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Albert (Somme)

From the Lonsdale Battalion wiki
Basilique Notre-Dame de Brebières and Albert in 1918 taken by Brigadier General William Okell Holden Dodds commanding officer of the 5th Canadian Division Artillery

Albert is an industrial town on the Ancre with a population of 6,750. The church of Notre-Dame Brebrieres was restored in recent years and attracts pilgrims. The village was called Ancre until the reign of Louis XIII, who presented it in 1617 to Charles d'Albert, Duc de Luynes. [1]

Also known as Bert, the town of the leaning virgin (on the above-named church), as a result of heavy shell fire that destroyed most of the town.[2]

1914

1915

1916

  • 11 February – The front is fairly quiet. The Lonsdales are relieved by the 17th Highland Light Infantry where they billet in Albert. There is a report of one non-commissioned officer killed. For five days they provide working parties for the Royal Engineers.
  • 17 February – The Lonsdales are relieved by the 2nd Inniskilling Fusiliers. They leave Albert and billet in Hénencourt Wood on fatigue duty.
  • 10 March – The Lonsdales are relieved by 17th Highland Light Infantry, again returning to billets in Albert, minus one platoon garrison. For six days they provide working parties for the Royal Engineers.
  • 12 March – 2nd Lieutenant Bourne and a draft of 30 men are taken on strength of the battalion.

1918

  • 28 September - Germans take Albert and Montdidier, within 12 miles of Amiens.
  • 8 August - British Fourth Army and the French Third Army attacked under Douglas Haig, with tanks, from Albert to north of Montdidier.[a]
  • 22 August - British attack between the Ancre and the Somme, and takes Albert.

Notes

  1. The Germans were completely surprised, and the Allies broke through the lines taking thousands of prisoners and hundreds of guns.

References

  1. E. W. Colbrook (1919). Odhams' A.B.C. of the Great War. London, Odhams. p.4.
  2. Edward Fraser and John Gibbons (1925). Soldier and Sailor Words and Phrases. Routledge, London p.21.
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