To appreciate the impact of the attack on Mametz Wood to communities in Wales it is necessary to look at more than the casualty statistics. As was often the case during the war, news of casualties arrived home slowly and it was not until late July and early August that The South Wales Echo in Cardiff began to report stories of local men killed and wounded. These reports illustrate powerfully the impact of the attack on their families.
Lance Corporal Henry Hartwidge went to the assistance of his older brother, Corporal Tom Hardwidge, who was lying mortally wounded. Whilst giving his brother water, Henry was also shot and they are reported as dying in each other's arms. The brothers are buried side by side in Flat Iron Copse Cemetery. They were both colliers from Ferndale and both had enlisted in The 15th Battalion of The Welsh Regiment. Tom lived at 17 High Street Ferndale and left a wife and three children. Henry lived at 13 Lake Street Ferndale and left a wife and one child.
Many other brothers were to die in the attack on The Wood. Privates Henry John Morgan and Charles Morgan were also brothers and sons of Mr W and Mrs E Morgan of 70 Railway Street Cardiff. They had worked at the Blaenafon Steel and Iron Company works Both men had joined the army in Cardiff and were in A Company, the 16th Battalion of The Welsh Regiment. Both were killed on 7th July and are commemorated on The Thiepval Memorial. Another pair of brothers were Privates Albert and Ernest Oliver of Pontypridd. They were also in the 16th Battalion of The Welsh Regiment and carried the service numbers 24115 and 24116. Albert was killed on 7th July and is buried in Flat Iron Copse Cemetery and Ernest was killed on 10th July and is buried in Dantzig Alley British Military Cemetery. Both brothers were members of the Salvation Army and played in the band.
Many Welsh families were already accustomed to tragedy. On 13th October 1913 an explosion at The Universal Colliery at Senghenydd killed 439 miners. David George Humphries worked at The Universal Colliery, where his father and elder brother had been killed in the explosion. Private Humphries was in B Company, 16th Battalion of The Royal Welsh Fusiliers. He was 22 and was killed on 10th July and is commemorated on The Thiepval Memorial. The South Wales Echo reports him rushing into action crying, "For my God, my king and for my dear old home." Private Humphries had two other brothers in the army, but he is the only Humphries listed listed on The Senghenydd War Memorial, along with 62 other local men.
Also in The 16th Battalion of The Royal Welsh Fusiliers was Lieutenant Colonel Ronald James Walter Carden, the son of The Baronet Sir Frederick Walter Carden. On 10th July he told his men, "Boys, make your peace with God. We are going to take that position and some of us won't come back." Leading his men with his stick held high, Lieutenant Colonel Carden was wounded, but struggled on to the edge of The Wood where he was killed; he is buried in Carnoy Military Cemetery. Private William Robert Thomas of The 13th Battalion of The Welsh Regiment was a collier from Penycraig and a prominent trade unionist. He was killed on 10th July and is commemorated on The Thiepval Memorial. Also killed in The 13th battalion on that day was Second Lieutenant Guy Danvers Mainwaring Crossman, the son of the Reverend Charles Crossman, who had joined The Public Schools Service Battalion in 1914.The deaths at Mametz Wood were indiscriminate in relation to social class. Estate workers, farm labourers, colliers, dockworkers and iron works labourers fell amongst the sons of titled gentlemen and public schoolboys.
Soldiers killed varied widely in their ages. Private David John Williams of 16th Battalion Welsh Regiment, from Whitchurch, Cardiff, was 19 when he was killed on 7th July and was one of many teenagers to die in the attack. Private William Davies of the 13th Battalion of The Welsh Regiment was 45. Although many years over military age, he had volunteered on the outbreak of war. Originally from Blaenuu Festiniog, he lived at 1 Mayfield Villas Craigwen, Pontypool and left Dorothy his widow, three daughters and a son.
The Welsh Division Memorial at Mametz is one of the most striking on the old Western Front. It stands on the top of the steep bank which many of the men had to descend before beginning to climb the rising ground to the edge of The Wood. It was across this ground that many of The Welsh Division met their deaths and the defiant attitude of the dragon today captures well the enormous determination that these men showed in their desperate and ultimately successful attacks between 7th and 11th July 1916.
The view of Mametz Wood today from The Monument, showing the open ground over which the attack took place.
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