On 10 July 1916 the Swansea Battalion, in conjunction with other units of the Welsh Division, attacked Mametz Wood on the Somme. Just nine days after the start of the 1916 Somme campaign - which saw the British army suffer 60,000 casualties including 19,000 killed on 1 July 1916 - the Swansea Battalion left the trenches and advanced on the wood which was hidden by the dust and smoke of a heavy artillery barrage.
The Swansea Battalion committed 676 men to the attack on Mametz Wood. When the losses were counted several days later (the wood having then been captured) there were around 100 Swansea Battalion men killed and 200+ wounded.
As an officer of the battalion said after the war ' The battalion did a great many things during the war, but the hardest thing it did was attack Mametz Wood'.
The Swansea Battalion committed 676 men to the attack on Mametz Wood. When the losses were counted several days later (the wood having then been captured) there were around 100 Swansea Battalion men killed and 200+ wounded.
As an officer of the battalion said after the war ' The battalion did a great many things during the war, but the hardest thing it did was attack Mametz Wood'.
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