1st 6th Welch Regiment July 1916 RWF attachments

[Hywyn]

I have identified 10 RWF 4th Battalion men who died in 1916 whilst attached to the 1st 6th Welch Regiment. This is not reflected in their CWGC record which shows them as 4th RWF casualties.

I have around a further 40 on casualty lists who are shown as 'Wounded, attached Welch Regt'

From some records I have found that the scenario seems to be:

To France 10 7 1916 and to an IBD

attached to 1st 6th Welch 19 7 1916.

I haven't seen any records yet of a date of return to RWF.

Does anyone have the 1st 6th Welch War Diary please that can tell me if there is an intake of attachments showing around this date of 19 7 1916 and if so how many.

Also, if poss, what the diary says about

15/8/1916 (4 KIA + 2 Dow next two days)

1/9/1916 1 KIA

3/9/1916 1 KIA

5/10/1916 1 KIA

thanks

Hywyn

edit: 1 3 1916 changed to 1 9 1916

[Colin W Taylor]

Hywyn

The war diary throughout the month concerns itself with the operations near Pozieres. Presumably the adjutant wasn't interested in new drafts etc during this time. On the 31st of July there is the following entry:

'The weather is still gloriously fine. Physical drill, company drill etc occupied the morning. In the afternoon there was a General inspection by Major-General Strickland, GOC 1st Division, of the new draft of RWF's + 37 Welsh.'

The last bit could be '+ 5/Welsh' - it's a bit squiggly.

The statement suggested the draft had been there for a bit of time previously but was not yet integrated with the companies because they had been busy.

I only have July 1916 and very early August so I cannot help with many of the dates above. October and November were very abridged and don't mention casualties in October.

Kind regards

Colin

[Hywyn]

Thanks for the info Colin.

I have looked for more records but have only found two and they were wounded 23/24/7/1916.

Hywyn

[Dannemois]

Hywyn

"The war diary throughout the month concerns itself with the operations near Pozieres."

I was led to believe that Arthur WilliamsPrivate 8831Royal Welsh Fusiliers, 4th Bn was killed in action during the battle of Le Transloy Ridge on 5th Oct 1916. Excuse my ignorance but as his medal roll place him with the 6th Welsh, would that still be the case, or is 'Pozieres' a different battle?

Roy

[Hywyn]

Roy

Arthur Williams is one of those I have identified and is the casualty as at 5 10 1916 in post 1.

I understand Colin to be referring to August with regards Pozieres. He does not have the Diary for October and so we await to see if someone else picks up on the thread. The 1st 6th Welsh were in a different Division to 1st 4th RWF.

Hywyn

[Colin W Taylor]

Hywyn, Roy

The diary goes in August from a page each day to a very rough summary of the month in a paragraph on one page. October mentions that the battalion was working in the area of Bazentin-le-Petit, that the roads were poor, the battalion started making a new camp, it was attached to 47th Division, the 9th Division then 50th Division - mostly working to repair roads.

I hope someone else has further information but the diary will probably not supply it.

Kind regards

Colin

[Hywyn]

Thanks Colin

When I looked up the 6th Welsh in LLT I saw that they were in the 1st Division (for the time quoted). This threw me as I expected them to be in the 47th Div (where the 4th RWF were).

Hywyn

[Colin W Taylor]

Hywyn

You sometimes get the feeling that in the same way that people get confused (of which I've been guilty in the past) between the Welsh Regiment and the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, so an overworked orderly room sergeant or clerk at an infantry base depot despatched a draft of RWF to 1/6th Welsh. It's a credit to the men of both regiments that they assimilated or were assimilated to form a single entity - albeit one which needed guidance in how to complete a war diary.

Kind regards

Colin

[Dannemois]

Thanks Hywyn and Colin; at best I struggle but without you two on this one I would be completely lost.

Cheers, Roy