James Howie Frederic Stephen

James Stephen and his twin brother John both received commissions as probationary Second Lieutenants in the 3rd Battalion Highland Light Infantry in October 1914. This battalion served as a training battalion for the first line battalions and after they were confirmed in their rank at the beginning of June 1915 James (and also John?) proceeded to France as part of reinforcements for the 1st Battalion of the regiment. This battalion had been serving in India for several years and arrived in France in late 1914 as part of the Sirhind Brigade of the 3rd (Lahore) Division. The first major battle that James is likely to have taken part in was that of Loos in September 1915 before he was promoted to Lieutenant In December 1915. The two Indian divisions serving on the Western Front were transferred to Mesopotamia in the autumn/winter of 1915, the 3rd (Lahore) Division arriving in April 1916 about the time Townshend surrendered Kut Al Amara to the Turks. There was a pause in operations following the surrender of Kut but in July 1916 James is reported to have been wounded.

Operations against the Turks restarted seriously in December 1916 and from then on a number of attacks were made on Turkish positions round Kut including one in the Abdul Hassan bend of the river Tigris east of Kut.