The London Scottish in the Great War

An account of the heroic fighting ability of one of the first Territorial Force battalions ordered to France and the first to see action in World War I.

 


For two centuries the officers and men of the London Scottish have faithfully served their country, never more so than during the terrible years of the Great War. Initially with the 1st Guards Brigade, and later with the 56th (London) Division, the 1st Battalion was so committed to the prosecution of its cause that by November 1918 its numbers included only three survivors of the original Battle of Messines.


 


The Second Battalion saw action in campaigns as diverse as France and Flanders, Ireland, the Balkans, and Palestine where it won two Victoria Crosses.


 

The London Scottish in the Great War does not set out to recite the oft-told famous battles fought and won. Rather it employs a wealth of previously unpublished war journals, diaries, and photographs to provide a unique insight into this most auspicious Regiment.


 


It demonstrates as no history of the London Scottish has before the hopes, sufferings, and aspirations of the volunteers who filled its ranks, so many of who made the supreme sacrifice.