New book recalls courageous deeds of Black Watch’s unsung war heroes

THERE are memoirs aplenty that tell the rich history behind The Black Watch, and the courage of its soldiers.

But a new book has shone a light on the regiment’s lesser-known heroes who went beyond the call of duty during the First World War.

Written by members of the regimental family, The Black Watch and the Great War includes details of a daring escape from German captivity of men of the 7th (Fife) Battalion, which had taken over the front line at Louverval on March 1 1918.

The Black Watch “resisted gallantly” during an intense bombardment of high explosives and shells, but outflanked and under increasing pressure, the survivors withdrew to the Beaumetz-Morchies road.

In the coming days the battalion suffered heavy losses and Lance Corporal Andrew Harrower from Cowdenbeath, Corporal David Mills from Kirkcaldy and Private William Moyes from Tayport were captured and taken to Villers-lèsCagnicourt with some 600 British prisoners of war.

On the evening of April 18, accompanied by Corporal Charles Mottershead of the 9th Royal Welsh Fusiliers, the four men made their escape, reaching their own lines the next morning.

Exchanging their kilts for discarded French civilian clothes they “ran and walked and crawled” about 20 miles, guided by the sound of the guns.

Harrower, Mills and Moyes each received the Military Medal.

Another story of great bravery highlights the men of the 6th (Perthshire) and 7th (Fife) Territorial Battalions, who were preparing for an assault on High Wood, the heavily-fortified German position dominating Bazentin Ridge in July 1916 .

Since the beginning of the Battle of the Somme, there had been several unsuccessful attempts to capture the territory.

The leading companies of 6th Black Watch came under heavy machine-gun fire almost immediately but, despite mounting losses, the battalion reached German barbed wire some 25 or 30 yards from the enemy’s frontline trench.

Captain Edgar Leslie Boase, a well-known figure in Fife and Dundee, gave his life at High Wood in an effort to save his men.

Boase was an experienced Territorial Army officer, having served in France with the 4th Black Watch in early 1915.

A prospective Unionist candidate for Dundee, his death was described as “an extremely gallant one, occurring during a more than plucky effort to prevent the instant death of the men under his command, and involving almost certain death to himself, of which he was fully aware”.

Captain James Gillespie, C Company, an architect from St Andrews, was killed immediately after having crossed the parapet of the British trench.

Boase took his place and led

Gillespie’s company toward the German positions in High Wood.

He volunteered to go forward and put out a fire that had broken out beside a stock of abandoned German ammunition which, had it exploded, would have inflicted heavy casualties on his men.

He handed over his revolver, took an empty Lewis gun-bag and ran out into fierce enemy machine gun and rifle fire.

Boase was shot by a sniper after he had accomplished his objective, one of nine officers of the 7th Black Watch killed on July 30 1916.

A very popular figure, his death was the cause of much regret in Dundee.

His mother later donated 1,000 guineas to Dundee Royal Infirmary to endow a bed in his memory, which was initially to be used in a ward treating wounded soldiers.

The new book was edited by Dr Fraser Brown and Dr Derek J Patrick, with a foreword by Lieutenant-General Sir Alistair Irwin, former Adjutant-General to the Forces in the UK.

Former head teacher Dr Brown joined The Black Watch in 1962 as a junior soldier and served for six years.

Upon retiring, he and Major Ronnie Proctor from Kirriemuir developed and delivered the outreach programme Your School, The Black Watch and the Great War in schools within the regimental area on behalf of The Black Watch Museum.

He said: “First, from the outset we drew heavily on Black Watch oral tradition when we identified possible content for the book and prioritised research in terms of what the regimental family saw as important, so the