Mark and the Battalion arrived at Boulogne on the 22/11/1915 and were part of the 96th Brigade, 32nd Division. Mark was Killed in Action on the opening phase of the Battle of the Somme (the Battles of Albert). At zero hour a football was kicked in advance of the attack. The Battalion only reached 'No Man's Land' before they were pinned down by enemy machine gun fire from Thiepval Fort. During this attack on the southern end of the village all but 11 of the Battalion were killed or wounded. SEE PHOTOS x 5 FOR THE BATTALION WAR BOOK FOR 01/07/1916 and PHOTOS x 3 FOR THE BATTALION WAR DIARY FOR 01/07/1916. 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. The 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. Mark was 1 of 15 men from the Coatbridge Memorial who fell on this day. Mark was a prominent member of the Gartsherrie Swimming Club. Mark's death was not officially reported till 5 months after he fell. Mark's Grave photo donated by Mick McCann at
here. He is also remembered on the Coatbridge Technical College and Dunbeth Parish Churches Rolls of Honours and at the Family Plot in Old Monkland Cemetery (see photos). Mark was reburied in the Lonsdale Cemetery (see photos). See photos for Mark's Medal Index Card, his Newspaper clipping, the 1911 England Census, his name in the Scotland National Probate Index (Will), 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, Lonsdale Cemetery, Mark's Pension Records x 2 and the Northumberland Fusiliers Cap Badge. His grave inscription reads "PROUD EVER OF THEE MY MOTHER, MY COUNTRY AND MY CHURCH". Finally, see photos for the 32nd Division Order of Battle x 14 (the Division he was with when he died).
