October 23, 1917, Driver John Vaughn Roberts (199173) of The Army Service Corps, 78 Mwrog St; died of dysentry in hospital at Salonika. He last saw Ruthin 19 months previously. The day before he died, he sent a letter to his wife telling her that he felt better and that he looked forward to seeing her and the children.
April 27, 12918, Private Stephen Vaughn Roberts (87666) of The Machine Gun Corps was killed, and buried at the Connaught Cemetry, France.
Early September 1918, Private Christmas Vaughn Roberts (4218) serving with 2nd Royal Welch Fusiliers was killed at Bapaume, France.
Friday 1 February 2008
Wednesday 12 December 2007
Battle of Mametz Wood, July 1916
It was at Mametz Wood that Ruthin suffered it's greatest casualty rate. 26 deaths can be attributed to that battle, and perhaps another 4 'died of wounds' at a later date. The Battle of the Somme was a massive drive on an 18 mile front to force Germany into withdrawing troops from Verdun to ease the pressure on the French who were suffering immense casualties at Verdun. A break through was also envisaged which would lead to an advance on Berlin. The German defences had been established for two years, and were deep and well constructed, hugging the higher ground. The front, second and reserve lines were connected by tunnels, redoubts and extremely strong fortifications. The attacking British troops were forced to attack uphill, on cover-free undulating fields, giving the Germans excellent visibility and lines of fire. Their barbed wire had been laid in a way that forced attack
ing troops into wire-free paths, well covered by machineguns and trench mortars, creating killing zones.
Y Ddraig Goch stands immediately in front of the RWF front line trenches facing Mametz Wood. The soldiers would have advanced from the earthworks (covered with a hedge today) seen here. It looks across no-man's-land at the trees (pictured above) which were heavily defended by the Germans.
ing troops into wire-free paths, well covered by machineguns and trench mortars, creating killing zones.The fortnight long artillery bombardment by the British was meant to have obliterated all German wire, killing the opposition, and providing the attacking British forces with a clear no-man's-land which, in theory, the soldiers could walk across and occupy the German trenches without opposition. Unfortunately, the Germans and their wire survived the bombardment, and wrought havoc on the attacking infantry.
The Somme offensive began on 1 July 1916, and the first Ruthin casualty was Private William Roberts of Mwrog Street, a twenty year old member of the 7th Battalion The Queen's (Royal West Surrey) Regiment at Mametz village. He probably died shortly after the whistles blew at 7.30am, 1st July, and his battalion went 'over the top' into a withering hail of machine gun bullets. His body was not subsequently found.
Y Ddraig Goch stands immediately in front of the RWF front line trenches facing Mametz Wood. The soldiers would have advanced from the earthworks (covered with a hedge today) seen here. It looks across no-man's-land at the trees (pictured above) which were heavily defended by the Germans.On 5 July the main attack on Mametz Wood began. The 1st were back in action for a frontal assault on the southwesterly sector of the woods known as Quadrangle Corner, alongside three other regiments. The attack was to be concentrated on 1,800 yards of front line consisting of open fields leading up hill to the heavily defended trenches and dense forest. The German positions were shelled, whilst British fighting patrols crept out under that cover to be as close as possible to the German front line. The barrage lifted and the enemy troops were caught by surprise, and following a short, furious fight, the other three regiments achieved their objectives. The 1st RWF failed to reach theirs because they were further away from their objectives in comparison to the other regiments.
Two assaulting companies were sent, and the left company occupied the German trench, and began mopping up along the trench to meet up with the second company. They, however, were held up on the enemy wire where they were bombed by ‘friendly fire’ as the British barrage fell short. When the line was finally consolidated, the 1st RWF had lost eight killed and 65 other casualties. Private Edward Thomas Hughes serving in the 1st Battalion fell in the machine gun fire on 9 July. Sergeant T D Jones, a Ruthin man, wrote home
“The Welsh advanced in the teeth of withering fire, and the first man to go down was our CO. He was struck with a bullet and fell on his face. Turning on his side he supported himself on an elbow and called cheerily ‘On Welshmen on!’ We cheered him and nothing could withstand the dash of the Welsh!” Written for a home audience, the letter tended to disregard the real aspect of an assault against machine guns. The poet Robert Graves was in the same Royal Welch battalion, and in his memoirs Goodbye To All That he describes an incident at Mametz Wood
“In the trench, we had to stand-to to let a stretcher case through. ‘Who’s the poor bastard Dai?’ asked my guide to the lead stretcher barer. ‘Sergeant Gallagher,’ Dai answered. ‘Silly bugger took a hand grenade to throw at the Fritz. Silly bugger throws too low it hits the top of the parapet and bursts back. Diawl man, it breaks his silly fucking jaw, and blows away all of his silly fucking face.’ The wounded man had a sandbag over his face. He died minutes later.”
Later that morning of 6 July, further Royal Welch (Service) battalions arrived – the 13th, 14, 15th, 16th and 17th, having marched for a week, and ‘were tired and footsore’. Siegfried Sassoon watched the new men arrive:
“They were mostly undersized men...and I had a sense of their victimisation. A little platoon officer was settling his men down with a valiant show of self-assurance....He spoke sharply to some of them, and I felt that they were like a lot of children....Visualising that forlorn crowd of khaki figures under the twilight of the trees, I can believe that I saw then, for the first time, how blindly war destroys its victims...I understood the doomed condition of these half trained civilians.”
They had been in France since December 1915, and as a Service battalion had been constantly at work in excavation and entrenching work throughout the year under extreme and harrowing conditions. Now, they were to be primary assaulting troops on Mametz Wood.
On 6 July, fighting fell to The South Wales Borderers and The Welsh Regiment, and the RWF were given a four day respite before their baptism of fire.
On 10th July, as dawn broke at 4.30am, the 16th RWF were to spearhead an assault on the southern section of Mametz Wood, with the 14th RWF in immediate support. The other RWF battalions were to follow in close support and reserves. Immediately before the attack, 40 year old Lt-Colonel Carden, Commanding the 16th battalion, held a brief service. Welsh hymns were sung and Carden addressed them:
“Boys, make your peace with God! We are going to take that position and some of us won’t come back, but we are going to take it!”
The troops left their trenches, and attacked down hill, reaching the gentle valley bottom, then charging across gradually rising fields for four hundred yards approaching the woods. Intense German machine gun and rifle fire struck them from both front and left hand side, causing the attack to wither as the troops were mown down 200yards from the trees. Lying in wait for them was the Lehr Regiment, a highly trained and professional body of soldiers.
Private Robert John Evans of the 16th RWF, of Mwrog St was machine gunned and killed. Private Evans was only 17 years of age. Carden, now advancing into no man’s land, and seeing his men fall, tied a coloured handkerchief to his swagger stick and yelled to his men “this will show you where I am!”
He was immediately shot down wounded, rose to his feet, reached the trees, only to be hit again and killed.
Immediately, the 14th RWF attacked behind their comrades in the 16th, and stopped 200 yards in front of the wood side by side with the 16th facing tremendous fire directed at them from the German lines. Colonel Gwyther commanding the 14th was killed, as was his second- in- command. Sergeant Gwilym Davies (20018) of the 14th RWF died in the vicious fighting and is buried at the Dantzig Alley Cemetery.
Private Richard J Evans, 19278, 46 Borthyn and serving with the 16th RWF was also killed during this initial attack. He was 23.
Private Richard Evans of Rhos St. of the 14th Battalion also died in that attack; his body was never found, and was probably struck by British shelling, falling short, during the ensuing days’ carnage.
. Private John Jones of Wernfechan 23268, belonging to the 16h Battalion RWF was killed in the severe hand to hand fighting, dying of wounds later that day and later buried at the Daours Communal Cemetery. Jones had a brother William, who was serving in Gallipoli. He left behind a widow and six children. He was a bricklayer prior to the war. Wood. Mr Peter Goulbourne Jones, John Jones’s grandson, states that Jones was a batman to Second Lieutenant Goulbourne Jennings, a 19 year old officer and son of the Rector of Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd. Both were killed within a month of each other. Jones’s widow named her new son Richard Goulbourne Jones, and the ‘Goulbourne’ name continues to be used down to the present Jones generation.
By now, troops of the 16th had entered the wood, and were clearing the left hand German trench which had fired at their wing in the initial attack. The 14th succeeded in entering the southern part. At about 5.00am, the 13th and the 15th Battalions RWF now entered the fray, as wounded and frightened men from the 16th and 14th made their way back. The four RWF battalions now began to fight their way through the trees, pushing the German defenders back through close and bloody hand to hand fighting.
Another Ruthin lad was killed here. 17 year old Pte John Frederick Thomas 31325 of the 16th Battalion RWF fell to German gunners. Private Thomas spent most of his brief life at 8, Borthyn St, Ruthin. His body was never recovered. He’d enlisted on the same day as his brother Harold Thomas 31324 and Harold would be killed three days later. Both were originally designated as ‘missing’. As with Privates William Roberts and Richard Evans, his name was engraved on the Thiepval Memorial.
At neighbouring sectors of the wood, four battalions of The Welsh Regiment had also succeeded in entering, and had now linked to the RWF battalions.
The 14th RWF contained twelve Ruthin men in their ranks. Two were later to die of wounds received here. Private John Addis and Corporal Richard Raymond Roberts 21480 both of Llanfwrog were killed. The attack ground to a halt as the attacking troops faced severe fire from a German position in the middle of the trees. Twenty three year old Private John Edwin Hughes 17490 from Park Rd and serving in the 13th RWF fell and his body was never recovered. As with so many, his name is noted on the Thiepval Monument to the Missing. Again, friendly artillery fire continued to claim lives. The 16th and the 15th were taken out to rest, and the 17th thrown in to battle in their place at 9.00am. The men fought to clear most of the wood throughout the day, and by 9.00pm, twelve hours later, were dug in for the night with only 300yards of the wood remaining in German hands. German reinforcements poured in and also dug in to await the morning
By now, the 14th had only seven officers alive, and had lost 314 men, whilst the 16th was reduced to ten officers and lost 300 men. The 17th Battalion lost 180 casualties on 10 July, and another 280 on the following day.
Casualties were still heavy; nearby, of the 10th Welsh Regiment Battalion of 1000 men, only four returned unscathed.
In the German trenches, Lieutenant Kostlin of the Lehr Regiment wrote
“Each time the enemy climbed out of the trenches and run forwards at us with bombs, we were able to greet them with heavy fire at point blank range. Other soldiers crowded at the trench head and repeated the effort with equal failure and by about mid-day a great heap of British dead and wounded lay by each trench head.”
Cries from the wounded
“were too tragic for description, to one who had a share in the enlistment of and training of these men”.
Captain Glynn Jones of the 14th continued
“Presently the silent waves of men started moving forward...machine guns and rifles started to rattle and there was general pandemonium. I well remember thinking, ‘Here comes their last chance: the old Caernarfon and Anglesey’s last stand.”’
Early morning on July 11, the 16th RWF returned, two battalions of the South Wales Borderers, whilst the 13th , 14th and 15th were withdrawn. Alongside the 17th Battalion RWF they all immediately suffered casualties as they pushed deeper into the woods. Heavy hand to hand fighting continued throughout the day.
At 4:00 pm, the 13th , 14th ,15th and 17th RWF were reassembled and sent back into battle. Advance through Mametz Wood was hampered by thick undergrowth and stiff German resistance. Digging new trenches in the middle of the wood the Welshmen began to consolidate the position. Throughout the night, men were nervous and hardly slept. Lieutenant Wyn Griffiths serving with the 15th Battalion wrote in his book Up To Mametz
“Heavy shelling of the woods had turned it into a formidable barrier and beaten down some of the young growth. But it had also thrown trees and large branches into a barricade. Equipment, ammunition, rolls of barbed wire, tins of food, gas helmets and rifles were lying about everywhere .There were more corpses than men, but there were worse sights than corpses. Limbs and mutilated bodies, here and there a detached head, forming splashes of red against the green grass. One tree held in its branches a leg with its torn flesh hanging down.”
During the vicious hand to hand fighting two more Ruthin men fell that day. Private Richard John Williams of the 17th Battalion RWF died during the hand to hand fighting, and is buried in Mametz. Private Willie Roberts, of Mwrog Street, and serving in The Queen’s Surreys Regiment was killed by shellfire at another sector.
Nearby, The Welsh Guards were also engaged, and 23 year old Guardsman Idwal Jones of 11, Railway Terrace was killed in action here. He left behind a young widow. No remains were found, and his name is engraved on the Thiepval Memorial commemorating the Missing of the Somme.
By early morning12 July, Mametz Wood was in British hands, but a German counter attack at the Bazetine German Second line took the lives of three more Ruthin men. Private Edward Thomas Treharne a 31 year old member of the Welsh Guards was killed in the hand to hand fighting. Treharne was later buried at the Bertrancour Cemetery. Lance Corporal Robert Evans of the 10th Battalion RWF also died here. His body was never recovered and his name appears on the Thiepval Memorial.
Private Harold Thomas, brother to John Frederick Thomas who died on 10 July, was also killed here, and posted as ‘missing’. Private John Jones,23268, of 20 Borthyn, serving with the 19th RWF was also killed.
Sporadic fighting continued in the sector and on 20 July Lance Corporal Hubert (Hughie) Sanson Staines, of the 17th RWF, the son of Ruthin Gaol’s Governor, of Clwyd St, was killed by a sniper during mopping up operations near the Wood, and his body was never found. On 21 July, Private Edward (Eddie) Hughes of Park Road was killed dying alongside his lifelong friend Private George Ellis. Both attended the same school and both started work at the same business in Llangollen on the same day. They joined the 17th Royal Welsh together, and died in the same battle on the same day.
The following day, 22 July, another Ruthin man met his end in the continuous fighting in the vicinity of Mametz Wood. Captain Emrys HS Evans fell leading his Platoon of 8th Lancashires against entrenched enemy machine guns, and was buried at Maricourt.
During August, intermittent fighting continued as the battle field shifted from Mametz Wood to High Wood. By 26 August, the whole line then consolidated before the war left Mametz Wood until 1918.
Throughout July and August, news of seriously wounded Ruthin men arrived home. Pte Edward Evans Mwrog Street, was hospitalised in Cardiff, Pte Albert Evans of Turf Smithy hospitalised in the critical burns unit in Forfar, Pte Frank Hodgeson, of the Welsh Guards, the son of Borthyn School Headmaster came home with a foot amputated. Pte Bob Curtis also of the Welsh Guards, of Ruthin Castle Lodge, had a leg removed. Corporal William Wright of the 14th Hussars lost three fingers and a thumb, and received the DCM for valour. Other injured soldiers arrived home – Ptes George Goodwin and R Harries Price, Rhos Street and both in the 10th RWF; Pte Frank Jones, Mwrog Street serving in the Northants Regiment- and still reports of further deaths continued.
Mr and Mrs William Thomas of Borthyn, received information on 19 July that their sons Harold Thomas and John Frederick Thomas were both officially reported as missing. A very poignant letter by a friend of both brothers arrived shortly after giving further details of the fighting at Mametz
“I suppose you have already heard about your son Harold being amongst the missing. Our division were given the task of clearing the Huns out of the woods where all the recent fighting occurred. As we had severe casualties, a party of men were told to carry the wounded to safety. The last time I saw Harold, he was helping a wounded man to a dressing station, and we don’t know whether he was hit carrying the wounded man out, or whatever happened to him.
I have been looking for Fred. I hope he is all right. Harold told me if a parcel should come and anything happen to him for me to share it with the boys. The parcel has arrived and I have shared it and I have possession of the safety razor, and I will keep it for Harold. Hoping to hear from you very shortly,
I remain your sons’ Pal,
Pte W. Nicholas”
In August, the family were officially informed that Harold was killed, and Fred ‘missing’.
Again further grim news reached home. Lieutenant Harry Moore in the Welsh Regiment and a popular teacher at Ruthin Boys Grammar School was killed in action at Mametz. He was ‘a splendid athlete and excellent rugger player’. His body was never recovered.
Private John Richard Roberts 4149, 12 Prior St serving in the 2nd RWF also died, official notification arriving the same day as his last letter home in which he stated that he “was in the pink!” Pte Edward Edwards of Mwrog Street, and a lifelong friend of Roberts, wrote a letter to his widow
“When we went over the top, John was a couple of yards in front of me as he charged when he was shot down. He died quietly within ten minutes.” Mrs Roberts had lost her brother in 1915, and her father Evan Jones of Mwrog Street, also served with the colours. On July 22, the North Wales Times reported the death of Captain Hywel Williams, killed in action, sometime between 10-12 July at Mametz. He served with the 17th RWF, and was 22 years old; the brother of a certain Miss Williams of Ruthin, who had lost another brother called Captain Hugh ‘Huwcyn’ Powell Williams a month prior on 5.6.16, whilst serving with the 14th RWF.
Gunner Albert Jones of Park Road came home suffering of severe bad nerves due to a shell bursting close to him, killing several officers and men at the same time.
The Battle of Mametz Wood was a disaster to Ruthin. Within a month twenty-five men were killed, and another two brothers ‘missing’. More deaths than were killed throughout the whole of 1915. Of the twenty-five, sixteen were killed within a week of one another and five left no mortal remains for their families to grieve over. At least three were only 17 years of age.
Today, two permanent memorials to the Welsh attack can be seen in the vicinity of Mametz Wood. In 1987, a large, Red Dragon memorial was erected near the field where the original attack was made with the inscription Parchwn eu hymdrechion, parhaed ein hatgofion. (Respect their endeavours, memories endure).
The second is the Royal Welch Fusilier Memorial Seat at Dantzig Alley Cemetery, with an inscription by Hedd Wyn who was killed as a member of the 15th RWF in Belgium in 1917:
Ni all pellterau eich gyrru’n ango,
Blant y bryniau glan,
Calon wrth galon sy’n aros eto,
Er ar wahan.
(Distance cannot make us forget ,
You children of the dales,
Our hearts still yearn for you
Despite your separation from Wales)
Following the taking of Mametz Wood, the 14th,16th and 17th Battalions were sent to take up regular front line activity in Ypres.
Private Daniel Jones,19315, serving with the 1st RWF was killed in the High Wood fighting on 27 August, and his body never found. He came from 110, Mwrog St.
On 4 September, the 4th RWF moved into Fricour “Many of us found near Mametz the graves of relatives and friends who had fallen in the slaughter that followed the ill planned attack of the 38th (Welsh) Division upon Mametz Wood.” Following construction work at High Wood, which was already engaged in heavy fighting.
A second attack began on High Wood on 15 September in which tanks were observed by the D company men. Sever and vicious fighting continued until the 20th, and the 4th continued digging and consolidating in preparation for the next attack on 7 October
“the dead still lay around in ghastly mounds. A hot sun came out and bought with it a plague of bluebottles whilst myriads of white worms squirmed on the trench floor. The trench had its quota of dead Germans, whoseblack and monsterously swollen bodies had to be hauled out before we could enter.”
The attack was a failure, with the German machine guns preventing any real advances. It was her that Private Eben Morris from Ruthin earned his Military Medal for bravery.
Two assaulting companies were sent, and the left company occupied the German trench, and began mopping up along the trench to meet up with the second company. They, however, were held up on the enemy wire where they were bombed by ‘friendly fire’ as the British barrage fell short. When the line was finally consolidated, the 1st RWF had lost eight killed and 65 other casualties. Private Edward Thomas Hughes serving in the 1st Battalion fell in the machine gun fire on 9 July. Sergeant T D Jones, a Ruthin man, wrote home
“The Welsh advanced in the teeth of withering fire, and the first man to go down was our CO. He was struck with a bullet and fell on his face. Turning on his side he supported himself on an elbow and called cheerily ‘On Welshmen on!’ We cheered him and nothing could withstand the dash of the Welsh!” Written for a home audience, the letter tended to disregard the real aspect of an assault against machine guns. The poet Robert Graves was in the same Royal Welch battalion, and in his memoirs Goodbye To All That he describes an incident at Mametz Wood
“In the trench, we had to stand-to to let a stretcher case through. ‘Who’s the poor bastard Dai?’ asked my guide to the lead stretcher barer. ‘Sergeant Gallagher,’ Dai answered. ‘Silly bugger took a hand grenade to throw at the Fritz. Silly bugger throws too low it hits the top of the parapet and bursts back. Diawl man, it breaks his silly fucking jaw, and blows away all of his silly fucking face.’ The wounded man had a sandbag over his face. He died minutes later.”
Later that morning of 6 July, further Royal Welch (Service) battalions arrived – the 13th, 14, 15th, 16th and 17th, having marched for a week, and ‘were tired and footsore’. Siegfried Sassoon watched the new men arrive:
“They were mostly undersized men...and I had a sense of their victimisation. A little platoon officer was settling his men down with a valiant show of self-assurance....He spoke sharply to some of them, and I felt that they were like a lot of children....Visualising that forlorn crowd of khaki figures under the twilight of the trees, I can believe that I saw then, for the first time, how blindly war destroys its victims...I understood the doomed condition of these half trained civilians.”
They had been in France since December 1915, and as a Service battalion had been constantly at work in excavation and entrenching work throughout the year under extreme and harrowing conditions. Now, they were to be primary assaulting troops on Mametz Wood.
On 6 July, fighting fell to The South Wales Borderers and The Welsh Regiment, and the RWF were given a four day respite before their baptism of fire.
On 10th July, as dawn broke at 4.30am, the 16th RWF were to spearhead an assault on the southern section of Mametz Wood, with the 14th RWF in immediate support. The other RWF battalions were to follow in close support and reserves. Immediately before the attack, 40 year old Lt-Colonel Carden, Commanding the 16th battalion, held a brief service. Welsh hymns were sung and Carden addressed them:
“Boys, make your peace with God! We are going to take that position and some of us won’t come back, but we are going to take it!”
The troops left their trenches, and attacked down hill, reaching the gentle valley bottom, then charging across gradually rising fields for four hundred yards approaching the woods. Intense German machine gun and rifle fire struck them from both front and left hand side, causing the attack to wither as the troops were mown down 200yards from the trees. Lying in wait for them was the Lehr Regiment, a highly trained and professional body of soldiers.
Private Robert John Evans of the 16th RWF, of Mwrog St was machine gunned and killed. Private Evans was only 17 years of age. Carden, now advancing into no man’s land, and seeing his men fall, tied a coloured handkerchief to his swagger stick and yelled to his men “this will show you where I am!”
He was immediately shot down wounded, rose to his feet, reached the trees, only to be hit again and killed.
Immediately, the 14th RWF attacked behind their comrades in the 16th, and stopped 200 yards in front of the wood side by side with the 16th facing tremendous fire directed at them from the German lines. Colonel Gwyther commanding the 14th was killed, as was his second- in- command. Sergeant Gwilym Davies (20018) of the 14th RWF died in the vicious fighting and is buried at the Dantzig Alley Cemetery.
Private Richard J Evans, 19278, 46 Borthyn and serving with the 16th RWF was also killed during this initial attack. He was 23.
Private Richard Evans of Rhos St. of the 14th Battalion also died in that attack; his body was never found, and was probably struck by British shelling, falling short, during the ensuing days’ carnage.
. Private John Jones of Wernfechan 23268, belonging to the 16h Battalion RWF was killed in the severe hand to hand fighting, dying of wounds later that day and later buried at the Daours Communal Cemetery. Jones had a brother William, who was serving in Gallipoli. He left behind a widow and six children. He was a bricklayer prior to the war. Wood. Mr Peter Goulbourne Jones, John Jones’s grandson, states that Jones was a batman to Second Lieutenant Goulbourne Jennings, a 19 year old officer and son of the Rector of Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd. Both were killed within a month of each other. Jones’s widow named her new son Richard Goulbourne Jones, and the ‘Goulbourne’ name continues to be used down to the present Jones generation.
By now, troops of the 16th had entered the wood, and were clearing the left hand German trench which had fired at their wing in the initial attack. The 14th succeeded in entering the southern part. At about 5.00am, the 13th and the 15th Battalions RWF now entered the fray, as wounded and frightened men from the 16th and 14th made their way back. The four RWF battalions now began to fight their way through the trees, pushing the German defenders back through close and bloody hand to hand fighting.
Another Ruthin lad was killed here. 17 year old Pte John Frederick Thomas 31325 of the 16th Battalion RWF fell to German gunners. Private Thomas spent most of his brief life at 8, Borthyn St, Ruthin. His body was never recovered. He’d enlisted on the same day as his brother Harold Thomas 31324 and Harold would be killed three days later. Both were originally designated as ‘missing’. As with Privates William Roberts and Richard Evans, his name was engraved on the Thiepval Memorial.
At neighbouring sectors of the wood, four battalions of The Welsh Regiment had also succeeded in entering, and had now linked to the RWF battalions.
The 14th RWF contained twelve Ruthin men in their ranks. Two were later to die of wounds received here. Private John Addis and Corporal Richard Raymond Roberts 21480 both of Llanfwrog were killed. The attack ground to a halt as the attacking troops faced severe fire from a German position in the middle of the trees. Twenty three year old Private John Edwin Hughes 17490 from Park Rd and serving in the 13th RWF fell and his body was never recovered. As with so many, his name is noted on the Thiepval Monument to the Missing. Again, friendly artillery fire continued to claim lives. The 16th and the 15th were taken out to rest, and the 17th thrown in to battle in their place at 9.00am. The men fought to clear most of the wood throughout the day, and by 9.00pm, twelve hours later, were dug in for the night with only 300yards of the wood remaining in German hands. German reinforcements poured in and also dug in to await the morning
By now, the 14th had only seven officers alive, and had lost 314 men, whilst the 16th was reduced to ten officers and lost 300 men. The 17th Battalion lost 180 casualties on 10 July, and another 280 on the following day.
Casualties were still heavy; nearby, of the 10th Welsh Regiment Battalion of 1000 men, only four returned unscathed.
In the German trenches, Lieutenant Kostlin of the Lehr Regiment wrote
“Each time the enemy climbed out of the trenches and run forwards at us with bombs, we were able to greet them with heavy fire at point blank range. Other soldiers crowded at the trench head and repeated the effort with equal failure and by about mid-day a great heap of British dead and wounded lay by each trench head.”
Cries from the wounded
“were too tragic for description, to one who had a share in the enlistment of and training of these men”.
Captain Glynn Jones of the 14th continued
“Presently the silent waves of men started moving forward...machine guns and rifles started to rattle and there was general pandemonium. I well remember thinking, ‘Here comes their last chance: the old Caernarfon and Anglesey’s last stand.”’
Early morning on July 11, the 16th RWF returned, two battalions of the South Wales Borderers, whilst the 13th , 14th and 15th were withdrawn. Alongside the 17th Battalion RWF they all immediately suffered casualties as they pushed deeper into the woods. Heavy hand to hand fighting continued throughout the day.
At 4:00 pm, the 13th , 14th ,15th and 17th RWF were reassembled and sent back into battle. Advance through Mametz Wood was hampered by thick undergrowth and stiff German resistance. Digging new trenches in the middle of the wood the Welshmen began to consolidate the position. Throughout the night, men were nervous and hardly slept. Lieutenant Wyn Griffiths serving with the 15th Battalion wrote in his book Up To Mametz
“Heavy shelling of the woods had turned it into a formidable barrier and beaten down some of the young growth. But it had also thrown trees and large branches into a barricade. Equipment, ammunition, rolls of barbed wire, tins of food, gas helmets and rifles were lying about everywhere .There were more corpses than men, but there were worse sights than corpses. Limbs and mutilated bodies, here and there a detached head, forming splashes of red against the green grass. One tree held in its branches a leg with its torn flesh hanging down.”
During the vicious hand to hand fighting two more Ruthin men fell that day. Private Richard John Williams of the 17th Battalion RWF died during the hand to hand fighting, and is buried in Mametz. Private Willie Roberts, of Mwrog Street, and serving in The Queen’s Surreys Regiment was killed by shellfire at another sector.
Nearby, The Welsh Guards were also engaged, and 23 year old Guardsman Idwal Jones of 11, Railway Terrace was killed in action here. He left behind a young widow. No remains were found, and his name is engraved on the Thiepval Memorial commemorating the Missing of the Somme.
By early morning12 July, Mametz Wood was in British hands, but a German counter attack at the Bazetine German Second line took the lives of three more Ruthin men. Private Edward Thomas Treharne a 31 year old member of the Welsh Guards was killed in the hand to hand fighting. Treharne was later buried at the Bertrancour Cemetery. Lance Corporal Robert Evans of the 10th Battalion RWF also died here. His body was never recovered and his name appears on the Thiepval Memorial.
Private Harold Thomas, brother to John Frederick Thomas who died on 10 July, was also killed here, and posted as ‘missing’. Private John Jones,23268, of 20 Borthyn, serving with the 19th RWF was also killed.
Sporadic fighting continued in the sector and on 20 July Lance Corporal Hubert (Hughie) Sanson Staines, of the 17th RWF, the son of Ruthin Gaol’s Governor, of Clwyd St, was killed by a sniper during mopping up operations near the Wood, and his body was never found. On 21 July, Private Edward (Eddie) Hughes of Park Road was killed dying alongside his lifelong friend Private George Ellis. Both attended the same school and both started work at the same business in Llangollen on the same day. They joined the 17th Royal Welsh together, and died in the same battle on the same day.
The following day, 22 July, another Ruthin man met his end in the continuous fighting in the vicinity of Mametz Wood. Captain Emrys HS Evans fell leading his Platoon of 8th Lancashires against entrenched enemy machine guns, and was buried at Maricourt.
During August, intermittent fighting continued as the battle field shifted from Mametz Wood to High Wood. By 26 August, the whole line then consolidated before the war left Mametz Wood until 1918.
Throughout July and August, news of seriously wounded Ruthin men arrived home. Pte Edward Evans Mwrog Street, was hospitalised in Cardiff, Pte Albert Evans of Turf Smithy hospitalised in the critical burns unit in Forfar, Pte Frank Hodgeson, of the Welsh Guards, the son of Borthyn School Headmaster came home with a foot amputated. Pte Bob Curtis also of the Welsh Guards, of Ruthin Castle Lodge, had a leg removed. Corporal William Wright of the 14th Hussars lost three fingers and a thumb, and received the DCM for valour. Other injured soldiers arrived home – Ptes George Goodwin and R Harries Price, Rhos Street and both in the 10th RWF; Pte Frank Jones, Mwrog Street serving in the Northants Regiment- and still reports of further deaths continued.
Mr and Mrs William Thomas of Borthyn, received information on 19 July that their sons Harold Thomas and John Frederick Thomas were both officially reported as missing. A very poignant letter by a friend of both brothers arrived shortly after giving further details of the fighting at Mametz
“I suppose you have already heard about your son Harold being amongst the missing. Our division were given the task of clearing the Huns out of the woods where all the recent fighting occurred. As we had severe casualties, a party of men were told to carry the wounded to safety. The last time I saw Harold, he was helping a wounded man to a dressing station, and we don’t know whether he was hit carrying the wounded man out, or whatever happened to him.
I have been looking for Fred. I hope he is all right. Harold told me if a parcel should come and anything happen to him for me to share it with the boys. The parcel has arrived and I have shared it and I have possession of the safety razor, and I will keep it for Harold. Hoping to hear from you very shortly,
I remain your sons’ Pal,
Pte W. Nicholas”
In August, the family were officially informed that Harold was killed, and Fred ‘missing’.
Again further grim news reached home. Lieutenant Harry Moore in the Welsh Regiment and a popular teacher at Ruthin Boys Grammar School was killed in action at Mametz. He was ‘a splendid athlete and excellent rugger player’. His body was never recovered.
Private John Richard Roberts 4149, 12 Prior St serving in the 2nd RWF also died, official notification arriving the same day as his last letter home in which he stated that he “was in the pink!” Pte Edward Edwards of Mwrog Street, and a lifelong friend of Roberts, wrote a letter to his widow
“When we went over the top, John was a couple of yards in front of me as he charged when he was shot down. He died quietly within ten minutes.” Mrs Roberts had lost her brother in 1915, and her father Evan Jones of Mwrog Street, also served with the colours. On July 22, the North Wales Times reported the death of Captain Hywel Williams, killed in action, sometime between 10-12 July at Mametz. He served with the 17th RWF, and was 22 years old; the brother of a certain Miss Williams of Ruthin, who had lost another brother called Captain Hugh ‘Huwcyn’ Powell Williams a month prior on 5.6.16, whilst serving with the 14th RWF.
Gunner Albert Jones of Park Road came home suffering of severe bad nerves due to a shell bursting close to him, killing several officers and men at the same time.
The Battle of Mametz Wood was a disaster to Ruthin. Within a month twenty-five men were killed, and another two brothers ‘missing’. More deaths than were killed throughout the whole of 1915. Of the twenty-five, sixteen were killed within a week of one another and five left no mortal remains for their families to grieve over. At least three were only 17 years of age.
Today, two permanent memorials to the Welsh attack can be seen in the vicinity of Mametz Wood. In 1987, a large, Red Dragon memorial was erected near the field where the original attack was made with the inscription Parchwn eu hymdrechion, parhaed ein hatgofion. (Respect their endeavours, memories endure).
The second is the Royal Welch Fusilier Memorial Seat at Dantzig Alley Cemetery, with an inscription by Hedd Wyn who was killed as a member of the 15th RWF in Belgium in 1917:
Ni all pellterau eich gyrru’n ango,
Blant y bryniau glan,
Calon wrth galon sy’n aros eto,
Er ar wahan.
(Distance cannot make us forget ,
You children of the dales,
Our hearts still yearn for you
Despite your separation from Wales)
Following the taking of Mametz Wood, the 14th,16th and 17th Battalions were sent to take up regular front line activity in Ypres.
Private Daniel Jones,19315, serving with the 1st RWF was killed in the High Wood fighting on 27 August, and his body never found. He came from 110, Mwrog St.
On 4 September, the 4th RWF moved into Fricour “Many of us found near Mametz the graves of relatives and friends who had fallen in the slaughter that followed the ill planned attack of the 38th (Welsh) Division upon Mametz Wood.” Following construction work at High Wood, which was already engaged in heavy fighting.
A second attack began on High Wood on 15 September in which tanks were observed by the D company men. Sever and vicious fighting continued until the 20th, and the 4th continued digging and consolidating in preparation for the next attack on 7 October
“the dead still lay around in ghastly mounds. A hot sun came out and bought with it a plague of bluebottles whilst myriads of white worms squirmed on the trench floor. The trench had its quota of dead Germans, whoseblack and monsterously swollen bodies had to be hauled out before we could enter.”
The attack was a failure, with the German machine guns preventing any real advances. It was her that Private Eben Morris from Ruthin earned his Military Medal for bravery.
Monday 10 December 2007
Christmas 1915
By December 1915, the demand for men continued relentlessly. The 21st Battalion RWF were now being recruited, and Ruthin Town Council debated over the issue of the generally low recruitment rate in the area. Discussion focused as to whether the son of a farmer possessing ten acres, five cows and sheep was ‘necessary’ labour or not. Some councillors suggested that the great estates’ gamekeepers in the pheasant shoots were surplus to requirements, and that they should be made to enlist. A pamphlet was sent by the Town Council to each family in Ruthin who had eligible sons, drawing attention to the recruitment problems. By mid December, following the pamphlet’s distribution, recruitment was described as ‘brisk; but not what it ought to be.’
By now, Lord Derby’s recruitment drive was taking effect. All councils had to provide a list of young men eligible for the front, and blue canvassing cards were sent to each individual. Each man was expected to enlist voluntarily by 11 December. Of the 750 cards issued in Ruthin, only 51 men had enlisted by that date. These men were often referred to as the ‘Derbyites.’, and were warmly congratulated in the papers and council for having enlisted. On 18 December, the Free Press was triumphant in reporting that a ‘black list would now be formed, and the shirkers had better beware of the conscription process that was now undoubtedly to be made in the immediate future,’
Christmas 1915 came, and there was much less enthusiasm back home regarding parcels and gifts to ‘the lads at the front’. This year, there was no public drive to send half a pound of Christmas pudding to each man in the 4th. At Gallipoli, Sapper Hugo Locke of Rhos Street wrote home to say that he saw “Bob Shierstone and other Ruthin lads every day as I pass their trench on the way to work. We all wish you a merry Christmas!” Morale amongst the men continued to be high.
The New Year had hardly begun when the Services Bill became law, establishing compulsory service for single men age 18-41. People at home had an opportunity through the newspapers, to savour the ‘good life’ of the boys at the front. A letter published by Pte John Roberts of 118 Mwrog Street in the Free Press certainly cheered the folks back home “A word to tell you of the splendid time our battalion had at Christmas. We went out of the trenches at Boxing Day and into billets. We had a good bath which makes us feel fit and cheerful; then the following day we had our Christmas dinner of goose, ham, beef, plum pudding, nuts, oranges, apples and fags.”
The 4th Battalion RWF, however, had a different Christmas at Noyelles les Vernelles, near Bethune. The battalion history states their life in "the unsavoury sector...particularly the trenches around those notorious death-traps The Hairpin and the Hohenzollern Redoubt. Mud, trench mortars, and mine craters were the specialities ot this district, whilst it possessed a well-deserved reputation for violent shelling. Here in laying trench boards, deepening and repairing trenches, and sapping around the mine-craters of the Hohenzollern Redoubt, the Fourth spent a depressing Christmas."
By now, Lord Derby’s recruitment drive was taking effect. All councils had to provide a list of young men eligible for the front, and blue canvassing cards were sent to each individual. Each man was expected to enlist voluntarily by 11 December. Of the 750 cards issued in Ruthin, only 51 men had enlisted by that date. These men were often referred to as the ‘Derbyites.’, and were warmly congratulated in the papers and council for having enlisted. On 18 December, the Free Press was triumphant in reporting that a ‘black list would now be formed, and the shirkers had better beware of the conscription process that was now undoubtedly to be made in the immediate future,’
Christmas 1915 came, and there was much less enthusiasm back home regarding parcels and gifts to ‘the lads at the front’. This year, there was no public drive to send half a pound of Christmas pudding to each man in the 4th. At Gallipoli, Sapper Hugo Locke of Rhos Street wrote home to say that he saw “Bob Shierstone and other Ruthin lads every day as I pass their trench on the way to work. We all wish you a merry Christmas!” Morale amongst the men continued to be high.
The New Year had hardly begun when the Services Bill became law, establishing compulsory service for single men age 18-41. People at home had an opportunity through the newspapers, to savour the ‘good life’ of the boys at the front. A letter published by Pte John Roberts of 118 Mwrog Street in the Free Press certainly cheered the folks back home “A word to tell you of the splendid time our battalion had at Christmas. We went out of the trenches at Boxing Day and into billets. We had a good bath which makes us feel fit and cheerful; then the following day we had our Christmas dinner of goose, ham, beef, plum pudding, nuts, oranges, apples and fags.”
The 4th Battalion RWF, however, had a different Christmas at Noyelles les Vernelles, near Bethune. The battalion history states their life in "the unsavoury sector...particularly the trenches around those notorious death-traps The Hairpin and the Hohenzollern Redoubt. Mud, trench mortars, and mine craters were the specialities ot this district, whilst it possessed a well-deserved reputation for violent shelling. Here in laying trench boards, deepening and repairing trenches, and sapping around the mine-craters of the Hohenzollern Redoubt, the Fourth spent a depressing Christmas."
Unknown Sergeant Major
Photo supplied by a Ruthin family. Unidentified family friend, circa 1915-6. Any ideas?
Pte Harry Jones, 2nd Bat Royal Welsh Fusiliers
On St David’s Day 1915, Private Harry Jones 8481of the 2nd Battalion RWF was killed in the Battle of Loos.
Harry Jones lived at 106 Mwrog St, and copies of his original correspondence to his wife Elisabeth (Nell), are still kept in their original form in the Ruthin archives. At 29 years of age, his writing is childish and clumsy, but he wrote to his wife on every opportunity, describing her as ‘my darling wife’ numerously in every correspondence. His ‘hiraeth’ comes through clearly, and his broken English and terrible spelling indicates his Welsh way of thought. There are at least 10 letters, and 18 post cards sent by him to his wife between August 1914 and his death in 1 March 1915.
He thanks his wife for the numerous parcels sent to him by family and neighbours, and for a scarf sent by Mrs Dowell who kept a grocers store in Mwrog Street. He has a very sweet tooth, and prefers cake and sweets to tobacco. He complains bitterly of the atrocious weather in the trenches, especially of the cold which is worse than when he was a hod carrier working on Ruthin building sites. His father’s health worries him, and he continually asks for him. He inquires lovingly for his children, and urges his wife to eat properly “I hope that you have eaten all the potatoes all right, and that the children are in good health as I find myself.” He alludes to a family death “I am very sorry that Charlie is gone d.”
On 17 December he writes home congratulating his wife on the birth of a little boy “send to the War Office telling them you’ve had a little baby for you to have some money for him”. On 29 December, longing to be home, Harry writes “I see in the letter you sent me that you have a name for the little baby. It is a very nice name indeed Mons Jones. I see you have put this name on it after the battle of Mons. I like it very much.”
On 31 December he thanks his wife for another parcel and says “I also received a parcel from the Mayor of Ruthin which was good of the Ruthin people.” He complains again of the cold and damp and “I came across Ted Evans that used to work with Mr Dowell, and he was very glad to see me, and I was very glad to see him. We are the only two from Ruthin in the battalion now.”
On 15 February, he answers his wife “I see from you that little Mary is coming on well at school and I am very glad indeed.” Then hints at his anguish at a domestic situation at home where Nell his wife is troubled by a neighbour. “My dear, if Lizzie wont leave you be, put the policeman on her back. I dont want you to row with her at all. If I was coming home I would kill her stone dead. Dont have anything to do with her Nell my dear. My dear loving wife.”
A fortnight later Harry Jones was dead.
Harry Jones lived at 106 Mwrog St, and copies of his original correspondence to his wife Elisabeth (Nell), are still kept in their original form in the Ruthin archives. At 29 years of age, his writing is childish and clumsy, but he wrote to his wife on every opportunity, describing her as ‘my darling wife’ numerously in every correspondence. His ‘hiraeth’ comes through clearly, and his broken English and terrible spelling indicates his Welsh way of thought. There are at least 10 letters, and 18 post cards sent by him to his wife between August 1914 and his death in 1 March 1915.
He thanks his wife for the numerous parcels sent to him by family and neighbours, and for a scarf sent by Mrs Dowell who kept a grocers store in Mwrog Street. He has a very sweet tooth, and prefers cake and sweets to tobacco. He complains bitterly of the atrocious weather in the trenches, especially of the cold which is worse than when he was a hod carrier working on Ruthin building sites. His father’s health worries him, and he continually asks for him. He inquires lovingly for his children, and urges his wife to eat properly “I hope that you have eaten all the potatoes all right, and that the children are in good health as I find myself.” He alludes to a family death “I am very sorry that Charlie is gone d.”
On 17 December he writes home congratulating his wife on the birth of a little boy “send to the War Office telling them you’ve had a little baby for you to have some money for him”. On 29 December, longing to be home, Harry writes “I see in the letter you sent me that you have a name for the little baby. It is a very nice name indeed Mons Jones. I see you have put this name on it after the battle of Mons. I like it very much.”
On 31 December he thanks his wife for another parcel and says “I also received a parcel from the Mayor of Ruthin which was good of the Ruthin people.” He complains again of the cold and damp and “I came across Ted Evans that used to work with Mr Dowell, and he was very glad to see me, and I was very glad to see him. We are the only two from Ruthin in the battalion now.”
On 15 February, he answers his wife “I see from you that little Mary is coming on well at school and I am very glad indeed.” Then hints at his anguish at a domestic situation at home where Nell his wife is troubled by a neighbour. “My dear, if Lizzie wont leave you be, put the policeman on her back. I dont want you to row with her at all. If I was coming home I would kill her stone dead. Dont have anything to do with her Nell my dear. My dear loving wife.”
A fortnight later Harry Jones was dead.
Tuesday 4 December 2007
Local Territorial Regiment - Royal Welch Fusiliers 4th Battalion
Ruthin had a long military tradition, with men and boys involved with the Territorial unit of the Wrexham based Royal Welch Fusiliers Regiment. The 1st and 2nd Battalions were regular, professional soldiers, with a handful of Ruthin men amongst them. The part time territorials, however, were the 4th Battalion, consisting of Denbighshire and Wrexham men. A battalion consisted of about 1000 men, divided into 4 companies. Ruthin and Denbigh men were in D Coy. Ruthin Territorials met at The Drill Hall in Borthyn, and about 80 young men and boys attended activity there at least 3 times a week. A .22 rifle range was attached behind, and a heavier rifle range was located on the old Golf Links near Golf Farm on the Rhewl road. A Territorial Sergeant was responsible, and a Regular Welsh Fusilier soldier bought live ammunition to Ruthin from Wrexham three times a week by train.
August 8th 1914, the first draft of 73 Ruthin men marched from the Drill Hall, led by the Ruthin Brass Band, along Park Rd to catch the 4.35 train to Wrexham Plas Power Camp. There they were immediately taken to the Morfa Conwy Camp were 16,000 Territorials from all over North Wales were grouped. 31 August, they went to Northampton for final basic training. 5 November, they embarked on the troopship Architect, crossed to Le Havre, and boarded cattle trucks to St Omer. Finally, on 6 November, they marched five miles to the front. They were the first RWF to reach the trenches and as the battalion history proudly stated "not with the others of the Welsh Division, but in splendid isolation."
Christmas 1914 was spent in the freezing trenches of Festubert. Scarlet fever, trench feet, influenza, a lack of a field kitchen, poor boots, clothing and equipment had taken its toll.
Until September 1915, the 4th remained as a front line battalion serving at Aubers Ridge, Neuve Chappelle, Cuinchy and the Cambrin Sector.
In September 1915, the 4th Battalion changed from being an infantry force into a Pioneer battalion, and was engaged in trench construction, tunneling and front line infrastructure work. The experiences of so many Wrexham miners in the battalion made this a natural role for the 4th. They were heavily involved in Loos.
During 1916, they consolidated Highwood at the Somme, and moved north to Ypres at Messines and Westhoek Ridge. 1917 saw them at Arras and Bourlon Wood. 1918 at Metz, Senlis and the Somme, ending the war at Lille.
Cpl Thomas Roberts, Mwrog St and Lt John Arthur Elias Hughes, Castle Street died at Arras in January 1915.
Pte Robert John Jones, 51 Mwrog St died at Ypres in May 1915.
Pte Robert T Hughes died at Loos in September 1915.
Pte James Askey of Llanfwrog died at Ypres in October 1916.
Ptes John Edward Jones and Albert Evans, both of Mwrog St died at Ypres 1917.
Ptes Eben Morris and John W Williams, both of Mwrog St, William Williams, 31 Park Rd, and Surgeon Captain John W Anderson died at Lens, April 1918. Pte John Edward Jones, 106 Mwrog St, died at the Somme.
August 8th 1914, the first draft of 73 Ruthin men marched from the Drill Hall, led by the Ruthin Brass Band, along Park Rd to catch the 4.35 train to Wrexham Plas Power Camp. There they were immediately taken to the Morfa Conwy Camp were 16,000 Territorials from all over North Wales were grouped. 31 August, they went to Northampton for final basic training. 5 November, they embarked on the troopship Architect, crossed to Le Havre, and boarded cattle trucks to St Omer. Finally, on 6 November, they marched five miles to the front. They were the first RWF to reach the trenches and as the battalion history proudly stated "not with the others of the Welsh Division, but in splendid isolation."
Christmas 1914 was spent in the freezing trenches of Festubert. Scarlet fever, trench feet, influenza, a lack of a field kitchen, poor boots, clothing and equipment had taken its toll.
Until September 1915, the 4th remained as a front line battalion serving at Aubers Ridge, Neuve Chappelle, Cuinchy and the Cambrin Sector.
In September 1915, the 4th Battalion changed from being an infantry force into a Pioneer battalion, and was engaged in trench construction, tunneling and front line infrastructure work. The experiences of so many Wrexham miners in the battalion made this a natural role for the 4th. They were heavily involved in Loos.
During 1916, they consolidated Highwood at the Somme, and moved north to Ypres at Messines and Westhoek Ridge. 1917 saw them at Arras and Bourlon Wood. 1918 at Metz, Senlis and the Somme, ending the war at Lille.
Cpl Thomas Roberts, Mwrog St and Lt John Arthur Elias Hughes, Castle Street died at Arras in January 1915.
Pte Robert John Jones, 51 Mwrog St died at Ypres in May 1915.
Pte Robert T Hughes died at Loos in September 1915.
Pte James Askey of Llanfwrog died at Ypres in October 1916.
Ptes John Edward Jones and Albert Evans, both of Mwrog St died at Ypres 1917.
Ptes Eben Morris and John W Williams, both of Mwrog St, William Williams, 31 Park Rd, and Surgeon Captain John W Anderson died at Lens, April 1918. Pte John Edward Jones, 106 Mwrog St, died at the Somme.
Veterans on St Peter's Square, circa 1922
Edward, the future Edward VII greets veterans on the Square. Mayor Lecomber and other civic dignitaties look on. Excellent photo, with Pte Thomas Jones (Twm MM) refusing to shake his hand as his fellow veterans look on with disbelief. Thomas Jones was registering a protest regarding the social conditions in which the veterans found themselves as they were demobilised. Half a crown per week, many kept in the Workhouse on Rhos Street, Thomas Jones reputedly asked the Prince of Wales as to why they had not been given four acres and a cow, nor a home fit for heroes as promised by Lloyd George. More on Thomas Jones in future blogs.
Who are the other veterans?
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