Albert Adam Smith – Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, Drake Battalion
Able Seaman Albert Adam Smith – Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, Drake Battalion
Early Life and Marriage
Albert Adam Smith was born in 1893. He married Florence
A. Ace in 1915 in Swansea.
Service with the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve
Albert enlisted in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve
and served with the Drake Battalion of the Royal Naval Division.
This unique formation, made up largely of naval personnel serving as infantry,
fought alongside the Army on the Western Front and saw some of the heaviest
fighting of the war.
Drake Battalion’s Actions on 23rd April 1917
On 23rd April 1917, the Drake Battalion
took part in the Second Battle of the Scarpe, a major phase of the wider
Battle of Arras. Their objective was the strongly fortified Gavrelle–Oppy
line, including the village of Gavrelle, which the Germans had
transformed into a network of deep dugouts, machine‑gun nests, and thick belts
of barbed wire.
During the night of 22nd–23rd April,
battalion patrols reported that the German wire in front of their sector was exceptionally
dense, leaving only a narrow gap through which an assault could be made. By
1:45 a.m., the battalion had formed up in eight waves on this
restricted frontage, lying exposed in open ground as dawn approached.
When the attack began, the Drake Battalion advanced under intense
machine‑gun and artillery fire. The fighting around Gavrelle was fierce and
costly. Many men fell as they attempted to force their way through the wire and
across open ground swept by enemy fire. Despite determined efforts, progress
was limited, and casualties were severe throughout the day.
It was during this heavy fighting on 23rd April
1917 that Able Seaman Albert Adam Smith was killed in action.
Death and Commemoration
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| Albert Adam Smith Arras Memorial, Pas‑de‑Calais, France credit - findagrave |
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