Throughout history the fighting spirit of the Welsh has been well documented, from Crecy to Agincourt to the Peninsular and Boer Wars. Men from Monmouthshire have followed the flag fighting and dying for King, Queen and Country.
On the 28th June 1914 when Archduke Franz Ferdinand visited Sarajevo in the newly annexed provinces, the young men of Monmouthshire could not have envisaged the chain of events that would follow his assassination. On that fateful day his chauffeur took a wrong turn and was momentarily stopped. Gavrilo Princip took his chance stepped forward and shot the Archduke and his wife. As they lay dying the reverberations began that would be felt around the world.
In August 1914 the Kaiser mobilsed his "Feldgrau" and they began crossing borders executing the first part of the "Schlieffen Plan" conceived to crush the French Army in an iron embrace and to open up an easy route to Paris. Great Britain declared war and the mobilisation of her armed forces began. Throughout August at railway stations and ports the bellowing of orders in a variety of accents could be heard along with the stamping of boots, the rattle of rifles and the grunts as heavy equipment was hoisted on to shoulders. In South Wales the order to mobilize for the 3rd Battalion The Monmouthshire Regiment was received late that evening. Its first port of call was Abergavenny its last was to be the Somme.
This site has been created to honour all those who served with this fine Welsh Territorial Battalion during the Great War. In terms of the length of the Great War theirs is not a long story but it is one that deserves to be remembered and recorded.
Do you have a relative who served with this battalion?
Would you like his story to be told on this website?
Or are you looking for information on a soldier who served with the 3rd Battalion Monmouthshire Regiment.
If so I may be able to help. Please contact me via this link......Administrator@3rdbattmons.co.uk
Every effort has been made to ensure that the content of this non commercial web site dedicated to the men involved in the Great War 1914 - 1918 of the 3rd Battalion The Monmouthshire Regiment is as accurate as possible. If you find an error I would be delighted to hear from you and, where appropriate, correct it and give due and proper reference.
It has also not been my intention to infringe on anyones copyright but if I have it has been unintentional and I offer my apologies. Please let me know and I will either remove the article or picture or give due reference.
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The information provided on this website is the result of countless hours of painstaking research from a variety of sources. It is there for anyone to use but please be courteous, and acknowledge the source.