The 1st Battalion Royal Irish Rifles arrived at Le Havre on the 06/11/1914 and were part of the 25th Brigade, 8th Division. Peter arrived in the Balkans on the 10/07/1915 with the 6th (Service) Battalion Royal Irish Rifles before joining the 1st Battalion in France. He was Killed in Action on the opening day of the Battle of Albert (opening phase of the Battles of the Somme), 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 14 FOR THE BATTALION WAR DIARY MAY - JULY 1916. The Battalion War Diary concerning casualties for the 01/07/1916 states : "Officers - 1 Killed, 1 Died of Wounds, 12 Wounded, 1 Wounded and Missing, 2 Missing. Other Ranks - 17 Killed, 348 Wounded, 8 Wounded and Missing, 27 Missing". See War Diary photo 12 for the Battalion casualties and action on the 1st July and total casualties for the month of July. Peter was 1 of 15 men from the Memorial to fall on this day. Peter is listed as PRIVATE on the Memorial. Grave photo was kindly donated by Mick McCann at the British War Graves website who supply photos FREE OF CHARGE
here. Peter was a member of the St. Augustine's Brass Band and is remembered in the St. Augustine's Parish (book) Roll of Honour. See photos for Peter's Medal Index Card, his Army Register of Soldiers Effects, his Service Medal and Award Rolls x 2, his CWGC Grave Registration x 2, his Headstone Report x 2, his name on the Ireland Casualties WW1, Blighty Valley Cemetery and the Royal Irish Rifles Cap Badge. Finally, see photos for Newspaper clippings x 2 (Coatbridge Express x 1 and Coatbridge Leader x 1), the 8th Division Order of Battle x 12 (the Division who he was with when he died) and PHOTOS x 21 FOR THE 8th DIVISION BOOK JUNE - AUGUST 1916.
