Can anyone identify the soldiers (officers) in this photo or the unit they belong to? My best guess at the moment is Scottish & Black Watch - the man on the right looks like a Major (?)
The Black Watch was the only authorised British (and Scottish) regiment to use a red hackle (till 2006). The hackles in the photo appear brushed down compared to the contemporary picture on this link: Black Watch veterans honour Red Hackle Wiki does show numerous regiments could wear the hackle: Hackle - Wikipedia Three battalions were in NW Europe in WW2: Black Watch - Wikipedia A friend served with the Black Watch so I shall ask him to have a look in case his regimental knowledge can help.
Thank you David - I wonder if anyone can confirm them being Black Watch and if possible recognize one or more of the officers in the picture. Unfortunately the photo does not have the caption with it. I very much suspect the photo can be linked to the one below Several years ago I got the photo below of British soldiers clad in snow suits. I have since then identified them as 5th Black Watch (51st Highland Div), waiting for their turn to move up into battle in a concentration area at Verdenne, SW of Hotton (Ardennes/Belgium), Jan 9th,1945. The pictures were taken by the US Signal Corps and ended up in the US Archives. See for more deatils: Ardennes 1945, 51st Highland Div The caption on the backside of this photograph reads:
Davidbfpo David put me on to this. The provenance of 5th BW is interesting as while the officer with no winter camouflage is clearly Black Watch (recognisable by the Balmoral Bonnet and capbadge), the two officers on the left with hackles look more like Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders - based on both headdress (Tam O'Shanter, not Balmoral) and cut of the hackle. It goes to show how much changes over the years.
5th Black Watch Lt.Col. Bill Bradford Major Eric Mathew ( A coy) Major Sandy Leslie ( B coy) Major Pilcher ( C coy) Major Beales ( D coy)
I have never yet seen a Photo with Camerons wearing their Blue Hackle in the line (or out of it for that matter), Officers or O.R's. I would say that they are all Black Watch.
Hackles definitely made me think Black Watch - I don't think anyone else wore them on the field (except Commandos fairly early and maybe some Chindits off the top of my head), but I wasn't sure if they could be Black Watch of Canada, looking for details that would show British or Canadian there isn't much but the binoculars are British pattern, the Canadian R.E.L made binos had a more curved body
What I should have said in my initial response, is that while the two on the left look like CAMERONS they clearly are not as the relevant bns were not in the area at the time. Hackles were in wear by the Camerons from Feb 1940, although I would have to dive through regimental archives to confirm if worn on operations from that date.
