The Highland Soldier in the Great War
By Thomas Greenshields
Helion, 2019 (paperback reprint 2022)
Those Bloody Kilts is not a history of highland battalions but rather an in-depth study of the highland soldier as an individual and as a collective.
The opening chapter of the book looks at the regiments and battalions in question, their origins and history. As well as the Sottish highland regiments the emergence of overseas highland battalions in Canada and South Africa is also examined. A more detailed chapter then looks at their organization and structure, before the book moves on to the motivations of the men who enlisted in the battalions. The social backgrounds of the men is next up, with particular focus on how ‘highland’ the highland regiments actually were (with a surprising number of Englishmen serving in their ranks!), and how their composition changed during the war through casualties and reinforcements.
No book on the highland soldier would be complete without exploring what made them truly unique. The book contains three chapters on the kilt. This might seem excessive, but with one chapter on the history and tradition of the kilt, one on the issues it posed to the wearer in trench conditions and a final one covering its practicalities in battle, the subject is covered in depth and is surprisingly fascinating. The words of those who wore it are used to flesh out the issues and unsurprisingly it had both critics and admirers, with its impact on esprit de corps perhaps outweighing its practicalities in the trenches. A chapter on the pipes follows, exploring the effect they could have on soldiers’ morale and the emotional response they could elicit.
The final part of the book explores issues around discipline, hierarchy, comradeship, support, identity, self-image and reputation, ferocity and compassion, and courage and failure. The core question Greenshields looks to answer if whether the experience and actions of the highland soldier was any different to the rest of the British Army. This touches on issues explored in other notable works (e.g. David French’s Military Identities and John Baynes’ Morale) and is an excellent study in itself. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he concludes that the highland soldier was not that much different from other soldiers, albeit with maybe a stronger regimental tradition and identity.
A particular strength of the book is the use of the soldiers’ own words. Archives and other sources have been comprehensively trawled for relevant information, all meticulously referenced in nearly 3,000 footnotes.
This may appear on the surface to be quite a niche book, but delve into its contents and you will find a masterful study of identity, morale, and personal recollections that deserves to be read.
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