David McAteer

Killed in Action on the 10/07/1916 west of the village of Ovillers. Battle of Albert (opening phase of the Battles of the Somme)

The Battalion arrived at Le Havre on the 22/08/1914. On the 06/12/1914 they transferred as GHQ Troops. On the 26/01/1915 they transferred to 5th Brigade, 2nd Division. On the 22/07/1915 they transferred as Army Troops to Third Army. On the 08/11/1915 they transferred to 14th Brigade, 5th Division. On the 24/12/1915 they transferred to 96th Brigade, 32nd Division. David arrived in France on the 03/05/1915. David was Killed in Action during a night attack west of the village of Ovillers, the Battle of Albert. The Battle, 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 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. David is listed as McATEAR and 9th BATTALION ROYAL IRISH FUSILIERS on the Coatbridge Memorial. David's brother Robert fell on the 08/08/1915. He is NOT listed on the Memorial as he left for War from home in Belfast. Robert's Army Register of Soldiers Effects, his Service Medal and Award Rolls x 2 and his listing on the Ireland Casualties WW1 are attached (see photos). David is also remembered on the Stewarts and Lloyds Roll of Honour (see photos). See photos for David's Medal Index Card, his Army Register of Soldiers Effects, his Service Medal and Award Rolls x 2, his listing in the Ireland Casualties WW1, his CWGC Grave Registration, his name on the Thiepval Memorial Panel List, his name on the Thiepval Memorial, David and his younger brother Robert's Pension Records x 4, the Royal Irish Rifles Cap Badge (Robert's Regiment) and the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers Cap Badge