Mametz Wood

The first day of the Battle of The Somme, 1^st July 1916, was the worst in the history of the British army, with over 57,000 casualties of whom almost 20,000 were killed. Along most of the front of the attack, the British troops had been repulsed without gain. Isolated footholds had been made in the German front line opposite Thiepval Wood and in between La Boisselle and Fricourt. Only to the south had success been achieved in gaining objectives, notably the villages of Mametz and Montauban. Despite the enormous losses of 1^st July, there was never any doubt that assaults on the German lines would continue and General Sir Douglas Haig, Commander of the British Expeditionary Force, determined on a strategy of exploiting the gains made in the south of the battlefield. His immediate aim was to gain tactically important positions that would then allow a wider assault on the German second line of defences, but these attacks were again to prove extremely costly. This phase of the battle began on 7^th July with three uncoordinated attacks on Ovillers, Contalmaison and Mametz Wood.

The 7^th Division had already failed in an attempt to capture Mametz Wood and on 5^th July was relieved by the 38^th (Welsh) Division with orders to capture the wood. With support from the 17^th Division, who were to attack from the west, the 38^th were to attack the side of the wood known as the Hammer Head, from the south and east. This was the first occasion on which the Division was to take part in the war as a unit. On 7^th July a bombardment of the wood began at 5.30am and at 8.30am the 16^th Battalion of the Welsh Regiment and 11^th Battalion of the South Wales Borderers went over the top to lead the attack on Mametz Wood, defended by The Lehr Regiment of the Prussian Guard.

These men were to cross nearly 400 yards of ground before reaching the wood. At first, protected by undulating ground their progress seemed unreal and the lack of opposition perhaps gave hope that the artillery bombardment had silenced the German machine guns. However, as they reached the crest of the rise and began to descend into the shallow valley before advancing up the slope to the wood’s edges, the attackers were met by murderous machine gun fire. The artillery barrage had not silenced the German machine guns defending the wood and those attackers who were not wounded or killed were forced to take cover in shell holes or simply lie on the ground and pray that the hail of bullets would pass over them. After a further bombardment at 11.15 am, another attempt was made to break into the wood, but again the advance broke down in a hail of machine gun bullets. Yet another attack was planned for 4.30pm, but after an attempt to silence the German machine guns failed, this was cancelled.

Information reaching General Sir Douglas Haig’s headquarters reported a picture of failure against weak opposition and a demoralised enemy and he looked to those who he believed to be responsible. On 9^th July the divisional commander, Major-General Ivor Phillips was removed and replaced by Major General HE Watts, commander of the 7^th Division which had taken part in the successful attack on Mametz on 1^st July. That afternoon orders were given for another attack on the woods to take place the next day. 

    

The scene today as the dragon of the Welsh Division memorial looks towards Mametz Wood.

The attack on 10^th July began with a forty-minute bombardment followed by the laying of a smokescreen. To the left of the wood the men of the 16^th Battalion of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers went over the top at 4.15 am. The rifle and machine gun fire was intense, but the advance continued and waves of men from the 14^th Battalion of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers moved forward to support the 16^th Battalion. In the face of this attack, opposition began to crack. A number of German troops began to surrender and men from the Welsh Division began to enter the wood which appeared to have been deserted on its southern fringes. To the right of the wood the 13^th and 14^th Battalions of the Welsh Regiment also left their trenches at 4.15 am and, despite some of them having to cross 500 yards of open ground against intense German fire, they too reached the woods.

The scene which followed was one of bitter hand to hand fighting and confusion. Bayonet fighting and fire fights took place amongst shattered tree stumps, fallen branches, brambles, barbed wire, smashed trenches and shell holes. German troops were almost pushed out of the wood, but as night fell, they clung to 40 yards of its northern edge. Darkness and a tangle of broken trees and undergrowth made it impossible to determine who was who or precisely who held what. In the confusion, shells from both sides fell amongst friend and foe and attackers and defenders sometimes panicked, firing on their own men. In Goodbye to All That, Robert Graves described the scene in the wood which he entered shortly following the fighting; a scene of shattered trees littered with the bodies of dead Prussian Guards and Welsh soldiers.

On 11^th July the struggle to take the wood continued. At 3.30pm an attack was launched by the 11^th South Wales Borderers, the 16^th Welsh Regiment and the 17^th Royal Welsh Fusiliers. At 6.30pm the 10^th and 15^th Battalions of the Welsh Regiment and 16^th Royal Welsh Fusiliers were also brought forward to support the attack. These attacks failed to completely clear the wood by the end of the day and the Germans still held on to its northern edge. However, the following day, having suffered considerable losses in defending the wood, they withdrew. When the 38^th Division were relieved on 12^th July the wood was in British hands. Yet the cost had been terrible. The 38^th Division suffered 4000 casualties and, when it was withdrawn from the line, it ceased to exist as a viable fighting unit. It was not to return to action on The Western Front for a year.

Guided Battlefield Tours is organising a Somme Tour to coincide with the anniverary of the Welsh Division attack on Mametz Wood. Click on : www.guidedbattlefieldtours.co.uk