In Memory Of
COATES, HAROLD BREARLEY
Service Details
Age:
20
Date of Birth:
-0001-11-30
Rank:
Second Lieutenant
Unit:
7th Bn.
Regiment:
Yorkshire Regiment
Date of Death:
1916-07-01
Cause of Death:
Killed in action, during attack of Fricourt. The Battalion lined up in the trenches in front of the village of Fricourt and had been told not to move until ordered to do so. But the A Coy attacked in error at 7.45 am and was practically destroyed in twenty yards by a single machine-gun (108 of its 140 men became casualties). The remaining companies attacked at 2.30 pm through the German barbed wire in which existed only four small gaps. Within three minutes, the Yorkshiremen sustained 351 casualties. A few reached the village but were soon killed or captured. The 7th Green Howards Memorial stands in the Fricourt British Cemetery (Bray Road) which is in the old No Man's Land where A Coy launched its tragic attack.
Commemoration
Grave Reference:
VI. G. 2.
Cemetery:
DANTZIG ALLEY BRITISH CEMETERY, MAMETZ
Localitly:
Somme
Country:
France
Additional Information
Son of Henry and Julia Coates, of 15, Sutherland Avenue, Johannesburg, South Africa.
