Private James Robertson

Private James Alexander Robertson, 33rd Coy., Machine Gun Corps ( Infantry ). He died in Belgium, aged 21, on the 4th October 1917 during the Battle of Third Ypres. He had been born in Scoonie, Fife and was the son of Alexander and Sophia Robertson Knowesouth, Jedburgh. He is buried in Cement House Cemetery, Flanders, Belgium. He had originally been posted to the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders but was transferred to the M.G.C. The M.G.C. used the Vickers Mk11 water cooled gun in both offensive and defensive roles. The photos show part of the atrocious conditions on the battlefield where the incessant shelling had destroyed the fragile Flanders drainage systems.