In March 1915 the Battalion sailed, going via Egypt, and landed at Cape Helles, Gallipoli, on the 25/04/1915. In January 1916 they evacuated from Gallipoli to Egypt. On the 18/03/1916 they landed at Marseilles for service in France. They were part of the 87th Brigade, 29th Division. William arrived in the Balkans on the 12/07/1915. William was Killed in Action on the opening day of the Battle of Albert, 1st - 13th July 1916 : In this opening phase, the French and British assault broke into and gradually moved beyond the first of the German defensive systems. For the British, the attack on the 1st July proved to be the worst day in the nation's military history in terms of casualties sustained. It is the aspect of the battle that is most remembered and most written about, and for good reason, but to concentrate on the failures is to entirely miss the point of the Somme and why the battle developed into an epic period of the Great War. On the first day, British forces at the southern end of the British line made an impressive advance alongside the French Sixth Army, capturing the villages of Montauban and Mametz and breaking through the enemy's defensive system. North of Mametz the attack was an almost unmitigated failure. The situation led to a redirection of effort, with the offensive north of the River Ancre effectively being closed down and all future focus being on the line south of Thiepval. There was a stiff fight for Trones Wood and costly, hastily planned and piecemeal attacks that eventually took La Boisselle, Contalmaison and Mametz Wood during the rest of the period up to the 13th July. This was part of the Battles of the Somme, 1st July - 18th November 1916 : A Franco-British offensive that was undertaken after Allied strategic conferences in late 1915, but which changed its nature due to the German attack against the French in the epic Battle of Verdun, which lasted from late February to November. Huge British losses on the first day and a series of fiercely-contested steps that became attritional in nature. For all armies on the Western Front it was becoming what the Germans would call "materialschlacht" : a war not of morale, will or even manpower, but of sheer industrial material might. The 15th September 1916 saw the first-ever use of tanks in the step known as the Battle of Flers-Courcelette. The British army in France is now approaching its maximum strength in numbers but is still developing in terms of tactics, technology, command and control. SEE PHOTOS x 13 FOR THE BATTALION WAR DIARY JUNE - JULY 1916. The War Diary on the 1st July 1916 states : Strength of Battalion on entering the action - Officers 36, Other Ranks 916. Casualties - Officers Killed 4, Missing 4, Wounded 11. Other Ranks 50, Missing 225, Wounded 265. Fourteen other men from the Coatbridge Memorial fell on this day. One of the other grave photos were kindly donated by Mick McCann at the British War Graves website who supply photos FREE OF CHARGE
here. There is an Unknown Soldier buried in the same grave as William (see photo). See photos for William's Medal Index Card, his Army Register of Soldiers Effects, his Service Medal and Award Rolls, his name in the Ireland Casualties WW1, his CWGC Grave Registration x 2, his Headstone Report x 2, the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers Cap Badge and William's Pension Record. William's grave inscription reads "IN LOVING MEMORY". Finally, see photos for another of William's grave (donated by britishwargraves), myself at Y Ravine Cemetery at the end of a fundraising walk in July 2010 for Erskine, Y Ravine Cemetery taken by myself in July 2023, another photo of William's grave taken by myself in July 2023 and 5 Poppy Crosses placed at Y Ravine Cemetery by myself before I left for France July 2023 (William's top left). PHOTOS x 13 FOR THE 29th DIVISION BOOK JANUARY - JULY 1916 and the 29th Division Order of Battle x 13 (the Division he was with when he died).
