Tag Archives: seaforth highlanders

Jack Frost will Bite More Than Your Nose

Posted on by Leave a comment

Happy first day of winter!

“His Majesty the King inspects invasion troops, here, officers of the 5th Battalion (Caithness and Sutherland), Seaforth Highlanders during a snow storm at Gorhambury Park in Hertfordshire, February 29, 1944.”

IWM H 36241, by LT Cook, War Office official photographer.

For reference, the Seaforth’s 5th Battalion was formed as a Territorial unit after the loss of the 2nd and 4th Battalions along with the ill-fated 51st (Highland) Division, which was left behind to cover the evac at Dunkirk during the Fall of France. Nicknamed the “Highway Decorators,” it was part of the reconstituted 51st Division’s 152nd Brigade. In September 1944, the unit was distinguished, along with the 5th Camerons, as one of the leading Battalions on the assault at Le Harve, then was heavily involved in the liberation of Holland, where many of its members rest eternally.

Kilted Kenny

Posted on by Leave a comment

Gibb, Robert; Comrades, the 42nd Highlanders; The Black Watch Castle & Museum; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/comrades-the-42nd-highlanders-128430

The British Army has long included Highland regiments, hardy units recruited in Scotland– that in some cases were established long before the British Army was. Kilt-wearing regiments included such storied outfits as the 42nd Foot/Royal Highlanders/Black Watch, Cameron Highlanders, Gordon Highlanders, the Seaforth Highlanders, and the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders.

Many of these regiments still issued the knee-length pleated uniform kilt for field dress as late as 1942 and Highlanders sent to France with the BEF went to the Continent in 1939 wearing their traditional uniforms.

Today the pipers of the Scots Guards and the Jocks of the Royal Regiment of Scotland as a whole still wear the Type 1A Military Kilt on  occasion (although the latter includes several lowland regiments that have been amalgamated) and to keep you straight on how to do that properly, check out the hilarious instruction from CSgt Benson, Master Tailor of 2 Scots, below:

A Canadian highlander picking his shots in spaghetti land

Posted on by One comment

Private J.E. McPhee of (Canadian) Seaforth Highlanders, Foiano, Italy, 6 October 1943– 74 years ago today.

A sniper, McPhee is equipped with the excellent Lee Enfield No. 4 Mk. 1 (T). Chosen for accuracy, reworked, rebedded and custom stocked by Holland & Holland, these rifles and their 3.5x fixed scope were considered by many to be the best sniper rifles of the WWII era. The design, reworked in 7.62x51mm NATO in the 1960s, persisted as the L42A1 and remained in service with the British well through the 1990s.

An excellent example of a late-WWII British Enfield No.4 Mk I (T) sniper rifle fitted with the correct and matching No 32 MKIII scope that is marked on top of the tube “TEL.STG.No 32 MKII/O.S. 2039 A/A.K&S No17285/1944/broad arrow”, with the rings numbered 12 on the rear set with 13 and 15 on the front set. The mounting bracket is stamped with the matching serial number (E34422), and the scope number is correctly stamped on top of the pistol grip in front of the cheekpiece.with matching No. 8 Mark I metal scope can numbered to match the rifle and scope. Via RIA

As for the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada, they endure today as a Primary Reserve infantry regiment of the Canadian Army based in Vancouver, BC; as a part of 39 Canadian Brigade Group, 3rd Canadian Division. They recently served in Afghanistan, where no doubt their snipers came in very handy.