3rd Battalion The Monmouthshire Regiment ~ WW1 Timeline
August 1914 ~ Formed in Abergavenny. Part of 53rd Welsh Division ~ 160th Welsh Border Brigade
February 1915 ~ left the Division and moved to France 15th Feb attached to 83rd Brigade, 28th Division.
27 May 1915 ~ amalgamated with the 1st and 2nd Battalions (Known as Monmouthshire Regiment) after all suffered heavy casualties during 2nd Ypres. Resumed its own identity on 11 August 1915.
2 September 1915 ~ transferred to 49th Division, becoming Divisional Pioneers on 18 September.
9 August 1916 ~ transferred to GHQ Troops.
16 August 1916 ~ disbanded in France. Troops split between sister battalions Monmouthshire Regiment - Welsh Regiment - Royal Welsh Fusiliers - South Wales Borderers.
Battle Honours of the Monmouthshire Regiment 1914-18
Ypres 1915
Gravenstafel
St Julien
Frezenberg
Bellewarde
Somme 1916
Albert 1916
Arras 1917
Scarpe 1917
Ypres 1917
Pilckem
Langemarck
Poelcapelle
Cambrai 1917
Lys
Messines 1918
Hindenberg Line
St Quentin Canal
Beaurevoir
Cambrai 1918
Ypres 1918
Courtrai
Sambre
I have included all the Battle Honours earned by the Monmouthshire Regiment and not just those by the 3rd Monmouthshire Regiment. The reason for this is that men from the 3rd Battalion were transferred to the 1st and 2nd Battalions when their battalion was disbanded in 1916. So in a way the 3rd Battalion had a hand in earning these other honours as well.
Areas of Interest regarding 3rd Monmouthshire Regiment in 1915
1. Elverdinghe Chateu ~ Here on the 29th December 1915 shells fell in the area of a parade as the 3rd Monmouth's were getting ready to move back from the front line. The following men all lost their lives in the blink of an eye. They are all buried at Ferme Olivier Cemetery.
1702 Pte TJ Callaghan 121 Pte L Coleman
1896 Pte GS Davies 3070 Pte AJ Day
2803 Pte SA Day 2110 Pte JT Denford
3264 Pte WH Griffiths 1969 Pte H Harris
1171 Pte J Hughes 1053 Pte WJ Jones
3253 L/Cpl HC Lewis 3162 Pte TE Lloyd
2439 Pte WH Lyne 3569 Pte J Moore
3365 Pte D Morgan 3352 L/Cpl D Morgan
3189 Pte WR Morgan 2503 Pte W Morgan
2926 Pte FH Nash 1306 L/Cpl T Needham
3618 Pte G Onions 1567 Pte M O’Rourke
3000 Pte A Payne 1430 L/Cpl J Pearce
2913 Pte S Plumer 1818 Pte A Poore
2202 Sgt HW Preen 1855 Pte WH Price
3547 Pte W Probert 3460 Pte E Pugh
1987 Pte R Pugh 3577 Pte S Rogers
2088 Pte AG Sales 1990 Sgt F Snell
1657 Pte HG Taylor 1470 Pte D Thomas
1810 Pte A Watkins 3398 Pte TE Webber
2336 Pte E Williams 2001 Pte T Williams
3265 Pte WGH Williams 394 L/Cpl J Yandle
2. Frezenberg ~ Gravenstafel ~ St Julien & Bellewarde ~
are all areas where the 3rd Monmouth's earned their battle honours during what is known as the 2nd Ypres. On the 8th May 1915 during the fighting at Frezenberg the Monmouth's distinguished themselves but B Coy were singled out thus......
Edmonds in the Official History of the Great War describes the action of B Company 3rd Monmouth’s, 1st KOYLI, 4th KRRC, the Patricia's and 2nd Northumberland Fusiliers in holding the frontline at Frezenberg as one 'worthy to rank among the historic episodes of the war'.
3. Hill 60 ~ Party's of ex miners from the 1st and 3rd Battalions were sent to help excavate the mines beneath the German lines at Hill 60. They were part of the 171st Tunnelling Company. They dug under the German positions over the next two months and at 19.00 hours on 17th April 1915 the mines were successfully exploded enabling the Infantry to take and hold the German trenches. It later transpired from information from a German Prisoner of War that the Germans had planned to set off explosions prepared in their own mines on 19th April just two days later. The men of the 3rd Battalion involved in this action were.........
Lieut Lancaster G.W. MC 414 Sgt W Boyles
231 L/Cpl Duggan. S. 675 L/Cpl Hoare. J. DCM 1511 L/Cpl Leonard. R. DCM
1026 Pte Basham. E 1467 Pte Bevan. D.J. 2037 Pte Collier. J.
1335 Pte Croudace. E. 2358 Pte Davies. G 1789 Pte Durham. S.
2715 Pte Elson. L. 835 Pte Evans. J. 1503 Pte Gapper. G.
1773 Pte Hancock. M.G. 1339 Pte Hathaway. F. 2041 Pte Hutchins. J.
1342 Pte Jeffries. W. 1001 Pte Jenkins. G. 2545 Pte Jenkins. G.
1755 Pte Jones. E.J. 1976 Pte Jones. E. 894 Pte Jones. T.
2174 Pte Jones.W. 895 Pte Jones W.J. 1693 Pte Lewis. A
1925 Pte Lippiat. T. 82 Pte McCarthy. W. 1341 Pte Owen. J.
1365 Pte Parfitt. L. 92 Pte Powell. F.A. 2391 Pte Powell. R.
1987 Pte Pugh. R. 1805 Pte Rogers. T 2048 Pte Selwood. H.
1515 Pte Shanahan. A. 1797 Pte White. J. 2467 Pte Winterson. A.
2006 Pte Williams.J.J. 1412 Pte Williams. J.T.
Artist sketch of Hill 60 around date 17th April 1915
3rd Battalin Monmouthshire Regiment Memorial in Frogmore Street, Abergavenny.
The inscriptions on the memorial read:
`To the officers N.C.O`s and men of the 3rd Battalion Monmouthshire Regt who fell in the Great War`
`This plaque commemorates on the 8th May 1995 The 80th Anniversary of 3rd Mons Memorial Day in the 1914-18 war. On that day in 1915 the battalion suffered heavy casualties in the second battle of Ypres.
This monument is the work of Gilbert Ledward , O.B.E, R.A, F.R.B.S Sculptor.`
Humour in War
Taffy was a - German!!!!!
In the confused fighting round Gueudecourt in 1916 a machine-gun section occupied a position in a maze of trenches, some of which led towards the German line.
The divisional pioneer battalion was the Monmouthshire Regiment, all of whose men were Welsh and for the most part spoke Welsh.
A ration party of the M.G.C. had gone back one night and had been absent some time when two members rushed into the position, gasping: "We took the wrong turning! Walked into Jerry's line! They've got Smiffy - and the rations!"
We had hardly got over the shock of this news when Smiffy came staggering up, dragging the rations and mopping a bleeding face, at the same time cursing the rest of the ration party.
"Luv us, Smiffy, how did you get away? We thought the Germans had got you for sure!"
"Germans," gasped Smiffy. "GERMANS! I thought they was the Monmouths!"
S. W. Baxter (late 86th M.G.C.), 110 Bishopsgate, E.C.2
The Best 500 Cockney War Stories - Cockney Logic and Other Stories
edited by The London Evening News
Published in London in 1921, The Best 500 Cockney War Stories comprised, in the words of its newspaper publisher (The London Evening News) "a remembering and retelling of those war days when laughter sometimes saved men's reason".
Various badges of the Monmouthshire Regiment
There were 3 battalions of the Monmouthshire Regiment involved during the Great War and these 3 all wore the same cap badge. But they also had other badges which identified the separate battalions.
This is the badge of the 1st Battalion which was also worn by the other two battalions during the war. This badge was used from 1908.
From 1922 this is the cap badge of the 1st Battalion. It is the only cap badge to show the battle honours on it.
The cap badge of the 2nd Battalion Monmouthshire Regiment.
The bap badge of the 3rd Battalion Monmouthshire Regiment used after the Great war in Silver and Bronze colouring.
Regimental Flag
A moth-eaten rag on a worm-eaten pole,
It does not look likely to stir a mans sole,
Tis the deeds that were done 'neath the moth-eaten rag,
when the pole was a staff, and the rag was a flag.
Sir Edward Hamly on seeing some old Colours of the 32nd Foot in a Monmouth Church
Since ancient times there has been a need for opposing armies to identify themselves as in the heat of battle it would not have been difficult to start fighting your own side. This process began by painting of deisgns on shields and the wearing of distinctive clothing to identify the protagonists. This eventually led to the carrying of flags whose purpose was to identify individual units and to be used as a rallying point in the din of battle. Two flags would have been carried the first being the King or Queen's colour, which depended on who was the ruling monarch at the time. This would have sybolised the the regiments loyalty to the Crown, the second was the Regimental colour, which identified the unit, upon which would be listed the battles it had fought and won distinction in.
The last British Regiment to carry its colours into battle was the 58th Regiment at Lain Nek, South Africa in 1881. During this action the 58th were led up the hillside by two officers on carrying the Queen's colour and the other the Regimental Colour. The regiment was decimated by Boer fire. The colours were sent back for safe keeping
The British Secretary of War announced
"That in consequence of the altered formation of attack and the extended range of fire, the colours should not in future be taken with the battalion on active service"
Since that date no battalion colours have been carried into battle. During 1914 when the country was mobilizing for war ther would be many scenes as this one which
"A touching little ceremony, which took place in the afternoon, was that of the handing over the Battalion Colours into the custody of the Mayor and corporation of Abergavenny; the Mayor accepting the honourable trust of their safe keeping in the name of the town. It is probable that all those who took part, and all those who witnessed this ceremony, had little idea of the time that was to elapse, and the extent to which the life of the nation was to be disturbed, before this trust should come to an end, and the Colours once more be restored to the Battalion"
(On The Western Front, 1/3 Battalion Monmouthshire Regiment. Sergeant Bros. Usk Vale Works, Abergavenny)
