11th (Service) Battalion, the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders

From Battalion war diary 8/10th July 1917 when the Battalion came under fire as they moved up to relieve an outgoing unit

This is an all too-familiar story. A fine battalion, having spent many weeks in training, moves up to the front line. As they do so, they find themselves in an area being raided by enemy infantry, and come under very heavy shellfire - with disastrous effects. Many of the victims were experienced veterans of Loos, Somme and Arras.

The area where this raid took place lies along the old Ypres - Roulers railway. Railway Wood, site of the memorial to the Royal Engineers of the Tunnelling Companies that blew some of the mines shown on the above map, was on the right of the battalion. Today, the N37 Ieper - Zonnebeke road cuts across this area.

8 July 1917

Moved off at 9am. Raining. Marched and entrained at Arneke, arrived Brandhoek [a hamlet between Poperinge and Ypres] at 3pm. Marched to Toronto Camp. Spent 6 hours in tents. 9pm, left details behind and marched up in Reserve of Brigade Sector. All battalion billeted and relief completed about 11:30pm.

9 July 1917

In Reserve. Lt W.P. Harrigan, Transport Officer, left to post in East Africa. 9:30am moved up by Platoons at 5 minutes interval to take over as Right battalion of 45th Brigade Front. Right on Ypres - Roulers railway, 13th Royal Scots on left. Met guides from 8th Seaforths and moved along corduroy track into line. Severe shelling on and around the track while Platoons were moving in. Some parties had to go through Ypres. A and B Companies arrived in communication trench, going up to firing line, simultaneously with German raid on 8th Seaforths. Our Companies were caught in enemy’s barrage with disastrous effect. Second Lieutenant R.P. Blyth killed, Second Lieutenants W.R. Haldane and A. Mills wounded; 19 other ranks killed and 54 wounded.

10 July 1917

Owing to circumstances relief was not completed till 3:45am. Strict orders of necessity of little movement by day – greatly hampers work. Night reorganisation of front line Companies. Burial of dead. Clearing up of Piccadilly Trench (scene of barrage on night of 9/10th). Work hampered by large parties bringing up Livens Gas Projectors. Large numbers of working parties away from trenches. This practically did away with any support or reserve, leaving some 190 all ranks to hold battalion front. This grave danger is a source of complaint to Brigade. Hostile aeroplane about 8:30pm, about 3-400 feet up, controlled enemy 5.9 fire. No retaliation from our aircraft.

The above is an extract from the Battalion war diary which is held at the National Archive, in document WO95/1944.

Notes:

1 Named casualty:

Second Lieutenant Robert Paterson Blyth, 27. Son of John and Mary Blyth, of 34, Charlotte Street, Leith, Edinburgh, he is buried in Ypres Town Cemetery Extension.

20 Deduced casualties:

The following men all died in the incident, and were almost certainly buried together on 10 July 1917 in a battlefield plot that was exhumed into Ypres Town Cemetery Extension after the war. They lie in adjacent graves.

S/3148 Sergeant Robert Brown, 26, a native of Kelty, Kinross. A miner, Brown had already been wounded on the Somme, and posioned by gas while attached to an RE Tunnelling Company in the Loos area.

S/7806 Private John Buchanan, a native of Cambusbarron, Stirling.

S/11474 Private Charles Gallacher, 18, a native of Glasgow.

S/3802 Lance-Sergeant Andrew Gallie, 26, a native of Glasgow.

S/43044 Private David Halley, 20, a native of Glasgow.

S/3509 Private William Jamieson, 29, a native of Elderslie, Renfrew.

S/3632 Private William Joiner, 27, a native of Stirling.

S/17548 Private James Kirk, a native of Alloa.

S/14910 Lance-Corporal Archibald Lauder, a native of Glasgow.

S/4014 Private William Maxwell, 22, a native of Airdrie.

S/3817 Sergeant James McIlroy MM and Bar, 27, a native of Bellshill, Lanark.

S/5177 Lance-Corporal James Noone, 22, a native of Glasgow.

S/40155 Private William Preston, 35, a native of Glasgow.

S/40495 Private Peter Stark, 20, a native of Glasgow whose parents lived in Ayr.

S/11475 Private Thomas Stevenson, 20, who was born in Edinburgh.

S/11524 Lance-Corporal William Sutherland, 32, a native of Lairg.

S/3796 Private John Todd, 26, a native of New Lanark.

S/7304 Sergeant James Wilson, a native of Aberlady, East Lothian.

The following men were wounded in the incident, and died at a Casualty Clearing Station.

S/3773 Sergeant John Mitchell MM, 28, a native of Glasgow. He died on 10 July 1917 and is buried in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery.

510 Corporal Samuel Reid, 22, a native of Stirling. He died on 12 July 1917 and is buried in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery.

According to information provided by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the original battlefield burials were at the position (trench map reference I.4.c.8.8) shown below.

Named officers and men who became casualties later in the war:

"Officers Died in the Great War" shows that Lieutenant William Harrigan died while attached to the King's African Rifles, on 1 December 1918. We could find no Commonwealth War Graves Commission record for this soldier.

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