Alexander King Hogg

Died of Wounds on the 03/08/1916 to the abdomen at a Hospital, Somme. Wounds received at the Battle of Delville Wood (part of the Battles of the Somme)

Alexander and the Battalion arrived at Boulogne on the 14/08/1914 and were part of the 5th Brigade, 2nd Division. Alexander had 6 and a half years Service. The Battle of Delville Wood, 15th July - 3rd September 1916 : Delville Wood, which is within sight and today and easy walk of High Wood, was also fought over countless times for similar reasons and became a charnel house, choked with the dead of both sides. It is perhaps most remembered for the sustained attack mad by the South African Brigade of the 9th (Scottish) Division, a formation which was to all intents and purposes destroyed during its valiant efforts. 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 Newspaper clippings for letters to Alexander's parents from the Chaplain and the Sister of the Hospital he died in. Alexander is listed as BUGLER on his grave and with the CWGC. He is also remembered on the Free Church Roll of Honour (with his brother Charles, see Newspaper clipping 1). See photos for Alexander's Medal Index Card, his Newspaper clippings x 3, his Army Register of Soldiers Effects, his Service Medal and Award Rolls, another photo of Alexander's grave, his CWGC Grave Registration x 2, his Headstone Report x 2, Corbie Communal Cemetery Extension, the Highland Light Infantry Cap Badge and Alexander's Pension Records x 2. Alexander's grave inscription reads "GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN". Finally, SEE PHOTOS x 7 FOR THE 2nd BATTALION HIGHLAND LIGHT INFANTRY WAR DIARY JULY - 9th AUGUST 1916, PHOTOS x 25 FOR THE 2nd DIVISION BOOK 1st JULY - 4th AUGUST 1916, photos x 12 for the 2nd Division Order of Battle (the Division Alexander was with when he was wounded) and Newspaper clippings x 8 (Coatbridge Express x 4, Coatbridge Leader x 2 and the Airdrie and Coatbridge Advertiser x 2).