The Hard Core of Discipline
And as many of the people of France put their Government to shame, so did much of its Army repudiate the defeatism of the Grand Quartier-Général. A great mass of soldiers, disillusioned and bewildered, was utterly broken; but many units fought with the spirit and tenacity that once gave Verdun a name in history. De Gaulle’s Armoured Division in the battle before Abbeville; the sturdy gunners and drivers of the tanks that led the way up the deadly ridge at Cambron; the Basques, tough and resolute, on the river Bresle; the grim, undaunted cavalry soldiers at St Pierre-le-Viger, the old Commandant with his arm lopped off—men like these are to be remembered, as well as those stricken by the malady of defeat.
But it is, on the whole, against a background of rout and the sickness of despair that the performance of the Fifty-First must be assessed, and the fact that signally emerges is that throughout its rearguard action and retreat the Division retained coherence. It remained a Division, and discipline ruled until the very end. It had shown, both on the Saar and on the Somme, a finely aggressive spirit and great stubbornness in defence. It had discovered a remarkable unwillingness—incapacity is perhaps the better word—to admit defeat, though the odds against it were always heavy. Striking westward towards St Valéry had been the 4th German Corps of two divisions forward, two in reserve; and in the left hook over the Durdent were a Panzer Division and a motorised division behind. But against this impressive strength the Highland officers, non-commissioned officers and private soldiers—and the many Englishmen who enlarged the Division—had revealed, again and again, their sense of responsibility and their gift of initiative. They were compelled to show an almost superhuman endurance.
These are soldierly qualities, and they provide the substance for many heartening paragraphs in a history of misfortune. But what conclusively proves that the Division was a good Division, in spite of misfortune, is its continuing discipline. There is no sterner test of discipline than a long rearguard action, unless it be the sight of supporting troops who have been broken in the fight. The Fifty-First survived those tests, and the Division was a Division till the end. It had no luck—the dice were loaded outrageously against it—and so it failed to maintain the legend that its predecessor had made in the first German war, for a legend needs a little luck to help it grow. But the Fifty-First had the other virtues of the old Division, and the proof is this—that would prove the virtue of any division—that in spite of its accumulated weariness, the frustration of all its hope, the failure on its flank and its grievous losses, its spirit was unbroken. It suffered many casualties, but not the fatal one. Its hard core was fighting to the end, and discipline was last in the field.
Order of Battle
The Fifty-First (Highland) Division
Major-General V. M. Fortune, C.B., D.S.O
1st Bn. The Lothians & Border Horse (Yeomanry).
152nd Brigade: Brigadier H. W. V. Stewart, D.S.O.
2nd Bn. The Seaforth Highhlanders.
4th Bn. The Seaforth Highlanders.
153rd Brigade: Brigadier G. T. Burney, M.C,
4th Bn. The Black Watch.
1st Bn. The Gordon Highlanders.
5th Bn. The Gordon Highlanders.
154th Brigade: Brigadier A. C. L. Stanley-Clarke, D.S.O.
1st Bn. The Black Watch.
7th Bn. The Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders.
8th Bn. The Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders.
The Royal Artillery: C.R.A., Brigadier H. C. H. Eden, M.C.
17th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery.
23rd Field Regiment, Royal Artillery.
74th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery.
51st Anti-tank Regiment, Royal Artillery.
The Royal Engineers: C.R.E., Lt.-Col. H. M. Smail, T.D.
26th Field Company, Royal Engineers.
236th Field Company, Royal Engineers.
237th Field Company, Royal Engineers.
239th Field Park Company, Royal Engineers.
The Roylal Corps of Signals: Lt.-Col. T. P. E. Murray.
51st Divisional Signals Company.
The Royal Army Medical Corps: A.D.M.S., Lt.-Col. D. P. Levack.
152nd Field Ambulance.
163rd Field Ambulance.
154th Field Ambulance.
The Royal Army Service Corps: Lt.-Col. T. Harris-Hunter, T.D.
Divisional Ammunition Company.
Divisional Petrol Company.
Divisional Supply Column.
ATTACHED TROOPS
51st Medium Regiment, Royal Artillery.
1st Royal Horse Artillery (less one Battery).
97th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery (one Battery).
213th Army Field Company, Royal Engineers.
1st Bn. Princess Louise’s Kensington Regiment (Machine Gunners).
7th Bn. The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers (Machine-Gunners).
6th Bn. The Royal Scots Fusiliers (Pioneers).
7th Bn. The Norfolk Regiment (Pioneers).
Sections of the Royal Army Ordance Corps and the Royal Army Service Corps.
ARK FORCE
Brigadier A. C. L. Stanley-Clarke, D.S.O.
4th Bn. The Black Watch.
7th Bn. The Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders.
8th Bn. The Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders.
6th Bn. The Royal Scots Fussiliers (Pioneers).
4th Bn. The Border Regiment
5th Bn. The Sherwood Foresters
4th Bn. The Buffs
1st Bn. Princess Louise’s Kensington Regiment (less two Companies).
17th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery.
75th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery.
51st Anti-tank Regiment, Royal Artillery (one Battery).
236th Field Company, Royal Engineers.
237th Field Company, Royal Engineers.
239th Field Park Company, Royal Engineers.
154th Field Ambulance.
A Note on the Author
Eric Linklater was born in 1899 in Penarth, Wales. He was educated in Aberdeen, and was initially interested in studying medicine; he later switched his focus to journalism, and became a full-time writer in the 1930’s. During his career, Linklater served as a journalist in India, a commander of a wartime fortress in the Orkney Islands, and rector of Aberdeen University. He authored more than twenty novels for adults and children, in addition to writing short stories, travel pieces, and military histories, among other works. He died in 1977.
Discover books by Eric Linklater published by Bloomsbury Reader at
www.bloomsbury.com/EricLinklater
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Footnotes
1 The place from which John Balliol, King of Scotland, took his name.
2 See Order of Battle.
For copyright reasons, any images not belonging to the original author have been removed from this book. The text has not been changed, and may still contain references to missing images.
This electronic edition published in 2014 by Bloomsbury Reader
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First published in Great Britain in 1942 by His Majesty’s Stationery Office, London
Copyright © 1942 Eric Linklater
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eISBN: 9781448214341
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The Highland Division Page 9