The visitors trailed 16-9 at halftime with England in complete control but a patched-up Wales side dug deep to find the inspiration to secure one of the finest victories in their rich rugby history.
"For 50 minutes, Wales weren't in the game and their set-piece wasn't functioning," former Wales scrumhalf Rob Jones told the BBC.
"Then we had the injuries. But they found the energy and that bit of belief and confidence. The momentum came and that was a remarkable finish."
England turned down the chance to kick a penalty in the dying seconds that would have earned them a draw and Wales coach Warren Gatland was surprised by the decision.
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"I thought they would have gone for goal and taken the draw," Gatland said.
"It's a big call to make and a brave call to make.
"They'd caught us out in the past... throwing to the front of the line-out and we expected that, and did a good job in stopping that driven maul and pushed them into touch.
"Those are decisions you make sometimes and you go there and you get a driven line-out and you win the game and you're a hero, you make the wrong call and you're zero."
Wales, top of the group after two wins, face Fiji in their next game on Thursday and the injury problems that beset their preparations for the tournament show no sign of improving.
Centre Scott Williams sustained a leg injury and fullback Liam Williams took a blow to the head, forcing both off the field during the England game.
Winger Hallam Amos suffered a suspected dislocated shoulder and Gatland had to send on players from his bench to fill unfamiliar positions.
Lloyd Williams produced the clever kick that set up scrumhalf Gareth Davies for the converted try which secured the famous win.
"We coped with the injuries and I'm incredibly proud of the boys and the performance," Gatland added.
"Liam Williams got a knock on the head and was taken off by medics for a... head injury assessment," he said.
"Scott Williams has got a knee injury, I don't know the severity of that but it doesn't look brilliant and Hallam Amos is a shoulder injury.
"We've run out of players at the moment but today was about courage."
(Editing by Sudipto Ganguly)
