Lance Corporal Adam Smith

Lance Corporal Adam Stevenson Smith, 12th ( Service ) Battalion, Royal Scots. He was killed in action in Belgium, aged 19, on 11th April 1918. He had been born in Melrose to William and Agnes Smith of Darnick and is commemorated on thr Tyne Cot Memorial, Zonnebeke, Flanders, Belgium. He had originally enlisted in the Kings Own Scottish Borderers but was then sent to the 5th Entrenching Battalion in France from where he was posted to the Royal Scots. ( An Entrenching Battalion was a temporary unit used to hold pools of men from which drafts of replacements could be drawn from by Infantry Battalions). He fell during the Battle of the Lys which was part of the German Spring Offensives. The Battalion was holding trenches at “White Chateau” near Hollebeke in the face of strong German attacks and suffered casualties from shellfire and sniping. Casualties for that period of the Battle between 4th and 21st April were 39 Other Ranks killed and 6 Officers and 111 Other Ranks wounded. In addition 6 Other Ranks were posted missing. The photos show British troops in defensive positions awaiting fresh German advances.