John Cosgrove

Killed in Action on the 09/08/1916 in the Potijze area, Ypres

In March 1915 the Battalion sailed, going via Egypt, and landed at Cape Helles, Gallipoli, on 25/04/1915 and were part of the 87th Brigade, 29th Division. The 29th Division served on the Gallipoli peninsula, a point in the strategic Dardanelles straits between the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea (and thus the Mediterranean). The Division was there for the duration of the ill-fated campaign. It made the first landings as part of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force in April 1915. On the morning of the 25/04/1915 the Battle of Gallipoli began when Battalions from the Division's 86th and 87th Brigades landed at five beaches around Cape Helles at the tip of the peninsula under the command of Major-General Aylmer Hunter-Weston. Three of the landings faced little or no opposition but were not exploited. The two main landings, at V and W Beaches on either side of the cape, met with fierce Turkish resistance and the landing battalions were decimated. At Suvla, the Battle of Scimitar Hill on the 21st August was the final push of the failed August Offensive. The 29th Division had been moved from Helles to Suvla to participate. The 87th Brigade was briefly able to capture the summit of the hill but was soon forced to retreat. On the 18/03/1916 they landed at Marseilles for service in France and from this time the Division was put into the British Front in the area north of the Ancre River, near to the German-held village of Beaumont Hamel. For the following three months the Battalions in the Division spent their time doing tours of trenches and training behind the lines to prepare for the large British offensive against the German position planned for the end of June. Following a 7-day artillery bombardment of the German Front and Rear areas, the Battalions of the 29th Division were in position in their Assembly Trenches in the early hours of Saturday the 1st July. At 07.20 hours the huge Hawthorn mine was blown on the left of the Division's position. The leading Battalions in the attack left the British Front Line trench at 07.30 hours. The British casualties were very heavy, with many men never reaching the German Front Line. John survived both Gallipoli and the Somme but fell in Ypres. The Battalion War Diary for the 09/08/1916 states - "FIRING LINE - Ordinary routine repairing trenches. The situation quiet during day. Enemy made a very heavy and concentrated discharge of gas on our lines starting 22.30. It lasted for over two hours. Our casualties were heavy especially in "C" Company which was in the left subsector - Owing to our Lewis gunfire being kept up, during the whole attack, on the enemy parapet and our close Artillery support the enemy did not have his trenches - Casualties : KILLED 7 Officers, 42 Other Ranks, WOUNDED : 5 Officers, 82 Other Ranks. DIED AFTERWARDS : 39 Other Ranks". Sadly on the day news of John's death was received his eldest daughter Ellen died aged 12 years. John's brother was twice wounded and 2 brothers-in-law were also wounded. SEE PHOTOS x 10 FOR THE BATTALION WAR DIARY JULY - AUGUST 1916, PHOTOS x 8 FOR THE 29th DIVISION BOOK 1st JULY - 14th AUGUST 1916, PHOTOS x 4 FOR A LIST OF 29th DIVISION RED-LETTER DAYS (Compiled by Captain Maurice Healy M.C.) and THE SONG OF THE 29th DIVISION. The 29th Division book states - "The 29th were in this sector (Ypres Salient) for exactly two months. The outstanding events were a phosgene gas attack on the night of the 8th - 9th August which cost us something like 300 casualties. It was curiously local in its effects, and the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in the Potijze area bore the brunt of it. The transport horses of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers got back to their usual station behind Ypres, but all died next morning towards midday". John is also remembered in the St. Augustine's Parish (book) Roll of Honour. See photos for John's Medal Index Card, his Army Register of Soldiers Effects, his Service Medal and Award Rolls, his CWGC Grave Registration, his name on the Menin Gate Memorial Panel List, his name on the Menin Gate Memorial x 2, his Irelands Casualties WW1, the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers Cap Badge and John's Pension Records x 3. Finally, see Newspaper clipping for Coatbridge Express 17/01/1917 for information on John's daughter Ellen and other family information that states only 4 children were alive when John fell (Pension Record shows only 4 children. Daughter Mary born 1913 along with Ellen NOT listed) and the 29th Division Order of Battle x 13 (the Division he was with when he died).