The Battle of Keren, in 1941, was fought between British and Commonwealth forces and the Italian colonial army defending Eritrea. Keren was of considerable strategic importance since its road and rail routes afforded access to the Red Sea port of Massawa.
In the middle of March, after a battle which had already lasted five weeks, crack Italian troops — including units of the Savoy Grenadiers, Bersaglieri and Alpini — together with colonial battalions of Eritreans, were occupying Mount Sanchil, a key feature rising some 2,000ft from the valley floor.
On March 15, MacDonald-Haig was in command of the forward company of 2nd Battalion the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders (QOCH) in an attack on Mount Sanchil. At first light, a heavy artillery barrage was put down. Several men in each section wore red flags on their backs to help the supporting gunners lift their fire as the infantry climbed the hill.
The company, including the stretcher bearers, was 58-strong. As they approached the crest, two platoons were pinned down by machine-gun fire. MacDonald-Haig led the third in a flanking movement, but as he tried to bring a Bren gun to bear on the enemy he was spotted, and hand grenades rained down on him.
He reached his objective with 10 men. All his officers and platoon commanders had been killed or wounded. He had been wounded in the head and the hand, and found it impossible to think clearly; but he took a gulp of neat whisky and a couple of opium pills and felt better.
The stretcher bearers could not get to them because the enemy had been continually shelling and mortaring the valley. At 2am on March 16, the order was given to withdraw. MacDonald-Haig did not return to base for two days until the survivors had been relieved . The battalion had suffered casualties of close to 75 per cent.
Keren fell on March 26. The QOCH pipers played The Flowers of the Forest on the top of Mount Sanchil. An officer who had been mortally wounded in the attack almost two weeks earlier was found near the crest, sitting where he was left, a book of poetry in his hands. MacDonald-Haig was awarded a Military Cross.
'Бій відлунав. Жовто-сині знамена затріпотіли на станції знов'