{"id":65,"date":"2014-03-03T13:16:08","date_gmt":"2014-03-03T13:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gwentwfa.org.uk\/?page_id=65"},"modified":"2014-03-09T14:04:27","modified_gmt":"2014-03-09T14:04:27","slug":"gwents-black-day-8th-may-1915","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.gwentwfa.org.uk\/?page_id=65","title":{"rendered":"Gwent’s Black Day: 8th May 1915"},"content":{"rendered":"

MAY 8TH<\/sup> 1915: GWENT\u2019S BLACK DAY<\/b><\/p>\n

The 1st<\/sup> and 3rd<\/sup> Mons had followed the 2nd<\/sup> Mons to Flanders in February 1915.\u00a0 Their particular skills as miners were quickly exploited as a detachment from both battalions was sent to take part in tunnelling duties near Ypres, in Belgium.<\/p>\n

In May 1915 all three battalions of the Monmouthshire Regiment fought in the same vicinity for the only time in the war and were soon to find themselves defending the line against a series of German attacks which became known as the 2nd<\/sup> Battle of Ypres.<\/p>\n

The battle, which opened on April 22nd<\/sup>, was notable for the first use of poisonous gas by the Germans.\u00a0 On May 4th<\/sup>-5th<\/sup> the 2nd<\/sup> Mons faced the deadly yellow clouds, protected only by makeshift masks improvised from flannel body belts made by the womenfolk of Pontypool. In spite of heavy shellfire leading to numerous casualties, the battalion continued to hold its sector of the line around \u201cMouse Trap Farm\u201d, a moated\u00a0 chateau which the Germans had identified as a key target.<\/p>\n

It was, however, the 1st and 3rd<\/sup> battalions that bore the brunt of the fighting.\u00a0 On 8th<\/sup> May 1915 \u2013\u201cMonmouthshire\u2019s black day\u201d- both were decimated. On May 8th<\/sup>, the 3rd<\/sup> Mons were in the front line at Frezenberg, on the tip of the Ypres Salient.\u00a0\u00a0 Following a three hour bombardment, which had begun at 5.30 a.m., thousands of German infantry launched three separate attacks on the British trenches.\u00a0 They too fought heroically to hold the line, sustaining appalling \u00a0casualties in the process.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yet, heavily outnumbered, supported only by a handful of old and worn-out artillery pieces and with no possibility of reinforcements, it became clear that the 3rd<\/sup> Mons were in an impossible position. They were ordered to withdraw to a support line 400 yards back.\u00a0 Even then a small group refused to give ground and fought on until they were totally overwhelmed.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a mile to the north, the 1st Mons faced an equally horrendous experience.\u00a0 At 4 a.m. the Germans launched a fierce artillery and gas attack on the line.\u00a0 This was followed by waves of infantry, attacking across no-man\u2019s land in broad daylight.\u00a0 The 1st Mons put up fierce resistance but, with only makeshift trenches, inadequate barbed wire defences and little artillery support, their position soon became untenable.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 By noon the Germans had infiltrated the British lines to the right of the Monmouthshires, leaving them in grave danger of being surrounded.\u00a0 A German call to surrender was met with a defiant shout of \u201csurrender be dammed\u201d from Captain Harold Edwards.\u00a0 A fighting retreat was organised and a new line consolidated.<\/p>\n

On both parts of the front, ground had been given\u00a0 but the line had not been broken.\u00a0 Great heroism had been displayed but the cost had been terrible. By the end of the day, of the 83 officers and 1020 men who had arrived in the Ypres Salient with the 3rd<\/sup> Mons, only 4 officers and 131 men were left unscathed.\u00a0 During the second Battle of Ypres 259 officers and men from of the battalion had been killed and approximately 500 wounded.\u00a0 Most of these casualties had taken place on 8th<\/sup> May.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Of the 588 men of the 1st<\/sup> Mons in the trenches on 8th<\/sup> may, 439 were killed, wounded, missing or prisoners by the end of the day.<\/p>\n

During the course of the battle all three battalions of Monmouthshires had lost their commanding officers.\u00a0 Colonel Robinson (1st<\/sup> Mons) had been killed while rallying his men on May 8th<\/sup>, Colonel Cuthbertson (2nd<\/sup> Mons) and Colonel Worsley Gough (3rd<\/sup> Mons) were both wounded and sent back to Britain.\u00a0 As a result of their heavy losses, from May until July, the three battalions were merged into one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MAY 8TH 1915: GWENT\u2019S BLACK DAY The 1st and 3rd Mons had followed the 2nd Mons to Flanders in February 1915.\u00a0 Their particular skills as miners were quickly exploited as a detachment from both battalions was sent to take part … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":138,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-65","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gwentwfa.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/65","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gwentwfa.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gwentwfa.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gwentwfa.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gwentwfa.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=65"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.gwentwfa.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/65\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":120,"href":"https:\/\/www.gwentwfa.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/65\/revisions\/120"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gwentwfa.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gwentwfa.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=65"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}