The Battle of Festubert
The Battle of Festubert, 15 to 25 May 1915, was first major battle of World War One involving men from Kingussie. The battle was part of the much larger French Second Battle of Artois. In total the British lost 16,600 killed and wounded. By the end on May 1915 the Cameron Highlanders had over 120 dead. Almost 100 of the bodies were never recovered or, if they were recovered were unidentified, and their names are listed on the Le Touret Memorial to The Missing.
Festubert is located northeast of Bethune in the Pas-de-Calais Region of France
Nine Kingussie men died 17 – 18 May 1915 but no identifiable bodies were recovered for burial. All nine are remembered on the Le Touret Memorial to the Missing. https://www.cwgc.org/visit-us/find-cemeteries-memorials/cemetery-details/85800/le-touret-memorial/
Memories of the Battle
A young Kingussie Territorial, who survived the battle, sent a letter home describing the fighting. An extract from his letter reads:
“We got the order to march to the front trenches at 5pm on 17th May, 1915. We had to wait 20 minutes while our artillery were shelling the German position. Then we got the order to fix bayonets and charge. As we went over the top the German gunners opened fire on us, but we kept on. Our boys were getting bowled over but we reached the German front-line trench and found they had evacuated it. In the morning at the roll call there were 30 Kingussie boys amongst the killed and wounded. I don’t know how we weren’t all killed.”
Casualties
MacDonald, Sergeant James Aitchison
MacDonald, Private John Campbell
McKerlich, Private Christopher McRae
