[Battle of Messines Ridge, WWI] 1914 London Evening News Billboard Poster “Charge By London Scottish”  

A remarkable billboard poster printed by the London Evening News “Charge By London Scottish”. The reverse of the poster showing a contemporary ink annotation “Oct 31st  Nov 1st 1914”.

The action in question here was the attack on the Messines Ridge in Belgium on October 31st 1914 by the Territorial Forces of the 14th (County of London) Battalion London Regiment (London Scottish). Wearing kilts and glengarry caps, they mounted a counterattack on German positions on the Messines Ridge, which was seen as strategically important as it overlooked the city of Ypres. By the dawn of November 1st, German forces were round both of the battalion’s flanks, so had no choice but to withdraw to the west, leaving the wounded or troops which could not move, stranded to the advancing German forces. 

Approx. 505x755mm., folded, with some loss at upper left edge, other smaller loss (a previous owner has said that it was found nailed to a wall!), occasional peripheral tears and nicks, a couple of tiny internal scrapes and age soiling/yellowing as one would expect. The fact that it survived is something of a miracle so an ephemeral rarity in the truest sense of the word!