Territorials Make Their Debut Under Fire

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 280, 26 November 1938, Page 11 (Supplement)

Territorials Make Their Debut Under Fire

Civilian Soldiers In Great War

THE London Scottish Battalion 1 was drawn from men of Scots origin or descent employed in the evttyday business world of London | civilians about their work in th« Conventional manner associated with that great city. Nothing spectacular in their lives, but in the hearts of every one the old Scots motto: "Nemo me impune lacessit" ("No one assaults ma with impunity.") The battalion had been hi France cinOft September lrt, I!M4. TJtiring the interval between its arrival and engagement With the enemy at Yjres it had bee® engaged in thp usual "maid of all wofV" tasks allotted to new airivalfr*cleAning up. burying the dead, unloading guns and stores and a hoet of others, perhaps of all these its greatest moment, T>ebind the lines, was that when it supplied the bodyguard, under Captain Lindsay, E. Company, t<> Mir John FrencTl on the occasion of his reception by the French President, Polhcare.

Frrst Porition in Firing Lime On September 30, the Imltaliofi Wri# ordered to take up a section in tlie firirtg line. ne4f Ypres. The British troops holding thin position lutd been particularly har«t pressed, and this on inert weary of weeks of heavy fighting. Leaving their base in London omnibuses tlie London "JdoW readied * point at which they disembarked. They formed up under the enwt of a hill, rind advanced over the crest Into their position in the line of battle. Then <U>Wn the slope they swept—'hell let loose! Over sodden ground, over still more sodden, cultivated fields they forged forward, assaulted the white by enemy guns of all sorts until at last their mad ru*h was stopped. Further udvAnce waa impossible. Here the "Jocks" made the best of what little cover was available. After nightfall they dug in. From about 0 |i.m« until 2 a.m. the battaliim repelled aftack after attack by the Germans."Nemo me iinpune lacessit." The "Jotkrt" bursting with irresistible dar« ing and tenacity through a very inferiN> of shot and shell, advanced again towards their tormentors in the breaking dawn. The battalion want »ohiadly forward that softie of the enemy stlccee&4 in getting round their flanks, theM being engaged by companies in tha rear Md erentnally killed or routed.

Enemy Round the Flanks At full dawn it was discovered tliat further enemy, with machine-guns, had again got round. 'Die "Jocks" were being attacked on all side*. Celtic blood was now fiercely aroused. "Forward, the London Mrottisli!" and the Scot* charged the enemy with fearful impact. Overborne, the Scot« recoiled, reformed and charged "again, again and again." The enemy retired, but the gallant lads nnnld achieve little I>y it. Thcv had advanced too far, and the odds against them were too great. A retirement **s ordered at id Well carried out. The magnificent courage and daring of this "civilian-soldier" battalion wa« most heartening to the "old hands/' That a-"Terrier" battalion should cotl* tain such stuff augered well for tile; future. Ttie I/Otitloh Scottish showed the way. Tft due "course its example was worthily followed by "civilian-soldiers" from the ontposfts of the British Empire, all of them populated by mm 1 ® than a sprink-, ling of folk, or thefr descendant*, to whom "Xemo me impune lacessit" is the greatest rallying cry on earth. —TROOPER.