John MacDougal Rae Age 18
Regimental No.51673 Private 12 Battalion Royal Scots
Formerly 53019 Royal Scots Fusiliers
27 Brigade, 9 (Scottish) Division
Killed in Action 15 April 1918
Commemorated Tyne Cot Memorial, Ypres, Belgium
Personal Background
John was the son of James Rae and Margaret, nee MacDougal, whose family farmed The Temple, St. Boswells from the early 1800s. In 1911 John, aged 11, was living at home with his parents and elder brother, Robert. Also in the household were his great-uncle, John Rae, aged 77, a retired draper, his aunt, Janet Rae, aged 52, and visiting the family was, Isabella MacDougal, possibly his
his mother's sister or mother.
John, who was working a law clerk, enlisted in the Reserves at the end of March 2017, and was mobilised 3 months later. He was based in Scotland for a time and ironically contracted German Measles and was hospitalised in Dunfermline between mid-October and early November. His medical records show that he was of slight build - barely 5ft 8 inches and very slim.
He was transferred to the Artillery 8th CB (presumably a specific Battery) in late November 1917, with the regimental no. 38297 and posted to France. At the start of April 1918 he was transferred yet again, to the Royal Scots Fusiliers and posted missing only three weeks later. Correspondence between his father and the War Office two years later, prior to the unveiling of the War Memorial, questions why the Army was still designating him as a Private, when he had been promoted to Lance Corporal. A reply, unfortunately difficult to decipher, indicates some issue around the length of time he had spent in his new rank, and the fact that Lance Corporal is an informal rank bestowed by the Commanding Officer, in which case he was still formally a Private, but appears on the Memorial as Lance Corporal.
Military Background
On 20 April, for three days, the 12 Royal Scots held the Vierstraat Line from Rossignol Wood to Parapet Farm. Then they relieved the 11 Royal Scots in the front line, holding from the left flank of the trench troops.
On the morning of 25 April, at 02.45, the enemy artillery began a heavy bombardment with high explosive and gas shells which continued until 05.00 when the German Infantry assault began. The barrage fell on the support trench and virtually annihilated the two platoons there. The front line trenches were not so badly ravaged. "C" and "B" companies, though attacked, recovered and in a fierce counter attack drove the Germans back.
The French troops to the right were driven back and this allowed the Germans, pouring down Kemmel, to swing north to cut off the whole of the 12 Royal Scots and about 08.30 the Battalion, fighting desperately to the end, was engulfed by a flood of Germans, here and there a whirling eddy testified to the fury of the last stand.
Lt. Colonel W. D. Croft says in his book "Three Years with the 9th Division": "The last news we heard of those three companies in the front line was from a patrol which had been sent out early and, after a long absence, came back to find our front line a seething mass of Boches, who, with loud cries of vengeance, were killing everyone they came across, including the wounded. But they didn't kill everyone, for two wounded officers were afterwards reported in Germany."
Only a few isolated groups escaped and fought their way through to the Cheapside Line. The Battalion was withdrawn from the line on the night of the 25 April, having inflicted severe losses on the enemy, but suffered very heavy casualties to themselves, amongst them a very young John Rae.