Photo Album - 1st Welsh (Howitzers) - UK/France/Egypt - help with interpretation

[lambo220]

I've just uploaded my great uncles photo album on line.  He was a member of the 1st Welsh Howitzers and I'm in the middle of building a web-site that focusses on that unit.  The pictures cover his time in the UK, France and Egypt.

I've done my best to interpret the pictures, but would welcome any comments or feedback on what the pictures are.

The link is RJ Williams Photo Album - 1st Welsh Howitzers (1st-welsh-hwtzrs.co.uk)

Many thanks

[Madmeg]

what a vey cool album, thank you for sharing

[David Porter]

Regarding Image 23 - 4 unidentified views. Top right could be the minesweeping ex-Grimsby trawler that came ashore at El Arish on December 30, 1916 after a stormy night.

[lambo220]

Thanks David.  Much appreciated.

 

[johntaylor]

Fascinating album and website - thanks for sharing these photos, especially the aerial reconnaissance shots which I assume must be very rare.

All the best, John

[lambo220]

5 hours ago, johntaylor said:

Fascinating album and website - thanks for sharing these photos, especially the aerial reconnaissance shots which I assume must be very rare.

All the best, John

Thanks John. 

I spoke to a expert from Oxford Uni and apparently after the war, the glass negatives degraded and ended up being buried in a pit a Farnborough.  He said he thought they were unique survivors - he had seen other pics from the same sorties, but not these ones.

He said the fact that my uncle had them pointed towards him working in map-making and photo-interpretation later in the war - using his civvie skills as a surveyor and draughtsman.

[michaeldr]

Re image 40 the Gaza mosaic - This needs to be turned through 180º

 

 

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

Great photographs.

He knew how to use his camera properly and how to take a good picture.

Thanks for sharing.

[lambo220]

2 hours ago, michaeldr said:

Re image 40 the Gaza mosaic - This needs to be turned through 180º

Thanks Michael - Done.

[michaeldr]

Glad to have been of help with the Gaza mosaic. I do hope that @Eran Tearosh spots this thread, as I feel sure that he will be able to identify some of the places covered by various of the other aerial shots

[Eran Tearosh]

Fascinating album & website! Thanks Lambo and thank you Michael for pointing it to me!

Yes, I can help with all the Palestine aerial photos. At first, I asked myself why a gunner has aerial photos in his album and the simple answer is - mapping the area where his battery was due to operate (I know - "Elementary, dear Watson. Elementary"...). So, as the 1st Welsh Howitzers were operating under the 53rd (Welsh) Division, the photos are showing the Ottoman line in front of 53rd Division's sector of the line, west and mostly east of the Jerusalem-Nablus road.

Now, there are two types of photographs - some include map reference (these that are photographed from above) and some are without map reference (these photographs were made at an angle). The map is C.5, (Telfit), scale 1:40,000, from 1918: most of the photos are from that area, as mentioned above - west and east of the Jerusalem-Nablus road. Some of the photos (without reference) relate to the areas of map C.3 (Bidieh) and C.6 (Damieh). 

Most of the photos relate to the area covered in this map, showing the situation on the eve of the "Battle of Nablus", September 19th, 1918. At this stage, the 53rd Division concentrated east of the Jerusalem-Nablus road. However, before that they were active further to the west, which explains some of the photos, dated August 1918.  

I'll try to go photo by photo

Eran

Edited 13 April , 2022 by Eran Tearosh

[Eran Tearosh]

 

Stating from the west. photo dated August 29th, 1918. 

A bit strange - the village of Furqa (Furkah on the photo) is west of the area where the 53rd division was operating. It is possible that the 1st Welsh Howitzers were operating for a while with the 10th (Irish) Division in this sector. I guess war diaries might help with this.

This is the only photo that relates to the C.3 (Bidieh) map. 

 

By the way - this village's name is pronounced in Arabic and Hebrew very different from the English version....

Eran

 

Edited 13 April , 2022 by Eran Tearosh

[Eran Tearosh]

Next one is on the old main Jerusalem-Nablus road - Khan Lubban.

I turned the original photo to fit the directions. 

Eran

[Eran Tearosh]

The next two photos, according to the map references, are just east and just south of Khan Lubban. 

 

Eran

Edited 13 April , 2022 by Eran Tearosh

[Eran Tearosh]

 

Next one is great!!

 

 

Eran

[michaeldr]

Thanks Eran. The corrected orientations and the maps will be a big help to Lambo, I'm sure

[Eran Tearosh]

 

Just east of the previous photo

 

Eran

[Eran Tearosh]

Last one is really incredible. It's the western edge of the Jordan Valley, north of the British line at Abu-Tulul and Musalabeh

Seems to be less relevant to the 53rd Division's artillery, marking the eastern artillery boundary with Chaytor's Force. Still, what a photo!

 

 

Here is a part of map C.6 (Damieh). Kurn Surtubeh is near the upper right corner. Better known as Alexandrium: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandrium 

All the wadis that are marked on the photo can easily be matched with the map below

 

Eran

 

 

 

 

Edited 13 April , 2022 by Eran Tearosh

[lambo220]

Eran

Thank you so much, thats amazing, do you mind if I use the maps on the web-site to give more context to the pictures?

As regards why my uncle had these, I cant be sure, and forgive the lengthy nature of the info below - but this is my theory  based on my amateur research (the summary of which is that given his survey/draughting background, I think he was seconded to the 7th Field Survey Coy and ultimately to XX Corps HQ) .....  

Quote

 

It is not clear exactly what role Rees carried out during the later years of the Egypt Campaign, but the surviving records show that he left his comrades in the 266^th Brigade and used his surveying/draughting skills to get involved in surveying (map making).  His application to the Institute of Civil Engineers summarises his war years as:

     Service in R.F.A.  Seconded to Survey of Egypt, and assisted on topographical survey of Sinai and South Palestine.  Mentioned in Despatches.     

The Survey of Egypt worked with the 7^th Field Survey Company of the Royal Engineers to produce the maps required by the EEF.  The Survey Company was formed on the 14 March 1917 and quickly identified that it required more skilled hands.  The War Diary of the 7^th Field Survey Coy provides a clue:

     May 8^th 1917.  O.C Coy sent list of names (A) suggested by 53^rd Division to 52^nd Division to serve as guide in giving new names.

It is possible that Rees was one of the names of recruits on the list provided by the 53^rd Division.  If this was correct, it would date his transfer from the RFA to map making duties to Apr/May 1917.  This would therefore mean:

·         Rees would have fought in the first 2 (unsuccessful) Battles of Gaza with 266^th Brigade, RFA.

·         He transferred to his map making duties in the run up to the 3^rd Battle of Gaza.

 

1917          Rees’s obituary provides further information:

     In association with Col. Lawrence of Arabia he did valuable intelligence work behind enemy lines and was mentioned in despatches for conspicuous bravery   

Rees was mentioned in Despatches by General Archibald J. Murray on 28^th June 1917 (published in the London Gazette on 12 Jan 1918).  Unfortunately, no citation can be found. 

These despatches were submitted the day before Gen Murray was replaced by Gen Allenby.  Murray had successfully overseen the crossing of the Sinai (supported by a rail line and fresh water pipeline) but was replaced following the first 2 unsuccessful Battles of Gaza.

The date of Murray’s despatches would mean the action where Rees earned his Mention in Despatches would have been in the first half of 1917, which would cover the period of the First and Second Battles of Gaza (note: no mention of the MID was found amongst the lists in the Brigade or Division War Diaries), and the first months of his surveying career.

Breaking the obituary down into its 2 elements

-          The reference to valuable intelligence work behind enemy lines points to Rees being involved in expeditions behind enemy lines to produce more detailed maps to support the Army.

-          The reference to his association with Lawrence of Arabia could suggest he was involved in some of Lawrence’s exploits in the map making field, although during the period from May to the end of 1917, Lawrence was primarily involved in the taking of Akaba and his attacks on the Hejaz railway.

1917          Rees’s photo album contains a number of aerial photographs.  Oxford University reviewed the images and provided a detailed insight into them.

The photographs from your collection were taken at an important moment in the development of aerial photography and aerial mapping.  Aerial photography barely existed as a technique at the outbreak of the First World War, but developed rapidly over the next few years once it was realised how valuable it could be as a military tool. 

Photographs could be used as intelligence for troops on the ground, providing information about enemy movements and wider terrain.  It was also needed to provide more detailed mapping as British forces lacked small and medium scale mapping they needed.  This could be done in a simple form by sticking photographs together as a mosaic of photographs to give a basic understanding of the terrain, but this did not provide topographical details and would contain all the spatial inaccuracies that a photo creates. 

To solve these problems a number of individuals in the Royal Engineers and Royal Air Force on the Palestine Front began experimenting with photogrammetric techniques to construct accurate topographical maps using the information contained within aerial photographs which would be incredibly useful for mapping areas held by the opposing Ottoman forces.  It is likely Rees John Williams would have at least known these individuals, and may have been directly involved in this work.

The photographs in your collection can be divided into two groups.  The first is a photo mosaic of the area around Gaza and a number of individual vertical photographs (photographs taken looking straight down from a camera mounted on the underside of the aircraft and operated by the co-pilot) of Ottoman positions in the vicinity of Gaza.  The mosaic would have been created by sticking individual photographs together and then re-photographing the group together to create a complete copy.  The photographs are not dated but I would guess they were taken ahead of the Third Battle of Gaza in November 1917, possibly by aircraft from 14 Squadron or 67 Squadron (which was 1 Squadron of the Royal Australian Air Force but operated as 67 Sqn under RAF command).

1917       On 21 Dec 17, a surviving document shows that Rees had been attached to the 5th Field Company, Royal Anglesey Royal Engineers, part of the 74th Yeomanry Division. 

           Ref attached will you please arrange to interview this candidate, as it is presumed he is still attached to 5^th Field Coy RARE.  Please return whole correspondence.

           I have seen Gunner Rees John Williams and consider that he is qualified for a RE commission.

            A short Chatham course or Newark course would be of great assistance to him.

           CRE 74^th Divn

Whilst not definitive, this suggests that Rees may have been attached to the 74^th Div of XX Corps during the Battle of Beersheba (31 Oct 1917) and the subsequent push to Jerusalem.  The Battle of Beersheba was the first stage of the successful Third Battle of Gaza (1-2 Nov 1917) and the Jerusalem was captured 8-9 Dec 1917.

1918          The photo album also contains a number of annotated aerial photos from 1918.  

The second group are a run of observation photographs taken across Palestine over the summer of 1918 by aircraft of 14 Squadron RAF.  These are oblique photographs (Taken at an angle by a camera held by the co-pilot) showing a mixture of topography and Ottoman positions.  These photographs would be passed to image interpreters who would decipher what could be seen in the photographs and produce intelligence reports for higher command.

1918          A further document dated 12 Nov 18, shows that he later joined the 53^rd Division Headquarters and was again recommended for a commission.

    Certified that I have seen No 725314 Gnr RJ, 266th Brigade RFA and consider that he is in every way suitable for admission to an officer cadet unit with a view to a temporary commission in the RGA or RFA.

   He is particularly suitable for appointment to the RA owing to his educational and technical qualifications

    During the period he served with this HQ, I formed a very high opinion of his capabilities and strongly recommend the application

    I consider he is quite capable of passing the entrance examination at the School of Instruction (Arty. Wing) ZEITOUN.

   Brig-Gen, R.A. 53rd Division. 12.11.18

 

The following account of the 7^th Field Survey Coy, RE is taken from “A Brief Record of the Advance of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force under the command of General Sir Edmund H.H. Allenby GCB, GCMG, July 1917 - Oct 1918”, H.M.S.O. 1919.

Two Topographical Sections were formed in August, 1918, to work in closer touch with the headquarters of the XXth and XXIst Corps, and to compile and print small maps of the enemy’s defence line as required, showing information from the latest air photographs and Intelligence reports more frequently that the regular full sheets of the Survey Company could be issued.  The maps of the Survey Company were used as a basis, and new work was added or enlargements of limited areas were made to show smaller details.  Maps measuring 14.5 x 9 inches were reproduced in five colours if necessary, on duplicators, and in this way several hundred copies could be produced within twenty-four hours of the taking of the photographs.  The short time required to get out a map with a suitable amount of detail, made this a very useful supplementary method, especially in the case of raids.  In the short period of seven weeks, during which the topographical sections were in action, thirty-two of these sketch maps in all were produced, and over 8,800 copies distributed.

It is possible that Rees joined the Topographical Section of XXth Corps, and the Headquarters referred to in the letter of 12 Nov, was XX Corps HQ rather than 53^rd Div..  It is also worth noting that of the 10 oblique photos in Rees’ album, 8 were taken between 15 Aug and 8 Sept 1918 (the other 2 being taken on 29 Apr and 6 July), which closely aligns to the dates of the Topographical Section.

 

 

[Eran Tearosh]

Lambo,

Of course you can use these maps - There not 'mine'...

The general map comes from the set of maps of the British OH (Falls), number 19.

The other map (C.6.) is from the 1918 1:40,000 series, produced by... the 7th Field Survey map (August 8th, 1918).

Eran