On the 9th April 1915, Private Isaac Reid of the 2nd Scots Guards was shot dead by a firing party of men from his own regiment. Charged with desertion at Neuve Chappelle, according to the writer Stephen Graham, Reid's fate was sealed by the malevolent actions of his CSM James Lawton. As a result of Reid's execution, the men of the Scots Guards vowed to restore their honour by fighting to the last bullet during their next engagement.
During the fighting at Festubert in May 1915, eighty men of F Company, 2nd Scots Guards found themselves isolated and surrounded, and when the battlefield was cleared they were found in circle surrounded by hundreds of dead German soldiers and the legend of the Immortals of Festubert was created.
But, what actually happened that day? In this episode, we look in detail at Reid's court-martial and discover a story where fact and fiction are hard to separate. We then look at the actions of the 2nd Scots Guards during the fighting at Festubert to discover whether their demise really was the result of a suicide pact or a military disaster that was unavoidable.
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