The Black Watch

Mobilization orders take reservist Joe Cassells from Perth to Aldershot and then across the Channel with the Black Watch. His personal account follows the opening months of the First World War, when long marches through France and Belgium lead into fighting around Mons and the Marne. He recalls the bewilderment of soldiers facing unfamiliar weapons, aircraft overhead, repeated moves and the exhausting work of digging fresh positions.

Cassells also records the smaller experiences that make up a scout's service: an old Frenchman's gift of a lucky coin, muddy night patrols and a silent encounter with an unidentified soldier between the lines. His descriptions place regimental pride beside physical weariness and the danger faced by men trying to bring wounded comrades back to shelter. Readers interested in military memoirs will find an account shaped by immediate observations, practical duties and vivid memories of the war's early fighting.