Notes
Recovered 19.09.2023 from https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/814564/albert-john-symes/
Service Number: 12844
Dorsetshire Regiment 6th Bn.
Date of Death 02 July 1916
Commemorated at THIEPVAL MEMORIAL Pier and Face 7 B.
http://www.piddlevalley.info/history_great_war.php#11
To return to the attack on Thiepval. This was a failure and the 1st Dorsets were relieved at 02.00 a.m. on the 2nd July. Their numbers had been reduced from about 650 to 323. Their objective, Mouquet Farm, was not finally taken until 26th September 1916.
Some three to four miles south of the hell of Authuille Wood lay another fortified village - Fricourt. This was the objective for the Brigade which included the 6th Dorsets. The Dorsets were the reserve battalion for the Brigade's attack and waited while the other battalions went over the top. Private ALBERT JOHN SYMES would have waited with them. The 6th Dorsets' Regimental History tells us how 'it was all over for the leading battalions in a few minutes; the dead and wounded lay in long swathes, as if cut down by a reaper.' One of those battalions, the 10th West Yorkshires, lost 733 men. They were completely wiped out.