The 1st London Welsh Battalion, later the 15th (Service) Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, ('15th RWF') was a 'Pals battalion' of 'Kitchener's Army' recruited during World War I from Welshmen living in London. It served in 38th (Welsh) Division and took part in the division's costly attack on Mametz Wood during the Battle of the Somme. The battalion continued to serve on the Western Front, including the Third Battle of Ypres, until February 1918 when it was broken up to provide reinforcements to other units.
Recruitment & training
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. A flood of volunteers poured into the recruiting offices across the country to be formed into 'Service' battalions of the county regiments, and the 'first hundred thousand' were enlisted within days. 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 soon constituted the Fifth New Army (K5). One such unit was raised after a meeting of Welshmen living in London was held on 16 September under the presidency of Sir Vincent Evans. The resulting 'London Welsh Battalion' established its headquarters (HQ) at the Inns of Court Hotel in Holborn, and the Benchers of Gray's Inn lent their gardens and squares as drill grounds. Recruits poured in, but the battalion was not officially recognised until 29 October 1914, by which time many of the keenest recruits had drifted away to join other units. Nevertheless, the committee kept a large number together and continued to recruit, the men living at home while drilling at Gray's Inn. The battalion officially became the 15th (Service) Battalion of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers (RWF). Many of the recruits were second- or third-generation Londoners who spoke with a Cockney rather that Welsh accent. Many of their families originally came from Carmarthenshire and worked in the dairy business. Later in the war drafts for the battalion came from the traditional North Wales recruiting area of the RWF.Frederick, p. 305.Griffith, pp. xiv–xvii.James, pp. 67–8.Royal Welsh Fusiliers at Long, Long Trail.Munby, pp. 1–5.Riley.
A larger recruiting organisation was the 'Welsh National Executive Committee' (WNEC) formed after David Lloyd George addressed a meeting of representatives from all over Wales. The WNEC aimed to raise a complete Welsh Army Corps of two divisions. The WO accepted the proposal on 10 October and the London Welsh became part of this organisation.Renshaw, pp. 47–8. William Augustus Lane Fox-Pitt, a retired Major of the Grenadier Guards, was appointed commanding officer (CO) of 15th RWF on 28 November 1914 with the rank of lieutenant-colonel.Munby, p. xiii–xiv.RWF at COs of World War I.Hodgkinson, p. 70. Among the other early London Welsh officers were Lloyd George's two sons Richard and Gwilym, who transferred as Second lieutenants from the 6th (Caernarvonshire and Anglesey) Bn, RWF, and later served in the Royal Engineers (RE) and Royal Artillery (RA) respectively.London Gazette, 18 September 1914.London Gazette, 16 December 1914.Dictionary of Welsh Biography: 'Lloyd George family'. Another of the original officers, Goronwy Owen, was also distantly related to Lloyd George.Griffith, p. 69. Llewelyn Wyn Griffith, who later wrote a memoir about his service with the battalion (Up to Mametz), transferred from the 7th (Merionethshire and Montgomeryshire) Bn, RWF.
On 5 December 1914 the 15th RWF travelled to Llandudno in North Wales to join 128th (1st Welsh) Brigade of 43rd Division (1st Division, Welsh Army Corps). These were renumbered in April 1915 as 113th Brigade and 38th (Welsh) Division respectively. The over-ambitious plan to raise a complete Welsh Army Corps had by that time been abandoned. The other three units in 113th Bde were the 13th (1st North Wales), 14th and 16th (Service) Battalions, RWF.Becke, Pt 3b, pp. 81–8; Appendix 2.38th Division at Long, Long Trail.Munby, pp. viii–ix.Dudley Ward, pp. 25–6.
With units scattered across North Wales there was no opportunity for divisional training. However, in August 1915 38th (W) Division began to concentrate around Winchester where it trained for open warfare on the Hampshire downland, leaving trench warfare to be learned when the troops reached the theatre of war. It was not until November that enough rifles arrived for all the men to undertake their musketry course. 38th (W) Division was now warned for service with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the Western Front.Munby, pp. 13–4. Lieutenant-Col Fox-Pitt was one of nine battalion COs in 38th (W) Division (all previously retired Regular or Militia officers – 'dug-outs') who were replaced by younger men before the division went overseas. He was succeeded by Lt-Col Richard Carmichael Bell of the Central India Horse on 13 November.Griffith, p. 70.
On 1 December 15 RWF marched from Winchester to Southampton and a party left for France that night aboard the City of Chester. The rest of the battalion boarded the Queen Alexandra at Southampton Docks next day and landed at Le Havre on the morning of 3 December. It then went by train to join the divisional concentration at Aire on 6 December and marched to its training area near Saint-Omer.Griffith, pp. 2–5.15th RWF War Diary, December 1915–February 1918, The National Archives, Kew, file WO 95/2556/1.Dudley Ward, pp. 177–9.
18th (Reserve) Battalion (2nd London Welsh) After the 1st London Welsh went to Llandudno, the committee continued recruiting at Gray's Inn, and in February 1915 was able to raise the 2nd London Welsh as the 18th (Service) Battalion, RWF. In June, under the command of Lt-Col Ivor Bowen, it went to Bangor, North Wales, to be attached to 38th (W) Division, but when the division moved to Winchester in August the 18th RWF was converted into a 'local reserve battalion' with the role of supplying reinforcement drafts to 15th RWF. It was sent to Kinmel Camp near Conwy to join 14th Reserve Brigade. On 1 September 1916 the local reserve battalions were transferred to the Training Reserve (TR) and 18th (R) Bn combined with 20th (R) Bn RWF at Kinmel to become 63rd Training Reserve Battalion, though the training staff retained their RWF badges. On 4 July 1917 this battalion was redesignated 226th (Infantry) Battalion, TR, and on 23 July it moved to Halesworth in Suffolk to join 203rd (2nd North Wales) Brigade in 68th (2nd Welsh) Division in the east coast defences. On 27 October 1917 the battalion was transferred to the Welsh Regiment as 51st (Graduated) Battalion, still in 203rd Bde. It moved into Great Yarmouth for the winter but by May 1918 it was at Herringfleet where it remained training recruits until the Armistice with Germany. On 8 February 1919 it was converted into a service battalion and the following month was sent to join 2nd Brigade of Western Division serving in the occupation forces in Germany with British Army of the Rhine. The brigade was broken up in July 1919 and the battalion was disbanded on 31 March 1920.Training Reserve at Long, Long Trail.Becke, Pt 2b, pp. 83–90.James, p. 83. Rinaldi.Welsh Regiment at Long, Long Trail.68th Division at Long, Long Trail.
Service On 18 December 15th RWF paraded and was taken by motor buses to La Gorgue where 38th (W) Division went into reserve for XI Corps. The battalion's companies were attached to the Guards Division for their introduction to the front line: A Company to 1st Scots Guards B Company to 3rd Grenadier Guards C Company to 1st Coldstream Guards D Company to 2nd Irish Guards On the evening of 19 December B and D Companies went up to the front line to join their respective battalions while A and C Companies remained in billets. The companies then relieved each other over following days as the Guards battalions rotated between the front, support and reserve lines. There was a brief period of fraternisation with the enemy in No man's land on Christmas Day, but not on the scale of the 'Christmas truce' of 1914. 15th RWF's attachment to the Guards ended on 26 December and next day the battalion returned by bus to billets at Le Sart, near Merville.Griffith, pp. 6–17, 187–98.Headlam, p. 112.Munby, pp. 15–6.
From 8 January 1916 15th RWF began a long sequence of tours of duty in the trenches. This began at Richebourg-St-Vaast including the 'Boar's Head' post; the battalion usually alternated with 16th RWF and was billeted in Locon when not in the line. Enemy shelling was frequent and a considerable amount of labour was required to construct and repair trenches. In February the two battalions moved to carry out the same routine in the trenches at Givenchy and billets at Gorre, and in March at Festubert with reserve billets at Le Touret. The Festubert area was badly flooded and the line consisted of a chain detached posts or 'islands', which were mainly breastworks rather than trenches, with no communication trenches, so they could only be approached 'over the top' after dark. Givenchy was more dangerous because the drier ground made mine warfare possible. On one occasion the enemy fired a mine on 15th RWF's front, but had misjudged the distance, only creating a new crater in No man's land without breaching the battalion's line. There was a steady truckle of casualties with each spell in the line: by the end of March the battalion had lost 2 officers and 23 other ranks (ORs) killed or died of wounds, and 80 ORs wounded. On 18 April the division moved to the 'Moated Grange' sector just north of Neuve-Chapelle, where patrol actions were common among the mine craters. 15th RWF spent the last week of April training at La Gorgue and then on 1 May took over the line at Laventie, where it resumed the rotation with 16th RWF. On 7/8 May the battalion was in the line at Fauquissart when it carried out a trench raid on the enemy. While crossing No man's land the 53-strong raiding party under Captain Goronwy Owen came upon an enemy party that had just finished laying out barbed wire. Owen immediately changed his plans and instead of attacking, his raiders quietly followed the wiring party back into their own lines before setting upon them while bombing parties worked their way down the firebays of the crowded trench. They caused about 50–60 casualties for the loss of 2 officers and 3 ORs killed or missing, and 9 ORs wounded, mainly by rifle fire from the German support trench during the withdrawal. The raid was considered so successful that it was mentioned in Sir Douglas Haig's next despatch, and among the medals awarded was a Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for Capt Owen.Griffith, pp. 18–46, 56–60.