William Walter Swift, Sheffield

Transcript of his letter to his brother George

This is a story my Great Grandfather wrote from his hospital bed regards his ‘Pals Regiment’ during the First World War.

He was wounded during the ‘Battle of the Somme’ and sent to Glasgow infirmary.

The Sheffield City Battalion was designated as the 12^th , York and Lancaster Regiment.

The battalion involved approx. 1100 officers and men combined.

This division brigaded with ‘Barnsley Pals’ and ‘Accrington Pals’ and then forming the ‘31^st division

The 31^st division was assigned to defend the Suez Canal, but after arriving were then sent to France (in April 1916)

For the Somme offensive the ‘Sheffield Battalion’ had the dubious extreme left side of 15 miles off the British front.

On the 1^st of July at 7:20 the battalion moved into ‘no-mans land’ while the German lines were mortared.

At 7:30 the bombardment stopped and waves of the battalion advanced; but into a volley of devastating machine gun and artillery fire. 500 officers and men would lose their lives in 10 minutes of mayhem.

My Great Grand Father was one of the ‘lucky ones’ and  wounded, rescued and eventually sent to Glasgow Infirmary.

This his story leading up to the events….

Transcript only, taken from his written words (some words I cannot decipher and have guessed)

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