Home front
During The Great War 1914-18, the 48th Regiment Highlanders (the parent Regiment of the 15th Battalion) main focus was threefold: to serve as part of the Home Defense Force; to support the war effort; and, to maintain the functioning of The Regiment and the Regimental Family. As part of the Home Defense Force, the Regiment […]
Prisoners of War
Over the course of the four years of the Great War 266 men of the 15th Battalion – 10 Officers, 15 Senior NCOs and 241 Other Ranks – became prisoners of war with all but 18 of those POWs being captured during the battle of 2nd Ypres in April 1915. Three men, Private Herbert Batchelor […]
Post War
The 15th Battalion was demobilized in May 1919 and following the 1920 Militia re-designations the now 48th Regiment (Highlanders) assumed the perpetuation of the three CEF battalions – 15th, 92nd, 134th – it had raised for service in the Great War. Although the majority of the men who served in the 15th Battalion during the […]
Repatriation 1919
This video shows the 15th Battalion CEF arriving home in Toronto and handing over their Colours to the parent regiment (48th Highlanders of Canada). Circa 1919. Approx 13 mins. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOW5QxX5XUQ With Colours flying, the 15th Battalion departed Germany on January 7th marching to Bensburg where it entrained for Belgium. The unit arrived at Moha on […]
Occupation of Germany 1918-19
The 15th Battalion had crossed The Rhine over the Neue Brucke (New Bridge) at Cologne in pouring rain on December 12, 1918 and took up outpost lines in the area around the picturesque town of Engelskirchen with Battalion HQ in the town at Schloss (castle) Ehreshoven. Their stay was brief – 16 December 1918 to […]
Western Front 1918
1918, the final year of the Great War, started out with a long period of trench tours and ended with a series of successful offensive operations which finally broke the stalemate of trench warfare and brought about the end of the war. January to end July 1918 saw the 15th Battalion in the familiar routine […]
Western Front 1917
Beginning with January and February trench tours in the Calonne sector, the 15th Battalion spent most of 1917 in France. In March the battalion moved to the area west of Vimy at Mont St Eloi, Neuville St Vaast and the Maison Blanche tunnels during the build-up to the attack on Vimy ridge. The unit was […]
Western Front 1916
The 15th Battalion spent the majority of its front-line time in 1916 in the Ypres salient sector of Belgium mainly back along The Messines Road in January and March and in the area around the infamous Hill 60 where the Commanding Officer, Lt Col William Marshall DSO was killed in action in May. During the […]
Western Front 1915
The 3rd Brigade landed in St Nazaire, France on February 15, 1915. The 15th Battalion disembarked from the SS Mount Temple and entrained that evening for their move to The Front. Over the course of the year the battalion would spend several months in France, but the majority of its time would be spent in Belgium […]
England 1914-15
On Saturday, October 17, 1914, the 15th Battalion arrived in West Down Camp South which was a tented camp on Salisbury Plain and began what would be a wet, cold and muddy Fall-Winter preparing for eventual deployment to The Front. Although they almost immediately began conducting squad and section drills much of the men’s time […]