Hugh Gourlay

Killed in Action on the 24/03/1918 at the 1st Battle of Bapaume (part of the 1st Battles of the Somme 1918)

The 1/4th Battalion arrived at Le Havre on the 07/11/1914 and on the 12/12/1914 they joined the Dehra Dun Brigade, 7th (Meerut) Division on the Western Front. On the 06/11/1915 they transferred to the 137th Brigade, 46th (North Midland) Division. On the 13/11/1915 they transferred to the 46th Brigade, 15th (Scottish) Division. On the 07/01/1916 they transferred to the 154th Brigade, 51st (Highland) Division. Hugh arrived with the 9th (Service) Battalion at Boulogne on the 10/05/1915. They were part of the 9th (Scottish) Division before Hugh was transferred to the 1/4th Seaforth Highlanders who were part of the 154th Brigade, 51st (Highland) Division. Hugh was Killed in Action at the 1st Battle of Bapaume (1st Battles of the Somme 1918) during the German Spring Offensive of 1918. The First Battles of the Somme : 21st March - 5th April 1918 : After transferring very large forces from the now-collapsed Eastern Front, the German Army commits to a series of large-scale offensives. The first, Operation Michael, strikes the British Fifth and Third Armies. A deep advance is made and inflicts large losses, although the second phase, Operation Mars, at Arras on the 28th March, is soon held. 1st Battle of Bapaume : On the 24th March the British army had been driven back to the Battlefields of 1916, land which had taken two years to capture was lost in 3 days. On the evening of March 24th the strategic railhead at Bapaume came under heavy artillery fire and was evacuated, and the British had been driven away from the line of the Somme River. Hugh's death was not reported at home until the 09/06/1918. SEE PHOTOS x 11 FOR THE 1/4th BATTALION SEAFORTH HIGHLANDERS WAR DIARY MARCH 1918. Casualties during operations from the 21st - 27th March 1918 : 3 Officers Killed in Action, 5 Wounded, 3 Wounded and Missing, 3 Missing and 1 Sick. 29 Other Ranks Killed, 129 Wounded, 21 Wounded and Missing, 2 Wounded (Gas), 204 Missing and 7 Sick (see War Diary 10). Hugh is listed as 9th BATTALION on the Coatbridge Memorial (this is Hugh's previous Battalion). I personally laid a Poppy Cross at Hugh's grave in July 2023 (see main grave photo). Also see photos x 3 taken at Dernancourt during this visit and the Poppy Crosses I laid at the Cemetery. I also personally laid a Poppy at Hugh's grave in July 2008 (see photos). Hugh is also remembered on the St. Augustine's Church Roll of Honour (see photos). See photos for Hugh's Medal Index Card, his name on the North Lanarkshire Electoral Register 1919-1920, his Army Register of Soldiers Effects, his Service Medal and Award Rolls x 3, his CWGC Grave Registration x 2, Hugh's Pension Records x 2, his Headstone Report, Dernancourt Communal Cemetery Extension and the Seaforth Highlanders Cap Badge. Finally, SEE PHOTOS x 31 FOR THE 51st (HIGHLAND) DIVISION BOOK MARCH 1918, the 51st (Highland) Division Order of Battle x 12 (the Division he was with when he died) and a Newspaper clipping from the Coatbridge Express 06/01/1915 (St. Augustine's Church Roll of Honour).