10/12/1914

HOW GERMAN DASH TO THE SEA WAS FOILED

STIRRING BATTLE PICTURES BY EYE-WITNESS

CALL FROM THE TRENCHER FOR MORE MEN.

06/08/14
13/08/14
20/08/14
27/08/14
03/09/14
10/09/14
17/09/14
24/09/14
01/10/14
08/10/14
15/10/14
22/10/14

29/10/14

“SPIRIT OF THE BOYS ALRIGHT.” LLANDEBIE TERRITORIALS LETTER FORM THE FRONT. His Vow to Lay Out Several of the Enemy. P4

Private J. R. D. Thomas, of Llandebie serving in France with the 6th Welsh Regiment, writes home to Mr. Willie Rees, tailor, thanking him for a gift of “cigs” which he appreciates very much. He goes on to say : — “Since I wrote you last I have been ill, but I am feeling alright now. Yes, I had the letter that was in the Amman Valley Chronicle sent to me. I am glad to hear that you think so much of the boys that are out here, and I can tell you this much: That we will try our best to be worthy of the thoughts you have for us and place we come from. I do not believe there is one of us which would forget it. We came out here to do our duty, and if our reward is death, you may bet your last penny we would gladly lay down our lives. “The winter weather has set in, and at the time of writing we are up to our knees in mud. But I suppose there are better times ahead. “Since I wrote last we have been shifted, and I think we shall be on the move very often now. The spirit of the boys is alright. And God help the Germans when we get at them. It was bad enough to read about them at home, but it is ten times worse to see what they have done out here. The only thing I wish is if I shall ‘go under’ I shall want to go out for ‘keeps,’ and a few more Germans if I can do it. I am glad to hear that Tom Double is recovering, and I hope that he will come out here, that I shall not miss him. “Dear chum, I am glad to hear that someone sometimes thinks of us. A letter from friends at home cheers the whole company around the camp fire. I have nearly cried many a time when perhaps I have received a letter, but the chap next to me has no one to write to him, and he eagerly waits until we have finished reading, and asks, ‘What news chums’ he asks, you may see we who have homes and friends have one thing to be thankful for.” He concludes with the wish for a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year to his friend.

AMMANFORD BOYS AT FARNHAM. REALISTIC CHARACTER OF THE TRAINING. P5

Interesting sidelights on the realistic character of the training which our young soldiers undergo are given by Mr. W. T. Davies, of the 42nd Field Ambulance, encamped at Farnham, in a letter to “Min.” It should be mentioned that prior to responding to the country’s call, Mr. Davies was in the service of the Park and Blaina Colliery Co. as clerk. A young athlete, he played cricket and football with signal success. In the course of the letter he states: “The life in huts is very comfortable, and be under a roof again is a big advantage in our training, as for instance it rained like fury all day yesterday, yet we had a very interesting day. We transformed our hut into a hospital, curtaining off the upper portion as an operating theatre, whilst the rest of the hut contained the beds, etc. The wounded were brought in by the wagon orderlies, and about a hundred and one particulars taken, and they were then conveyed to their beds. Afterwards the officer came round and explained to us thoroughly the treatment which each man should receive, and those who required to be operated on were taken into the theatre, and we had explained to us the technique of an operation, Perhaps you would be interested in quite a different part of our training. It is what we call field work. We are marched out in the morning to a position where a battle is supposed to be in progress. When we arrive there some of our men are sent out to act as wounded, and their injuries labelled on. Each stretcher squad is them extended out, who in turn extend in a set form, so that we have a long line of stretchers, with an interval of ten paces between each. When we find a wounded man, the stretcher is called up, and we set about dressing his wounds, and then send him back either by stretchers, the various lifts or “Shanks pony” to the 1st Field Dressing Station, where, at the front, doctors will be in attendance, but in our training our officers are there, and they put us through a cross examination on our treatment of the patient. We have to take advantage of every little bit of cover, and continually keep dodging imaginary “Black Marias,” and on some occasions our officers with binoculars post themselves on some elevated spot, and count us out as we expose ourselves to fire. “I have been unable to have a game of Rugger since I have been here. Soccer is all the go. Wally Shaw has been converted, and plays full-back for the Ambulance, and keeps up the reputation of Ammanford in this part of the globe.”

“HAVING A RIPPING TIME.” AMMANFORD MAN AMONGST THE ENGINEERS AT PORTHCAWL. P5

An interesting letter is sent by Mr. P. W. Newman, of the Royal Engineers attached to the Welsh Army Corps, stationed at Porthcawl, to a friend at Bettws. Prior to joining the colours Mr. Newman was on the printing staff of the Chronicle. He states ; - “We are having a ripping time here; quite a gentleman’s life. I can assure you we have most comfortable billets, and the people of the town seem to do everything they can for us. We have had a good deal of ‘sky juice’ since our arrival, but, of curse, we must expect that this time of the year. Time flies while the drills are on. We fling ourselves into the work heart and soul, and we have capable officers and instructors, so that the work is most interesting. Our drills consist mainly of physical exercises. These I found rather trying at the outset, but now nothing pleases me more than to hear we are to have a few hours drill of this kind. On Sunday s we have two drum-head services, but they are of short duration. The Y. M. C. A. intend having a marquee here for the use of the men in their leisure hours. They already have large rooms here for the use of the men for recreation, and most of the places of worship have given rooms; so you see we can while away our evenings without hanging round street corners. It is rather cold and rough here, but once we get warmed up to our drill we forget all about it. We are not driven to death here by work as yet, as we only do six hours a day. We start 7 a.m. and, as a rule, are dismissed shortly after four o’clock. Out of this we have two hours and a half for meals. No doubt, once the regiments are full we shall have to slog in. I shall not be sorry when this happens, as the sooner we are proficient the better. There are about 1,600 men here now, and they continue to come in every day. Until our number is complete it is almost impossible to get to serious work. During the past week the men here have made rapid strides in the training, and now look something like soldiers. We have all been measured for our uniform, which we hope to get in the course of the next week. I have met many old friends here from different parts, but up to the time of writing I have not met any Ammanford boys in the ranks.”

AMMANFORD LETTER FROM KILDARE. LOOKING ON THE BRIGHT SIDE OF THINGS. The Morse Code Explained and Utilised. P1

The Ammanford boys at Kildare are evidently looking on the bright side of things, if one may judge from the letters they send home. We publish below extracts from a long letter sent by Ike Evans, a footballer of no mean order, and who last season captained the Ammanford cricket eleven, to his father, Mr. D. C. Evans, of Wind Street. It contains much that is interesting, and signalling falls within Ike’s duties. The Morse code is explained and utilised. He states :- “I am pleased to say we are all feeling quite well. I have just blown the ‘Fall in’ for the battery – 9 o’clock – and they were marched down to the hospital to have the second dose of inoculation. There will be some groaning tonight again. I may say I have not had my first done yet, but think I shall have it tomorrow. We are generally given forty-eight hours off duty after being inoculated, but those who feel fit have to go on parade. “I was in church this morning. All the trumpeters marched in front, playing martial music on the bugles. I have had the bugle now, and, after a little practice, I can blow it alright. It is used in field work, but I think they do the drill now by blowing the whistle and making motions with the hand. So, I have only to blow “March at ease” and “Attention” as we are on routine march. “I have had another enjoyable week, and come to like it more every day. On Friday the major took the whole battery for an outing. We were in full service dress with bandolier and overcoat rolled up and flung over the shoulder. He took us right through the Curragh, and them we went up to see some trenches constructed by the Engineers. It was a treat to see them. One half of the battery were allowed to inspect them at a time; the other half holding the horses. I had the major’s horse to hold, but managed to have a good look at the trenches. There were kitchens and bedrooms dug right underground. It was marvellous to see. On Saturday morning a lot of us were taken out on horseback without the guns. After getting out on the ‘common’ which is miles and miles long, the major allowed them all to go on their own, while he and myself (swank) proceeded together. He handed me a pair of field glasses and told me to learn how to use them. After a little while we started looking to see if we could find the men, but they were out of sight. However, at last I spotted them with the aid of my glasses far away on the horizon, and the major told me I had excellent eyesight. As the men seemed to be going further from us, I was dispatched by the major to fetch them back. Oh, how I love to go on a gallop! I was not long before catching them up, and giving them the order. So of we started back, and I had reached my destination before they were half way. The major told me I had fastest animal in the whole barracks and when the men came up he asked them what they had seen, and one of them said he had seen a hare crossing the mountain. And we all had a good laugh. “The major is proud of our football team. In the afternoon we went up to Curragh in a transport wagon to play the Irish Munster Fusiliers, and we beat them by three points. I knew I had a cousin there from Maesteg. So I went to look for him, and I found him in the next room to where we were changing. His name is Morgan Morgans. His brother was there too. Morgan himself was playing against us. He was very glad to see us. “Well, I think I could go on writing for ever, but I shall have to stop some time. Sergt-Major Young has just come into the bunk. He asked me if I was writing home to my dad. I said, yes; and he asked me to remember him to you and tell you that he was doing his best to make me a good by and a good soldier. He is a fine man, and I like him more every day. “I have to learn signalling with flags – what they call semaphore and also the Morse code. The former is with two flags – (he illustrates the method by three sketches) – and the latter is with one flag, to represent dots and dashes. A dot is a short cut with the flag from shoulder to shoulder, and a dash is a bigger cut with the flag. A is .- B -.. C -.-. D -.. E . F ..-. G --. H …. I – J .--- K -.- L .-.. M – N -. O --- P .--. Q --. R .-. S – T – U ..- V ..- W .—X -.- Y -.—Ammanford --.. I have learnt all this. It is the code they use at the post office. You may show it to Dai and Emlyn and see if they care to learn it. About furlough, I knew nothing more that when I wrote last, except that there is some talk about giving a start next week. You can rest assured that I shall let you know as soon as I come to know something. It will be all the better the nearer Christmas it goes.” He goes on to say that the boys landed back safe, but came without Danny Walters, respecting whom he shows some solicitude. “Well, I think the Germans (he says) are now getting the final black eye by the Russians, as we have had some very good news lately, and I am afraid the war will be over again before we may have a ‘ pop ‘ at them. I must now conclude, I still -- ..--.,..----…. So I think all is well.”

05/11/14
12/11/14
19/11/14
26/11/14
03/12/14
10/12/14
17/12/14
24/12/14
31/12/14



HOW GERMAN DASH TO THE SEA WAS FOILED STIRRING BATTLE PICTURES BY EYE-WITNESS CALL FROM THE TRENCHER FOR MORE MEN.
06/08/14 13/08/14 20/08/14 27/08/14 03/09/14 10/09/14 17/09/14 24/09/14 01/10/14 08/10/14 15/10/14 22/10/14 29/10/14	“SPIRIT OF THE BOYS ALRIGHT.” LLANDEBIE TERRITORIALS LETTER FORM THE FRONT. His Vow to Lay Out Several of the Enemy. P4 Private J. R. D. Thomas, of Llandebie serving in France with the 6th Welsh Regiment, writes home to Mr. Willie Rees, tailor, thanking him for a gift of “cigs” which he appreciates very much. He goes on to say : — “Since I wrote you last I have been ill, but I am feeling alright now. Yes, I had the letter that was in the Amman Valley Chronicle sent to me. I am glad to hear that you think so much of the boys that are out here, and I can tell you this much: That we will try our best to be worthy of the thoughts you have for us and place we come from. I do not believe there is one of us which would forget it. We came out here to do our duty, and if our reward is death, you may bet your last penny we would gladly lay down our lives. “The winter weather has set in, and at the time of writing we are up to our knees in mud. But I suppose there are better times ahead. “Since I wrote last we have been shifted, and I think we shall be on the move very often now. The spirit of the boys is alright. And God help the Germans when we get at them. It was bad enough to read about them at home, but it is ten times worse to see what they have done out here. The only thing I wish is if I shall ‘go under’ I shall want to go out for ‘keeps,’ and a few more Germans if I can do it. I am glad to hear that Tom Double is recovering, and I hope that he will come out here, that I shall not miss him. “Dear chum, I am glad to hear that someone sometimes thinks of us. A letter from friends at home cheers the whole company around the camp fire. I have nearly cried many a time when perhaps I have received a letter, but the chap next to me has no one to write to him, and he eagerly waits until we have finished reading, and asks, ‘What news chums’ he asks, you may see we who have homes and friends have one thing to be thankful for.” He concludes with the wish for a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year to his friend. AMMANFORD BOYS AT FARNHAM. REALISTIC CHARACTER OF THE TRAINING. P5 Interesting sidelights on the realistic character of the training which our young soldiers undergo are given by Mr. W. T. Davies, of the 42nd Field Ambulance, encamped at Farnham, in a letter to “Min.” It should be mentioned that prior to responding to the country’s call, Mr. Davies was in the service of the Park and Blaina Colliery Co. as clerk. A young athlete, he played cricket and football with signal success. In the course of the letter he states: “The life in huts is very comfortable, and be under a roof again is a big advantage in our training, as for instance it rained like fury all day yesterday, yet we had a very interesting day. We transformed our hut into a hospital, curtaining off the upper portion as an operating theatre, whilst the rest of the hut contained the beds, etc. The wounded were brought in by the wagon orderlies, and about a hundred and one particulars taken, and they were then conveyed to their beds. Afterwards the officer came round and explained to us thoroughly the treatment which each man should receive, and those who required to be operated on were taken into the theatre, and we had explained to us the technique of an operation, Perhaps you would be interested in quite a different part of our training. It is what we call field work. We are marched out in the morning to a position where a battle is supposed to be in progress. When we arrive there some of our men are sent out to act as wounded, and their injuries labelled on. Each stretcher squad is them extended out, who in turn extend in a set form, so that we have a long line of stretchers, with an interval of ten paces between each. When we find a wounded man, the stretcher is called up, and we set about dressing his wounds, and then send him back either by stretchers, the various lifts or “Shanks pony” to the 1st Field Dressing Station, where, at the front, doctors will be in attendance, but in our training our officers are there, and they put us through a cross examination on our treatment of the patient. We have to take advantage of every little bit of cover, and continually keep dodging imaginary “Black Marias,” and on some occasions our officers with binoculars post themselves on some elevated spot, and count us out as we expose ourselves to fire. “I have been unable to have a game of Rugger since I have been here. Soccer is all the go. Wally Shaw has been converted, and plays full-back for the Ambulance, and keeps up the reputation of Ammanford in this part of the globe.” “HAVING A RIPPING TIME.” AMMANFORD MAN AMONGST THE ENGINEERS AT PORTHCAWL. P5 An interesting letter is sent by Mr. P. W. Newman, of the Royal Engineers attached to the Welsh Army Corps, stationed at Porthcawl, to a friend at Bettws. Prior to joining the colours Mr. Newman was on the printing staff of the Chronicle. He states ; - “We are having a ripping time here; quite a gentleman’s life. I can assure you we have most comfortable billets, and the people of the town seem to do everything they can for us. We have had a good deal of ‘sky juice’ since our arrival, but, of curse, we must expect that this time of the year. Time flies while the drills are on. We fling ourselves into the work heart and soul, and we have capable officers and instructors, so that the work is most interesting. Our drills consist mainly of physical exercises. These I found rather trying at the outset, but now nothing pleases me more than to hear we are to have a few hours drill of this kind. On Sunday s we have two drum-head services, but they are of short duration. The Y. M. C. A. intend having a marquee here for the use of the men in their leisure hours. They already have large rooms here for the use of the men for recreation, and most of the places of worship have given rooms; so you see we can while away our evenings without hanging round street corners. It is rather cold and rough here, but once we get warmed up to our drill we forget all about it. We are not driven to death here by work as yet, as we only do six hours a day. We start 7 a.m. and, as a rule, are dismissed shortly after four o’clock. Out of this we have two hours and a half for meals. No doubt, once the regiments are full we shall have to slog in. I shall not be sorry when this happens, as the sooner we are proficient the better. There are about 1,600 men here now, and they continue to come in every day. Until our number is complete it is almost impossible to get to serious work. During the past week the men here have made rapid strides in the training, and now look something like soldiers. We have all been measured for our uniform, which we hope to get in the course of the next week. I have met many old friends here from different parts, but up to the time of writing I have not met any Ammanford boys in the ranks.”	AMMANFORD LETTER FROM KILDARE. LOOKING ON THE BRIGHT SIDE OF THINGS. The Morse Code Explained and Utilised. P1 The Ammanford boys at Kildare are evidently looking on the bright side of things, if one may judge from the letters they send home. We publish below extracts from a long letter sent by Ike Evans, a footballer of no mean order, and who last season captained the Ammanford cricket eleven, to his father, Mr. D. C. Evans, of Wind Street. It contains much that is interesting, and signalling falls within Ike’s duties. The Morse code is explained and utilised. He states :- “I am pleased to say we are all feeling quite well. I have just blown the ‘Fall in’ for the battery – 9 o’clock – and they were marched down to the hospital to have the second dose of inoculation. There will be some groaning tonight again. I may say I have not had my first done yet, but think I shall have it tomorrow. We are generally given forty-eight hours off duty after being inoculated, but those who feel fit have to go on parade. “I was in church this morning. All the trumpeters marched in front, playing martial music on the bugles. I have had the bugle now, and, after a little practice, I can blow it alright. It is used in field work, but I think they do the drill now by blowing the whistle and making motions with the hand. So, I have only to blow “March at ease” and “Attention” as we are on routine march. “I have had another enjoyable week, and come to like it more every day. On Friday the major took the whole battery for an outing. We were in full service dress with bandolier and overcoat rolled up and flung over the shoulder. He took us right through the Curragh, and them we went up to see some trenches constructed by the Engineers. It was a treat to see them. One half of the battery were allowed to inspect them at a time; the other half holding the horses. I had the major’s horse to hold, but managed to have a good look at the trenches. There were kitchens and bedrooms dug right underground. It was marvellous to see. On Saturday morning a lot of us were taken out on horseback without the guns. After getting out on the ‘common’ which is miles and miles long, the major allowed them all to go on their own, while he and myself (swank) proceeded together. He handed me a pair of field glasses and told me to learn how to use them. After a little while we started looking to see if we could find the men, but they were out of sight. However, at last I spotted them with the aid of my glasses far away on the horizon, and the major told me I had excellent eyesight. As the men seemed to be going further from us, I was dispatched by the major to fetch them back. Oh, how I love to go on a gallop! I was not long before catching them up, and giving them the order. So of we started back, and I had reached my destination before they were half way. The major told me I had fastest animal in the whole barracks and when the men came up he asked them what they had seen, and one of them said he had seen a hare crossing the mountain. And we all had a good laugh. “The major is proud of our football team. In the afternoon we went up to Curragh in a transport wagon to play the Irish Munster Fusiliers, and we beat them by three points. I knew I had a cousin there from Maesteg. So I went to look for him, and I found him in the next room to where we were changing. His name is Morgan Morgans. His brother was there too. Morgan himself was playing against us. He was very glad to see us. “Well, I think I could go on writing for ever, but I shall have to stop some time. Sergt-Major Young has just come into the bunk. He asked me if I was writing home to my dad. I said, yes; and he asked me to remember him to you and tell you that he was doing his best to make me a good by and a good soldier. He is a fine man, and I like him more every day. “I have to learn signalling with flags – what they call semaphore and also the Morse code. The former is with two flags – (he illustrates the method by three sketches) – and the latter is with one flag, to represent dots and dashes. A dot is a short cut with the flag from shoulder to shoulder, and a dash is a bigger cut with the flag. A is .- B -.. C -.-. D -.. E . F ..-. G --. H …. I – J .--- K -.- L .-.. M – N -. O --- P .--. Q --. R .-. S – T – U ..- V ..- W .—X -.- Y -.—Ammanford --.. I have learnt all this. It is the code they use at the post office. You may show it to Dai and Emlyn and see if they care to learn it. About furlough, I knew nothing more that when I wrote last, except that there is some talk about giving a start next week. You can rest assured that I shall let you know as soon as I come to know something. It will be all the better the nearer Christmas it goes.” He goes on to say that the boys landed back safe, but came without Danny Walters, respecting whom he shows some solicitude. “Well, I think the Germans (he says) are now getting the final black eye by the Russians, as we have had some very good news lately, and I am afraid the war will be over again before we may have a ‘ pop ‘ at them. I must now conclude, I still -- ..--.,..----…. So I think all is well.”	05/11/14 12/11/14 19/11/14 26/11/14 03/12/14 10/12/14 17/12/14 24/12/14 31/12/14