The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
THE 9TH BLACK WATCH AT FREZENBERG, JULY 31,1917 Tovani’s history medal from the University of St Andrews. Picture: Derek Patrick.
The 9th (Service) Battalion, The Black Watch, 44th Infantry Brigade, 15th (Scottish) Division arrived in the Ypres Salient on June 27 1917, in preparation for the Third Battle of Ypres, or Passchendaele. The coming weeks saw the battalion practise its part in the imminent attack over ground flagged out to represent the German trench system. Between July 25 and 30, 44th Brigade bivouacked one mile west of Ypres and companies made regular visits to the front in order to familiarise themselves with the route to follow.
The 15th Division had been allocated three main objectives, designated the blue, black and green lines. The 9th Black Watch would be on the right of the division’s front alongside the 8/10th Gordon Highlanders, with orders to capture and consolidate the blue and black lines. Zero hour was 3.50am on July 31, and by 4.45am the battalion had reached its first objective, advancing behind a creeping shrapnel barrage.
The black line was a road some 300 yards east of Frezenberg village in front of which ran a trench strongly held by the enemy. Four tanks had been allocated to 44th Brigade for its attack but two were knocked out or had broken down before it was reached. The remaining machines were of great assistance in capturing the trench and Frezenberg Redoubt just behind, the 9th Black Watch advancing by sectional rushes. On securing its final objective at around 6.30 the battalion began to consolidate a line of shell holes and concrete dug-outs. Between 8.30am and 10am the Germans attempted two counter-attacks which were driven off with heavy loss.
However, the battalion now occupied a precarious position on the eastern slope of Frezenberg Ridge under direct observation of the German positions 2,000 yards away. The enemy had brought up fresh artillery batteries and their fire was
exceedingly accurate. Heavy shelling coupled with sniping, machine-gun fire, which enfiladed part of the line, and dreadful weather made reorganisation almost impossible. The 45th Brigade which had captured the green line was compelled to withdraw at around 4pm due to the retirement of the 8th Division on the right and a strong German counter-attack, but the newly-consolidated line held. The 9th Black Watch was left holding the second objective until relieved by the 8th Seaforths at 10.30pm.
The first phase of the battle had gone reasonably well. The 15th (Scottish) Division had advanced some 2,000 yards and although the final objective had not been secured, the strategically important Frezenberg Ridge had been captured. Casualties had been heavy. In all, some 20 ranks had been killed, 45 were missing and 180 wounded.
One officer, Second Lieutenant James Taylor, was killed, and 12 wounded. These included Second Lieutenant Colin FI Neish, the only son of Major Neish, of Tannadyce House near Forfar. Captain and Adjutant Stanley NorieMiller, well-known in Perth, ustained a shrapnel wound in the eg, and the Commanding Officer, ieutenant-Colonel Sydney Armitage nnes, who had resided at Linder ank, Perth, was wounded. Second Lieutenant William ichard Tovani, a graduate of St ndrews University, who belonged o a Perthshire family, was awarded he Military Cross for conspicuous allantry. “When his company ommander had become a casualty, e led his company forward with the tmost gallantry, although wounded n the face, and captured a machineun emplacement which was causing reat hindrance to the advance. He ontinued to lead his company until e was again wounded again and ompelled to desist”.
The 9th Black Watch was finally withdrawn from the fighting on August 26, marching into reserve in pouring rain with a strength of just seven officers and 245 other ranks. This phase of the battle had been particularly trying with casualties in the region of 200.
In a letter copied to LieutenantColonel Innes, Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig congratulated the men on “their steady courage and determination in spite of bad weather and great hardship (which) has done much towards bringing us nearer to final victory”. Nonetheless, a verse written by Lieutenant Tovani seems a more fitting epitaph for those who died in the maelstrom of Third Ypres. God, if it be my lot to lie Under an alien-tented sky Let me but share the soldier’s shrine
A Wooden Cross