Scottish Military Disasters

Review Extracts

War is hell and the winning side is often the one which makes the fewest mistakes. The Scots are justly proud of their fighting men and women but mistakes have been made. Best-selling author Paul Cowan turns his attention to the disasters which have befallen Scotland’s soldiers over the centuries. His sharp eye for anecdotal detail, ranging from the gory to the humorous, help make this engaging account of military fiascos, catastrophes and blunders involving Scotland’s proud fighting men come alive for the general reader. Why should their stories only be told when they're on the winning side?

From some reviews of Scottish Military Disasters

"Author and war journalist Paul Cowan gives a pithy thumbnail sketch of each battle or incident (the longest episode is nine pages), and sets each event in the context of its time and also lists, where appropriate, its military or historical consequences. All in all, it is a cracking good read."
--Brian Townsend, The Courier

"[T]his pacy, lucidly written history is extremely readable and highly informative"
—Martin Tierney, The Herald

"A fascinating and highly recommended read."
—Ian Smith, Scots Magazine

The full texts of the reviews can be seen on Page Two.

Quick Guide to the Scottish Regiments

For sake of clarity I've decided to base the following on the regular Scottish regiments as they were at the time of the Second World War.

The Royal Scots Greys

Royal Scots Greys badge

Scotland's only regular cavalry regiment. They trace their origins back to troops of horsemen raised in 1678 as the Royal Regiment of Scotch Dragoons to hunt down strict Presbyterians who revolted against attempts to impose an English-style church in Scotland. The name “Greys” was first applied because of their grey uniforms but later they were mounted on grey chargers. The regiment was also distinguished by being the only cavalry one to wear bearskin headgear. Most famous for their charge at the Battle of Waterloo (See Scottish Military Disasters Chapter 19 ; “Scotland for Ever”), the regiment also took part in the successful, but now mainly forgotten, Charge of the Heavy Brigade, during the Crimean War. The regimental headquarters at Edinburgh Castle. In 1971 the Scots Greys were amalgamated with the Carabiniers to form the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards.The Carabiniers had recruited in Cheshire and North Wales. The Welsh connection is recognised by Men of Harlech, arranged for the bagpipes, being one of the duty tunes played by the regimental pipe band. The officers' reputed fondness for champagne in times past once led to the regiment being nicknamed the "Bubbly Jocks".

Blog

*Page 4 has a links to some old film footage of the Gordon Highlanders leaving Aberdeen to fight in the Boer War and the 4th Camerons shortly before they left Bedford to take part in the First World War.

**Page 4 now features the text of the order which made the Black Watch a regiment in the British Army. I've also included a couple of muster rolls from 1757 which give an idea of the clans which contributed men to the Black Watch around that period.

***Regular visitors will notice there are a few changes. I've added illustrations of the Highland regimental tartans, colour and black and white, to Photo Identification. And the news releases have been consolidated into one feature called "Paul's News".

****I've added a quick look at the composition of the 93rd Highlanders in 1839; reputedly the most Highland of the Highland Regiments. It's on Page 4

Names Make News
There was saying when I was a reporter that “names make news”. Sometimes, it’s not what’s happening but who it’s happening to that gets the readers’ attention. So, if one the Scottish infantry battalions is facing disbandment, the story gets more attention if it’s said that it's the Black Watch that’s threatened with the axe. So, I don’t know how seriously to take newspaper reports that the Black Watch will be on the chopping block come the next round of defence budget cuts. The same report also mentions the Parachute Regiment could get the chop.
I don’t know by what criteria the Black Watch has been singled out, if indeed it has been. Maybe it has the largest recruiting short-fall of the five battalions in the Royal Regiment of Scotland (RRoS). In the old days, the very old days, it used to be the most recently raised regiment which was disbanded as the army contracted in times of peace – that would put the 5th Battalion RRoS, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders top of the list. But at least the Argylls have kept their pre-First World War identity. With the exception of the Black Watch, all the other battalions of the regiment were created by a series of amalgamations which began in 1959.
I’m also a little baffled as to why the Parachute Regiment would be threatened, if it is. It’s been suggested that as they haven’t parachuted into action since Suez in 1956 that they’ve outlived their usefulness. What nonsense. The regiment has had its problems in the past but there’s no denying they are very committed soldiers and part of that comes from parachute training. It makes as much sense to suggest that the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers should be disbanded because they don’t carry fusil muskets any more.
Civil servants have never understood the British Army. Once a regiment is disbanded, it’s gone for ever. It’s like social workers putting all the kids in a family in different care homes and then reuniting them seven years later and expecting “happy ever-after”. The problem is that many of the British generals today see themselves more as civil servants than soldiers. This is not a time to do anything rash. Before the Second World War, the infantry battalions were reduced to a couple of hundred men each, who used football rattles during training to simulate machineguns. There was just enough time to bring them back up to strength and equip them before Hitler invaded Poland. How Hitler would have loved the present day Ministry of Defence.

Book Reviews You Can Trust
Regular visitors to this site will know that I try to post a book review a week. I always give my true opinion of the book, without fear or favour. If you’re wondering what I mean by that and why its worthy of remark, have a look in the Blog Archive for 29th December 2010 "Book Reviewing 101".
But what about the reviews I don’t post? I have two very very critical reviews of books by Canadian authors which I never quite seem to get around to posting. I don’t get paid for the reviews and have to buy the books myself. My point is that I’m not committed or obliged to post a review of any given book. I have little to gain through this service and perhaps much to lose. People can be very petty. I’ve been critical of Canadian writers in reviews that I’ve posted in the past but the two books I'm sitting on the reviews of are truly dreadful. There’s a good chance that the two authors involved, or close friends of theirs, will be asked to review my work. I suspect that ripping them a new arsehole for their sloppiness could cost me dear. So, sorry, for the time being I’m taking the coward's way out. I just thought you should know; in the interests of full disclosure and all that good stuff.

Click on the coffee cup to visit the main blog archive.

Photo Identification

OK, you've found an old black and white studio photo of a kilted relative kitted out in his military finery before heading off to the First World War. But which regiment was he in?
Fortunately, there may be some clues in the photo – the kilt, the glengarry bonnet and, sometimes, the sporran. The regimental badge on the glengarry or, later in the war, the Tam 'o Shanter may be visible.
A lot depends on the quality of the photo – sometimes the tell-tale over-stripes on the tartan of the kilt don't show up.

The Black Watch – Plain kilt, no over-stripes. Plain glengarry without diced band. The white sporran will have five short black tassels. On the glengarry, the regimental badge may appear to resemble a star. The ToS has a dark hackle instead of a badge.

Seaforth Highlanders – Dark kilt with obvious light coloured over-stripes: there are also a red over-stripes but they seldom show in a black and white photo. In general two vertical over-stripes should be showing either side of the centre of the kilt apron. Dark glengarry with diced band. White sporran with two long black tails. The regimental badge is a stag's head with very obvious antlers.

The Right Men in the Wrong Tartan

Now that all the Scottish infantry battalions, with the exception of the Scots Guards, have donned the kilt it seems odd to discover that around 130 years ago senior Scottish officers regarded it as a drag on recruiting and actually wanted to cut the number of kilted regiments.
The debate in the run-up to the 1881 re-organization of the British army was every bit as heated as the one surrounding the recent amalgamation of all six regular Scottish infantry battalions into one super-regiment. In the immediate run up to the 1881 changes, the only Highland regiment stationed in Britain was the Black Watch.
Its colonel was the only Highland regimental commander consulted about the proposals to double the number of kilted battalions from the five that existed prior to 1881.
Colonel Duncan MacPherson said those five kilted regiments already had enough problems recruiting Scots, never mind true Highlanders, into their ranks.
He suggested it would be better to create one regiment, “The Highland Brigade”, which would recruit from the whole Highland area.
He, like the other Highland colonels, was anxious not to dilute the Highland character of the regiments any further.