38th (Welsh) Division & 14th Welsh (Swansea) Battalion - 7th July 1916

 

Shoulder patch of the Red Dragon
7th July 1916, a week after the first day of the Battle of the Somme, the 38th (Welsh) Division were ordered to attack the Germans at Mametz Wood.

Recruiting poster for
Herbert Kitchener's New Army
Initial the 38th (Welsh) Division was raised as the 43rd Division as part of the Secretary of State of War, Herbert Kitchener to form part of the New Army and was to form part of the 50,000-stong Welsh Army Corps having been championed by Chancellor of the Exchequer David Lloyd George.  Lloyd George stated publicly that he “should like to see a Welsh Army in the field”.  Recruits were drawn from all over Wales, also Welshmen living in Liverpool, London and Manchester.  After the formation of the Division which dispute between Lloyd George and Kitchener.

David Lloyd George, 1919
The division comprised the 113th, 114th and 115th Brigades, which were made up four battalions from the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, the South Wales Borderers and the Welsh Regiment.

Saint David’s Day, 1915, the newly divisional was inspected by Lloyd George. 

29th April 1915, the 43rd was renamed the 38th (Welsh) Division, by that November had departed Southampton landing 5th December at Le Havre.

Once in France, the Division joined the XI Corps and were placed in reserve, reliving the 46th (North Midland) Division. 

Map of the Somme Battlefield. 
The village of Mametz and the
surrounding woodland are centrally located
July 1916, the Division was to be relieved by the 61st (2nd South Midland) Division and moved into reserve.  It then moved South and joined XVIII Corps of the Third Army to train for the Battle of Somme.  The Capture of Mametz, was to be the Division Baptist of fire.

The Division history for the “Capture of Mametz Wood”, are very thin.  On the 5th July the Division moved into trenches in area after they were given the orders of capturing the Wood.

Mametz Wood


The Wood is over 200 acres in area in length, it is situated south of Bazentin-le-Petit Wood, overlooking a valley.

In the north two corpses, Flatiron and Sabot, were in the German hands.  The Germans could bring enfilading machine gun fire to any attackers, who tried to cross the wood. To gain these two positions, then there would be some supporting fire which could be brought into play from within Mametz Wood, itself.  The second German lines were a further 300 yards away on the northern edge of Mametz Wood.

This is the situation that face the 38th (Welsh Division), on the west, of the British area, was support from soldiers of the 17th Division.

The attack of Mametz Wood would begin on the 7th July 1916.

Meanwhile, the 14th Welsh (Swansea) Battalion, left on the 5th July Heilly and went up to support the Citadel.  On the 7th July, four officers, Lieutenant (Temporary Captain) H. Jones, Second Lieutenants F. Roderick, D. E. Evans and A.F. H. Kelk were accidentally wounded by the explosion of a percussion bomb. 

A Court of Enquiry heard from a Second Lieutenant J. A. Wilson who stated that on the evening of the 7th July, the four officers who were subsequently wounded, along with Captain A. H. Dagge, Lieutenant John Strange and himself, were practising the throwing of Number 19 bombs.  The injured officers comprised one group and they were throwing the bombs to each other, about 30 yards apart.  The bombs had been used earlier for the same purpose, but this time one went off and injured each one of them.

It wouldn’t be until the 10th, that the Battalion was to see their first action.

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