23 September 1917

Mostyn is wounded! In a post written some time after the event he describes his experience:

Enemy send over T.M.s into our trenches. Went on right post again at night. Bulgars send down party to bomb post. They landed one bomb amongst us, wounded me in the abdomen & thigh. Had a terrible journey down to F.A., spent the night there & was taken in motor to 31st Clearing Station at Janis. Operated on immediately. The first 7 days were terrible, great pain & continuous injections of morphia, but after this period became much better.

He mentions the 31st Clearing Station at Janis. Although some hostpital admissions and discharge records still exist, the ones for the period of Mostyn Williams admission do not seem to be among them (for details, see post on ‘The Long, Long Trail” site). It is likely that Mostyn’s experience was similar to that of so many others who were wounded. See, for example, the artilcle about the evacuation chain for wounded and sick soldiers on the Long, Long Trail website.

Casualty clearing station, The Battle of Arras, April-May 1917© IWM (Q 6195)

A Short Guide To Medical Services During The First World War (by Matt Brosnan, available on the Imperial War Museum website) gives a useful introduction to the medical service during the war. For a detailed account, the book Medical services; general history (1921) may help. A digitised copy is available online through the Internet Archive. Volume 4 covers the Salonica campaign (and more). The film ‘The Wonderful Organisation of the RAMC‘ (1916) has been digitised and can be viewed on the Imperial War Museum website.

9 August 1917

On this day, Mostyn Williams and his colleagues experience what he calls ‘vigorous artillery exchanges’ which he describes in some detail.

Vigorous artillery exchanges continue throughout the day, on D.4 again, our artillery make three intense bursts on Point 4, between 10 & 11.30. At 12.30 enemy bombed & attempted to raid our post on 380 but were driven off. 10 minutes later they returned in greater numbers & our post retired, bombing the enemy. Enemy then put up a heavy barrage which imploded & swept our position, in 2 minutes every man on next post on our right was hit, one man (Kitchen) being killed outright. Barrage moved towards the rear & our line was strengthened by support from D. & C. Coys. A part of A. Coy. counter-attacked but found the position unoccupied by the enemy, our artillery put up heavy barrage & from the sounding of enemy horns it is believed it was successful in catching the retiring enemy. From 3.30 till dawn everything quiet.

16 June 1917

On June 16th, Mostyn and his colleagues have a busy night in the trenches. In his diary entry, he mentions a ‘Veri-light’ post. Very (sometimes spelled Verey) is a kind of pistol used to fire flares that would light up an area and allow soldiers to see what was going on.

Still some rain, before C.O., lenient, man gets 28 days No.1. At night took part demonstration before enemy’s position on Flat Iron. Moved out at 9p.m. & took up position in extended order. At 9.30 we opened rifle & machine gun fire on Flat Iron trenches & on advanced Veri-light post, after firing for 5 minutes we sent up red artillery rocket & our artillery lifted. Enemy sent up many different coloured lights & put up a heavy barrage of artillery & bombs, many near go’s but we reached our position with only one casualty. Turned in with bad headache from concussion & sulphur fumes from shells. H.Q. pleased with night’s work.

The trench song ‘When Very Lights are Shining’ recalls what the soldiers may have thought of the lights – they were both useful and brought a sense of foreboding:

Night scene on the battlefield, showing Verey lights being fired from the trenches, Thiepval, 7 August 1916 © IWM (Q 1136)

When Very lights are shining
Sure ’tis like the morning dew,
And when shells begin a bursting
It makes you think your times come too.

One version is available at http://www.ww1photos.com/WhenVeryLightsAreShining.html

10 November 1916

A couple of weeks after the big raid, Mostyn Williams can report on a number of awards that have been announced.

Nice morning, during the night enemy dig a big advanced trench in front of the Dorsale, during morning it was severely shelled, the following further awards have been made for the raid of Oct.22nd-23rd : Maj. Hopkins, D.S.O., Capt. Eynon, Military Cross,  Segt. Maj. & Cpl. Nicholls of D. Coy D.C.M.s,  Cpl. Sturdy, L/Cpl. Smart,  Military Medal.  Enemy shell Bajalca & surrounding woods with very heavy guns, searching for battery, trees & buildings blown sky high, hear the battery there was untouched. Bob returned to Coy. Relieved by 8th S.W.B. & move to Sector B.5, went out on patrol in front of wires from 9 till 12, went out 800 yards to Double Hill, nothing doing.

22 October 1916

On the 18th October, Mostyn Williams records that he has been selected as one of 20 to enter enemy trenches. Four days later, the party have reached their destination and carry out their task. In an unusually long diary entry, Williams records his experiences.

Everything soaking wet, cleared up during day, artillery bombards all day, flank guard parties move out at 7.30, storming & bombing parties at 8p.m, speech by Maj. Hopkins, passed through the wire at 9.30 & moved up ravine towards the Dorsale, hear flanking parties encountering enemy patrols, got to a position about 50 yards from enemy trenches, under extremely heavy machine gun, rifle, bomb & artillery fire, signal given for artillery to lift to barrage at 2a.m, we rush trenches but were greatly demoralised by enemy throwing out fire bombs, saw one man in flames, horrible! We got into trenches & bombing party rushed half right to dugouts, Lt. Phillips shot in leg, but limped along bravely in lead, we bomb pit & shot a number of enemy as they scurried away. Found no.5 dugout for which I was detailed, failed to find chimney, but on going to front of dugout found open door with wire netting, light inside & 4 Germans sitting inside, got 3 bombs inside & then waited with rifle at entrance, one crawled out & I shot him & just then had to leave trenches, we retired to our position carrying wounded & escorting prisoners, found Sailor Grey with shell wound in leg & carried him back to Batt. H.Q. at A.10, walked back to bivouac in orchard near Bujalca arrived deadbeat about 5.30a.m in morning of 23^rd. Hear Stan Jones was killed, many other casualties, very glad to be back. To hot tea, bacon, rum etc. Divisional General personally thanks & congratulates us on our success, our casualties were 2 killed & 18 wounded, took 23 prisoners, had a good free issue of beer.

13 September 1916

In September 1916, Mostyn Williams sees more action and is involved in various ways. His diary entries get longer, for example this one from 13 September:

Bombardment renewed with vigour, only interrupted by enemy aerial reconnaissance. We hear that Peter Read is wounded & a corporal of another Coy. killed.

Afternoon artillery moderated & got going again towards evening. At 7p.m we took over our places in the trenches, the enemy position was one mass of bursting shells. About 10p.m. the enemy opens fire with rifle & machine gun & promptly got a dose of shrapnel, this was followed by an intense bombardment, the enemy replying vigorously.

We had several very narrow escapes, about 3a.m of 14th, the 65th brigade attacked & were met with a murderous fire of rifles & machine guns at the same time dropping a curtain of shells between us & the firing line. We gained the trenches & we heard the faint British cheers, our artillery was magnificent with their curtain fire of shrapnel.

Towards day break, the enemy bombarded our positions generally, especially the village of Makucova. We returned to our bivouacs at 6a.m, sent to bury 2 mules at 2 o’clock, under observation & shelled, one high explosive burst about 8 yards away , a fragment hit my steel helmet, had to retire to bivouac,

on returning was sent up to trenches as observer, saw our men advance from Machine Gun Hill & attack The Dome, Prussians in huge numbers counterattack, we played havoc with our shrapnel but eventually had to retire, saw many of our boys wiped out with machine guns, wounded limping back to our trenches under murderous shrapnel fire, many ghastly scenes, too horrible to record. Our artillery sweep the crest of Machine Gun Hill so that nothing can live there, sent back to bivouac for rest & had the first sleep for 48 hours.

3 September 1916

2nd anniversary of joining army & 1st anniversary of going on active service. This closes my most eventful year to date

On the anniversary of him joining the army and going on active service, Mostyn writes an unusually long entry. He lists what he sees as the main events over the past year: going to France, travelling through France and across the Mediterranean to Greece, spending a cold winter in Salonica, and moving to their current location.

during the last 12 months, we have been to France & taken our places in the 1st line trenches, this was followed by a 600 mile train ride through France to Marseilles & a voyage from there up the Mediterranean, sighting Tripoli, Crete & encountering an enemy submarine & finally passing through the Aegean Sea & Archipelago & Gulf of Salonica & landing at Salonica.We were the 2nd division to land & only missed being in the retreat from Serbia through the Greek authorities preventing part of the division from using the railway. Later we moved up country about 14 miles & spent a severe & heart breaking winter in making the fortifications of Salonica. In May of this year we moved further up country and finally took our place in the firing line in the Doiran Sector where we are at present.

He comments on his company being lucky in not having suffered many casualties, but also mentions that there has been a lot of sickness.

Although we have met the enemy on two fronts & our company has been in the fire trench whenever we have been in the line, our casualties have been extremely small, although since we have been in Macedonia we have had a lot of sickness, typhoid, malaria, local fever, dysentery & frostbite being prevalent, but only a few deaths have occurred.

He ends by hoping the coming year will bring peace.

On the whole we have been extremely lucky & we hope the coming 2nd year on active service will be as kind to us & that we shall see the day of peace before the end of it.

Little did he know that there would be over two more years of heavy fighting, but that he would not be taking part in it all.

2 September 1916

A lot of high explosive on our left, good sleep, send home letter & £1 treasury note

On the 2nd October 1916, Mostyn sends a treasury note for £1 home. Assuming his salary was about 1s 2d per day (as listed on http://www.1914-1918.net/pay_1914.html), he would have had to work for 17 days to earn £1, which may explain why he felt it was something worth mentioning in his diary.

Before the War, gold and silver coins were used instead of notes. In England and Wales, bank notes were only available for £5 and higher (equivalent to about £400 today according to RBS website article). When it became important for the govenment to keep gold and silver for the war effort, new paper money was created for £1 and 10 shillings (half a pound). The new notes were issued by the Treasury, not the Bank of England, and they were called ‘treasury notes’.

More information about treasure notes can be found on the RBS page ‘The first government banknotes‘.

26 July 1916

Usual work, greatcoats handed in, shorts issued, saw big dirigible over Salonica & huge French hospital ship (La France) in harbour, rumours of a move.

‘La France’ hospital ship. By the great ocean liners” [Public domain] via Wikimedia Commons

La France (SS France) was a lavish French ocean liner launched in 1910. When the First World War broke out, the ship was requisitioned by the French navy. She was turned into a hospital ship in 1916, with place for 2,500 injured troops, and was placed in the Dardanelles, not far from where Mostyn saw her.

Read more about the ship, and see more pictures, in the Wikipedia SS France article.

22nd February 1916

Road making Brig. H.Q.

A large part of Mostyn William’s work was to build roads. Roads were needed to support the war effort in many ways. It was vital that the troops at the front had plenty of ammunition, guns, and material for building and maintaining trenches. What was also needed, of course, was food and other provisions as well as hospital supplies, communication equipment, and tools and material for building roads and other infrastructure. In addition to using the roads for transporting material to the front, they were also important for taking the woudnded and sick away from the front to somewhere where they could receive treatment, rest, and rehabilitation as needed.

Roadmaking at the Somme, Sept 1916. By Ltn Ernest Brooks © IWM (Q 1242)

This picture from the Imperial War Museum shows grenadier guards building a road near Albert in September 1916. Although Mostyn would not have been among them, the work he did elsewhere would be similar; hard physical labour in all kinds of weather.