Archibald (Archie) McDonald

The 8th (Service) Battalion arrived at Boulogne on the 10/05/1915 and were part of the 26th Brigade, 9th (Scottish) Division. On the 07/05/1916 they moved to Bethune and transferred to the 44th Brigade, 15th (Scottish) Division. Four days later they amalgamated with the 10th (Service) Battalion to form the 8/10th (Service) Battalion. Surplus men were posted to 11th Entrenching Battalion being formed at Bethune. Archibald arrived in France on the 19/10/1915. Archibald Died of Wounds after 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 counterattacks, in an effort to have the front line on higher ground from which the offensive could be renewed in 1917. The Division took part in attacks on the Butte de Warlencourt during this phase. From the 8/10th (Service) Battalion War Diary from the 18th - 22nd October 1916 - CRESCENT ALLEY, MARTINPUICH 18th October : "Rain continues and the whole countryside is awash. The Battalion moved up into CRESCENT ALLEY (support trenches) at dusk today relieving the 15th Scottish Rifles. Trenches are in a frightful state. Battalion HQ is a stairway of an unfinished dug-out. 19th October : The Battalion moved into the front line at dusk today and relieved the 12th H.L.I. Several further showers during the day made the trenches almost impossible. LE SARS, 20th October : Weather has cleared somewhat but the trenches are still bad. The exact location of the enemy is uncertain but the Artillery shell the BUTTE DE WARLENCOURT incessantly. The enemy is known to hold the trenches in this vicinity fairly strongly and the BUTTE itself appears to be well set up with machine-guns. The trench system in our sector has been somewhat straightened out. During the day enemy artillery has been normal. In this sector men wander about in the open everywhere even in front of the front line. LE SARS, 21st October : The Battalion was relieved by the 7th Camerons. The Camerons came up across the open almost to the front line and this expedited the relief considerably. It is the only possible way with trenches in their present condition. BAZENTIN-LE-PETIT, 22nd October : We are back in Reserve at our old position", (see photos x 4 for more information from the Battalion War Diary). This was part of the Battles of the Somme 1 July - 18 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. On the 15/09/1916 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. The XV Corps Main Dressing Station was formed at Dernancourt in July 1916 when the adjoining EXTENSION was opened. The 45th and 56th (1st/1st South Midland) Casualty Clearing Stations came in September 1916 and remained until March 1917. The Extension now contains 2,162 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War. 177 of the burials are unidentified, but there are Special Memorials to 29 casualties known or believed to be buried among them, and to two buried at Albert Road Cemetery, Buire-sur-Ancre whose grave could not be found on concentration. Archibald was wounded on the 21/10/1916 and died the following day. I personally laid a Poppy at Alexander's grave in 2008 (see main grave photo). Archibald is also remembered on the Coats Parish Church and Stewarts and Lloyds Rolls of Honour (see photos). See photos for Archibald's Medal Index Card, his Newspaper clippings x 3, his Army Register of Soldiers Effects, his Service Medal and Award Rolls x 2, his CWGC Grave Registration x 2, his Headstone Report x 2, Dernancourt Communal Cemetery Extension, Archibald's Pension Records x 2 and the Gordon Highlanders Cap Badge. Archibald's grave inscription reads "SADLY MISSED". Finally, a photo of myself at Dernancourt Communal Cemetery Extension in 2012 (I laid several Poppies here. This is myself checking my lists).