Third son of the late James and Catherine Huskie,

Flesher’s Close, Carronshore

James Huskie was a pattern-filer at Mungal Foundry. He had belonged for four years to the Carronshore Company of the Volunteer Force (the predecessor to the Territorial Force). On 8 September 1914, he enlisted with the Territorial Force Battalion of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders.

On 8 September 1914, James enlisted in the Territorial Battalion of the 7th Battalion, Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders. The battalion had begun formation at Stirling on 4th August as part of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders Brigade of the Highland Division.

The 7th Battalion and its comrades of the Highland Brigade moved to Bedford where they underwent further training in the Bedford area before moving to France in December 1914. On arrival in France, the battalion were attached to 4th Division where they were to gain experience close to the front line under the supervision of other units of the 4th Division.

The Battalion and their comrades were warmly welcomed by the Bedfordians who were equally pleased with their guests, and the memories remain warm.

The Battalion was in situ at its War Station by 6th January and the 7th Battalion remaining with 4th Division where they were placed in what was a quiet part of the line.

Original narrative by Russell MacGillivary.

(Additional material by Russ Edwards)

James Huskie was killed in the Battle of St Julien (25 April - 4 May). The battle, which was the first major piece of fighting in which the battalion was involved, was the second phase of the Second Battle of Ypres (22 April-5 May, 1915). He is believed to be the first man from Bothkennar to have fallen.

Exactly a week before his death, James Huskie had been promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal.

At 5 p.m. on April 22, the German 4th Army attacked two French Divisions between Steenstraat and Langemarck, a few miles north of Ypres. They used chlorine gas successfully for the first time in the war, releasing into a north-east breeze more than 160 tons of gas in less than ten minutes. 6, 000 French soldiers were killed in ten minutes and a huge 4-5-mile gap opened up in the front line as the survivors withdrew towards Boesinghe.

Gas

A Canadian Division (1st Canadian Division) fought to stem the German advance but over the next two days the Allied forces had to retreat. The village of St Julien, on 22 April safely behind the front line, was now on the front line.

The 7th Bn, Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders were sent to Ypres the day after the start of the German attack. The Battle of St Julien began early in the morning of April 24 when the Germans launched another chlorine gas attack, followed by repeated infantry assaults on British and Canadian forces holding the line at St Julien.

With limited protection against the poison gas and outnumbered by about 10 to 1, the Canadians were forced to give ground to the Germans, who took St Julien by 3 p.m. on the 24th.

On 25 April, in the view of the Official Historian, the five battalions of the 10th Brigade, including the 7th Argylls, were called upon to attempt the impossible. Without adequate artillery preparation and support, on ground unknown and unreconnoitred, they were sent to turn an enemy well-provided with machine guns out of a position which had ready-made cover in houses and a wood, and splendid artillery observation from higher ground behind it.

The unexpected assault on the French, Canadian, and British troops at St Julien sent the defending troops reeling: the involvement of 7th Argylls was part of a desperate attempt to stem the unexpected and brutal assault under cover of the use of gas. Throwing the 7th Argylls into the battle was part of a raft of such efforts across the Ypres sector: men learned to fight or die.

Like the defending Allied, troops “The Falkirk Herald” was caught by surprise and tried desperately to make some kind of sense of the sporadic reports of fighting from across the channel. The Herald saw it as its duty to feed as much information to friends and family of the Argylls in action, and the subsequent reports came through initially by letters and postcards, and from brief releases of specific information by the army.

The Battle of St Julien was the first major action the battalion was involved in and was the second phase of the Second Battle of Ypres (22 April-5 May, 1915).

The casualties sustained by the 7th Argylls were horrific

The battalion war diary recorded that 6 officers and 100 other ranks were killed, but 150 men were posted missing and this was to double the number of other ranks who were killed in this attack. The total number of casualties in the battalion was over 500.

On the next day, the battalion was to be in support but did not leave the trenches they held. This was just as well for the 26th April 1915 was “a truly disastrous day”. There were 4,000 casualties on a mile-wide front. “Men were lost in totally fruitless and ill-prepared attacks against an enemy that was reasonably well-prepared and was superior in numbers and artillery.”

A letter, which clearly indicates that James Huskie’s death occurred on 25 April, (the first day of the battle), was sent to his brother by Private Robert Lindsay, dated April 28:

Lance Corporal Huskie’s grave was lost in the subsequent fighting and his death is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial. (Menin Gate Memorial, Ieper, Belgium Panel 42 and 44.)

The awful reality of the war for 7th Argylls was not unusual, and would be repeated throughout the war. James Huskie’s records contain correspondence showing the efforts by James’ family i.e. his siblings to understand what had happened to James, and to come to terms with the loss of their brother. I am aware that Russel MacGillivary interviewed family members about James and his family, and talked about the loss of James. But there is no good reason for for James to have died like just as many other men died.