Daniel Docherty

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

Daniel and the Battalion arrived in France on the 11/09/1915 and were part of the 64th Brigade, 21st Division. Daniel was Killed in Action during the attack on Ovillers, North of Fricourt (part of the Battle of Albert and opening phase of the Battles of the Somme), 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 of 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. A phase 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 52 FOR THE BATTALION WAR DIARY FROM 1st JUNE - 1st JULY 1916. The Battalion War Diary states casualties on the 01/07/1916 were - 13 Officers Killed, 9 Wounded (2 subsequently Died of Wounds), about 415 Other Ranks Killed, 60 Wounded. Daniel was 1 of 15 men from the Coatbridge Memorial to fall on this day. Daniel is listed as DOCHARTY on his Headstone and on Reburial form. I personally laid a Poppy at Daniel's grave in 2010 (see main grave photo). Daniel was reburied in Gordon Dump Cemetery (see photos). See photos for Daniel's Medal Index Card, his Army Register of Soldiers Effects, his Service Medal and Award Rolls, his CWGC Grave Registration x 2, his Headstone Report, another photo of Poppy placed by myself at Daniel's grave, Gordon Dump Cemetery, Daniel's Pension Records x 2, the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry Cap Badge, Officers of the 9th Battalion King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, La Neuville, Corbie, April 1916, a map showing the Battalion near Fricourt on the 01/07/1916 and the 21st Division Order of Battle x 12 (the Division Daniel was with when he died).