A Good 1914-15 Trio.
To:
3241. Pte. W, WARE. 1/4th WELSH REGT .
(2B BALKANS)
Landed at Suvla Bay, 9th August 1915.
A trio to an extremely tough (or lucky) survivor of a VERY difficult war 
HISTORY 1/4th WELSH REGIMENT
By 19 July 1915 the 1/4th Welsh had completed boarding the transport ship S.S. Huntsend, and the ship set steam as part of a fleet of eight transport ships, for the Mediterranean. Their destination would be the shores of Gallipoli, as part of a force which it was hoped would be able to break the deadlock of the campaign, which had stalled since the landings of 25 April 1915. The fleet passed Gibraltar on 22 July, and sailed past Malta, Alexandria and Imbros. On 6 August the main offensive was launched on Gallipoli, and the Welsh Division began landing at Suvla Bay on the evening of 8 August 1915.
By the time the Division had finished assembling the following morning, the units were sent off in all directions, chaos reigning the day. Little is known of what really happened, but the 1/4th Welsh was one of the last battalions sent to the front line, and was sent into the attack late in the day, sustaining terrible casualties over the coming days, in five days the casualty toll amounted to 14 Officers and 272 Other Ranks, killed, wounded or missing.
By 11 August the Division had taken over its own section of the front. It remained on Gallipoli until being evacuated on 11 December 1915, after having suffered a terrible winter, when men were frozen to death or drowned in the trenches after torrential rain. The majority of these later casualties were due to the terrible conditions, which decimated the battalion, and on 8 October 1915 the 1/4th and 1/5th Welsh were temporarily merged to form the 4/5th Welsh Composite Battalion. The Division was among the first to evacuate Gallipoli on 11 December 1915, and moved to Egypt, where it spent the next fifteen months rebuilding manpower and on 10 February 1916 the 1/4th Welsh regained its identity.
The Division was put to work guarding the Suez Canal and the sweet water canal, and fighting against bands of Arabs, who were loyal to the Turks. On 26 March 1917 the 1/4th Welsh took part in the First battle of Gaza, and suffered a heavy number of casualties. The attack was judged by the British as a success, and by the Turks as a failure. The Welsh Division had suffered the bulk of the casualties. The 1/4th Welsh alone had lost 2 officers and 42 other ranks killed, 11 officers and 167 other ranks wounded. On 17 April 1917 the 1/4th Welsh then took part in the Second Battle of Gaza, playing a less important role than it did in the first, due to the weakness in numbers of the Welsh Division, but nonetheless securing most of their allotted objectives. The battle enabled the Allies to secure a good position which would enable them to launch another offensive. The 1/4th Welsh lost three officers and 11 men killed, two officers and 30 men wounded.
The Third Battle of Gaza was launched on the night of 1 November 1917, and the 1/4th Welsh suffered another 4 officers and 65 other ranks killed or wounded during this final set piece battle. After the capture of Jerusalem on 9 December 1917 the war in Palestine had reached its zenith, with the final year of the campaign being the pursuit of the broken Turkish army, although the conditions for the British soldier were terrible. The 1/4th Welsh took part in the final major phase of the Operations in the Jordan Valley. In the middle of August 1918 the 1/4th and 1/5th Welsh were merged again to form the 4/5th Welsh, due to heavy losses and the difficulty of getting reinforcements due to the coming offensive in France, and came under the Command of Lieutenant-Colonel A.P. Hohler. It remained in this form for the final offensive in the Jordan, and the Battle of Megiddo.
After the armistice the 4/5th Welsh was moved to Egypt, before the battalion was finally sent home in 1919.
AN INTERESTING GROUP
£195