Adam Boyd

Killed in Action on the 09/10/1916 in the Village of Le Sars during the Battle of Transloy (part of the Battles of the Somme)

ADDITIONAL FAMILY INFORMATION - Adam's brother Private Wallace Boyd, 34th Battalion Machine Gun Corps (119060) was the husband of Matilda Edgar McKimm Boyd (09/03/1896 - 20/11/1956) of 7 Willison's Lane, Port Glasgow, Renfrewshire then 2 John Wood St., Port Glasgow, Renfrewshire. He was employed in the Torpedo Factory. Brother of Adam, John and William. Wallace leaves a widow and two children, Wallace Boyd (04/05/1916 - 1968) and Thomas McKimm Boyd (28/03/1918 - /07/1982). He was formerly 46698 Royal Scots and was Killed in Action on the 16/04/1918 aged 25 and is buried at Bailleul Communal Cemetery Extension, France. Grave Reference Sp. Mem. B. 2. (Wallace is NOT listed on the Coatbridge Memorial). Adam and the Battalion arrived at Boulogne on the 10/07/1915 and were part of the 45th Brigade, 15th (Scottish) Division. They were involved in the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, 15th - 22nd September 1916 : This was a large-scale general renewal of the offensive after the weeks of attritional fighting for the third German system at Pozieres, High Wood, Delville Wood, Guillemont and Ginchy. It is historically noteworthy for being the first time that tanks were used in battle. Few in number, mechanically unreliable and as yet without proven tactics for their best use, the small numbers of tanks that actually went into action had an important positive effect. High Wood and Delville Wood were finally cleared and a deep advance was made to Flers and towards Combles. The Canadian Corps entered the Somme fighting for the first time. The 15th (Scottish) Division captured Martinpuich. Adam was Killed in Action in the Village of Le Sars during the Battle of Le Transloy (Battle of the Transloy Ridges), 1st - 18th of October 1916 (the Division were involved in the Battle from the 9th - 18th) : A period of fighting in terrible weather in which the heavy, clinging, chalky Somme mud and the freezing, flooded battlefield became as formidable an enemy as the Germans. The British gradually pressed forward, still fighting against numerous counterattacks, in an effort to have the front line on higher ground from which the offensive could be renewed in 1917. The 9th (Scottish) Division took part in attacks on the Butte de Warlencourt during this phase. SEE PHOTOS x 22 FOR THE BATTALION WAR DIARY OCTOBER 1916. The War Diary for the 09/10/1916 states - "Considerable shelling on W side of village and cutting during the day and night. Casualties - 2 Other Ranks Killed, 8 Other Ranks Wounded, 2/Lt Begbie and 2 Other Ranks to Hospital". This phase 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 HISTORY OF THE CAMERON HIGHLANDERS (6th Battalion) BOOK AUGUST - OCTOBER 1916 and PHOTOS x 6 FOR EXTRACTS FROM THE BATTALION WAR DIARY 08/07/1915 - 10/10/1916. Adam is listed as PRIVATE on the Coatbridge Memorial. He is also remembered on the Stewarts and Lloyds Roll of Honour (see photos x 2). Both brothers are also remembered on the Gourock War Memorial x 2 (see photos). See photos for Adam's Medal Index Card, his Army Register of Soldiers Effects, his Service Medal and Award Rolls x 2, his CWGC Grave Registration, Adam's name on the Thiepval Memorial and the Cameron Highlanders Cap Badge. Also see photos for Wallace's Medal Index Card, his Service Medal and Award Rolls, his CWGC Grave Registration x 3, his Headstone Report x 3, his Reburial Form x 2, Wallace's Pension Records x 2, a photo of Wallace's Grave in Bailleul Communal Cemetery Extension (it states "BELIEVED TO BE BURIED IN THIS CEMETERY"), Bailluel Communal Cemetery Extension and the Machine Gun Corps Cap Badge. Wallace's Grave inscription also reads "LORD THY WILL BE DONE". Finally, SEE PHOTOS x 12 FOR THE 15th (SCOTTISH) DIVISION BOOK 12/09/1916 - 09/10/1916, the 15th (Scottish) Division Order of Battle x 13, another 2 photos of Adam's name on the Thiepval Memorial kindly donated by my friend in France, Thierry Dericbourg, another photo of Adam's name on the Thiepval Memorial, Newspaper clippings x 2 for Adam and 1 for Adam and his brother John, Newspaper clippings x 7 from the Port Glasgow Express regarding Adam's brother Wallace, Newspaper clipping from The Scotsman 25/10/1921 regarding the Port Glasgow War Memorial, the Port Glasgow War Memorial, Adam's brother Wallace's name on the Memorial, Private Wallace Boyd's son Wallace, his son Wallace's Death Certificate and his sons wife Agnes Thomson Mooney McLarnon Boyd.