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3 unusual facts about Reel of the 51st Highlanders


Reel of the 51st Highlanders

Atkinson's letter home with instructions for the dance was intercepted by the German security service, the Abwehr, who spent the rest of the war trying to break the code.

Captured together with the vast majority of the British 51st (Highland) Division during the Battle of Dunkirk in 1940, Atkinson spent the rest of the war as a POW in Germany.

Also known as the Laufen Reel after Laufen Castle near Salzburg, the 51st Country Dance, the Reel of the 51st Highland Division, and St Valery's Reel, it is often danced in a set composed entirely of men.



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