by Trevor Royle
sinking of Ref1
Titania, HM depot ship Ref1
Tobruk Ref1, Ref2
Tod, Lieutenant-Colonel Willie Ref1
Todd, Andrew Ref1
Tojo, General Hideki Ref1
Tomaszewski, Wiktor Ref1, Ref2
Tone, Wolfe Ref1
Tongland Ref1
Topping, Lieutenant-Colonel F.R. Ref1
Torwoodlee, Selkirkshire Ref1
Trades Union Congress (TUC) Ref1
Transport and General Workers Union Ref1
Triton, HM submarine Ref1
Trollope, Anthony Ref1
Troup, Vice-Admiral James Ref1
Two Men and a Blanket (Garioch, R.) Ref1
Union of Polish Patriots (ZPP) Ref1, Ref2
United Scotland Ref1
United States Ref1
entry into war Ref1
First US Army Group (FUSAG) Ref1
forces in Scotland Ref1
forces in Sicilian campaign Ref1
Navy Mine Squadron Ref1
Pacific campaign, advances in Ref1
Strategic Bombing Survey Ref1
Uredd, submarine Ref1, Ref2
Urquhart, Alistair Ref1, Ref2, Ref3, Ref4, Ref5, Ref6
Urquhart, Fred Ref1
Vaughan, Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Ref1
Vernon, Gavin Ref1
Versailles Treaty (1919) Ref1
Vian, Captain Philip Ref1
Vichy French Ref1, Ref2, Ref3, Ref4
Victorious, HM carrier Ref1, Ref2
Victory against Japan (VJ) Day Ref1
Victory in Europe (VE) Day Ref1, Ref2, Ref3
Vimy Ridge Ref1
Vistula River Ref1
volunteering Ref1
von Armin, General Hans-Jürgen Ref1
von Rundstedt, General Gerd Ref1
Wadi Akarit Ref1
Wake Island Ref1
Walker, James Ref1
Wallace, William Ref1
Walter, Bruno Ref1
War Artists Advisory Committee Ref1
War Cabinet Ref1, Ref2
Wark, Lord Ref1
Warren, Lieutenant-Colonel V.D. Ref1
wartime entertainment, difficulties for Ref1
wartime experiences, benefits for Scotland Ref1
wartime production, unemployment and Ref1
Washington Conference (Trident, May 1943) Ref1
Washington Treaty (1921) Ref1
Wasilewska, Wanda Ref1
Waterloo, Battle of Ref1
Waters, Sir George Ref1
Watkins, Olga Ref1
Watson, Arthur Ref1
Watson, Murray Ref1
Watson, Vice-Admiral Bertram Ref1
Watson, William Ref1
Wavell, General (later Field-Marshall) Sir Archibald Ref1, Ref2, Ref3, Ref4, Ref5
Wedderburn, J.S. Ref1
Weir, Cecil M. Ref1
Wellington, Duke of Ref1
Wellington, Sheena Ref1
Wellington heavy bomber Ref1, Ref2
West, Rebecca Ref1
Western Desert Force Ref1
Westwood, Joseph Ref1, Ref2
Weygande, General Maxime Ref1, Ref2
Wheatley, Captain John Ref1
Whisky Galore (Mackenzie, C.) Ref1, Ref2
White, Lieutenant-Colonel S.E.H.E. Ref1, Ref2
The White Rabbit (Marshall, B.) Ref1
Whitley bomber Ref1
Whyte, William Ref1
Wilde, Oscar Ref1
Wilkie, Helen Ref1
Wilkie, Robert Blair Ref1
Williams, J.L. Ref1
Willink, Henry Ref1
Wilmot, Chester Ref1
Wilson, Major David Ref1
Wilson, Tom Ref1
Wimberley, Lieutenant-Colonel (later Brigadier) Douglas Ref1, Ref2, Ref3, Ref4, Ref5, Ref6
Winchelsea, HM destroyer Ref1
Wind on Loch Fyne (Hay, G.C.) Ref1
Wingate, Lorna Ref1
Wingate, Major-General Orde Ref1, Ref2, Ref3, Ref4
Winston Castle, Pencaitland Ref1
winter of 1939-40, cold of Ref1
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) Ref1, Ref2
Women’s Land Army (Land Girls) Ref1, Ref2, Ref3
Women’s Royal Army Corps (WRAC) Ref1
Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS) Ref1, Ref2
Women’s Timber Corps (Lumber Jills) Ref1, Ref2
Women’s Transport Service Ref1
Women’s Volunteer Service Ref1
Wood, British Air Minister Kingsley Ref1
Wood, Henry Harvey Ref1, Ref2
Wood, Sir Kingsley Ref1, Ref2
Wood, Wendy Ref1, Ref2
Woodburn, Arthur Ref1
Woolf, Virginia Ref1
Woolton, Lord Ref1
Worthington, Captain Beaconsfield Ref1
A Would-Be Saint (Jenkins, R.) Ref1
X-Class submarines Ref1
Yalta Agreement (1945) Ref1, Ref2, Ref3
Yamashita, General Tomoyoku Ref1
Yarrow’s shipbuilders Ref1
Yeats, W.B. Ref1
Yeo-Thomas, Wing Commander F.F.E. Ref1
Yorkhill Dock Ref1
Young, Douglas Ref1, Ref2, Ref3, Ref4, Ref5, Ref6, Ref7, Ref8, Ref9, Ref10
Young Scots Society Ref1
Ypres Ref1, Ref2
Yugoslavia Ref1
Yunnan Ref1
What Scotland’s future looked like in the summer of 1938. One of the most popular attractions at the Empire Exhibition in Glasgow’s Bellahouston Park was the Palace of Engineering, exhibiting large models of the ships which had made the Clyde famous. (The Mitchell Library, Glasgow City Council)
Hawker Hart light bombers of 603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron above the Forth railway bridge in 1934. Re-equipped with Supermarine Spitfire fighters the part-time auxiliary squadron claimed its first kill, a Junkers 88, over the same area on 16 October 1939. (© Museum of Flight, National Museums Scotland. Licensor www.scran.co.uk)
First casualties of war: survivors from the sinking of SS Athenia arrive at fog-bound Greenock on 5 September 1939. The unarmed passenger liner had been sunk the previous evening by the U-30 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Fritz-Julius Lemp.
Mathematics class in progress at Broomlee evacuation camp near West Linton. Before the war plans had been laid to evacuate women and children from the Central Belt to escape the expected air raids. In addition to the camps most evacuees were billeted in private houses. (National Archives of Scotland)
The threat of enemy bombing was taken seriously throughout the conflict. Although the anticipated chemical warfare attacks failed to materialize, people were encouraged to carry gas masks and to practise wearing them, as these telephonists are doing.
Kilbowie Road in Clydebank after the first intensive enemy bombing attack on the night of 13 March 1941. Known as the Clydebank Blitz, most of the damage was done to housing, and 35,000 people were made homeless while 528 were killed. (West Dunbartonshire Council)
A section of local defence volunteers on patrol by Loch Stack in Sutherland. Better known as the Home Guard, the force came into being in May 1940 to provide a part-time defence force whose primary task would be to counter the threat of invasion posed by German airborne forces. (Imperial War Museum H 7323)
General Władysław Sikorski and King George VI inspecting Polish troops at Glamis Castle. With their smart uniforms and the romance of their recent fighting experiences the Poles were well received in Scotland; many married Scottish girls and settled in the country after the war. (Imperial War Museum H 7755)
Tom Johnston acted as Churchill’s Secretary of State for Scotland between 1940 and 1945 and used his authority to protect Scotland’s interests. A ‘Red Clydesider’ in the First World War, Johnston launched numerous initiatives to help the war effort and to create jobs.
Two foresters from British Honduras (Belize) cutting timber for pit props and wood pulp in East Linton. They were an important part of the w
ar effort, but their treatment by the authorities ranged from callous indifference to off-hand cruelty. (Imperial War Museum ZZZ 12724 D)
A working party of ‘Lumber Jills’ of the Women’s Timber Corps, formed in 1942 to train young women for war work in Scotland’s forests. After basic training 4,900 of their number worked as foresters, mainly in the Highlands, freeing up men for service in the armed forces.
Fairfield drillers at work on a gun-shield for the battleship HMS Howe prior to commissioning in August 1942. At the outbreak of war the Clyde yards had 164,911 tons of ships under construction including the Cunard liner Queen Elizabeth and the aircraft carrier HMS Indefatigable. (The Mitchell Library, Glasgow City Council)
Having been conscripted for war work in 1942 the poet Hugh MacDiarmid worked as a lathe-turner at Mechan’s Engineering Company in Scotstoun in Glasgow.
Women played in a key role in war work, and after 1941 were liable to be conscripted. A group of workers is preparing ration packs of tea, milk and sugar at the Scottish Co-operative and Wholesale Society (SCWS) factory at Shieldhall in Glasgow in 1942. (The Mitchell Library, Glasgow City Council)
Commandos cross a toggle bridge at the Commando Training Depot at Achnacarry in Inverness-shire. Simulated artillery fire gave some realism but the most potent factor was the rugged terrain. The western Highlands proved to be ideal training ground for operations in occupied Europe.
Men of the 2nd Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders engaged in jungle training in Malaya in 1941. Nicknamed ‘Jungle Beasts’ on account of their ability to survive in the enervating conditions they were one of the few battalions to emerge with credit following the surrender of Singapore the following year.
Blindfolded survivors from the Scharnhorst are led ashore at Scapa Flow after the German battle-cruiser was sunk by a naval force led by HMS Duke of York on 26 December 1943. During the Battle of North Cape only 36 of Scharnhorst’s sailors survived from a crew of 1,968.
Two of the four-man crew of the X-class midget submarine HMS Extant (X-25) prepare to dock in the Holy Loch. Just over 50 feet in length the boats were designed for stealthy penetration of enemy harbours to attack individual targets such as the battleship Tirpitz.
A line of Allied merchant ships makes its way around the north cape of Norway to the Russian ports of Murmansk and Archangel. Altogether 78 Arctic Convoys assembled at Loch Ewe for the dangerous voyage in which they endured attack by enemy surface ships, submarines and aircraft. (National Archives of Scotland)
The pipes and drums of the 51st Highland Division play in the main square of Tripoli on 28 January 1943, following a review by General Bernard Montgomery, commander of the British Eighth Army. The division played a key role during the Battle of Alamein in October the previous year. (Imperial War Museum E 21969)
Led by a piper, soldiers of the 2nd Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders move up to the attack during Operation Epsom on 26 June 1944 to outflank Caen. The initial assault was made by the 15th Scottish Division and the ground they fought over came to be known as the ‘Scottish Corridor’. (Imperial War Museum B 5988)
Major-General T. G. Rennie, commander of the 51st Highland Division in Rouen in September 1944. He had recently taken over the division after it had been badly mauled in Normandy and had quickly restored morale and fighting spirit. In the following year he was killed during the crossing of the Rhine. (Imperial War Museum BU 1518)
A De Havilland Mosquito VI fighter-bomber of 143 Squadron fires rockets at German merchant ship during an attack by the Banff Strike Wing on the harbour at Sandefjord in Norway. Formed in 1944 the wing operated out of Banff and Dallachy in the North-east. (Imperial War Museum HU 93037)
Soldiers of 10th Highland Light Infantry come ashore after crossing the Rhine at the end of March 1945 as part of the final push into Germany. The exploit was commemorated in a memorable march, ‘10th HLI Crossing the Rhine’, composed by Pipe-Major Donald Ramsay and Corporal J. Moore.
Victory parade in Bremerhaven on 12 May 1945 led by the pipes and drums of the 51st Highland Division which was then under the command of Major-General Gordon Macmillan. The salute was taken by Lieutenant-General Brian Horrocks, the commander of XXX Corps. (Imperial War Museum BU 6560)
Even before the war ended preparations had been made to celebrate the end of the fighting. The Scottish Office was keen ‘to avoid the hooliganism which may develop amongst an excited crowd with nothing to do’, but crowds still gathered to celebrate in Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh. (Scotsman Publications)
