But the Scots not only stood their ground, they slowly expanded it! So thin was the division’s salient that it was dubbed “ the Scottish Corridor“, constantly under attack on both flanks by more Panzer divisions. The next day saw more of the same, yet they managed to secure a crossing over the Odon river, allowing the rest of VIII. SS Panzergrenadiers and armored counter-attacks on its flank by 21. Although untested in combat, the Scots advanced with determination in the face of fanatical resistance from the young 12. On June 26th, after a tremendous barrage, the 15th (Scottish) attacked South with the support of 31st Tank Brigade‘s Churchill tanks. Men of 7th Seaforth Highlanders, 15th (Scottish) Division advancing during Operation ‘Epsom’, June 26th, 1944įor their baptism of fire, the Scots were given the first row: they would be leading the charge toward for Hill 112, a small outcrop East of Caen considered by both Allied & German planners as the “key to the Normandy”. A strong emphasis was put on river crossings and infantry-armor cooperation, a training which will prove most useful since the 15th (Scottish) will be involved in all of the British Army’s major river assault crossings in North-Western Europe, from Normandy’s smaller waterways to the Seine, Rhine & Elbe river.
By 1943, under their new commander Major-General Gordon McMillan, the division was finally earmarked for participation in the invasion of Europe and moved to Scriven Camp in Yorkshire where it was relentlessly trained. Relocated South to Northumberland (“ banished to Northumberland” in the exact words of the 6th Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers‘s regimental diary), it was tasked with watching over the coast where the Germans were expected to land in the case of an invasion. Although mobilized two days before the outbreak of WW2, the division remained in the UK for the next five years, having ample time training but lacking equipment: in the wake of the evacuation of Dunkirk, the division had to give up most of its heavy weapons to re-equip the Regular Army. The 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division, disbanded after WW1, was re-activated in March 1939 as part of the Territorial Army to expand the size of the British Army in the prospect of a new conflict with Germany. Let’s focus today on the 21st Army Group‘s best division in North-Western Europe: the 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division.
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