Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (Great Britain)

Led by a piper, men of 2nd Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, 15th (Scottish) Division, move forward during Operation 'Epsom', 26 June 1944. Imperial War Museum B5988.

The 1st Battalion fought in the Western Desert Campaign, Crete, Abyssinia, Sicily and in the Italian Campaign. The first action for the 1st Battalion was at Sidi Barani where they joined the battle on 10 December 1940 as part of the 16th Infantry Brigade. On 17 May 1941 the battalion moved to Crete where they formed part of the defense based on the east side of the island at Tymbaki. Most of the Argylls marched from Tymbaki to the airfield at Heraklion on the night of 24 May to help support the 14th Infantry Brigade in the fighting at that airfield. They were successfully evacuated on 29 May from Heraklion but their convoy suffered air attacks and many casualties on the route away from Crete. The Argylls left at Tymbaki were captured when the island surrendered. The 1st Battalion was shipped to Alexandria and after garrison duties followed by a raid into the Gondar region of Abyssinia, they were sent back to the Western Desert where they were eventually attached to the 161st Indian Infantry Brigade, part of 4th Indian Infantry Division, and fought in the Second Battle of El Alamein. In 1943 the 1st Battalion landed on Sicily during Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily, attached to the 5th British Infantry Division as the 33rd Beach Brick. From February 1944 the battalion fought through the Italian Campaign with the 19th Indian Infantry Brigade, attached to 8th Indian Infantry Division.

The 2nd Battalion fought valiantly against the Imperial Japanese Army during the fighting in Malaya and Singapore. Led by the tough Lieutenant Colonel Ian Stewart they were one of the very few British units that was prepared for the jungle warfare in Malaya. In the months before the invasion of southern Thailand and Malaya in 1941, Stewart took his battalion into the harshest terrain he could find and developed tactics to fight effectively in those areas. This training that the 2nd Argylls went through would make them arguably the most effective unit in General Percival's Malayan Command, earning them the nickname "the jungle beasts".

During the withdrawal of the 11th Indian Infantry Division, the 2nd Argylls slowed the enemy advance and inflicted heavy casualties on them. During these actions the battalion became so depleted by battle that it was ordered back into Singapore. Two days later, 2,000 or so men of the 22nd Australian Brigade (the absolute tail guard of the British forces) arrived at the causeway. An Australian staff officer was amazed to find the Argylls camped on the Malay side of the water, and asked why they were in Malaya when they could have been in the relative comfort of Singapore. Lt. Col. Stewart replied "You know the trouble with you Australians is that you have no sense of history. When the story of this campaign is written you will find that the ASHR goes down as the last unit to cross this causeway what's more – piped across by their pipers".

The Argylls had lost 800 men due to continuous action as rear guards (especially at the Battle of Slim River). When the remaining Argylls arrived in Singapore in December 1941, the battalion was reinforced with some Royal Marines who had survived the sinking of HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse. The merger was held at Tyersall Park, and the battalion was informally renamed "Plymouth Argylls". (This was in reference to the Argylls' affiliation with Plymouth Argyle F.C. and to the Plymouth Division of the Royal Marines, which all the Marines were from.

The battalion surrendered with the rest of the army in Singapore in February 1942. Many Argylls died in captivity as P.O.W's or in the jungle trying to avoid capture. A few Argylls managed to escape to India, including Lt.Col. Stewart, where they lectured on jungle warfare tactics. After this the evacuees became part of No. 6 GHQ Training Team, which organized training exercises and lectures for the 14th Indian Infantry Division and 2nd British Infantry Division.

In May 1942, the 15th Battalion, raised during the war, was redesignated as the new 2nd Battalion. This battalion joined the 227th (Highland) Infantry Brigade and became a part of the 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division, a formation that would gain an excellent reputation, in 1943. With the division, the battalion fought in the Battle for Caen, seeing its first action in Operation Epsom, as part of Operation Overlord. The division ended the war on the Elbe River.

The 5th battalion landed in France as part of the British Expeditionary Force in September 1939. They took part in the Dunkirk evacuation in June 1940 and then, after converting to become the 91st Anti-Tank Regiment and seeing action at the Normandy landings in June 1944, they fought through North-West Europe to the River Elbe.

The 6th Battalion landed in France as corps troops for I Corps with the British Expeditionary Force in September 1939. They took part in the Dunkirk evacuation in June 1940 and then, after converting to become the 93rd Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery saw action in the Tunisia campaign, in the Allied landings in Sicily and in the Allied landings in Italy.

The 7th Battalion was a Territorial Army (TA) unit serving in the 154th (Highland) Infantry Brigade. The brigade was part of the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division in France in 1940 as part of the British Expeditionary Force. They were stationed on the Maginot Line and so avoided being encircled with the rest of the BEF during the Battle of France. The 7th Argylls in particular suffered heavy losses during the fighting, the worst day in its history. The 154th Brigade managed to be evacuated to England after the 51st (Highland) Division was forced to surrender on 12 June 1940. The division was reconstituted by the re-designation of the 9th (Highland) Infantry Division to the 51st. The understrength 154th Brigade of the old 51st was merged with the 28th Infantry Brigade. In 1942 the new 51st Division, 7th Argylls included, were sent to join the British Eighth Army in the North African Campaign. They fought in the First Battle of El Alamein and in the Second Battle of El Alamein which turned the tide of the war in favor of the Allies. During the fighting in North Africa, Lieutenant Colonel Lorne MacLaine Campbell of 7th Argylls was awarded the Victoria Cross. In March 1942, two British privates from the 7th battalion, Macfarlane and Goldie, escaped wearing their blue work detail overalls over their battledress. They wore rucksacks to cover the markings "KG" (Kriegsgefangener, "prisoner of war") on their backs. They secreted themselves in a rail wagon carrying salt to Belgium. There they managed to contact an escape line and, by the middle of the year, they were safely back in Scotland.

The 8th Battalion was also a Territorial Army (TA) unit serving with the 7th Battalion in the 154th (Highland) Infantry Brigade. The brigade was part of the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division in France in 1940 as part of the British Expeditionary Force. The 154th Brigade managed to be evacuated to England after the 51st (Highland) Division was forced to surrender on 12 June 1940. On 25 April 1943, the 8th Battalion was, by this time, serving with the 36th Brigade, part of the 78th Battleaxe Division during the Tunisian Campaign won fame during the assault of Djebel Ahmera hill on the attack on Longstop Hill, in which despite heavy casualties from mortar and machine gun fire scaled and took the heights. Major John Thompson McKellar Anderson, for inspiring his men and eliminating strong points, gained the Victoria Cross.

The 9th Battalion, also a Territorial unit, was converted to artillery as the 54th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery comprising three batteries from the former Companies: 160 (Dumbarton), 161 (Alexandria) and 162 (Helensburgh). Former B Company (Kirkintilloch) and D Company (Clydebank) formed the nucleus of the second-line regiment, the 58th LAA, comprising 172,173 and 174 Batteries. Armed with Bofors and Lewis guns, the 54th saw action protecting the rear of the retreat of the BEF to Dunkirk, destroying the Bofors before rescue. 162 Battery became detached protecting airfields at Reims and escaped in June via Brest, St. Nazaire and La Rochelle. Between Dunkirk and D-Day they were deployed mostly in training and protecting airfields and other sites in England, including Manchester, as part of 44th AA Brigade. They participated in Operation Harlequin on the south coast. They were then transferred to 9th Armoured Division until its dispersal in 1944 and then to the 21st Army Group. They were deployed after D-Day, in August 1944, in support of the First Canadian Army, landing at Juno Beach. They provided support at Rouen and Pont-de-l'Arche and onward through northern France to Boulogne and subsequently Antwerp and Ostend in Belgium. In November they moved onward to Kloosterzande, Holland, remaining there until the end of the war. They continued into Germany as part of the BAOR, helping guard POWs at Munsterlager until November 1945, then on to Brunswick until early 1946 when the regiment was put into "suspended animation" and demobilized. The 58th joined the BEF and participated in the defence of Boulogne and Calais. From May 1941 they served as part of 11th Armoured Division, initially as part of 11th Support Group until it was disbanded 1 June 1942, then transferring to Divisional Troops. In 1944, they were deployed in Operation Overlord and later that year south and east of Eindhoven, Holland.

Battle Honors

The Second World War– Somme 1940, Odon, Tourmauville Bridge, Caen, Esquay, Mont Pincon, Quarry Hill, Estry, Falaise, Dives Crossing, Aart, Lower Maas, Meijel, Venlo Pocket, Ourthe, Rhineland, Reichswald, Rhine, Uelzen, Artlenburg, North-West Europe 1940, 44–45, Abyssinia 1941, Sidi Barrani, El Alamein, Medenine, Akarit, Diebel Azzag 1942, Kef Ouiba Pass, Mine de Sedjenane, Medjez Plain, Longstop Hill 1943, North Africa 1940–43, Landing in Sicily, Gerbini, Adrano, Centuripe, Sicily 1943, Termoli, Sangro, Cassino II, Liri Valley, Aquino, Monte Casalino, Monte Spaduro, Monte Grande, Senio, Santerno Crossing, Argenta Gap, Italy 1943–45, Crete, Heraklion, Middle East 1941, North Malaya, Grik Road, Central Malaya, Ipoh, Slim River, Singapore Island, Malaya 1941–42.

Victoria Cross Recipients

Lieut Col L.M. Campbell, DSO, TD 6 April 1943 Wadi Akarit

Major J.T. McKellar Anderson, DSO, TD 23 April 1943 Longstop Hill

Regimental Colonels

1937–1945: Maj-Gen. Gervase Thorpe, CB, CMG, DSO

1945–1958: Gen. Sir Gordon Holmes Alexander MacMillan of MacMillan, KCB, KCVO, CBE, DSO, MC

Affiliations

Units that have formed affiliations with the regiment include:

Canada – The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada (Princess Louise's)

Canada – The Calgary Highlanders

Canada – Cape Breton Highlanders

Australia – The Royal Queensland Regiment

Australia – The Royal New South Wales Regiment

Pakistan – 1st Battalion (Scinde), The Frontier Force Regiment

Royal Navy – HMS Argyll

United Kingdom – Balaklava Company, West Lowland Battalion ACF

Sources

Frederick, J. B. M. (1984). Lineage Book of British Land Forces 1660–1978, Volume I. Wakefield, United Kingdom: Microform Academic Publishers.

Barker, F. R. P. (1950). History of the 9th Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders 54th Light A.A. Regiment 1939–45. Thomas Nelson and Sons.

Jeffreys, Alan (2003). British Infantrymen in the Far East 1941–1945. Osprey Publishing.

Levine, Alan (2007). D-Day to Berlin: The Northwest Europe Campaign, 1944–45. Stackpole.

Royle, Trevor (2011). The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders: A Concise History. Random House.

Thompson, P. (2005). The Battle for Singapore; The True Story of the Greatest Catastrophe of World War Two. Piatkus Books.

Further Reading

Greenwood, Adrian (2015). Victoria's Scottish Lion: The Life of Colin Campbell, Lord Clyde. UK: History Press. p. 496.

Church parade of St. Andrews Church by the 1st Battalion, The Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders on May 26, 1940. Highlanders arriving on the church grounds.

Church parade of St. Andrews Church by the 1st Battalion, The Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders on May 26, 1940. Dr. Maclean addressing the troops.

Church parade of St. Andrews Church by the 1st Battalion, The Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders on May 26, 1940. Highlanders and congregation after church service.

Men of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, 51st Highland Division, trying on gas masks, November 1939. Imperial War Museum H85.

Men of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, 51st Highland Division, during bayonet practice, November 1939.

Men of the 2nd Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders training with a Lanchester six-wheeled armored car in the Malayan jungle, 13 November 1941. Imperial War Museum FE352.

Men of the 7th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, 51st Highland Division, Millbosche, 7 June 1940. Imperial War Museum F4733.

Men of the 7th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, 51st Highland Division, Millbosche, 7 June 1940. Imperial War Museum F4736.

Men of the 7th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, 51st Highland Division, holding a position in the River Bresle area, 6 - 8 June 1940. Imperial War Museum F4743.

Men of the 7th Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders on the march in North Africa, 1942.

Bofors guns and vehicles of 54th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, 9th Armoured Division, on board a flotilla of landing craft during Exercise 'Harlequin', 11 September 1943. Imperial War Museum H32685.

Sergeant Duffin of 2nd Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, 15th (Scottish) Division, reading a copy of the Stirling Observer newspaper in Celle. Imperial War Museum BU3544.

Driver mechanic George Couser of 91st Anti-Tank Regiment in a jeep with a pet dog in Tessel-Bretteville, 30 June 1944. B6238.

Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, 15th (Scottish) Division, in captured German trenches, 8 February 1945. Imperial War Museum BU1720.

A captured German 88mm gun being used against its original owners by gunners of 172nd Battery, 58th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, 28 December 1944. Imperial War Museum B13292.

Churchill tanks supporting infantry of the 2nd Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders during Operation 'Veritable', 8 February 1945.

Churchill tanks of 3rd Scots Guards, 6th Guards Tank Brigade, with infantry of 2nd Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, advance near Beringe in Holland, 22 November 1944. Imperial War Museum B12026.

Sherman Crab flail tanks of the Westminster Dragoons carrying infantry of 2nd Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders during the advance east of Beringe, 22 November 1944. Imperial War Museum B12028.

Infantry of 2nd Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders riding on Achilles 17-pdr tank destroyers during the advance east of Beringe, 22 November 1944. Imperial War Museum B12030.