Military History

Albert died of wounds of 12th July 1916 at one of the 2/2nd London, 36th or 38th Casualty Clearing stations based at Heilly where he was buried. He had been severely wounded in action on 10th July 1916.

The 10th Battalion war diary entries from the 10th and 11th July are transcribed below.

La Boisselle - 10 Jul 1916: All day spent improving and deepening trenches & burying some 50 dead (British & German) lying at the La Boisselle Road bifurcation. This spot had been subjected to very heavy fire from our guns. Here was found a large German aid post with 2 stories and 5 entrances, 3 of which had been blocked up. In this dug were found many dead & wounded Germans & also a few British. It was cleared out with considerable difficultly & in the fighting of the next few days was used by Captain Wilson R.A.M.C Medical Officer 10 RF and several colleagues as a 1^st Aid Post. It continued to be heavily shelled, a large crater being formed by the constant fire and it was a post of extreme danger.

At 7pm this evening the 13 R.B attacked in the direction of Pozieres their left being on the tramway. They succeeded in advancing somewhat past the group of trenches between X.9.b.52.11 and X.9.d.89.40 after which they encountered a very heavy machine gun fire & were forced to fall back with a loss of all but 4 Officers & about 400 men.

C&B Coys of 10 R F were pushed up to relieve them into the front trenches and the remnants of the 13^th R B then fell back into the support trench from X.14.b.9.5 to X.15.a.5.2½  which had been occupied by C & B Coys.

1^st line transport moved off at 6am to point E.5.d.7.5 to E.6.c.8.8 and bivouacked in a field together with the 1^st Line transport Sections of 112^th Brigade & the remainder of 111^th Brigade awaiting the order to move up. 35 men of D Coy sent back to Transport bivouac to prevent overcrowding in trenches which have been heavily shelled during the day. Weather fine and very warm.

La Boisselle - 11 Jul 1916: During the morning the Battalion remained in support & lost considerably from heavy shelling. At 3pm A & D Coys were moved up & took over the advanced trenches 600 yards in rear of C & B Coys which were then being held by 13^th Bn Rifle Brigade.

A noticeable feature of the operations of the last few days has been the almost entire absence of German aircraft, their observation balloons too are few and far between & are hurried hauled down on the approach of our aeroplanes. One of our machines was seen to fall in enemy lines during afternoon. Weather fine and warm.