Wrapped up well in the Trenches - 

Ypres Salient, Spring 1915

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The Liverpool Scottish had arrived in France at the beginning of November 1914, one of the first infantry battalions of the Territorial Force to join the British Expeditionary Force. They arrived in the period almost immediately after the 'Old Contemptibles' of Regular Army (a 'contemptible little army' according to the German Kaiser Wilhelm) had fought alongside the French and the Belgians in a highly mobile battle with a retreat from Mons to a sharp blocking battle at Le Cateau and beyond to a final phase of checking and throwing back the German advance on the River Marne. The Liverpool Scottish came into the 3rd Division of II Corps (a Regular Army formation) and was initially addressed by the Corps Commander, General Sir H. Smith Dorrien, to the effect that, with the co-operation of the Russians, the war would be over by the summer of 1915. The Regimental Historian records that newly-arrived citizen soldiers of The Scottish 'were surprised to learn that the Staff expected the war to last so long'. They quickly found that they had to relieve hard-pressed regular soldiers.

Contact  Museum     Previous Trail Page     Exhibition Entrance