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Second Lieutenant Henry William Wellings, DCM, Cross of St. George 3rd Class (Russia), The Kings Shropshire Light Infantry who was commissioned for service in the field whilst serving with the Kings Shropshire Light Infantry. He died of wounds on the 20th June 1918 whilst serving in the 17th Battalion of the Machine Gun Corps. A native of Shrewsbury, son of Henry and Margaret Wellings of Station Road, Four Ashes, near Wolverhampton.
Citation for the DCM records For conspicuously gallant conduct on 31st October in removing wounded men of the London Scottish under heavy shell fire, and showing a fine example under trying circumstances. He showed great gallantry on another occasion the same day in a dangerous situation, in resisting the enemy at a range of ten to fifteen yards, in company with his Squadron Commander.
On the 25th November 1908 Henry Wellings enlisted for 7 years with the Colours and 5 years with the reserve with the Corps of Dragoons, being posted initially to the 3rd Dragoon Guards and then on the 10th February 1910 to the 6th Dragoon Guards (The Carabiniers). On the 4th April 1912 he qualified as a Machine-Gunner.
On the 4th August 1914 the 6th Dragoon Guards were at Canterbury as part of the 4th Cavalry Brigade going to France and landing at Rouen on the 17th August 1914 as part of the Cavalry Division of the British Expeditionary Force, Private Henry Wellings going with his Regiment.
On the night of the1/2 October 1914 the BEF began to move north by road the 4th Brigade being among the first to move arriving in the area St. Pol-Anvin-Hesdin on the 9th October. The German Armies had also been moving north in an attempt to out-flank the Allies and cut off the BEF from the Channel ports of Calais and Boulogne so that when the fighting for Messines - Wytschaete Ridge began on the 21st October the British held the ground to the East of the Ridge, the Brigade being in the area of Houthem some 3 miles East of the Ridge itself. Recognising that occupation of the Ridge was of decisive importance, by the end of the month by sheer weight of numbers and with the use of heavy artillery the enemy had pushed the British and the French back, so that the East of the village of Messines was held by the Germans and the West by the British and to the North of the village the line ran about 100 yards East of the road to Wytschaete, the sector nearest to Messines being held by the 4th Dragoon Guards and the next sector by the Carabiniers. At best the British defences consisted of short disconnected lengths of trenches, 3 feet deep at most and lacking wire, dug-outs or communication trenches. The only troops available to reinforce the troops in 1st Corps. or the Cavalry was the 1st Battalion of the London Scottish which was ordered from Ypres to St.Eloi as a reserve for the hard-pressed cavalry and in the early hours of the 31st October the London Scottish were sent into the line to assist the Carabiniers holding the right centre position. From midnight onwards the British trenches and all buildings between Messines and Wytschaete were shelled by the enemy and then in the morning of the 1st November a general attack in several lines developed against the Ridge between the windmill about 1300 yards North of Messines village and Wytschaete, the sector held by the Carabiniers and the London Scottish but with odds of 12 to 1 in favour of the enemy the Germans were able to penetrate in large numbers through the gaps in the line to attack the defenders from the flank and the rear and even surround some of them. A timely charge by a reserve company of the London Scottish and the successful resistance of one squadron of the Carabiniers in particular enabled possession of the top of the Ridge to be maintained but at dawn with groups of the defenders seeing their flanks turned and their position practically surrounded decided to fight their way back to avoild capture, the last to go being two squadrons of the Carabiniers with some detachments of the London Scottish who remained in their trenches until 0645 so that by 0735 the Germans were in possession of the middle part of Messines Ridge, and the Cavalry was reforming at Hill 75 (Spanbroek-molen) separated from the Ridge by the Steenbeck valley with the London Scottish going back to Wulverghem some 2 miles South West of Messines village.
On the 9th February 1915 Henry Wellings was admitted to No. 4 General Hospital and later in the month was sent back to England to go to hospital in Southampton through illness; on recovery he was posted to the 3rd Reserve Cavalry Regiment returning to France and re-joining the Carabiniers.
On the 2nd June 1916 he transferred from the Dragoon Guards to the Kings Shropshire Light Infantry serving initially with the 1st Battalion.
On the 18th April 1917 he was appointed to a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant for service in the field and posted to the Kings Shropshire Light Infantry, seconded to the Machine Gun Corps. He was at Camiers, the Machine Gun School, on the 18th April and then on the 27th April was back in England presumably to attend the Machine Gun Training Centre at Grantham. He then returned to France, landing at Havre on the 15th November 1917 and within a short period was in Hospital suffering from disease, being admitted to No. 49 Casualty Clearing station on the 27th November 1917, and at the end of the month was at 51st General Hospital at Etaples.
On the 31at January 1918 he was with his Company with the 17th Machine Gun Battalion.
On the 2nd September 1915 a proposal was made to the War Office for the formation of a machine-gun company for each brigade by withdrawing the Vickers guns from the battalions to obtain four sections for each infantry brigade each section having four guns. They were to be replaced by Lewis guns, thus giving each battalion a total of eight Lewis guns.
This proposal was approved on the 22nd October 1915 when an Army Order was issued bringing into existence the Machine Gun Corps. From November 1915 the machine-guns were concentrated into Brigade machine-gun companies of the Machine Gun Corps, numbered the same as the Brigade to which it was allotted. The reorganisation depending upon the output of Lewis guns, was ordered to take place in brigades by rotation and was completed before the Battle of the Somme, 1st July 1916.
The re-organisation of machine-gun companies into four-company battalions as divisional troops dates from February 1917; but the process was slow as a fourth machine-gun company had to be provided for every division, and the British Armies were engaged in almost continuous operations so that at Cambrai in November 1917 each infantry brigade still had its machine-gun company, the fourth company, the latest arrival, being directly under the division.
In the Spring of 1918 Divisional Machine Gun Companies changed from a numbered Company to lettered Companys of a Machine Gun Battalion, the Battalion having the same number as the Division to which it was a part. So as an example on the 1st March 1918 the 17th Division had four Machine Gun Companies and the 50th became A Company, the 51st became B, the 52nd C and the 236th became D Company and Henry Wellings became a member of A Company of the 17th Battalion of the Machine Gun Corps, one of the 43 Officers of the Battalion then at Bertincourt a village some 18 kilometres North of Peronne and 8 kilometres East of Bapaume in the Flesquires Salient.
That day, 1st March 1918, on the Divisional Front 14,400 rounds were fired at the enemy with Sniping Machine Guns engaging enemy parties. The German front line was some 7 miles East of Bertincourt.
On the 5th March 1918 the relief of the Battalion by the 19th Battalion of the Machine Gun Corps was postponed owing to the expectation of the German offensive which known as Michael began at 0440 on the 21st March 1918 when the Germans bombarded the British batteries, trench mortars, command posts, billets and bivouacs, telephone exchanges and transportation networks using mixed gas and high explosive, the infantry attack beginning at 0940 that same day.
In the period up to the 20th March the Battalion was firing its guns at German dumps, trenches, known used cross-roads and tracks whilst Anti-aircraft guns engaged enemy aircraft, for example on the 13th March causing two enemy formations to scatter. On the 20th March Orders for the relief by the 19th Battalion of the Corps were issued but the expected enemy attack began the next day when at 1015 Hughes Trench was attacked with the guns in the front system where the attack was centred fired point blank at enemy concentrations inflicting many casualties. Although the enemy artillery shelled the whole of the Divisional front none of the Machine Guns were knocked out and the attack was repulsed largely through the efforts of the Machine Guns.
At 0130 on the 22nd March evacuation of the front system of defence was ordered to begin with A, B and C Companies receiving these orders but D Company did not. By the afternoon the guns of A Company were in Hermies Quarry and with 51st Infantry Brigade H.Q. in Hermies, some 4 kilometres North East of Bertincourt. At 1100 all the guns in the Hermies defences were in action when the enemy attacked the village in force, the village being heavily shelled, but the attack failed. At 1630 the enemy attacked Hermies again but again the attack was broken up by rifle and machine-gun fire.
During the course of the 23rd March the whole of the 17th Division was ordered to retire through the line held by the 47th, 63rd and 2nd Divisions to a position about 4 kilometres South of Bapaume, then on the 24th March A Company was attached to 50th Infantry Brigade to assist in protecting the right flank of the Corps when in the afternoon further retirements were ordered back to the Martinpuich Bazentin-le-Grand line with Battalion H.Q. at Courcellette. On the 25th March the line taken up was from Bazentin-le-Grand to Montauban with Battalion H.Q. moving further back to Meaulte. The next day a further retreat to a line West of the Ancre River was ordered, the line being from Albert to Auchonvillers. Battalion H.Q. was at Henancourt when A, B and D Companies rejoined from Brigades, leaving C Company still under the orders of the 52nd Brigade (attached to 9th Division).
At 1700 on the 26th March Orders were received for the Division to advance with companies again being attached to Brigades, A Company going with the 50th Brigade with 10 machine-guns the line being taken up Dernancourt-Morlancourt-South to the Somme River. By 0100 on the 27th March A Company was with the 50th Brigade at Senlis North of the Albert-Amiens road, moving the next day to a position in the vicinity of Bouzincourt and staying there on the 29th now with 11 guns in all being relieved by B Company in the Left Sector. At the end of the month the Battalion strength was 43 Officers and 785 Other Ranks.
Up to the 4th April 1918 A Company was at Henencourt, then went into billets at Flesselles before moving to Gorges moving again on the 11th April to Puchevillers. They remained there until on the 15th April the Company marched to Varennes to relieve a company of the 63rd (Royal Naval) Division. Varennes is a village some 9 kilometres North West of Albert the front line being about the same distance East of the village itself.
The sector that the 17th Division was responsible for in the period from mid April 1918 to the end of June 1918 was in front of Beaumont-Hamel Aveluy Wood-north of Albert. This was seemingly a quiet period with the War Diary recording only that 1550 rounds were fired against enemy aircraft. On the 9th April 4 guns from the Company were transferred to the Intermediate Line with a little more action: during a German counter attack at 0430 on the 21st April 10,750 rounds were fired by the S.O.S.guns. On the 25th April one gun from A Company was destroyed by German shell-fire with 2 Other Ranks being killed. The whole Battalion remained in the area until the end of April firing at selected targets including Enemy Artillery remaining in the area at the beginning of May firing on roads used by the enemy then on the 8th May on relief by units of the 63rd Division both A and C Companies moved to Le Quesnoy via Harponville and Toutencourt with the whole Battalion being at Le Quesnoy North East of Amiens by the 10th May. Most of May was a rest period,spent in company sports, parades and lectures until the 23rd May when B and D Companies went back to Varennes and attachment to the 63rd Division for a raid into German lines by the 63rd and 12th Divisions when the companies fired 169,000 rounds. On the 26th May A and C Companies marched to Acheux 2 kilometres North of Varennes village to relieve the 12th Division and then on the 27th May 12 Other Ranks and Lieutenant J Reynolds from A Company were gassed. Nearly 4000 round were fired at enemy targets. with a further 12,950 on the 29th and a further 19,000 on the 30th. There was a further attack on the 31st May by the 63rd Division with the Battalion firing 46,750 rounds in support.
When the 17th Division came back into the line on relieving the 12th Division the sector taken over was still the area facing the enemy stronghold at Beaumont-Hamel and his lines west of the bend of the Ancre River. It was known that the Germans had been accumulating very large forces in rear of the salient formed by their line in this part of France and whilst a further German push was expected the exact area was of course not known. In fact on the 27th May, when the 17th Division relieved the 12th, the attack was launched by the Germans against the French front in the area of the Chemin des Dames. But on the Ancre front the enemy attempted no serious attack, his activities chiefly being his artillery which on some days rose to such intensity as to suggest the opening stage of a bombardment preparatory to an advance.
On the 1st June 1918 the Battalion remained in the Acheux area strength 42 Officers and 830 Other Ranks. There was considerable ammunition expenditure on enemy targets and then in the early hours of the night of 3rd/4th June B Company earned praise for its rapid response to an S.O.S. signal when three strong parties of German raiders broke into the front trench facing Beaumont- Hamel retiring after sharp fighting with Divisional losses of an officer killed and 2 missing with 9 Other Ranks killed, 28 wounded and 13 missing. The German retirement was made under heavy fire from the Divisions guns.
However the 50th Brigade were already planning a raid on a much larger scale to be carried out on the night of June 8th. This involved 36 officers and 1000 men from the 7th East Yorkshire Regiment and 6th Dorsetshire Regiment the front to be attacked a 500 yard area with the northern end on the crater dating from the 1916 operations and its right on the deep narrow gully known as Y Ravine. The machine-guns of both A and C Companies with sections from B and D co-operated in this raid with the machine-guns from the 63rd, 38th and 42nd Divisions all earning the appreciation of the G.O.C. 50th Brigade the infantry comment being the Barrage was splendid and that the way it was maintained inspired them with confidence.
On the 17th June the weather broke after a long spell of bright sunny days. There was heavy rain and the nights were cold. During the month again there was a heavy expenditure of ammunition described as Ordinary Indirect fire with on the 18th June B Company having one of its guns knocked out, 2nd Lieutenant Jenkins and 2 Other Ranks wounded and 1 killed.
On the 19th June 1918 on Ordinary indirect fire, 3,900 rounds were expended, on Special fire 20,000 rounds and anti-aircraft 75 rounds. During the night all available guns of B and D Companies fired on special targets in connection with the simultaneous discharge of 600 gas projectors by a special Royal Engineers Company in a feint attack by the 38th Division on the German positions in Aveluy Woods. This was when 2nd Lieutenant Wellings was wounded.
On the 20th June 58,000 rounds were expended in Special barrage fire and the raid by the 38th Division was made north of Aveluy Wood on the night of the 20th June.
On the 22nd June the relief of the 17th Division by the 63rd Division began and was completed by the 25th June when Divisional H.Q. moved back from Toutencourt to Herissart some 15 kilometres West of Albert.
Gezaincourt is about 1 kilometre south-west of Doullens with its association with the Great War being mainly through the handling of the wounded from the Somme battlefields. There was a station on the railway line from Amiens to Doullens Its use in March October 1918 was primarily taking casualties from No. 3 Casualty Clearing Station based in Gezaincourt from the 28th March 1918 to the 14th September 1918. By the end of the Somme campaign, a number of Casualty Clearing Stations had become hospitals to which the bulk of the operative work on the Western Front was gradually transferred.
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