James Gordon Rennie

The Battalion arrived at Boulogne on the 12/05/1915 and were part of the 27th Brigade, 9th (Scottish) Division when James fell. After just three months training James left for France early in July 1916. He did well in training, and as a result he was given the hazardous post of Lewis Machine Gunner. His active service was short. James was Killed in Action during the latter stages of the Battle of the Somme. News of his death came from a comrade in the trenches. The Battalion fought at the Battle of Le Transloy, 1st - 18th October 1916 : A period of fighting in terrible weather in which the heavy, clinging, chalky Somme mud and the freezing, flooded battlefield became as formidable an enemy as the Germans. The British gradually pressed forward, still fighting against numerous counterattacks, in an effort to have the front line on higher ground from which the offensive could be renewed in 1917. The relief on the night of the 19th October by the 27th Brigade is never forgotten. Under soaking rain the units of the 27th Brigade marched first to High Wood. The trial came as soon as the communication trenches were entered. The men struggled along waist-deep in mud. Darkness had fallen when they reached the trenches near Eaucourt L'Abbaye and an intense hostile barrage added to the horror. Unspeakable was the fate of any man who was badly wounded that night. Every now and then the men had to halt for a brief space , resting their elbows on the sides of the trench to prevent their whole bodies being engulfed in the mud. It was not surprising the relief was not complete until 6a.m. on the 20th October. Till the evening of the 24th October the Division held the line and was busy strengthening its position and digging new assembly trenches for an attack on the Butte de Warlencourt. This was part of the Battles of the Somme, 1st July - 18th November 1916 : A Franco-British offensive that was undertaken after Allied strategic conferences in late 1915, but which changed its nature due to the German attack against the French in the epic Battle of Verdun, which lasted from late February to November. Huge British losses on the first day and a series of fiercely contested steps that became attritional in nature. For all armies on the Western Front it was becoming what the Germans would call "materialschlacht" : a war not of morale, will or even manpower, but of sheer industrial material might. The 15th September 1916 saw the first-ever use of tanks in the step known as the Battle of Flers-Courcelette. The British army in France is now approaching its maximum strength in numbers but is still developing in terms of tactics, technology, command and control. James received his elementary education at Gartsherrie Academy, Coatbridge. From 1905-1911 he attended the High School of Glasgow. In the autumn of 1911, he matriculated at the University of Glasgow. James was an enthusiastic member of the Coatbridge Motorcycle Club. James is also remembered on the University of Glasgow Memorial Chapel Roll of Honour, the Maxwell Parish Church Roll of Honour, the Drumpellier Golf Club Roll of Honour and at the Family Plot in Old Monkland Cemetery (see photos). See photos for James' Medal Index Card, his Newspaper clippings x 2, his name on the Thiepval Memorial, his CWGC Grave Registration, his name on the Thiepval Memorial Panel List, his Army Register of Soldiers Effects, his Service Medal and Award Rolls and the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) Cap Badge.