William Edward Jones, Private, 5th Battalion South Wales Borderers
William Jones was born in 1899 to John Mornington Jones and Sarah Jones. His father, like his grandfather, was an agricultural labourer. In the 1901 census, along with a brother aged 3, the family are residing at Upper Barewood in the district of Dilwyn.
Apart from the addition of a daughter to the family, the 1911 census is identical to the 1901 census.
The “England and Wales Civil Registration Birth Index” records that William Jones was born sometime between July and September, 1899.
In January, 1916, the British government had passed The Military Service Act. This act specified that single men aged 18 to 40 years old were liable to be called up for military service unless they were widowed or were ministers of religion.
“As many as 250,000 boys under the age of 18 served in the British Army during World War One. The motives varied and often overlapped. Many were gripped by patriotic fervour, sought escape from grim conditions at home or wanted adventure.” (1)
But, certainly by 1916, patriotic fervour had lapsed as word had reached British shores of what the reality of war was like. This was the reason why, in the first place, the Military Service Act (January 1916) had been passed by parliament. Volunteers were simply not presenting themselves in the numbers required to satisfy the military needs of the government.
What is known is the following -
“William was a general farm worker, working in Eardisland, much like his father.
Initially exempt from military service, as 'a person engaged upon the land' he was finally called up and 'took his shilling' (enlisted) in Hereford, in 1917.” (2)
“Training millions-strong armies posed an immense challenge to all the armies of the First World War. Time, space, kit and experienced instructors: all were in short supply early in the war, and mistakes inevitably occurred. As the war wore on, however, all sides devoted considerable attention and resources to training their men. A sensible, progressive system evolved. It was never perfect. But by 1917 and 1918 it was capable in a few months of producing, from citizen conscripts, the highly professional forces that mastered modern warfare.” (3)
It’s unlikely that William Jones would have been fully trained to be present at the 3rd Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele) but it’s very possible that he would have seen action with 5th “South Wales Borderers at the First Battle of Baupaume (24th-25th March 1918) which took place at the beginning of the German Spring Offensive on the Western Front and which, as the following war diary describes, the 5th Battalion South Wales Borderers engaged in.
“19th Division (5th South Wales Borderers were in this Division) passed through 51st Divisional Line to positions west of Baupaume and towards evening the Reincourt – Beulencourt Line was withdrawn. 51st Division having passed though 19th Division, assembled on the Loupart Wood–Warlencourt Line, falling back on a Composite battalion holding this line. With the Composite Battalion was a Machine Gun Company of 16 guns which had been formed that afternoon at Grevilliers.” (4)
Above photo: Battle of Bapaume: A 60-pounder Gun firing from an open position near La Boisselle (Wikimedia)
Following on, the 5th Battalion South Wales Borderers saw action at the various battles of The River Lys. The following is taken from a war diary -
“11th April 1918 5th South Wales Borderers in action. On this date B Coy (company) of the South Wales Borderers were fighting in the area of the Wytschaete-Messines Road in the Ypres sector. During the action they lost 13 men killed. On this very day Haig ordered his “back to the wall” special order.” (5)
Above photo: The Battle of the Lys - British infantry holding the line of a canal near the village of Merviller, 12 April 1918 (Wikimedia)
“On 16th April 1918 Meteren and Wijtschate fell and the German Army advanced to the foot of the Kemmelberg (Kemmel Hill).
At dawn on 17th April 1918 they launched a thunderous assault on the Belgian Army aided by British Divisions, holding the area which for a time looked as though it would break through. With determined resistance the line held before 4 French Division arrived to reinforce the area.” (6)
Above photo: Kemmel Hill, photographed from the road to Kemmel at La Clytte (IWM)
A few weeks later, 5th Battalion South Wales Borderers saw action at the Third Battle of the Aisne.
“The Third Battle of the Aisne was a battle of the German spring offensive during World War I that focused on capturing the Chemin des Dames Ridge before the American Expeditionary Forces arrived completely in France. It was one of a series of offensives, known as the Kaiserschlacht, launched by the Germans in the spring and summer of 1918.
On the morning of 27 May 1918, the Germans began a bombardment (Feuerwalze) of the Allied front lines with over 4,000 artillery pieces. The British suffered heavy losses, because General Duchene was reluctant to abandon the Chemin des Dames ridge, after it had been captured at such cost the previous year, and had ordered them to mass together in the front trenches, in defiance of instructions from the French Commander-in-Chief Henri-Philippe Petain. Huddled together, they made easy artillery targets.
The bombardment was followed by a poison gas drop. Once the gas had lifted, the main infantry assault by 17 German Sturmtruppen divisions commenced, part of an Army Group nominally commanded by Crown Prince Wilhelm, the eldest son of Kaiser Wilhelm II.
Above photo: Men of the Worcestershire Regiment holding the southern bank of the River Aisne at Maizy, 27 May 1918 (Wikipedia)
The Kaiser came to inspect the progress of the battle. He interviewed captured British Brigadier-General Hubert Rees (GOC 150th Brigade, part of 50th Division). The Kaiser was amused to learn that he was Welsh, the same nationality as Lloyd George.
Taken completely by surprise and with their defences spread thin, the Allies could not stop the attack and the German army advanced through a 40 kilometres gap in the Allied lines. Reaching the Aisne in under six hours, the Germans smashed through eight Allied divisions on a line between Reims and Soissons, pushing the Allies back to the river Vesle and gaining an extra 15 km of territory by nightfall.” (Wikipedia)
Above photo: German stormtroopers (German Spring Offensive, 1918) (IWM)
The rapid advance resulted in the capture of just over 50,000 Allied soldiers and over 800 guns by 30 May 1918, prompting Ludendorff to change the operational objective from merely drawing away the enemy forces from the right wing of the German Army to advancing the attack of the Seventh Army. This had never been the intention of the operation, and having come within 56 kilometres of Paris on 3 June, the German armies were beset by numerous problems, including heavy casualties, a lack of reserves, fatigue and supply shortages.
Ultimately, following many Allied counter-attacks, the German advance came to a halt three days later. (Wikipedia)
On 30th May, William Jones was “wounded missing” during this rapid German advance.
Also, there is the following -
“In May 1918 the battalion were moving towards Chambrecy. On the afternoon of the 30th it came under intensive enfilade machine gun fire. William Jones was reported as killed in action on this day.” (7)
He is buried at Chambrecy Military Cemetery.
Above photo: Chambrecy Military Cemetery (CWGC)
“The cemetery was made after the Armistice, by the concentration of graves from the surrounding battlefields and from COURLANDON Hospital (French Military) Cemetery. There are now over 400, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, nearly half are unidentified and a special memorial is erected to a British N.C.O. buried at Courlandon. The graves are almost all of May/July, 1918, and largely of the 19th (Western) and 51st (Highland) Divisions.” (CWGC)
Inscribed upon William Jones’s headstone is the following -
“HE GAVE HIS LIFE FOR KING AND COUNTRY”
Also, a memorial gate, near Eardisland, commemorates William Jones.
Above photo: William Jones’s memorial gate, Eardisland (8)
Rory MacColl
Sources
1/ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29934965
2/ https://www.eardislandmemorialwalks.org.uk/index.php/our-fallen/pte-william-jones
3/ https://www.bl.uk/world-war-one/articles/training-to-be-a-soldier
4/ https://www.wartimememoriesproject.com/greatwar/allied/battalion.php?pid=7041
5/ https://www.wartimememoriesproject.com/greatwar/allied/battalion.php?pid=7041
6/ https://uk.forceswarrecords.com/map/battle/160/battles-of-the-lys-first-battle-of-kemmel-ridge
7/ https://www.eardislandmemorialwalks.org.uk/index.php/our-fallen/pte-william-jones
8/ https://www.eardislandmemorialwalks.org.uk/index.php/memorial-gates