Researching 2 Lt H.H.T. Rees 16 Btn RWF

Hello Dieselfumes,
I have a map of most of the regimental dressing stations in and around Ypre I am awfully busy right now. I will open it up and have a shufti at it later on. It is bloody huge.
Regards RBD aka jungle1810.

A very generous offer, Don, and much appreciated. Look at the bottom of the map. If - as I fear - the Somme area is not on it, you're finished.

John

Many thanks jungle1810,

I suspect Mametz may be too far south for your map but I appreciate you trying anyway.

Regards

Mike

Mike

PM me your email address and give me a couple of days to send it.

Hywyn

There are a couple of good books written on the Battle of Mametz

One I would recommend as an aid to easy understanding of what went on is printed in the Battleground Europe Series Mametz Wood by Michael Renshaw
(ISBN 0 85852 664 7).

Another is Mametz Lloyd Gearge's Welsh Army at the Battle of the Somme' by Colin Hughes by Orion Press, this his harder to find. On page 94 it has a description of the 16th Battalion attack on Strip Trench.

In the RWF Musuem is a painting of the battle and from my perspective this could well be the attack on strip trench, I have walked the very spot. Its quite a terrifying picture that captures the horror of the moment. Try this Link http://www.rwfmuseum.org.uk/nbsomme.html


You must visit the Mametz Memorial to 38th Welsh Division, one of the most impressive on the Somme to my mind. Try this link http://www.somme-1916.com/memorial003.htm

Hope this is of some use.

Hello Baconwallah & Dieselfumes,
You are both correct as expected from the military experts that you are. This was the first time I have opened the map. It is designated in the top right handed corner as parts of 19,20,27,28,36,36a,the south shows Armentieres It is from a War Office Map of 1924. Sorry.
Regards RBD aka jungle1810

Mike,
One possible way of locating an Advanced Dressing Station (ADS) in the Mametz action would be to examine the War Diaries (series WO95) for the relevant Field Ambulances at the National Archives Kew.

The ADSs would be established by the Field Ambulances of the Royal Army Medical Corps attached to the 38th Welsh Division. These were the 128th, 129th, and 130th FAs. Their preparations for the action should include notes on where various medical facilities (ADS, Rest Posts, Walking Wounded Posts, Carrying Stations etc.) were located, hopefully with a contemporary map reference. One of these FAs would be allocated to each Brigade taking part in the attack, so whichever one dealt with 113th Inf. Bde. is the one you want.

If he was picked up by some of his battalion's 32 designated stretcher bearers, the usual first port of call (after crossing the still-deadly space of No Mans Land) would be the 16th RWF's Regimental Aid Post, where their Medical Officer and a couple of hard-pressed orderlies would apply dressings or attempt other "First Aid" treatment. The RAP could have been a dugout or similar site located in the support or reserve lines of the trench system from where the battalion launched its attack; but sometimes was pushed forward nearer the action, eg. in a convenient large shell hole! It could sometimes take hours for the wounded just to be carried back to the RAP, against the flow of "traffic" heading through the narrow and congested trenches. In action, priority was given first to reinforcements; secondly to ammunition carriers; and only thirdly to casualty evacuation.

The ADS was a little further back, just beyond the trench system; and the Field Ambulance itself (effectively, what we'd call a Field Hospital today) even further. Sometimes the phrase "Dressing Station" has been applied to the RAP, just to confuse matters.

You might be able to identify the correct ADS and even RAP locations, but where your relative died and was buried depended on the exact conditions at that moment. If still with the stretcher bearers threading their way through the communication trenches, they were under no obligation to transport a dead body any further; and accounts from 130th FA at Mametz (largely with 115th Bde.) show that even their own deceased personnel were hurriedly interred in handy shell holes (unmarked and unrecovered). If he got as far as one of the facilities where a grave was dug along with others, even these sometimes were unrecorded, or the sites were obliterated by shellfire as the Somme and later battles ground on.

Anyway, it's one source that might provide the information you seek.

Clive

Clive
Many thanks for your input, excellent idea!

I had a quick look at docs online available from Kew but it seems nothing from the FA's you indicated is there.
What is fast becoming apparent is I need to plan a visit to the National Archives armed with these avenues you and others have produced for me.

Kind Regards
Mike

Received this from Thiepval (thanks for the link Baconwallah)
Can anyone tell me what the insignia are on the lapels ?

Regards
Mike

The collar badges are the exploding grenades worn by the Royal Welch Fusiliers. And, if I'm not mistaken, also by the Lancashire Fusiliers.

John