Originally formed in 1900 by the 16 th Lord Lovat for the Boar War , consisting of game Keepers the Lovat Scouts would fight and make very a very lasting impression on all who worked with them .
In WW1 the Lovat Scouts was formed into two regiments and found themselves fighting in the trenches of Northern France Africa and the Mediterranean, fighting in many known campaigns, this is wear the Lovat Scouts introduced their unique skills of Stalking, Hunting and spotting, using these skills they became the teachers of Sniping introducing the now well known "Ghillie" suit and the Spotting scope to the skill of a sniper, which is still used today in many forms.
Second World War
When WW2 started the Lovat Scouts were the last Horse reconnaissance troop in the British Army, When upgraded to a full time regiment only one regiment was formed.
In 1940 the Lovat Scouts were sent to the Faroe Islands after the fall of Norway.The Islands were attacked several times by the Luftwaffe, on one such attack on the Harbour the Lovat Scouts managed to shoot down a Heinkel 111 with a bren gun!
In 1942 they returned to the UK were they guarded the Royal Family at Balmoral.Lord Lovat requested that the Lovat Scouts be used as Commandos, on political grounds this request was declined, Lord Lovat departed and joined the Commandos taking many of the original Scouts with him.
In the winter of 1942 the Lovat Scouts were re titled Mountain reconnaissance and began intense Mountain training in Wales being attached to the 52 Lowland Division as the reconnaissance regiment for the division. In 1943 the Regiment was shipped to Jasper in the Canadian Rockies joining Canadian and US troops for intense winter training, every member including cooks and office staff were sent for this training. Scouts that already knew the skills of Skiing and Mountain climbing and could use the Regiments unique scouting scopes were transferred to Italy where the offensive at the Gustav line had reached stale mate, the Scouts were used to observe German lines to pinpoint where enemy observers were if possible destroy them by any means, sniping or go behind enemy lines to destroy them all for the preparations for Operation Diadem, during the Lovat Scouts time at Jasper they managed to concour the second highest peak Mount Columbia (12,294ft), in the depth of Winter which had never been attempted before, led by lieutenant William Sydney Scroggie who unfortunately lost his sight in Italy, but kept on Mountain climbing after the war even managing to climb to Mount Everest peak. In the spring 0f 1944 the Lovat Scouts left Jasper and returned to the UK, managing to keep a hold of some of the Mountain equipment supplied to them by the US, which included the US Mountain packs and the prized arctic sleeping bags, completing more training and using their skills in training some elite units in the skills of tracking and stalking one being the SAS, one detachment of SAS became so confident in their own skills that they were brought down to earth by a Scout, after where they thought they had the perfect lie up point when one felt a prod with a bayonet, turning round a Scout was looking at him, asked how he had been spotted them the Scout replied" ach I’ve been tracking you for miles" he was in fact an old game keeper who had joined the Scouts using his skills found and tracked them with ease.
In June 1944 the 52 nd Lowland Division transferred to Normandy, how ever the Lovat Scouts would go to Italy, arriving in July 1944 and joining up with the 10th Indian Division. The Lovat Scouts were used by the 10th Indian division as their eyes and ears ,being sent behind enemy lines on patrols in teams of 2 as a sniper/observer team to 30 man patrols. In December 1944 the Regiment was sent to Greece to subdue the Communist uprising, returning to Italy to the Gothic line in February 1945, where the Regiment received an official warning from Field Marshall Alexander him self, as the aggressive patrolling by the Lovat Scouts had worried the Germans so much they began reinforcing the area the Lovat Scouts were patrolling, the Germans having been caught out by the Scouts before as they managed to break the German lines by capturing the highest mountain peaks outside the city of Florence opening the way for the 10th Indian Division to capture Florence , FM Alexander had the Lovat Scouts Location marked down as one of the Major attack areas for the up and coming spring offensive to break the Gothic line! On the ending of the War in Italy, 48 men of the Lovat Scouts were buried in Italy, joining the others who had been called the D day dodgers.
NW Europe would also see the Lovat Scouts in small numbers, mainly officers and NCO's from the sniper training course that were teaching sniper skills, taking groups out onto the front to gain more skills and observing their pupils also many taking part in various actions as sniper teams. Every Sniper in 21st Army group was taught by the Lovat Scouts at one stage on the sniping course, the Lovat Scouts would continue supplying instructors for sniper training until 1948. They also began training all the snipers in the school set up in Italy which was also sending snipers to the Far East.
The Lovat Scouts was formed by mainly volunteers, some say the training was so intense the Lovat Scouts were one of the most highly trained/skilled units in the British army, also the average age of the Scouts were in their mid 30’s the oldest being 58!
Many former Lovat Scouts could be found in many elite units, Commandos the most famous being Lord Lovat commander of No4 Commando who landed at Sword beach , relieving the Paratroopers at Pegasus Bridge. Several were found in the GHQ Liaison Regiment "Phantom" , some also found themselves in a small unit called "Popski’s Private Army, others served in the ranks of the SAS.
