Bagpipers were usually the first ones out of the trenches when it was time to fight; playing as they lead the soldiers into each battle in WW1
2500 bagpipe players were in the trenches with their men.
The pipers played the clarion call to arms to the men of the British Expeditionary Forces and thus were usually the first ones “over the top.”
They stood in full view of the German lines playing their instrument, and marched through “no-man’s land” without any ammunition but their sound.
The bagpipe players carried no cutting devices when they encountered barbed wire. Enemy fire mowed them down just as effectively as they killed advancing troops.
600 pipers were wounded, 500 bagpipe players died while rallying the troops into battle.
