Mametz Wood Weatherman Walking

This is a different kind of Weatherman Walking.

I'm leaving Wales behind to follow in the footsteps

of those brave Welsh men who took part in the First World War.

I'm going to the battlefields of northern France,

to the Somme and Mametz Wood,

the most important battle Welsh troops fought in

between 1914 and 1918.

This is a guide to Mametz Wood,

about what to look for and where to go.

With a bit of expert advice,

I'm going to find out more about what it was like for Welsh soldiers

in that terrible war.

Today, the Somme is a quiet farming area,

but everywhere you look there are war grave cemeteries,

a constant reminder of those huge losses in July 1916.

To get to the Somme, we head across to the Channel ports

and travel over to Calais.

Then, it's down through northern France towards Paris.

Mametz is a tiny village near to the town of Albert.

It takes about 90 minutes to drive there from Calais.

My guide is Phil Davies, a retired history teacher from Cardiff.

Phil is an expert on the First World War

and is closely involved in the centenary of Mametz Wood.

Hi, Phil, great to meet you.

Hello, Derek. Nice to meet you too.

Lovely spot here. Very peaceful today,

but of course it was a different story 100 years ago.

This is where part of the Battle of the Somme took place.

That's right, it was a very different place 100 years ago

on 1st July 1916. A lot noisier than it is today.

We're actually in Danzig Alley Cemetery

and I have a German map here.

This was the German first line,

on the end of the German first line on 1st July.

And in this part of the battle, the British had some success.

They came from over in that direction,

took the German front line,

came as far as this, which was then the German support line,

-and stopped.

-I've come to see Mametz Wood.

-Right.

-Where exactly is that?

Well, Mametz Wood is just over there, that clump of trees.

And of course the Welsh were very involved in that

between the 7th and 12th July 1916.

And this is a memorial seat

to the men of the 14th Royal Welch Fusiliers

which has also an inscription by Hedd Wyn, the famous poet.

I think the best thing is to go through the village and then

-down towards the wood.

-OK.

-Great.

The Battle of the Somme started on 1st July 1916

and was the largest fought on the Western front

with over a million men killed or wounded.

Danzig Alley Cemetery is just outside Mametz

and the wood itself lies a mile-and-a-half to the north.

The village was captured on the opening day of the battle.

Today, it's a sleepy rural hamlet

with a population of less than 200 people.

So, this is Mametz.

I imagine it was devastated back in 1916.

Yes, it was one of the German front-line villages.

Fortified village, houses would have been destroyed,

Germans were in the basements.

Machine guns, heavily fortified

and a tough nut to crack. I think we need to cross over here, Derek.

Oh, look, a Welsh dragon.

Yes, and this is one of the only road signs in France

-that you'll see in Welsh.

-Really?

And that was put up to show the direction to the Dragon.

And it's very fitting that it's in front of the village war memorial

that is dedicated to those French men who were killed

in the First World War. Of course, we tend to forget the fact

that the French had enormous losses,

just as much as us. So, if we carry on up this track,

we'll get to Mametz Wood.

'Phil has been visiting the area for over 30 years,

'but his fascination with the First World War started even earlier.'

So, tell me, Phil, when did you first get interested in military history?

You know, I'm often asked that. It's very difficult, but I've got

this remembrance of a comic that I used to have called The Wizard.

And on the back page,

they used to run these sort of illustrated stories,

and I remember one clearly about Gallipoli.

And I thought, "Oh, that's interesting."

But at the same time...

there was that fantastic BBC TV series The Great War,

where Laurence Olivier narrated, you know,

and it used to come on every week and it was really good stuff.

And then, of course, it was the 50th anniversary of the First World War

and from there on, I didn't look back.

And is there a particular part of the First World War

-that you're fascinated in?

-Yes.

I mean, originally, I used to look at the whole overview of the thing,

the strategic thing,

but I've become more and more interested in the human stories,

the actual stories of the men who were there,

reading diaries and so on.

And we're coming up to Mametz Wood now and there's a whole wealth of

incredibly moving stories to be told about that.

Mametz Wood is as daunting a sight as it would have been in 1916.

It looms over the fields

and is roughly the same shape and size as it was then,

thickly wooded and about a mile square.

The main difference is that 100 years ago,

it was bristling with battle-hardened German machine gunners.

The capture of the wood was

the objective given to the newly-formed 38th Welsh Division.

It had been created by the Minister of War, David Lloyd George,

and comprised inexperienced volunteer soldiers from all across Wales.

They had been training for 18 months and this was their first battle.

It was a baptism of fire.

Well, we're next to Mametz Wood now, Phil.

Can you tell me exactly what happened on that fateful day

-on July 7th, 1916?

-Yes, Derek.

We're actually standing in front of a part of the wood

called the Hammerhead. And I've got a German map here from 1916

showing this feature,

and you can see why it was called the Hammerhead.

And it was heavily defended by the German Lehr Regiment

and they had machine guns in the woods there in front of us.

They also had machine guns just over the skyline there

in two smaller woods.

And Cardiff City Battalion came over here at 8.30 in the morning.

Broad daylight. Dawn was 4.15.

And they were cut to pieces.

They tried two or three times to actually get up the slope

to the wood and they didn't make it, and they were beaten back.

-They didn't stand a chance.

-They didn't stand a chance, no.

They were taken by surprise. They didn't really know what to expect.

They had only arrived in this part of the Somme perhaps a day before.

No reconnaissance of the area,

they were just told, "You go down that slope and you take that wood."

And that was as simple as that.

It's fair to say, it was a bad decision.

Yes, it was a bad decision.

And unfortunately, the Cardiff City Battalion paid the price for that.

And the Monmouthshire troops, the South Wales Borderers,

they were slightly less badly affected, but it was...

it was disastrous, basically.

The first attack by the Welsh division was complete carnage.

Walking into the crossfire of the German machine gunners,

they didn't get near the wood, but died on the ridge overlooking it.

The Cardiff City Battalion bore the brunt of the casualties

with about 250 killed out of 1,000 men.

We've got an eyewitness account,

a chap called Arthur Phillips, who survived.

He talks about coming down this slope, 250 yards from the wood

and they were machine-gunned and shelled all the way.

And the major, almost crying, said,

"All our boys haven't got a bloody chance. It's hopeless."

-And it was.

-And it was, yes.

Can you tell me a bit about the men who died?

Well, yes. We are piecing together some of the pictures of the men who

died. There were two famous Welsh rugby internationals who were...

Well, one was killed somewhere here

and the other one was very badly wounded and died

a little way away in a hospital.

The most famous was Company Sergeant Major Dick Thomas.

He was a policeman and a rugby international.

He played for one of the...the Welsh rugby team before the war.

And he was killed somewhere here.

And there's a famous eyewitness account

by another chap called William Davies, who saw him killed.

And he said that there was this big man in front of him,

didn't know who he was at the time,

but he knew he was a rugby international.

And he was lying down and he got up on his hands and knees, as it were,

to see what was going on.

Bullet through the head.

And William Davies said, "I hid behind him all day."

And he survived.

And then there was another famous Welsh rugby international,

John Lewis Williams. He was captain of Wales

and historians tell us

he was probably the finest wing that ever played for Wales,

and he was a captain in the Cardiff City Battalion.

And sadly, he was wounded badly in the leg,

taken off to the hospital where his leg was amputated,

but he did manage to send a postcard home

saying that, "Don't worry, I'm OK. I've been wounded."

And sadly he died.

-So sad.

-Very sad.

That first attack on July 7th ended in failure

with no ground gained and hundreds of Welsh soldiers dead or wounded.

Questions were raised about the failure of the company to advance

and the extent to which the German defences had been seriously underestimated.

The general who was in charge, Major-General Ivor Philipps,

who was a crony of Lloyd George, was sacked.

A new general was appointed and a new plan drawn up.

And they decided to attack the wood from the southern edge there,

and this time using many, many more troops of the Welsh division

and in the meantime, putting a huge artillery barrage into the wood,

which included fire shells and all sorts of things

to try and dislodge the Germans.

-Shall we take a closer look?

-Yeah, by all means.

The landscape at Mametz Wood is exactly as it was in 1916.

It's all too easy to imagine what happened there.

It takes less than a minute to walk up to the wood,

but in the battle, this land was bought at heavy cost.

Well, here we are at the edge of the wood, Derek. And as you can see,

lots of people from Wales have come and laid tributes to relatives,

or people who were in the army.

People from all over Wales because the Welsh division had people from

North Wales, South Wales, coal miners, dockers,

all over South Wales, all over North Wales.

-There's one here from Barry, where I'm from.

-Well, there we are, yes.

Were there men from Barry involved in the battle?

Yes, there were men from Barry.

Some of them were killed, some were wounded.

Some survived. It touched families throughout Wales.

Some would have known each other, been friends.

Some would have probably been workmates together, yes,

before the battle. Now, normally we're not allowed into the woods,

and you can see there is a sign saying, "Forbidden entry,"

because it's still full of shells and unexploded devices.

But we've got special permission today,

-so would you like to go into the woods?

-OK.

It's not far before we come to

what would have been the German front lines.

EXPLOSIONS, MACHINEGUN FIRE

Well, here we are, Derek, at the edge of the wood,

looking over the field where the Welsh attacked

on the second attack on 10th July.

And as you can see, wide-open countryside.

German machine gunners would have been here,

firing across at an angle.

Another machinegun probably at the other side there.

And they had this diagonal field of fire to gain maximum effect.

And what was the range of the machine guns?

Well, the ridge over there would have been well within their range.

They could have picked anything off that ridge coming across.

They could effectively fire about two miles.

The Welsh soldiers would have been cut to pieces.

They would have been cut to pieces,

but they did manage to press on and get into the wood.

It beggars belief, doesn't it?

It does, yes. It's amazing

that people could actually run into that sort of storm of steel.

The second attack took place on 10th July, and after a massive artillery

barrage, the Welsh troops got into the wood itself.

But the battle was far from over

and there was 48 hours of hand-to-hand combat

as the Germans were beaten back.

So, we're in the wood now. It's very atmospheric.

You can hear the birds singing. Carpets of bluebells.

But, of course, it was a different story 100 years ago.

The undergrowth that you see around you was much higher, brambles,

nettles, there were broken trees,

branches which had been brought down by the bombardment.

It was difficult to move. It was difficult to see your neighbour.

It was difficult to see people from your own regiment.

-It must have been terrifying.

-It must have been terrifying.

We've got a picture here

and you can see all these shattered branches and trees.

And here, a German sniper position.

So, not only were the Germans in the trenches, defending the wood,

they were up there in the trees

popping off British officers to make the men leaderless.

And you've met some of the men who fought here.

Yes, I met some of the nice old gentlemen in the 1980s

and one in particular was Tom Price, Sergeant Tom Price,

and he was of the 13th Welsh 2nd Rhonddas.

And he came into the wood and he was very badly wounded

by shell fire in his legs,

lay in a shell hole for three days before he was able to be evacuated.

And of course they didn't have spare men to evacuate casualties.

Sounds like he was very lucky to survive.

He was very lucky to survive and...

you know, it must've been traumatic, and the sights he saw.

He saw Germans making downward thrusts with their bayonets

and he could only assume that they were actually killing the wounded.

-Finishing them off.

-Finishing them off.

And when he came back here in 1986,

it was almost as if he was repaying a debt.

A debt that he felt guilty that he'd survived

and his mates had been killed.

And, I mean, if you look around you,

the signs of the battle are still here.

Over here, we've got a shell crater

from a British shell fired in the bombardment of the wood.

And over there is the piece of a British shell.

It's embedded in the tree still.

-It's wedged right in between the tree.

-Yes.

-So, what range...

Where would that have come from?

That would have come from well over there. Perhaps about two miles away.

-Two miles?

-Mm. Two miles.

-It's a heavy shell.

-What's this?

Well, we shouldn't normally touch that.

It's a piece of a shell. It's quite safe.

It's part of a shrapnel shell.

That was a shell which was filled with lead balls.

It exploded in the air and the lead balls, or steel balls,

came showering down, taking out infantry.

And the wood is full of things like this.

The wood is full of things like this.

That's why we've got to be very careful in here.

In the undergrowth, you don't know what we'll find.

Shall we go on?

In the end, the Germans were cleared out of the wood,

but at huge cost.

The Welsh division suffered 4,000 casualties,

including over 1,200 killed.

Many of the dead still lie there, buried by the explosions,

their bodies never recovered.

But alongside the wood is a small cemetery

where some of the dead of Mametz were laid to rest.

-Here we are, Flatiron Copse Cemetery.

-Unusual name.

It is. It's because the wood on the map looked like a flatiron

and that was the name the British troops gave it.

If we look in the register, we can look for a Barry boy, WJ Fox.

-Now, this green book contains the name of all the soldiers buried here.

-That's right.

And it will give you his grave number as well.

"WJ Fox, row nine, G7."

-OK. Well, if you put the book back, we'll go and find him.

-OK.

Well, Derek, this is plot nine.

E, F, G...

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.

There he is, Private WJ Fox.

And he lived in Digby Street in Barry.

-I know Digby Street.

-And we've got a quote from his platoon commander,

who wrote in a letter to his mother afterwards,

"He had been in my platoon since the commencement of his military career.

"Therefore I can speak of him as a soldier and a friend.

"He was a true soldier and a brave lad.

"Never before had he shown such bravery and coolness

"as in his last action."

He must have been quite young,

because he was still living at home with his parents.

But during the Battle of Mametz,

there were at least four pairs of brothers killed.

Two of them are actually buried in this cemetery.

-Would you like to see them?

-OK.

Well, here are the Hardwidge brothers from Ferndale.

They were killed on 11th July in the second attack on Mametz Wood.

We have a picture here of the two boys

taken, presumably, before they came to France.

With their wives and children.

Yes, indeed. Probably they would have had a last leave before they

came to France and they had the opportunity of a family photograph.

Can you imagine how the wives must have felt

as their husbands left to go to battle?

I would imagine they would have been very apprehensive and worried, yes.

-And you can see the sadness in their eyes.

-You can. You can, yes.

The story goes that they were actually killed at the same time

and they died in each other's arms. We'll never know the truth of that,

but that's the story that goes with it.

Later in the year, there was a third Hardwidge brother killed in France.

So, his mother had lost three boys in a year.

Imagine that, losing three sons in a year.

-Difficult, isn't it?

-You'd never get over it, would you?

-No.

Mametz Wood was the most important battle for Welsh soldiers in the First World War.

The Welsh division went on to see further action at Passchendaele,

but the sacrifice of Mametz

caught the public's imagination back home in Wales.

However, aside from the cemetery, there was no permanent memorial

to the troops who lost their lives there.

That all changed 30 years ago.

Now, I've seen pictures of this, Phil.

It was erected in 1987 and the Dragon was created

by David Peterson, from Sinclairs in Carmarthenshire.

-And you were involved in having it put here.

-Yes, yes.

I was one of the group of people that actually helped raise

the money to put it here.

And we had money from all over Wales.

It was all small donations from ordinary, private people,

who had lost relatives in Mametz wood.

No big companies were involved at all.

When the memorial was unveiled in 1987,

11 of the veterans attended.

It was a very moving occasion.

But one man who wasn't there was Tom Price,

the soldier who had seen Germans bayoneting the wounded.

He came up with the idea for the memorial in the first place.

He came to one of our meetings and said, you know,

"The Canadians have got their memorials, the South Africans got theirs -

"we want a Welsh memorial."

And we took him up on it, and we then worked to produce this.

And, sadly, although he lived to see where we were going

to place the memorial, he died about six months before it was finished,

and so wasn't able to be here on the day.

-He would have been very proud.

-Oh, I'm sure he would have, yes.

The Dragon Memorial is a fitting tribute to those

who fought and died in the wood.

And, back in the village, there's also a strong connection between Mametz and Wales.

And this is Mametz Church, Derek, and Mr Stephane Brunell, the Mayor.

-Bonjour, Stephane.

-Bonjour, Phil.

-Ca va?

-Tres bien.

-And this is Derek.

-Bonjour, Derek. Welcome to Mametz.

-Merci beaucoup.

-Come on.

'Mametz Church, like the rest of the village,

'was totally destroyed in the war

'and rebuilt brick by brick afterwards.

'It's the sort of pretty church

'you'll find in villages all over France,

'except next to the altar is another Welsh dragon

'which dates back to the 1920s.'

Derek, Phil.

HE SPEAKS FRENCH

And I can see the people have left tributes here to the soldiers.

And the friendship has grown since the Dragon memorial was erected,

and we're cooperating very much now in the way we commemorate

those killed in Mametz Wood.

And what's this plaque here?

It's in German.

It's wonderful that you remember those that died from both sides

of the conflict here in the church.

I'm bringing you here, Derek, because the people who live here

have got a collection of artefacts in their house that they found on the battlefield.

Oh, right.

-Bonjour, Marie-Ange.

-Bonjour, Phillip.

-Ca va?

-Oui, ca va bien.

-And Derek.

-Bonjour, madame.

-Bonjour.

SHE SPEAKS FRENCH

Well, this is amazing.

How long have you been collecting these?

Cinquante ans.

50 years? And what were you doing when you found them?

-And can I hold one of the grenades?

-Oui.

Let's see. It's heavy.

Is it dangerous?

Pleased to hear it.

Merci.

And what about the sword? Where did you find this?

It's a Wilkinson Sword.

I don't think I'll be shaving with this.

Mametz is in the heart of the of the Somme battlefield

and if you visit the area, it's full of memorials

and reminders from the First World War.

There are details on our website of all the places I visited

at bbc.co.uk/weathermanwalking.

One of the most remarkable isn't far from Mametz,

in the village of La Boisselle.

It's a place no-one should miss.

Well, here we are, Derek. This is the Lochnagar Crater.

It's absolutely enormous.

It was formed on 1st of July, 7.28,

when this whole hillside was blown up

and all the Germans on top of it.

For months, the British had prepared,

they dug tunnels from way down there, several hundred yards,

underneath here, opened up a chamber,

filled it with 30,000 tonnes of exposes and, boom!

Up it went, on the 1st of July

and killed all the Germans on this high spot.

There were eight of these massive explosions

and one was even filmed by a newsreel cameraman.

They were the largest man-made explosions to that date

and the sound could be heard as far away as London.

And did the Germans know that the British were planning this?

Each side was mining at that time.

They could hear the other side mining, picking away with their picks,

but they couldn't really know when and where it was actually going to happen.

So who's preserving the site like this?

Well, a fantastic gentleman called Richard Dunning

came here and bought this in 1978, because this was in danger

of being filled in, as were some of the other craters, for housing.

And he came here and he bought this,

pure act of faith, set up a group to look after it

and it's been here ever since.

And it's the focus of all the 1st of July ceremonies ever since.

-What a wonderful gesture.

-Fantastic.

But there's one final stop I have to make

on my journey around Mametz Wood and the Somme.

Many of those who died in the First World War don't have a grave,

so their names are listed on huge memorials.

The biggest is not far from Mametz, at Thiepval.

When I visited, it was being repaired ahead of the Centenary,

but nothing could diminish its impact.

So, this is Thiepval.

Yes, this is the memorial to the missing of the Somme,

those killed in the battle and had no known graves.

And on the panels, over 70,000 names.

Any from Mametz Wood?

Yes, there were 750 from Mametz Wood, including Dick Thomas.

It's hard to comprehend, isn't it? The sheer loss of life.

Yes, it is.

Well, Phil, thank you so much.

It's been an extraordinary journey.

I've learned so many new things about The Great War.

And coming here has made me realise the sacrifice our soldiers made

100 years ago and that we must never, ever forget.

Well, thank you, Derek. It's been a real pleasure.