Second Hand Taffy Went to War

A photocopy of Taffy Went to War, H. Emlyn Davies’s privately produced memoir of his First World War service with the 17th (Service) Battalion, Royal Welch Fusiliers (2nd North Wales).

The battalion served in the 115th Brigade, 38th (Welsh) Division. Davies describes his enlistment and training, the move to France, and the division’s early experience on the Western Front. His account is especially relevant to the fighting for Mametz Wood during the Battle of the Somme in July 1916.

Davies served in a signals role during the Mametz fighting, when maintaining communications was exceptionally difficult. A surviving message transmitted by him reported the battalion’s strength after the action as five officers and 142 other ranks, a striking indication of its losses. The memoir’s contents also include a later chapter titled “Proven to Passchendaele,” so its scope extends beyond the 1915–16 period initially associated with the account.

A useful personal source for the history of the Royal Welch Fusiliers, the 38th (Welsh) Division, Mametz Wood and Welsh soldiers’ experiences of the war.

This example is a photocopy, rather than an original typescript or commercially printed edition. Its title page reproduces Davies’s signature and a Cheshire County Library stamp; neither is an original mark on this copy.