According to Millin, he later talked to captured German snipers who claimed they did not shoot him because they thought he was mad! He played the tunes “Hielan’ Laddie” and “The Road to the Isles” as men all around him fell under fire.

Millin was the only man during the landings who wore a kilt and he was armed only with his pipes and the traditional sgian-dubh, or “black knife”. You and I are both Scottish, and that doesn’t apply.” When Private Millin quoted the regulations, Lord Lovat is said to have replied: “Ah, but that’s the English War Office. As the troops landed on Sword Beach Lovat ignored the orders restricting the playing of bagpipes in action, and ordered Millin to play. Simon Fraser, 15th Lord Lovat, was commander of 1st Special Service Brigade for the Normandy landings on D-Day 6th June 1944, and brought with him his 21-year-old personal piper, Bill Millin. Although the attack was successful, losses among the pipers were high and the use of bagpipes was banned from the frontline. As they attacked, each company was led by a piper playing tunes that would identify their regiment in the darkness, usually their company march. As well as being awarded the Victoria Cross, Laidlaw also received the French Criox de Guerre in recognition of his bravery.ĭuring World War II, pipers were used by the 51st Highland Division at the start of the Second Battle of El Alamein on 23 October 1942.

Laidlaw continued piping until he got near the German lines when he was wounded. Oblivious to the danger, he played, “All the Blue Bonnets Over the Border.” The effect on the men was almost instant and they swarmed over the top into battle. Immediately the piper mounted the parapet and began marching up and down the length of the trench. The commanding officer ordered Laidlaw to start playing, to pull the shaken men together ready for the assault. Under heavy fire and suffering from a gas attack, the company’s morale was at rock bottom. On September 25th 1915 the company were preparing to ‘go over the top’. Piper Daniel Laidlaw of the 7th Kings Own Scottish Borderers was awarded the Victoria Cross for his gallantry in World War One. The death rate amongst pipers was extremely high: it is estimated that around 1000 pipers died in World War One. However, unarmed and drawing attention to themselves with their playing, pipers were always an easy target for the enemy, no more so than during World War One when they would lead the men ‘over the top’ of the trenches and into battle. The bloodcurdling sound and swirl of the pipes boosted morale amongst the troops and intimidated the enemy. The original purpose of the pipes in battle was to signal tactical movements to the troops, in the same way as a bugle was used in the cavalry to relay orders from officers to soldiers during battle.Īfter the Jacobite Rebellions, during the late 18th century a number of regiments were raised from the Highlands of Scotland and by the early 19th century these Scottish regiments had revived the tradition with pipers playing their comrades into battle, a practice which continued into World War I. 22, reproduced.The sound of the pipes on a Scottish battlefield echoes through the ages. Cremona, Museo Civico a la Ponzone Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum at Palais Harrach, 'Dipignere la Musica.' Strumenti in posa nell'arte Quatrocento al Settecento, 2001, cat.Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Masters of Seventeenth-Century Dutch Genre Painting, 1984, cat.Lange, Berlin, November 18-19, 1938 lot 151 (involuntary sale by the above), there purchased by Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne, Germany, (inventory no. Possibly Gustav Klemperer Edler von Klemenau (1852 – 1926)Īuction, Hans W.

Bagpipe player bridge jumping