Current Information:

Born-London

On 13th December, 1914, the 2nd Royal Scots battalion of 8 Brigade, 3rd Division moved to billets at Kemmel in preparation for an attack the following morning. At 3am on 14th December the battalion moved through the chateau grounds and into the trenches there and at 7am an artillery bombardment began on Petit Bois, the objective of their attack. 45 minutes later the infantry moved off and immediately came under heavy machine-gun and rifle fire. D Company was badly hit as they had to advance through a gap in a thick hedge on which the enemy trained their fire but along with C Company they reached the enemy trenches where they took 60 prisoners. The 1st Gordon Highlanders on their right and French troops on the left were unable to keep up with the attack so it was decided not to push on to a second line of trenches. At 5.30pm the 2nd Suffolk battalion arrived to take over and the 2nd Royal Scots moved back to their billets in Kemmel. The battalion sustained nearly 100 casualties during this operation including Sydney Cooper who was killed.