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As the British army became increasingly desperate for men, the various Highland regiments that constituted the Gordon Highlanders were ordered to expand rapidly during World War I. By 1918 the regiment had expanded to include 19 battalion of Seaforths, 21 battalions of Gordons and 13 battalions of Camerons. By the time the Armistice was signed, the Gordons had won 14 Victoria Crosses, but at a cost of 29,000 wounded, killed and missing men. Dressed in their kilts or khaki shorts, this image shows a group of Gordon Highlanders taking a brief rest during a march to the frontline trenches. This sheltering hole appears quite dry, unlike the usual Western Front images of puddles and mud. It is difficult to establish whether this infantry foxhole is a planned sheltering hole or a crater that was caused by shelling or a mine explosion. As the British army became increasingly desperate for men, the various Highland regiments that constituted the Gordon Highlanders were ordered to expand rapidly during World War I. By 1918 the regiment had expanded to include 19 battalion of Seaforths, 21 battalions of Gordons and 13 battalions of Camerons. By the time the Armistice was signed, the Gordons had won 14 Victoria Crosses, but at a cost of 29,000 wounded, killed and missing men.

[Original reads: 'OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN ON THE BRITISH WESTERN FRONT.']
Photographer: John Warwick Brooke, of the Topical Press Agency.

[Picture: Courtesy of National Library of Scotland.]
Original Picture, has been enhanced and revived by Graeme Watson, 2016

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Picture: Header, The first patrol entering Cambrai. The Great War (First World War) World War I hand-coloured photograph from an exhibition of war photograph's in natural colour produced by Colart's Studios, Melbourne, in the 1920s.
[Picture: Courtesy of State Library of New South Wales, flickr - No known copyright restrictions.]
(Edited: Artistic Blur by Graeme Watson, 2016)