Italian memorial will honour Black Watch

Fitting tribute to fighting Scots who opened up Allied advance to Florence

A new memorial to the bravery of the men of The Black Watch who gave their lives in battle in northern Italy is to be erected on Italian soil this summer.

While the bulk of the 51st Highland Division had been sent to prepare for the invasion of Normandy, the men of the 6th Battalion had been thrown into the fight around Florence.

Their mission was to root out German forces that had dug in, preventing the Allied advance upon the strategically vital Italian city.

In only two days, the fighting Scots assaulted and overran the enemy defences at the 2,000ft-high Monte Scalari before enduring three brutal night-time counter attacks.

It was a major victory for the Allied forces and the victory opened the path to Florence, which was soon entered and seized.

The new memorial will also remember the Italian partisans who aided in the campaign – many of whom were captured and executed by occupying Nazi forces.

The secretary of the Black Watch Association, Major Ronnie Proctor, said: “A memorial to the battle was erected in 1995 but unfortunately the stone they used split due to bad weather.

“The association is replacing that with a new memorial and we hope a ceremony will take place sometime in late June or early July.

“It will commemorate the conflict and the courage of The Black Watch as well as that of several Italian partisans who were executed by the Germans.”

The memorial is one of three being erected by the Black Watch Association in tribute to the courage of the famous regiment’s soldiers.

A stone plinth has already been put in place to commemorate the Queen’s Barracks that once stood in the centre of Perth.

They were a Perth landmark for 160 years and would have been used by soldiers before heading off to the Boer War, the two world wars and the Korean War.

The barracks finally closed in 1961 and all trace has disappeared under redevelopment of the city.

Work is under way to create an interpretation panel to affix to the plinth, offering a vision of what the barracks would once have looked like.

The association, which has funded the project, hopes to see the memorial unveiled on June 17 as part of the annual Black Watch reunion.

A third and final memorial will see a bronze piper receive pride of place at Perth’s Black Watch Museum.

Major Proctor said he hoped to see work begin this weekend, with the creation of drystane dyking.

A plinth would then be installed in readiness for the erection and dedication of Edinburgh-based sculptor Alan Herriot’s finished model.

We hope a ceremony will take place in late June or early July. MAJOR RONNIE PROCTOR

Picture: Kris Miller. A memorial has already been erected in Perth commemorating the site of the Queen’s Barracks which were demolished in the 1960s.