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Thomas Laing was employed at Carronhall Colliery and lived with his parents. He enlisted in the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders in November 1914 but was later transferred to the 2nd Battalion of the Seaforth Highlanders. He was killed during the Battle of Arras. His battalion, which was to have a support role in the first days of the battle, was to capture the 3rd system of German trenches, known as Le Point du Jour.

Zero hour was 5.30 a.m. on April 9, and the 2nd Battalion Seaforth Highlanders, in support, moved off an hour later. At first their advance was “quite uneventful”. At 12 noon the advance was continued and the battalion crossed No Man’s Land. The German front line system had been “more or less obliterated by our shellfire.” At 3.10 p.m. the battalion reached their objective for the first day and began to consolidate their position. This continued until the morning of the 11th . In the early hours of the 11th arrangements began for a resumption of the attack in the valley of the River Sensee. It was to start at 12 noon. The assembly of the attacking troops beforehand was spotted by German aeroplanes and consequently heavily shelled. “When Zero came, the Coys advanced into the barrage. They were immediately subjected to intense machine gun fire,” the battalion war diary noted. A British barrage was put down around the Hyderabad Redoubt but this was “very weak”. The German machine guns were positioned beyond the reach of this barrage and the failure of the attack was blamed on this.

In the early hours of the 11th arrangements began for a resumption of the attack in the valley of the River Sensee. It was to start at 12 noon. The assembly of the attacking troops beforehand was spotted by German aeroplanes and consequently heavily shelled. “When Zero came, the Coys advanced into the barrage. They were immediately subjected to intense machine gun fire,” the battalion war diary noted. A British barrage was put down around the Hyderabad Redoubt but this was “very weak”. The German machine guns were positioned beyond the reach of this barrage and the failure of the attack was blamed on this.

Another operation at the western outskirts of the small village of Fampoux just east of Arras failed: “The heavy machine gun fire maintained by the enemy made it impossible to obtain information regarding the course of the action.” The bitterness of the comment in the battalion war diary is easy to detect: “but it required no report to realize that a single wave of 400 men who had to advance an average of 1600 yards with a Bn front of 100 yards could not obtain their objectives in face of such machine gun fire and rifle fire.” Thomas Laing was one of the battalion’s casualties which numbered 12 officers (out of 12) and 363 other ranks (out of 420). “I leave these losses to speak for the gallantry of all ranks”, wrote Major N C Orr.