Private James Brannan

Private James Brannan, 12th ( Service ) Battalion, Royal Scots. He was killed in action, aged 19, in Belgium on 25th April 1918 during the German Spring Offensive on the River Lys and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Zonnebeke, Flanders, Belgium. He was born in Edinburgh and was the son of James and the late Elizabeth Brannan of 157 Roxburgh Street, Kelso. Before enlisting he had been employed as an upholsterer in Kelso. He was originally posted to the 2nd Battalion, Cameronians in France before transferring to the Royal Scots in early April 1918. On the 25th April the Germans assaulted the whole of the 9th Scottish Division’s trenches in the Mont Kemmel sector. French troops on the flank were driven back  and the Battalion surrounded. It fought on until practically wiped out but gave valuable time for their comrades to form a defensive line to the rear. Casualties were 563 in killed wounded and missing. The photographs show Allied troops preparing to resist the advancing Germans.

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