Wales in the First World War

Mametz Wood- The Human Cost

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.

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

 

The Devonshire Regiment- The Welsh Connection

At 7-30am on July 1^st 1916, 100,000 British Soldiers waiting along an eighteen mile front began to climb out of their trenches to take part in the biggest attack that had yet been undertaken by Britain in the First World War. This was the opening day of The Battle of The Somme. This was the first major battle for most of the eager recruits who had answered Kitchener’s call in 1914 and flocked to join the army in vast numbers. The attack was a failure along virtually the whole of its front and by the end of the day, the worst in the history of the British Army, casualties totalled almost 60,000 with almost 20,000 men dead.  Some success had been achieved in the southern sector of the attack where British troops had advanced against German lines in conjunction with the French. Here objectives had been taken, including the village of Mametz.

A visit to Mametz reveals one of the most moving sites on the old Western Front. In the Devonshire Cemetery are buried many men from the 8th and 9^th Battalions of the Devonshire Regiment, part of the 7^TH Division,  who were killed on July 1^st.  While at home on leave,  Devonshire Company commander Captain  Duncan Lenox Martin had made a model of the location where his men were to attack. From the model he predicted that as his men emerged over a rise by Mansell Copse they would be cut down by a German machine gun located beneath a shrine in Mametz village cemetery, unless this had been silenced by the British Artillery. The gun was not silenced and Captain Martin and 160 of the Devonshires are buried in the cemetery in what was their old front line trench, ten of them unknown. A stone at the entrance to the cemetery bears the inscription which was placed above the old trench in 1916, “The Devonshires held this trench. The Devonshires hold it still.”

On a visit to the cemetery my wife noted that a Private Thomas Lewis of Tonypandy was buried in the cemetery and having worked in the town for a number of years she was particularly moved to find a young man from the Welsh valleys buried with the Devonshires, amongst others far from his home. This began an interest to discover why he was serving with a regiment apparently raised so far from the valleys in which he lived. Thomas Lewis lived at 8 Bodringgallt Terrace, Ystrad and was aged 27. His father was Lewis Lewis a coal miner born in Brecon about 1864. Thomas’ mother, Mary Jane, was born in Aberdare in about 1867. The 1901 Census return shows Thomas as one of seven Welsh speaking children who lived at 27 Margam Street in Cymmer.

Also buried in the cemetery are another fifteen soldiers of the 9^th Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment and one of the 8^th Battalion, who were either born in Wales or who lived in Wales on joining the army. Private William Western was also from Tonypandy and lived at 108 Thomas Street. Sergeant Lawrence Victor James Williams was 19 and lived at 68 Clifton Street, Roath Cardiff. He was the son of Sidney and Fanny Williams and his father was a railway porter from Undy. Others were from Pontypridd, such as Sergeant David Williams of 33 Ebenezer Street, Rhydfelin. Three of the men were from Swansea, such as Herbert Lewis Davies of 22 Phillips Parade the son of John Isaac Davies.

Further research also revealed that apart from those buried in the cemetery another eight soldiers, either born in Wales or living in Wales, were killed with the 9^th Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment on 1^st July. Private John Archibald Hedges was 29 and born in Newport, the son of John Hedges a hairdresser. His sister, Mrs Elizabeth Adams lived at 50 Minny Street Cardiff. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.  Lance Corporal Arthur Matthews, who lived with his wife Annabel at 60 Castle Street Caerphilly, also has no known grave and is named on the Thiepval Memorial. Acting Corporal William Howard was 22 and the son of William and Mary Howard of 6 Page Street Swansea and is buried in Serre Road Cemetery.

Welsh involvement with the Devonshire regiment, however,  was not confined to Mametz. While the 8^th and 9^th Devonshires were attacking Mametz, the 2^nd Battalion of the same regiment was attacking the village of Ovillers in the centre of the battle front as part of the 8^th Division. The attack was a failure and the village was not taken by the British until July 17^th. Ovillers was retaken by the Germans in March 1918 and finally retaken by the 38^TH (Welsh) Division in August 1918. Amongst the men of the 2^nd Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment killed on July 1^st were another 20 men either born or living in Wales. Many of these were also from the Rhondda Valley, from such places as Tonypandy, Porth and Ferndale. Others were from Pontypridd, Cardiff and Swansea. The intensity of the fighting in the area over a prolonged period resulted in most of these men having no known grave and they are named on the Thiepval Memorial.

In seeking to follow the story of men from Wales serving in the First World War, it is necessary therefore to look beyond Welsh Regiments. Most Welshmen joined Welsh Regiments, but many found themselves in other regiments, just as many men from other parts of the United Kingdom found themselves in regiments from Wales. The great majority of men in the 2^nd and 9^th Battalions of the Devonshire Regiment were from Devon.  Those men serving with the Devonshires from Wales, were largely from the Rhondda, Pontypridd, Cardiff and Swansea, areas from which there was a great flood of volunteers in 1914.

On explanation for a number of these men serving with the Devonshires was clearly that they were originally from that county. The Edwardian period had been one of great prosperity for South Wales during which the coal and steel industries had boomed and many towns in South Wales had expanded greatly. The 1901 census clearly indicates a number of workers moving to Wales from elsewhere in the UK, with many coming from Devon and the South West of England. Indeed, Thomas Lewis’ family had two English lodgers and their next door neighbours were from Cornwall. Of those from Wales killed in the Devonshire Regiment, Private Henry Holman was born in Exmouth and lived in Tonypandy, Lance Serjeant Henry Butland was born in Exeter and lived in Cardiff, Private Arthur Harding was born in Barnstaple and lived in Swansea. One might also speculate that some men from Wales joined the Devonshire Regiment to serve with men originating from the South West of England with whom they worked or with whom they were friends; contemporary sources show numerous cases of men joining a regiment to be with a “mate.”  However, there were two other significant groups within the Devonshires from elsewhere in the UK, one from London and another from Rochdale in Lancashire; to many men in its ranks the 9th Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment was known as "The 9th London and Lancs." There is no obvious connection between these areas and Devon and it is almost certainly the case that groups of men from areas where there was an overwhelming response to the call for volunteers were sent to fill the ranks of regiments where insufficient numbers of recruits were forthcoming. Whether it was to be with "mates" or as a consequence of the cajoling of recruiting sergeants, the fact is that many men from South Wales served in World War 1 as soldiers in The Devonshire Regiment.

The view today across from the Devonshire Cemetery to the cemetery in the village of Mametz.

To join a Somme tour click on www.guidedbattlefieldtours.co.uk

 

Men From Wales in the 8^th and 9^th Devonshires Killed on 1^st July and Known to be Buried in Devonshire Cemetery

Name	Place of Birth	Place of Residence
Henry BUTLAND L. Sergeant 11468	Exeter	Cardiff  Brother of CJ Butland 4 Apsley Terr. Horn Lane Acton
Robert Henry DARK Private 16036	Bideford	Swansea  Husband of Mrs E.  7 Graham Terrace S. Devon
Herbert Eustace DAVIES  L. Corp 14764	Swansea	Swansea   Son of John Isaac  22 Phillips Parade Swansea
Sidney FEDRICK Private 20043	Pontypridd	Exeter  Son of Harry F  83 Babbacombe Rd Torquay
William FRENCH  32 Private 12684	Bridgewater	Barry  Son of Samuel and Sarah 5 Stringston Holford Bridgewater
William GREEN  Private 20842	St Mary’s, Glam	Swansea  Brother of Mr B Green 7 Pentre Mawr Rd Pentre
Henry HOLMAN Private 15881	Exmouth	Tonypandy
John Thomas  JONES Private 13654	Bethesda	Porth
William Henry LAWRENCE Private 13024	Merthyr	Merthyr   Husband of Mrs AR  2 Brook Cottage Pwllmegric
Richard KITCH Sergeant 12685	Taunton	Barry  Son of Lucy Hubbard 9 Paradise Sq Duke St Taunton
Thomas LEWIS  27 Private 13106	Tonypandy	Ystrad  Son of Lewis Lewis 8 Bodringallt Terr. Ystrad
Henry VENN Private 6689	Tiverton	Newbridge  Husband of Ann  6 Panteg Terr Newbridge
William WESTERN Private 12666	Wells	Tonypandy  Husband of Blanch Thomas (formerly Western) of 108 Thomas St Tonypandy
Daniel WILLIAMS Sergeant 12801	Rhydfelin, Pontypridd	Cardiff  Son of David & Mary   33 Ebenezer St Rhydfelin Pontypridd
Frank George WILLIAMS  26 Private 12000	Bristol	Tonteg, Pontypridd  Son of Mrs J Warburton 2 New Houses Tonteg
Lawrence Victor  James WILLIAMS 19 Sargeant 10336	Cardiff	Cardiff  Son of Sidney & Fanny  68 Clifton St Cardiff
Robert Phillip WILLING Private 12953	Abergavenny	Cardiff  Son of Mr RP 3 Glyndell Terr. Dartmouth Devon

Other Men From Wales in the 9th Devonshires Killed on 1^st July

Name	Place of Birth	Place of Residence	Cemetery/ Memorial
David John DAVIES Private 16829	Troedyshiw	Aberdare  Son of Benjamin & Mary Brother of William	Thiepval
John Archibald HEDGES  29 Private 20061	Newport  97 Dolphin Street  Father John S (Hairdresser)	Cullopton, Devon  Brother of Mrs Elizabeth Adams 50 Minny St Cathays	Thiepval
William HOWARD 22 Acting Corporal 11478	Swansea	Swansea  Son of William Henry and Marion Elizabeth 6 Page St Swansea	Serre Road Cemetery
Arthur MATTHEWS 28 L. Corporal 13079	Taunton	Barry  Husband of Annabel 60 Castle St Caerphilly	Thiepval
William NEWELL 19 Private 11620	Bridgend	Ogmore  Son of Thomas and Hannah 7 Waun Goch Nantymoel Bridgend	Thiepval
Ernest REEVES Private 12727	Abergwynfi	Tonypandy	Thiepval
William Ernest RICHARDS Sergeant 11190	Bideford	Wrexham	Thiepval
Hugh WILLIAMS Private 13078	Holyhead	Caerphilly	Thiepval

Occasionally records are contradictory in relation to places of birth and residence. Military records, such as Soldiers Died in The Great War, often rely on information given by recruits which was sometimes inaccurate or misleading. Where possible information has been cross referenced, but this has not been possible in all cases.

 

      

  Men from Wales in the 2^nd Devonshires Killed on 1^st July 1916.

Name	Place of Birth	Place of Residence	Cemetery/Memorial
Frank ANDREWS Private 12718	Sherbourne	Abercynon	Thiepval
Montague Thomas BRITTAIN Private 15119	Barnstable	Neath	Theipval
Henry BUTLER  23 Private 14135	Rhondda	Pentre  Son of Ann & the late Thomas 283 Park Rd Treorchy	Thiepval
Thomas CLARKE Private 14211	Carmarthen	Swansea Son of Henry & late Sarah Ann.  12a Rock St Waun Wen Swansea	Thiepval
William John DANIEL  24 Private 318117	Newbridge on Wyn Radnorshire	Aberavon  Son of William Thomas & Annie  17 Avan Street Velindre	Theipval
Brinley DAVIES Private 11919	Swansea	Swansea	Thiepval
Arthur FLOWERS Private 12711	Rhondda	Tonypandy	Thiepval
David Daniel GRIFFITHS 21 Private 3/8194	Swansea (Enlisted Swansea)	Crediton Devon  Son of Mrs D and late Mr DG (Police Inspector) of Manselton Swansea	Thiepval
Arthur HARDING 19 Private 3/8199	Barnstaple	Swansea   Son of Mr & Mrs W  Barnstaple	Thiepval
David John JONES  Private 13056	Rhymney	Ferndale	Thiepval
Robert David JONES  23 L  Corporal 12920	Swansea	Swansea   Brother of Mrs Davidge  Lancs.	Thiepval
William Henry JONES  Private 14154	Tonypandy	Pentre	Serre Road Cemetery No. 2
Alfred George KEENS  31 Private 13149	Milton Ernest Bedfordshire	Porth   Husband of Annie   Keens Leicester	Ovillers Military Cemetery
David MATTHEWS  26 Private 12963	Pontarddulais	Swansea   Son of Ann and the late David Craig Fawr Pontarddulias	Thiepval
David John PALMER  18 Private 3/8265	Swansea	Swansea  Son of Lewis and Elizathabeth Ann Wexford House Forest Fach Swansea	Thiepval
Charles Henry PREECE Private 20170	Presteign Radnors	Pontypridd	Thiepval
Philip ROBERTS Private 3/8283	Swansea	Swansea	Ovilliers Military Cemetery
George James THOMAS 32 Private 14174	Abergavenny	Honiton  Son of Peter and the late Harriet  20 Oakwood Rd Brynmill Swansea	Thiepval
Richard Lloyd WADE Private 3/8311	Swansea	Swansea	Ovilliers Military Cemetery
John WHITE  31 Private 8146	Porth	Porth  Son of George 13 Tram Rd Dinas. Husband of Elizabeth Maud 11 Tram Rd Dinas	Ovilliers Military Cemetery