In the summer of 1914 Scotland prepared for war.
Steel and Tartan charts the adventures of the 4th Battalion, Queens Own Cameron Highlanders - from their training in Bedford with the Highland Division through to five major engagements in France, including the Battle of Neuve Chapelle and the Battle of Loos, to eventual break-up in March 1916 at the hands of the British Army administrators. Of the 1,500 men who fought with the Battalion, over 250 were killed and either buried in one of the many British war cemeteries in France or else left where they fell, their names etched on one of the memorials to the missing.
Using previously unpublished diaries, letters and memoirs together with original photographs and newspaper accounts, Patrick Watt tells the story of the gallant officers and men of the 4th Camerons: those 'Saturday night soldiers' who went so eagerly to war in August 1914.
During the First World War, The Cameron Highlanders was expanded to thirteen battalions, of which nine were in battle. The 1st, 2nd, 4th (TF), 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th and 11th Battalions all fought on the Western Front. Ten representative battle honours were chosen to be displayed on the King's colour, amongst them Neuve Chapelle and Loos, where the 4th Battalion suffered terrible losses. Note the (TF) after their designation - these were territorials, not professional soldiers, yet they did nothing to undermine the honour and the fearsome reputation of the Highland divisions. Using unpublished diaries, letters and memoirs together with original photographs and newspaper accounts, this book focuses on the stories of the men of the 4th Camerons who went so eagerly to war in August 1914. It charts the progress of these 'Saturday night soldiers' through their training in Bedford with the Highland Division to their participation through all the major battles of 1915 and their disbandment in February 1916. What makes this book unique is the close focus on a single battalion, something that makes the narrative so much more immediate than sweeping strategic descriptions at army or even divisional level.
