A Soldier's Letter

From "History of the Penpont War Memorial and Parish War Memories" by Gladys Cuttle.

A soldier's letter published in the Dumfries and Galloway Standard on the 6th of October 1916.


Private James Laidlaw, 5th Battalion Cameron Highlanders, in a letter to his mother and father who resides in Bilboa, Penpont, says:
We are back for a rest after five days continuous fighting, and I must say that we are all very much in need of it.
At 5.30 on Saturday morning we had a bayonet charge led by our gallant commanding officer, Cameron of Lochiel. Our regiment led the charge, and broke through the German lines and captured the town. We lost heavily during this advance. When we started out we were 1,100 strong. We returned with 261. So that will give you an idea what we had to face. It was a terrible scene on the battlefield. The noise of the shells bursting and the cries of the wounded were terrible to listen to. A trench we occupied on our left flank had been strongly protected with barbed wire entanglements, and scores of our brave Cameron's were slain here by machine gun fire, but we kept on going, and when within ten yards of them up went their hands, and shouts arose of "Mercy comrade" but we did not charge for mercy, and they did not get it.
In some places the dead were lying five deep - Cameron's on the top of the Germans. It was awful to march over the bodies of our own comrades, but we had to go on. A dozen of us were cut off in a German trench, but fortunately we had a machine gun. We remained in the position for 12 hours, but it seemed like 12 years.
In the morning we started in search of our regiment, and I was in 5 different ones before I got to my own. I had 3 bullet holes in my kilt and my rifle smashed to bits with a piece of shrapnel, but I am glad to say I did not get a scar with either, only my legs were a bit torn with barbed wire.
After the engagement we tried to take in some of our wounded but could not, as the Germans again opened fire on us. They also sent out gas and liquid fire. Men who were at Mons say it was nothing compared with this.
After being reinforced we expected to get a rest for a short time, but no. We stood in our own trenches all day and night without our coats, or anything to eat. Then the following night came the command "Cameron's charge again". In that charge we also lost heavily, for we were wet, tired, and hungry, and not in the best trim as you may imagine.