I’ve spent a fair bit of time over the past week researching the 1/9th [Dumbartonshire] Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders during the First World War. It’s been fascinating and harrowing. The enquirers were very specific about the information they required, which meant a fair bit of in-depth reading and hunting through the archives. In Dumbarton we hold a number of archives on the Battalion and each piece was read in detail this looking for information on the battalion during May 1915, when they were fighting in Ypres, Belgium.
The information I’ve found has given me an insight into the war experiences of these men during the First World War. I’ve had the opportunity to read the detailed muster roll of the men enlisting, many lying about their age to join under the guise of being 18 years old. I identified one young man who signed up at fourteen and never came back. I sat wondering how many of these men [boys] didn’t return home to Dumbarton and the surrounding areas. When you sit looking at a document hand written in 1914 it humbles you, how quickly these young men signed up and were sent to the front.
The 1/9th were involved in the second battle of Ypres, May,1915 a hard fought battle with heavy artillery fire and the use of chlorine gas by the Germans. To read more on the accounts of the battle follow these links –
http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/ypres2.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_Ypres
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~dccfarr/summary.htm
http://www.argylls.co.uk/
The most poignant accounts I found whilst searching the archives weren't the official minute books and documents but letters printed in the local newspaper. Ordinary soldiers and ranking officers writing from the front line. I want to share some of the testimonies [those not censored during the war] I’ve been reading that describe the fighting in Ypres in May 1915.
Victim of Gas Attack:
“I am suffering from the effects of asphyxiating gas. Fortunately I managed to fight the gas determinedly. We were not long in bed (2a.m. Monday) when I was warned to get ready, and looking out of the little cave I could see a dense fog or mist all round. It seemed hopeless to escape from the effects. I had not a respirator, so took the end of my blanket and filled it with clay and, closing my nose, breathed though the blanket and clay. All around there was a prefect storm of shells and shrapnel. The gas came from the shells, and you could see them explode and emit a great browney-grey cloud. Imagine me squatting in a little hole in the ground fighting for life”
Dumbartonshire Territorial Rank: Private:
“I am still in the land of the living. We are still in the trenches. We have never been out of them since we came up a month ago. We have had a terrible time of it this week, but it seems to be quieting down again. I must have born under a very lucky star to have come out of the big battle, which lasted for five days, starting last Saturday morning. The shells were falling round us like hail, and we had to cross in the thick of them to support the 80th brigade, who were lying on our left. We have lost very heavily.”
Dumbartonshire Territorial Rank: Lance Corporal:
“We had to cross an open field to get to the trenches. When crossing it the fun began. The Germans sent over shrapnel “zipbangs” and “Jack Johnsons”[heavy artillery shells] such as never was seen since the war began. We got orders to lie down in an old trench about 12 noo. At that time we had an officer killed and several men wounded.”
Dumbartonshire Territorial Rank: Sergeant
“It is the first big fight the territorial’s have taken part in. There were 45 in the platoon when we made the charge and only three reached the trench, the others being knocked out on the way. We were mowed down like hay. Our colonel was killed and as far as I know nearly all our lieutenants were wounded or killed.”
There is a war memorial in Ypres the Menin Gate ,where amongst the names are those from the 1/9th Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders who fell in May 1915.
