Scotland provided two Territorial Force divisions at the outbreak of the
First World War, in due course taking their place in the order of battle
as the 51st (Highland) Division and the 52nd (Lowland) Division. 1066
and All That concluded that the war was won by the Americans, assisted
by 'the Australians (AZTECS) and some Canadians, and 51 Highlanders'. If
nothing else, this ironic analysis showed that Major General George
('Uncle', sometimes 'Daddy') Harper was a master of positive publicity
and knew its value in building the Division's image and morale. He
commanded the Division from late September 1915 until shortly before the
opening of the German Spring Offensive in March 1918, when he was
promoted to the command of IV Corps; his name is firmly linked to the
51st.The Division arrived in France in May 1915 and took part in a
limited (and unsuccessful) attack in French Flanders in June 1915, which
revealed hardly surprising weaknesses in training. The next year was
spent relatively quietly on the Somme and, from March 1916, the southern
end of Vimy Ridge. Thereafter it fought on the Somme at High Wood and
Beaumont-Hamel, at the Battle of Arras, at Third Ypres, Cambrai, faced
two of the German spring offensives of 1918 and was then involved in the
successful series of allied offensives that ended the war, in the
Division's case starting with an attack with the French and the Italians
in the Champagne in July 1918.No history of the Division has been
written since Brewsher's in 1921. This book aims to cast a more
objective light on its activities and to challenge its post war critics.
It makes full use of official records and first hand accounts, including
those provided by descendants with previously unpublished family records
or illustrations. The book's main purpose is to pay tribute to a
generation that met hitherto unimagined horrors with fortitude,
adaptability, resilience and humour and, despite the awful price in
lives, broken bodies and minds, carried on until the job was done.
