The Welsh at War: Through Mud to Victory: Third Ypres and the 1918 Offensives

456 Pages·2018·20.47 MB·English

by  Steven John

Welsh at War
THROUGH MUD TO VICTORY: THIRD YPRES AND
THE 1918 OFFENSIVES
Steven John
Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter 1: The Third Battle of Ypres
i) The Battle of Pilckem Ridge
ii) The Battle of Langemarck
iii) The Battle of the Menin Road Ridge
iv) The Battle of Polygon Wood
v) The Battle of Broodseinde
vi) The Battle of Poelcapelle
vii) The First Battle of Passchendaele
viii) The Second Battle of Passchendaele
Chapter 2: Third Battle of Gaza and the Capture of Jerusalem
Chapter 3: The Battle of Cambrai
Chapter 4: 1918: The Lull before the Storm
Chapter 5: The Final Offensives in Palestine
Chapter 6: The Italian Front
Chapter 7: The German Offensive
i) The Somme (21 March to 5 April 1918)
ii) The Lys (7 to 29 April 1918)
iii) The Somme: Bouzincourt Ridge
iv) The German Offensive: The Aisne (27 May to 6 June
1918)
Chapter 8: The Interim Period: June and July 1918
Chapter 9: The Battle of Amiens (8 to 12 August 1918)
Chapter 10: The Hundred Days Offensive: The Early Weeks
i) The Battle of Albert (21 to 23 August 1918)
ii) The Second Battle of Bapaume (21 August to 3
September 1918)
iii) The Battles of Havrincourt and épehy (12 to 26 September
1918)
Chapter 11: Salonika: The Third Battle of Doiran (18 September 1918)
Chapter 12: The Palestinian Campaign
Chapter 13: The Mespotamian Campaign
Chapter 14: The Hundred Days Offensive: To Victory
i) The Battle of Cambrai and the Hindenburg Line (27
September to 5 October)
ii) The Second Battle of Le Cateau: The Pursuit to the Selle
(8 to 12 October 1918)
iii) The Battle of the Selle (17 to 26 October 1918)
iv) The Battle of the Sambre (1 to 11 November 1918)
Appendix I: Some Casualty Facts and Statistics
Appendix II: Welsh Gallantry Awards
Appendix III: Demobilization and Homecoming
Appendix IV: Commemoration
Bibliography
Acknowledgements
M
uch of the material within these pages comes from a wide-ranging
variety of sources, while details of the casualties themselves come
from over a decade of research by the author into Welsh casualties and
award-winners. The author is grateful for all the help he has received while
carrying out his research into war memorials in west Wales over the past twelve
years but is especially grateful to all at Pen & Sword Books, especially Roni
Wilkinson, for showing continued support in publishing my work and to Nigel
Cave for having the patience to proofread and correct my last two works; to
Pamela Covey for editing this latest series; to John Dart, former curator of the
now closed Welsh Regiment Museum at Cardiff for allowing the author to copy
several of their excellent photographs; to Les Nixon, of Clynderwen, for his
assistance and advice over the last ten years; and also to Bob Pike who, over the
last decade, has supplied the author with countless photographs of war graves in
France, Italy, Gallipoli and Israel.
The author did originally start out with the intention of writing a chapter on
touring battlefield sites that are of interest to anyone following the Welsh troops
during the war but, as work on the book continued, it became obvious that there
were too many stories to try to fit into the confines of this book and that almost
every part of every battlefield of the Great War was visited by Welsh troops at
one time or another.
It is therefore recommended that anyone fostering the idea of visiting the
battlefields, especially those of France and Belgium, which the author knows
well, should gain confidence in the fact that if he can make the trip in his usual
disorganized manner then anyone can, but that good maps and guide books,
particularly the ones written by Major and Mrs Holt and the more specialized
books in the fantastic Battleground Europe series, all of which are available from
Pen & Sword, are invaluable and packed with interesting facts. These books also
contain tips on travelling, places to stay and must-see places to visit that may
otherwise be missed. A list of publications particularly recommended for
battlefield touring, from the author’s own personal experience, can be found