From the Front

Badge of the Cheshire Regiment. The Cheshires trained in Aberystwyth in 1915

When considering the role of Aberystwyth in the First World War, there may be a tendency to look upon the grand seafront memorial and list of the fallen with a sense of disconnection, or of an historic event completely removed from anything us alive could comprehend. This can't be the case when reading the words of and about those alumni who left this seat of learning to risk their lives overseas, doing what they saw as their duty.

Lieutenant William Thomas, or Bill as he was known to friends and comrades was one of the first Aberystwyth students to leave Aberystwyth to serve in the First World War and the first to appear on the casualty list. He began studying at Aberystwyth in 1909 and was a keen athlete and member of the Officer Training Corps (OTC).

The time William Thomas spent with the OTC must have made an impact on him, his opinion and knowledge of the military, as well as his sense of purpose in the organisation. This is shown by his attainment of the rank of Colour Sergeant, a testament to his aptitude for service life.

William joined the Army on 21^st August 1914 and within two weeks was on his way to France. Soldiers were usually given three months' basic training, although the war was less than a month old when William Thomas joined the army. It is likely that his volunteering so early in the war, as well as his extensive OTC experience meant that he was of more use on active service at a time when trained soldiers were few, than he would have been undertaking more extensive training. However, OTC training, no matter how extensive is little substitute for training for war. To go from a student to a commissioned officer on his way to war in less than two weeks is a considerable achievement and shows the strain on both the individual and the country in 1914.

The Cheshire Regiment, into which William Thomas was commissioned was a line infantry regiment, whose main duties throughout was engaging in direct combat with the enemy of the time. Although William had no known links to Cheshire, it was standard practice to send officers to regiments with which they had no links, as they would not know the men who they commanded. Officers who were placed into their local regiments could find themselves commanding, or failing to command men who they had grown up with.

In the 1911 Census, William was recorded as living at 6 Custom House Street, Aberystwyth, a boarding house at which he lived with three other students, including David Gibby who also came from William's home, the village of Clynderwen in Pembrokeshire.

In Lt. Thomas' own words.. “It's been awful. I joined the Army on August 21st. At the beginning of September  set sail from Southampton to St. Nazaire, then travelled by train to Nantes, Paris, near Soissons. Then for three weeks fought in the Battle of the Aisne”

The Battle of Aisne, the first battle in which Lt. Thomas fought was the first British and French counter attack following the halt of the German advance into France, saw no decisive victor and was the start of the descent into trench warfare with neither side willing to surrender or able to dislodge the other.

“Marched day and night via Amiens to Bethune, and on Tuesday, the 13th October, had a most awful day. At 8.30 in the morning 1 had a bullet in my left shoulder and there I lay bleeding all day in a burning farm-house. No food. No help. No Williams. Nothing but hell, and that a thousand times worse than I ever dreamt it would be. At 8 p.m. the same day the Germans took me prisoner and have looked after me well.”

The action in which Lt. Thomas was wounded and taken prisoner became known as the Battle of La Bassée and as a par of the 'Race to the Sea', in which the opposing armies raced northwards through France and Belgium in an attempt to outflank each other. The German and Franco-British forces battled where they met each other, including at Bethune where Lt. Thomas was wounded and captured. There was no victor in the 'Race to the Sea' and the trenches that were begun after this effort became some of the first in four years of trench warfare.

Following his capture, William was able to write back to Aberystwyth to inform his friends and the university of his situation, with his own words immortalised in the Aberystwyth University archives; “Now I am A1, but very weak. That was a terrible day. 80 per cent, of our side were killed. We were outnumbered 12 to 1 and we had no guns. Someone had blundered, but "Ours not to reason why, Ours but to do and die; Into the valley of death— Now  I  shall be in Germany till the war is over and hope to get a good time.”

The seemingly jovial ending to the letter to Aberystwyth appears to show that William is relieved, at least in some part at his present situation. Being a prisoner of the Germans would at least guarantee a basic level of subsistence; he would be fed, clothed, sheltered and would not be at risk of torture or a violent death. It is his recognition of the happiness and relative ease of university life that strikes the reader from his final paragraph;

“It's now I realise what a glorious time one gets in Coll. (University) I thought I worked hard there; by Jove I wish I were there now. As soon as the war is over I shall come up to Aber. for a few days.    My address now is:- Lieut. William Thomas, Prisoner of War, Leo Convickt, Paderborn, Westphalen, Germany. Do write me a word old boy and please send me Otto's German Book—the one you lent before. Also ask the Mag. treasurer to  send me the Mag. My left side is very bad. I have to be in bed three more weeks. Yours T-H-F- ' Bill.”

Blog by Otto Jones, Aberforward Project Assistant