[Gutenberg 45934] • The History of the 51st (Highland) Division 1914-1918

In compiling the ‘History of the 51st (Highland) Division’ I have been beset by various difficulties, which have contributed towards the long delay in its publication.

In the first place, it has been written in circumstances in which military duties have afforded little leisure for continuous effort; secondly, the work has been carried out in many places, most of them highly unsuitable for research, such as the desert of Sinai, native villages and the deserts of Lower Egypt, Jerusalem, Bir Salem, and at sea.

Not only had the difficulty of transporting from station to station the large mass of available material to be overcome, but also the conditions of life in huts and under canvas in an eastern climate are seldom conducive to clear and consecutive thinking.

Further, the material available has been unequal. Up to the conclusion of the battle of Arras, no completed narratives of the operations carried out by the Division were compiled. To this point, therefore, the only resources were the bald and rather incomplete entries in the official war diaries and personal diaries, which threw little light on the operations in their broader aspects.

From the third battle of Ypres onwards a detailed account of all engagements was published by Divisional Headquarters shortly after the conclusion of each operation. These have rendered the compiling of the ‘History’ from this point considerably less laborious, and have allowed it to be carried out in greater and more accurate detail.

It has been necessary, owing to the increased and increasing cost of production, to keep the size of this book within certain bounds, and to reduce as far as possible the number of maps. On this account there has been no alternative but to restrict the detail in which actions are described. It is regretted that in consequence much material which officers and men of the Division and their relatives have submitted, often at my request, has been necessarily omitted.

It was only thus that the book could be kept sufficiently reduced in size to prevent its price prohibiting the circulation desired.

The ‘History’ is now presented with every consciousness on the part of the author that full justice has not been done to its great subject. Indeed, it is doubtful if full justice can be done to the part played by the British Army in the Great War until a generation not intimately involved in it has arisen and has come to regard the burdens sustained for over four years by the British soldier in the true perspective.

...

F. W. B. Headquarters, 3rd (Lahore) Division, Bir Salem, Palestine.

CONTENTS

MOBILISATION

ARRIVAL IN FRANCE—FESTUBERT

THE PERIOD OF APPRENTICESHIP

TRAINING AND REORGANISATION—THE LABYRINTH

THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME—HIGH WOOD

ARMENTIÈRES AND HEBUTERNE

THE BATTLE OF THE ANCRE—BEAUMONT HAMEL

COURCELETTE

THE BATTLE OF ARRAS

THE BATTLE OF ARRAS (Contd.)—ROEUX AND THE CHEMICAL WORKS

THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES

POELCAPPELLE

THE BATTLE OF CAMBRAI

THE GERMAN OFFENSIVE

THE GERMAN OFFENSIVE (Contd.)—THE BATTLE OF THE LYS

WITH THE FRENCH IN CHAMPAGNE

THE CAPTURE OF GREENLAND HILL

THE OPERATIONS TOWARDS VALENCIENNES

CONCLUSION

ILLUSTRATIONS.

LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIR G. M. HARPER, K.C.B., D.S.O

MAJOR-GENERAL R. BANNATINE-ALLASON, C.B.

T/MAJOR-GENERAL G. T. C. CARTER-CAMPBELL, C.B., D.S.O

ATTACK NEAR FESTUBERT, 15TH JUNE 1915

HIGH WOOD, JULY 1916

BEAUMONT HAMEL, 13TH NOVEMBER 1916

CAPTURE OF VIMY RIDGE, 9TH APRIL 1917

THE CHEMICAL WORKS, ROEUX

THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES: ADVANCE TO THE STEENBEEK, 31ST JULY 1917