The North Wales Bantams, later the 19th (Service) Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers was a Welsh Bantam battalion recruited in World War I as part of 'Kitchener's Army' from men who were below the normal minimum height required by the British Army. It formed part of the Welsh Bantam Brigade, later 119th Brigade, and served on the Western Front. It saw a good deal of action along the Hindenburg Line and at Bourlon Wood before being broken up early in 1918 to provide reinforcements to other units.

Recruitment

On 6 August 1914, less than 48 hours after Britain's declaration of war, Parliament sanctioned an increase of 500,000 men for the Regular British Army, and the newly appointed Secretary of State for War, Earl Kitchener of Khartoum issued his famous call to arms: 'Your King and Country Need You', urging the first 100,000 volunteers to come forward. This group of six divisions with supporting arms became known as Kitchener's First New Army, or 'K1'. K2, K3 and K4 followed shortly afterwards.War Office Instructions No 32 (6 August) and No 37 (7 August).Becke, Pt 3a, pp. 2 & 8. However, these were soon joined by groups of men from particular localities or backgrounds who wished to serve together. Starting in London and Liverpool, the phenomenon of 'Pals battalions' quickly spread across the country, as local recruiting committees offered complete units to the War Office (WO), which constituted the Fifth New Army (K5). One such organisation was the 'Welsh National Executive Committee' (WNEC), which on 10 October 1914 was authorised to form a complete Welsh Army Corps of two divisions.Atkinson, p. 69.Frederick, p. 305.Taylor, pp. 23–5.Dudley Ward, pp. 25–6.

Meanwhile, a large number of otherwise medically fit volunteers were being turned away because they did not meet the minimum height requirement of the prewar Regular Army, of 5 feet 3 inches (160 cm). Alfred Bigland, the Member of Parliament for Birkenhead, persuaded Kitchener that this pool of potential manpower should be tapped, and he was given authority to raise a battalion of 'Bantams' (named after the small but pugnacious fighting cock). Three Bantam battalions were quickly raised at Birkenhead for the Cheshire Regiment, many of them coal miners who had travelled long distances to enlist, including from Wales, and the scheme spread to other areas. The WO authorised each military district to recruit a battalion, attached to whichever regimental depot had sufficient capacity.Becke, Pt 3b, p. 57.McGreal, pp. 21–48.Taylor, pp. 25–7.War Office Instruction No 138 of 14 June 1915.

The WNEC accordingly began recruiting Bantams. On 1 February 1915 it gained approval for a single Bantam company to be raised at Deganwy in North Wales, where volunteering had been slow among the Welsh-speaking nonconformist communities. Recruitment was steady but unspectacular: on 15 February the unit's strength was 1 officer and 30 other ranks (ORs), rising to 98 ORs a week later. However, by the end of March it consisted of 442 all ranks and had been expanded to a full battalion of the local regiment, the Royal Welsh Fusiliers (RWF) as its 19th (Service) Battalion. In April the local press reported that North Wales landowner Colonel Owen Lloyd Jones Evans of Broomhall, Chwilog, was to be appointed its commanding officer. He had been commissioned into the local militia regiment, the Royal Carnarvon Rifles (later 4th (Royal Carnarvon Militia) Battalion, RWF) in 1877 and had risen to command it in 1899 before retiring with the honorary rank of colonel. He began actively recruiting for the battalion, which numbered 783 by 25 April, but it was not until a month later that he was officially gazetted as Temporary Lieutenant-Colonel in command of the battalion, backdated to 27 April. Recruitment continued and by 6 September it numbered 1145 all ranks.James, pp. 67–8.Royal Welsh Fusiliers at Long, Long Trail.Dudley Ward, pp. 260–1.Taylor, pp. 27–8, 34–6.Taylor, pp. 34–6.London Gazette, 25 May 1915.

However, the battalion had to reject many physically unfit or under-age recruits, which were a problem for all bantam units after the initial volunteer rush of fit miners and other manual workers had waned. The Royal Welsh Fusiliers was nicknamed the 'Birmingham Fusiliers' because of the number of men it normally recruited from the English Midlands, and a modern analysis of the 19th Battalion's make-up shows that only around 40 per cent of the men came from Wales; large numbers of the bantams came from Lancashire, Staffordshire, and other English counties. However, the officers of 19th RWF were predominantly Welsh.RWF at Great War Forum.Taylor, pp. 37, 43–59, 75. All Kitchener units suffered shortages of uniforms, kit and weapons in their early days. Until khaki cloth could be supplied, most of the men recruited by the WNEC were clothed in the grey Welsh cloth known as Brethyn Llwyd. However, even when khaki was available, all the bantam units had trouble obtaining uniforms and boots in smaller sizes. Each battalion raised by the WNEC received a hundred Lee–Metford rifles of Boer War vintage for training.Taylor, pp. 59–62, 66.

Training In August 1915 19th RWF left Deganwy for Prees Heath Camp, where it joined the newly-formed Welsh Bantam Brigade, the other units being the 12th (S) Bn, South Wales Borderers (SWB), and the 17th and 18th (S) Bns Welsh Regiment (WR).Atkinson, pp. 71–2.McGreal, pp. 57–8.Taylor, pp. 38–41.

The WNEC had failed in its attempt to raise two complete divisions; 38th (Welsh) Division was completed, but the second was not, and the Welsh Bantam Bde was instead assigned to 40th Division, which was intended to be a Bantam division. In September 1915 the brigade moved to Aldershot and became 119th Brigade of the division.Becke, Pt 3b, pp. 101–8. 40th Division at Long, Long Trail.Atkinson, pp. 230-1.Whitton, pp. 1, 7–22. Colonel Evans left the battalion on 12 November and later commanded 22nd (Reserve) Battalion, RWF. He was replaced in command of 19th RWF by the younger Lt-Col Bryan Jones who already had seen service on the Western Front with the Leinster Regiment.Taylor, p. 71.Taylor, Appendix VI. 119th Brigade moved into the training area at Blackdown Camp in December. Although 40th Division had been intended to be a second Bantam division (after 35th Division), the supply of recruits was insufficient and the other two brigades were hybrids, with just two Bantam battalions each. Worse, many of the men enlisted by these battalions were not simply undersized but actually unfit for service. 120th and 121st Brigades had to be completely reorganised with additional battalions of normal height men, holding up the division's training for several months. Once this reorganisation was completed in late February 1916 its training was intensified. In the spring there was a rumour that it would be deployed to Ireland to help suppress the Easter Rising, but this did not happen. Instead in mid-May it was warned to prepare to move to the Western Front. Men who were unfit or required for munitions work were transferred out and replaced by men from the Local Reserve battalions. Mobilisation was completed between 27 and 31 May and the battalions went by train to Southampton Docks for embarkation. 19th RWF landed at Le Havre in France on 2 June. By 9 June the division had completed its concentration in the Lillers area near Béthune.19th RWF War Diary, June 1916–February 1918, The National Archives (TNA), Kew, file WO 95/2607/3.Taylor, pp. 66–70, 78.Whitton, pp. 23–6.

Service On 10 June the battalion went up to the front line in the Calonne sector for a four-day introduction to trench warfare with 3rd Bde in 1st Division. Battalion HQ (BHQ), A and B Companies were attached to 2nd Royal Munster Fusiliers, C and D Companies to 1st Gloucestershire Regiment. On 18 June the battalion returned for another three-day tour with the other battalions of 3rd Bde, BHQ, C and D Companies with 2nd WR, A and B Companies with 1st SWB. During these tours the battalion suffered its first few casualties to shell and small arms fire. 40th Division then took over the Calonne sector from 1st Division on 3 July. Battalions rotated between the front line, support and reserve trenches, providing working parties for trench repairs and to assist the Royal Engineers (REs) (particularly 255th Tunnelling Company) when not in the front line. When in the line 19th RWF operated under the codename 'Warrior'. Although both armies were concentrating on the Somme Offensive further south, units in the Calonne sector still saw casualties mount up during the summer: enemy snipers and trench mortars were active. At the end of August 19th RWF received a draft of 80 reinforcements, mostly from 2nd RWF and the Welsh Horse Yeomanry as the supply of bantam reinforcements had dried up (the bantam concept died out by the end of 1916). The brigade carried out a number of trench raids, with 19th RWF attempting a small one on the night of 30 September/1 October, which failed due to the lack of experience of those participating. The battalion had more success on 19/20 October when a party succeeded in entering the enemy trenches near 'Hart's Crater' and obtaining identification of the German unit opposite.Atkinson, pp. 292–3.Taylor, pp. 78–95.Whitton, pp. 26–30, 38–40.

40th Division was relieved at the end of October and went into GHQ Reserve, with 19th RWF billeted at Petit Sains. The division then marched south to join Fourth Army, with 119th Bde Group at Bellancourt. Three weeks' training was carried out before 40th Division moved into the Somme Sector, with 19th RWF going into the line at Rancourt on 31 December. Here there was complete destruction left by the previous summer's fighting. The front line troops spent the winter among a maze of smashed and flooded trenches and dugouts, under occasional bombardments. Living in these conditions the number of sick and cases of Trench foot rose sharply.Atkinson, pp. 132–4, 138, 294.Crozier, pp. 132–7.Whitton, pp. 40–44. Lieutenant-Col Jones was wounded on 22 January 1917, having run into an enemy patrol while visiting some isolated posts, and Major J.H.R. Downes-Powell took command of the battalion.Taylor, p. 138.

Hindenburg Line Training for the battalions was stepped up during the winter, with emphasis on Lewis guns and the new 'fighting platoon' tactics.Griffith, pp. 77–9.Taylor, pp. 142–3. Trench-raiding by both sides resumed when the weather improved in March 1917 - 40th Division was ordered to penetrate into the German lines at least once a week. On 17 March 12th SWB raided the enemy line under cover of bad weather, and reported it only lightly held. That day the Germans had begun withdrawing from in front of 40th Division. This was part of a large-scale retreat to the prepared positions of the Hindenburg Line (Operation Alberich). The division immediately began cautiously following up, while 19th RWF remained in camp at Suzanne and Curlu, providing working parties for road repair and quarrying. 40th Division was leapfrogged in the advance on 24 March and then the whole division was set to repairing the roads and railways that had been destroyed by the retreating enemy, 19th RWF working on roads near Bouchavesnes. The commander of 119th Bde, Brigadier-General Frank Crozier found that his little Welsh miners excelled at this work. Once communications had been restored, XV Corps, to which 40th Division belonged, closed up to the Hindenburg Line during the first three weeks of April. German resistance stiffened among the fortified villages they held as outworks to their main line.Atkinson, p. 294.Crozier, pp. 138–42.Dudley Ward, p. 267.Falls, 1917, Vol I, pp. 123, 134–5.Taylor, p. 144.Whitton, pp. 48–56.