[5][6][7][8][10] The Stanhope Memorandum of December 1888 introduced a Mobilisation Scheme for Volunteer units, which would assemble in their own brigades at key points in case of war.

[6][8][7][10][16] In 1902 the battalion built a new drill hall at 69 Main Street, Bridgeton, Glasgow, while musketry training was carried out at a 900 yards (820 m) range at Gilbertfield near Cambuslang.

Where recruitment was good, they also formed 3rd Line units[27][28] The Lowland Division was warned for overseas service on 5 April 1915, and the infantry battalions received Long Lee Enfield rifles modified to take modern ammunition chargers.

[21][25][30][31] 1/7th HLI moved into the firing line and support trenches on 5 July for its first short tour of duty under the guidance of the Royal Naval Division.

The following morning the battalion came under heavy enfilade fire and retreated, but Lt-Col Galbraith rallied the men, charged, and re-took their positions by 07.00.

On the night of 20 October the battalion made a small attack on Trench H11A, and established a 'bomb sap', then repulsed a Turkish counter-attack (total casualties 2 killed and 8 wounded).

The lines were then thinned out until on the night of 7/8 January battalion HQ and just 150 men, mainly machine gunners and signallers, held 'Eglington Tunnel' during the final evacuation.

The last party to leave set up 'trip bombs' and automatically fired rifles and flare pistols to maintain the illusion that the line was still strongly held.

[21][40][41] There followed several weeks of preparation for the 2nd Battle of Gaza, during which 1/7th HLI began a daily routine of sending a company to turn a Turkish post out of an orchard to the front, only to retire back to the British lines at dusk.

These apparently meaningless operations were designed to accustom the Turks to British troops being moved into the area, in order to cover preparations for the main attack.

The Turkish positions known as 'the Labyrinth' had not been sufficiently suppressed by the bombardment and although 155th (South Scottish) Brigade took a lunette on Outpost Hill, it could not be held, and changed hands several times.

[21][42][43][44] By the autumn of 1917 the EEF had been revitalised by the arrival of Sir Edmund Allenby as commander-in-chief, and the next operation (the 3rd Battle of Gaza, 31 October–7 November) was much better planned and successful.

The attack on Esdud was directed by 7th HLI on the left under Lt-Col Gibbons, with 5th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders on the right, and darkness fell before the assaulting troops reached the hills that formed the objective, but they went through the Turkish defences with the bayonet.

Casualties at this stage had been low, but consolidation had to be carried on under machine gun fire illuminated by flares, and fighting of several small counter-attacks.

Private Jack with a Lewis gun maintained the end of the line, and Lt-Col Gibbons led an attack back up the hill, rifle in hand, to restore the position.

[48] 52nd (L) Division assaulted Mughar Ridge on 13 November, leading to the capture of Junction Station the following day, while a composite force including 7th HLI marched into Mansurah.

On 20 November, at the start of the Battle of Nebi Samwil, 7th HLI under Lt-Col Gibbons moved up this track along a wadi to attack the hill village of Beit Duqqu.

In front of 7th HLI the opposing lines were only 20–50 m apart, so the battalion had been given a high proportion of the brigade's machine guns and trench mortars.

The troops practised using canvas boats on a village pond, then at 22.30 on the evening of 20 December the first assaulting waves went forward under cover of an artillery barrage.

The advance was renewed up the coast on the morning of 22 December, with fire support from HMS Grafton and gunboats, until 52nd (L) Division reached the castle of Arsuf, overlooking the Plain of Sharon, where it halted.

The 4 miles (6.4 km) approach march in the darkness crossed derelict wire and shellholes, but the brigade advanced promptly at 07.00 when the barrage started.

Opposition was fierce and casualties heavy, but the brigade got through the wire and trenches and crossed the Sensée river, only to find that 56th Division was held up again, and 157th Bde's flank was in the air.

[5] The 2nd Line Lowland Divisional and Brigade HQs were formed in January 1915, but it was some time before the various formations and units were assembled from their depots.

In March 1916 the division moved into England and joined Southern Army (Home Forces), 196th Bde being quartered around Danbury, Essex.

In April 1916 the 1st Provisional Bde moved from Scotland to Kent to take over coastal defence duties, with 9th Bn stationed at Deal.

Part of the role of these home defence units alongside the Training Reserve was physical conditioning to render men fit for drafting overseas.

[88] [89] The industrial town of Clydebank near Glasgow was badly hit on the nights of 13/14 and 14/15 March 1941 in the 'Clydebank Blitz', but none of the raiders was brought down by AA fire.

The tasks undertaken were the defence of the Basra base area, RAF Habbaniya, Baghdad, Mosul and the oil installations at Kirkuk.

After the German defeat at the Battle of Stalingrad the Luftwaffe was never in a position to attack Iraq or Persia and from April 1943 the AA defences were run down.

[84][98][97] 4 AA Bde remained in Iraq, responsible for Habbaiya, Basra, and a few oilfields, but it was given two important training tasks in addition to its operational commitments.