Those Bloody Kilts: The Highland Soldier in the Great War

By Thomas Greenshields

Helion and Company, March 2022

David F. Beer, Reviewer

“The kilt was a unique dress, ironically, by virtue of extraordinary custom and tradition, the most blatantly masculine dress in the Army…” (p. 171).

What would you be thinking if you were part of a Highland Scots regiment going over the top in your kilt? Hard to say, but you would be following a long and proud history of Celtic warriors going to war wearing an ancient and honored garb. This is made clear in Thomas Greenshields’s Those Bloody Kilts, an almost magisterial book of over 500 pages, with copious notes, and many photographs. It examines in extraordinary detail not only the wearing of the kilt but also the use and meaning of the bagpipes and practically every other aspect of life in a Highland regiment during the Great War. 

Those Bloody Kilts is the result of the author’s tireless research among letters, diaries, notes, accounts, and reports of both officers and everyday soldiers, carried out in the Imperial War Museum, the National Library of Scotland, the Liddle Collection, plus various regimental museums. Seventeen chapters run from the part historically played by Highland regiments in the British Empire to organizational matters, kilts, the pipes, discipline, comradeship, ferocity, identity, and courage. Kilted regiments in Canada and South Africa are included in this study.

Three chapters are devoted to the kilt, and its mystique, tradition, correct wearing, and its hazards in stormy weather and combat. It was the tradition to wear nothing under the garment and many Highland soldiers followed this even though it could be problematic on gusty days, riding a bicycle, or going upstairs in buildings or a bus. In the trenches, the kilt could acquire more than its share of lice, accumulate heavy mud around its hem, prove chilly on cold days, and could catch on barbed wire. One touching report describes how several Highlanders were mowed down by machine guns on going over the top and how later the chaplain went among the bodies, rearranging their kilts with his cane so that nothing too personal was exposed. Nevertheless, the martial honor, pride, and glamor in wearing the kilt remained.

Kilted Dead on the Western Front

The kilt was, indeed, such a source of pride that at least two American Medical Officers attached to Highland battalions desired to wear it. One at least succeeded. ‘He was as proud as Punch, but he created a great deal of amusement. The kilt would not sit properly on him. His hind quarters could not make it wiggle waggle. It was no use, the kilt would have soon been down to his knees, but for the use of braces’ . (pp. 156-157)

Just as the kilt was an important factor in the morale and esprit de corps of Highland regiments, so were the pipes. (Both still are.) Traditional bagpipe music can be stirring, wistful, inspiring, and mournful, and Scots bagpipers played an important role in the Great War. As Douglas Haig (a Scot himself) wrote:

The Pipers of Scotland may well be proud of the part they have played in this war. In the heat of battle, by the lonely grave, and during the long hours of waiting, they have called to us to show ourselves worthy of the land to which we belong. Many have fallen in the fight for liberty, but their memories remain. (p. 228)

Reviewer David Beer Is a Piper, Himself

Many pipers lost their lives in the Great War, but contrary to the glorious image of a piper leading troops over the top, this was not commonly the case. As far as combat was concerned, most pipers played to companies going up to the trenches or collecting them when they returned. Their safety, however, was never guaranteed.

Chapter 9 on "Discipline" analyses the very human side of the Scots soldier and reveals him to be no different than others. Although allegedly with a weakness for alcohol, the statistics show no more drunkenness among Scots than among other soldiers. Other sins are interestingly covered in this chapter, including disobedience, neglect, cheating on censorship, looting, theft, self-inflicted wounds, suicides, cowardice, gambling, and mutiny. After this litany, I was surprised to find a further section on "Other misdemeanors” (p. 274).

Chapter 15, “Ferocity and Compassion,” is an interesting amalgam of the darker side of warfare. A popular impression of the Highlander was that of the ferocious bayonet-toting soldier (p. 410). This image has numerous reports to support it, such as the following:

“Two Kilties caught a German who shouted for mercy and said he was a Christian. The fellows said, ‘Alright, you’ll be an angel tomorrow,’ and bayonet him. Other 2 caught 2 officers & 4 men who were asking for mercy; they: ‘By ----you’ll get mercy this time,’ and bayoneted the lot.” (p. 422)

Plenty of evidence of German perfidy is given to justify such actions, and it’s impossible to judge a person who is in the heat of battle. The author also gives several citations from soldiers and stretcher bearers who felt pity for the wounded or defeated enemy.

Chapter 17, "Final Thoughts," nicely brings together the myriad topics covered in the first sixteen. This very readable book could almost be considered an encyclopedia of the experiences of kilted Highland regiments in World War One, and it is impossible to do it justice in a short review. 

By the time I finished the book, however, I could at least partly empathize with the written words of Lieutenant C.B. Anderson on foreseeing his own death:

“. . . don’t grieve, there are worse deaths than leading a platoon of Highlanders into action.” (p. 481)

David F. Beer