Source: File: Words
from Mametz Wood. [online]: <https://youtu.be/YUsRq-fFMDI> [Accessed: 19 July 2016]
Source: File: Poet
Robert Graves on Mametz Wood. See an
original image at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-one/inside-first-world-war/part-eight/10741960/robert-graves-dead-boche.html>
[Accessed 19 July 2016]
Welshmen were
keen to prove their mettle,
In taking Mametz
- but the assault
Would not prove
easy, as the general's attack
Plan for success led them to believe.
From the sloping
ground opposite the wood,
The Welsh
battalions had been hidden -
Until they had to
advance across open ground,
When wind dispersed
covers of smoke.
The situation was
for their advance to go down
A slope and climb
another, towards
The front of the
woods, where the Germans
Had set out their
machine guns.
In easy aim enemy
bullets rattled out at height
Of hip and thigh,
in cause of decimation -
For all their
brave intent of steel and backbone,
The Welsh
suffered heavily.
The factors that compounded
initial failures,
Were added by the
38th Divisions
Lacking battle
experience - then separations
Of Battalions led
to loss of clarity.
Which direction
should they attack? And what
Exactly was their
objective? 500 yards
That made Hammer
Head evade 13th Welch,
As directions
became unclear.
Though the principle
of a creeping barrage
Would protect the
attack, some lack
Of communication
saw their battalions melt
Away into
friendly fire.
Once into the
woods, those that made it again
Struggled, disorientated
on route -
Only the officers
had compasses and many
Of them had been
killed.
Undergrowth of trees should have provided
Cover - what the
Welsh lacked
The Germans made
up - with many of their
Ranks trained to fight in woods.
By the 3rd day, a
renewed attempt would
Be made,
following on from patrols
Gathering
information; that enemy defences
In the wood were
heavy.
With little surprise
either side, the plan for a full
Frontal attack
with the whole
Forces of 38th Division,
was set to commence
4.15 a.m. on
day 10th July 1916.
The failed day of
7th July had led to dismissal
Of divisional
commander - Phillipps
Who was replaced
by Watts - after discussing
Tactics, orders
were released.
Yet these
instructions did not reach the whole
Line till near
midnight - still battalions
Were ready, in place
by 3 a.m. - 75 minutes
Later, divisional
artillery struck.
This time smoke screens helped moves
As barrage crept 50 yards, every
Minute for 120
minutes - then lifted to aim
Onwards to the
second objective.
The deep stuttering blasts pulverised, every
Sense - air dense with smoke
Drowning out light - each body shook under
Clattering machine-guns.
Drowning out light - each body shook under
Clattering machine-guns.
By some
motivation that is hard to guess,
The Welsh took to
their boots -
With friendly
machine gunners positioned
To rake ground
just ahead.
With steadiness
through pulverized air
The 13 and 14th
Welsh held on -
Anchored to their
rifles as they entered
The enemies hold
of the wood.
Within the
battering anxiety of battle
The Welsh proved
mettle,
As the 14th charged
to clear out their
Section of Mametz
wood.
Situated west the
13th lost their pace
With gunnery -
many falling
Into own
artillery wall - reinforcements
Saw the 15th aid
the 13th.
In places dense Mametz undergrowth
Forced soldiers
to move single
File - in
reinforcing ground hand shovels
Emerged; trenches were begun.
A situation 300
yards into the wood began,
A counter attack
by Germans -
British artillery
replied, only to panic some
Of the Welsh into
retreat.
Back to the southern
section as the northern
Section suffered
in crossfire -
The time 9 p.m.
saw injuries among Welsh.
Trapped in all
night shelling.
Taking on from
13th came the 16th Welch
And the 11th
Borderers,
Along with the
17th Royal Welch, to take
Part in a renewed
attack.
Into the
afternoon, the time 3.30 p.m.
They surged forward
-
At 6.30 p.m. the
10th, 15th and 16th
Joined as reinforcements.
Despite strength
of numbers resistance
Edged back Welch
by 2.30 a.m.
To be only 60
yards from objective, forced
To hold line 300
yards in wood.
Hours later
Mametz finally came under
Welsh Control - 9 a.m.
12 July,
Came relieving 12th
Division searching
The crushed evacuated
wood.
German defences
had fallen, littered
By their dead - success
came
With mammoth loss
for 38th division's
Casualties of
4000 men.
Divisions linked
across Mametz Wood,
Still under
bombardment -
What the Generals
considered to take
A few hours, took
days.
A bloodletting
slaughterhouse across
Seconds, hours,
days saw
Welsh youth and
German counterparts
Fall into a pit of horror.
All those men
that walked out alive
Were left with
visions
Of every type of
mutilation; fleshy lumps
Hung from the
trees.
Contorted corpses
packed in German
Grey and Welsh
khaki -
Bodiless limbs, heads
in frozen torture,
Prone, or slumped on
knees.
Such forms looked like religious pilgrims -
Creaking death in shrouds
Of cordite - deathly, creeping fingers
Through summer
greenery.
Among them upon a mound, reclined
A Welsh Fusilier, as if at some
Sacrificial alter - from his
bayoneted
Throat, softly trickled black
blood.
By Jamie Mann.
Source: File:
Mametz Wood and the 38th: The Welsh at the Somme
By
Lieutenant-General Jonathon Riley Military historian. 6 July 2016 . Available
at: <www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-36667730> [Accessed 19 July 2016]
Source: File: The
Long Long Trail. The capture of Mametz, 1 – 5 July 1916. Available at:
<http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/battles/battles-of-the-western-front-in-france-and-flanders/the-battles-of-the-somme-1916/the-capture-of-mametz-1-5-july-1916/>
[Accessed 19 July 2016]
Source: File:
Battle of Mametz Wood 5th - 12th July 1916. Available at:
<http://www.130thstjohnfieldambulance.co.uk/index.php/ct-menu-item-13/ct-menu-item-25>
[Accessed 19 July 2016]
Source: File:
Welsh History Month: Mametz Wood 9 Apr 2012, Dr Robin Barlow. Available at:
<http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/welsh-history-month-mametz-wood-2047333>
[Accessed 19 July 2016]
Source: File: The
story of the soldiers who survived the bloody massacre of Mametz Wood in their
own words. Available at: <http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/story-soldiers-who-survived-bloody-11506888>
[Accessed 19 July 2016]
Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 19 July 2016).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary
#worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Mametz
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