Slept 12 hours, good feed of bacon. Village called Vauvillers. Good rest all day, very wet.
Williams refers to the village Vauvillers. To see a 1915 map of the region, please visit the Australian Army website (download pdf)
25 Friday Sep 2015
Posted Diary entry
inSlept 12 hours, good feed of bacon. Village called Vauvillers. Good rest all day, very wet.
Williams refers to the village Vauvillers. To see a 1915 map of the region, please visit the Australian Army website (download pdf)
21 Monday Sep 2015
Posted Diary entry
inSaw aeroplanes fight. The German was the largest biplane in world but British got above and drove enemy down with machine guns. British plane shelled, machine guns, rifle fire. Great sport? No grub. Quiet. Big attack on left in evening rapid rifle and machine gun fire. Our artillery gave them Hell and they make feeble reply with whiz bangs and shrapnel. Quiet again
Mostyn Williams is still in France where he witnesses ‘dog-fights’ between German and British planes. He can hear rifle and machine gun fire as the British attack or are attacked, but he is not necessarily involved in the fighting. As part of the service battalion, his role was to provide logistical support. In William’s case, this involved a lot of digging and road-making, as can be seen from his diary.
17 Thursday Sep 2015
Posted Diary entry
inHad fine sleep, cleaned up rifle and mess tin. Paraded at 6 and marched off for trench digging behind line under fire all the time, get back about 1.30.
Mostyn Williams is in France, where he performs his duties, building roads and digging trenches. Like all soldiers, he has to keep his equipment clean and well maintained. This includes his mess tin, a container which could be used for cooking or simply when collecting and eating food and drink. Obviously it was important to keep the mess tins clean, and they would be inspected regularly.
In this picture, the inspection is done by woman serving with the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (though there is nothing to suggest that this was the case in Williams’s camp when he wrote his diary entry).
For more information about mess tins, try the The Joy of Field Rations blog by Peter Sauer.
04 Friday Sep 2015
Posted Diary entry
inEntrained at 2.15, arrived Southampton Docks 4.30pm. Saw Aquatenia as red cross boat leave for Dardanelles. Went aboard Princess Victoria at 6pm. Bob and 1 slept on deck, left port 8pm.
On his way to the front, Mostyn Williams first arrives in Southampton where he sees the ship RMS Aquitania. Aquitania was an ocean liner built by Cunard. She set out on her maiden voyage on 30th May 1914, only a couple of months before the start of the war. Less than a year later, in the spring of 1915, the ship was first converted to be used to transport troops, and then turned into a hospital ship, which is the role she had when Mostyn Williams saw her in Southampton.
Aquitania had a long career. She served in both the First and Second World War, and was a popular cruise liner in the period between. She was finally retired and scrapped in 1950.
For more information about Aquitania, read the Wikipedia article or visit any of the sites linked to from there. For more images (still and moving), explore the material available on YouTube.
Widely considered one of the most attractive ships of her time, Aquitania earned the nickname “Ship Beautiful”. Wikipedia
RMS AQUITANIA in service as a hospital ship, 1915.© IWM (Q 13628)
03 Thursday Sep 2015
Posted Diary entry
inThe first entry in Mostyn Williams’s diary is very short and does not appear to tell us much about Williams.
In army 1 year. Preparing kit for departure
It is, however, possible to deduct from the post that he must have joined the army very soon after the outbreak of war. The United Kingdom declared war on Germany on August 4th 1914, and thousands of young men signed up. They needed to be equipped and trained before they were sent to the front, and that took time.
Williams was in the Welsh Regiment, 11th Battalion. The 11th was a service battalion. Although members of the service battalions were given some combat training and could fight in a primarily defensive role, their main role was to provide vital logistical support. That is reflected in Williams’s diary; when he mentions his work, it is often a question of digging and making roads, in particular in the beginning of his posting abroad.
BBC Wales features an article about the 11th Battalion of the Welsh Regiment, also known as the Cardiff Pals Commercial Battalion.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/wales/entries/34332e6e-74a3-35a3-8c88-8ffec0edb42d