17th Royal Scots

[ianmccallum]

Hi Guys

Looking for what the 17th Royal Scots were up to over 1st - 10th September 1916. I know they were somewhere around Arras. The man I am interested in was KIA on 9th September 1916. He was the only man killed on that date. Any help appreciated.

Ian

[eltoro1960]

Ian ,

I will hopefully going up to the Castle in the next few days, I will find out for you. Did you get my PM mate regarding James Jardine?

John

[ianmccallum]

Hi mate

Thanks for the help, as always it's greatly appreciated. Massively frustrating that the other two brigades diaries are available on line. I don't think I did get a message regarding James Jardine. Might be being stupid with this technology though. Where might it be or could you please sent it again.

Ian

[eltoro1960]

Ian

I will be up at the Castle next Tuesday, re my message if you look at the top right of the screen should be a number, click on it and it take you to your 'personal conversations' or PM's as we have come to know them.

John

[ianmccallum]

Hi John

Thanks for your last. I think the message with my email address went okay. Could you please confirm that. I noticed you were interested in RAMC. My G/uncle Pte. Charles McCallum, RAMC from Bo-Ness was killed at Ypres in Aug 1915. I have a pretty detailed account of the incident in which he was killed. His brother John McCallum 13th Royal Scots was also killed while attached to 253 Tunnellers eight months later. If your interested I could sent you the details with photos.

Ian

[eltoro1960]

Hi Ian

I will send you the James Jardine stuff later on, here is the extract from the diary, and yes I would like to receive the information on your relatives.

Cheers - John

[ianmccallum]

Hi John

Thank you for the attachment it's a great help. I will email my old uncles details to you later tonight.

Ian

[ianmccallum]

Hi John

Here is the details of my G/Uncle.

32035, Pte.Charles McCallum. No 44 Field Ambulance RAMC, 14th Division. Born at Bo-Ness Linlithgowshire. Moved to Lochore Fife. Miner, KIA120815 , 38yrs. Buried at Poperinghe New Military Cemetery Belgium. I. G. 6.

The second son of Charles McCallum of Furnace Rows, Bo-Ness. He had five sons all serving with the army. Charles in RAMC , John with 13th R.Scots, Alexander with 2nd/10th R.Scots, Archibald with 1/10th R.Scots and Owen McCallum a former regular soldier with the A&SH then a sapper with the Royal Engineers. Husband of Christina McCallum, of 30, Montrose St., Lochore, Fife. Charles McCallum was born in Furnace Row, Bo'ness, Linlithgowshire. He was employed as a miner at the Kinneil colliery in Bo-Ness. Moved to Lochore, Fife in 1907 where he went back into the pits and were he trained in ambulance and first aid skills, presumably for Mine Rescue. Enlisted at Lochgelly, Fife in the early months of the war. Embarked from Southampton on 21st May 1915 and landed at Le Havre the next day. By the beginning of July the 14th Division were in the area of Ypres with the British Front Line just a mile away. The town of Ypres itself was rapidly being reduced to rubble, while the area between the town and the front lines was under constant enemy bombardment. On 19th July the British drove the Germans from the pile of rubble that was the Hooge Chateau. Towards the end of July the 14th Division took over the front line between Railway Wood and Hooge with the 41st Brigade first into the front line. On the morning of the 30th July the Germans launched a retaliatory attack against the positions held by the 41st Brigade. The Germans attacked just before dawn on 30th July using flame throwers for the first time against British troops. In addition to the flame throwers, the enrire front line and the three hundred yards between it and the support positions in Zouave Wood were subjected to a deluge of artillery, trench mortar and machine gun fire. The 8th Rifle Brigade which took the brunt of the fire was forced out of their positions and across the open ground to the support line.The battalion next in line was also forced to retire. At 1445hrs, the 41st and 42nd Brigades launched a counter attack on the lost positions but failed to make any major gains. Later that night three battalions of the 43rd Brigade relieved the exhausted troops in the line which now extended from north edge of Sanctuary Wood, to the north east edge of Zouave Wood. No 44 Field Ambulance was attached to the 43rd Brigade and the medics and stretcher bearers of the field ambulance took over the advanced aid posts. The Germans attacked again at 0200hrs on 31st July again using flame throwers but the assault failed. The 43rd Brigade tried a number of local assaults but were driven back and out of most of Zouave Wood by heavy artillery fire. Relieved on the night of 6 July and back into rest positions. By Monday 9th August the 43rd Brigade was back on the front line and therefore the medics and stretcher brearers of the 44th Field Ambulance would also be back in the line manning the Advanced Aid Posts. In a letter sent to his wife on Wendsday 11th August, Charles McCallum tells something of his experiences over the three days he'd been back in the front line. "I thought you were going to loose me on Monday night. We were out to get in some wounded when the Germans spotted us and opened fire. God knows it was awful. We lay still on the ground and hundreds of bullets, and everything they could fire was fired at us. I prayed to God to be spared to see you and my children, and my prayer was answered. So I am the luckiest man in the world. We still have three days more to spend in this "hell" before we get a rest. I have seen some awful sights of disfigured men. Words cannot express myself. We had one of our fellows killed and fourteen wounded while they were sleeping in a cellar. The Germans got a good beating on Monday night. We took a number of prisioners, and amongst them were some sorry looking fellows. They were crying for mercy. It was an English regiment that took them, and had it been the "Jocks" the Germans would have been lying facing the sky. I wish it were Saturday until I get a rest, as this would try the strongest hearts in the world. We have some brave lads among our ambulance men; they are afraid of no danger. Monday was the worst night we have had, as I with others was cut off from our detachment. We came into safety half an hour after the rest, who though we had been killed. We met them coming to look for us. But my time had not come, and I am still here, thank God. I will write again on Saturday if God spares me.

The next morning at about 0800hrs, Charles McCallum and five others were manning the aid post when word came that a party of Scottish Rifles had been buried under the ruins of the Cathedral of St. Martin in Ypres town. The enemy had been shelling the area for some time. Charles McCallum and his five comrades volunteered to go to back into Ypres to their assistance. While attempting the rescue, the stretcher party were caught by an artillery salvo and Charles McCallum and Fredrick Vine from Dorst were killed by shellfire. Another medic Alfred Williams of Bermondsey was missing buried under the Cathedral ruins. A friend later wrote to Mrs McCallum telling her of the funeral: "Charles McCallum and Fred Vine were buried this morning (13th August) at 1030hrs. All the officers and men attended the funeral which was very impressive. Our Catholic chaplin, Capt McCann, conducted the service for Pte. McCallum and the Church of England Chaplin pronounced the committal sentences over Pte. Vine. They were buried in the same graveyard, but there is one part of it reserved for Roman Catholics.We were all very sorry about them as they were both good comrades. We have not yet got our other comrade, Williams, as he is still under the Cathedrel ruins. There are a good many bodies of the soldiers our comrades went to rescue under the ruins." Charles McCallum left his wife Christina and six children. The town of Poperinghe (now Poperinge) was of great importance during the First World War because, although occasionally bombed or bombarded at long range, it was the nearest place to Ypres (now Ieper) which was both considerable in size and reasonably safe. It was at first a centre for Casualty Clearing Stations, but by 1916 it became necessary to move these units further back and field ambulances took their places. Photo and obituary in Bo.Ness Gazette. Entry in Glasgow Evening Times 31st August 1915, page 3.

Ian

P.S I've attached his photo let me know that its worked okay.