Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Six: Captain A. Horne, 1st Battalion, Cameron Highlanders, who after being wounded was reportedly murdered by German troops at the battle for Troyon Ridge, during the battle of the Aisne, on 14 September 1914 - a battle in which the battalion sustained an horrendous number of casualties

Queen’s Sudan 1896-98 (2/Lt. A. Horne. 1/Cam: Hrs:); Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 3 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal (Lieut. A. Horne. 1/Camn. Highrs.); 1914 Star, with clasp (Capt: A. Horne. Cam’n: Highrs); British War and Victory Medals (Capt. A. Horne.); Khedive’s Sudan 1896-1908, 2 clasps, The Atbara, Khartoum, unnamed as issued, generally very fine (6) £1,400-£1,800

Alexander Horne was born in Edinburgh on 30 September 1875, the fourth son of Thomas Elliot Ogilvie Horne, a writer to the Signet. The Society of Writers to Her Majesty’s Signet is a private society of Scottish solicitors, dating back to 1594 and part of the College of Justice. He was also first cousin to Major General H. S. Horne, Royal Horse Artillery, and of Lieutenant Colonel E. W. Horne, 3rd Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders. Educated at Saint Ninian’s Preparatory School at Moffat and then at Charterhouse School, he originally entered the British Army Militia before obtaining his commission as a Second Lieutenant with the Seaforth Highlanders in 1897, and being posted to the 1st Battalion.

Horne saw service in Egypt and took part in the re-conquest of the Sudan, being present at the Battle of The Atbara on 9 April 1898, and then the Battle of Omdurman and the entry into Khartoum on 3 September 1898. With the capture of Khartoum, Horne was then sent to Fashoda with his company acting as escort to Lord Kitchener, the Commander-in-Chief in the Sudan.

With the outbreak of the Boer War, Horne, by then promoted to Lieutenant, went on to see service in South Africa and was present on operations in the Cape Colony, the Orange River Colony and the Transvaal, as well as operating on the Zululand frontier of Natal. Horne was a keen huntsman with hounds, and in 1906 won the Irish Army Point-to-Point race for heavyweights and also ran third for lightweights. He was also a member of both the Automobile and Caledonian Clubs in London.

Having been promoted to Captain, at the outbreak of the Great War, Horne, who was then Commander of ‘B’ Company, 1st Battalion, Cameron Highlanders, served with the B.E.F. on the Western Front from 14 August 1914. Taking part in the early actions of the War, including the retreat from Mons, Captain Horne was reportedly murdered by German troops after being wounded at Troyon Ridge, during the Battle of the Aisne. During the battle, in which the Cameron’s lost 600 Officers and men, Horne was shot through both legs and carried to a ditch slightly in the rear of the firing line. However, with the Regiment coming under ‘murderous shrapnel fire’, the battalion was forced to retreat, leaving Captain Horne under care of a sergeant and two Red Cross men. Exactly what happened next is unknown but reports from survivors of the battalion tell that the men with Horne made a Red Cross flag out of a handkerchief and Horne’s blood and hoisted it before the advancing Germans but on the Camerons advancing again to retake their old position, they found captain Horne with his head knocked in by rifle butts and shot with his own revolver. The story was reported in the newspapers thus:
‘“Murdered” by Germans. Fate of a Cameron Highlanders Captain. A prominent member of the County Hall who joined the fighting forces at the outbreak of the war writes home: “Poor Captain Horne of the Cameron Highlanders, whom I knew well, was practically murdered. He was shot in both legs and carried to a ditch slightly to the rear of the fighting line. The Regiment had then to retire and they left Horne with a sergeant. They made a red cross with a handkerchief with his own blood and hoisted it on a stick. They advanced again later and found Horne with his head knocked in by rifle butts and shot by his own revolver”.’

Captain Horne’s brother would write: ‘I think it right that the public and America should know how he came to die. I have now heard from his brother officer, Lord George Stuart-Murray, who was also wounded that day. That on September 14 Captain Horne was wounded on the leg in the firing line. As the line had to retire owing to the murderous shrapnel fire, he was left in charge of two red cross bearers and a sergeant. Later a part of the enemy came on them and shot Captain Horne and his bearers and took the sergeant prisoner. Comment is useless, it was simple murder and I am told that this custom accounts for most of the missing wounded. I hope we can make something of this and let the World know.’

The Battalion War Diary for the period states:
‘On 14 September the Battalion marched off from north of Paissy at 5:45, and moved due west of Vendresse to take their position on the line. With them moved the 1st Coldstream Guards, 1st Black Watch, 1st Scots Guards. En route, the Battalion came under long range rifle fire. The diary says that A Coy were deployed on a line across the Troyon, with B coy on their left. It was added that an attack by the Germans from the left flank across the wooded valley, and a portion of B Coy was put in the rear to guard the left flank. A Coy followed by D advanced on a factory to the north of Troyon. But, before they reached it, they came under very heavy fire from shrapnel and high explosive shells. The Germans were now sighted on the ridge due north of Chivy.’ The diary goes on to add that there was a certain amount of confusion caused by a party of German prisoners being escorted through the wood on the immediate left. The battle originally began at 7am. At about 7:20am, the German attack from the Camerons left front about Le Blanc Mont began to develop seriously. B Company was ordered to advance. The whole front was heavily attacked. A company of Black Watch came up to the Camerons left. At 8:50am, a portion of the right gave ground and took cover under the road bank at Chivy-Chemin wood. The majority of the Camerons retained their positions in good order from the factory. Battalions were reorganised in units in the Chivy-Chemin wood and taken forward onto the crest just north east of that point of the wood when a heavy fire was opened on the Germans north of Le Blanc Mont, apparently with considerable success. A certain number of casualties were caused by the Battalion rifle fire from the rear, though every effort was made to stop it. About 10 minutes later the Germans then attacked with ‘renewed vigour and in greatly superior numbers all along the front’. The Machine Gun Section came into action due north of the point of the wood. All units were mixed here and the fire was very heavy from rifle, machine guns, shrapnel and high explosive shells. It was added that there were ‘a great many casualties’.

Ominously the diary further states that C Company on the left had 13 men killed altogether. This was due to the fact that a body of Germans advanced waving their rifles above their heads and apparently wishing to surrender. On the platoon going forward they were ‘decimated by the fire of another German line behind, and the line apparently wishing to surrender lay down and probably fired also’. At about 11:30 the right flank got badly hit from the direction of Troyon. A Company and part of D ran out of ammunition and they moved back into the wood which was being heavily shelled. By this stage, the Brigade fell back and the Battalion got considerably split up, but order was maintained as far as possible. There were further casualties from shell fire, and by the evening the Battalion was entrenched on the north east edge of the Vendresse Valley.

On 14 September, as a result of a German counter attack around Chivy and Beaulne on the 1st and 2nd Guards Brigade, the 1st Cameron Highlanders’ flank became exposed after the Germans captured a sugar factory. Machine gun fire caused many casualties. The 1st Cameron Highlanders had been forming up for a counter attack under the cover of a wood in the Chivy Valley which runs a little to the west of Troyon. At 7am, the advance began. Having come out of the trees, the Battalion was subjected to rifle and artillery fire as well. One Company to the right was shattered straight away, but the rest maintained their advance. They were supported by elements of the 1st Black Watch and 1st Scots Guards. They managed to storm the German trenches on the plateau above them. It was mentioned as a ‘tremendous sight as Highlanders swept through the German trenches and took up firing line eighty yards beyond the road’. With two and a half companies across the road the remainder of the Cameron Highlanders moved up a smaller ridge where they brought fire on the Chemin Des Dames ridge. The Battalion now occupied an S shaped firing line which at 8.00am was attacked along its whole length. The power of German infantry forced the right flank to fall back behind. But they attacked on the flank and had by then lost more than half their force and were low on ammunition. This resulted in them moving back down the Chivy Valley and ended up at their start line, with less than 50 men under the command of a Major Hon. A. H. Maitland who clung to the ground until all their ammunition was almost exhausted. They had to fall back 50 yards behind the crest of the ridge where they were finally overwhelmed by massed attacks which resulted in Major Maitland being killed. Also, during the battle, Private Ross Tollerton of the 1st Camerons was awarded the VC for his actions in bringing in a wounded officer.

German counter-attacks were in place within hours, however, forcing the Allies back. The German army had demonstrated the effectiveness of defensive warfare. Small advances were achieved, but these could not be consolidated. The 1st Camerons were relieved on 19 September and went into Reserve and billeted. They were back at the front by the 23rd. Fighting was abandoned on 28 September once it finally became clear that neither side would be able to mount frontal attacks upon the well-entrenched positions of the enemy. Commander Sir John French ordering the BEF to dig trenches. As the BEF were not prepared for this, they had to look for digging tools in nearby farms. Initially, only shallow pits were dug up, but were replaced later by trenches of 7ft.

The 1st Division Casualties from the fighting on 14 September alone came to 3,500 officers and men. Many of these were from the two Highland regiments with 600 officers and men of the Cameron Highlanders lost this day. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission have 144 men of the 1st Cameron Highlanders listed as dying on 14 September 1914 – they are buried in a number of cemeteries on the Aisne, or are named on the Memorial to the Missing at La Ferte-Sous-Jouarre. Further to their casualties on 14 September the Camerons suffered another major setback on 25 September, while still on the Aisne. A shell caused the collapse of the cave being used as the battalion HQ, killing five officers and about 30 men.

On 20 September, Sir John French, Chief of Staff of the British Army, had told the Brigadier that the ‘action had been most important and highly commended the conduct of the Brigade’. He stated though ‘he deplored the heavy casualties, it was absolutely necessary’ in order to defend the Aisne, which had been successfully done. By the end of 1915, he was replaced by Douglas Haig.”

Horne has no known grave and is commemorated on La Ferte-sous-Jouarre Memorial.

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