This picture really drew my attention. It seemed terrible sad as the information said the following about the picture:
"Above is a battalion of the Cameron Highlanders in 1914, prior to being dispatched to the front line; below is the same battalion upon their return in 1918 after the armistice."
I decided I wanted to check this out and write a little about the battalion and their battles.
Firstly lets start with a brief history on the battalion.
It started as an infantry battalion in the late 1700's with a few successful campaigns to their record. They even took part in the Second Boer war in South Africa in 1900.
The picture is apparently part of the 1st world war period. During the time in question the battalion had the following comings and goings: "The 1st Battalion landed at Le Havre as Army Troops for the 1st Division in August 1914 for service on the Western Front. The 2nd Battalion, which had been in India, landed at Le Havre as part of the 81st Brigade in the 27th Division in December 1914 for service on the Western Front and then moved to Salonika in December 1915. The 3rd Battalion was posted to Birr in Ireland in November 1917 as part of a move to replace Irish Reserve Battalions with British troops at a time when there were concerns about the reliability of troops of both 'Republican' and 'Loyalist' communities."
So lets look at why I find this a possible fake.
- Firstly there was no picture of the sort on official historical reference sites. The only one I could find was on Reddit as a discussion point.
- Take a look at the shadows of the men against the shadows of the officer in the bottom portion of the pic. The officer clearly has a shadow cast by the sun coming in from the right front of the officer. the men behind him however have the sun from almost above. Almost as though the photoshopped image took what they could from the original photo and didn't add the length to the shadows
- The background is EXACTLY the same. The car hasn't moved at all, the trees are the same and in four years not a thing has changed on the castle. Even the photographer found the EXACT same spot to take the pic
Disappointing to think that someone would take the time and effort to make a picture like this. Especially thinking that there will be people alive today that would be affected by this sort of thing. A grandfather that lost a father in the wars perhaps?
Perhaps this was just showing the loss, and the person was not trying to trick the viewers? Just showing a representation of the losses? But from what I read there was nothing showing that kind of extreme loss on a highlander battalion.
There were some serious losses in the war however and perhaps these should rather be highlighted and not some click bait picture that was posted on Facebook?
1st action Gallipoli 1914
In all, the Regiment had 1,167 men in service in the Gallipoli campaign; its casualty rate was 55.4 percent, including forty-one who were killed in action or died of their wounds, eighty-four who were evacuated because of wounds, and another 522 who suffered various illnesses including dysentery, frostbite and trench foot.Beaumount Hamel
1st Battle of the Somme 721 members of the Regiment serving with the 29th Division advanced on well-fortified German lines under the barrage of heavy machine gun fire near the village of Beaumont Hamel. Within thirty minutes about 386 men had been killed or gone missing in action. Another 396 were wounded. All of the twenty-five officers were either killed or wounded. Only about sixty-eight men later reported for duty call.Gueudecourt
The Regiment’s next engagement was Gueudecourt on 12 October 1916 against a strong German counter-offensive. The Newfoundland Regiment held ground until reinforcements from the 88th Brigade arrived to buttress the defence. The Regiment suffered 120 casualties killed or missing in action; 119 were wounded but survived.Battle of Arras
The Regiment suffered further losses with 183 killed or missing in action; another 141 were wounded and 153 men were taken prisoner. It was, Frost later recalled, “second only to Beaumont Hamel in the entire War” as far as losses to the Regiment were concerned.Langemarck
In mid-August the Regiment engaged the enemy at Langemarck which resulted in twenty-six killed and eighty-seven wounded.Allied assault on the Hindenburg Line
The Regiment’s 553 men advanced with the 29th Division, capturing German guns and about 150 prisoners as it crossed the Canal and fought its way, over the next ten days, up the bank of the Canal to Masnieres. The Regiment fought off a German counter-offensive designed to cut off the Allied forces. The Regiment suffered severe casualties, including about 109 killed or missing in action and 384 wounded.
Fighting in the general area lasted until Germany surrendered officially on 11 November. During the month of October, the Regiment suffered 334 casualties consisting of forty-one killed, 171 wounded, fifteen missing, and 102 reported sick.
Some 6,241 men had enlisted in the Regiment; the number of casualties was 3,619. This included 1,305 deaths and 2,314 men wounded. Of the initial Blue Puttee contingent, 31.4 percent were either killed or died of their wounds, while another 37.3 percent were wounded in action. Only 110 survived the war “apparently unscathed
All I can say is be careful for fake news...it's everywhere and unfortunately it is appealing and realistic to us. And if you're like me then you tend to believe the best in people.
I am taken for a ride regularly!!
Keep well all
[Image and information credit www.reddit.com, wikipedia.org, http://armyservicenumbers.blogspot.com]