The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Remembrance: Relief of the ceasefire recalled in Black Watch diaries
Memories of Black Watch soldiers have captured the excitement felt when the fighting ceased on the battlefield in 1918.
The fighting had defied expectations and the correspondence reveals how men got the news of the German surrender which marked the final day of the four-year conflict.
The regiment raised 25 battalions during the course of the First World War and mainly fought in France and Flanders.
By the time of the Armistice in November, 8,000 members had lost their lives.
Major Ian Watson Wardlaw Shepherd was born on January 8 1893 at Tayview in East Newport, Fife.
One of three children, his parents were John Watson Shepherd, a jute merchant, and Margaret Annan Scott MacKay.
The electoral register for Fife in 1 9 14 - 1 5 listed Shepherd’s profession as clerk but aged 21, he joined the 4 th Black Watch in August 1914 as a 2 nd lieutenant.
From May 1915 to February 1916 he was staff captain for the Black Watch Territorial Brigade, then moved to the 4 th Black Watch Reserve Battalion with the 8th Black Watch to serve abroad in October 1916.
By January 1918 he was promoted to major and his entry in the 8th Battalion diary provided an insight into what life was like for those on the frontline in F landers when the Armistice halted the fighting.
“News of the acceptance by Germany of the armistice terms were received about 7pm,” he wrote.
“Troops and civilians thronged the streets of Harlebeke and all the bands of the brigade paraded and played until nearly midnight.
“On November 11, word was received that the armistice was to take effect from 11am, and the day was observed as a holiday.
“The next few days were without incident; parades were held at intervals and some training was carried out.
“On the 13th, Lieutenant Farmer and the Battalion Padre proceeded to Meteren to put up crosses on the graves of the men who were killed in the taking of that village on July 19th.”
Major Shepherd returned from war and married Lucy Eh ler in 1920 in Marylebone, Middlesex.
He died aged 60 on Januar y 24 1953 in Hampshire.
Captain Archibald Whyte Duke was born in 1892 in Brechin to parents David Duke and Jane Anne Duke.
He was commissioned into the 5 th (Angus and Dundee) Battalion, The Black Watch, as a 2nd l ieu tenan t on December 28 1911 and was promoted to lieutenant on June 28 1913.
He ser ved mainly in France and joined the 3/5 Battalion, The Black Watch, in April 1916 after convalescing following a fall from his horse.
After service leave in the UK in January 1917, he transferred to command No 66 Prisoners of War Company for 14 months in camps near Le Havre, France, and then served as deputy assistant director railway traffic for a short period of time.
He was transferred back to the Prisoners of War Company where he commanded No 69 until the end of the war.
On November 12 1918 he wrote a letter to his mother to say “things have moved with extraordinary suddenness these past few days and now the war is more or less over”.
He said: “It really seems too good to be true, we got the news yesterday about one o’clock that the Germans had signed the armistice terms and there were great rejoicings.
“All the boats on the river blew their sirens and continued more or less all afternoon and also firing blank charges from their guns.
“There was a greater number of boats going up and down than usual and all were decorated.
“The Norwegians and Swedish boats made as much noise as any.”
In December 1918, he rejoined the 4/5 Battalion, T he Black Watch, and returned home to Brechin in January 1919.
After his military career, he became a manufacturer.
He married Anne Balmanno Leishman , daughter of Dr and Mrs Arthur Leishman, in September 1921, and died at his home on September 10 1956 aged 63.