Alan Massie is correct in his column (8 January) to remind your correspondent Alan Hinnrichs who offered such a damning indictment (6 January) of Field Marshall Haig, the commander of UK forces on the Western Front in France and Flanders for much of the First World War, that he was widely respected in his own time for his leadership role in the catastrophic battles and eventual victory - a victory that probably had to do not only with German exhaustion but also the imminent arrival in battle of tens of thousands of fresh American troops.
The Edinburgh born General, commemorated with a plaque in Charlotte Square, was the heir of the wealthy whisky producing family and was made an Earl after the war in recognition of his roles.He was granted the freedom of both the City of Edinburgh and the City of Glasgow in the Peace Celebrations of July 1919, following the conclusion of peace treaties at Versailles.
In 1924 the Glasgow Herald reported that 'there is unbounded satisfaction that the honour of unveiling Glasgow's war memorial will fall to Earl Haig. Since the Field Marshall has returned from France he has not spared himself on behalf of the men who served in His Majesty's forces'. George Square was filled by countless thousands on that day, 31 May 1924, as they listened to the commemoration and then filed for hours past the Cenotaph and Stone of Remembrance in front of City Chambers.
20,000 Glaswegians were estimated, by the then Lord Provost, to have died in that war
And it was the support of Haig that led to Edinburgh's war memorial, the Stone of Remembrance in front of its City Chambers, finally being constructed and dedicated some three years later, a year before he died.
Letter in the Scotsman 9 January 2013
