Crack Scots Regient Now in Europe Learned. ivlountain Tacticiibnlmlsugski

By Wm. Brown-Forbes Scottish officers and men of the Lovot Scouts, a. mountaineer- ing battalion now active m the battle of Europe, learned " and mountain tactics from dians high in the Canadian Rockies at Jasper Park Led by prominent mountain- eers, the Scouts made the first winter ascents of some of the highest peaks in the Rockies, took training in rock and ice climbing, skiing, hill tactics and small arms fire. On the" £11196» _ four or five day "schemes _wh_1¢h . the men performed, climbing iiig dangerous ter- snowholes for the comnfucting manoeuvres, they each carried rucksacks stuffed with sleeping h8g5» A" tic rations for three days, ‘Vhite camouflage plltfltp "amlwnsi rifle, ammunition, ice axe and a prlmus stove-some o5 pounds to lug up a few thousand feet.

Ki: night they dug their igiooe about 18 inches under the snow s surface, with bunks, tables and seats carved out of the \va.lls of the subterranean shelters. A ski pole, jabbed handle down through the roof, provided ventilation and let the fumes of the stove escape as dinner \VllSl§O0l{6d.bTllB under-

, _ . snow hut wou soon c as warm Sergeant Eino Luhta, FHnmsh-Canadlai} graduate °i as any home. ‘ the Yoho Valley army schoolfor mountaineers, was an The 10v“ scouts were m“, to instructor in mountain tactics to the Lovat Scouts. hold the Faroe Islands at the be- ginning of the war and for two , _,_.,, _ __ summers were on guard dut at Iialmoral Castle, the Kings cot- tish residence, training in the hill country of the region, climbing the peaks of the Gram ians.

It was in the Canad n Rodries where dozens of peaks pile up past the 10,000-foot mark that the tough mountaineering began. In temperatures often col er than 20-below zero, with winds almost whisking" them off rock faces, sn_ow_ whirling about them in blinding fogs, and slippery, treacherous ice underfoot, the Lovat Scouts squadrons climbed many of the toughest peaks in the

Canadian mountaineers s tors from other countries had scaled these peaks before but seldom in the same weather, and rarely had such large numbers of {hen climbed) tlgengdattge sags v v .v - . . ime, . -. . . . . . - - ~ , . y whicheiflé QFGfQQQ ‘Klan 3001M Up the long tan of the Atha-baska. Glacier high in the Canadian Rockies men, trained by Canadians, carried {i5 pounds of equipment, kept hardly carry downtown without at Jasper Park go these members of the Lovat Scouts, crack Scots going in the world s most ruggedterrain for ten hours a do . On long hel regiment which played n. vital part in the invasion of Europe. The ascents, which sometimes took five days, the men slept in the snow"

It was a tough, ellin job: three months of fregiiig coﬁi and lmck-breuldn work, but it made them the crac regiment they are, experts in sharpshooting, moun- tain climbinq, observing, able to ski and do the innumerable tasks that such a group of shock troops might be called on to perform.

The Lovat Scouts regiment was raised in 1899 by Simon Fraser 15th Lord Lovat, a. Highland landowner, to counteract the Boers’ knowledge of outdoors and their familiarity with the terrain on which the South African war was being fought. Stress was laid on observing and sniping as the Scouts’ main task and the repri- ment ivas composed of stalkers, gillie. and uamekeepers—and even some poachers-from the Scottish estates. _

Canada made fast friends in these Scotsman who trained here. Many a Canadian overseas these last five Wars will make friends of these men in battle zones when they hear in burring accents how Athabaslcn looks as the sun comes up and tints the snow and

the rock rust red, that the deer in

Jasper arc still gentle-eyed and

tame, that Edmonton is a busy

western metropolis, that the snow

- ..= = - is_kleenﬂ~fnd_ cgldhtgedsgln-glars p - _ y, - 1 _ ~ air res e win . . . . _ _ .

w» naming was given the crack Scots iegimenl. sfalfltas f)“, skis cam, you down Members oi the‘ Lovat Scouts arrive at the Rockies can generate and pause for L/C Mackenzie, has been in the Lovat Scouts for S!!! ‘ii-now? l“ the Rocklesat Jasper Park‘ ThGSQ the onp slopes of the mountains Columbia Icefield Chalet after a four- a cold drink at the canteen bar before years, is now fighting in Europe. A game-keeper 1n 1H1‘ used t0 bleak "D thfealeﬂlflg avalallﬁhes- of lwllle- day hike through the toughest Weather wolfmg up a. steaming four-course meal. civilian life he is a crack shot, works as a snipe!‘-

Igloos, snow uts natural ice caves [h ' i i k.’ th Alihk I Vito!‘ l l ' min ’ ma”; \ were used as dwellings by the Lovats. GiYIICgl-leli‘? ‘that? 32:51:11 Secots gillieg Similaiwetiyrthen lgghntfii-liqigisghit ﬂoailzsmﬂlcimbs 65 r i%edti9sliniiigt isnectilti? Igekivgguxivtzi; all?) lmonMetlhemict grid stool:

111' B" i"! w“? fmllfled by snow cornice and gamekeepei-s "hole up" for the night. degree hills, can travel on ice at 36 miles an hour. sent ammunition, upplies, by plane cover until the, UNIV? 13"" d‘