Day 809. Hull Pals Memorial Post. PRIVATE ALBERT BARNES 31513. Born in Dover, Kent Albert enlisted in Hastings, originally as 23590 in the Suffolk Regiment before being transferred to the 11th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment. His name being common has made tracking further personal details down, but he was killed in action on 8th November 1917 during what was a highly successful raid on German trenches at Tresnoy. I say successful, the Pals lost 55 men killed or wounded, but the damage inflicted on the enemy was far worse. The details make harrowing reading, from the systematic machine-gunning of forty German soldiers running away, to the blowing up of dug-outs with 20lb explosive charges when said dug-outs contained cowering soldiers afraid to come out. These things were commonplace on the Western Front of course, but it gives you some idea of the inhumanity that was the norm in the trenches. Albert Barnes was buried at Roclincourt Military Cemetery.
Posted on: Sun, 20 Apr 2014 21:44:26 +0000
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