Chapter II: Introduction

This short history, written by request, was started shortly after the Regiment was disbanded. For the delay in publishing it, I must plead the great mass of inaccuracies which had to be corrected and verified, entailing a considerable amount of correspondence and consequent lapse of time. It has been compiled from Official Diaries and Forms, and from a Diary kept by Lieut.-Colonel J. Younger, D.S.O., without whose assistance it would never have been completed.

It will, however, recall to the reader’s mind the strenuous and eventful days we spent together in a regiment of whose history we are all so justly proud, and whose career now as a Yeomanry Regiment is ended, and it will recall the gallant fellows with whom we served and many a gallant deed.

To the glorious memory of those whose graves lie in a foreign land, I humbly dedicate this book.

D. DOUGLAS OGILVIE.

_April 1920._

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

I. AT HOME—1914–1915 1

II. ABROAD—1915 9

III. EGYPT—1916 30

LIST OF OFFICERS 40

IV. EGYPT AND PALESTINE—1917 41

V. PALESTINE—1918 107

VI. FRANCE—1918 119

VII. SOME PERSONALITIES 143

VIII. THE PREDECESSORS OF THE FIFE AND FORFAR YEOMANRY 159

HONOURS AND AWARDS 165

LIST OF CASUALTIES 168

INDEX 204

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

_Face Page_

Officers at Fakenham, 1915 _Frontispiece_

N.C.O.’s at Fakenham, 1915 2

H.M. The King, with Brigadier-General Lord Lovat and
Major-General Bruce Hamilton 4

The Regiment in Column of Troops at St Ives 4

Crossing the Bridge, St Ives 6

Lieut. R.G.O. Hutchison and Machine Gun Section, 1915 6

Guard Mounting, Fakenham 8

Entraining Horses, Fakenham 8

Gebel-el-Ghenneim, Khargeh Oasis 18

The Highland Barricade, Asmak Dere, Suvla 18

Captain Tuke on “Joseph” 34

In the Village of Khargeh 34

Sentry on Water Dump “A” 36

Camel Lines at Khargeh 36

Senussi Prisoners, Dakhla 40

The Sergeants’ Reel, Moascar 40

The Battalion Mascot 42

Battalion Cookhouse, El Ferdan 42

Dug-outs in the Front Line, Sheikh Abbas 54

A Reserve Wadi, Sheikh Abbas 54

A Platoon Mess, Wadi Asher 58

“C” Company Officers’ Mess, Wadi Asher 58

Turkish Trench, with dead Turks, Hill 1070, Beersheba 62

Bathing, Regent’s Park 62

Battalion Bivouac near Suffa 110

The Irish Road crossing the Wadi Ain Arik 110

The Battalion Football Team 140

The Fife and Forfar Imperial Yeomanry at Annsmuir 158

Detachment at H.M. The King’s Visit to Edinburgh 160

Regimental Drill at Annsmuir, with Skeleton Enemy 160

Group showing Six successive Commanding Officers 164

The Cadre on arrival at Kirkcaldy 164

MAPS

Our Trenches in the Front Line at Suvla 20

Battle of Sheria 68

Operations in Palestine, 1917–1918 106

Trench System on the Somme 134

The Lys Sector 142

THE FIFE AND FORFAR YEOMANRY