With a Highland Regiment in Mesopotamia

a Highland Regiment in
Mesopotamia, by Anonymous

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Title: With a Highland Regiment in Mesopotamia 1916--1917
Author: Anonymous
Release Date: July 19, 2007 [EBook #22103]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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HIGHLAND REGIMENT IN MESOPOTAMIA ***

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WITH A HIGHLAND
REGIMENT IN MESOPOTAMIA

[Illustration: General Sir Stanley Maude And His Staff, Baghdad, 1917.
Frontispiece.]

WITH A HIGHLAND REGIMENT IN MESOPOTAMIA
1916-1917
BY ONE OF ITS OFFICERS

BOMBAY THE TIMES PRESS 1918

TO THE CHILDREN OF THE OFFICERS AND MEN OF THE ----
REGIMENT
BRIEFLY DESCRIBING THE DOINGS OF THE 2ND BATTALION
IN MESOPOTAMIA WRITTEN SO THAT THEY MAY NOT
FORGET THE HARDSHIPS ENDURED AND THE SACRIFICES
WHICH HAVE BEEN MADE ON THEIR BEHALF 1916-1917.

AUTHOR'S NOTE.
In writing this short account of the 2nd Battalion in Mesopotamia, my
aim has not been to write a military history of all that was achieved;
that will be the task of some one more competent to judge of merits and
demerits than myself. My object has been to give an account in simple
language of the two years spent by the Battalion in the Iraq, so that the

children of the men of the regiment may know of the brave deeds and
the hardships cheerfully borne on their behalf.
Two articles describing our last two battles are here reprinted with the
permission of Brigadier-General A. G. Wauchope, from whom I have
also received many details of our earlier fights, and I am also indebted
for information to Captains J. Macqueen, W. E. Blair, W. A. Young,
Sergeant-Major W. S. Clark, and other officers of the Battalion.
MESOPOTAMIA, October, 1917.

Telegram from
HIS MAJESTY THE KING.
Received by Colonel A. G. WAUCHOPE, D.S.O., Commanding, 2nd
Battalion--January 1917.
I thank you, Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers and men, for the
card of New Year's greetings.
I have followed the work of the Battalion with great interest. I know
how well all ranks have done, what they have suffered, and that they
will ever maintain the glorious tradition of the Regiment.
GEORGE, R.I., Colonel-in-Chief.

Order by G. O. C., ---- Division.
I cannot speak too highly of the splendid gallantry of the
----Highlanders, aided by a party of the ---- Jats, in storming the
Turkish Trenches.
Their noble achievement is one of the highest.
They showed qualities of endurance and courage under circumstances

so adverse, as to be almost phenomenal.
SIR GEORGE YOUNGHUSBAND, Commanding ---- Division.
After the action fought on the 21st January 1916 on the Tigris the
above was published.
* * * * *
Letter to O. C. 2nd Battalion ----.
Tell the men of your battalion that they have given, in the advance to
the relief of Kut, brilliant examples of cool courage, and hard and
determined fighting which could not be surpassed.
SIR PERCY LAKE, Commanding the Army in Mesopotamia. July,
1916.
* * * * *
General Munro, C.-in-C, Indian Army, addressing the ---- Regiment,
Tigris Front--October 1916.
Your reputation is well known, I need say nothing more.
* * * * *
To the ---- Regiment.
From Sir Stanley Maude, Army Commander--March 1917.
You led the way into Baghdad, and to lead and be first is the proper
place for your Regiment.

WITH A HIGHLAND REGIMENT IN MESOPOTAMIA.
CHAPTER 1.

At the outbreak of war, the 2nd Battalion ---- was stationed at Bareilly,
having been in India since the end of the South African War. Of the
fighting in that campaign, the 2nd Battalion had had its full share. At
first it formed part of General Wauchope's Highland Brigade and
fought with traditional stubbornness at Magersfontein and Paadeburg,
and later on identified its name with many of the captures and some of
the hardest marches of that campaign.
On the mobilisation of the Indian Corps, the 2nd Battalion formed part
of a Brigade of the ----th Division and landed in France early in
October 1914, and were in the trenches holding part of the line near
Festubert before the end of the month. At no time, except in the early
months of 1916 in Mesopotamia, was the Battalion so severely tried as
in these first two months in France. The conditions certainly were
comfortable neither to mind or body.