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At: Blaenafon |
At: Blaenafon |
At: Blaenafon |
At: Blaenafon |
At: Blaenafon |
At: Blaenafon |
At: Blaenafon |
 Occupation: Private, 88896,13th Bn. Royal Welsh Fusiliers |
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Killed in action in France, WW1 Buried: Etaples Military Cemetery, France In Memorium Be Not Forgotten |
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During 1914 several thousand recruits to the Welsh Division were collected in Cardiff. Oswald joined the 13th Batallion of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers in the 113th Brigade of the 38th (Welsh) Division.
On the 19th January 1915 Divisional headquarters opened at Colwyn Bay, but at the time the units were scattered from Rhyl to Abergavenny and no divisional exercises could be carried out. In June of 1915 some of the units of the Welsh Division were sent to Winchester, and by August 1915 the whole Division was concentrated there.
Following open warfare and musketry training - it was considered that trench warfare could be learnt better in France - the Division was warned to prepare to move to France. On the 21st November the advance party left for France, and on the 29th November the Queen, accompanied by Princess Mary, reviewed the Division on Crawley Down. On the 1st December the remainder of the Division started to leave Winchester bound for France. By the 6th it had concentrated west of Aire and joined XI Corps.
For the remainder of the Great War the 38th (Welsh) Division served on the Western Front in France and Belgium and was engaged in the following operations:
Battles of the Somme
5 - 11 July ... Battle of Albert
7 - 11 July ... Mametz Wood
1917
31 July - 6 August / 19 Aug - 11 Sep ... Battles of Ypres
31 July - 2 August ... Battle of Pilckem Ridge
1918
Battles of the Somme
5 April ... Battle of the Ancre
21 - 23 August ... Battle of Albert
31 August - 3 September ... Second Battle of Bapaume
Battles of the Hindenburg Line
12 September ... Battle of Havrincourt
18 September ... Battle of Epehy
5 October ... Battle of the Beaurevoir Line
8 October ... Battle of Cambrai
The Final Advance in Picardy
17 - 22 October ... Battle of the Selle
4 November ... Battle of the Sambre
As Oswald died of wounds on the 16th of November 1918, it is very likely
that he got his wounds at the Battle of the Sambre. The Sambre is a river
in France and Belgium, about 193 km (120 miles) long, rising in northern France. The river
flows north-east and enters the Meuse River near Namur, Belgium.
At 6:00 AM on the 5th November the 33rd Division passed through the front line, and the 38th Division then collected in the forest of Mormal with headquarters at Locquignol. At 9PM on the 7th the 38th Division relieved the 33rd on the right of the V Corps, beyond the Sambre.
Oswald was in the 13th Batallion of the 113th Brigade, which during the next 3 days formed the advance guard which pushed steadily forward. When the armistice brought the hostilities to an end at 11AM on the 11th November, the brigade had it's headquarters in the suitably named Wattignies la Victoire.
Oswald fought those battles, and died 5 days after the end of the carnage that was the
Great War. He sent this letter to his Aunty just a few months before he died, on the 23rd June 1918.
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Pte O. Thomas 88896 Dear Auntie, get this letter you will have heard that I promised to write to you although I am not much of a writer. It was very good of you to send me that shilling and I expect Mom told you that she bought me a pad with it and I am writing on it now. I hope every one is all right at home and I am glad to say that I am in the pink. Remember me to Ethel and Mabel and tell them that because I have not wrote to them I have not forgotten them only I have so much to write. I heard from home about Uncle Tom and I expect you as well as all the rest of us are proud of him. I dont think I have any more to say so remember me to Uncle Will and Bonnie and the boys. OS |
Oswalds was just one of the many sad stories which come out of war, though a little more
poignant when it is one of your relatives, and when a letter such as this brings them just a little bit
closer to you...