Mametz Wood Memorial

About

The Mametz Wood Memorial commemorates an engagement of the 38th (Welsh) Division of the British Army during the First Battle of the Somme in France in 1916.

The memorial, written in 1987 by Welsh sculptor David Petersen, is a Welsh red dragon on top of a three-metre stone plinth, facing the wood and tearing at barbed wire. It was commissioned by the South Wales Branch of the Western Front Association following a public fund-raising appeal. The memorial is located near the site of the engagement in northern France. It can be renewed from the village of Mametz on the D64 road. On 12 July 2013, the Welsh Government announced that it was helping to fund regeneration of the memorial in time for the 100th anniversary of the Battle in 2016.

Mametz Wood was the objective of the 38th (Welsh) Division during the First Battle of the Somme. The attack was made in a northern direction over aridge, focusing on the German positions in the wood, between 7 July and 12 July 1916. On 7 July the men formed the first wave trending to take the wood in a matter of hours. However, strong fortification, machineguns and shelling killed and insulted over 400 soldiers...