,000' about this phase of the War. Thank Aunty Babby for her delightful letter. She will doubtless see this."

"1ST SCOTS GUARDS, B.E.F., 21st September (or 22nd?, I've lost count).

" Here we are still in our curious cave-dwellings, but we move up to-night, and go in where needed, as the Brigade is in Divisional Reserve. The 1st and 3rd Brigades are biffing this time we and the 1st did last time. A glorious day to-day, which is a joy. The weather has the most amazing psychological effect on every one. Guts, for instance. I always feel four times as valorous when the sun is shining. I am writing this in Tom's tent. He is in charge of a 9th Lancers digging-party up here all his Regiment and most of the rest of the Cavalry have gone back to water, and I don't think they'll come back again. Once more all idea of getting the Cavalry through has had to be abandoned, so now I hope they will realise the fact, and turn a good many of them into Infantry especially all the 2nd Line Yeomanry ... at home. No incidents of any sort to narrate. I saw Nigel again yesterday, an excellent chap. I am extremely busy just now arranging about bombs and things for the chaps to take up. I have got to get 1440 up this after- noon. I don't blame any one for not realising the War from the newspapers. Of course I sup- pose it is quite right that they shouldn't dwell on the casualties, but it's absurd that all the people at home, idle and otherwise, should be continually told that everything is going splendidly. To judge from the way they shove the same Divisions in again and again into the attack till they're practically wiped out, they haven't any too many men in reserve. Of course they want them for the Air Defences of England. 200,000 men so employed and 1 Zeppelin jolly good."



"1ST BN. SCOTS GUARDS, B.E.F., Sunday, 24th September.

" Another beautiful day. Sky, &c., a thing that always makes life pleasant. Tom's lot are doing a move at a moment's notice, and depart this morning back to the Regiment. I suppose they have sensibly enough abandoned all thoughts of a Cavalry beat-through. This afternoon the Colonel and I are going up to have a look at the places where we are going to-morrow. The Pipers have now joined us, and play daily. Yesterday Tom came down. He really is most congenial, of the type that weeps with joy at the pipes. They played ' The Blue Bonnets ' quite magnificently, which I think is the greatest of all pipe tunes. Yes, Bob is a delightful person. I got a letter from him which made me laugh, even on the day after our biff, when all the casualties were just being made known. I'm seriously thinking of becoming A.D.C. to Ewart. No one gets any kudos for being out here from the world at large. I must say the Munitions people are rather splendid the way they hoof the lads out of their Clubs. Imagine the system applied in Edinburgh. Leishman's Insurance Committee forcing the members of the New Club to seek refuge in the Caledonian Hotel. Rather a humorous tableau. I must say I envy the people who are incapable of feeling. It saves them an awful lot. Truly detachment is no mean quality. There is no better way of solving the big problems of life than ignoring them. What fun word- juggling is. I do like people who know how to use our English language, or at least have an inkling that way. Have you read * The Brook Cherith ' ? Most offensive, I should think. G. Moore I dislike frankly. Thanks awfully for the Bible a most convenient size. The sack has also arrived. Till to-morrow I will write before we go up, and then probably Field Post- cards for a day or two, or perhaps not even that, as I shall be very busy."

" 26tk September 1916.

" Still in jolly old Trones Wood, which became rather less jolly this morning, when they sent over divers H.E. Souvenirs, killing the sick Sergeant i.e., the Doctor's Sergeant in the pro- cess. The attack yesterday was a magnificent success, as far as we were concerned, also the French and the Division on the south, but, alas ! the Division on our left or north got hung up ; they are attacking again to-day, but I am afraid the Boche has had time to dig in again, and so the thing will recommence. It was ridiculous that they had not got the supports right up and ready to rush through. Did not Cavan say that there were ten fresh Divisions, a hundred thousand men, waiting to go out, but we never have the necessary supports up to make the thing decisive. We get out objectives and then dig in, and of course the Boche does the same, and so it goes on. Combles is now surrounded, or very nearly, as the French have got Fregicourt and we Morval. The Division on our left is held up in front of Gueudecourt ; we shall probably move up to-night to take over the line from the other two Brigades, who deserve to come out after what they did yesterday ; then we shall stay in a day or two ; then probably the whole Corps will come out for a fortnight or three weeks ; then I think we shall have to go back to the Salient. I know nothing of course, but I have a sort of feeling we shall. I enclose two 'snaps,' as X. might say, of self, Salient ones, the undressed one is on the old Canal bank with Miller, now wounded, but going on very well, as is Leslie Childers, I am thankful to say. Our 2nd Batt. did magnificently yesterday ; Jack Stirling, I hear, was superb, but I shall get all details to-night, as we shall probably relieve them. Most distressing this morning, Ivan and I were both embarking on a supplementary cup of tea after breakfast, when a d---d shell burst, it seemed, about a foot off (really about 40 yards) ; anyhow, it filled our cups with earth, leaves, and stuff, and completely ruined what would have been a great tissue restorer. Two of our Company have already gone up as carrying parties. Helen Neaves' letter is charming, but I fear ultra-sanguine. A most uncomfortable night last night on hard boards in a dug-out, and in the middle, about one A.M., a message for the Adjutant arrived to say that a warning had come in about gas shells ; topping. However, the alarm proved to be false. The Colonel is charming a most gallant man ; I hope he is not missing the trained hand of Eric in the Adjutantial department excessively. Ralph Gamble is coming into the 1st Coldstream in this Brigade, which is splendid.

" The Corps news-sheet came out last night with some rather interesting German comments on our Artillery, which they say is good ; they are also rushing their Divisions about pretty rapidly, but I think if they choose to hold the Cambrai line they can stop on on this front for a very long time. You can't imagine what the country is like all the woods consist of stark bare poles rising up from a tangled mass of barbed wire, undergrowth, and great shell-holes every- where. The open looks exactly as if a gigantic plough had been run across it irregularly. Every- where are dumps of material and ammunition, most of them derelict. The wastage must be appalling, but, after all, they don't often get a chance of spending five million pounds a day, these magnates in Whitehall ! Asquith has been hard hit in this : Raymond A., Mark Tennant, and Bim Tennant, the Glenconner son, all killed. All the heads frightfully bucked yesterday, con- gratulatory messages crowding each other down the telephone wires, and well the first and third Brigades deserve all the praise they got. There is no doubt the Division are superb, and are followed very closely by the 9th, the 15th, and 20th. The 9th and 15th, both Scotch, and the 20th, chiefly K.R.R. My only hope is that the casualties haven't been too appalling, such a lot of one's friends were going through hell yesterday ; so far, the only sensible thing about the War I have seen is an extract from a German paper in the ' Times ' : ' It is ludicrous for people at home to talk about the glorious day of battle ; such expressions as this are simply the result of lacking imagination, coupled with complete security and comfort. Our soldiers are going through hell on the Somme, nothing more and nothing less.' How true ; the farther from the front the more delightful does the War appear, till it reaches the apogee of general jollity in London drawing- rooms. I may be able to write in the line, as apparently they can get things up all right."



" Thursday, 28th September.

" In the front line to-day since Monday night, but to-night we go back into support, and on the night of the 30th we come out. The whole Division then goes back into rest behind Amiens, so I'm told. The attack of the third Brigade on Monday was a marvellous performance. We relieved the 2nd Battalion, who came out only about 250 strong. They only had 8 officers in the battle, of whom 3 were killed. Menzies, I'm glad to say, survived, also Victor C. Baillie. Jack Stirling, who did magnificently, told us some wonderful stories of 2nd Batt. men hit twice, even three times, and insisting on going on. Marvellous chaps. Norman 0. E. is now out here, with 'Dumps' Coke (Corsham) as Adjutant. J. Stirling is, I think, remaining as 2nd i/c, and a Major. In the attack on Monday, in the three Grenadier Battalions, out of 12 Coy. Commanders, 10 were hit. The 4th Batt. had all four killed. Our job has simply been holding the line, which hasn't been too easy, as the whole thing is so frightfully disconnected. I have been working incredibly hard at the telephone all day and all night. During the last four nights I have had about 8 hours' sleep all together. But it is great fun ! I just love running a Battalion, though I wonder what the Colonel thinks. He is a delightful man, sound and shrewd and pawky, and a real topper. We in the 2nd Brigade were very lucky not to have had a second dose like the other two. On the 15th the 3rd Brigade were in reserve, but they had as much to do as the two front Brigades. We have had nothing to do though on Monday we were waiting in Trones Wood, expect- ing to go up at any moment. The Boche, I think, is in no mood for retaliatory aggression, but he is digging in quite peaceably about 2000 yds. away on the west in front of Le Transloy despite our Artillery attentions. I can't help thinking that we ought to have been shoved in yesterday, when the Division on our left made another local attack, and so get the whole ridge. I can't see what good these comparatively small (3 and 4 Divisions) attacks do. We take a bit of ground, stop for three days, and the Boche digs in quite comfortably, and so it goes on. As a matter of fact, the 14th Corps, and in it, principally us and the 20th Division, have taken more in two biffs each than all the other people did in two and a half months. But it is sad to think that all the ground we win back is hardly worth the winning. We are up by the side of Les Boeufs, which is being shelled to hell by the Boche, while Flers and Gueudecourt present the most lamentable spectacle. Three years ago smiling villages, nestling among the trees here and there across a green plain now a shell-scarred desert with here and there a heap of stones and rubbish, and a stark trunk or two. THE GREAT WAR. The ration party will take this up to-night, so all will be well. There is absolutely nothing to report, they say, except that I am pitifully dirty and abnormally sleepy. But what matter rest in a day or two and equally Leave."


" 29th September.

" Here we are in the support line to-morrow we go back to tents or billets, and something for the night, and then on 2nd October we join a train to the No. 4 Training Area, S.W. of Amiens. Well out of this foul zone, and then I really believe leave will be open. I am about 5th for it, so the middle of October ought to see me packing my grip and tooling across the Channel: it is really too good to believe, so I am anticipating a sudden call back from our training area and being hurled afresh into the fight but, with luck not. Honestly, I believe, the Boche are getting rather ' blithered.' The Colonel told me that Churston, who is a city ' knut,' told him that the Hamburg-Amerika Line were insuring their ships from derelict mines up to any amount as from 1st January '17 ; and do you see that all wives, fec., of German officials have got to be out of Belgium by that date ? Significant, very. Also we have got some interesting news off prisoners re artillery disinclination to fire. Shortage ? I wonder. It makes us all rather sick to hear all this rot about the Tanks, which weren't nearly as effective as gas was at its first attempt, which is the one thing we can judge their success by. They did good work certainly in the cases in which there were good men inside them, but to say they were a decisive element is bosh. Every one is very glad to be out. This line we are in is the original German first line, which we took on the 15th. The Colonel, the Doctor, and self are in an excellent German dug-out, and Witt met me with my rubber-bed, which I got from poor old Ned Holland. Ye Gods ! how I slept hog-like. It is now 5, and the rations have just come up, so I must rush off and post this."
 

" B.E.F., 30th September.

" We leave our line this evening and go to bivouacs somewhere for the night, and then to- morrow we go off somewhere in a train. There is no word of leave, and I should think we must be prepared for one more go in the line at least. I can't think that they will send us over again it will be the greatest mistake, as we have now just got the nucleus for building up the Division again. But these people behind simply send in every Division till it ceases to exist cf. the 20th in this corps a magnificent Division, who among other things took Guillemont. On the 14th they were 3200 strong the normal strength of a Divi- sion is about 10,000 yet since then they have been in almost constant action. Poor dears. I am in rather a gloomy frame of mind this morning, for in the morning I took out some men to bury old Joe Lane, the Adjutant of Willie's Batt. the 2nd Coldstream. We also buried about 8 men of the Regiment, all killed on the 15th. Not very jolly. I have got an extremely good letter from ' Blacker ' which you might like to see, so I enclose it. A great man. Hugh Macnaghten every fortnight sends a sort of letter all about Eton to all his pupils out here. Foss Prior was an Eton Master and a topper. He was in the 60th . . .