John Archer

Killed in Action on the 03/07/1916 at the Battle of Albert (opening phase of the Battles of the Somme)

The 2nd Battalion arrived at Le Havre on the 22/08/1914 and were part of the 96th Brigade, 32nd Division when John fell. John was killed as the Battalion attempted to capture the village of Thiepval two days into 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 the 13th July. 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. John's cousin Christopher McDade also fell. SEE PHOTOS x 9 FOR THE 2nd BATTALION WAR DIARY JUNE - JULY 1916. John is also remembered on the St. Patrick's Church Roll of Honour. See photos for John's Medal Index Card, his Newspaper clippings x 2, his Army Register of Soldiers Effects, his name on the Ireland Casualties WW1, his Memorial Plaque (Dead Man's Penny), his Service Medal and Award Rolls, his CWGC Grave Registration, his name on the Thiepval Memorial, John's family information, his name on the Thiepval Memorial Panel List, the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers Cap Badge, John's Pension Records x 2, the 32nd Division Order of Battle x 14 (the Division he was with when he died) and another photo of John's name on the Thiepval Memorial kindly donated by my friend in France, Thierry Dericbourg.