The Battalion arrived in France in May 1915 and were part of the 27th Brigade, 9th (Scottish) Division. Thomas was originally in the 1/8th Battalion Royal Scots. Thomas was killed during an attack on an area known as the 'Popes Nose'. The Battalion War Diary states that some 300 German dead lay around the area. This was a phase of attacks on the Butte de Warlencourt and part of the Battle of Le Transloy, 1st - 18th October 1916 : 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 counter-attacks, in an effort to have the front line on higher ground from which the offensive could be renewed in 1917. Thomas fell just over 3 months after arriving in France. This Battle 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 8 FOR THE BATTALION WAR DIARY OCTOBER 1916, PHOTOS x 20 FOR THE 9th (SCOTTISH) DIVISION BOOK OCTOBER 1916 and PHOTOS x 12 FOR THE 9th (SCOTTISH) DIVISION ORDER OF BATTLE (the Division he was with when he died). The War Diary for the 22/10/1916 states : 2 Officers Wounded, 14 Other Ranks Killed, 75 Wounded. The Division served on the Western Front throughout the war, and was regarded by many as one of the best fighting formations of 1914-18. See photos for Thomas' Medal Index Card, the 1901 Ireland Census x 3, his name on the Ireland Casualties WW1, his CWGC Grave Registration, his name on the Thiepval Memorial Panel List, his name on the Thiepval Memorial, his Army Register of Soldiers Effects, his Service Medal and Award Rolls, the Royal Scots Cap Badge, Thomas' Pension Records x 2 and his Service Records x 9. The History of the 9th (Scottish) Division book is available to read online
here
