Bernard McDonald

Killed in Action on the 01/07/1916 at the Battle of Albert (opening phase of the Battles of the Somme)

The Battalion sailed from Avonmouth on the 18/03/1915 and landed at Cape Helles on Gallipoli on the 25/04/1915. They were part of the 87th Brigade, 29th Division. On the 08/01/1916 they were evacuated from Gallipoli and moved to Alexandra in Egypt. On the 18/03/1916 they arrived at Marseilles for service in France. Bernard was Killed in Action on the opening phase of the Battles of the Somme. This was 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 13 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 15/09/1916 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. 14 other men from the Coatbridge Memorial fell on this day. SEE PHOTOS x 18 FOR THE BATTALION WAR DIARY JUNE - JULY 1916 and PHOTOS x 13 FOR THE 29th DIVISION BOOK JANUARY - JULY 1916. The War Diary states casualties on the 01/07/1916 were - 11 Officers Killed, 9 Wounded, 83 Other Ranks Killed, 406 Wounded, 59 Missing. Bernard enlisted as a Reservist on the 26/09/1913. See Directory for Bernard's brother Peter and his half-brother Hugh's pages. Huge thanks to David Owens for Bernard's British War Medal x 2, his Pension Record Renewal Form and his Remembered with Honour Certificate. Bernard is also remembered on the St. Augustine's Church Roll of Honour with brothers Peter and James Henry (listed as Henry) and Bernard and brother Peter listed on the Stewarts and Lloyds Roll of Honour under British Tube Works x 3 (see photos). See photos for Bernard's Medal Index Card, his British War Medal x 2. his Army Register of Soldiers Effects, his Service Medal and Award Rolls, his name on the Thiepval Memorial, his CWGC Grave Registration, his Service Records x 27, his CWGC Remembered with Honour Certificate, the King's Own Scottish Borderers Cap Badge, Bernard and his brothers Pension Records x 4, Bernard and his brother Peter's Pension Record and Bernard's brother John's Service Medal and Award Rolls. Finally, see photos for Newspaper clippings x 3 (Coatbridge Express x 1 and Coatbridge Leader x 2) and the 29th Division Order of Battle x 13 (the Division he was with when he died).