Mametz Wood is the largest of the woods over which the British and German armies fought in the long, desperate struggle of the summer and autumn of 1916. Its great expanse covers much of the ground between the German First (based on Mametz and Fricourt) and Second lines (based on Bazentin le Petit). Of the woods that were fought over at the Somme it might not have been the most hard fought over (that dubious distinction falls to High Wood) nor the most popularly known to the contemporary traveller (Delville Wood takes that place) but the hard fought battle of the early days of July 1916 has caught the popular imagination and nowhere more so than in Wales.
Mametz Wood does not appear in the battlefield nomenclature report compiled after the war. The fighting that took place, chiefly between the 5th – 9th July, but carrying on until the 11th, is officially incorporated within the Battle of Albert. It is not even a ‘Tactical Incident’.
Yet the fighting that took place here was of great importance for the development of the Battle of the Somme, that great struggle that lasted for well over four and a half months. It was considered vital that this wood should be removed as an obstacle before the next stage of the battle could proceed. It was to cost much in blood and reputations. Men of great literary renown fought through here, amongst them Frank Richards, Siegfried Sassoon and Robert Graves.
This area of the Somme has always been of personal significance to me. It was just to the east of the wood that my grandfather’s battalion, 7/Leicesters, lay out on the ground prior to the dawn assault on Bazentin le Petit Wood on 14th July 1916. His diary tersely records the sad events of that and subsequent days and the traumatic calling of the roll when the battalion came out of the line in the nearby remnants of Fricourt Wood.
In recent years the heroic endeavours of the Welsh Division, ‘Lloyd George’s Welsh Army’, have been fittingly commemorated, above all by the placing in 1987 of the Dragon Memorial on its prominent position overlooking the wood. This was the result of the dedicated work of a number of people, particularly in the South Wales branch of the Western Front Association, and of the generosity of the local landowner. Numerous people now make their way along a typical Somme track and sit and contemplate the scene, now in peaceful tranquillity.
Mametz Wood has been well served by its most recent historian, Colin Hughes. His book, Mametz – Lloyd George’s ‘Welsh Army ‘on the Somme, first published in 1982, and one of the first books of its type, is a great tribute to the men who fought here. Michael Renshaw has continued that tribute by also telling the story of the 17th Northern Division who attempted to break through the western defences of the Wood and thereby the complete story of the Battle is now told.
Finally, a plea. In a sense it is probably wasted on the readers of this book, who will be far too sensible to engage in the sort of activities that bring, by association, all visitors to the woods and fields of the Somme a bad name. But still, I shall say it all the same. Please respect the land and the people who work it. We walk these fields and woods with their consent; act responsibly, seek permission, do not go about digging, do not block agricultural tracks. Instead, look and wonder at the sacrifice another generation made.
Nigel Cave
Ely Place, London
Be on your guard! The debris of war.