James and the Battalion arrived at Boulogne on the 22/11/1915 and were part of the 97th Brigade, 32nd Division. His Battalion along with the 16th led the assault on the Leipzig Salient where they overran the redoubt before being brought to a standstill by heavy German fire from the Wonder Work. The Battle of Albert, 1st - 13th July 1916 : The story of that morning for the 17th Battalion is an epic. For every man it was the first experience of "over the top". In sun-baked trenches everyone longed for the zero hour, while the guns rolled, and shells crashed with ever-increasing intensity. Nothing was real. Men stood and waited as if in a dream. They felt as if they were listening to the overture; that soon the curtain would rise. Even when the guns ceased their roar for a few moments towards the end, and in the death-like stillness was heard the warbling of birds in "no man's land" - the grim reality of it all was felt. With the lifting mist of the morning, the curtain rose. . . . At 7.23 a.m. the Battalion started moving across "no man's land." When the barrage lifted the men entered the enemy front line and the work of the moppers-up soon began. The advance across the open was splendidly carried out, all ranks behaving magnificently, as was the case throughout the entire action. Leipzig Trench was taken and the leading lines advanced against the Hindenburg Trench. These were mown down and by 8.15 a.m. every Company Officer was a casualty. It now became obvious to Colonel Morton that Leipzig Trench must be held, as without reinforcements, no further advance could be made, both flanks being exposed, as the 8th Division on their right had been driven back. The left was particularly exposed and parties under Sergeant Macgregor and Sergeant Watt were organised and sent to strengthen the left where "B" and "D" Companies had been almost annihilated. It was now 9 o'clock and the Battalion casualties now amounted to 22 officers and 400 other ranks. The bombers, who had been sent up to replace casualties, were holding the flanks successfully. By 11.15 the entire line was very weak, and still at 2 o'clock in the afternoon the situation was unchanged, 2nd Lieutenant Morrison and 2nd Lieutenant Marr working and organising the protective flank bombers without the least regard for personal safety. At 4 o'clock the 2nd Manchesters reinforced them with two Companies. Just at this time the line wavered a little in face of the overwhelming bombardment and the appalling casualties, but control was immediately gained. At 5 the shattered unit was ordered to consolidate the ground taken. This was done and two strong enemy counterattacks repulsed. At 9.30 the Battalion started to be relieved by the Manchesters, but the relief was not wholly carried out until near midnight, although several bombing parties had to carry on till well towards mid-day of the following day before being relieved. The 17th concentrated on Campbell Post and held the line in that Sector. In the evening of the next day the Battalion was relieved and returned to dug outs at Crucifix Corner. The first V.C., not only for the Battalion, but of the Division was gained in this battle and was won by Sergeant James Young Turnbull. The following is the extract from The London Gazette, of 25th December, 1916, intimating the award of the Victoria Cross :- No. 15888 Sergeant James Young Turnbull, late Highland Light Infantry. "For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty, when, having with his party captured a post apparently of great importance to the enemy, he was subjected to severe counter attacks, which were continuous throughout the whole day. Although his party was wiped out and replaced several times during the day, Sergeant Turnbull never wavered in his determination to hold the post, the loss of which would have been very serious. Almost single-handed he maintained his position and displayed the highest degree of valour and skill in the performance of his duties". Later in the day this gallant soldier was killed whilst bombing a counterattack from the parados of our trench. Of all the units operating in that ghastly Sector, the 17th Highland Light Infantry was the only Battalion which reached and occupied and held the enemy's trenches from La Boiselle northwards. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, writing of the Battle of the Somme in his history of the war, emphasises what this unadorned record of the day's fighting bears out that there had been no flinching anywhere, and the military virtue shown had been of the highest possible quality ; but the losses from the machine guns and from the barrage was so heavy that they deprived the attack of the weight and momentum necessary to win their way through the enemy's position. "In the desperate circumstances," he says, "it might well be considered a remarkable result that a stretch of the Leipzig Redoubt should be won and permanently held by the Highlanders, especially by the 17th Highland Light Infantry". Throughout these terrible operations Colonel Morton was present in the most advanced positions encouraging and cheering the men by his personal example and utter disregard for danger. Great work was also done by Captain D. C. Evans, R.A.M.C. who, for over forty-eight hours, without interval or rest, attended to the Battalion wounded. Throughout the action he carried on his task of relieving suffering and saving life quite heedless of the shelling and firing and quite cool in the face of the ever-growing number of cases demanding his attention and skill. At the Battalion parade for Roll Call on the 4th of July, the casualties totalled 22 Officers and 447 other ranks. This Battle was part of The Battles of the Somme, 1st July - 18th November 1916 : A Franco-British offensive that was undertaken after Allied strategic conferences in late 1915, but which changed its nature due to the German attack against the French in the epic Battle of Verdun, which lasted from late February to November. Huge British losses on the first day and a series of fiercely contested steps that became attritional in nature. For all armies on the Western Front it was becoming what the Germans would call "materialschlacht" : a war not of morale, will or even manpower, but of sheer industrial material might. The 15th September 1916 saw the first-ever use of tanks in the step known as the Battle of Flers-Courcelette. The British army in France is now approaching its maximum strength in numbers but is still developing in terms of tactics, technology, command and control. SEE PHOTOS x 7 FOR THE BATTALION WAR DIARY FROM LATE JUNE UNTIL THE 1st JULY. The 17th Battalion were the "Glasgow Commercials" or the "Featherbeds", a nickname acquired after a storm destroyed their tents at their training camp at Gailes in Ayrshire and they were moved to comfortable billets in Troon. 14 other men from the Coatbridge Memorial paid the ultimate sacrifice on the 1st July 1916. James had 2 other brothers serving, 2nd Lieutenant Edward Morton McNaught of the 6th (Service) Battalion Cameron Highlanders who enlisted as a Private and was Mentioned in Despatches by Field Marshall Sir Douglas Haig and Private David N McNaught of the Royal Canadian Highlanders who was wounded in his left leg and knee and later to the right eye in 1916. James' uncle Joseph was accidentally killed in Canada in 1917. James enlisted as a Private quickly attaining the rank of Sergeant. He volunteered for Scout work and after special training he became the Brigades Chief Scout. Please see comments below for James mentioned in a fellow soldiers' diary kindly sent by my friend Charlie McDonald. See Newspaper clippings for his two brothers' information and also for the Will this brave and kind man left for £600 to be used for holidays and treats for the poor children of Coatbridge. Also see Newspaper clippings for James and his brother Edward mentioned in the Drumpellier Cricket Club members who had joined the colours. James is also remembered at the Family Plot in New Monkland Cemetery (see photos) and in the St. Augustine's Parish (book) Roll of Honour. See photos for James' Medal Index Card, his CWGC Grave Registration, his Army Register of Soldiers Effects, his Service Medal and Award Roll x 2, James' listing in the De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour, his England and Wales Index of Wills and Administrations (his father and his stepmothers also in photos), the Family Plot in New Monkland Cemetery, father's name on the Family Plot in Brogue Churchyard, Dumfries and Galloway, the Highland Light Infantry Cap Badge, Newspaper clippings x 10 (Coatbridge Express x 1, Airdrie and Coatbridge Advertiser x 4 and Coatbridge Leader x 5) and the 32nd Division Order of Battle x 14. Finally, this book is the Record of War Service 1914-1918 of the 17th (Service) Battalion -
Here
