开云体育

Forgive this long piece, but as the wife is out tonight, I've been looking online at bagpipes in combat (and will move on to the more interesting websites that Noddy told me about later). Most of what I found was complete rubbish - and so is this - but it shows that choice of tune should have an important effect....

(I love the bit about the guy who "died but was still playing"...reminds me of Mad Mick, the salesman with the boob-job wife whose friend died twice playing American football - remember him?)
?

"Each company was to be played into action by its piper. At El Alamein the pipers were given specific tunes to play, usually the company marches. These varied according to the battalion, from "The Nut Brown Maiden" and "The Black Bear" through tunes like "The Atholl Highlanders" and "Scotland the Brave" to "Lord Alexander Kennedy," a formidably difficult tune to play at regulation marching speed, and difficult for a novice to play at all.
The battle began at twenty to ten - 2140 in army terms - on October 23, 1942. It opened with an intense artillery bombardment from more than 800 guns. Twenty minutes later the assaulting infantry crossed the Start Line.
The enemy reacted swiftly, initially with intense artillery defensive fire and as the Infantry approaced their objectives, with heavy and accurate machine gun fire. All accounts describe how the pipers strode forward, apparently unconcerned, through the dust raised by the bursting enemy shells. An officer of the 1st Black Watch recalled, "The few pipers we had were playing their companies forward all the time. I had the greatest difficulty in preventing the Pipe Corporal from walking into the anti-personnel trip wires which you could generally see in the moonlight." A 5th Black Watch officer wrote, "The bit I left out was about the company pipers who played us across No Man's Land. They were very good, quite oblivious of the hell going on around them." The 5th Seaforth was one of the two battalions securing the Start Line. One officer wrote, "Then we saw a sight that will live forever in our memories. Line upon line of steel helmeted figures with rifles at the 'High Port', bayonets catching the moonlight and over all the wailing of the pipes." Another 5th Seaforth account relates how the pipers played "Highland Laddie" as the battalion attacked later in the night and how "we were gripped with an indefinable pride in our division."
The 5th Camerons' task was to secure Inverness so that 7th Black Watch could pass through. The Camerons advanced with the pipers playing in the lead. One company commander recalls how his company piper, Donald Macpherson from Broadford, Isle of Skye, had been ordered to play "The Inverness Gathering" during the advance. A good tune, maybe, but not particularly inspiring, so Donald soon broke into "The Cameron Men," which saw the company on to their objective. The 7th Black Watch then appeared through the dusty moonlight. It was clear that, in the regimental tradition, the Black Watch blood was up from their battle cries and shouted slogans. To ensure that the Camerons were not mistaken for Germans, Donald was ordered to play "Pibroch o' Donald Dubh" which luckily the Black Watch recognized. The 7th Argylls' history, written by Capt. Iain C. Cameron of Islay, tells how "Paisley" was mopped up with the piper playing the regimental charge "Monymusk", while "A" company piper played "Blue Bonnets" during the advance.
Inevitably there were casualties among the pipers. The 5th Black Watch history tells how "A" company approached their objective, "Montrose", their piper, Duncan MacIntyre, playing in their centre. Suddenly he was hit, but carried on playing, breaking into the regimental march, "Highland Laddie" as the assault went in. He was hit again and died, still playing. The next morning Duncan was found with his pipes still under his arm, his fingers on the chanter".

Nicked from:
?

therugdoctor2003 wrote: