The signs of war are still visible in live ammunition shells being pushed up by the roots of trees. Wartime bunkers, dug by both sides to protect the land gained, run through sections of the wood, now covered with a carpet of green. In sharp contrast they faced the elite Lehr Regiment of Prussian Guards - highly-trained professional soldiers who were deeply entrenched in the dense woods. And, 100 years since one of the key strategic battles of the Somme, the detritus of war is still being uncovered by nature in Mametz Wood. While the Germans were battle-hardened and weary, the Welsh were suffering the shock of arriving fresh from their native valleys. Then it was gone. The Somme now lies as a memorial to the horrors of war. Forgot password? Even those who know nothing of the history, in this particular spot, gain the sense that dozens of eyes are charting their every step. Instead they'd had their leader, Major General Ivor Philipps, relieved of command under the slur that his Welsh Division wasn't 'determined' enough, because they hadn't taken the woods on day one. Nor was there any other distraction, as the rest of the fighting had shifted down the line. Good luck! On the first day alone, 68,000 men lay dead. They provide no testimony to the village of Thiepval, which once stood there before the Battle of the Somme crowded at its doors. Within the ensuing chaos of war, everyone seemed to lose sight of the apparent ghost. Their bodies still lie under the surrounding countryside. That's the big debate, isn't it? The Welsh soldiers were just seven months out of training when they entered into combat at Mametz Wood. I think it would break my heart to go there. The track leads further into the wood, and an open patch beckons ahead. "On other occasions I found the roots of the trees pushing shells and other things up out of the ground.". In short, machine guns could be opened upon them without pause for a mad dash of 750 yards. He sat down upon the blasted trunk of a blackened tree. Mametz Wood, 31st May 2013. Captain W.E. Oxford English Dictionary (OED) Links On.

Though he didn't discuss the strange happenings there, he did mention that one of the British skulls had an unusual cleft in the jaw-bone. An imposing memorial stands at Thiepval dedicated to the missing of the Somme. The 38th (Welsh) Division was formed from the many thousands of Welsh volunteers in late 1914 and 1915 as part of Secretary of State for War Lord Kitchener’s New Armies – a force for the long war that he was the first to recognise. Suddenly shells were cascading down onto No Man's Land and edging closer to the German position.

Last week I spent a week excavating trenches in Mametz Wood, the large wood that was attacked by the 38th Welsh Division in July 1916. "I reached a cross-ride in the wood where four lanes broadened into a confused patch of destruction. During the first twelve days of July 1916, the Welsh Division was practically wiped out in their ultimately successful attempt to take the woods from the Germans. The objective was finally achieved a week later – largely due to the help of another battalion of Welsh soldiers – but over four thousand men were lost.

Ghosts Of Mametz Woods poem by Paul Warren. Facts about Mametz Wood 8: the number of total loss . For a moment, all German barrage ceased, as those men too tried to make sense of what they were seeing. Photographer Aled Rhys Hughes has captured the haunting history of the wood in a series of pictures. I'll take you to a random field first, second or third, then somewhere in the middle will be the actual Marston Moor. Edward Butts continued describing the effect on unwary Somme tourists wandering too near it. It appeared to him that the issue had been the fact that he'd stopped. They are clear in the rotting leather of the boots of soldiers, now a part of the undergrowth. ", Photos featured are part of an exhibition at the National Library of Wales running until 3 December 2016, A shell pokes out of the dense undergrowth in the wood which was a battleground in World War One, One tree acts as a place for visitors to leave memorials to those who fought in the woods, Live shells and detonators are unearthed by tree roots as army boots are nestled between tree trunks above, Farmers ploughing in the fields have uncovered countless shells, A shell stays wedged in a tree, a century after the battle took place, The maze of bunkers that made up the German headquarters is still evident, A memorial to the Welsh soldiers who were injured and died hangs in one of the trees, A Welsh flag imprinted on one of the trees in the wood, Services remember Mametz Wood and Wales' soldiers, World War One: Somme painting centrepiece of exhibition, https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-36723939. Initial attacks by other divisions on the night of 4/5 July resulted in the capture of preliminary objectives.