David Pryce Davies’s entry in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers Enlistment Register gives his entry into the Regiment as the 15th of September 1939 and was transferred to the 8th Bn. Manchester regt. on the 31st of October 1939.
Sadly, the only information I had of his family is from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission citation on David Pryce Davies, which tells us that his parents were Pryce & Elizabeth Davies from Cefn y bedd, Denbighshire. I think I found a birth certificate for David, and if it is correct, he was born in the September quarter of 1918 in the Hawarden Registration district (Hawarden Vol. 11b Page 355) and his mother’s maiden name was Jones.
I believe that I may now have found the family on the 1921 census, which was taken on the 19th of June 1921. They were living at Range Cottage, Cefn y bedd, Wrexham. The head of the household was Price Davies, who filled in the census form, the 2nd one that residents filled in themselves, the first being the 1911 census. Price used the English spelling rather than the Welsh spelling. Price Davies was 45 years and 1 month old, born in Llanrhaeadr, Denbigh. He was a Coal Miner at the New Brynmally Coll. Co.* Elizabeth Davies age was 44 years and 5 months old, born in Llanfynydd, Flintshire and doing ‘Household Duties.’ Their children were Margaret Davies, 14 years and 5 months old, born in Chester, Cheshire, Ann Jones Davies, 11 years and 5 months old, and Edward Maldwyn Davies, 9 years and 4 months old, both born in Llanfynydd. John Llewelyn Davies was 8 years and 10 months old, born in Brymbo, Denbighshire and David Price Davies was 2 years and 11 months old, born in Llanfynydd, Flintshire. If so the birth certificate could be the right one for David Pryce Davies.
*https://welshcoalmines.co.uk/North/Brynmally.htm
A Welsh Coal Mines web page
Brynmally Colliery, Moss, Nr. Wrexham.
I believe that Price Davies died in 1923 as I have found a death Registration for the September quarter of 1923 for a Price Davies, born about 1876 and age 47 years (Hawarden Vol. 11b Page 254)
I find Elizabeth Davies and two sons living at Bungalow, Plas Maen Estate, Ffrwdd, Hawarden on the 1939 National Register, which was taken on the 19th of September 1939. This source tells us th dates of birth. Elizabeth Davies had been born on the 9th of February 1877, she was a widow and doing ‘Domestic Duties.’ Edward M. Davies was singe and had been born on the 19th of March 1912 and was a Permanent Way Labourer. John L. Davies was single and had been born on the 22nd of June 1913, and was a Railway Porter.
David, as I have stated, was in the RWF’s early in the war, on the 15th of September 1939, in fact, he would have been just about 21 years old when he enlisted or was conscripted. So, he would not have been on the 1939 National Register, which was taken on the 29th of September 1939.
He was to eventually find himself fighting in the Italian Campaign.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Regiment
Manchester Regiment
Excerpt from the above: –
In late July 1943, the 8th Manchesters was transferred to the 20th Indian Infantry Brigade, part of the 10th Indian Infantry Division, then serving in the Middle East. Both the 8th and 9th Manchesters took part in the Italian campaign. The 9th Battalion was part of the 4th Indian Infantry Division and later, from 15 July 1944 until 31 August 1945, formed the Support Battalion of the British 46th Infantry Division. The 9th Manchesters saw much action during the Battles for the Gothic Line in August–September 1944, including the Battle of Montegridolfo. After service in Greece during the civil war and a return to Italy for the last weeks of the campaign there, it reached Graz, Austria by the end of the war.[75]
https://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/units/275/manchester-regiment
Excerpt from the above:-
The 8th (Ardwick) Battalion
The Battalion went to France with BEF in April 1940 and almost immediately transferred to Malta. In 1943 went to the Middle East and the war in Italy. They returned to the UK in October 1944 and finished the war in Northern Ireland then South Wales.
https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/manchester-regiment
THE MANCHESTER REGIMENT
Second World War
On the outbreak of war in 1939, 2nd Battalion was stationed in Britain and deployed straight to France in September. It had to be evacuated from Dunkirk in June 1940 and remained in Britain recovering and re-equipping until June 1942, when it was sent to India and then Burma, seeing action at Imphal-Kohima in 1944.
1st Battalion had deployed to Singapore in 1938 and was captured by the Japanese in February 1942. A few months later, in May 1942, the regiment’s 6th Battalion was renumbered 1st Battalion to replace it.
The new 1st Battalion remained in Britain until June 1944, when it landed in Normandy. It went on to fight at Caen and Falaise (1944). From there, it fought its way across North-West Europe reaching Hamburg by the war’s end.
Two of the regiment’s Territorial battalions, 1/9th and 5th Battalion, also fought in the Battle of France in 1940, while the 8th and 9th Battalions served in Italy (1943-45). 7th Battalion also fought in North-West Europe during 1944.
1st Battalion’s initial post-war role was as occupation troops in Germany. Meanwhile, 2nd Battalion returned to Britain on the partition of India in 1947. The following year, the two battalions were amalgamated.
https://www.tameside.gov.uk/MuseumsandGalleries/Territorial-Army-1920-1945#8
Museum of the Manchester Regiment
8th (Ardwick) Battalion The Manchester Regiment (TA)
Mobilised in 1939. To France with the BEF and immediately on to Malta. Served Sergeants mess members, Malta, August 1940 there throughout the siege. Then to the Middle East in 1943 and to Italy where it fought until the end of the war with 10th Indian Division. The battalion’s first major attack was in the Central Apennines in early June 1943 resulting in the capture of the village of Piccione. They captured the strongly fortified medieval castle of Rocca D’Aria, shortly afterwards capturing the German position on the mountain ridge of Monte Altuccia.
Later the battalion fought in the battles for the Gothic Line, their final action being the major assault on the village of San Pietro di Bagno. The battalion was relieved on 2 October 1944, moved to Naples and arrived in the UK on 23 October 1944, having completed four and a half years service overseas. The next six months were spent training infantry in Northern Ireland and the battalion then moved to Pembroke Dock in South Wales.
David’s Casualty List 1445 (Page 15) tells us that David had been accidentally killed on the 27th of March 1944. Casualty List 1451 (Page 21) tells us that his death date was incorrectly reported, and he died on the 24th of April 1944.
I obviously wanted to know how he had been accidentally killed, and asked my old friends on WW2Talk if they could shed any light on the matter. http://ww2talk.com/index.php?threads/4196167-private-david-pryce-davies-8th-bn-manchester-regiment-27-04-1944-accidental-death.90956/
Gary one of the Forum members sent me this message regarding my appeal for information on David’s death, many thanks to Gary for his kindness: –
Hello Mavis,
I saw this last night and was down at Kew today, so I got the 8 Manchester’s WD* out to check. It appears he died during a cave in after torrential rain. Five others were injured.
Regards, Gary.
I have added the War Diary entry below: –
“NIGHT. 26/27 1 recce patrol out but owing to heavy rain and bad visibility unable to do much.
DAY. After night of torrential rain everyone wet to their skins, many caves fallen in with loss of kits and casualties. Pte. DAVIES of “C” Coy killed and five others injured as a result. Clothing and equipment expected.”
*War Diaries.
David was probably first buried near where he was killed and according to the Commonwealth War Graves Concentration Report Form, he was then reburied on the 18th of May 1944 in Sangro River War Cemetery. See the report below.
His family made sure that he would be remembered for perpetuity by adding his name to the Hope WW2 War Memorial, but if anyone can add to David’s story, please contact the website, we must make sure he is not forgotten as a person who also had hopes and dreams and gave his life for us all.
