THE COVENANTER
or the 7th Bn, which were part of the 52nd Cameronians and Russians.
(Lowland) Division. They were in east Bill Coughlan.
Germany and may have been standing near
the Elbe? Tribute to John Terraine
The flash, above the corporal’s stripes,
Anyone privileged to compose a piece for
confirms that the 52nd Division had been
inclusion in a Tribute to John Terraine will
trained for mountain warfare by Norwegian
no doubt have a particular example of his
units in the Highlands; they had learnt to
work, perhaps a book written or edited by
ski, wear snowshoes, live in igloos and
him, or a television series he has produced,
believed they would be part of the
which we hold in special esteem. While I
liberation of Norway? A former artillery
greatly admire Douglas Haig: the Educated
officer of the 52nd told me that they had
Soldier, and have enjoyed The Smoke and the
been trained as part of a successful hoax to
Fire, as well as the television series The
tie up German divisions in Norway, which
Mighty Continent and The Life and Times of
might well have been transferred to France
Lord Mountbatten, for me General Jack’s Diary
to await the D Day invasion.
1914-1918 must have pride of place. There
This photograph was printed in The
are two reasons for this: first, my personal
Guardian on the 16th June 2003 alongside
connections with the General, and second,
three other pictures of Leo Tolstoy; authors
the manner in which John drew attention
Maxim Gorky and HG. Wells; Tsar Nicholas
to his fine qualities at a time when the
11, King George V and King Albert of the
ideals which had inspired him were mostly
Belgians. The pictures, owned by the
forgotten, or mocked if remembered.
Russian Information Agency-Novosti, were
My father served with James Jack
part of a photographic exhibition at the
between 1910 and 1912 in the 1st Battalion
Guildhall in London to mark the banquet
The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), the same
given by the Corporation of London in
battalion as I joined in 1948, and of which
honour of President Vladimir Putin. This
I was Second-in-Command on the sad day
was the first official state visit by Russia
of its disbandment, 14 May 1968. Just
since 1874, when Tsar Alexander II dined at
before my father arrived in India in 1910,
the Guildhall.
Jack had been made adjutant, although
The exhibition called Russia/Britain Past
only a 2nd Lieutenant in those days of slow
and Present was held between the 21st June
promotion. In his memoirs, my father
and the 6th July 2003. The Cameronian and
recalled that it was a time when drill was
his Russian comrade, displayed among the
held to be all-important, and Jack ‘was a
historical figures of the past, looked down
real addict’. The significance of this
upon President Putin, the Lord Mayor of
preoccupation with what some might
London and many others who are making
consider an almost pointless aspect of
history today.
military training should not be missed. It
Bill Coughlan.
was an essential part of the make-up of the
pre-1914 regular officer, about whom John
Capt. Cliff Petit, ex-6th Bn, wrote the
Terraine makes important observations in
following: ‘Your initial paragraph is not
his introduction to the Diary.
simply a ‘possibility’ - it is a fact.’ He goes
He starts by mentioning two main
on to reveal that the photograph was taken
sources of information about the war. There
on the Friendship Bridge in Magdeburg,
are the brilliant books which he describes as
which joined the British and Russian sectors
the ‘testimonies of Britain’s Citizen Army’,
over the Elbe. The Friendship Bridge was a
and include works by Siegfried Sassoon,
temporary replacement for the destroyed
Robert Graves, Charles Edmunds and
Adolph Hitler Bridge.
others. There are also the records of the
Can anybody identify the corporal? If we
generals ‘who committed millions of words
receive his side of the story, we might be
to paper’. But what of the reactions of the
able to learn something about the Russian
regular soldier at the regimental level? John
as well.
asks. Having posed several questions on this
Terry Mackenzie, the museum officer,
subject, ending with ‘What was it that
states that, although there are snapshots of
sustained them?’, he finishes as follows:
Cameronians meeting Russians in the 1945
These are the questions which General Jack’s
editions of the Covenanter, he believes that
diary helps to answer. His narrative fills in
the Novosti picture is the only press agency
(deliberately) much of the detail of a soldier’s
photograph of such meetings between
life at war which alone can provide true
48
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