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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/34907-8.txt b/34907-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a9dda7c --- /dev/null +++ b/34907-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6656 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Irish on the Somme, by Michael MacDonagh + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Irish on the Somme + Being a Second Series of 'The Irish at the Front' + +Author: Michael MacDonagh + +Release Date: January 10, 2011 [EBook #34907] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE IRISH ON THE SOMME *** + + + + +Produced by Jeannie Howse, David Clarke and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + + + + + + * * * * * + + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Note: | + | | + | Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has | + | been preserved. | + | | + | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. For | + | a complete list, please see the end of this document. | + | | + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + + * * * * * + + + + +THE IRISH ON THE SOMME + + + + +THE IRISH +ON THE SOMME + + +_BEING THE SECOND SERIES OF +"THE IRISH AT THE FRONT"_ + + +By MICHAEL MACDONAGH +_Author of "Irish Life and Character"_ + + +_WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY_ +JOHN REDMOND, M.P. + + +HODDER AND STOUGHTON +LONDON NEW YORK TORONTO +MCMXVII + + + + +TO + +THE MEMORY OF + +MAJOR WILLIAM REDMOND, M.P. + +ROYAL IRISH REGIMENT (IRISH BRIGADE) + +WHO DIED OF WOUNDS RECEIVED IN ACTION + +JUNE 7, 1917 + +LEADING HIS MEN IN THE ATTACK + +ON WYTSCHAETE WOOD + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +BY JOHN REDMOND, M.P. + + +THE RESPONSE OF THE IRISH RACE + +This war is a war of liberation, and its battle-cry is the rights and +liberties of humanity. From the very beginning of the conflict my +colleagues of the Irish Party, and I myself, have availed of every +opportunity in Parliament, on the platform, and in the Press, to +present this view of it to the Irish race at home and abroad; and +despite the tragic mistakes made in regard to Ireland by the +successive Governments which have held office since war broke out, we +are still unshaken in our opinion that Ireland's highest interests lie +in the speedy and overwhelming victory of England and the Allies. + +The response of the Irish race the world over to our appeal to rise in +defence of civilisation and freedom has been really wonderful. The +example was set by Ireland herself. + +At the outbreak of the war I asked the Irish people, and especially +the young men of Ireland, to mark the profound change which has been +brought about in the relations of Ireland to the Empire by +wholeheartedly supporting the Allies in the field. I pointed out that +at long last, after centuries of misunderstanding, the democracy of +Great Britain had finally and irrevocably decided to trust Ireland +with self-government; and I called upon Ireland to prove that this +concession of liberty would have the same effect in our country as it +has had in every other portion of the Empire, and that henceforth +Ireland would be a strength instead of a weakness. I further pointed +out that the war was provoked by the intolerable military despotism of +Germany, that it was a war in defence of small nationalities, and that +Ireland would be false to her own history and traditions, as well as +to honour, good faith and self-interest, if she did not respond to my +appeal. + +The answer to that appeal is one of the most astonishing facts in +history. At the moment, fraught with the most terrible consequences to +the whole Empire, this Kingdom found for the first time in the history +of the relations between Great Britain and Ireland that the Irish +Nationalist members, representing the overwhelming mass of the people +of Ireland, were enabled to declare themselves upon the side of +England. They did that with their eyes open. They knew the +difficulties in the way. They knew--none so well--the distrust and +suspicion of British good faith which had been, in the past, universal +almost in Ireland. They recognised that the boon of self-government +had not been finally granted to their country. They knew the +traditional hostility which existed in many parts of Ireland to +recruiting for the British Army. Facing all these things, and all the +risks that they entailed, they told Ireland and her sons abroad that +it was their duty to rally to the support of the Allies in a war which +was in defence of the principles of freedom and civilisation. We +succeeded far better than we had anticipated, or hoped at the +commencement. This is a notorious fact. There is genuine enthusiasm in +Ireland on the side of the Allies. Addressing great popular gatherings +in every province in Ireland in support of the Allies, I called for a +distinctively Irish army, composed of Irishmen, led by Irishmen and +trained at home in Ireland. With profound gratitude I acknowledge the +magnificent response the country has made. For the first time in the +history of the Wars of England there is a huge Irish army in the +field. The achievements of that Irish army have covered Ireland with +glory before the world, and have thrilled our hearts with pride. North +and South have vied with each other in springing to arms, and, please +God, the sacrifices they have made side by side on the field of battle +will form the surest bond of a united Irish nation in the future. + +From Ireland, according to the latest official figures, 173,772 +Irishmen are serving in the Navy and Army, representing all classes +and creeds amongst our people. Careful inquiries made through the +churches in the north of England and Scotland and from other sources, +show that, in addition, at least 150,000 sons of the Irish race, most +of them born in Ireland, have joined the Colours in Great Britain. It +is a pathetic circumstance that these Irishmen in non-Irish regiments +are almost forgotten, except when their names appear in the casualty +lists. Some of the Irish papers have, for a considerable time past, +been publishing special lists of killed and wounded under the heading, +"Irish Casualties in British Regiments." One of these daily lists, +taken quite haphazard, and published on November 1, 1916, contains 225 +names, all distinctively Irish--O'Briens, O'Hanlons, Donovans, etc. +These men were scattered amongst the following non-Irish regiments-- + + Grenadier Guards. + Coldstream Guards. + Scots Guards. + Welsh Guards. + Royal Field Artillery. + Royal Engineers. + Royal Scots Fusiliers. + The Black Watch. + Northumberland Fusiliers. + Yorkshire Regiment. + East Yorks Regiment. + Dorsetshire Regiment. + Cheshire Regiment. + York and Lancaster Regiment. + Lancashire Fusiliers. + King's Royal Rifles. + London Regiment. + Manchester Regiment. + King's Liverpool Regiment. + Loyal North Lancashire Regiment. + Royal Warwickshire Regiment. + Highland Light Infantry. + Leicestershire Regiment. + Worcestershire Regiment. + Sherwood Foresters. + King's Own Yorks Light Infantry. + Border Regiment. + Durham Light Infantry. + Notts. & Derby Regiment. + Machine Gun Corps. + Army Service Corps. + Army Cyclist Corps. + +As showing the extent to which Scottish regiments at the Front are +made up of Irishmen, one newspaper quotes four hundred names from the +casualty lists issued on four successive days one week. All the names +are Irish, all the addresses are Scotch, and in only about twenty +cases were the men enrolled in Irish regiments, all the others being +attached to Scottish regiments. These sad records show the many +thousands of Irishmen serving in non-Irish regiments who are never +taken into account to the credit of Ireland, in estimating the part +she is playing in this war, until they come to light in the casualty +lists. + +In addition to these voluntary contributions of Ireland and her sons +in Great Britain to the British Army, I am informed on the highest +authority that from twenty to twenty-five per cent of all the troops +from the oversea Dominions are men of Irish blood. General Botha sent +me this cablegram from South Africa: "I entirely endorse your view +that this victory"--he is referring to his great defeat of the Germans +in their colonies--"is the fruit of the policy of liberty and the +recognition of national rights in this part of the Empire." General +Botha had enormous difficulties to face, serious racial animosity, and +bitter national memories. Does any fair-minded man think that General +Botha could have overcome those difficulties as he did if the war had +broken out just after the recognition of those national rights to +which he referred and before they had come into operation? The +national rights of Ireland are recognised, but they have not yet come +into operation. Yet it is true to say that the overwhelming sentiment +of the Irish people is with the Empire for the first time. That fact +is of incalculable value. Its influence has spread to every corner of +the Empire. If the sentiment of the Irish people at home had not been +with England in this war, the depressing and benumbing effect would +have been felt everywhere in the self-governing Dominions. Ireland +herself has made a splendid response, and the result has been that a +wave of enthusiasm has stirred the hearts of men of Irish blood +throughout the Empire. I received a New Year's card from the +commanding officer and the other officers of a regiment raised in +Vancouver, commanded by Irishmen and composed of Irishmen. They call +themselves "The Vancouver Irish Fusiliers." Then, not long since, in +Cape Town, green flags were presented by General Botha's wife--a +member of the historic Emmet family--to an Irish regiment raised +there. These facts constitute a striking result of the action we felt +it our duty to take to bring feeling in Ireland in regard to the war +into line with that of the rest of the Empire. Then there is that +remarkable Irish battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, the +Irish Canadian Rangers, which is composed of Irish Catholics and Irish +Protestants in equal numbers, commanded by officers more than half of +whom are Catholics and having a Catholic chaplain and a Protestant +chaplain. This battalion, unique among the fighting units raised at +home or abroad during the war, and a magnificent body of men, made a +tour through the ancient motherland of their race in January 1917 (on +their way to the Front), and received in Dublin, Belfast, Cork and +Limerick the most enthusiastic popular welcomes. + +Ireland is very proud of these sons of the Irish race who, in every +part of the Empire, have followed the lead which she herself has given +in rallying to the cause with which she has always sympathised and has +always supported--the cause of right against might. The Irish race is +represented in this war by at least half a million of men who have +voluntarily joined the Colours. How gallantly they have fought this +book, in part, relates. In his first series of _The Irish at the +Front_ Mr. MacDonagh deals with the achievements of the Irish Guards +and the Regular Irish regiments of the Line in Flanders and France in +the earlier years of the war; the landing of the Munsters and Dublins +of the immortal 29th Division at Beach V, Gallipoli; and the fighting +of the 10th (Irish) Division of the New Armies at Suvla Bay. The +story of these glorious deeds sent a wave of emotion through the land. +The King, addressing a battalion of the Irish Guards on St. Patrick's +Day, 1916, said-- + + "On St. Patrick's Day, when Irishmen the world over unite to + celebrate the memory of their Patron Saint, it gives me great + pleasure to inspect the reserve battalion of my Irish Guards, + and to testify my appreciation of the services rendered by the + regiment in this war.... I gratefully remember the heroic + endurance of the 1st Battalion in the arduous retreat from Mons, + again at Ypres on the critical November 1st, when, as Lord + Cavan, your Brigadier, wrote, those who were left showed the + enemy that Irish Guards must be reckoned with, however hard hit. + After twenty-eight days of incessant fighting against heavy + odds, the battalion came out of the line less than a company + strong, with only four officers--a glorious tribute to Irish + loyalty and endurance.... In conferring the Victoria Cross on + Lance-Corporal, now Lieutenant, Michael O'Leary, the first Irish + Guardsman to win this coveted distinction, I was proud to honour + a deed that, in its fearless contempt of death, illustrates the + spirit of my Irish Guards. At Loos the 2nd Battalion received + its baptism of fire and confirmed the high reputation already + won by the 1st Battalion." + +_The Daily Telegraph_ (London), writing on March 18, 1916, said-- + + "There is one key to the soul of Ireland--the word 'freedom.' It + was realised instantly that this was no dynastic war on the part + of the Allies, no struggle for material ends, but a life and + death conflict for liberty of thought and action. Once the issue + was exposed, Irishmen, with all the white heat which injustice + inspires in their breasts, threw themselves into the battle. The + enemy has since felt Irish steel and fallen under Irish bullets. + Whatever the future may have in store, the British people will + never forget the generous blood of the sister nation, which has + been shed on so many hard-fought battlefields since the + world-war began." + +In this, the second series of _The Irish at the Front_, the thrilling +story is continued. The Irish troops dealt with are all of the New +Armies--the Ulster Division, the Irish Division and the Tyneside Irish +Brigade. I am as proud of the Ulster regiments as I am of the +Nationalist regiments. I do not want to boast of their valour. We +Irishmen are inclined to take it as a matter of course. These Irish +regiments, Unionist and Nationalist, merely keep up the tradition of +our race. But I say that Lord Kitchener's words remain true--the words +that he wrote to the Viceregal Recruiting Conference in Dublin in +1915, when he said that in the matter of recruiting, "Ireland's +performance has been magnificent." Let me ask any fair-minded man this +question: If five years ago any one had predicted that in a great war +in which the Empire was engaged 173,772 men would have been raised +from Ireland, and that there would be more than half a million +Irishmen with the Colours, would he not have been looked upon as a +lunatic? It is the free offering of Ireland. Surely it must be +regarded as a proud and astonishing record! + + J.E. REDMOND. + + + + +PREFACE + + +This narrative is concerned chiefly with the three distinctively Irish +units of the New Armies engaged on the Western Front--the Ulster +Division, the Irish Division (representative of the south and west), +and the "Tyneside Irish," in which Irishmen living in the north of +England enlisted. It also deals incidentally with the Irish Regular +regiments of the Line, and with that numerous body of Irishmen serving +in English, Scottish and Welsh battalions and in the Anzacs and +Canadians. + +The first series of _The Irish at the Front_ covers, first, the +fighting of the Irish regiments of the Regular Army in France, +Flanders and the Dardanelles during the early stages of the war; and, +secondly, the operations of the 10th (Irish) Division--composed +entirely of "Kitchener's men"--against the Turks at Gallipoli. The +latter, an exceptionally fine body of young Irishmen, gallantly fought +and fell--as the story discloses--in that expedition, so ill-fated and +yet so romantic, though they had never handled a rifle or done a day's +drill before the war. In this series we see Irishmen of the same type +matched against the Germans in France. As we know, Germany confidently +expected that such levies, hastily raised and insufficiently trained, +would break in pieces at the first encounter with her seasoned +troops. But it was the formidable German lines that were broken, and +they were broken by these very raw levies at the bayonet's point. + +For the telling of the Irish part in the story of the Somme I am much +indebted to the assistance given by officers and men of the Irish +battalions engaged in that mighty battle. But the Irish soldiers are +not only "splendid fighting material"--a rather non-human phrase now +much in vogue, as if the only thing that matters in warfare is the +physical capacity of man--they have souls and minds and hearts, as +well as strong right hands, and of these also something is said in +this book. + + MICHAEL MACDONAGH. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + +INTRODUCTION BY JOHN REDMOND, M.P. + + PREFACE 7 + + CHAP. + I.--IN THE TRENCHES WITH THE CONNAUGHT RANGERS 11 + Scenes Comic and Tragic + + II.--EXPLOITS OF THE ULSTER DIVISION 24 + Belfast's Tribute to the Dead + + III.--ULSTERS' ATTACK ON THE SLOPES OF THIEPVAL. 32 + "Not a man turned to come back, not one" + + IV.--FOUR VICTORIA CROSSES TO THE ULSTER DIVISION 47 + Brilliant Additions to the Record of Irish Valour + and Romance + + V.--COMBATIVENESS OF THE IRISH SOLDIER 56 + The British Blends of Courage + + VI.--WITH THE TYNESIDE IRISH 67 + Over the Heights of La Boiselle, through Bailiff's + Wood to Contalmaison + + VII.--THE WEARING OF RELIGIOUS EMBLEMS AT THE FRONT 84 + + VIII.--THE IRISH SOLDIER'S HUMOUR AND SERIOUSNESS 104 + Stories from the Front, Funny and Otherwise + + IX.--THE IRISH BRIGADE 118 + "Everywhere and Always Faithful" + + X.--IRISH REPLIES TO GERMAN WILES AND POISON GAS 128 + How the Munsters captured the Enemy's wheedling + Placards + + XI.--STORMING OF GUILLAMONT BY THE IRISH BRIGADE 138 + Raising the Green Flag in the Centre of the Village + + XII.--THE BRIGADE'S POUNCE ON GUINCHY 146 + Gallant Boy Officers of the Dublin Fusiliers + + XIII.--HONOURS AND DISTINCTIONS FOR THE IRISH BRIGADE 152 + How Lieut. Holland of the Leinsters won the V.C. + + XIV.--THE WOODEN CROSS 158 + Death of Lieut. T.M. Kettle of the Dublins + + XV.--MORE IRISH HEROES OF THE VICTORIA CROSS 165 + Deeds of the Highest Merit and Lustre + + XVI.--RELATIONS BETWEEN ENEMY TRENCHES 182 + Irish Kindliness and German Guile + + + + +CHAPTER I + +IN THE TRENCHES WITH THE CONNAUGHT RANGERS + +SCENES COMIC AND TRAGIC + + +"The men are as anxious for the road, sir, as if 'twere to Galway +races they were going, no less, or to Ballinasloe Fair," said the +company sergeant-major to the captain. Those referred to belonged to a +battalion of the Connaught Rangers ordered to the firing-trenches for +the first time. "The real thing at last;" "The genuine McCoy, and no +mistake," they said to one another as, in preparation for the march, +they hurriedly packed their things in the barns and cow-sheds that +served as billets, and, to provide further vent for their jubilation, +danced Irish jigs and reels and sang national songs. + +These Irishmen had read a lot about the fighting, and had heard a +great deal more, but they felt that print and talk, however graphic +and copious, left many strange things to be disclosed by the actual +experience. Some of them would "get the beck"--the call from +Death--but what matter? Were not soldiers who died in action to be +envied, rather than pitied, by those who found themselves alive when +the war was over, and had not been to the mysterious Front at all? So +they thought and said, and now that they were on the road there was a +look of proud elation on their faces, as though they had been singled +out by special favour for a grand adventure. They did not regard +themselves in the least as heroes, these entirely unsophisticated men, +without a trace of self-consciousness. They had volunteered for +service in the belief that Ireland would be false to her historical +self if she did not take part in this war for freedom, democracy and +humanity. But now there was nothing in their minds about revenging the +wrongs of Belgium, or driving the invader from the soil of France, or +even of saving the British Empire. It was the fight that was the +thing. It was the chance of having a smack at "the Gerrys"--as the +enemy is called by the Irish soldiers--that they prized. More exalted +feelings would come again when the battle was over and won. Then, and +not till then, as they return with many gaps in their ranks, do Irish +troops see themselves as an army of redemption and deliverance; and +the only land they think of having saved is Ireland. To them Ireland +personifies all the great causes of the war, and a blow struck for +these causes, no matter where, is a blow struck for her. + +By the light of many stars sparkling in the sky that dark October +night the men could see signs that battles had been fought in the +country they were traversing. It was a devastated bare expanse, +stretching for miles and miles, very muddy and broken up with shell +holes. Roads had been made across it, and along one of these the +battalion went in the wake of the guides with swinging lanterns. The +men were fully loaded. In addition to his fighting equipment, almost +every one carried something extra, such as a pick or shovel, a bag of +rations, or a bundle of fire-wood. The company officers also had heavy +packs strapped on their shoulders. Great good-humour prevailed. +Whenever, at awkward turns of the road, or at very dark points, +progress was interrupted, those in front would shout some preposterous +explanation of the delay to their comrades behind. "Begonnies, boys, +we're taking tickets here for Galway. Word has come down that the war +is over," cried one joker. Deep groans of pretended dismay and +disappointment rose from the rear ranks. "And poor me, without a +German helmet, or even a black eye, to show that I was in it," was one +of the responses. + +When the open plain was quitted the battalion disappeared into a +trench like a narrow country lane winding between high banks. It was +much darker in these deeps than it had been outside. The gloom was +broken occasionally by the light of lanterns carried by sentinels, or +electric torches at junctions where several trenches crossed. Soon the +trench became narrower and more tortuous. It also became more soaked +with rain. Pools of water were frequently encountered. The battalion +was now a floundering, staggering, overloaded and perspiring closely +packed mass of men, walking in couples or in single file and treading +on each other's heels. + +The mishaps arising from this crowded scramble in the dark through mud +and mire, between banks of unsupported crumbling earth, did not +exhaust the Irish cheerfulness of the battalion. There was laughter +when a man got a crack on the skull from a rifle which a comrade +carried swung across his shoulder. There was louder laughter still +when another, stooping to pick up something he had dropped, was bumped +into from behind and sent sprawling. So sucking and tenacious was the +mud that frequently each dragging footstep called for quite a physical +effort, and a man was thankful that he did not have to leave a boot +behind. "Ah, sure this is nothin' to the bog away in Connemara, where +I often sunk up to me neck when crossing it to cut turf," was the +comfort imparted in a soft brogue. "True for you, Tim," remarked +another. "It's an ould sayin' and a true one that there's nothin' so +bad but it could be worse." + +The trench certainly proved the truth of the saying. Bad as it had +been, it sank to a still lower degree of slush. There were deep holes +filled with water into which the men went with an abrupt plunge and +passed through with much splashing. Just ahead of one of these +particularly treacherous points singing was heard. The chorus was +taken up by many voices, and its last line was rapped out with hearty +boisterousness-- + + "Out and make way for the bould Fenian Men." + +This joyous noise heralded the appearance of a party of the Dublin +Fusiliers, belonging to the same Division, who were coming down the +trench. By the light of lanterns and lamps it was seen that they had +taken off their trousers and socks and, holding up their shirts, were +wading in their boots blithely through the pools, like girls in bare +legs and lifted petticoats paddling at the seaside. + +The Connaught men laughed hilariously. "Sure the Dublin jackeens have +never been beaten yet for cuteness," they cried. "They stripped to +their pelts so as they wouldn't get the 'fluensy by means of their wet +clothes. And, faix, 'twould be the greatest pity in the world anything +would ail stout and hearty boys like them." As they spoke, the men of +the west lay close against the embankments to let the men of the east +go by. But weren't the Dublins in the divil of a hurry back to +billets? the Rangers went on to remark. And why not? answered the +Dublins. Sure if they'd only sniff with their noses they would smell +the roast beef and the steaming punch that were being got ready for +them by special orders of Field-Marshal Haig for the great things they +did away up in the firing-line. "Lucky boys!" shouted the Rangers, +responding to the joke. "And tell us now, have ye left us a Gerry at +all alive to get a pelt at, and we new at the game?" A Dublin man gave +the reply as he went past. "To tell ye the truth, except there's a +raid, there isn't much divarshion in the way of fighting; but every +man of ye will have his full and plenty of mud and water before he's +much oulder." "Well, there's nothing in that to yowl about." "Maybe +not, if you can swim." The trench resounded with laughter at the +exchange of banter. But for fear any of the Rangers might take some of +the talk as half a joke and whole earnest, a kind-hearted sergeant of +the Dublins, wishful to say the cheery word, called out, "Don't mind +them playboys; there's no more water and mud in it than is natural in +such wet weather as we're getting." + +The Rangers reached their destination just as the day was dawning in a +cold drizzle from a grey, lowering sky. They were all plastered with +yellowish mud. Mud was on their hands, on their faces, in their hair, +down their backs; and the barrels of their rifles were choked with +mud. For the next four days and nights of duty in the trenches they +were to be lapped about with mud. War was to be for them a mixture of +mud and high explosives. Of the two mud was the ugliest and most +hateful. Soon they would come to think that there was hardly anything +left in the world but mud; and from that they would advance to a state +of mind in which they doubted whether there ever had been a time in +their existence when they were free from mud. But through it all this +battalion, like the others in the Division, preserved their +good-humour. They are known, in fact, as "The Light-Hearted Brigade." +Every difficulty was met with a will to overcome it, tempered with a +joke and a laugh. No matter how encrusted with filth their bodies +might be, their souls were always above contamination. + +Men off duty at night slept in shelter pits dug deep into the soil by +the side of the trenches. It was overcrowded in stark violation of all +the sanitary by-laws relating to ventilation in civil life. No time +was wasted in undressing. The men lay down fully clad in their +mud-crusted clothes, even to their boots, wrapped round in blankets. +During the night they were awakened by a loud explosion. "All right, +boys; don't stir," cried the sergeant. "It's only one of those chape +German alarum clocks going off at the wrong time. Get off to sleep +again, me heroes." In the morning more time was saved by getting up +fully dressed, and not having to wash or to shave, so as to spare the +water. A private, looking round the dug-out and noticing the absence +of windows, remarked, "Faix, those of us who are glaziers and +window-cleaners will find it hard to make a living in this country." + +As the battalion was new to the trenches, another Irish battalion of +more experience shared with them the holding of this particular line. +To a group of lads gathered about a brazier of glowing coke in a +sheltered traverse an old sergeant that had seen service in the +Regular Army was giving what, no doubt, he thought was sound and +valuable advice, but which was at times of a quality calculated more +to disturb, perhaps, than to reassure. + +"Bullets are nothin' at all," said he. "I wouldn't give you a snap of +me fingers for them. Listen to them now, flyin' about and whinin' and +whimperin' as if they wor lost, stolen or strayed, and wor lookin' for +a billet to rest in. They differ greatly, do these bullets; but sure +in time you'll larn them all by sound and be able to tell the humour +each one of them is in. There's only one kind of bullet, boys, that +you'll never hear; and that is the one which gives you such a pelt as +to send you home to Ireland or to kingdom come. But," he continued, +"what'll put the fear of God into your sowls, if it isn't there +already, is the heavy metal which the Gerrys pitch across to us in +exchange for ours. The first time I was up here I was beside a man +whose teeth went chatterin' in a way that put me in fear of me life. +Sure, didn't I think for a minute it was a Gerry machine-gun--may the +divil cripple them!--startin' its bloody work at me ear. Now, there +must be none of that in this trench. If you're afraid, don't show it; +remimber always that the Gerrys are in just as great a fright, if not +more so. Show your spunk. Stand fast or sit tight, and hope for the +best. Above all, clinch your teeth." + +The bombardment of a trench by shells from guns in the rear of the +enemy's lines, or by bombs thrown from mortars close at hand, is +probably the greatest test of endurance that has ever been set to +humanity. The devastating effect is terrific. At each explosion men +may be blown to pieces or buried alive. Even the concussion often +kills. A man might escape being hit by the flying projectiles and yet +be blinded or made deaf or deprived of his speech by the shock. All +feel as if their insides had collapsed. The suspense of waiting for +the next shell or bomb, the uncertainty as to where it is going to +fall, followed by the shake which the detonation gives the nervous +system, are enough to wear out the most stout-hearted of soldiers. It +is then that companionship and discipline tell. The men catch from one +another the won't-appear-frightened determination, and the spirit of +won't-give-in. + +Crash! A fierce gust of wind sweeps through the trench. Men are lifted +from their feet and flung violently to the ground amid showers of +earth and stones. There is a brief pause; and then is heard the most +unexpected of sounds--not the moaning of pain, but a burst of +laughter! Four men of the battalion were playing "Forty-five," a card +game beloved of Hibernians, seated under a piece of tarpaulin propped +up on poles, as much at their ease as if they lay under a hedge on a +Sunday evening in summer at home in Ireland, with only the priest to +fear, and he known to be on a sick call at the other side of the +parish. The bomb came at the most inopportune moment, just as the fall +of the trick was about to be decided. When the card party recovered +their senses, the man who held the winning card was found to be +wounded. "'Twas the Gerrys--sweet bad luck to them!--that jinked the +game that time, boys," he exclaimed. His companions, standing round +him, burst into laughter at the remark. + +Merriment is not uncommon as the shells are bursting. The spectacle of +four or five men hurriedly tumbling for shelter into the same "funk +hole," a wild whirl of arms and legs, has its absurd side and never +fails to excite amusement. The way in which men disentangle themselves +from the ruins caused by the explosion is often also grotesque. Racy +oddities of character are revealed. One man was buried in the loose +earth. His comrades hastened to rescue him, and to cheer him up told +him he would be got out next to no time, for Tim Maloney, the biggest +as well as the fastest digger in the company was engaged on the job. +"I feel that right well," cried the victim, as he spluttered the mud +from his mouth. "But I've enough on top of me without him! Pull me out +of this from under his feet." There was an explosion close to a man at +work repairing the trench. The man was overheard saying to himself, as +he turned his back disdainfully to the shell, "Oh, go to blazes, with +yez." + +But it is not all comedy and farce. How could it be with stern, +black-visaged Death always watching with wolfish eyes to see men die? +Fate plays unimaginable tricks with its victims. A bullet stops many a +casual conversation for ever. "Look at this!" cries a man, holding up +his cap for a comrade to see the bullet-hole that had just been made +through it. "A close shave," he adds; "but what matter? Isn't a miss +as good as a mile?" And, as he was putting the cap on again, he fell a +corpse to a surer bullet. There he lay, just a bundle of muddy khaki; +and a dozing comrade, upon whom he dropped, elbowed him aside, saying +impatiently, "Get out of that, with yer andrew-martins" (jokes and +tricks); "can't you let a poor divil get a wink of sleep?" Tragedy +takes on, at times, queer, fantastic shapes. A man has his right arm +blown off close to the shoulder. He picks the limb up with his left +hand, shouting, "My arm! my arm! Oh, holy mother of God, where's my +arm?" In raging agony he rushes shrieking down the trench carrying the +limb with him until he encounters his company officer. "Oh, captain, +darlin'," he cries. "Look what the Gerrys have done to me! May God's +curse light upon them and theirs for ever! An' now I'll never shoulder +a rifle for poor ould Ireland any more." + +The night, and only the night, has terrors for the Irish soldiers, +especially those from the misty mountains and remote seaboard of the +west and south. In the daylight they are merry and prolific of jest. +Strongly gregarious by instinct, they delight in companionship. They +are sustained and upheld by the excitement of battle's uproar. They +will face any danger in the broad daylight. But they hate to be alone +in the dark anywhere, and are afraid to pass at night even a graveyard +in which their own beloved kith and kin lie peacefully at rest for +ever. They feel "lonesome and queer" as they would say themselves. + +So it is that when by himself at a listening post in a shell hole in +No Man's Land, lapped about with intense blackness, peering and +hearkening, the superstitious soul of the Irish soldier seems to +conjure up all the departed spectral bogies and terrors of the Dark +Ages. He is ready to cry out like Ajax, the Greek warrior, in "Homer," +"Give us but light, O Jove; and in the light, if thou seest fit, +destroy us." + +Even a Cockney soldier, lacking as he is in any subtle sympathy with +the emotional and immaterial sides of life, confesses that it gives +him the creeps proper to be out there in the open jaws of darkness, +away from his mates and almost right under the nose of old Boche. An +Irish soldier will admit that on this duty he does have a genuine +feeling of terror. Crouching in the soft, yielding earth, he imagines +he is in the grave, watching and waiting he knows not for what. +Everything is indefinite and uncertain. There is a vague presentiment +that some unknown but awful evil is impending. Perhaps a thousand +hostile German eyes are staring at him through the darkness along +rifle barrels; or, more horrible still, perhaps a thousand invisible +devils are on the prowl to drag his soul to hell. The supernatural +powers are the only forces the Irish soldier fears. + +The senses of the sentry are so abnormally alert that if grass were +growing near him he had only to put his ear to the ground to hear the +stirring of the sap. But though he listens intently, not a sound comes +out of the blackness. He regards the profound stillness as +confirmation of his worst fears. All is silence in the trench behind +him, where his comrades ought to be. He would welcome the relief of +voices and the sound of feet in the enemy's lines. But the Gerrys give +no sign of life. Is he alone in the whole wide world, the solitary +survivor of this terrible war? What would he not part with to be able +to get up and run! But he is fixed to his post by a sense of duty, +just as strong as if he were chained there by iron bands. To cry out +would afford immense relief to his overwrought feelings. But his +tongue seems paralysed in his mouth. Then he bethinks him of his +prayers. From his inside tunic pocket he takes out his beads--which +his mother gave him at parting and made him promise faithfully always +to carry about his person--and, making the sign of the cross, he is +soon absorbed in the saying of the Rosary. Resignation and fortitude +came to his aid. The invisible evil agencies by which he had really +been encompassed--loneliness, anxiety, melancholy--are dispelled. + +Scouting is the night work that appeals most to the Irish soldiers. +There is in it the excitement of movement, the element of adventure +and the support of companionship, too, for four, five or six go out +together. Oh, the fearful joy of crawling on one's stomach across the +intervening ground, seeking for a passage through the enemy's wire +entanglements or wriggling under it, taking a peep over their +parapets, dropping down into a sparsely occupied part of the trench, +braining the sentry and returning with rifle and cap as trophies! This +is one of the most perilous forms of the harassing tactics of war, and +for its success uncommon pluck and resource are required. Yet, like +everything else at the Front, it often has an absurd side. A Connaught +Ranger, back from such an expedition, related that, hearing the Gerrys +talking, he called out, "How many of ye are there?" To his surprise he +got an answer in English: "Four." Then, throwing in a bomb, he said, +"Divide that between ye, an' be damned to ye." "Faix, 'twas the bomb +that divided them," he added, "for didn't they come out of the trench +after me in smithereens." Another party returned from a raid with +tears streaming down their cheeks. "Is it bad news ye bring, crying +in that way?" they were asked. No! they hadn't bad news; nor were they +crying. If it was crying they were, wouldn't they be roaring and +bawling? and there wasn't a sound out of them for any one to hear. +Only asses could say such a thing as that. 'Twas they that looked like +silly asses, they were told, with the tears pouring out of their eyes +like the Powerscourt waterfall. What the mischief was the matter with +them, anyway? Well, then, if any one cared to know, was the reply, +'twas the Gerrys that treated them to a whiff of lachrymose gas! + +The fatigue, the disgust, and the danger of life in the trenches are, +at times, stronger than any other impulse, whether of the flesh or of +the soul. "'Tis enough to drive one to the drink: a grand complaint +when there's plenty of porter about," said a private; "but a terrible +fate when there's only the water we're wading in, and that same full +up--the Lord save us!--of creeping and wriggling things." "True for +you; it's the quare life, and no mistake," remarked another. "You do +things and get praise for them, such as smashing a fellow's skull, or +putting a bullet through him, which if you were to do at home you'd be +soon on the run, with a hue and cry and all the police of the country +at your heels." + +Back in billets again, for a wash and a shave and a brush up, and +lying in their straw beds in the barns, the Rangers would thus +philosophise on their life. The bestial side of it--the terrible +overcrowding of the men, the muck, the vermin, the gobbling of food +with filthy hands, the stench of corrupting bodies lying in the open, +or insufficiently buried, and, along with all that, its terror, agony +and tragedy are, indeed, utterly repellent to human nature. Still, +there was general agreement that they had never spent a week of such +strange and exquisite experiences. Fear there was at times, but it +seemed rather to keep up a state of pleasurable emotion than to +generate anguish and distress. Certainly most Connaught Rangers will +swear that life in the trenches has at least three thrilling and +exalting moments. One is when the tot of rum is served round. Another +is the first faint appearance of light in the sky behind the enemy's +lines, proclaiming that the night is far spent and the day is at hand. +The third is the call to "stand to," telling that a visit from the +Gerrys is expected, when the men cease to be navvies and become +soldiers again--throwing aside the hateful pick and shovel and taking +up the beloved rifle and bayonet. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +EXPLOITS OF THE ULSTER DIVISION + +BELFAST'S TRIBUTE TO THE DEAD + + "I am not an Ulsterman, but as I followed the amazing + attack of the Ulster Division on July 1, I felt that I + would rather be an Ulsterman than anything else in the + world. With shouts of 'Remember the Boyne' and 'No + Surrender, boys,' they threw themselves at the Germans, + and before they could be restrained had penetrated to the + enemy fifth line. The attack was one of the greatest + revelations of human courage and endurance known in + history."--A British officer on the exploits of the + Ulster Division, July 1, 1916. + + +One of the most striking and impressive tributes ever paid to the +heroic dead was that of Belfast on the 12th of July, 1916, in memory +of the men of the Ulster Division who fell on the opening day of that +month in the great British offensive on the Somme. For five minutes +following the hour of noon all work and movement, business and +household, were entirely suspended. In the flax mills, the linen +factories, the ship yards, the munition workshops, men and women +paused in their labours. All machinery was stopped, and the huge +hammers became silent. In shop and office business ceased; at home the +housewife interrupted her round of duties; in the streets traffic was +brought to a halt, on the local railways the running trains pulled up. +The whole population stood still, and in deep silence, with bowed +heads but with uplifted hearts, turned their thoughts to the valleys +and slopes of Picardy, where on July 1 the young men of Ulster, the +pride and flower of the province, gave their lives for the +preservation of the British Empire, the existence of separate and +independent States, and the rule of law and justice in their +international relations. + +"The Twelfth" is the great festival of Belfast. On that day is +celebrated the Williamite victories of the Boyne, July 1, and Aughrim, +July 12, 1690, in which the cause of the Stuarts went down for ever. +It is kept as a general holiday of rejoicing and merrymaking. The +members of the Orange lodges turn out with their dazzling banners and +their no less gorgeous yellow, crimson and blue regalia; and the +streets resound with the lilt of fifes, the piercing notes of cornets, +the boom and rattle of many drums, the tramp of marching feet and the +cheers of innumerable spectators. There was no such demonstration on +July 12, 1916. For the first time in the history of the Orange +Institution the observance of the anniversary was voluntarily +abandoned, so that there might be no stoppage of war work in the ship +yards and munition factories. But at the happy suggestion of the Lord +Mayor (Sir Crawford McCullagh), five minutes of the day were given +reverently to lofty sorrow for the dead, who, by adding "The Ancre," +"Beaumont Hamel" and "Thiepval Wood" to "Derry," "Enniskillen," "The +Boyne" and "Aughrim" on the banners of Ulster, have given a new +meaning and glory to the celebration of "The Twelfth" in which all +Ireland can share. Major-General O.S.W. Nugent, D.S.O., commanding the +Ulster Division, in a special Order of the Day, issued after the +advance, wrote-- + + "Nothing finer has been done in the War. + + "The Division has been highly tried and has emerged from the + ordeal with unstained honour, having fulfilled in every part the + great expectations formed of it. + + "None but troops of the best quality could have faced the fire + which was brought to bear on them, and the losses suffered + during the advance. + + "A magnificent example of sublime courage and discipline." + +This glory was gained at a heavy cost. There was cause for bitter +grief as well as the thrill of pride in Ulster. Nothing has brought +home more poignantly to the inhabitants of a small area of the kingdom +the grim sacrifices and the unutterable pathos of the war than the +many pages of names and addresses of the dead and wounded--relatives, +friends and acquaintances--which appeared in the Belfast newspapers +for days before "The Twelfth" and after. So blinds were drawn in +business and private houses; flags were flown at half-mast; and bells +were mournfully tolling for Ulster's irremediable losses when, at the +stroke of twelve o'clock, traffic came instantaneously to a +standstill, and for five minutes the citizens solemnly stood with +bared heads in the teeming rain thinking of the gallant dead, the +darkened homes and the inconsolable mothers and wives. + +The Ulster Division possesses an individuality all its own. It has no +like or equal among the units of the British Army on account of its +family character; the close and intimate blood relationship of its +members; its singleness of purpose; the common appeal of racial, +political and religious ideals that binds it together by stronger +links than steel. The United Kingdom, as a whole, may be said to have +been totally unready when war broke out. But it happened that one +small section of this industrial and peace-loving community was +prepared, to some extent, for the mighty emergency. That was Ulster. +It was immersed in business at the time, just as much as Manchester or +Sheffield, and in making money out of its flourishing prosperity. But, +unlike those English industrial centres, Ulster had in its history and +traditions an influence which bred a combative disposition, and ever +kept burning a martial flame, even in its marts and workshops. The +community was convinced that in defence of all they hold dearest in +religious beliefs and political principles they might have some day, +not, as in England when opinions are at stake, to flock to the polling +stations at a General Election, but take to the field and fight. The +very pick of the manhood of the province joined the Ulster Volunteer +Force, and armed and trained themselves as soldiers. So it was that in +the years immediately preceding the war it seemed almost certain they +would have to follow the example of their forefathers centuries before +and raise the Orange flag at Enniskillen and Derry. Then came the +challenge of Germany to British ideals. The aim and purpose of the +Ulster Volunteer Force remained the same, as the members conceived it, +but it was turned into a wholly unexpected channel. By an astounding +transformation of events they were to bleed and give their lives for +all they revere and cherish, not in Ulster but on the hills and in the +woods of Picardy. + +The Ulster Division is entirely Protestant and Unionist; or was, until +it was decimated on the Somme. It was formed out of the men who had +previously bound themselves together by a solemn covenant, signed on +"Ulster Day," Saturday, September 28, 1912, to stand by one another in +defending, for themselves and their children, their cherished civil +and religious heritage, should Home Rule be established. Thus the +Division is unparalleled for its kind since Cromwell's "Ironsides" in +enlisting stern religious fervour and political enthusiasm in a +fighting phalanx. It consists of twelve battalions forming three +brigades. It is wholly Irish. Nine of the battalions have the +regimental title of Royal Irish Rifles. The other battalions have the +titles of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and the Royal Irish +Fusiliers, the two other regiments of the Line associated with +Ulster. The battalions have also territorial classifications denoting +their origin from the Ulster Volunteer Force, such as "North Belfast +Volunteers"; "East Belfast Volunteers"; "Young Citizen Volunteers"; +"South Belfast Volunteers"; "West Belfast Volunteers"; "South Antrim +Volunteers"; "Down Volunteers"; "County Armagh Volunteers"; "Central +Antrim Volunteers"; "Tyrone Volunteers"; "Donegal and Fermanagh +Volunteers"; "Derry Volunteers." It has its own Engineers, Army +Service Corps, Army Medical Corps and a complete Ambulance equipment. +There are also reserve battalions. In the pleasant surroundings of the +Botanic Gardens, Belfast, a splendid hospital was established for the +care of the wounded, and the provision of artificial limbs to those +who might need them; and as evidence of the characteristic +thoroughness with which everything was attended to, a fund has been +raised to assist members of the Division who may be left maimed and +broken in health, and to support the dependents of the fallen, outside +any aid that may be derived from the State. The Commander, +Major-General Nugent, is a county Cavan man, a Deputy Lieutenant for +the county, and a kinsman of the Earl of Westmeath. He served in the +King's Royal Rifles for seventeen years, and was wounded in both the +Chitral and South African campaigns. + +The Division completed its training at Seaford, in Sussex. On visiting +the district I was amused to find that the advent of "the wild Irish" +had been anticipated by the inhabitants with much misgiving. They were +apprehensive of their ancient peace being disturbed by the hilarity +and commotion that spring from high and undisciplined spirits. What +did happen agreeably surprised the Sussex folk. The Ulstermen quickly +earned the esteem of every one for their affable qualities and +good-humour. What was particularly remarkable was that they were found +to be most pliant and tractable--qualities which, by common tradition, +are supposed not to be looked for in any body of Irishmen; and as for +their moral behaviour, what was more astonishing still was that the +church or the chapel was to them infinitely more attractive than the +inn. + +So the Division prepared themselves for taking the field against the +enemy. They were reviewed by the King shortly before leaving for the +Front. "Your prompt patriotic answer to the nation's call to arms will +never be forgotten," said his Majesty. "The keen exertions of all +ranks during the period of training have brought you to a state of +efficiency not unworthy of any Regular Army. I am confident that in +the field you will nobly uphold the traditions of the fine regiments +whose names you bear. Ever since your enrolment I have closely watched +the growth and steady progress of all units. I shall continue to +follow with interest the fortunes of your Division. In bidding you +farewell I pray God may bless you in all your undertakings." In the +autumn of 1915 they went to France, determined to uphold the highest +traditions of the fighting qualities of the Irish race, and burning +for a chance of distinction. + +During the winter months of 1915-16 the Division took its turns in the +firing-line. Every battalion experienced the hardships and dangers of +the front trenches, when the weather was at its worst for chills, +bronchitis, pneumonia and frost-bite, and when the Germans were most +active at sniping and bombarding. Names of men in the Division began +to appear in the lists of casualties within ten days of the landing in +France. The battalions passed through these preliminary stages with +courage, endurance and splendid determination. They quickly earned a +fine reputation among the highest military commanders for such +soldierly qualities as willingness and cheerfulness in doing any sort +of work, however unpleasant, that fell to them in the trenches, and +their coolness and alertness on such dangerous missions as going out +at night to the listening posts in No Man's Land and repairing the +wire entanglements. Eager to snatch their share of peril and glory, +they were also among the foremost in volunteering for such wild +adventures as bombing raids on the German trenches under cover of +darkness. One such daring exploit by the Tyrone Volunteers was the +subject of a special order of the day issued by Major-General Nugent, +commanding the Division. It was as follows-- + + "A raid on the German trenches was carried out at midnight on + ---- by the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. The raiding party + consisted of Major W.J. Peacocke, Captain J. Weir, Lieutenant + W.S. Furness, Second-lieutenant L.W.H. Stevenson, + Second-Lieutenant R.W. M'Kinley, Second-Lieutenant J. Taylor, + and eighty-four other ranks. The raid was completely successful, + and was carried out exactly as planned. Six German dugouts, in + which it is certain there were a considerable number of men, + were thoroughly bombed, and a machine-gun was blown up, while a + lively bombing fight took place between the blocking detachments + of the raiding party and the Germans. Having accomplished the + purpose of the raid, the party was withdrawn, with the loss of + one man killed and two wounded. The raid was ably organised by + Major Peacocke, and was carried out by the officers and men of + the party exactly in accordance with the plan, and the + discipline and determination of the party was all that could be + desired. The Divisional Commander desires that his + congratulations should be extended to all who took part in it. + + "Brigadier-General Hickman, in a special brigade order, says the + arrangements and plans reflect the greatest credit on Colonel A. + St. Q. Ricardo, D.S.O., commanding the battalion, Major + Peacocke, and the other officers concerned. The whole scheme was + executed with great dash and determination, cool judgment and + nerve." + +Such was the fame of the raid and its success that the +Commander-in-Chief, Sir Douglas Haig, visited the battalion and +personally congratulated them. + +Dr. Crozier, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ireland, visited +the Division in January 1916; and after a week spent with the +battalions, brought home a deep impression of their spirit and +devotion. "A more capable, energetic and cheerful body of men I have +never come across," he writes. "I have seen them at rifle practice, +bomb-throwing, route marching, road-mending, and in the trenches, and +everywhere my experience was the same--officers and men working in +splendid harmony, and taking the keenest interest in any and every job +they were given to do. One night I met a couple of hundred men coming +back from eight days' weary work in water-logged trenches, and they +were singing so lustily that I really thought at first they were +coming from a concert. And yet the war is to them a terrible reality, +and they have already experienced some of its horror. I could not help +noticing that this has produced a deep sense of responsibility, and +has intensified their belief in the reality of duty; and whether at +Sunday services or at weekday informal addresses, there were no +restless or inattentive men, but they seemed to welcome every word +that spoke of God's presence and guidance in all life's difficulties +and dangers." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +ULSTERS' ATTACK ON THE SLOPES OF THIEPVAL + +"NOT A MAN TURNED TO COME BACK, NOT ONE" + + +The Division was put to the great test on July 1, 1916, the memorable +day of the opening of the Battle of the Somme and the British attack +in force to break through the German trenches in Picardy. It was a +formidable task. The strength of the enemy positions was that they +stood on high ground. That, also, was the reason of their importance. +The table-land must be taken and held to permit of an advance in the +stretch of open country spreading on the other side to the north. It +was to be uphill work. So the battle became the greatest the world has +ever known, so far, for its dimensions, the numbers engaged and the +duration. The Ulstermen were in the left wing of the British lines, +and the scene of their operations was, roughly, three miles of broken +country, dips and swells, on each side of the river Ancre, between the +village of Beaumont Hamel, nestling in a nook of the hill above the +river, eastwards to the slopes of Thiepval, perched on a height about +500 feet, below the river, all within the German lines. The main body +of the Division assembled in the shelter of a Thiepval wood. +"Porcupine Wood" it was called by the men. The trees were so stripped +of foliage and lopped into distorted shapes by enemy gun-fire that +their bare limbs stood up like quills of the fretful porcupine. At +half-past seven in the morning the advance commenced. For ten days the +British batteries had been continuously bombarding the whole German +front. There was no sudden hush of the cannonade at the moment of the +attack. For a minute there was a dramatic pause while the guns were +being lifted a point higher so that they might drop their shells +behind the enemy's first lines. Then the British infantry emerged from +their trenches and advanced behind this furious and devastating +curtain of fire and projectiles. + +The morning was glorious and the prospect fine. The sun shone brightly +in the most beautiful of skies, clear blue flecked with pure white +clouds; and as the Ulstermen came out of the wood and ranged up in +lines for the push forward, they saw, in the distant view, a sweet and +pleasant upland country, the capture of which was the object of the +attack. In the hollows the meadows were lush with grass, thick and +glossy. There was tillage even, green crops of beetroot growing close +to the ground, and tall yellowing corn, far behind the main German +trenches. It was like a haunt of husbandry and peace. The only sound +one would expect to hear from those harvest fields was that of the +soothing reaping-machine garnering the wheat to make bread for the +family board of a mother and a brood of young children. But no tiller +of the soil was to be seen, near or far. The countryside to the +horizon ridge was tenantless, until these tens of thousands of British +soldiers suddenly came up out of the ground. Even in the +Franco-Prussian War of 1870 the agriculturists of northern +France--then, as now, the zone of conflict--remained in the homes and +pursued their avocations. During the battle of Sedan, which sealed the +fate of France, an extraordinary incident occurred--a peasant was +observed in one of the valleys within the area of the fight calmly +guiding the plough drawn by a big white horse. "Why should the man +lose a day?" says Zola in _The Downfall_. "Corn would not cease +growing, the human race would not cease living, because a few thousand +men happened to be fighting." But war is waged differently now. It is +spread along fronts hundreds of miles in extent and depth. Millions of +men are engaged. They burrow underground and are armed with terrific +engines of destruction. So it was that behind that green and pleasant +land, bathed in sunshine, ferocity and death are skulking underground. +Those elaborately interlacing white chalky lines over the face of the +landscape mark the run of the German trenches. Each dip is a +death-trap. The copses are barricaded with fallen timber and wired; +the villages are citadels, the farmsteads are forts, the ridges of the +two plateaux are each one succession of batteries. Swallows were +darting to and fro hawking for flies for their young, and in the clear +air soaring larks were singing to their mates brooding on their eggs +in the grass, showing that Nature was still carrying on her eternal +processes, but the husbandman had fled the deceiving scene, and the +after-crops from his old sowings of corn and mustard were mixed with +weeds in No Man's Land. + +Things befell the Ulstermen, when they appeared in the open, which +were things indeed. The fortunes of war varied along the British +advance. A group of war correspondents on a height near the town of +Albert, about midway in the line, noticed that while some of the +British battalions were comparatively unmolested, the resistance of +the enemy to the left or west was of the fiercest and most desperate +character. The Germans seem to have expected the main assault at this +part of the field of operations. Their guns and men were here most +heavily massed. On the left of the valley made by a curve of the +river Ancre is a crest, in a crease of which lay on that July morning +the village of Beaumont Hamel, or rather its site, for it had been +blown almost out of existence by the British artillery fire. Under the +village--as shown by explorations made after it fell--were a vast +system of passages and cellars, in which whole battalions of Germans +found shelter from the bombardment. On the right of the valley is the +plateau of Thiepval. It was as strong a position as the consummate +skill of German engineers and gunners could make it. On the sky line +at the top of a ridge of the plateau were the ruins of the village of +Thiepval--heaps of bricks and slates and timber that once were walls +and roofs of houses--encircled by blackened stumps of trees that once +in the spring were all pink and white of the apple blossom. The ground +sloping down to the valley, and the valley itself was a network of +German trenches--mostly turned into a maze of upheaved earth-mounds by +shell-fire--studded with many machine-gun posts. The main part of the +Ulster Division advanced across the valley that rose gently, with many +undulations upwards, to the slopes on the western or left side of +Thiepval. They had to take what were called the A, B and C lines of +trenches. As will be seen, they pushed far beyond their objective. + +Clouds of smoke had been liberated from the British lines to form a +screen for the attackers. Into it the men disappeared as they marched, +line after line, in extended order, over the intervening stretch of +ground. But almost immediately they were all scourged--especially the +Ulster battalions on the extreme left moving towards Beaumont +Hamel--with machine-gun fire poured at them from various points, to +the continuous accompaniment of short, sharp, annihilating knocks. The +bullets literally came like water from an immense hose with a +perforated top. The streams of lead crossed and re-crossed, sweeping +the ranks about the ankles, at the waist; breast high, around their +heads. Comrades were to be seen falling on all sides, right, left, +front and rear. So searching was the fire that it was useless to seek +cover, and advance in short rushes in between. So the lines kept +undauntedly on their way, apparently not minding the bullets any more +than if they were a driving and splashing shower of hail. + +"Let her rip, ye divils!" shouted some of the Ulstermen in jocular +defiance at the enemy and his machine-gun; "and," said an officer +relating the story, "the Bosche let her rip all right." One of the +wounded rank and file told me that in the advance he lost entire +perception of the roar of the British guns which was so impressive as +he lay with his comrades in the wood, though they still continued +their thundering. Their terrible diapason of sound seemed to be lulled +into absolute silence, so far as he was concerned, by the hollow, +crepitating "tap-t-t-tap" of the German machine-guns; and the swish, +swish, swish of the bullets, of all the noises of battle the most +unnerving to soldiers assailing a position. But the Ulstermen were in +a mood of the highest exaltation, a mood in which troops may be +destroyed but will not easily be subjugated. The day had thrilling +historic memories for them. + + "July the First on the banks of the Boyne, + There was a famous battle." + +The opening lines of their song, "The Boyne Water," recounting the +deeds of their forefathers, came inevitably to their minds. "Just as +we were about to attack," writes Rifleman Edward Taylor of the West +Belfast Volunteers, "Captain Gaffikin took out an orange handkerchief +and, waving it around his head, shouted, 'Come on, boys, this is the +first of July!'" "No surrender!" roared the men. It was the answer +given by the gallant defenders of Derry from their walls to King James +and the besieging Jacobites. On the fields of Picardy new and noble +meanings were put into these old, out-worn Irish battle-cries. One +sergeant of the Inniskillings went into the fray with his Orange sash +on him. Some of the men provided themselves with orange lilies before +they went up to the assembly trenches, and these they now wore in +their breasts. But, indeed, their colours were growing in profusion at +their feet when they came out of the trenches--yellow charlock, +crimson poppies and blue cornflowers, and many put bunches of these +wild flowers in their tunics. So the Ulstermen were keen to prove +their metal. They divided their forces and advanced to German +positions on the right and left. Through it all their battle-shout was +"No surrender." But there was one surrender which they were prepared +to make, and did make--the surrender, for the cause, of their young +lives and all the bright hopes of youth. + +When the battalions on the right reached the first German line they +found shapeless mounds and cavities of soil and stones and timber, +shattered strands and coils of barbed wire, where the trenches had +been, and the dead bodies of the men who were in occupation of them at +the bombardment. The Ulstermen then pushed on to the second line, +which still held living men of courage and tenacity who had to be +disposed of by bayonet and bomb. On to the third line the Ulstermen +went at a steady pace. They were still being whipped by machine-gun +fire. Their ranks were getting woefully thinner. In their tracks they +left dead and wounded. At the sight of a familiar face among the +curiously awkward attitudes and shapes of those instantaneously killed +there was many a cold tug at the heart-strings of the advancing men, +and many a groan of sorrow was suppressed on their lips. + +The moaning of the wounded was also terrible to hear, but their spirit +was magnificent. "Lying on the ground there under fire, they had no +thought of their own danger, but only of the comrades who were going +forward, and they kept shouting words of encouragement after the +attacking column until it was well out of sight," said an Inniskilling +Fusilier. "One company, recruited mainly from the notorious Shankill +road district of Belfast, was going forward, when a wounded man +recognised some of his chums in it. 'Give them it hot for the Shankill +road,' he cried, and his comrades answered with a cheer." The same +man, giving a general account of the fiercely contested attack on the +enemy positions, said, "It was a case of playing leapfrog with death, +but all obstacles were overcome, and the Fusiliers carried the enemy +trenches with a magnificent rush. The Huns turned on them like baffled +tigers and tried to hurl the Irishmen out again, but they might as +well have tried to batter down the walls of Derry with toothpicks. The +Inniskillings held their ground, and gradually forced the enemy still +further back." + +The German trenches, with their first, second, third, fourth and fifth +lines, formed a system of defences of considerable depth, into which +the Ulstermen had now penetrated for distances varying from two to +three miles in depth. It was a land of horrible desolation. The ground +at this point was almost bare of vegetation. It was torn and lacerated +with shell holes. The few trees that remained standing were reduced to +splintered and jagged stumps. All was smoke, flashes, uproar and +nauseating smells. In this stricken battle area the defence was as +stubborn and desperate as the attack. It seemed impossible for men +with a nervous system and imagination to retain their reason and +resolution in the terrific, intensive and searching preliminary +bombardment. Nevertheless, the Germans did it. The British guns had, +indeed, wrought widespread havoc. Not only lines of trenches were +pounded to bits, but spots outside, affording concealment for guns and +troops, were discovered and blown to atoms. There were, however, deep +dug-outs going as many as thirty feet below ground, and in some cases, +even at that depth, there were trapdoors and stairs leading to still +lower chambers, and up from these underground fortifications the +Germans came when the cannonade lifted. There were also hidden +machine-gun shelters in the hollows and on the slopes which the +British artillery failed to find. The resistance offered to the +advance of the Ulstermen was accordingly of the most obstinate and +persistent nature. The hand-to-hand fight with bayonet and bomb at the +third line of trenches was described by a man of the Irish Rifles as +"a Belfast riot on the top of Mount Vesuvius." No more need be said. +The phrase conveys a picture of men madly struggling and yelling amid +fire and smoke and the abominable stench of battle. Yet the enemy's +fourth line fell before these men who would not be stopped. There +remained the fifth line, and the Ulstermen were preparing to move +forward to it when the order came to fall back. The state of affairs +at this time of the evening is well explained by one of the men-- + + "We had been so eager that we had pressed too far forward, and + were well in advance of our supporting troops, thus laying + ourselves open to flank attacks. The position became more + serious as the day advanced, and the supporting troops were + unable to make further progress, while the Huns kept hurrying up + fresh men. We kept shouting the watchword of 'No Surrender,' + with which our fathers had cheered themselves in the siege of + Derry, and every time the Huns attacked we sent them reeling + back with something to remind them that they were fighting + Irishmen. We couldn't help taunting them a lot. 'Would you like + some Irish rebellion?' we called out to them, and they didn't + like it. They kept throwing in fresh reinforcements all day, + and gradually the pressure became almost unbearable. Still we + held our ground, and would have continued to hold it if + necessary." + +"Retirement," he adds, "is never a pleasant task, especially after you +have fought your corner as we fought ours. We felt that the ground won +was part of ourselves, but orders had to be obeyed, and so we went +back." The retirement was to the third line of trenches, at the point +known as "the Crucifix," just north-west of Thiepval. It was carried +out at nightfall, after fourteen hours' continuous fighting. This +section of the Division, in the words of Major-General Nugent, +"captured nearly 600 prisoners, and carried its advance triumphantly +to the limits of the objective laid down." + +The battalions, two in number, operating on the left at Beaumont +Hamel, were not so fortunate. They were broken to pieces by the +devastating machine-gun fire. The remnants, by a magnificent effort, +succeeded in getting into the German trenches. They were held up there +by an utterly impassable curtain of shells and bullets. It was not +their fault that they could not advance any further. They had to face +a more terrific ordeal than any body of men have had to encounter in +battle before. "They did all that men could do," says Major Nugent, +"and, in common with every battalion in the Division, showed the most +conspicuous courage and devotion." + +Lieut.-Colonel Ambrose Ricardo, D.S.O., of Lion House, Strahane, +commander of the Tyrone battalion of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, +gives an account of the experience of the Ulster Division which is of +the greatest value for the reasons it supplies why the Division lost +so heavily and thus were unable to hold the advanced positions they +had taken. He first describes how his men set out for their plunge +into the terrible unknown. "Every gun on both sides fired as fast as +it could, and during the din our dear boys just walked out of the wood +and up rumps we had cut through our parapet and out through lanes in +our wire," he says. "I shall never forget for one minute the +extraordinary sight. The Derrys on our left were so eager they started +a few minutes before the ordered time, and the Tyrones were not going +to be left behind, and they got going without delay. No fuss, no +shouting, no running; everything orderly, solid and thorough, just +like the men themselves. Here and there a boy would wave his hand to +me as I shouted good luck to them through my megaphone, and all had a +happy face. Most were carrying loads. Fancy advancing against heavy +fire carrying a heavy roll of barbed wire on your shoulder!" + +Then dealing with the Division generally, Colonel Ricardo states that +the leading battalions suffered comparatively little until they almost +reached the German front line, when they came under appalling +machine-gun fire which obliterated whole platoons. "And, alas for us," +he cries, "the Division on our right could not get on, and the same +happened to the Division on our left, so we came in for the +concentrated fire of what would have been spread over three Divisions. +But every man who remained standing pressed on, and, without officers +or non-commissioned officers, they carried on, faithful to their job. +Not a man turned to come back, not one." + +Eventually small parties of all the battalions of the Division--except +the two operating towards Beaumont Hamel--gathered together in the +section of the German third line, which was their part in the general +British advance. They had captured, in fact, a portion of the famous +Schwabon Redoubt on the summit of the ridge facing them, and set to +work to consolidate it. "The situation after the first two hours was +indeed a cruel one for the Ulster Division," continues Colonel +Ricardo. "There they were, a wedge driven into the German lines, only +a few hundred yards wide, and for fourteen hours they bore the brunt +of the German machine-gun fire and shell-fire from three sides, and +even from behind they were not safe. The parties told off to deal with +the German first and second lines had in many cases been wiped out, +and the Germans sent parties from the flanks in behind our boys. Yet +the Division took 800 prisoners, and could have taken hundreds more, +had they been able to handle them." + +Major John Peacocke, "a most gallant and dashing officer" (as Colonel +Ricardo describes him), was sent forward to see how matters stood. He +crossed "No Man's Land" at a time when the fire sweeping it was most +intense. Taking charge of the defence of the captured position, he +gave to each unit a certain task to do in furtherance of the common +aim. Then he sent runners back with messages asking for +reinforcements, for water and for bombs. "But," says Colonel Ricardo, +"no one had any men in reserve, and no men were left to send across. +We were told reinforcements were at hand, and to hold on, but it was +difficult, I suppose, to get fresh troops up in time. At any rate the +help did not come. In the end, at 10.30 p.m. (they had got to the +third line at 8.30 a.m.), the glorious band in front had to come back. +They fought to the last and threw their last bomb, and were so +exhausted that most of them could not speak. Shortly after they came +back help came, and the line they had taken and held was reoccupied +without opposition, the Germans, I suppose, being as exhausted as we +were. Our side eventually lost the wedge-like bit after some days. It +was valueless, and could only be held at very heavy cost. We were +withdrawn late on Sunday evening, very tired and weary." + +A private in one of the battalions sent to his parents in Ulster a +very vivid account of the advance. As he was crossing "No Man's Land" +two aspects of it, in striking contrast, arose in his mind. "How often +had I, while on sentry duty in our own trenches, looked out over that +same piece of ground," he says. "How calm and peaceful it looked then; +how fresh, green, and invitingly cool looked that long, blowing grass! +Now, what a ghastly change! Not a level or green spot remained. Great, +jagged, gaping craters covered the blackish, smoking ground, furrowed +and ploughed by every description of projectile and explosive. In the +blue sky above white, puffy clouds of shrapnel burst, bespattering the +earth below with a rain of bullets and jagged shrapnel missiles." + +Tripping and stumbling went the men over the broken and ragged ground. +"Fellows in front, beside, and behind me would fall; some, with a +lurch forward, wounded; others, with a sudden, abrupt halt, a sickly +wheel, would drop, give one eerie twist, and lie still--dead!" They +find the first line in the possession of comrades; and moving on to +the second, came to blows there with the enemy. "An Inniskilling, +scarcely more than a boy, standing on the parapet, yells madly 'No +surrender,' and fires several shots into the German mob. From every +part of the trench we closed forward, bayonet poised, on the crowd of +grey figures. A short scuffle; then we swayed back again, leaving a +heap of blood-stained greyishness on the ground. 'Come on, boys!' +yells the lieutenant, springing up on to the parapet. 'Come on, the +Ulsters.' Up we scramble after him and rush ahead towards the far-off +third line. Vaguely I recollect that mad charge. A few swirlings here +and there of grey-clad figures with upraised hands yelling 'Kamerad.' +Heaps of wounded and dead. Showers of dust and earth and lead. +Deafening explosions and blinding smoke. But what concerned me most +and what I saw clearest were the few jagged stumps of the remnants of +the wire entanglements and the ragged parapet of the third line--our +goal!" + +From this enemy trench the Ulsterman looked back over the ground he +had covered, and this is what he saw: "Through the dense smoke pour +hundreds and hundreds of Tommies, with flashing bayonets and distorted +visages, apparently cheering and yelling. You couldn't hear them for +the noise of the guns and the exploding shells. Everywhere among those +fearless Ulstermen burst high-explosive shells, hurling dozens of them +up in the air, while above them and among them shrapnel bursts with +sharp, ear-splitting explosions. But worst of all these was the silent +swish, swish, swishing of the machine-gun bullets, claiming their +victims by the score, cutting down living sheaves, and leaving bunches +of writhing, tortured flesh on the ground." He, too, noticed that +their co-operating Divisions had failed, for some reason, to advance. +"Look there, something _must_ be wrong!" he called out to his +comrades. "Why, they're not advancing on _that_ side at all," pointing +towards the left flank. "Not a sign of life could be seen," he says. +"The Ulster Division were out to the Huns' first, second, third, +fourth, and even fifth lines, with all the German guns pelting us from +every side and at every angle." + +Many a brave and self-sacrificing deed was done in these affrighting +scenes. Here are a few instances taken haphazard from the records of +one battalion alone, the 9th Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. They were +repeated a hundredfold throughout the Division. + +Corporal Thomas M'Clay, Laghey, county Donegal, assisted +Second-Lieutenant Lawrence to take twenty prisoners. He conveyed them +single-handed over "No Man's Land," and then returned to the German +third line, all the time having been under very heavy fire. When he +got back he had been fighting hard for ten hours. Private Thomas +Gibson, of Coalisland, saw three Germans working a machine-gun. He +attacked them alone, and killed them all with his clubbed rifle. +Corporal John Conn, Caledon, came across two of our machine-guns out +of action. He repaired them under fire, and with them destroyed a +German flanking party. He carried both guns himself part of the way +back, but had to abandon one, he was so utterly exhausted. +Lance-Corporal Daniel Lyttle, Leckpatrick, Strabane, was trying to +save two machine-guns from the enemy when he found himself cut off. He +fired one gun until the ammunition was spent, then destroyed both guns +and bombed his way back to the rest of his party at the Crucifix line. +Sergeant Samuel Kelly, Belfast, volunteered to take a patrol from the +Crucifix line to ascertain how things were going on our right. +Corporal Daniel Griffiths, Dublin; Lance-Corporal Lewis Pratt, Cavan; +and Private William Abraham, Ballinamallard, went with him. The latter +was killed, but the remainder got back with valuable information. +Sergeant Kelly did great work to the last in organising and +encouraging his men when all the officers of his company had fallen. +Corporal Daniel Griffith, Lance-Corporal Lewis Pratt, with Private +Fred Carter, Kingstown, bombed and shot nine Germans who were trying +to mount a machine-gun. Private Samuel Turner, Dundrun, and Private +Clarence Rooney, Clogher, forced a barricaded dug-out, captured +fifteen Germans and destroyed an elaborate signalling apparatus, +thereby preventing information getting back. Lance-Corporal William +Neely, Clogher; Private Samuel Spence, Randalstown; Private James +Sproule, Castlederg; and Private William R. Reid, Aughnacloy, were +members of a party blocking the return of Germans along a captured +trench. Their officer and more than half their comrades were killed, +but they held on and covered the retirement of the main party, +eventually getting back in good order themselves and fighting every +inch of the way. Private Fred Gibson, Caledon, pushed forward alone +with his machine-gun, and fought until all his ammunition was used. +Private James Mahaffy, Caledon, was badly wounded in the leg early in +the day, and was ordered back. He refused to go, and continued to +carry ammunition for his machine-gun. Lance-Corporal John Hunter, +Coleraine, succeeded in picking off several German gunners. His cool +and accurate shooting at such a time was remarkable. Private Robert +Monteith, Lislap, Omagh, had his leg taken off above the knee. He used +his rifle and bayonet as a crutch, and continued to advance. Private +Wallie Scott, Belfast, met five Germans. He captured them +single-handed, and marched them back to the enemy second line, where a +sergeant had a larger party of prisoners gathered. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +FOUR VICTORIA CROSSES TO THE ULSTER DIVISION + +BRILLIANT ADDITIONS TO THE RECORD OF IRISH +VALOUR AND ROMANCE + + +The most signal proof of the exceptional gallantry of the Ulstermen is +afforded by the awarding of four Victoria Crosses to two officers and +two privates of the Division. There is many a Division that has not +won a single V.C. They must not be belittled on that score; their +ill-fortune and not their service is to blame. But the rarity of the +distinction, and the exceptional deed of bravery and self-sacrifice +needed to win it, reflects all the more glory on the achievements of +the Ulstermen. By the winning of four Victoria Crosses the Ulster +Division have made a name which will shine gloriously for all time in +the imperishable record of British gallantry on the battlefield. + +Private William Frederick McFadzean of the Royal Irish Rifles was +posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for sacrificing himself +deliberately to save his comrades. The men of the battalion were +packed together in a concentration trench on the morning of July 1. +Just prior to the advance bombs were being distributed for use when +the German lines were reached. One of the boxes of these missiles +slipped down the trench and emptied its contents on the floor. Two of +the safety pins fell out. Shouts of alarm were raised. Men who would +face the German bombs undaunted shrank with a purely physical reaction +from the peril which thus accidentally threatened them. They knew that +in a moment these bombs would explode with a terrific detonation and +scatter death and mutilation among them. In that instant McFadzean +flung himself bodily on the top of the bombs. He was a bomber himself, +and he well knew the danger, but he did not hesitate. The bombs +exploded. All their tremendous powers of destruction were concentrated +upon the body which enveloped them in an embrace. McFadzean was blown +literally to bits. One only of his comrades was injured. + +McFadzean was only twenty-one years of age. He was born at Lurgan, +County Armagh, and was a Presbyterian. A member of the Ulster +Volunteer Force, he joined the Young Citizens' Battalion (Belfast) of +the Royal Irish Rifles in September 1914. + +The other private who won the Victoria Cross is Robert Quigg, also of +the Royal Irish Rifles. On the morning after the advance he went out +seven times, alone and in the face of danger, to try to find his +wounded officer, Sir Harry Macnaghten of Dundaraye, Antrim, and +returned on each occasion with a disabled man. Private Quigg is +thirty-one, the son of Robert Quigg, a guide and boatman at the +Giant's Causeway, Antrim. He was a member of the Ulster Volunteer +Force, and enlisted in the Royal Irish Rifles (Central Antrim +Volunteers) in September, 1914. He is an Episcopalian, an Orangeman +and a member of the flute band of his lodge. + +The official account of Private Quigg's exploit is as follows-- + + "For most conspicuous bravery. He advanced to the assault with + his platoon three times. Early next morning, hearing a rumour + that his platoon officer was lying out wounded, he went out + seven times to look for him under heavy shell and machine-gun + fire, each time bringing back a wounded man. The last man he + dragged in on a waterproof sheet from within a few yards of the + enemy's wire. He was seven hours engaged in this most gallant + work, and finally was so exhausted that he had to give it up." + +It was also "for most conspicuous bravery" in searching for wounded +men under continuous and heavy fire that Lieutenant Geoffrey +Shillington Cather of the Royal Irish Fusiliers got the Victoria +Cross. He lost his life in thus trying to succour others on the night +and morning after the advance of the Ulster Division. "From 7 p.m. +till midnight he searched 'No Man's Land,' and brought in three +wounded men," says the official account. "Next morning, at 8 a.m., he +continued his search, brought in another wounded man, and gave water +to others, arranging for their rescue later. Finally, at 10.30 a.m., +he took out water to another man, and was proceeding further on when +he was himself killed. All this was carried out in full view of the +enemy, and under direct machine-gun fire, and intermittent artillery +fire. He set a splendid example of courage and self-sacrifice." + +Lieutenant Cather was twenty-five years of age, a son of Mrs. Cather, +Priory Road, West Hampstead, London. His father, who was dead, had +been a tea merchant in the City. On his mother's side, Lieutenant +Cather was a grandson of the late Mr. Thomas Shillington, of Tavanagh +House, Portadown; and on his father's side, of the late Rev. Robert +Cather, a distinguished minister of the Irish Methodist Church. He was +a nephew of Captain D. Graham Shillington, of Ardeevin, Portadown, +who, with his son, Lieutenant T.G. Shillington, was serving in the +same battalion of the Royal Irish Fusiliers. Lieutenant Cather was +educated at Rugby. He first joined the Public Schools' Battalion of +the Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment), and obtained his +commission in the County Armagh Volunteers in May, 1915. + +The second officer of the Ulster Division to win the Victoria Cross +was Captain Eric N.F. Bell of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, whose +gallantry on July 1 also cost him his life. He was about twenty-two +years old, one of three soldier sons of Captain E.H. Bell, formerly of +the Inniskillings (serving in Egypt in a garrison battalion of the +Royal Irish Regiment), and Mrs. Bell, an Enniskillen lady living in +Bootle. The two brothers of the late Captain Bell hold commissions in +the Ulster Division. The deeds for which he was awarded the Victoria +Cross are thus set out in the official account-- + + "For most conspicuous bravery. He was in command of a trench + mortar battery, and advanced with the infantry in the attack. + When our front line was hung up by enfilading machine-gun fire + Captain Bell crept forward and shot the machine gunner. Later, + on no less than three occasions, when our bombing parties, which + were clearing the enemy's trenches, were unable to advance, he + went forward and threw trench mortar bombs among the enemy. When + he had no more bombs available he stood on the parapet, under + intense fire, and used a rifle with great coolness and effect on + the enemy advancing to counter-attack. Finally he was killed + rallying and reorganising infantry parties which had lost their + officers. All this was outside the scope of his normal duties + with his battery. He gave his life in his supreme devotion to + duty." + +Colonel Ricardo, in a very fine and sympathetic letter to the bereaved +mother, gives additional particulars of Captain Bell's gallantry-- + + "The General, hearing that his parents were old friends of mine, + has asked me to write on his behalf, sending his sympathy and + telling of the gallantry of Eric, which was outstanding on a day + when supreme courage and gallantry was the order of the day. + Eric was in command on July 1 of his trench mortar battery, + which had very important duties to perform, and which very + materially helped the advance. We know from his servant, + Private Stevenson, a great deal of Eric's share in the day's + work. He went forward with the advance, and, coming under heavy + machine-gun fire, and seeing where it came from, he took a rifle + and crawled towards the machine-gun and then shot the gunner in + charge, thus enabling a party on his flank to capture the gun. + This gallant action saved many lives. + + "When in the German lines Eric worked splendidly, collecting + scattered units and helping to organise the defence. He was most + energetic, and never ceased to encourage the men and set all a + very fine example. Having exhausted all his mortar ammunition, + he organised a carrying party and started back to fetch up more + shells; it was whilst crossing back to our own line that Eric + was hit. He was shot through the body, and died in a few moments + without suffering. His servant stayed with him to the end and + arrived back quite exhausted, and has now been admitted into + hospital. Nothing could have exceeded the courage and resource + displayed by Eric. The Brigade are proud that he belonged to it. + It is only what I should have expected from him. It must be a + solace to his father and mother that he died such a gallant + death. He was a born soldier and a credit to his regiment. May I + add my heartfelt sympathy to my dear old friends." + +Among the many other distinctions gained by the Division were Military +Crosses to two of the chaplains: Captain Rev. J. Jackson Wright and +Captain Rev. Joseph Henry McKew. Captain Wright was the Presbyterian +minister of Ballyshannon, County Donegal. He gave up that position +temporarily to accept an Army chaplaincy, and was posted to the Ulster +Division in November, 1914, being attached to the Inniskilling +Brigade. He was ordained in 1893. Captain McKew was curate of the +parish of Clones prior to being appointed Church of Ireland chaplain +to the troops in August, 1915. He is a Trinity man, and during his +university career won a moderatorship in history. Ordained in 1914, he +has spent his entire ministry under Canon Ruddell in Clones. Before +going to the Front he was a chaplain at the Curragh. + +The company officers led their men with conspicuous gallantry and +steadfastness. "Come on, Ulsters;" "Remember July the First," they +cried. They were severely thinned out before the day was far advanced. +It was the same with the non-commissioned ranks. At the end several +parties of men desperately fighting had not an officer or a +non-commissioned officer left. Among the officers lost were two +brothers, Lieutenant Holt Montgomery Hewitt, Machine-gun Corps (Ulster +Division), and Second-Lieutenant William Arthur Hewitt, Royal +Inniskilling Fusiliers (Tyrone Volunteers). They were the sons of Mr. +J.H. Hewitt, manager of the workshops for the blind, Royal Avenue, +Belfast. A third son, Lieutenant Ernest Henry Hewitt, Royal Lancaster +Regiment, was killed in action on June 15, 1915. The three brothers +were members of the Ulster Volunteer Force before the War. They were +prominent athletes, and played Rugby football for the North of Ireland +club. In that respect they were typical of the officers of the Ulster +Division. They were also typical of them for high-mindedness and +cheerful devotion to duty. "Poor Holt, the most genial and lovable of +souls!" exclaims Lieutenant E.W. Crawford, the adjutant of his +battalion of the Inniskillings. "Willie led his platoon fearlessly +over the top." The commanding officer of the battalion, Colonel +Ricardo, in a letter to Mr. Hewitt, pays a remarkable tribute to +Second-Lieutenant William Holt. He says: "It was a sad day for us, and +I feel quite stunned and heartbroken. Your Willie was one of the +nicest-minded boys I ever knew. My wife saw a letter he wrote to the +widow of a man in his company, and she told me it was the most +beautiful letter of sympathy she had ever read. No one but a +spiritually-minded boy could have written such a letter. I made him my +assistant-adjutant, and of all my young lads I could spare him the +least. No words can express the sympathy we all feel for yourself and +Mrs. Hewitt and your family in this grievous double blow." + +Captain C.C. Craig, Royal Irish Rifles (South Antrim Volunteers), M.P. +for South Antrim and brother of Colonel James Craig, M.P. for East +Down, was taken prisoner. When last seen he was lying wounded in a +shell hole at the most advanced point of the narrow and dangerous +salient carved by the Ulstermen in the enemy lines, shouting +encouragement to his company. In a letter to his wife, written from a +hospital at Gutersloh, Westphalia, Germany, and dated July 13, Captain +Craig states it was while he was directing his men to convert the C +line of trenches into defences against the Germans by making them face +the opposite way, that he was hit by a piece of shrapnel in the back +of the leg below the knee. "This put me out of action," he says. "I +was bandaged up, and, as I could not get about, I sent a message to R. +Neill to take command, and I crawled to a shell-hole, where I lay for +six hours. This was at about 10 a.m. on the 1st July. During this six +hours the shelling and machine-gun fire was very heavy, but my +shell-hole protected me so well that I was not hit again, except for a +very small piece of shrapnel on the arm, which only made a small cut." +At about four o'clock in the afternoon the enemy made a counter +attack, during which Captain Craig was found and taken prisoner. +Describing his treatment as a prisoner, Captain Craig says-- + + "I had to hobble into a trench close at hand, where I stayed + till ten o'clock, till two Germans took me to another line of + trenches about 400 or 500 yards further back. This was the worst + experience I had, as my leg was stiff and painful. The space + between the lines was being heavily shelled by our guns, and my + two supporters were naturally anxious to get over the ground as + quickly as possible, and did not give me much rest, so I was + very glad when, after what seemed an age, though it was not more + than fifteen minutes or so, we got to the trench. I was put in a + deep dug-out, where there were a lot of officers and men, and + they were all very kind to me and gave me food and water, and + here I spent the night. My leg was by now much swollen, but not + painful except when I tried to walk. There were no stretchers, + so in the morning I had to hobble as best I could out of the + trenches till we came to a wood. Soon after I passed a dug-out + where some artillery officers lived, and the captain seeing my + condition refused to allow me to go any further on foot, and + took me in and gave me food and wine, and set his men to make a + kind of sling to carry me in. This proved a failure; as I was so + heavy, I nearly broke the men's shoulders. He then got a + wheelbarrow, and in this I was wheeled a mile or more to a + dressing station, where my wound was dressed, and I was + inoculated for tetanus. That night I was taken to a village, and + had a comfortable bed and a good sleep." + +Another officer of the Division who was "pipped," as he calls it, +tells in an interesting story how he worked himself along the ground +towards the British lines, and his experiences on the way. "By and +by," he says, "a Boche corporal came crawling along after me. He +shouted some gibberish, and I waved him on towards our lines with my +revolver. He wasn't wounded, but he was devilish anxious to make sure +of being a prisoner--begad, you don't get our chaps paying them the +same compliment. They'll take any risks sooner than let the Boche get +them as prisoners. So this chap lay down close beside me. I told him +to be off out o' that, but he lay close, and I'd no breath to spare. +That crawling is tiresome work. Presently I saw a man of ours coming +along, poking round with his rifle and bayonet. He'd been detailed to +shepherd in prisoners. He was surprised to see me. Then he saw my +Boche. 'Hell to yer sowl!' says he; 'what the divil are ye doin' there +beside my officer? Get up,' says he, 'an' be off with ye out a' that!' +And he poked at him with his bayonet; so the fellow squealed and +plucked up enough courage to get up on his feet and run for our lines. +Our own man wanted to help me back--a good fellow, you know--but I'd +time enough before me, so told him to carry on. I wriggled all the way +back to our line, and a stretcher-bearer got me there, so I was all +right." + +When they were relieved, the survivors of the Division came back very +tired and bedraggled, their faces black with battle smoke and their +uniforms white from the chalky soil. But they were in a joyous mood; +and well they might be, for they had battered in one of the doors of +the supposed impregnable German trenches and left it ajar. Their +exploits add a brilliant chapter to the record of Irish valour and +romance. Grief for the dead will soon subside into a sad memory, but +the glory of what they accomplished will endure for ever. Because of +it, the First of July is certain to be as great a day for Ulster in +the future as the Twelfth has been in the past. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +COMBATIVENESS OF THE IRISH SOLDIER + +THE BRITISH BLENDS OF COURAGE + + +There is a story of Wellington and his army in the Peninsular campaign +which embodies, in a humorous fashion, the still popular idea of the +chief national characteristics of the races within the United Kingdom. + +It says that if Wellington wanted a body of troops to get to a +particular place quickly by forced marches he gave an assurance that +on their arrival Scottish regiments would be given their arrears of +pay; English regiments would have a good dinner of roast beef, and the +bait held out to Irish regiments to give speed to their feet, however +weary, was an all-round tot of grog. The Welsh, it will be noticed, +are not in the story. This cannot be explained by saying they had yet +to achieve separate national distinction on the field of battle. The +23rd Regiment of Foot (Royal Welsh Fusiliers) served under Wellington +and contributed more than their fair share to the martial renown of +the British Army. It is solely due, I think, to the fact that they had +not yet emerged from their absorption in the English generally. But, +to round off the story, what motive of a material kind would impel the +Welsh Regiments to greater military exertions? Shall we say any one of +the three inducements mentioned--pay, grub or grog, or, better still, +all of them together? + +The present war has provided the most searching tests of the qualities +of the races involved in it. They have all been profoundly moved to +the uttermost deeps of their being, both in the mass and as +individuals. The superficial trappings of society and even of +civilisation have fallen from them, and they appear as they really +are--brave or cowardly, noble or base, unselfish or egotistical. We +see our own soldiers, English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish, not perhaps +quite as each came from the hands of Nature, but certainly as the +original minting of each has been modified only by the influence of +racial environment. All the races within the United Kingdom are alike +in this, that each is a medley of many kinds of dissimilar individuals +with very varied faculties and attributes. But there are certain +broad, main characteristics which distinguish in the mass each racial +aggregate of dissimilar units; and it is these instincts, ideas, +habits, customs, held in common, that fundamentally separate each +nationality from the other. That is what I mean by racial environment. + +The soldiers of the United Kingdom possess in general certain fine +qualities of character and conduct which may be ascribed to the +traditions and training of the British Army. But when we come to +consider them racially we find that their points of difference are +more striking even than their points of similarity. Each nationality +evolves its own type of soldier, and every type has its distinctly +marked attributes. As troops, taken in the mass, are the counterpart +of the nations from which they spring, and, indeed, cannot be anything +else, so they must, for one thing, reveal in fighting the particular +sort of martial spirit possessed by their race. Though I am an +Irishman, I would not be so boastful as to say that the Irish soldiers +have a superior kind of courage to which neither the English, the +Scottish nor the Welsh can lay claim. They are all equally brave, but +the manifestation of their bravery is undoubtedly different--that is, +different not so much in degree as in kind. In a word, courage, like +humour, is not racial or geographical, but, like humour also, it takes +on a racial or geographical flavour. + +General Sir Ian Hamilton has written: "When, once upon a time, a Queen +of Spain saw the Grenadier Guards she remarked they were strapping +fellows; as the 92nd Highlanders went by she said, 'The battalion +marches well'; but, at the aspect of the Royal Irish, the words +'Bloody War!' were wrung from her reluctant lips." After a good deal +of reading on the subject, and some thought, I venture to suggest the +following generalisations as to the qualities which distinguish the +English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish, in valour, one from another. + + English--the courage of an exalted sense of honour and devotion + to duty, and of the national standard of conduct which requires + them to show, at all costs, that they are better men than their + opponents, whoever they may be. + + Scottish--the courage of mental as well as physical tenacity, + coolly set upon achieving the purpose in view. + + Welsh--the courage of perfervid emotion, religious in its + intensity. + + Irish--the courage of dare-devilry, and the rapture of battle. + +All these varieties of courage are to be found, to some extent, in +each distinct national unit, and thus they cross and recross the +racial boundary lines within our Army. Still, I think they represent +broadly the dominant distinguishing characteristics of the English, +Scottish, Welsh and Irish as fighting men. The qualities lacking in +one race are supplied by the others; and the harmonious whole into +which all are fused provide that fire and dash, cool discipline, +doggedness and high spirits for which our troops have always been +noted. The Commander-in-Chief, Sir Douglas Haig, is said to have made +a most interesting estimate of the qualities of the soldiers of the +three home races under his command. The Irish are best for brilliant +and rapid attack, and the English are best for holding a position +against heavy onslaughts. The Scottish, he thinks, are not quite so +fiery and dashing in assault as the Irish, but they are more so than +the English, and not quite so tenacious in holding on under tremendous +fire as the English, but they are more so than the Irish. + +It is this combination of attributes which enables the British Army, +more perhaps than any other army, to get out of a desperate situation +with superb serenity and honour. There is an old saying that it never +knows when it is beaten. Soult, Marshal of France, whose brilliant +tactics in the Peninsular War so often countered the consummate +strategy of Wellington and the furious dash of the Irish infantry, +bore testimony in a novel and vivid way to this trait of the British. +"They could not be persuaded they were beaten," he said. "I always +thought them bad soldiers," he also said. "I turned their right, +pierced their centre, they were everywhere broken; the day was mine; +and yet they did not know it and would not run." + +Any other troops, in a hopeless pass, would retreat or surrender, and +would do so without disgrace. There are numberless instances in +British military history where our troops, faced with fearful odds, +stood, magnificently stubborn, with their backs to the wall, as it +were, willing to be fired at and annihilated rather than give in. Mr. +John Redmond tells a story of a reply given by an English General when +asked his opinion of the Irish troops. "Oh," he said, "they are +magnificent fighters, but rotten soldiers. When they receive an order +to retire their answer is, 'Be damned if we will.'" I may add, in +confirmation of this story, that one of the incidents of the retreat +from Mons, which was the subject afterwards of an inquiry by the +military authorities, was the refusal of a few hundred men of a famous +Irish regiment to retire from what appeared to be an untenable +position, much less to surrender, one or other of which courses was +suggested by their superior officer. The answer of the men was as +stunning as a blow of a shillelagh, or as sharp as a bayonet thrust. +"If we had thrown down our arms," one of them said to me, "we could +never have shown our faces in Ireland again." + +Racial distinctions are to be seen on the weak side as well as on the +strong side of character. Each nationality, regarded as fighters, has +therefore its own particular failing. The Irish are disposed to be +foolhardy, or heedless of consequences. It is the fault of their +special kind of courage. "The British soldier's indifference to +danger, while it is one of his finest qualities, is often the despair +of his officers," says Mr. Valentine Williams, one of the most +brilliant and experienced of war correspondents, in his book, _With +our Army in Flanders_, and he adds, "The Irish regiments are the +worst. Their recklessness is proverbial." They are either insensible +to the perils they run, or, what is more likely, contemptuous of them. + +I have been given several examples of the ways they will needlessly +expose themselves. Though they can get to the rear through the safe, +if wayward, windings of the communication trenches, it is a common +thing for them to climb the parapets and go straight across the open +fields under fire so as to save half an hour. To go by the trenches, +they will argue, doubles the time taken in getting back without +halving the risk. In like manner, they prefer to go down a road swept +by the enemy's artillery, which leads direct to their destination, +rather than waste time by following a secure but circuitous way round. +There is an Irish proverb against foolhardy risks which says it is +better to be late for five minutes than dead all your lifetime, but +evidently it is disregarded by Irish soldiers at the Front. + +An English officer in the Royal Irish Regiment writes: "Really the +courage and cheerfulness of our grand Irish boys are wonderful. They +make light of their wounds, and, owing to their stamina, make rapid +recoveries. The worst of them is they get very careless of the German +bullets after a while and go wandering about as if they were at home." +Another English officer begins an amusing story of an Irish orderly in +an English regiment with the comment: "I shall never now believe that +there is on this earth any man to beat the Irish for coolness and +pluck." The officer was in his dug-out, and first noticed the Irishman +chopping wood to make a fire for cooking purposes on a road which was +made dangerous during the day by German snipers. He remarked to +another officer, "By Jove! that man will get shot if he isn't +careful." "No sooner had I said the word," he writes, "when a bullet +splattered near his head. Then another between his legs. I saw the mud +fly where the bullet struck. The man, who is the Captain's servant, +turned round in the direction of the sniper and roared, 'Good shot, +Kaiser. Only you might have hit me, though, for then I could have gone +home.' After this the orderly proceeded to roast a fowl, singing quite +unconcernedly, 'I often sigh for the silvery moon.' Another bullet +came and hit him in the arm. He roared with delight; and, as he basted +the fowl, exclaimed, 'Oh, I'm not going to lave you, me poor bird.' +The officer shouted to him to come into the dug-out. He did so, but +when he had licked the wound in his arm, and bound it up, he said he +must get the fowl, or it would be overdone; and before the officer +could utter a word of protest, he ran across the road to the fire, +started singing again, though the bullets, once more, came whistling +past his ear. When he returned to the dug-out with the fowl nicely +roasted he remarked cheerily, 'People may say what they like, but them +Germans are some marksmen, after all.'" + +The whimsical side of Irish daring is further illustrated by a story +of some men of the Royal Munster Fusiliers. To while away the time in +the trenches one night they made bets on doing this or that. One +fellow wagered a day's pay that he would go over to the German lines +and come back with a maxim gun, which was known to be stationed at a +particular point. In the darkness he wriggled across the intervening +space on his stomach, and, coming stealthily upon the guard, stabbed +him with a dagger. Then slinging the maxim across his shoulder, he +crawled safely back to the trenches. "Double pay to-day!" he cried to +the comrade he made the bet with. "But you haven't won," said the +other. "Where's the machine's belt and ammunition?" The next night he +sallied forth on his belly again, and returned with the complete +outfit. The spirit of the anecdote is true to the Irish temperament, +though the episode it records may be fanciful. There is no doubt that +things of the kind are done very frequently by Irish soldiers. They +call it "gallivanting"; and the mood takes on an air of, say, +recklessness which, at times, seems very incongruous against the +frightful background of the war. + +The very root of courage is forgetfulness of self. Self-consciousness +is, in no great degree, an Irish failing, or virtue, either, if it is +to be regarded as such. Especially when he is absorbed in a martial +adventure, the Irishman has no room in his mind left for a thought of +being afraid, or even nervous. He likes the thrill of movement, the +fierce excitement of advancing under fire for a frontal attack on the +enemy, the ferocity of a contest at close grips. This is the +temperament that responds blithely to the whistle--"Over the +parapets!" His blood is stirred when the actual fighting begins, and +as it progresses he is carried more and more out of himself. The part +of warfare repugnant to him, most trying to his temper, is that of +long watching and waiting. For the work of lining the trenches a +different kind of courage is required. The slush, the miseries, the +herding together, the cramped movements, are enough to drive all the +heat out of the blood. The qualities needed for the severe and +incessant strain of this duty are an immovable calm, a tireless +patience, an endurance which no hardships can break down. Here the +English and the Scottish shine, for by nature they are more +disciplined, more submissive to authority, and they hold on to the end +with an admirable blend of good-humour and doggedness. On the other +hand, I am told, on the authority of an officer of the Welsh Guards, +that when the Irish Guards are in the trenches they find the long +dreary vigil and the boredom of inaction so insupportable that it is a +common thing for parties of them to go to the officer in command and +say, "Please, sir, may we go out and bomb the Germans?" + +As Lord Wolseley had "the Irish drop in him," perhaps it is not to be +wondered at that he discounts the old proverb that the better part of +valour is discretion. "There are a great many men," he writes, "who +pride themselves upon simply doing their duty and restricting +themselves exclusively to its simple performance. If such a spirit +took possession of an army no great deeds can ever be expected from +it." What more can one do, it may be asked, than one's duty? Evidently +Lord Wolseley would have duty on the battlefield spiced or gingered +with audacity. The way the Irish look at it is well illustrated, I +think, in a letter which I have seen from a private in a Devon +regiment. He states that while he and some comrades were at an +observation post in a trench near the enemy's line six Germans +advanced close to them, and though they kept firing at them they could +not drive them back. "Two fellows of the Royal Irish Rifles came up," +continues the Devon man, "and asked us what was on. We told them. Then +one turned round to the other and said, 'Come on, Jim, sure we'll +shift them.' Then the two of them fixed their bayonets and rushed at +the Germans. You would have laughed to see the six Germans running +away from the two Irishmen." We have here an exhibition of the spirit +of the born fighter who does not stop to count the odds or risks too +cautiously. The incident recalls, in a sense, the scene depicted by +Shakespeare in _King Henry V_ at the camp before Harfleur, France, +when Fluellen the Welshman--all shilly-shallying and dilly-dallying in +enterprise--wants to argue with Captain Macmorris, the Irishman, +concerning the disciplines of war. But the Irishman wants not words +but work. Away with procrastination! So he bursts out, in +Shakespeare's most uncouth imitation of the brogue-- + + "It is no time to discourse, so Chrish save me: the day is hot, + and the weather, and the wars and the King, and the dukes: it is + no time to discourse. The town is beseeched, and the trumpet + call us to the breach, and we talk, and, be Chrish, do nothing; + 'tis shame for us all: so God sa' me 'tis shame to stand still; + it is shame by my hand; and there is throats to be cut, and + works to be done; and there isn't nothing done, so Chrish sa' + me, la!" + +Lord Wolseley also lays greater store on the spontaneous courage of +the blood, the intuitive or unconscious form of courage, which is +peculiarly Irish, than on moral courage, the courage of the mind, the +courage of the man who by sheer will-power masters his nervous system +and the shrinking from danger which it usually excites. In Lord +Wolseley's opinion the man who is physically brave--the man of whom it +may often be said that he has no sense of fear because he has no +perception of danger--is the true military leader who draws his men +after him to the achievement of deeds at which the world wonders. + +That is the kind of courage which of old led the mailed knight, bent +on a deed of derring-do, to cleave his way with sword or battle-axe to +the very heart of the enemy's phalanx for the purpose of bringing +their banner to the ground, or dealing them a more vital blow by +slaying their commander. There may be little opportunity in trench +warfare and in duels between heavy guns, both sides concealed behind +the veils of distance, for such a show of spectacular bravery. War is +no longer an adventure, a game or a sport. It is a state of existence, +and what is needed most for its successful prosecution, so far as the +individual fighter is concerned, is a devotion to duty which, however +undramatic, never quails before any task to which it is set. + +But the Irish soldier still longs for the struggle to the death +between man and man, or, better still, of one man against a host of +men. At dawn one day a young Irish soldier, inexperienced and of a +romantic disposition, took his first turn in the trenches. He had come +up filled with an uplifting resolve to do great things. The Germans +immediately began a bombardment. The lad at first was filled with +vague wonderments. He was puzzled especially by the emptiness of the +battlefield. He had in mind the opposing armies moving in sight of +each other, as he had seen them in manoeuvres. Where was the enemy? +Whence came these shells? Then the invisibility of the foe, and this +mechanical, impersonal form of fighting appalled him. One of his +comrades was blown to pieces by his side. A dozen others disappeared +from view in an upheaval of the ground. This was a dastardly massacre +and not manly warfare, thought the youth. + +He could stand the ordeal no longer. He ran, bewildered, up the +trench, shouting "Police! police!" "Hello, there; what are you up to?" +said an officer, barring the way. "Oh, sir," cried the young soldier, +"there's bloody murder going on down there below, and I am looking for +the police to put an end to it." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +WITH THE TYNESIDE IRISH + +OVER THE HEIGHTS OF LA BOISELLE, THROUGH +BAILIFF'S WOOD TO CONTALMAISON + + +The men of the Tyneside Irish battalions stood to arms in the assembly +trenches by the Somme on the morning of July 1, 1916. Suddenly the +face of the country was altered, in their sight, as if by a frightful +convulsion of Nature. Their ears were stunned by shattering +explosions, and looking ahead, they saw the earth in two places +upheaving, hundreds of feet high, in black masses of smoke. The ground +rumbled under their feet, so that many feared it would break apart and +bring the parapets down on top of them. Two mines had been sprung +beneath the first line of the German trenches to the south-west and +north-east of the heap of masonry and timber that once had been the +pretty little hamlet of La Boiselle. It was the signal to the +Division, which included the Tyneside Irish, that the hour of battle +had come. + +The part in the general British advance allotted to the Division was +first to seize the heights on which La Boiselle stood. This was a few +miles beyond the town of Albert, held by the Allies, on the main road +to the town of Bapaume, in the possession of the Germans. Thence they +were to move forward to Bailiff's Wood, to the north-west of +Contalmaison, and to a position on the cross-roads to the north-east +of that village. Contalmaison lay about four miles distant, almost in +ruins amid its devastated orchards, and with the broken towers of its +chateau standing out conspicuously at the back. One brigade had to +take the first line of German trenches, other battalions of the +Division had to take the second and third lines, after which the +Tyneside Irish were to push on over all these lines to the farthest +point of the Brigade's objective, the second ridge on which +Contalmaison stood, where they were to dig themselves in and remain. + +The Tyneside Irish had already had their baptism of fire, and had +proved themselves not unworthy of the race from which they have +sprung. Captain Davey--formerly editor of the _Ulster Guardian_ (a +Radical and Home Rule journal)--records a stirring incident of St. +Patrick's Day, 1916. On the night of March 15-16 a German patrol +planted a German flag in front of the Tyneside Irish, half-way across +"No Man's Land." It was determined to wipe out the insult. During the +day snipers were allowed to amuse themselves firing at the flag, and +it was not long before a lucky shot smashed the staff in two, and left +the German ensign trailing in the dust. But the real work was reserved +for the night. There were abundance of volunteers, but Captain Davey, +with pride in his own province, selected an Ulsterman for the +adventure. The man chosen was Second-Lieutenant C.J. Ervine, of +Belfast. Mr. Ervine, supported by two Tyneside Irishmen, set out on +the eve of St. Patrick's Day, and entered the gloomy depths of "No +Man's Land." An hour passed and they returned--but without the flag. +The enemy was too keenly on the alert. But in the early hours of St. +Patrick's Day Lieutenant Ervine set off again--this time by himself. +What happened is thus described by Captain Davey-- + + "For an hour and a half we waited for his return, expecting each + minute to hear the confounded patrol and machine-gun making the + familiar declaration that 'We will not have it.' So keen were + the sentries that even when relieved they would not leave their + posts. After an hour had passed, Mr. Ervine's sergeant, getting + impatient, went over the parapet and crawled to our wire so as + to see better. Punctually at a quarter to three a German + star-light went up, and by it we could see a dark form making in + our direction. In five minutes it reached our wire, and in ten + it was over the parapet. The Germans had been caught napping. In + less than half an hour, while the spoiler of the Huns stood by + in the crude garb of a Highlander in trench boots--for he had + fallen into a ditch full of water on the way and we bring no + change of clothing to the trenches--another officer and myself + had erected a flagstaff in a firing-bay and nailed to it was the + German ensign, while ABOVE it floated a green flag with the harp + which had been presented to our company before we left home. And + so we ushered in St. Patrick's Day!" + +Captain Davey proceeds-- + + "Proudly the green banner floated out, while, of course, we + flattered ourselves that the black, white and red of Prussia + hung its head in shame below. It was not long before the Germans + showed that they were wide awake at last, and the bullets began + to sing about our newly-erected monument to Ireland and + Ireland's patron saint. But it was a stout flagstaff, and though + dozens of bullets struck it, nothing short of a shell could have + shifted it. And there it stood all day with the Green above the + Black, White and Red. It was no longer a case of 'Deutschland' + but of 'Ireland Uber Alles.' I don't know if any similar sight + has been seen in a British trench. I know the green flag has led + Irish troops to victory in this war, but I think this is the + first time the spectacle has been seen of the Irish ensign + hoisted above a captured German flag. At any rate the spectacle + was sufficiently novel to cause us to have admiring visitors all + day long from other parts of the line." + +Unfortunately there is a sad pendant to this story of St. Patrick's +Day at the Front. Lieutenant Ervine, the gallant hero of the exploit, +died from wounds. + +The country which faced the Tyneside Irish on July 1, 1916, had been +an agricultural country, inhabited by peasant cultivators before the +war. The ravages of war had turned it into a barren waste. The +productive soil was completely swept away. Nothing remained but the +raw, elemental chalk. It was bare of vegetation, save where, in +isolated spots, the hemlock, the thistle, and other gross weeds, +proclaimed the rankness of the ground, and also that the processes of +Nature ever go on unchecked, even in a world convulsed by human hate. +Not only were the villages pounded into rubbish by gun-fire, but the +woods--also numerous in these parts--appeared, as seen from a +distance, to be but mere clusters of gaunt and splintered tree stumps +devoid of foliage. Not a human being was to be seen. Yet that +apparently empty waste was infested with men--men turned into +burrowing animals like the badger, or, still more, like the weasel, so +noted for its ferocious and bloodthirsty disposition. In every +shattered wood, in every battered hamlet, in all the slopes and dips +by which the face of the country was diversified, they lie concealed, +tens of thousands of them, in an elaborately and cunningly contrived +system of underground defences, armed with rifles, bombs, +machine-guns, trench-mortars, and ready to spring out, with all their +claws and teeth displayed, on the approach of their prey, the man in +khaki. But, as things turned out, the man in khaki pared the nails of +Fritz, and broke his jawbone. + +"Before starting, and when our guns were at their heaviest, there was +a good deal of movement, up and down, and talking in the trenches. A +running fire of chaff was kept up, and there was many a smart reply, +for Irish wit will out even in the face of death," said Lieutenant +James Hately, who was wounded in that battle. "Some of the fellows +were very quiet, but none the less determined. Most of us were +laughing. At the same time I felt sorry, for the thought would +obtrude itself on my mind that many of the poor chaps I saw around me +would never see home again. As for myself, curiously enough, it never +occurred to me that I would even be hit. Perhaps that was because I am +of a sanguine or optimistic disposition. I started off, like many +another officer, with a cigarette well alight. Many of the men were +puffing at their pipes. Officers and men exchanged 'good-lucks,' +'cheer-ohs' and other expressions of comradeship and encouragement." + +Many were, naturally, in a serious mood. They felt too near to death +for the chaff of the billets or trenches to be seemly. They thought of +home, of dear ones, of life in the workshops and offices of Newcastle +and Sunderland, and the gay companions of favourite sports and +amusements, and, more poignant still, some recalled the last sight of +the cabin in Donegal, before turning down the lane to the valley and +the distant station, on their way to try their fortune in England. +Thus there was some restlessness and anxiety, but the company officers +in closest touch with the men agree that the general mood was +eagerness to get into grips with the enemy, and relish for the +adventure, without any great concern as to its results to themselves +individually. When the command was given, "up and over," the Brigade, +in fact, was like a huge electric battery fresh from a generating +station, for its immense driving force and not less for the lively +agitation of its varied emotions. Up and over the battalions went, and +moved forward in successive waves, the men in single file abreast, the +lines about fifty yards apart. For about two hundred yards or so +nothing of moment happened. Then they came under heavy fire. Shells +burst about them, shrapnel fell from above, bullets from rifle and +machine-gun tore through the air, or caused hundreds of little spurts +of earth to leap and dance about their feet. One of the men told me +that the shrieking and hissing of these deadly missiles reminded him +of banshees and serpents, a confused and grotesque association +appropriate to a battlefield as to a nightmare. + +It must not be supposed that everything was carried with a rush and a +shout, at point of the bayonet. An impetuous advance is what the men +would have liked best. It would be most in tune with the ardour of +their feelings, and less a strain on their nerves. But there were many +reasons why that was impossible. The country, in its natural +formation, was upward sloping, and all dips and swells. It was broken +up into enormous shell-holes and mine-craters, seamed with zigzag +lines of white chalky rubble marking the German trenches, and strewn +with the wire of demolished entanglements, fallen trees and the +wreckage of houses. The men were heavily equipped in what is called +fighting order. They carried haversacks, water-bottles, gas-helmets, +bandoliers filled with cartridges, as well as rifles and bayonets. +Some were additionally burdened with bombs and hand grenades. Behind +them came the working parties with entrenching tools, such as picks +and shovels. Accordingly, the physical labour of the advance alone was +tremendous. It would have been stiff and toilsome work for the +strongest and most active, even if there had been no storm of shot and +shell to face besides. There was, furthermore, the danger in a too +hasty progress of plunging headlong into the curtain of high +explosives which the artillery, firing from miles behind, hung along +the front of the infantry, lifting it and moving it forward as the +lines were seen to advance. + +Nevertheless the men went on steadily, undaunted by the fire and +tumult; and the shuddering earth; undaunted even by the spectacle of +the dead and dying of the battalions which preceded them in the +attack; shaken only by one horror--a horror unspeakable--that of +seeing fond comrades of their own falling bereft of life, as in a +flash, by a bullet through the brain or heart; or, worse still, just +as suddenly disappearing into bloody fragments amid the roar and smoke +of a bursting shell. Now and then men stopped awhile, trembling at the +sight and aghast; and, under the sway of impulses that were +irresistible, put their right hands over their faces as a protection +to their eyes--an appeal, expressed in action rather than in words, +that they might be mercifully spared their sight--or else made a +sweeping gesture of the arm, as if to brush aside the bullets which +buzzed about them like venomous insects. + +The pace, therefore, was necessarily slow. It was rather a succession +of short rushes, a few yards at a time, with intervening pauses behind +such shelter as was available in order to recover breath. The right +soldierly quality is not to be over rash, but to adapt oneself to the +nature of the fighting and its scene; the circumstances of the moment, +the ever-varying requirements of the action. Such an advance, whatever +precautions be taken, entails great sacrifices. Every life that is +lost should be made to go as far as possible in the gaining of the +victory. Foolhardy movements, due to unreflecting bravery, were +accordingly discouraged. Advantage was to be taken of any cover +afforded by the natural features of the country or the state into +which it had been transformed by the pounding of high explosives. The +influence of the officers, so cool and alert were they, so suggestive +of capability in direction, was most reassuring and stimulating to the +men. On the other hand, the officers were relieved by the +intelligence, the amenable character of the men and their fine +discipline, from the worry and annoyance which company commanders have +so often to endure in the course of an action by the casual doings, +and the lack of initiative on the part of those under their charge. +Simple, biddable, gallant and faithful unto death, it was the wish of +the Tyneside Irish that, if they were to fall, their bodies might be +found, not in the line of the advance, but at the German positions to +the north-west of Contalmaison, out of both of which they had helped +to drive the enemy. + +But now the lines or waves of men which had left the trenches in +extended formation were broken up into separate little bodies, all +independently engaged in various grim tasks. They had mounted La +Boiselle hill, and moved down into the valley which still intervened +between them and Bailiff's Wood and Contalmaison. Thus they were in +the very centre of the labyrinth of the enemy's system of defences. An +air of intolerable mystery and sinister hidden danger hung over it. +Was it not possible that those brutes, those dirty fighters, the +inventors of poisonous gas, liquid fire and flame jets, who had +established themselves in the very vitals of the place, might not have +other devilish inventions prepared for the wholesale massacre of their +adversaries? The thought arose in the minds of many, and caused a +vague sense of apprehension. The Germans, however, had no further +hellish surprises. Even so, the place was baneful and noxious enough. +The Germans had suffered terrible losses and were morally shaken by +the artillery bombardment--gigantic, devastating, thunderous--which +preceded the British advance. It is the fact, nevertheless, that most +of the survivors had enough courage and tenacity left doggedly to +contest every inch of the way. They lay concealed in all sorts of +cunning traps and contrivances, apart from their demolished trenches. +Machinery on the side of the British--in the form of big guns--had +done its part. The time had come for the play of human qualities, the +pluck, the endurance and the stout arm of the British infantry man. +Snipers had to be dislodged from their burrows; hidden machine-gun +posts had likewise to be found out and silenced. So the men of the +Tyneside Irish were rushing about in small parties, shooting, +bayoneting, clubbing, bombing; and the triumphant yells which arose +here and there proclaimed the discovery of yet another lair of the +foe. + +Many a stirring story of personal adventure could be told. Sergeant +Knapp of Sunderland, who won his stripes in the advance, gives this +account of his experiences-- + + "I had just taken the machine-gun off my mate to give him a rest + when 'Fritz' opened fire on us from the left with a machine-gun, + which played havoc with the Irish. Then I heard my mate shout, + 'Bill, I've been hit,' and when I looked round I saw I was by + myself; he, poor chap, had fallen like the rest. Now I had to do + the best I could, so I picked up a bag of ammunition for the gun + and started across 'No Man's Land.' Once I had to drop into a + shell-hole to take cover from machine-gun fire. + + "After a short rest I pushed on again and got into the German + second line. By this time I was exhausted, for I was carrying a + machine-gun and 300 rounds of ammunition, besides a rifle and + 120 rounds in my pouches, equipment, haversack and waterproof + cape, so I had a fair load. I stopped there for a few minutes + picking off stray Boches that were kicking about. Then along + came a chap, whom I asked to give me a help with the gun, which + he did. We had scarcely gone ten yards when a shell burst on top + of us. I stood still, I don't think I could have moved had I + wanted to. Then I looked around for my chum, but alas! man and + gun were missing. Where he went to I don't know, for I have not + seen him or my precious weapon since." + +Who that has talked with many wounded soldiers has not found that +often they are unable to give any coherent account of their own +actions and feelings during a battle. In some cases it is due to an +unwillingness to revive haunting memories, a wish to banish out of +mind for ever the morbid, terrible and grotesque, the ugly aspects in +which many experiences in battle present themselves, surpassing the +nightmares of any opium eater. In other cases there is an obvious +distaste for posing. All one gallant Irish Tynesider would say to me +was, "Sure I only went on because I had to. Didn't the officers tell +us before we left the trenches that there was to be no going back?" He +brushed aside everything he had done that terrible day which got him +the Distinguished Conduct Medal, with the jocose assumption that he +was but the most unheroic of mortals, that he went to a place where he +would not have gone if he had had any choice in the matter. The +incommunicativeness of the soldier is also due to the fact that he +cannot recall his sensations. During an engagement his mind is in a +whirl. He has no disposition to note his thoughts and feelings in the +midst of the fighting. In fact, few men can analyse the processes of +their emotions in such a situation, either at the time or afterwards. +As a rule, an overmastering passion possesses the soldier to stab, +hack and annihilate the foe who want to take that life which he so +greatly desires to preserve. All else is confused and blurred--a vague +sense of desperate happenings shrouded in fire and smoke, out of which +there emerges, now and then, with sharp distinctness, some specially +horrible incident, such as the shattering of a comrade into bits. + +But I have met with cases still more strange, where the mind was a +blank during the advance through the showering bullets and shrapnel +and the exploding shells. Even the simplest process of the +brain--memory, or self-consciousness--was dormant. The soldiers in +this mental condition appear to have been like the somnambulist who +does things mechanically as he walks in his sleep, and when aroused +has an impression of having passed through some unusual experience, +but what he cannot tell, so vague and formless is it all. Suddenly +all the senses of these hypnotised soldiers became wide awake and +alert. This happened when they caught sight of figures in skirted grey +tunics and flat grey caps with narrow red bands, emerging from +cavernous depths into the light of day, or unexpectedly came upon them +crouching in holes or behind mounds of earth away from the trenches. +Germans! Face to face with the Bosche at last! The effect was like +that of a sudden and peremptory blast of a bugle in a deep stillness. +Each Irish Tynesider braced up his nerves for bloody deeds. "My life, +or theirs," was the thought that sprang to his mind. Thus it was a +scene of appalling violence. It resounded with the clash of bayonets; +the crackle of musketry; the explosion of bombs; the rattle of +machine-guns; and in that confusion of hideous mechanical noises were +also heard the shriek of human anguish and the cry of victory. + +It was in a wood not far off Contalmaison that the fighting was most +desperate and sanguinary of all. The place was full of Germans. The +paths and glades were blocked or barricaded with fallen trees. Beneath +the splintered and blackened trunks that were still standing, the +undergrowth, freed from the attentions of the woodman in the two years +of the war, was dense and tangled. Right through the wood were +trenches with barbed wire obstructions. At its upper end were +peculiarly strong outposts, which poured machine-gun fire through the +trees and bushes. It was commanded by batteries on two sides--from +Contalmaison on the right and Oviliers on the left. The attackers had +to penetrate this dreadful wood, scrambling, tearing, jumping, +creeping in the sultry and stifling heat of the day. There were +ferocious personal encounters. The form of fighting was one of the +most terrible to which this most hideous of wars has given rise. +Probably there has been nothing like it since early man fought those +horrid and extinct mammoth animals, the skeletons of which are now to +be seen in museums, what time they were alive and savage and ruthless +in their haunts in the primeval forest. + +The battle was marked by ever-varying vicissitudes of advance and +repulse. "The German Guardsmen fought like tigers to hold it," is a +phrase in one letter of an Irish Tynesider. Our own official +despatches relating to the Somme battle also show that this part of +the German front--Oviliers, La Boiselle, Bailiff's Wood, Contalmaison, +Mametz Wood--was held by battalions of the Guards, composed of the +flower of the youth of Prussia, and standing highest in the mightiest +army in the world. These were not the kind of men to put up their +hands and cry "Kamerad, mercy!" at the sight even of that pitiless and +unnerving thing--a bayonet at the end of a rifle in the hands of a +brawny Irishman, with the fury of battle flaming in his eyes. They +held on tenaciously, and gave blow for blow. A long bombardment, night +and day, by modern heavy guns, is a frightful ordeal. Its objects are, +first, to kill wholesale; and, next, to paralyse the survivors with +the fear of death, so that they could but offer only a feeble +resistance to the advancing troops. Shaken and despairing men were, +therefore, encountered--filthy, unshaven, vile-looking, and so +mentally dazed as to act and talk like idiots. But they were not all +like that. So well-designed and powerful were their subterranean +defences that large numbers were unaffected by the visitations of the +high explosives, and through it preserved their courage and their +rage. Conspicuous among these were the Prussian Guards. They made +furious efforts to stop the advancing lines of the Tyneside Irish, and +that they were overpowered is a splendid testimony to the martial +qualities of our men. Think of it! Two years ago, or so, these young +lads of various industrial callings--farm hands, railway porters, +clerks, drapers' assistants, policemen, carters, messenger boys, +miners--would have regarded as preposterous the idea that at any time +of what seemed to them to be their predestined humdrum existence, or +in any period even of a conceivably mad and topsy-turvy world, they +would not only be soldiers but would encounter the Germans on the +fields of France; and--most incredible phantasy of all--defeat the +renowned Prussian Guards--men whose hearts from their earliest years +throbbed high at the thought that they were to be soldiers; men highly +disciplined and trained, belonging to the proudest regiments in the +German Army, and always ready and eager for the call of battle. + +Bailiff's Wood and Contalmaison appear to have been the furthest +points reached on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. If they +did not then fall, the superb action of the Tyneside Irish made +breaches in these strongholds which, when widened and deepened by +subsequent assaults, led to their complete capture on July 10. As +Captain Downey, an officer of the Tyneside Irish says: "Our men paved +the way for various other British regiments who swept through some +days later." A few companies of one of these battalions which got into +Contalmaison on July 7, and were driven out, brought back some +Tyneside Irish and Scottish that were imprisoned in a German dug-out +in the village. They also found outside the village the bodies of +several Tyneside Irish, gallant fellows who died in the attempt to +push on to the point they had orders to reach. + +The effectiveness of the attack by the Brigade on July 1 depended a +good deal upon the progress made by troops of other Divisions who were +co-operating on both sides. "On our left flank the parallel Division +was held up; on our right the Division moved slowly," says an officer +of the Irish Brigade. The difficulties of the advance would probably +have held up indefinitely any other troops in the world. But there is +never any danger of the momentum of an attack by Irish troops being +weakened through excessive caution against what is called "over +running." Indeed, it is a fault of their courage that they are +sometimes prone to act with too much precipitation, and, in fact, on +this occasion it was not so much that the Divisions to the right and +left were behind time as that the Irish Brigade were somewhat ahead of +it. The result, however, was that the Irish Tynesiders were exposed on +their right to a deadly enfilading fire that swept across from +Oviliers, which was not yet in British possession. Nevertheless, they +did not stop. "No matter who cannot get on, we must." That was the +order of the officers in command, and so dauntless was the response to +it that by one o'clock the men got to a point in front of +Contalmaison. Here what remained of the Brigade held on for some days +and nights, until the reserves came to their relief on July 4. + +The casualties among all ranks were heavy. The officers, sharing every +hardship and being foremost in every danger, suffered most grievously. +"Our Brigadier, our colonels, our company commanders, were badly +wounded. Every officer, with the exception of two subalterns, was hit. +Some were hit in no less than three places. Yet they carried on. Those +too weak to walk crawled until they eventually gave up through loss of +blood. The losses among the N.C.O.s were just as large." This is the +testimony of Captain Downey. Lieut.-Colonel L. Meredith Howard of the +Tyneside Irish was severely wounded, and died two days afterwards. +Among the officers of the Brigade who fell in action was +Second-Lieutenant Gerald FitzGerald. A brother officer says, "He died +shouting to his men: 'Come on.'" His father was Lord Mayor of +Newcastle the year in which the Brigade was raised. Other officers +killed were Captain Kenneth Mackenzie of Kinsale, co. Cork, whose +father was formerly an Irish Land Commissioner; Lieutenant Louis +Francis Byrne of Newcastle, who was serving his articles as a +solicitor when war broke out; and Lieutenant J.R.C. Burlureaux, a +journalist. + +The disappearance of so many of the officers was enough to have +dispirited and confused any body of men. Would it be possible for them +to extricate themselves from the fearful labyrinth in which they were +involved? Would there be any of them left for the final dash at their +objective? The non-commissioned officers rose splendidly to the +emergency. One battalion had not far advanced when all the officers +were shot down. Quartermaster-Sergeant Joseph Coleman took command and +continued onward. Soon he found himself with only three men left. +Everything seemed lost in his part of that scene of tumult and death +but for his coolness and gallantry. He went back, gathered up the +remnants of other scattered companies, and led a willing and eager +band to the capture of the position put down to the battalion in the +scheme of operations. For this Coleman got the Distinguished Conduct +Medal, and had it pinned on his breast by General Munro, the +Brigadier. + +When the Brigade was relieved, their return to the haven behind the +lines was attended with almost as much danger as their advance to the +hell beyond the ridge had been. As the men ascended the slope of La +Boiselle, down which they had charged a few days before, the German +machine-guns were still rattling from the opposite hill, and snipers +were picking off the stragglers. The hideousness of the field of +action had also increased. The devastated ground, with its +shell-holes, its great gaping craters and its trenches, was now strewn +with the unsavoury litter of the wake of battle--discarded rifles, +helmets, packs, burst and unburst shells; boots, rags, meat-tins, +bottles and newspapers. Such of the wounded as could walk at all +limped along on the arms of comrades. Every one was inconceivably +dirty. Down their blackened faces were white furrows made by their +sweat. Thus they came back, the Irish Tynesiders, with bloody but +unbowed heads. "I saw our battalions file out from their bivouac under +cover of night, and, though each man knew of the deadly work before +him, the ready jest and witty retort were as abundant as ever," writes +Lieutenant F. Treanor, Quartermaster of one of the battalions of the +Tyneside Irish, and a native of Monaghan. "In the dressing-stations +afterwards I saw many of them, and there were still the same heroic +fortitude and the exchange of comments, many grimly humorous, as that +of one poor fellow who remarked, when asked if he had any souvenirs. +'Be danged, 'twas no place for picking up jewellery.'" + +The Brigade received the highest praises from the Commander of the +Army Corps and the Commander of the Division, as well as from their +own General. The corps commander wrote: "The gallantry, steadiness and +resource of the Brigade were such as to uphold the very highest and +best traditions of the British Army." Major-General Ingouville-Williams, +who commanded the Division, wrote to the Tyneside committee-- + +"It is with the greatest pride and deepest regret that I wish to +inform you that the Division which included the Tyneside Irish covered +itself with glory on July 1, but its losses were very heavy. Every one +testifies to the magnificent work they did that day, and it is the +admiration of all. I, their commander, will never forget their +splendid advance through the German curtain of fire. It was simply +wonderful, and they behaved like veterans. Tyneside can well be proud +of them; and although they will sorrow for all my brave and faithful +comrades, it is some consolation to know they died not in vain, and +that their attack was of the greatest service to the Army on that +day." + +Writing to his wife on July 3, 1916, Major-General Ingouville-Williams +said: "My Division did glorious deeds. Never have I seen men go +through such a hell of a barrage of artillery. They advanced as on +parade and never flinched. I cannot speak too highly of them. The +Division earned a great record, but, alas! at a great cost." On July +20 he also wrote to his wife: "Never shall I cease singing the praises +of my old Division, and I never shall have the same grand men to deal +with again." A few days later Major-General Ingouville-Williams died +for his country. + +Seventy-three officers and men of the Tyneside Irish received +decorations. Four Distinguished Service Orders and twenty Military +Crosses went to the officers, eight Distinguished Conduct Medals and +forty Military Medals were received by the men, and a sergeant was +awarded the high Russian decoration of the Order of St. George. Among +the officers who received the Military Cross was Lieutenant T.M. +Scanlan, whose father, Mr. John E. Scanlan, Newcastle-on-Tyne, took a +prominent part in the raising of the Brigade. Lieutenant Scanlan +states that only eight men were left out of his platoon after July 1, +and six of them were awarded honours. All honour to the Brigade! Those +who helped to raise the battalions--Mr. Peter Bradley and Mr. N. +Grattan Doyle, the chairmen of the committee; Mr. Gerald Stoney and +Mr. John Mulcahy, the joint secretaries--have reason to be proud of +the magnificent quality of the men who responded to their call. Let it +stand as the last word of the story of their achievement that they +overthrew and trampled down the proud Prussian Guards, and relaxed the +grip which Germany had held for two years on a part of France. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE WEARING OF RELIGIOUS EMBLEMS AT THE FRONT + +SPREAD OF THE EXAMPLE SET BY IRISH SOLDIERS + + "Nearly every man out here is wearing some sort of + Catholic medallion or a rosary that has been given him, + and he would rather part with his day's rations or his + last cigarette than part with his sacred + talisman."--Extract from a letter written from the Front + by a non-Catholic private in the Hussars. + + +The wearing of religious emblems by soldiers of the British Army is +much talked of by doctors and nurses in military hospitals in France +and at home. When wounded soldiers are undressed--be they non-Catholic +or Catholic--the discovery is frequently made of medals or scapulars +worn around their necks, or sacred badges stitched inside their +tunics. It is a psychological phenomenon of much interest for the +light it throws upon human nature in the ordeal of war. It shows, too, +how war is a time when supernatural signs and wonders are multiplied. + +Testimony to the value of these religious favours as safeguards +against danger and stimulants to endurance and heroism was given in a +most dramatic manner by Corporal Holmes, V.C., of the King's Own +Yorkshire Light Infantry, who also holds the highest French +decoration, the Medaille Militaire. He visited the Catholic schools at +Leeds. All the girls and boys were assembled to see him. One of the +nuns told the children how Corporal Holmes won his honours during the +retreat from Mons. He carried a disabled comrade out of danger, +struggling on with his helpless human burden for three miles under +heavy fire. Then taking the place of the driver, who was wounded, he +brought a big gun, with terror-stricken horses, out of action, through +lines of German infantry and barbed wire entanglements. At the +crossing of the Aisne a machine-gun was left behind, as the bridge +over which it was hoped to carry it was shelled by the enemy. Corporal +Holmes plunged into the river with it, some distance below the bridge, +and, amid shot and shell, brought it safely to the other bank. When +the nun had finished recounting his deeds, Corporal Holmes +unexpectedly turned back his tunic, and saying, "This is what saved +me," pointed to his rosary and medal of the Blessed Virgin. + +There is the equally frank and positive declaration made by +Lance-Corporal Cuddy of the Liverpool Irish (the King's Liverpool +Regiment), who was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for +gallantry in saving life after the great battle of Festubert. He was +in the trenches with his regiment. Cries for help came from some +wounded British soldiers lying about fifteen yards from the German +trenches. The appeal smote the pitying heart of Cuddy. He climbed the +parapet of his trench, and, crawling forward on his stomach, +discovered two disabled men of the Scottish Rifles. One of them had a +broken thigh. Cuddy coolly bound up the limb, under incessant fire +from the German trenches, and crawled back to his trench, dragging the +man with him. Then, setting out to bring in the second man, he was +followed by Corporal Dodd of the same battalion, who volunteered to +assist him. On the way a bullet struck Dodd on the shoulder and passed +out through his leg. Cuddy bandaged him and carried him safely back. +Once more he crawled over the fire-swept ground between the trenches +to the second Scottish rifleman. This time he took an oil-sheet with +him. He wrapped it round the wounded man and brought him in also. All +this was the work of hours. Not for a moment did this brave and simple +soul flinch or pause in his humane endeavours. He seemed to be +indifferent, or absolutely assured, as to his own fate. And he had the +amazing good luck of going through the ordeal scathless, save for a +slight wound in the leg. As is the way with soldiers, the comrades of +Cuddy joked with him on his success in dodging the bullets of the +bloody German snipers. "They were powerless to hit me. I carry the +Pope's prayer about me, and I put my faith in that," he answered, in +accordance with his simple theology. This prayer of Pope Benedict XV +is one "to obtain from the mercy of Almighty God the blessings of +Peace." + +Both soldiers were convinced, as Catholics, that, being under the +special protection of the Heavenly Powers whose symbols they wore, +they were safe and invincible until their good work was done. Psalm +civ. speaks of God, "who maketh the sweeping winds his angels, and a +flaming sword His ministers." Why should He not work also through the +agency of the religious emblems of His angels and saints? With this +belief strong within them, Holmes and Cuddy leaped at the chance of +bringing comfort to comrades in anguish, and help to those sorely +pressed by the enemy. + +There is another aspect of this question of the psychology of war. It +is a boast of the age that we have freed ourselves from what is called +the deadening influence of superstition. Nevertheless, since the +outbreak of the war there has been an extraordinary revival of the +secular belief in omens, witchcraft, incantations and all that they +imply--the direct influence of supernatural powers, of some sort or +other, on the fortunes of individuals in certain events. One amiable +form of it is the enormously increased demand for those jewellers' +trinkets called charms and amulets, consisting of figures or symbols +in stone and metal which are popularly supposed to possess powers of +bringing good fortune or averting evil, and which formerly lovers used +to present to each other, and wear attached to bracelets and chains, +to ensure mutual constancy, prosperity and happiness. Even the +eighteenth-century veneration of a child's caul--the membrane +occasionally found round the head of an infant at birth--as a sure +preservative against drowning is again rife among those who go down to +the sea in ships. The menace of the German submarine has revivified +the ancient desire of seafaring folk to possess a caul, which was laid +dormant by the sense of security bred by years of freedom from piracy, +and the article has gone up greatly in price in shops that sell +sailors' requirements at the chief ports. Fortune-tellers, +crystal-gazers, and other twentieth-century witches and dealers in +incantations, who pretend to be able to look into the future and +provide safeguards against misfortune, are being consulted by mothers, +wives and sweethearts, anxiously seeking for some safe guidance for +their nearest and dearest through the perils of the war. + +So far as the Army is concerned, the belief that certain things bring +good luck or misfortune has always been widely held by the rank and +file. Formerly there were two talismans which were regarded as +especially efficacious in warding off evil, and particularly death and +disablement in battle. These were, in the infantry, a button off the +tunic of a man, and, in the cavalry, the tooth of a horse, in cases +where the man and the horse had come scathless through a campaign. A +good many years ago the old words "charm," "talisman," "amulet," +dropped out of use in the Army. The French slang word "mascot," which +originated with gamblers and is applied to any person, animal or thing +which is supposed to be lucky, came into fashion; and some animal or +bird--monkey, parrot, or goat, or even the domestic dog or cat--was +appointed "the mascot of the regiment." But since the outbreak of the +war the Army has returned to its old faith in the old talisman. A +special charm designed for soldiers, called "Touchwood," and described +as "the wonderful Eastern charm," has had an enormous sale. It was +suggested by the custom, when hopes are expressed, of touching wood, +so as to placate the fates and avert disappointment, a custom which is +supposed to have arisen from the ancient Catholic veneration of the +true Cross. + +"Touchwood" is a tiny imp, mainly head, made of oak, surmounted by a +khaki service cap, and with odd, sparkling eyes, as if always on the +alert to see and avert danger. The legs, either in silver or gold, are +crossed, and the arms, of the same metal, are lifted to touch the +head. The designer, Mr. H. Brandon, states that he has sold 1,250,000 +of this charm since the war broke out. Not long ago there was a +curious scene in Regent's Park. This was the presentation of +"Touchwood" to each of the 1200 officers and men of a battalion of the +City of London Regiments (known as "The Cast-Irons") by Mdlle. +Delysia, a French music-hall dancer, before they went off for the +Front. Never has there been such a public exhibition--uncontrolled and +unashamed--of the belief in charms. Mr. Brandon has received numerous +letters from soldiers on active service, ascribing their escape from +perilous situations to the wearing of the charm. One letter, which has +five signatures, says-- + + "We have been out here for five months fighting in the trenches, + and have not had a scratch. We put our great good fortune down + to your lucky charm, which we treasure highly." + +Thus we see that mankind has not outgrown old superstitions, as so +many of us thought, but, on the contrary, is still ready to fly to +them for comfort and protection in danger. The truth is that the human +mind remains at bottom essentially the same amid all the changes made +by time in the superficial crust of things. Man is still the heir of +all the ages. Some taint of "the old Popish idolatries" survives in +the blood of most of us, no matter how Protestant and rationalistic we +may suppose ourselves to be. And now that the foundations of +civilisation are disrupted, and humanity is involved in the coils of +the most awful calamity that has ever befallen it, is it to be +wondered at that hands should be piteously stretched out on all sides, +and in all sorts of ways--unorthodox as well as orthodox--groping in +the dark for protective touch with the unseen Powers who rule our +destinies. + +It is in these circumstances that non-Catholic soldiers of the new +Armies are turning from materialistic charms to holy emblems. It may +be thought that this new cult is but a manifestation, in a slightly +different form, of the same primal superstitious instinct of mankind +as inspired the old, but as it has a religious origin and sanction and +is really touched by spiritual emotion, it seems to me to be far +removed from the other in spirit and intention. Non-Catholic soldiers +appear to have been led into the new practice by the example of +Catholic soldiers. These religious objects, commemorative of the +Blessed Virgin and other saints, have always been carried about their +persons by Irish Catholic soldiers, to some extent, as well as by +Catholics generally in civil life. The custom is now almost universal +among Catholic officers and men at the Front. It resembles, in a way, +the still more popular practice of carrying photographs of mother, +wife and child. Will it be denied that the soldier, as he looks upon +the likenesses of those who cherish him, and hold him ever in their +thoughts, does not derive hope and consolation from his consciousness +of their watchful and prayerful love? + +There are several little breastplates thus worn by Catholics to shield +them from spiritual evil and bodily calamity. The chaplet of beads, +known as the rosary, is well known. The brown scapular of St. Mary of +Mount Carmel is made of small pieces of cloth connected by long +strings, and is worn over the shoulders in imitation of the brown +habit of the Carmelite friars. Then there are the Medal of Our Lady of +Perpetual Succour, a reproduction of the wonderful picture discovered +by the Redemptorist Order in Rome; and the Miraculous Medal of Our +Lady, revealed by the Immaculate Virgin to Catherine Labouré, Sister +of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, in Paris. Another is the "Agnus +Dei" ("Lamb of God"), a small disc of wax, impressed with the figure +of a lamb supporting a cross, and blessed by the Pope, which is the +most ancient of the sacramentals, or holy objects worn, used or +preserved by Catholics for devotional purposes. But what is now +perhaps the most esteemed of all is the Badge of the Sacred Heart. On +an oval piece of red cloth is printed a picture of Jesus, standing +before a cross, with His bleeding heart, encircled by thorns and +flames, exposed on His breast. The badge is emblematical of the +sufferings of Jesus for the love of and redemption of mankind. It is +the cognisance of a world-wide league, known as the Apostleship of +Prayer, conducted by the Society of Jesus, and having, it is said, a +membership of 25,000,000 of all nations. The promotion of these +special devotions in the Catholic Church has been assigned to +different Orders: such as the rosary to the Dominicans; the scapular +to the Carmelites; the Way of the Cross to the Franciscans. So the +spread of the devotion of the Sacred Heart is the work of the Jesuits. +The headquarters of the Apostleship of Prayer in this country is the +house of the Jesuits in Dublin, who publish as its organ a little +monthly magazine called _The Messenger_. There has been so enormous a +demand for the badge since the war broke out that the Jesuits have +circulated a statement emphasising that it is not to be regarded as "a +charm or talisman to preserve the wearer from bullets and shrapnel." +To wear it in this spirit would, they say, be "mere superstition." +"What it stands for and signifies is something far nobler and +greater," they also say. "It is, in a sense, the exterior livery or +uniform of the soldiers and clients of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, King +of heaven and earth, just as the brown scapular is the livery of the +servants and soldiers of Mary, heaven's glorious Queen. As such it +procures for those who wear it in the proper spirit the grace and +protection of God; and the scapulars the special protection of Mary, +much more than the livery or uniform of a country procures for those +who fight under its flag the help and protection of the nation to +which they belong." + +What is the attitude of the Irish Catholic soldier towards this +religious movement as a means of preservation and grace in the trials +and perils of war? I have read many letters from Irish Catholics on +service in France, Flanders and the East in which the matter is +referred to, and have discussed it with some of those who have been +invalided home. All this testimony establishes beyond question that +the mystical sense of the Irish nature, which has been developed to a +high degree by the two tremendous influences of race and religion, +leads the Irish Catholic soldier profoundly to believe that there is +a supernatural interference often with the chances and fortunes of the +battlefield in answer to prayers. Michael O'Leary, V.C., a splendid +type of the Irish soldier in body and mind, gave a brief but pointed +statement of his views on the matter. "A shell has grazed my cheek and +blown a comrade by my side to pieces," he said, "though there was no +reason, so far as I could see, but the act of God, why the shell +should not have knocked my head off and grazed my comrade's cheek." + +The average Irish soldier probably knows nothing of the materialistic +theory that Nature is a closed system; that the laws of the universe +are fixed and immutable; that no wearing of holy objects, and no +amount of praying even, will ever disturb their uniform mechanical +working; and that the sole reason why any soldier on the battlefield +escapes being hit by a bullet or piece of explosive shell is that he +was not directly in its line of flight. Such a doctrine would be +regarded, at least by the simple and instinctive natures in the Irish +ranks, as the limit of blasphemy. Their belief in the reality and +power of God is most profound. God is to them still the lord and +master of all the forces of Nature; and the turning aside of a bullet +or piece of explosive shell would be but the slightest manifestation +of His almighty omnipotence. Mystery surrounds the Irish Catholic +soldier at all times. His realisation of the unseen is very vivid. The +saints and angels are his companions, not the less real and potent +because they are not visible to his eyes. But it is on the field of +battle that he is most closely enveloped by these spiritual presences. +He is convinced that he has but to call upon them, and that, if he be +in a state of grace, they will come to his aid as the ministers of +God. So he prays that God may protect and save him, and he wears next +his heart the emblems of God's angels and saints. Thus he feels +invincible against the powers of darkness in both the spiritual and +material worlds. For these devotions have also the effect of putting +him in train to receive submissively whatever fate God may will him. +He knows that God can safeguard him in the fight if He chooses; and he +believes that if God does not choose so to do it is because in His +wisdom He does not deem it right. "Blessed be the holy will of God!" +The old, familiar Irish ejaculation springs to his lips, that variant +of Job's unshakable trust in the Almighty: "Though He slay me, yet +will I trust Him." Thus it is that the sight of his comrades lying +around him, dead and wounded, who prayed like him and, like him, +carried rosary beads or wore the badge of the Sacred Heart, has no +effect in shaking his belief in his devotions and his holy emblems. So +when the hour of direst peril is at hand he is found not unnerved and +incapable of standing the awful test. There is an ancient Gaelic +proverb which says: "What is there that seems worse to a man than his +death? and yet he does not know but it may be the height of his good +luck." Even if death should come, what is it but the shadowy gate +which opens into life everlasting and blissful? + +There are on record numerous cases of protection and deliverance +ascribed by non-Catholics as well as Catholics to the wearing of +religious emblems. The Sisters of Mercy, Dungarvon, Waterford, tell +the story of the marvellous escape from death of Private Thomas Kelly, +Royal Munster Fusiliers, at the first landing on the Gallipoli +peninsula on April 25, 1915. Kelly had emerged with his comrades from +the _River Clyde_--the steamer which had brought his regiment to the +landing-place, Beach V--and was in the water wading towards the shore +when this happened to him-- + + "A bullet struck him, passing through his left hand, which at + the moment was placed over his heart. The bullet hit and + shattered a shield badge of the Sacred Heart, which was sewn + inside his tunic, then glanced aside and passed over his chest, + tearing the skin. The mark of its passage across the chest can + still be plainly seen. The bullet then passed through the pocket + of his tunic at the right-hand side, completely destroying his + pay-book. When wounded he fell into the water, where he lay for + about two hours under a perfect hurricane of bullets and + shrapnel. In all that time, while his companions were falling on + every side, he received only one slight flesh wound. He is now + in Ireland, loudly proclaiming, to all whom he comes in contact + with, his profound gratitude to the Sacred Heart. He is quite + recovered from his wounds, and expects soon to be sent to the + Front. His trust in the Sacred Heart is unbounded, and he is + fully convinced that the Sacred Heart will even work miracles + for him, if they are necessary, to bring him safely home again." + +Private Edward Sheeran, Royal Irish Rifles, relating his experiences +in France, says-- + + "We were waiting in reserve, and were shelled heavily before the + advance. Four of us were lying low in the traverse of a trench. + Every time I heard a shell approaching I said, 'O Sacred Heart + of Jesus, have mercy on us!' Just as I was reciting this + ejaculation a shell burst in our midst. For a minute I was + dazed, and when I surveyed the damage, imagine my surprise to + find the man next to me blown to pieces, parts of him over me. + Another never moved again to my knowledge, while the remaining + one had his arms shattered. As regards myself, my pack was blown + off my back, but all the injury I received was a very slight + wound in the left shoulder. Thanks to the mercy of the Sacred + Heart I was able to rejoin my battalion two days afterwards." + +"A very grateful sister," writing to the _Irish Messenger_, in +thanksgiving for "a great favour obtained through Our Blessed Lady of +Perpetual Succour," states-- + + "My brother was ordered out to the war and was in the fighting + line from the first. I sent him a miraculous medal of Our + Blessed Lady and promised publication if he came back safe. He + has been in twelve battles and got nine wounds, none dangerous, + only on his hands and one leg badly broken. He was being carried + off the field by his comrades and the shells were falling so + fast that they had to leave him and fly for their lives. He lay + there three hours, bleeding and faint, until he was picked up + again, and, thanks to Our Blessed Lady's protection, he is now + safe in a London hospital and making a speedy recovery." + +The brother of an Irish Catholic nurse in a British military hospital +in France writes to the _Irish Messenger_-- + + "I was speaking lately to my sister, the nurse to whom you sent + the parcel of badges, beads, etc. She says if every parcel of + badges did as much good as hers has done and is doing, you will + have a big reward in eternity. The poor Irish and English + Catholic lads in their torments find the greatest comfort in + their beads and badges, and put more trust in the Sacred Heart + than in surgeons and nurses. One poor man said: 'I know I am + dying, but, nurse, write to my poor wife and tell her that my + beads and a sip of Holy Water was my consolation. Tell her I put + my trust in the Sacred Heart and die confident. Send her this + old badge which I wore all through the war.'" + +In Ireland there are tens of thousands of Catholic mothers, wives and +sisters, ever praying for the safe return of their men from the Front, +or else that they be given the grace of a happy death, and there is +nothing that tends more to prevent them brooding when the day, the +hour, the moment may come with a dread announcement from the War +Office, than the consoling thought that these dear ones are faithful +in all the dangers and emergencies of their life to the practices of +their religion. That is why Private Michael O'Reilly, of the Connaught +Rangers in France, writes to his mother: "I have the Sacred Heart +badge on my coat and three medals, a pair of rosary beads and father's +Agnus Dei around my neck, so you see I am well guarded, and you have +nothing at all to fear so far as I am concerned." Even for the +mother, death loses its sting when she gets news of her son which +leaves her in no doubt as to his soul's eternal welfare. Here is a +characteristic specimen of many letters from bereaved but comforted +mothers which have been printed in _The Messenger_-- + + "DEAR REV. FATHER,--I beg to appeal to you for my dear good son + who was killed in action on the 25th of March, and who died a + most holy death. I have heard from Father Gleeson that he died + with his rosary beads round his neck and reciting his rosary. He + got a gunshot wound in the head and lived several hours after + receiving the wound. I know perfectly well that it was owing to + his having St. Joseph's Cord about him that he got such a happy + death, and had the happiness of receiving his Easter duty on + Sunday the 21st. He also had the Sacred Heart Badge, a crucifix, + and his Blue and Brown Scapulars on him, so that I am content + about the way he died. He is buried in Bethune cemetery. I am a + subscriber to _The Messenger_, and my son was in the Apostleship + of Prayer and used to get the leaflets in his young days at the + school he was going to, taught by the Christian Brothers. He was + twenty-one years and seven months the day of his sad death. He + belonged to the Royal Munster Fusiliers." + +Some people, no doubt, will smile indulgently or mockingly--according +to their natures--at what appears to them to be curious instances of +human credulity. Others will cry out in angry protest against "Popish +trumperies"; "idolatrous practices"; "fetishism." No religion can be +truly understood from the outside. It must be lived in, within, to be +apprehended. But surely those who are not altogether cursed with +imperfect sympathies--those, at least, who take pleasure in the happy +state of others, will shout aloud in joy to know that there is +something left--no matter what--to sustain and console in this most +terrible time of youth's agony and motherhood's lacerated heart. + +It must not be supposed that the religious practices of the Irish +Catholic troops are confined to the wearing of scapulars, medals and +Agnus Deis. There are among them, of course, many who attribute all +kinds of phenomena to natural rather than to miraculous causes. By +them, also, beads, medals and scapulars are venerated, and proudly +displayed over their tunics--often, too, rosary beads are to be seen +twisted round rifle barrels--as outward symbols of the spirit of their +religion, as aids to worship, as bringing more vividly before them the +God they adore and the saints whose aid they invoke. But their faith +gives, in addition, to the Catholic troops the Mass, which is +celebrated by the Army chaplains up at the Front in wrecked houses or +on the open, desolate fields, and attended by many hundreds of men in +silent and intent worship, the sacraments of Confession and Communion, +and makes possible that solemn spectacle of the priest administering +the General Absolution, or forgiveness of sin, to a whole battalion, +standing before him with bared and bowed heads, before going into +action. All these religious scenes have greatly impressed non-Catholic +soldiers. They wonder at the consolation and inspiration which +Catholic comrades derive from their services and their symbols. They +feel the loneliness and the dread of things. They are impressed by the +number of wayside shrines, with Crucifixes and Madonnas, which have +survived the ravages of war. In their hearts they crave for spiritual +companionship and help which the guns thundering behind them cannot +give any more than the guns thundering in front; and they, too, put +out their hands to grasp the supernatural presences, unseen but so +acutely felt in the shadowy arena of war. If there was scoffing at a +praying soldier in barracks, there is respect for him in the trenches. +Non-Catholics join in the prayers that are said by Catholics. "Plenty +of shells were fired at our trenches, but, thank God, no harm was +done," writes an Irish soldier. "When the shells came near us we used +to pray. Prayers are like a double parapet to them, I think. Yesterday +we were reciting the Litany of the Sacred Heart while the shells were +annoying us. I was reading the beautiful praises and titles of the +Litany, and both my Protestant and Catholic mates were answering me +with great fervour. I was just saying 'Heart of Jesus, delight of all +the Saints, succour us,' when one shell hit our trench and never +burst, and, furthermore, no shell came near us after that, for our +opponents directed their attention elsewhere for the rest of the day." +He adds that every night in the trenches the Rosary of the Blessed +Virgin was recited; and the responses were given by non-Catholics as +well as by Catholics. + +In like manner, non-Catholic soldiers are being weaned from the use of +pagan charms and talismans, and are taking instead to the Catholic +substitutes which have been blessed by the priest making over them the +sign of the cross. Father Plater stated at a meeting of the +Westminster Catholic Federation that, travelling in the south of +England, he met in the train some soldiers of the Ulster Division, all +Orangemen, and instead of consigning the holy father to other realms, +as they probably would have done in other times and other +circumstances, they actually asked him to bless their miraculous +medals. There is an ever-increasing desire among them for medals, +rosaries, and for holy pictures, such as the little prints of saints +and angels which Catholics carry in their prayer-books. At the +convents in London where the Badge of the Sacred Heart is to be had, +Protestant soldiers are constantly calling to get it, and they tell +stories which they had heard of wonderful escapes by those who wore +it. One nun told me they cannot keep the supply abreast of the demand. +For instance, she said that on the day I saw her a private of the +Royal Welsh Fusiliers got fifty badges for distribution in the +regiment. + +Religious emblems have a warmth and intimacy about them which secular +charms lack. They are regarded as representing real spiritual beings, +saints and angels. Secular charms, on the other hand, are devoid of +association with any potentate or power known or believed to exist in +the other world, and seem still to possess something of the mingled +simplicity and grossness of the first dawning of superstition on the +mind of the savage. The curiosity and interest of the non-Catholic +soldier in these religious symbols being thus excited, the moment he +handles one and examines its design, he feels a pleasant sensation of +help and comfort, and a consequent increase in his vitality. He highly +treasures his holy talisman. Should he pass unscathed through the +constant yet capricious menace of an engagement, he ascribes his luck +to supernatural protection. As the English troops were passing through +Hornu, near Mons, a young Belgian lady took a rosary from her neck and +gave it to Private Eves of the West Riding Regiment, telling him to +wear it as a protection against the bullets of the Germans. Eves, a +non-Catholic Northumbrian, wore the rosary during the battle of Mons. +"The air was thick with shells and machine-gun bullets," he says, "and +how I escaped I don't know. A shell burst close to me. A piece of it +struck my ammunition band and bent five cartridges out of shape; but I +escaped with only a bruise on the chest. I always say this rosary had +something to do with it." + +Many stories of the like might be told. A driver of the Royal Field +Artillery says: "I think I owe all my luck to a mascot which I carry +in my knapsack. It is a beautiful crucifix, given me by a Frenchwoman +for helping her out of danger. It is silver, enamel and marble, and +she made me take it." Private David Bulmer of the Royal Engineers, an +Ulster Presbyterian, returned home on furlough to his parents at +Killeshandra, wearing a rosary. He declared it was the beads that +saved his life on the battlefield, as he was the only man left in his +company. Sapper Clifford Perry has written to a Cardiff friend: +"Rosaries are very popular here. I think I can safely say that four +out of every ten men one meets wear them around their necks. Strange +to say, they are not all Catholics. Those who are not Catholics do not +wear them as curios or ornaments either, as upon cases of inquiry they +attach some religious value to them even though they cannot explain +what it is. Still, no one could convince them to part with them." +Often the emblems and badges worn by non-Catholic soldiers are gifts +from Catholic wives and children concerned for their spiritual and +temporal well-being. "An Irish mother who trusts in the Sacred Heart" +writes from Kensington in acknowledgment of the "wonderful escape" of +her husband. "He had only gone out from a stable when a German shell +knocked the roof in, killing his two horses, and also killing one man +and wounding five others. My husband, who is a Protestant, is wearing +a Sacred Heart Badge and the Cross belonging to my rosary. He has been +saved during many battles from the most awful dangers, having been +fighting regularly since September 1914." Father Peal, S.J., of the +Connaught Rangers serving in France, relating some of his experiences +as a chaplain after a battle, says: "It was very solemn, creeping in +and out among the wounded, finding who were Catholics. Some could not +speak, others just able to whisper. One poor man lay on his face, with +a hole in his back. He was actually breathing through this hole. I +felt round his neck for his identification disc and found he had a +medal and Agnus Dei. I naturally thought he was a Catholic, but he +whispered to me, 'Missus and the children did that.' We repeated an +act of contrition, and I gave him conditional absolution." So it has +come to pass that rosaries, which were formerly a monopoly of the +religious repositories in French towns and villages, may now be seen +displayed in every shop window, so great is the demand for them, and +that "The League of the Standard of the Cross"--an Anglican +society--has, up to the end of 1916, sent out over 10,000 crucifixes +to Protestant soldiers. + +The wearing of Catholic emblems by the rank and file is encouraged by +many officers who understand human nature, and make allowance for what +some of them, no doubt, would call its inherent weaknesses. The +practice has been proved to have on conduct a profound influence for +good. It seems to incite and fortify the soldiers' courage. Man's will +and resolution often prove to be weak and fickle things, especially on +the field of battle, where they are put to the sternest and most +searching of tests. Fear of death, which, after all, is but a +manifestation of the primal instinct of self-preservation, often +militates against the efficiency of the soldier. It disorganises his +understanding; it paralyses his power to carry out orders. The +elimination of fear, or its control, is therefore part of the training +of the soldier. How fortunate, then, is the soldier who can find such +tranquillity in battle that he has passed beyond the fear of death. +Psychologists tell us, such is the influence of the body upon the +mind, that whether a man shall act the hero or the coward in an +emergency depends largely on his physical condition at the time. The +body of the soldier must, as far as possible, be made subordinate to +his mind. Religious sensibility and emotion, in whatever form it may +manifest itself, tends to the exaltation of the mental mood; and as +good officers know they cannot afford to neglect any means which +promises to steady their men, calm them and give them confidence in +action or under fire, they have enlisted this tremendous force on +their side by favouring and promoting the Catholic custom of wearing +holy objects. + +A nun writing from a convent in South London says: "The colonel at +---- sent twenty-two medals to Father X---- to be blessed. The Father +took the medals to the barracks himself, where the colonel informed +him that he wanted them for Protestant officers who were going to +France." The girls of the Notre Dame Convent School, Glasgow, sent a +parcel of 1200 medals to a Scottish regiment. They received a letter +of thanks from one of the officers, in which he says: "You will be +glad to know that most, if not all the men, Protestants though they +be, have put your medals on the cord to which their identity discs are +tied, so that Our Lady may help them." + +Thus is the wearing of scapulars and medals in the Army welcomed as an +aid to our arms, a reinforcement of our military power. In it may be +found the secret of much of the dash and gallantry of the Irish +troops. Up to the end of 1916, 221 Victoria Crosses have been awarded +for great deeds done in the war. As many as twenty-four have been won +by Catholics, of whom eighteen are Irish, a share out of all +proportion to their numbers, but not--may I say?--to their valour. In +order to appreciate adequately the significance of these figures it is +necessary to remember the nature of the deed for which the Victoria +Cross is given. It must be exceptionally daring, involving the +greatest risk to life. It must be of special military value, or must +lead to the saving of comrades otherwise hopelessly doomed. Above all, +it must be done not under orders but as a spontaneous act on the +soldier's own motion. It is largely due to their religion and the +emblems of their religion, and their views of fate and destiny, that +Irish Catholic soldiers are so pre-eminently distinguished in the +record of the highest and most noble acts of valour and self-sacrifice +in war. There is the significant saying of Sergeant Dwyer, V.C., an +Irishman and a Catholic, at a recruiting meeting in Trafalgar Square. +"I don't know what the young men are afraid of," said he. "If your +name is not on a bullet or a bit of shrapnel it won't reach you, any +more than a letter that isn't addressed to you." He, poor fellow, got +a bullet addressed to him on the Somme. "'Twas the will of God," was +the lesson taught him by his creed. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE IRISH SOLDIER'S HUMOUR AND SERIOUSNESS + +STORIES FROM THE FRONT, FUNNY AND OTHERWISE + + +The memorable words of an Irish member, speaking in the House of +Commons during the South African War, on the gallantry of the Irish +regiments, come to my mind. "This war has shown," said he, "that as +brave a heart beats under the tunic of a Dublin Fusilier as under the +kilt of a Gordon Highlander." + +The saying may be curiously astray as to the anatomy of the Scotch, +but the truth of it in regard to Irish courage has been emphasised by +the victories and disasters alike of the great world war. On all the +fields of conflict east and west the Irish soldiers have earned the +highest repute for valour. "They are magnificent fighters," says +Lieutenant Denis Oliver Barnett, an English officer of a battalion of +the Leinster Regiment, in letters which he wrote home to his own +people. A public school boy, with a high reputation for scholarship, +he became a soldier at the outbreak of war instead of going to Oxford. +Courageous and high-minded himself--as his death on the parapet of the +trenches, directing and heartening his men in bombing the enemy, +testifies--his gay and sympathetic letters show that he was a good +judge of character. He also says of his men, "They are cheerier than +the English Tommies, and will stand anything." Cheeriness in this +awful war is indeed a most precious possession. It enhances the +fighting capacity of the men. Where it does not exist spontaneously +the officers take measures to cultivate it. As far as possible they +try to remove all depressing influences, and make things bright and +cheerful. I have got many such glimpses of the Irish soldier at the +Front, and their total effect is the impersonation or bodying forth of +an individual who provides his own gaiety, and has some over to give +to others--whimsical, wayward, with a childlike petulance and +simplicity; and yet very fierce withal. + +I met at a London military hospital an Irish Catholic chaplain and an +Irish officer of the Army Medical Corps back from French Flanders. +They told Irish stories, to the great enjoyment and comfort of the +wounded soldiers in the ward. "Be careful to boil that water before +drinking it," said the doctor to men of an Irish battalion whom he +found drawing supplies from a canal near Ypres. "Why so, sir?" asked +one of the men. "Because it's full of microbes and boiling will kill +them," answered the doctor. "And where's the good, sir?" said the +soldier. "I'd as soon swallow a menagerie as a graveyard any day." +Another example of a quick-witted Hibernian reply was given by the +chaplain. He came upon a man of the transport service of his battalion +belabouring a donkey which was slowly dragging a heavy load. "Why do +you beat the poor animal so much?" remonstrated the priest; and he +recalled a legend popular in Ireland by saying, "Don't you know from +the cross on the ass's back that it was on an ass Our Lord went into +Jerusalem?" "But, Father," said the soldier, "if Our Lord had this +lazy ould ass He wouldn't be there yet." One of the inmates of the +ward kept the laughter going by giving an example of Irish traditional +blundering humour from the trenches--a humour due to an excited and +over-active mind. "Don't let the Germans know we're short of powder +and shot," cried an Irish sergeant to his men, awaiting the bringing +up of ammunition; "keep on firing away like blazes." + +Some of the flowers of speech that have blossomed from the Irish +regiments at the Front are also worth culling. Speaking of the +Catholic chaplain of his battalion, a soldier said, "He'd lead us to +heaven; an' we'd follow him to hell." As a loaf of bread stuck on a +bayonet was passed on to him in the trenches another exclaimed, "Here +comes the staff of life on the point of death." The irregularity of +the food supply in the trenches was thus described: "It's either a +feast or a famine. Sometimes you drink out of the overflowing cup of +fulness, and other times you ate off the empty plate." "What have you +there?" asked a nurse of an Irish private of the Army Medical Corps, +at a base hospital, as he was rummaging among the contents of a +packing-case. Taking out a wooden leg, he answered: "A stump speech +agin the war." + +Good-humour at the Front is by no means an exclusively Irish +possession. Happily the soldiers of all the nationalities within the +United Kingdom are so light-hearted as to find even in the most dismal +situation cause for raillery, pleasantry and laughter, and to derive +from their mirth a more enduring patience of discomfort and trouble. +The Irish form of humour, however, differs entirely from the English, +Scottish or Welsh variety not only in quality but in the type of mind +and character it expresses. In most things that the Irish soldier says +or does there is something racially individual. Perhaps its chief +peculiarity, apart from its quaintness, is that usually there is an +absence of any conscious aim or end behind it. The English soldier, +and the Cockney especially, is a wag and a jester. He is very prone to +satire and irony, deliberate and purposeful. Even his "grousing"--a +word, by the way, unheard in the Irish regiments, unless it is +somewhat incomprehensibly used by an English non-commissioned +officer--is a form of caustic wit. Irish humour has neither subtlety +nor seriousness. It is just the light and spontaneous whim, caprice or +fancy of the moment. It is humour in the original sense of the word, +that is the expression of character, habit and disposition. + +The Munstermen have contributed to the vocabulary at the Front the +expressive phrase, "Gone west," for death; the bourne whence no +traveller returns. In Kerry and Cork the word "west" or "wesht," as it +is locally pronounced, expresses not only the mysterious and unknown, +but is used colloquially for "behind," "at the back," or "out of the +way." So it is also at the Front. A lost article is gone west as well +as a dead comrade. "When I tould the Colonel," said an Irish orderly, +"that the bottle of brandy was gone wesht, he was that mad that I +thought he would have me ate." As food and drink are sent west, +perhaps the Colonel had his suspicions. The saying, "Put it wesht, +Larry, an' come along on with you," may be heard in French estaminets +as well as in Kerry public-houses. + +At parade a subaltern noticed that one of his men had anything but a +clean shave on the left side of his jaw. "'Twas too far wesht for me +to get at, sir," was the excuse. "Well," said the dentist to a Munster +Fusilier, "where's this bad tooth that's troubling you?" "'Tis here, +sir," said the soldier, "in the wesht of me jaw." Another Irish +soldier told his Quartermaster that he was in a very unpleasant +predicament for want of a new pair of trousers. "The one I've on me is +all broken wesht," said he. It is fairly obvious what part of the +trousers the west of it was. + +It would seem from the stories I have heard that odd escapes from +death are an unfailing source of playfulness and laughter. A shell +exploded in a trench held by an Irish battalion. One man was hurled +quite twelve feet in the air, and, turning two somersaults in his +descent, alighted on his back, and but little hurt, just outside the +trench. He quickly picked himself up and rejoined his astonished +comrades. "He came down with that force," said an invalided Irish +soldier who told me of the incident, "that it was the greatest wonder +in the world he didn't knock a groan out of the ground." No groan came +from the man himself. "That was a toss and a half, and no mistake," he +remarked cheerily when he got back to the trench; and in answer to an +inquiry whether he was much hurt he said, "I only feel a bit moidhered +in me head." More comical still in its unexpectedness was the reply of +another Irishman who met with a different misadventure from the same +cause. A German 17-in. shell exploded on the parapet of a trench, and +this Irishman was buried in the ruins. However, he was dug out alive, +and his rescuers jokingly asked him what all the trouble was about. +"Just those blessed snipers again," he spluttered through his mouth +full of mud, "and may the divil fly away with the one that fired that +bullet." + +It is readily acknowledged at the Front that the Irish soldiers have a +rich gift of natural humour. But, what is more--as some of my stories +may show--they are never so exceedingly comic as when they do not +intend to be comic at all. Is it not better to be funny without +knowing it than to suffer the rather common lot of attempting to be +funny and fail? It arises from an odd and unexpected way of putting +things. How infinitely better it is than to be of so humdrum a quality +as to be incapable of being comical even unconsciously in saying or in +deed! Yet in this essentially Irish form of fun there is often a +snare for the unwary. How can you tell that these laughable things are +said and done by Irish soldiers without any perception of humour or +absurdity? If you could look behind the face of that apparently +simple-minded Irish soldier you might find that in reality he was +"pulling your leg"--or "humbugging," as he would say himself--in a way +that you would regard as most uncalled for and aggravating. + +For instance, an Irish sentry in a camp in France was asked by a +colonel of the Army Service Corps whether he had seen any of his +officers about that morning. "Indeed, and I did, sir," was the reply. +"'Twas only a while ago that two of the gintlemen came out of the +office down there below, and passed by this way." "And how did you +know they were Army Service officers?" "Aisy enough, sir. Didn't I see +their swords stuck behind their ears?" And in which category must be +placed the equally amusing retort of another Irish sentry to his +officer--the naïvely simple, or the slyly jocular? The sentry looked +so shy and inexperienced that the officer put to him the question, +"What are you here for?" and got the stereotyped answer, "To look out +for anything unusual." "What would you call unusual?" asked the +officer. "I don't know exactly, sir, until I saw it," was the reply. +The officer became sarcastically facetious. "What would you do if you +saw five battleships steaming across the field?" he said. "Take the +pledge, sir," was the sentry's answer. + +These officers are, by all accounts, but two of many who have got +unlooked-for but diverting answers from Irish soldiers. A sergeant who +was sent out with a party to make observations felt into an ambuscade +and returned with only a couple of men. "Tell me what happened," said +the commanding officer, when the sergeant came to make his report; +"were you surprised?" "Surprised isn't the word for it, sir," +exclaimed the sergeant. "It was flabbergasted entirely I was when, +creeping round the end of a thick hedge, we came plump into the divil +of a lot of Germans lying on their stomachs." Then, seeing the officer +smiling, as if in doubt, as he thought, he hastened thus to emphasise +his wonder and astonishment at this sudden encounter. "I declare to +you, sir, it nearly jumped the heart up out of me throat with the +start it gave me." Of a like kind for ingenuousness was the report +made by another Irish non-com. who found himself all alone in a +trench, with only a barrier of sandbags between him and the Germans. +"I had nayther men, machine-gun or grenade," he wrote, expressing not +only his temporal but his spiritual condition, for he added, "nothing, +save the help of the Mother of God." + +In Ireland domestic servants are noted for their forward manners and +liberty of speech with the family, and the same trait is rather +general in the relations between different social grades. An +illustration of what it leads to in the Army was afforded at a camp +concert attended by a large assembly of officers and men of a certain +Division, into which, at a solemn moment, an unsophisticated Irish +soldier made a wild incursion. Lord Kitchener had been there that day +and had inspected the Division, and the General in command announced +from the platform how greatly pleased the Secretary for War was with +the soldierly fitness of the men. "I told Lord Kitchener," continued +the General, speaking in grave and impressive tones, "that the +Division would see the thing through to the bitter end." In the midst +of a loud burst of cheering an Irish private rushed forward, and +sweeping aside the attempt of a subaltern to stop him, jumped on to +the platform, and seizing the aged General by the hand, exclaimed, +"Glory to you, me vinerable friend! The ould Division will stick to +it to the last, and it's you that's the gran' man to lade us to +victory and everlasting fame." The General, greatly embarrassed, could +only say, "Yes, yes, to be sure, my good fellow; yes, yes"; and the +staff turned aside to hide their grins at this comic encounter between +incongruities. + +The Colonel of an Irish battalion, after a harassing day in the +trenches, got a pleasant surprise in the shape of a roast fowl served +for dinner by his orderly. After he had eaten it and found it tender +he recalled that complaints were rather rife among the inhabitants +about the plundering of hen-roosts, and his conscience smote him. "I +hope you got that fowl honestly," he said. "Don't you be troubling +your head about that, sir," replied the orderly, in a fine burst of +evasion and equivocation. "Faith, 'twas quite ready for the killing, +so it was, and that's the main thing." Then, as if to improve the +occasion by a homily, he added, in a tone of religious fervour, "Ah, +sure, if we wor all as ready to die as that hin, sir, we needn't mind +a bit when the bullet came." The Colonel was almost "fit to die" with +quiet laughter. + +It may well be that sometimes the English officers of Irish battalions +are puzzled by the nature of their men--its impulsiveness, its glow, +its wild imagery and over-brimming expression. It is easy to believe, +too, that the changeful moods of the men, childlike and petulant, now +jovial, now fierce, and occasionally unaccountable, may be a sore +annoyance to officers who are very formal and precise in matters of +discipline. I have heard from an Irish Colonel of an Irish battalion +that the English commander of the Brigade of which the battalion was a +unit came to him one day in a rage and asked him where his damned +fools had been picked up. It appears the Brigadier-General, going the +rounds alone, came suddenly upon one of the sentries of the battalion +at a remote post. The sentry happened to be a wild slip of an Irish +boy, not long joined and quite fresh from Mayo, and, taken by +surprise, he challenged the Brigadier-General by calling out, "In the +name of God, who the divil are you?" The Colonel told me his reply to +the Brigadier-General was this: "Certainly, the challenge and the +salute were not quite proper. But you can imagine what kind of a +reception that simple but fearless lad would give to a German; and, +after all, is not that the main thing just now?" Yes, the capacity of +fighting well should, in war time, cover a multitude of imperfections +in a soldier. + +In order to get the best out of the Irish soldiers it is necessary to +have a knowledge of their national habits and peculiarities, and a +sympathetic understanding of their qualities and limitations. I am +glad to be able to say that the most glowing tributes to the sterling +character of the Irish soldiers that I have heard have come from their +English or Scottish officers. These are true leaders, because they +possess imagination and sympathy by which they can look into the +hearts of men that are diverse from them in blood and temperament and +nature. + +I suppose there is nothing on earth, no matter how solemn or terrible, +which may not be turned into a subject of irreverent humour in one or +other of its aspects. English soldiers appear to have found that out +even in regard to the war. An officer told me of a remarkable +encounter on a Flanders high road between an Irish battalion coming +back from the trenches and an English battalion going up for a turn at +holding a section of the lines, which he thought presented a striking +contrast in racial moods. The uniforms of the Irishmen were plastered +with mud, and they had a week's grime on their unshaven faces. They +had also suffered heavily in repelling a German attack. Yet they +looked as proud as if they had saved Ireland by their exertions, and +hoped to save the Empire by their example, and they sang from the +bottom of their hearts, and at the top of their voices, the anthem of +their national yearnings and aspirations, with its refrain-- + + "Whether on the scaffold high, or the battlefield we die, + What matter when for Erin dear we fall." + +The English battalion, spick and span, swung by to horrible +discomforts, to wounds and death, as blithely as if they were on a +route march at home. They also were singing, and if they were in the +same mood as the Irishmen they would be rendering the chorus-- + + "Land of Hope and Glory, + Mother of the Free, + How shall we extol thee + Who are born of thee? + Wider still and wider + Shall thy bounds be set; + God, who made thee mighty, + Make thee mightier yet." + +But instead of that the chorus of their song, set to a hymn tune, was +this-- + + "Will you fight for England? + Will you face the foe? + And every gallant soldier + Boldly answered--NO!" + +It has been said, with general acceptance, that the spirit of a nation +can best be studied in its songs. But can it really? How wrong would +be the moral drawn from its application in this case! High patriotism +is a solemn thing; but the average British soldier's attitude towards +it is like that of Dr. Johnson when he took up philosophy--"somehow +cheerfulness was always breaking in." The English soldier will not +sing songs of a lofty type and deep purpose--songs which express +either intimate personal feeling or deeply felt national convictions. +These emotions he hides or suppresses, for he cannot give vent to them +without feeling shamefaced or fearing that he may be regarded as +insincere. Yet he is by no means so inconsequential or cynical as he +affects to be. He is animated--none more so--by the spirit of duty and +sacrifice. When it comes to fighting he is in earnest, desperately and +ferociously in earnest, as the Germans know to their cost. It seems to +me that he has been misled by Kipling into supposing that the true +pose of the British soldier is to be more concerned with the temporal +than with the spiritual, to grumble about the petty inconveniences of +his calling, to pretend to an indifference to its romantic side and +its ideals, to die without thinking that the spirits of his national +heroes are looking down upon him. + +The Irish have the reputation of having a delight in fighting. It is +supposed that "ructions" are the commonplace of their civic life. +Undoubtedly they have "a strong weakness"--as they would phrase it +themselves--for distributing bloody noses and cracked crowns even +among friends. It is true, also, that they find the grandest scope for +their natural disposition in warfare. A war correspondent relates that +he met a wounded Dublin Fusilier hobbling painfully back to the field +dressing-station after a battle, and giving the man his arm to help +him on, he was prompted to make the pitying remark: "It's a dreadful +war." "'Tis indeed, sir; a dreadful war enough," said the soldier; and +then came the characteristic comment: "but, sure, 'tis far better than +no war at all." + +Still, individuals are to be found among the Irish soldiers who take +quite a materialistic view of the Army, and fail to rise to the +anticipation of glory in a pending action. An agricultural labourer +who had become one of Kitchener's men was asked how he liked +soldiering. "It's the finest life in the whole wide world," he +exclaimed. "It's mate, drink, lodgin' and washin' all in one. Wasn't I +working hard for ten long years for a farmer there beyant in Kerry, +and never once in all that time did the ould boy say to me, 'Stand at +aise.'" It will be noticed that in this enthusiastic outburst there is +nothing about the divarshion of fighting. Another story that I heard +records the grim foreboding of an Irish soldier who was lagging behind +on the march to the trenches for the first time. "Keep up, keep up," +cried the officer; and, by way of encouragement, he added: "You know, +we'll soon make a Field Marshal of you." "You're welcome to your joke, +sir," said the soldier; "but I know well what you'll make of me--a +casualty, sure enough." Another Irish soldier thought he saw a way of +making money out of the fighting. The Colonel of the battalion told +his men, according to the story, that for every German they would kill +he would give a sovereign. The next morning the men were told the +Germans were coming. "How many?" "Thirty thousand at least." "Wake up, +Mike," said one to a sleeping comrade; "our fortune is made." + +There is also a story told of a remark made by an Irish soldier +regardless of the glory and romance of the highest distinction in the +Army. The award of the Victoria Cross to Michael O'Leary was held up +to a battalion for emulation. "Yerra," cried a voice, "I'd a great +deal rather get the Victoria 'bus." It may be that in this we have +nothing more than an instance of the impish tendency in the Irish +nature displaying itself at the spur of the moment, rather than the +yearning for home, its ease, repose and comforts. It recalls an +anecdote of the American Civil War. General Thomas Francis Meagher of +the Irish Brigade was informed by an aide-de-camp in the course of a +battle that the Federalists had carried an important strategic point +and several colours belonging to Confederate battalions. "Here's good +news for ye, boys," shouted Meagher. "Our troops have won the day and +captured the enemy's colours." "Yerra, Gineral," cried a private, +looking up at Meagher, who was on horseback, "I'd rather have, this +blessed minute, half a pint of Dinnis McGure's whisky than all the +colours of the rainbow." Then there is the story told by the Colonel +of an Irish regiment of an incident in the Battle of the Somme. He +noticed that a private followed everywhere at his heels, and +especially where the fighting was hottest. The Colonel thought that +perhaps the private was anxious to come to his aid should any harm +befall him. At the end of the day, however, the private thus explained +his conduct to the Colonel: "My mother says to me, sir, 'Stick to the +Colonel, and you'll be all right. Them Colonels never get hurt.'" + +But, with all their playfulness and jocularity, there are no soldiers +to whom the serious aspects of the war make a more direct appeal than +to the Irish. This is seen in various ways. It is seen in their +devotional exercises. The Irish Guards and other Irish regiments have +been known frequently to recite the Rosary and sing hymns even in the +trenches. It is seen also in their national fervour. They go into +action singing their patriotic songs. From these qualities they derive +support for their martial spirit, their endurance and their +unconquerable courage. They never quail in the face of danger. No +soldiers have risen to loftier heights of moral heroism, as the +numerous records of their deeds on the roll of the Victoria Cross bear +inspiring witness. + +But their humour always remains. One of the injunctions to men at the +Front is "Don't put your head above the parapet." The Irish soldiers +are more apt than others to disregard it, however frequently its +wisdom is brought home to them. I have heard only one that was +convinced. "Faix," he remarked, as the bullets of the snipers soon +stopped his survey of the prospect outside the trench, "it's aisy to +understand that the more a man looks round in this war the less he's +likely to see." They have a comforting philosophy that it takes many a +ton of lead to kill a man. An Irish soldier invalided home from France +was asked what struck him most about the battles he took part in. +"What struck me most?" said he. "Sure it was the crowd of bullets +flying about that didn't hit me!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE IRISH BRIGADE + +"EVERYWHERE AND ALWAYS FAITHFUL" + + +Pride and sorrow struggle for mastery at the spectacle of troops +returning to camp from the battle, their appearance telling of the +intolerable strain which this war imposes, even in the case of +victory, upon the human faculties. The thought of it alone is painful +to the feelings of any one who has the least imagination. They are all +begrimed and careworn, and many have the distraught look of those who +have seen and suffered terrible things. So the Irish Brigade came back +from Guillamont and Guinchy, on the Somme, in the early days of +September 1916, what time the Empire was resounding with the fame of +their exploits. On a Sunday they carried Guillamont with a rush; on +the following Saturday they literally pounced upon Guinchy, and in +between they lay in open trenches under continuous shell fire. + +I saw the Irish Brigade before they left for the Front, and noted in +the ranks the many finely shaped heads and thoughtful faces of poets +and leaders of men, interspersed with the lithe frames of athletes and +the resolute, hard-bitten countenances of born fighters. At first I +was moved to sorrow at the thought of the pass to which civilisation +has come that the best use which could be made of all this superb +youth and manhood in its valiancy was to send it forth into the +devouring jaws of war. Then I perceived that something like a +radiance shimmered about the marching ranks. It came, I noticed, both +from their muscular strength and their martial ardour, for the flush +of battle already mantled their cheeks, and its light was in their +dancing eyes; and at once I understood that if I saw but the mound +surmounted by the little wooden cross in France, and in Ireland the +desolate hearthstone, they, with the wider and more aspiring +imagination of youth, rejoiced that they were going out to fight in +liberty's defence, and saw only their bayonets triumphantly agleam in +the fury of the engagement. Careless and gay, they captured the two +villages on the Somme in a ding-dong, helter-skelter fashion. They +maintained the reputation of the Irish infantry as "the finest missile +troops in the British Army" (so they are described by Colonel +Repington, the renowned military correspondent of _The Times_), by the +spirit and dash of their charge, their eagerness to get quickly into +touch with the foe, and the energy and dexterity with which they wield +that weapon which finally decides the issue of battles--the bayonet. + +As they emerged out of the cloud of smoke on the Somme, and marched +back to camp in much diminished numbers--caked with mud, powdered with +grey dust, very tired--across the ground their valour had won and +their grit maintained against fierce counter attacks, they displayed +quite another phase of the Irish nature--its melancholy and its +mysticism. The piper that led them back began to play some old Irish +rhapsodies having that wonderful blending of joy and grief which makes +these airs so haunting. That was well. For the men were in so extreme +a stage of exhaustion, physical and mental, that they lurched and +reeled, and were overwhelmed with distress at missing many beloved +comrades that fought with them, and officers that led them only a few +days before. Then they heard the pipes, and their hearts were +uplifted by the strains, plaintive and yearning, defiant and +challenging, which expresses in music the history of their race. They +seemed, indeed, to have caught even some of the jaunty, boastful +swagger of the piper, as he strode before them, blowing into his reeds +and working the bag with his left elbow. + +The General of the Brigade watched his troops go by, and in his eyes +they were all the grander for the horrid disarray of their torn, muddy +and bloody uniforms, and their haggard faces blackened with sweat and +smoke and soil. "I am proud of you," he called out in a voice surging +with emotion. "Ye did damned well, boys." A handful of men, once a +company, was led by a sergeant. Every officer was gone. "Bravo, +Dublins!" exclaimed the General; but for the moment his heart was +heavy within him as he recalled to mind the dashing, gallant young +lads, so hearty and joyous, buried now round about the ruins of the +villages from which the Germans had been driven at the bayonet-point +by the splendid rank and file at whose head they fell. Quickly the +thoughts of the General came back to the survivors. "Ireland is proud +of you, boys," he cried in exultant tones. He knew that would stir +them. Ireland is their glory; and they lifted up their heads a little +more as they caught the import of their Commander's words. + +This Irish Brigade, officially known as the Irish Division, was the +outcome of the meeting in Dublin addressed by Mr. Asquith, shortly +after the outbreak of the war, in the course of his tour of the +country as Prime Minister to explain the origins and aims of the +conflict. Lord Wimborne, the Viceroy, presided. The Lord Mayor of +Dublin and mayors of most of the chief towns of Ireland, the chairmen +of county councils and representatives of all shades of political and +religious opinions were present. Mr. John Redmond proposed, at the +meeting, the formation of an Irish Brigade. While "Irish Division" +sounds meaningless to young Irishmen, "Irish Brigade" at once arouses +thrilling memories of the battlefields of Europe during the eighteenth +century. For a hundred years, from the fall of the Stuarts to the +French Revolution, there was an Irish Brigade in the service of +France. It was regularly recruited from Ireland through that long span +of time, though to join it was a penal offence. As the young men stole +secretly away to France in smuggling crafts from the west of Ireland, +they were popularly known as "the wild geese." "Everywhere and always +Faithful" was the motto bestowed on the Brigade by the King of France. +That being so, there was a hearty response to the call for a new Irish +Brigade to serve again in France, and for causes more worthy than the +old. + +Just as the Ulster Division was composed of Unionists and Protestants, +the Irish Division was recruited mainly from the Nationalist and +Catholic sections of the population. The Nationalist Volunteers, +supporters of the policy and aims of the Irish Parliamentary Party, +provided most of the rank and file. Like another Irish Division, the +first of Ireland's distinctive contributions to the New Armies, which +perished in the ill-starred expedition to Gallipoli, the Irish +Division was composed of the youth of Ireland at its highest and +best--clean of soul and strong of body, possessing in the fullest +measure all the brightest qualities of the race, the intellectual and +spiritual, not less than the political and humorous. + +One of the first to join was Mr. William Redmond, M.P. for East Clare, +younger brother of the Irish Leader, though he was well over the +military age. He was appointed Captain in the Royal Irish +Regiment--the premier Irish regiment--in which he had served +thirty-three years previously, before his election to the House of +Commons. Speaking at an early recruiting meeting, he said that, should +circumstances so demand, he would say to his countrymen "Come" instead +of "Go." He was as good as his word. For his services at the Front he +was promoted to the rank of Major, and has been mentioned by +Field-Marshal Haig in despatches. Other nationalist Members of +Parliament who were officers of the Brigade were Captain W. Archer +Redmond, Dublin Fusiliers, son of Mr. John Redmond, Captain Stephen +Gwynn, well known as a man of letters, who joined the Connaught +Rangers as a private and was promoted to the rank of Captain in the +battalion; Captain J.L. Esmonde, Dublin Fusiliers, and Captain D.D. +Sheehan, Munster Fusiliers, who also gave his two boys to the Brigade. +General Sir Lawrence Parsons, son of the Earl of Rosse--scion of a +distinguished Irish family resident for centuries at Birr, King's +Co.--was appointed to the command of the Division. + +Sir Francis Vane, an eminent Irish soldier of Nationalist sympathies, +who was appointed by the War Office to supervise the recruiting for +the Division, says that never in his life did he witness so +extraordinary a scene as that presented at Buttevant and Fermoy, co. +Cork, where the men first assembled in September and October 1914. "It +reminded me," he says, "of the pages of Charles Lever in the variety +of Irish types answering to the call. There were old men and young +sportsmen, students, car drivers, farm labourers, Members of +Parliament, poets, _litterateurs_, all crowding into barracks which +were totally incapable of housing decently the half of them." They +were dressed in all sorts of clothes, from the khaki, red and blue of +the Services, to "the latest emanation of the old clo' merchants." +That curious assortment of all types and classes was the rough +material out of which was fashioned, by training and discipline, a +superb military instrument. The soldierly essentials were there in +abundance. Within two years they came successfully through ordeals +that would have tried the nerves of the toughest veterans of the Old +Guard of Napoleon. + +In the course of 1915 the Division was removed to camps at Aldershot +to complete their training. The men were visited there, in November, +by Cardinal Bourne, Archbishop of Westminster, who gave them his +benediction, and said he was sure they would do their duty at the +Front "as good children of Ireland and good sons of the Catholic +Church." Early in December they were reviewed by the Queen. It was +originally arranged that the review should be held by the King, but +his Majesty, on a visit to the Front, had been flung from his horse, +and was not sufficiently recovered from the accident to be able to be +present. Among those in the reserved enclosure surrounding the +saluting-base that day were Mr. John Dillon, M.P., and Mr. T.P. +O'Connor, M.P. In the march past the Queen they were led off by the +South Irish Horse, a body of Yeomanry. Each of the three infantry +brigades was headed by one of the Irish wolfhounds which Mr. John +Redmond presented to the Division as mascots. At the conclusion of the +review her Majesty sent for General Parsons and the three +Brigadier-Generals, and congratulated them upon the appearance and +efficiency of the troops. + +Shortly afterwards the Division left for the Front, under the command +of Major-General William Bernard Hickie, C.B., an Irishman and a +Catholic, who has had a very brilliant military career. Born on May +21, 1865, the eldest son of the late Colonel J.F. Hickie of Slevoyre, +Borrisokane, co. Tipperary, he was educated at Oscott and Sandhurst. +At the age of nineteen he joined his father's old regiment, the 1st +battalion of the Royal Fusiliers, of which in due course he became +Colonel. In the South African War he served on the Staff, in command +of a mounted infantry corps and of a mobile column. On his return home +he became Deputy Assistant Quartermaster-General to the 8th Division. +In 1912 he was appointed Assistant Quartermaster-General of the Irish +Command. On the outbreak of the war General Hickie became Deputy +Assistant Quartermaster-General of the Second Army, and is stated to +have particularly distinguished himself maintaining good order during +the retreat from Mons. The Irish Brigade was most fortunate in having +such a man as Commander. Thoroughly understanding the Irish character, +its weak points as well as its strong ones--its good-humoured and +careless disposition; its impatience often of the restraints and +servitude of military life; its eagerness always for a fight or any +sort of enterprise with a spice of danger in it--he was able to get +the most out of his men. One of his happy thoughts was the institution +of a system of rewards in the Division apart from but supplementary to +the usual military honours. Any company officer or man who, in the +opinion of the commander of his regiment, has given proof of +exceptional good conduct and devotion to duty in the field, is +presented by General Hickie with a Parchment Certificate at a parade. +The certificate has been specially prepared in Ireland, having the +words "The Irish Brigade" in Gaelic letters enwreathed with shamrocks +at the top, setting out the name of the recipient, the nature and date +of his achievement, and the signature of the General. The men send +these certificates home, where they are preserved as precious +mementoes. An Honours Book of the Irish Brigade is also kept in which +these presentations and the military honours won are recorded. + +The first experience which the Irish Brigade had of the trenches was +in the Loos-Hullock line. It is the most desolate of the war-stricken +regions, one bare, black, open plain, where everything has been blown +to pieces and levelled to the ground, save here and there some wire +entanglements; where there is no sign of human life, except when +parties of the thousands upon thousands of combatants who burrow +beneath its surface, emerge in the darkness of the night for stealthy +raids on each other's positions. The front line trenches of both sides +run close together. At one point they are no more than sixteen yards +apart. They are notoriously of the worst type, nothing more, indeed, +than shallow and slimy drains, badly provided with dug-outs, and much +exposed to fire. Under such conditions the craving of the body for +food and rest could be satisfied only at the bare point of existence. + +Major William Redmond, in a letter to Dr. Fogarty, Bishop of Killaloe, +dated February 3, 1916, says: "Our first spell in the trenches was for +twelve days, and in that time we had no change of clothing, just +stayed as we were all the time. The shelling was terrific, and the +Division suffered some losses. The day before we came out the enemy +began to celebrate the Kaiser's birthday, January 27, and we were +shelled without ceasing for twenty-four hours. The men of our Division +behaved very well, and received good reports; so the General said." +Testimony to the excellent way in which the Irishmen passed through +the ordeal comes from quite independent and impartial sources. Here, +for example, is an extract from a letter written by the Rev. H.J. +Collins, chaplain to a battalion of the Black Watch-- + + "Our Division had the privilege of introducing the Irish + battalions to the trenches, when they arrived out here; and they + were our guests for a week or so before taking over on their own + account. They made a great impression on our lads by their + cheerfulness and their eagerness to be 'up and at' the Hun. The + Connaughts arrived one evening just as our line was being + heavily shelled, and although they were our visitors they at + once took charge of the situation. They had never been in the + trenches in their lives before; they were experiencing shell + fire for the first time; and before they had had time to get + their packs off and settle down, one impatient sergeant was over + the parapet, crying out in a rich and musical brogue: 'Come on, + the Connaughts!'" + +As is well known, the men of one regiment are not greatly disposed to +praise those of another. In fact, some bitter regimental feuds exist +in the British Army, or used to among the old Regulars. It is, +therefore, all the more remarkable to find in the _Glasgow Herald_ of +February 24, 1916, a letter signed "Jock," proclaiming in the warmest +terms the fine qualities of the new Irish soldiers. "Your readers may +like to hear that we Scotsmen, who have been tried and not found +wanting, have a great admiration for the new Irish Division that came +out some time ago," says "Jock." "We have lived in the trenches side +by side with them, and find them as keen as a hollow-ground and as +ardent as a young lover. At a recent attack when the Germans were +advancing the excitement became unbearable, and one sergeant got up on +the parapet with the shout of: 'Come on, bhoys, get at them.' One of +them, too, was heard to grumble, 'Here we've been in th' trinches fur +two weeks an' niver wance over th' paradise.' It is to be feared they +will outvie even the kilts." + +Yet during this instructional period, when the various battalions of +the Brigade were attached to other regiments for preliminary practice +in the trenches, some high military honours were won. Sergeant J. +Tierney, of the Leinster Regiment; Lance-Corporal A. Donagh, and +Private P.F. Duffy, of the Connaught Rangers, gained the Distinguished +Conduct Medal. Donagh and Duffy, in response to a call for volunteers, +undertook to carry messages forward under heavy fire, as all +telephone communication had been cut. The task was one of extreme +danger, but the men succeeded in accomplishing it unhurt, and were +awarded the D.C.M. for their coolness and bravery. Corporal Timoney, +of the Munster Fusiliers, was especially mentioned in Army Orders for +an act of courage in picking up and throwing away a live Mills-grenade +which had fallen among some men under instruction. By this act he +undoubtedly saved the lives of several men, and if it had happened in +the field instead of at practice he would have been eligible for +recommendation for a higher honour. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +IRISH REPLIES TO GERMAN WILES AND POISON GAS + +HOW THE MUNSTERS CAPTURED THE ENEMY'S +WHEEDLING PLACARDS + + +It was from the Germans that the Irish Brigade got the first +intimation of the troubles in Dublin at Easter, 1916. The Germans, +heedless of their failure to induce the Irish soldiers in their +captivity to forswear allegiance and honour, availed themselves of the +Rebellion to try their wiles on the Irish soldiers in the field. Both +sides in the trenches often become acquainted, in curious ways, with +the names and nationality of the regiments opposed to them. But in +regard to a particular section of the British line, between Hulluch +and Loos, in April 1916, the Germans might easily know it was held by +Irish troops. The fact was proclaimed by the green banner with the +golden harp which the boys of the Brigade hoisted over the +breastworks--the flag which, in their eyes, has been consecrated in +the great cause of liberty by the deeds and sacrifices of their +forefathers, the flag for whose glorified legend they were proud to +die. So it happened that one morning these Irish troops were surprised +to see two placards nailed to boards on the top of poles, displayed by +the Germans, on which the following was written in English-- + + "Irishmen! In Ireland's revolution English guns are firing on + your wives and children. The English Military Bill has been + refused. Sir Roger Casement is being persecuted. Throw away your + arms; we give you a hearty welcome. + + "We are Saxons. If you don't fire, we won't." + +The Irish Brigade and the Irish Volunteers who rose in rebellion in +Dublin were alike recruited from the same class. Such are the +unhappily wayward circumstances of Irish life that the tremendous fact +whether this lad or that was to fight for England in Flanders or +against her in Dublin was in many cases decided by mere chance or +accident. At any rate, the kith and kin of numbers of men of the Irish +Brigade were among the Sinn Feiners. A widowed mother in Dublin had, +in consequence, a most tragic experience. The post on Easter Monday +morning brought her a letter from a company officer of a battalion in +the Irish Brigade announcing that her son had been killed in action. +"He died for Ireland," said the officer, knowing that it was true and +that it would help to soften her maternal grief. Before the day was +out her other son, wearing the green uniform of the Irish Volunteers, +staggered home mortally wounded, and as he lay gasping out his life on +the floor he, too, used the same phrase of uplifting memories: +"Mother, don't fret. Sure, I'm dying for Ireland." + +The effect of the German placards on the battalion of Munster +Fusiliers, then holding the British line, was very far astray from +that which their authors hoped for and intended. A fusillade of +bullets at once bespattered the wheedling phrases. What fun to make a +midnight foray on the German trenches and carry off the placards as +trophies! No sooner was the adventure suggested than it was agreed to. +In the darkness of night a body of twenty-five men and two officers of +the Munsters crawled out into No Man's Land. They were discovered when +about half-way across by a German searchlight, and then the flying +bullets of two machine-guns commenced to splutter about them. Some of +the men were killed; some were wounded. The others lay still for hours +in the rank grass before they resumed their stealthy crawl, like the +Indians they used to read of in boyhood stories, and, having +noiselessly cut their way under the enemy entanglements, they sprang, +with fixed bayonets and terrifying yells, into the trench. The +Germans, startled out of their senses by this most unexpected visit, +scurried like rabbits into the nearest dug-outs. The notice-boards +were then seized and borne in triumph to the Irish trenches, to the +unbounded delight and pride of the battalion; and they are now +treasured among the regiment's most precious spoils of vanquished +enemies. + +A few days later, on the morning of April 27, the Germans tried what +blows could do where lying blandishments had failed; and the Irish +Brigade had to face, for the first time, an infantry attack in force. +The enemy began their operations by concentrating a bombardment of +great intensity upon trenches held by Dublin Fusiliers. Then, shortly +after five o'clock, there came on the light breeze that blew from the +German lines a thick and sluggish volume of greenish smoke. "Poison +gas! On with your helmets!" Surely, the hearts of the most indomitable +might well have quailed at the thought of the writhing agony endured +by those who fall victims to this new and most terrible agency of war. +Instead of that, the flurry and excitement of putting on the masks was +followed by roars of laughter as the men looked at one another and saw +the fantastic and absurd beings, with grotesque goggle-eyes, into +which they had transformed themselves. But they were not the only +monsters in the uncanny scene. Like grey spectres, sinister and +venomous, the Germans appeared as they came on, partly screened by the +foul vapour which rolled before them. Not one of them reached the +Irish trenches. The Dublins, standing scathless in the poison clouds +which enveloped them, poured out round after round of rifle fire, +until the Germans broke and fled, leaving piles of their dead and +wounded at the wire entanglements, and the body of the officer who had +led them caught in the broken strands. + +Two hours later, that same morning, there was another sally from the +German trenches, under cover of gas, against a different section of +the Irish. The parapets here had been so demolished by shell fire that +the Germans gained a footing in the trenches. But they were hardly in +before they were out again. "The time during which the Germans were in +occupation of our trenches was a matter of minutes only," says the war +correspondent of _The Times_. They were put to rout by the +Inniskillings, who came up from the reserve trenches at the double. +"Never was a job more cleanly and quickly done," adds _The Times_ +correspondent. On the next occasion that the Germans launched an +attack with gas, they had themselves to drink, so to speak, the poison +cup they had prepared for the Irish. That was two days subsequently, +on April 29. "Providence was on our side," writes Major William +Redmond, "for the wind suddenly changing, the gas blew back over the +German trenches where the Bavarians had already massed for attack. +Taken by surprise, they left their front line and ran back across the +open under the heavy and well-directed fire of our artillery. In one +battalion of that Bavarian Infantry Regiment the losses from their own +gas and from our fire on that day were stated to be, by a deserter, +over eight hundred; and the diary of a prisoner of another battalion +captured on the Somme in September states that his regiment also had +about five hundred gassed cases, a large number of whom died." + +The Irish Division continued to hold the Hulluch-Loos sector of the +line until the end of August 1916. They were subjected to severe +bombardments. It was a common occurrence for the enemy to send from +two to five thousand 5.9 shells a day into their trenches. What +fortitude and grim determination must they not have had at their +command to enable them to pass unshaken through these terrible +ordeals. They retaliated in the way they love best, with many a +dashing raid on the German positions. + +For conspicuous gallantry in these operations the Military Cross was +awarded to several of the officers. In the cases of Captain Victor +Louis Manning and Lieutenant Nicholas Joseph Egan of the Dublin +Fusiliers, the official record says that "by skilful and determined +handling of their bombing parties they drove off three determined bomb +attacks by the enemy in greatly superior numbers," and that "they +continued to command their parties after they had both been wounded," +gives but a faint idea of the faring nature of their deed. A small +counter-mine was exploded under a German mine at a point between the +opposing lines, but nearer to those of the Germans. The Germans were +able to occupy the mound first and establish a machine-gun on it, with +which they dominated the Dublin trenches. Volunteers being called for +to clear them out, Lieutenant Egan and a small party of privates, +armed with bombs, rushed out and carried the position. Then they had +to hold it against German counter-attacks which were launched during +the next three days. Lieutenant Egan was wounded in the wrist early in +the fight, but he and six men, being plentifully supplied with bombs, +held their ground doggedly. Instead of waiting for the Germans to +reach the mound, in what threatened to be the worst of the +counter-attacks, the party of Dublins advanced to meet them and drove +them back, thus conveying the impression that they were in greater +strength than was really the case. On the night of the third day +another party, under Captain Manning, came to their support. After a +further series of encounters had ended in favour of the Dublins, the +Germans abandoned the hope of recapturing the post, which was +subsequently strongly consolidated by the victors. On the fourth day, +when the struggle had definitely ended in favour of the Dublins, and +Lieutenant Egan was about to return to the lines, a bomb fell at his +feet. He was blown a distance of fifteen yards, and was picked up +seriously wounded in the thigh. Lieutenant Egan is a grandson of Mr. +Patrick Egan of New York, well known in the stormy agrarian agitation +in Ireland under Parnell and Davitt as the treasurer of the Land +League. Previous to the war Lieutenant Egan was in business in Canada. + +Another fine exploit standing to the credit of the Irish Brigade was +that of Lieutenant Patrick Stephen Lynch of the Leinsters, who got the +Military Cross "for conspicuous gallantry when successfully laying and +firing a torpedo under the enemy's wire." It was an uncommon deed, and +just as uncommon is the very remarkable tribute with which the +official record ends: "His cool bravery is very marked and his +influence over his men very great." The Brigadier-General, George +Pereira, D.S.O., in a letter of congratulation to Lieutenant Lynch, +dated July 1, 1916, says: "Your leading the attack along the parapet +was splendid, but you must be more careful another time." Before the +month was out Lieutenant Lynch got a bar to his Military Cross--in +other words, he had won the distinction twice over--an honour which, +as General Hickie wrote to him, was well deserved, and likely to be +very rare. This young Waterford man--a fine type of the fearless and +dashing Irish officer, made out of a civilian in two years--was +promoted Captain in the Leinsters, and was killed on his birthday and +the completion of his twenty-fifth year, December 27, 1916. The +battalion was plunged into grief by the loss of Captain Lynch. +"'Paddy'--the name we all knew him by from the C.O. down to the +youngest sub.--was considered the most efficient officer in this +battalion, and he was certainly the most popular," writes Lieutenant +H.W. Norman, an officer of the Captain's company. "Everybody mourns +his death, and when the news got to his men they could not believe +that such a brave and daring officer could be killed, but the news was +only too true; and when it was confirmed I saw many's the officer and +man crying like children. He lost his life to save his men, who were +in a trench that was being heavily shelled. He went up with a +sergeant, in spite of danger and certain death, to get them out, and +on the way up a shell landed in the trench where they were, killing +both instantaneously." Another noble deed was that for which +Lieutenant John Francis Gleeson, Munster Fusiliers, won the Military +Cross. "Under heavy rifle fire and machine-gun fire, he left his +trench to bring in a wounded man lying within ten yards of the enemy +entanglements." + +It was also in connection with these raids on the German trenches that +the Irish Division gained the first of its Victoria Crosses. The hero +is Captain Arthur Hugh Batten-Pooll of the Munster Fusiliers--a +Somerset man, and he got the V.C. "for most conspicuous bravery whilst +in command of a raiding party." "At the moment of entry into the +enemy's lines," the official record continues, "he was severely +wounded by a bomb, which broke and mutilated all the fingers of his +right hand. In spite of this he continued to direct operations with +unflinching courage, his voice being clearly heard cheering on and +directing his men. He was urged, but refused, to retire. Half an hour +later, during the withdrawal, whilst personally assisting in the +rescue of other wounded men, he received two further wounds. Still +refusing assistance, he walked unaided to within a hundred yards of +our lines, when he fainted, and was carried in by the covering party." +Captain D.D. Sheehan of the Munster Fusiliers supplies the following +spirited account of the raid-- + + "Our men got into the enemy's trenches with irresistible dash. + They met with a stout resistance. There was no stopping or + stemming the sweep of the men of Munster. They rushed the + Germans off their feet. They bombed and they bludgeoned them. + Indeed, the most deadly instrument of destruction in this + encounter was the short heavy stick, in the shape of a + shillelagh, the use of which, we are led to believe, is the + prescriptive and hereditary right of all Irishmen. The Munster + Fusiliers gave the Huns such a dressing and drubbing on that + night as they are not likely to have since forgotten. Half an + hour in the trenches and all was over. Dug-outs and all were + done for. Of the eight officers, four were casualties, two, + unhappily, killed, and two severely wounded, of whom one was + Batten-Pooll." + +For months the Irish Brigade had on their right the renowned Ulster +Division. Thus the descendants of the two races in Ireland who for +more than two centuries were opposed politically and religiously, and +often came to blows under their rival colours of "Orange" and "Green," +were now happily fighting side by side in France for the common rights +of man. Though born and bred in the same tight little island, the men +themselves had been severed by antagonisms arising out of those +hereditary feuds, and thus but imperfectly understood each other. +"When they met from time to time," says Major William Redmond, M.P., +"the best of good feeling and comradeship was shown as between brother +Irishmen." Evidence of these amicable relations is afforded by a +letter written by Private J. Cooney of the Royal Irish Regiment. "The +Ulster Division are supporting us on our right," he says. "The other +morning I was out by myself and met one of them. He asked me what part +of Ireland I belonged to. I said a place called Athlone, in the county +Westmeath. He said he was a Belfast man and a member of the Ulster +Volunteers. I said I was a National Volunteer, and that the National +Volunteers were started in my native town. 'Well,' said he, 'that is +all over now. We are Irishmen fighting together, and we will forget +all these things.' 'I don't mind if we do,' said I; 'but I'm not +particularly interested. We must all do our bit out here, no matter +where we come from, north or south, and that is enough for the time.'" +Private Cooney adds: "This young Belfast man was very anxious to +impress me with the fact that we Irish were all one; that there should +be no bad blood between us, and we became quite friendly in the course +of a few minutes." Meeting thus in the valley of darkness, blood and +tears, the fraternity born of the dangers they were incurring for the +same great ends, united them far more closely than years of ordinary +friendship could have done. To many on both sides the cause of their +traditional hostility appeared very trivial; and there were revealed +to them reasons, hitherto obscured by prejudice and convention, for +mutual loving-kindness and even for national unification. + +But it was not the first time that north and south fought together in +the Empire's battle. There is an eloquent passage on the subject in +Conan Doyle's _Great Boer War_. It refers to the advance of Hart's +"Irish Brigade"--consisting of the 1st Inniskillings, 1st Connaughts +and 1st Dublins--over an open plain to the Tugela river, at the Battle +of Colenso, under heavy fire from front and flank, and even from the +rear, for a regiment in support fired at them, not knowing that any of +the line was so far advanced-- + + "Rolling on in a broad wave of shouting, angry men, they never + winced from the fire until they swept up to the bank of the + river. Northern Inniskillings and Southern men of Connaught, + orange and green, Protestant and Catholic, Celt and Saxon, their + only rivalry now was who could shed his blood most freely for + the common cause. How hateful those provincial politics and + narrow sectarian creeds which can hold such men apart!" + +On July 1 the Ulster Division won immortal renown on the Somme. It was +now the turn of the Irish Brigade to uphold the martial fame of the +race on the same stricken field. They were done with trench raids for +a while, and in for very big fighting. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +STORMING OF GUILLAMONT BY THE IRISH BRIGADE + +RAISING THE GREEN FLAG IN THE CENTRE OF THE VILLAGE + + +At the end of August the Irish Brigade was ordered to the Somme. The +civil authorities of the district, headed by the mayor and curé, +called upon General Hickie to express their appreciation of the good +conduct and religious devotion of his troops. The General was a proud +man that day. Nothing pleased him more than praise of his soldiers. In +return, they gloried in him. As an example of his fatherly solicitude +for them, he had established a divisional laundry under the care of +the nuns, in which 25,000 shirts a week and 5000 pairs of socks per +day are washed for them, and every day's rations sent to the men in +the trenches was accompanied by a dry pair of socks. The result was +that "trench feet"--feet benumbed with the cold and the wet--were +almost unknown in the Division. He also provided for a thousand baths +a day being given to his men in a specially constructed bath-house. + +The marches of the Brigade to their new station was done to the +accompaniment of patter, drip, trickle, ripple, splash--all the creepy +sounds of continuous rain, and across the sodden and foul desolation +that was once the fair fields of France. Up to the firing line swung +a battalion of the Munster Fusiliers, gaily whistling and singing in +the rain. They carried a beautiful banner of the Sacred Heart, the +gift of the people of the city of Limerick, from which many of the men +came. Miss Lily Doyle of Limerick, who made the presentation to Major +Lawrence Roche of the battalion, tells me that the idea of the banner +originated with the Reverend Mother of the Good Shepherd's Convent, +Limerick, who had read, in what are termed the "Extended Revelations," +that a promise was given by Jesus to Blessed Margaret Mary that, +inasmuch as soldiers derided His Sacred Heart when He hung upon the +Cross, any soldiers who made reparation by carrying His standard would +have victory with them. The cost of the banner (£10) was mainly raised +by penny subscriptions. It was worked by the Good Shepherd nuns on +crimson poplin. On one side is a beautiful piece of embroidery +representing Our Lord with His Heart exposed on His breast to Blessed +Margaret Mary, with the inscriptions, "Tu Rex Gloria Christi" and +"Parce Domine, parce populo tuo." On the other side are the words of +the Archangel Michael: "Quis ut Deus," surrounded with monograms of +"Royal Munster Fusiliers" and "God save Ireland." "You could not have +sent us a more suitable gift," the Rev. J. Wrafter, S.J., chaplain of +the battalion, wrote to Miss Doyle, "or one which would give more +pleasure to the men. I believe they prefer it to any material comforts +that are sent to them." This is the third religious banner borne by +soldiers since the Crusades. The first was the standard of Joan of +Arc, and the second that of the Pontifical Zouaves, when Rome was an +independent state. As the Munsters thus marched to battle a cry of +"Look!" was suddenly raised in the ranks, and as all eyes turned in +the direction indicated a wonderful sight was seen. The great tower of +Albert Cathedral appeared through the mist of rain, and the sun shone +on the great copper statue of the Blessed Virgin and the Child, which +dominated the countryside for miles around, and, laid prostrate by +German gunners, was now lying out level with the top of the tower. +Thus that symbol of faith, though fallen, was not overthrown. Its +roots in the pedestal were firm and strong. The Virgin Mother, facing +downwards, still held the Infant Jesus scathless in her outstretched +hands, as if showing Him the devastation below, ready to be uplifted +again on the day of Christianity's victory. The piety of the battalion +was kindled by that strange and moving spectacle. Quickly responsive +always to things that appeal to the imagination, the men felt as if +they were witnesses of a miracle, and with one accord they took off +their helmets and cheered and cheered again. + +Though it is an unusual thing for the Commander-in-Chief to give in +his dispatches the names of the troops who took part in a particular +engagement, Sir Douglas Haig makes special mention of the Irish +Brigade in his message announcing that Guillamont had fallen. "The +Irish regiments which took part in the capture of Guillamont on +September 3 behaved," he says, "with the greatest dash and gallantry, +and took no small share in the success gained that day." + +September 3 was a Sunday. On the night before the battle the Irish +troops selected for the attack on Guillamont bivouacked on the bare +side of a hill. They were the Connaughts, the Royal Irish, the +Munsters and the Leinsters. The rain had ceased, but the ground was +everywhere deep in mud, the trenches were generally flooded and the +shell holes full of water. It was a bleak and desolate scene, relieved +only here and there by the sparkle of the little fires around which +the platoons clustered. Just as the men of one of the battalions were +preparing to wrap themselves in their greatcoats and lie down for the +rest which they might be able to snatch in such a situation, the +Catholic chaplain came over the side of the hill and right to the +centre of the camp. "In a moment he was surrounded by the men," writes +Major Redmond. "They came to him without orders--they came gladly and +willingly, and they hailed his visit with plain delight. He spoke to +them in the simple, homely language which they liked. He spoke of the +sacrifice which they had made in freely and promptly leaving their +homes to fight for a cause which was the cause of religion, freedom +and civilisation. He reminded them that in this struggle they were +most certainly defending the homes and the relations and friends they +had left behind them in Ireland. It was a simple, yet most moving +address, and deeply affected the soldiers." Major Redmond goes on to +say: "When the chaplain had finished his address he signed to the men +to kneel, and administered to them the General Absolution given in +times of emergency. The vast majority of the men present knelt, and +those of other faith stood by in attitudes of reverent respect. The +chaplain then asked the men to recite with him the Rosary. It was most +wonderful the effect produced as hundreds and hundreds of voices +repeated the prayers and recited the words, 'Pray for us now and at +the hour of our death. Amen.' At the dawn Masses were said by the +chaplains of all the battalions in the open, and most of the officers +and men received Holy Communion." + +The attack was timed to begin at noon. All the morning the war-pipes +of these Leinsters, Munsters and Connaughts gave out inspiring Irish +tunes--"Brian Boru's March," that was played at the Battle of Clontarf +in the eleventh century when the Danish invaders were driven from +Ireland; "The White Cockade," the Jacobite marching tune of the first +Irish Brigade in the service of France; "The Wearin' o' the Green," +one of the finest expressions of a country's devotion to an ideal; and +"A Nation Once Again," thrilling with the hopes of the future. The +pipers strode up and down, green ribbons streaming from their pipes, +sending forth these piercing invocations to ancient Irish heroes, to +venerable saints of the land, to the glories and sorrows of Ireland, +to the love of home, to the faith and aspirations of the race, to come +to the support of the men in the fight. And what of the men as they +waited in the assembly trenches for the word? The passage from +Shakespeare's _Henry V_ best conveys their mood: "I see ye stand like +grey-hounds in the leash straining upon the start." + +At twelve o'clock the battalions emerged from the trenches. Numbers of +the men had tied to their rifles little green flags with the yellow +harp. Like the English infantry associated with them, the Irish +advanced in the open snaky lines in which such attacks are always +delivered. But there was a striking difference--noted by the war +correspondents--in the pace and impetus of the Irish and the English. +Mr. Beach Thomas of the _Daily Mail_ says: "It gives, I think, a +satisfying sense of the variety and association of talent in the new +Army to picture these dashing Irish troops careering across the open +while the ground was being methodically cleared and settled behind +them by English riflemen." "The English riflemen who fought on their +right had more solidity in their way of going about the business," +says Mr. Philip Gibbs of the _Daily Chronicle_, "but they were so +inspired by the sight of the Irish dash and by the sound of the Irish +pipes that those who were in support, under orders to stand and hold +the first German line, could hardly be restrained from following on." +The English advance was calm, restrained, deliberate, infused by a +spirit of determination that glowed rather than flamed. A breath of +fire seemed to sweep through the Irish. From first to last they kept +up a boisterous jog-trot charge. "It was like a human avalanche," was +the description given by the English troops who fought with them. + +The country across which this dash was made was pitted with +innumerable shell holes, most of them of great width and depth and all +full of water and mud. A Munster Fusilier graphically likened the +place to a net, in his Irish way--"all holes tied together." So the +men, as they advanced, stumbled over the inequalities of the ground, +or slipped and tripped in the soft, sticky earth. It was a scene, too, +of the most clamorous and frightful violence. The shells were like +fiends of the air, flying with horrid shrieks or moans on the wings of +the wind, ignoring one another and intent only on dropping down to +earth and striking the life out of their human prey. Blasts of fire +and flying bits of metal also swept the plain. + +There is a loud detonation, and when the smoke clears away not a trace +is seen of the ten or dozen comrades that a moment before were rushing +forward like a Rugby pack after the ball. They have all been blown to +the four winds of heaven. "Jim, I'm hit," cries a lad, as if +boastingly, on feeling a blow on his chest. He twirls round about like +a spinning top and then topples face downward. His body has been +perforated by a rifle bullet. A shell explodes and a man falls. He +laughs, thinking he has been tripped up by a tree root or piece of +wire. Both his legs are broken. Another shell bursts. A Leinsterman +sees a companion lifted violently off his feet, stripped of his +clothes, and swept several yards before he is dashed violently to the +ground. He goes over to his friend and can see no sign of a wound on +the quite naked body. But his friend will never lift up his head +again. The blasting force of the high explosive, the tremendous +concussion of the air, has knocked the life out of him. "Good-bye, +Joe, and may God have mercy on your soul," the Leinsterman says to +himself, and, as he dashes on again he thinks, "Sure, it may be my own +turn next." It is that which assuages the grief of a soldier for a +dead comrade, or soon ousts it altogether from his mind. + +Khaki and grey-clad forms were lying everywhere in the frightfully +distorted postures assumed by the killed in action--arms twisted, legs +doubled together, heads askew. Some had their lips turned outward, +showing their teeth in a horrible sneer. Their mouths had been +distended in agony. Others had a fixed expression of infinite sadness, +as if in a lucid moment before death there came a thought of home. +More horrifying still was the foul human wreckage of former +battles--heads and trunks and limbs trodden under foot in the mud, and +emitting a fearful stench. + +The priests followed in the wake of the troops to give the +consolations of religion to the dying. They saw heartrending sights. +One of them, describing his experiences, says: "I was standing about a +hundred yards away, watching a party of my men crossing the valley, +when I saw the earth under their feet open, and twenty men disappear +in a cloud of smoke, while a column of stones and clay was shot a +couple of hundred feet into the air. A big German shell, by the merest +chance, had landed in the middle of the party. I rushed down the +slope, getting a most unmerciful whack between the shoulders. I gave +them all a General Absolution, scraped the clay from the faces of a +couple of buried men who were not wounded, and then anointed as many +of the poor lads as I could reach. Two of them had no faces to anoint, +and others were ten feet under the clay, but a few were living still. +By this time half a dozen volunteers had run up, and were digging the +buried men out. We dug like demons for our lads' lives, and our own, +to tell the truth, for every few minutes another 'iron pill' from a +Krupp gun would come tearing down the valley." Another priest says: +"Many of the wounded were just boys, and it was extraordinary how they +bore pain, which must have been intense. Very few murmurings were +heard. One young man said to me, 'Oh, father, it is hard to die so far +from home in the wilds of France.' Certainly the fair land of France +just here did seem wild, with the trees all torn and riven with shot, +and the earth on every side ploughed with huge shell holes." + +But the Irish troops swept on. Nothing could stop them--neither their +fallen comrades, nor the groans of the wounded, nor the abominably +mangled dead; and the blasts of fire and iron and steel which the +enemy let loose beat in vain against their valour and resolution. +"'Tis God's truth I'm telling you," a Leinsterman remarked to me, +"when I say we couldn't stop ourselves in the height of our hurry, we +were that mad." In fact, they had captured Guillamont before they were +aware of it. "Where's that blessed village we've got to take?" they +shouted, as they looked round and saw not a stick or a stone. "We're +in it, boys," replied a captain of the Munsters as he planted a green +flag with a yellow harp on the dust heap which his map indicated was +once the centre of Guillamont, and the Irishmen, mightily pleased with +themselves, raised a wild shout. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE BRIGADE'S POUNCE ON GUINCHY + +GALLANT BOY OFFICERS OF THE DUBLIN FUSILIERS + + +Guinchy fell within the same week as Guillamont. It was stormed on the +following Saturday, September 9. The village had been taken two or +three times previously--some accounts say four--by the British and +recaptured each time by the Germans. But the grip of the Irish Brigade +could not be relaxed. Standing on a hill 500 feet high, Guinchy was +one of the most important enemy strongholds on the Somme, particularly +for artillery. It had been fortified with the accumulated skill of +eighteen months' labour by the German engineers. It was well protected +by guns. Picked troops--the Bavarians--defended it. The Germans, +according to a captured officer, believed that Guinchy could not be +taken. "But," he added, "you attacked us with devils, not men. No one +could withstand them." The capture of the place was therefore a good +day's work. It stands solely to the credit of the Irish Brigade. They +did it all by themselves. + +The attack was mainly delivered from the direction of Guillamont. All +through the week, for five days and nights, most of the Irish +battalions had lain in the trenches--connected shell craters for the +most part--under heavy artillery fire. In these circumstances they +could get nothing hot to eat. They subsisted mainly on the iron +rations of bully beef and biscuit, which formed part of each man's +fighting equipment, and a little water. As for sleep, they were +unable to get more than disturbed and unrefreshing snatches. Yet they +were as full of spirit and had nerves as unshaken as if they had come +fresh from billets, and they were as eager for a fight as ever. + +In preparation for the advance, a thunderstorm of British fire and +steel broke over the German trenches. The splitting, tearing crashes +of the mighty "heavies" lying miles back; their firing accuracy, the +penetrating power of their shells, had a heartening influence on the +men. "Ah, those guns," said an officer of the Royal Irish +Regiment--"their effect, spiritual and temporal, is wonderful. Your +own makes you defiant of the very devil; the enemy's put the fear of +God into you." The German lines were blotted out by smoke and flying +soil. The ground rocked and swayed. It was like a heavy sea, only the +waves were of earth. + +The whistle sounded at four o'clock, and up and over went the men in a +mass. Like the country before Guillamont, the country before Guinchy +was slashed and gouged and seared, and the air had the sickening taste +of gunpowder, poison gas and the corruption of the body. The men +walked or ran, in broken array, in and out of the shell holes or over +the narrow ledges that separated them. Soon the enemy got the range. +Severed limbs, heads, arms and legs, and often the whole body, were +flung high into the air. It was a dreadful scene. The noise, too, was +appalling, what with the roaring of the guns, the bursting of the +shells, and, not less, the frenzied yells of the charging masses. +There is no shout in the mêlée of battle so fierce as the Irish shout. +Every man is like "Stentor of the brazen voice," whose shout, as Homer +says in the _Iliad_, "was as the shout of fifty men." So the Irish +shouted as they dashed forward, partly in relief of their feelings, +and partly in the hope of confusing and dismaying their adversaries. +It was an amazing martial feat, that charge of the Irish Brigade at +Guinchy. Within just eight minutes they had overrun the intervening +ground and captured the village. Nothing stopped nor stayed them. They +did not pause to lie down for a while and let the bullets and shrapnel +fly over them. Many were seen, as the advance proceeded, lying huddled +on the ground as if taking shelter. They had taken shelter, indeed, +but it was behind a stronger thing than a mound of earth--and that is +death. + +The most graphic and thrilling narrative of the engagement is given in +a letter written home by a second lieutenant of one of the Irish +battalions. They were in reserve, five or six hundred yards behind the +first line, who were in occupation of the rising slope nearer to +Guinchy. It was about four o'clock when they were ordered to move up +so as to reinforce the first line. They got up in the nick of time, +just as the great charge had begun, and they saw a sight which the +officer says stirred and thrilled them to the depths of their souls. +"Mere words," he says, "must fail to convey anything like a true +picture of the scene, but it is burned into the memory of all those +who were there and saw it. Between the outer fringe of Guinchy and the +front line of our own trenches is No Man's Land, a wilderness of pits +so close together that you could ride astraddle the partitions between +any two of them. As you look half right, obliquely down along No Man's +Land, you behold a great host of yellow-coated men rise out of the +earth and surge forward and upward in a torrent--not in extended +order, as you might expect, but in one mass. There seems to be no end +to them. Just when you think the flood is subsiding, another wave +comes surging up the bend towards Guinchy. We joined in on the left. +There was no time for us any more than the others to get into extended +order. We formed another stream converging on the others at the +summit." He goes on to give a wonderful impression of the spirit of +the men--their fearlessness and exuberance which nothing could daunt. +"By this time we were all wildly excited. Our shouts and yells alone +must have struck terror into the Huns. They were firing their +machine-guns down the slope. Their shells were falling here, there and +everywhere. But there was no wavering in the Irish host. We couldn't +run. We advanced at a steady walking pace, stumbling here and there, +but going ever onward and upward. That numbing dread had now left me +completely. Like the others, I was intoxicated with the glory of it +all. I can remember shouting and bawling to the men of my platoon, who +were only too eager to go on." + +The officer mentions a curious circumstance which throws more light on +that most interesting subject--the state of the mind in battle. He +says the din must have been deafening--he learned afterwards that it +could be heard miles away--and yet he had a confused remembrance only +of anything in the way of noise. How Guinchy was reached and what it +was like is thus described: "How long we were in crossing No Man's +Land I don't know. It could not have been more than five minutes, yet +it seemed much longer. We were now well up to the Boche. We had to +clamber over all manner of obstacles--fallen trees, beams, great +mounds of brick and rubble--in fact, over the ruins of Guinchy. It +seems like a nightmare to me now. I remember seeing comrades falling +round me. My sense of hearing returned to me, for I became conscious +of a new sound--namely, the pop, pop, pop, pop of machine-guns, and +the continuous crackling of rifle fire. By this time all units were +mixed up, but they were all Irishmen. They were cheering and cheering +like mad. There was a machine-gun playing on us near by, and we all +made for it." + +Through the centre of the smashed and battered village ran a deep +trench. It was occupied by about two hundred Germans, who continued to +fire rifle and machine-gun even after the Irish had appeared on all +sides, scrambling over the piles of masonry, bent and twisted wood and +metal and broken furniture. "At this moment we caught our first sight +of the Huns," the officer continues. "They were in a trench of sorts, +which ran in and out among the ruins. Some of them had their hands up. +Others were kneeling and holding their arms out to us. Still others +were running up and down the trench, distracted, as if they didn't +know which way to go, but as we got closer they went down on their +knees, too." In battle the Irish are fierce and terrible to the enemy, +and in victory most magnanimous. "To the everlasting good name of the +Irish soldiery," the officer says, "not one of these Huns, some of +whom had been engaged in slaughtering our men up to the very last +moment, was killed. I did not see a single instance of a prisoner +being shot or bayoneted. When you remember that our men were worked up +to a frenzy of excitement, this crowning act of mercy to their foes is +surely to their eternal credit. They could feel pity even in their +rage." He adds: "It is with a sense of pride that I can write this of +our soldiers." + +Many incidents in which smiles and tears were commingled took place in +the nests of dug-outs and cellars among the ruins of the village. The +Dublin Fusiliers lost most of their officers in the advance. Many of +them were the victims of snipers. In the village the direction of +affairs was in the hands of young subalterns. The manliness and +decision of these boys were wonderful. One of them captured, with the +help of a single sergeant, a German officer and twenty men whom they +had come upon on rounding the corner of a trench. The German officer +surrendered in great style. He stood to attention, gave a clinking +salute, and said in perfect English, "Sir, myself, this other officer +and twenty men are your prisoners." The subaltern said, "Right you +are, old chap!" and they shook hands. Hundreds of the defenders of +Guinchy had fled. "An' if they did itself, you couldn't blame them," +said a wounded Dublin Fusilier to me. "We came on jumping mad, all +roaring and bawling, an' our bayonets stretched out, terribly fierce, +in front of us, that maybe 'tis ourselves would get up and run like +blazes likewise if 'twere the other way about." + +Hot and impulsive in all things, the Irishmen were bent on advancing +into the open country beyond Guinchy in chase of the retreating +Germans. The officers had frantically to blow their whistles and shout +and gesticulate to arrest this onward rush of the men to destruction +in the labyrinth of the enemy supports which had escaped bombardment. +"Very frankly the men proclaimed their discontent," says the special +correspondent of _The Times_, "with what they called the 'diplomacy' +which forbade them to go where they wanted--namely, to hell and +beyond, if there are any Germans hiding on the other side." + +The only cases of desertion in the Irish Division occurred on the +night before the storming of Guinchy. It is a deliciously comic +incident. Three servants of the staff mess of one of the brigades +disappeared. They left a note saying that, as they had missed +Guillamont, they must have a hand in the taking of Guinchy. "If all +right, back to-morrow. Very sorry," they added. Sure enough they were +found in the fighting line. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +HONOURS AND DISTINCTIONS FOR THE IRISH BRIGADE + +HOW LIEUTENANT HOLLAND OF THE LEINSTERS WON THE V.C. + + +Many decorations and rewards were won by the Irish Brigade. The +Honours Book of the Brigade contained, at the end of 1916, about one +thousand names of officers and men, presented by Major-General Hickie +with the parchment certificate for gallant conduct and devotion to +duty in the field. Over three hundred military decorations were +gained. Two high Russian honours were also awarded--the Cross of St. +George, Second Class, to Lance-Corporal T. McMahon, Munster Fusiliers, +and the Cross of St. George, Fourth Class, to Lance-Sergeant L. +Courtenay, Dublin Fusiliers. The list of decorations is so long that +only a select few of those won by officers of the Brigade for gallant +conduct in the capture of Guillamont and Guinchy can be given. Father +Maurice O'Connell, the senior chaplain of the Brigade, got the +Distinguished Service Order. Father Wrafter, S.J., and Father Doyle, +S.J., got the Military Cross. All the Chaplains of the Division were +indeed splendid. The others are: Fathers Browne, S.J., Burke, Cotter, +O'Connor, and FitzMaurice, S.J. The official records show that the +D.S.O. was also awarded to the following-- + + "Temporary Captain (temporary Major) Robert James Abbot Tamplin, + Connaught Rangers.--He led his company with the greatest courage + and determination, and was instrumental in capturing the + position. He was wounded." + + "Second-Lieutenant Cyril Paxman Tiptaft, Connaught Rangers, + Special Reserve.--With his platoon he consolidated and held for + fourteen hours a strong point, thus preventing the enemy from + getting behind our advanced positions, which they tried to do + again and again. He set a fine example to his men, and kept up + their spirits in spite of heavy casualties." + + "Temporary lieutenant-Colonel George Alexander McLean Buckley, + Leinster Regiment.--He led his battalion with the greatest + courage and determination. He has on many occasions done very + fine work." + + "Temporary Lieutenant-Colonel Edwin Henry Charles Patrick + Bellingham, Royal Dublin Fusiliers.--He took command of the two + leading battalions when the situation was critical, and + displayed the greatest determination under shell and machine-gun + fire. The success of the operation was largely due to his quick + appreciation of the situation, and his rapid consolidation of + the position." + + "Temporary Captain John Patrick Hunt, Royal Dublin + Fusiliers.--He formed and held a defensive flank for ten hours, + until relieved, under heavy machine-gun and rifle fire, thus + frustrating the enemy's attempt to turn the flank." + + "Major Walter McClelland Crosbie, Royal Munster Fusiliers.--He + led two companies with the greatest courage and initiative. + Later, he organised the position with great skill, displaying + great coolness throughout. He was wounded." + +The Military Crosses won included the following-- + + "Captain William Joseph Rivers Reardon, Royal Irish Regiment, + Special Reserve.--He led his men with great dash, and during a + counter-attack, though wounded, stayed with a party of men in a + most exposed position, till he could carry on no longer." + + "Lieutenant Edward Alexander Stoker, Royal Irish Regiment, + Special Reserve.--With two or three men he went under heavy + shell fire, and captured some enemy snipers. During the enemy + counter-attack he brought a party of men across the open to the + threatened flank, under heavy fire." + + "Temporary Second-Lieutenant Thomas Adams, Royal Inniskilling + Fusiliers.--For conspicuous gallantry when leading a raid. He + entered the enemy's trenches, and it was largely due to his + skill and determination that the raid was successful." + + "Temporary Second-Lieutenant Hugh Abbot Green, Royal + Inniskilling Fusiliers.--When two senior company commanders had + become casualties, he took command and led the men forward, + capturing a portion of the final objective, which had been + missed by the first attacking troops. He then advanced eighty + yards, and, though himself wounded, consolidated his position." + + "Temporary Captain Victor Henry Parr, Royal Inniskilling + Fusiliers.--He rallied men of different units in a wood during + an enemy counter-attack, and, though wounded, led them forward + and beat off the attack." + + "Temporary Second-Lieutenant Charles Lovell Naylor, Royal Irish + Fusiliers.--He took command of his company when the other + officers had become casualties, and showed great pluck when + driving off a counter-attack. He then advanced and reoccupied + one of our advanced posts." + + "Temporary Captain Thomas Francis O'Donnell, Royal Irish + Fusiliers.--In the attack he dashed forward and led the + battalion the whole way. He was first into the enemy's position, + where he did fine work consolidating the defences." + + "Lieutenant Valentine Joseph Farrell, Leinster Regiment, Special + Reserve.--When the senior officers of two companies had become + casualties in the firing line he took command, and, by his fine + example, kept his men together under intense fire." + + "Captain Charles Carleton Barry, Leinster Regiment, Special + Reserve.--For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty when + returning with another officer from reconnaissance. The latter + officer was severely wounded. Although wounded in the arm, + Captain Barry succeeded in pulling his comrade into a shell + hole, and dressing his wound. He finally succeeded in getting + the officer back to our trench. These actions were carried out + under heavy machine-gun and snipers' fire." + + "Temporary Second-Lieutenant Nicholas Hurst, Royal Dublin + Fusiliers.--He organised a party to rush two machine-guns, which + were holding up the advance, and, when the first party failed, + he organised a second, which succeeded. The strong point was + captured and two officers and thirty men made prisoners." + + "Temporary Second-Lieutenant Harold Arthur Jowett, Royal Dublin + Fusiliers.--For conspicuous gallantry during an attack, moving + up and down his line under heavy fire, encouraging his men and + setting a fine example to all ranks. He displayed considerable + coolness and skill in maintaining his position until the line + was re-established." + + "Temporary Lieutenant William Kee, Royal Dublin + Fusiliers.--Although twice wounded, he continued to lead his men + during an attack until ordered back to the dressing station. He + has several times carried out reconnaissance work most + efficiently." + + "Temporary Lieutenant Eugene Patrick Quigley, Royal Dublin + Fusiliers.--Though wounded, he brought a machine-gun into action + against some enemy who were collecting to repel our attack. Not + finding a suitable rest for one of his guns, he had it placed on + his shoulder, where it opened fire." + + "Temporary Second-Lieutenant Dennis Joseph Baily, Royal Munster + Fusiliers.--When all the officers round him had become + casualties he took command and led the men forward with great + dash and ability." + + "Temporary Lieutenant Labouchere Hillyer Bainbridge-Bell, Royal + Munster Fusiliers. He continually repaired breaks in the line + during several days of heavy shelling, never hesitating to go + out when the wires were cut. He was several times smothered in + debris, and was much bruised." + + "Temporary Captain Cecil William Chandler, Royal Munster + Fusiliers.--Although wounded, he led his men and beat off + repeated enemy attacks, displaying great courage and initiative + throughout." + + "Temporary Captain Maurice Fletcher, Royal Munster + Fusiliers.--He directed a working party, close to the enemy's + line, and completed his task under continuous shelling and rifle + fire. He has done other fine work." + + "Temporary Lieutenant Fabian Strachan Woodley, Royal Munster + Fusiliers.--By his skill and determination he beat off three + counter-attacks of the enemy, who were endeavouring to reach his + trench. Four days later he led his men in two attacks with great + pluck." + + Captain Place, Royal Irish Regiment, was awarded bar to Cross he + had already won. + +These official records, brief and coldly phrased though they be, +cannot be read without a thrill of pride in the race which produced +the men. There is one other account of the winning of a Military Cross +that must be specially given, for it describes the feats of "the boy +hero of Guinchy," Second-Lieutenant James Emmet Dalton, of the Dublin +Fusiliers. He joined the Army in January 1916, and was only eighteen +years of age when he took command and proved himself a born leader of +men at Guinchy. The following is the official record, which, happily, +is more extended than usual-- + + "At the capture of Guinchy, on the 9th of September, 1916, he + displayed great bravery and leadership in action. When, owing to + the loss of officers, the men of two companies were left without + leaders, he took command and led these companies to their final + objective. After the withdrawal of another brigade and the right + flank of his battalion was in the rear, he carried out the + protection of the flank, under intense fire, by the employment + of machine-guns in selected commanding and successive positions. + After dark, whilst going about supervising the consolidation of + the position, he, with only one sergeant escorting, found + himself confronted by a party of the enemy, consisting of one + officer and twenty men. By his prompt determination the party + were overawed and, after a few shots, threw up their arms and + surrendered." + +The Irish Brigade also got a second Victoria Cross at the Battle of +the Somme. It was won by Lieutenant John Vincent Holland of the +Leinster Regiment for most conspicuous bravery. He was born at Athy, +co. Kildare, the son of John Holland, a past President of the Royal +College of Veterinary Surgeons of Ireland, was educated at the +Christian Brothers' Schools, and Clongowies Wood College. At the +outbreak of war he was employed in the chief mechanical engineers' +department of the Central Argentine Railway at Rosario, and, hastening +home, got his commission in the Leinster Regiment. For his services at +the Front he received the Certificate of the Irish Brigade. It was at +Guillamont that Lieutenant Holland won the Victoria Cross. The +official account of his exploits is as follows-- + + "For most conspicuous bravery during a heavy engagement, when, + not content with bombing hostile dug-outs within the objective, + he fearlessly led his bombers through our own artillery barrage + and cleared a great part of the village in front. He started out + with twenty-six bombers and finished up with only five, after + capturing some fifty prisoners. By this very gallant action he + undoubtedly broke the spirit of the enemy, and thus saved us + many casualties when the battalion made a further advance. He + was far from well at the time, and later had to go to hospital." + +As proof of Lieutenant Holland's dash it is related that the night +before the engagement he made a bet of five pounds with a brother +officer that he would be first over the parapet when the order came. +He won the bet, the V.C., and, in addition, he was made a Chevalier of +the Legion of Honour and of St. George of Russia. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE WOODEN CROSS + +DEATH OF LIEUTENANT T.M. KETTLE OF THE DUBLINS + + +For all this glory and renown the Irish Brigade had to pay a bitter +price. Many a home in Ireland was made forlorn and desolate. The roads +of the countryside by which the men went off to the war will be lonely +and drear for ever to womenfolk, for never again will they be +brightened by the returning foot-steps of son or husband. + +One of the most grievous losses which the Brigade sustained was the +death of Lieutenant-Colonel Lenox-Conyngham of the Connaught Rangers. +He came of an Ulster soldier family. He was the son of Colonel Sir W. +Fitzwilliam Lenox-Conyngham of Springhill, co. Derry, was born in +1861, and three of his brothers were also serving in the Army with the +rank of Colonel. He fell at the head of his battalion, which was +foremost in the rush for Guillamont. "I cannot imagine a more fitting +death for him," writes Captain Stephen Gwynn, M.P., who served under +Colonel Lenox-Conyngham since the days the battalion was formed at +Fermoy. "He was never in doubt as to how his men would acquit +themselves. To us officers he said things in private which would sound +a little arrogant if I quoted them--and yet they have been made good." +The welfare of the men was always his first concern. Captain Gwynn +relates that on the return of the battalion one night, after a dreary +day of field operations at home, the company officers, feeling very +miserable, were gathered about the door of their mess-room, waiting +for dinner, when the Colonel called out that their proper place was in +the cook-house, seeing that the men were first served. The incident +greatly rejoiced the heart of Captain Gwynn, for, having served in the +ranks, he knew that the officer who is best served by the men is he +who places their comfort and well-being before his own. In France, +whenever any compliment was paid to Colonel Lenox-Conyngham, he could +not be content until, with frank generosity, he passed it on to the +company officers. "It is you who have done it," he would say. "He was +right too," says Captain Gwynn. "We did the work, and no men were ever +less interfered with; but we did it as we had been taught to do it, +and because we were kept up to it at every point." + +I can only mention a few typical cases of the officers of the Irish +Brigade killed at Guillamont and Guinchy. Lieutenant E.R.F. Becher, of +the Munster Fusiliers, was but nineteen, and the only child of E.W. +Becher, Lismore, co. Waterford. He was descended in direct line from +Colonel Thomas Becher, who was aide-de-camp to King William at the +Battle of the Boyne, and was on that occasion presented by the King +with his watch, which is still an heirloom in the family. Captain H.R. +Lloyd of the Royal Irish Regiment was descended from the ensign who +carried the colours of the Coldstream Guards at Waterloo. He was +educated at Drogheda Grammar School, and was at business in Brazil +when the war broke out. Lieutenant J.T. Kennedy of the Inniskillings +was editor of the _Northern Standard_, Monaghan. Lieutenant Charles P. +Close of the Dublin Fusiliers was a native of Limerick, and conducted +a teaching academy in that city. At the time he volunteered he was +the commanding officer of the City Regiment of National Volunteers. +Another officer of the National Volunteers was Lieutenant Hugh +Maguire, son of Dr. Conor Maguire of Claremorris. He was a university +student when he volunteered for service in response to the national +call, and got a commission in the Connaught Rangers, but was +temporarily attached to the Inniskillings when he was killed. Another +gallant youth was Lieutenant Thomas Maxwell, Dublin Fusiliers, son of +Surgeon Patrick W. Maxwell of Dublin, who was in his twenty-first year +when he fell while in temporary command of the leading company of his +battalion in the taking of Guinchy. Then there is Second-Lieutenant +Bevan Nolan. He was the third son of Walter Nolan, Clerk of the Crown +for South Tipperary. When the war broke out he was in Canada, and, +returning at once, obtained a commission in the Royal Irish Regiment. +He was a very gallant young officer, and most popular with his +comrades. In the camp the general verdict was: "Nolan is destined for +the V.C., or to die at the head of his platoon." He was only +twenty-one years of age, and a splendid type of young Tipperary. + +The greatest loss in individual brain-power which Ireland suffered was +through the death of that brilliant man of letters and economist, +Lieutenant T.M. Kettle of the Dublin Fusiliers. He was a son of Andrew +J. Kettle, a Dublin farmer, one of the founders of the Land League, +and a member of the executive who in 1881, on the arrest of the +leaders, Parnell, Davitt and Dillon, signed the No-Rent Manifesto +addressed to the tenants. In the House of Commons, where he sat as a +Nationalist from 1906 to 1910, young Kettle made a reputation for +eloquence and humour of quite a fresh vein. He resigned on his +appointment as Professor of National Economics in the National +University of Ireland. He was married to Margaret, daughter of David +Sheehy, M.P., whose sister is the widow of Sheehy Skeffington, shot +by the military in the Dublin Rebellion. + +In public life Kettle was a vivid figure, and very Irish. At first he +belonged to the extreme, or irreconcilable section of Nationalists, +noted for a cast of thought or bias of reasoning which finds that no +good for Ireland can come out of England. When England was fighting +the Boers he distributed anti-recruiting leaflets in the streets of +Dublin. To his constituents in East Tyrone he once declared that +Ireland had no national independence to protect against foreign +invasion. "I confess," he added, referring to the over-taxation of +Ireland, "I see many reasons for preferring German invasion to British +methods of finance in Ireland." But increased knowledge brought wider +views. As a result of his experiences in Parliament, where he found in +all parties a genuine desire to do what was best for Ireland according +to their lights, he approached the consideration of Irish questions +with a remarkably tolerant, broad-minded and practical spirit. When +the war broke out there was no more powerful champion of the Allies. +The invasion of Belgium, which he had witnessed as a newspaper +correspondent, moved him to an intense hatred of Germany, and, +throwing himself with all his energy into the recruiting campaign in +Ireland, he addressed no fewer than two hundred meetings, bringing +thousands of his countrymen to the Colours. One of his epigrammatic +and pointed sayings--suggested by the ill-favour of absentee +landlordism of old in Ireland--was: "Nowadays the absentee is the man +who stays at home." + +In a letter written to a friend on the night his battalion was moving +up to the Somme, Kettle said he had had two chances of leaving--one on +account of sickness and the other to take a Staff appointment. "I have +chosen to stay with my comrades," he writes. "The bombardment, +destruction and bloodshed are beyond all imagination. Nor did I ever +think that valour of simple men could be quite as beautiful as that of +my Dublin Fusiliers." On the eve of his death he wrote to his wife +another fine tribute to his battalion. "I have never," he says, "seen +anything in my life so beautiful as the clean and, so to say, radiant +manner of my Dublin Fusiliers. There is something divine in men like +that." + +Kettle fell in the storming of Guinchy. His friend and comrade, +Lieutenant James Emmet Dalton, M.C., states that they were both in the +trenches in Trones Wood opposite Guillamont, on the morning of +September 8th, discussing the loss of two hundred men and seven +officers which the battalion had sustained the day before from German +shell fire, when an orderly arrived with a note for each of them, +saying, "Be in readiness. Battalion will take up A and B position in +front of Guinchy to-night at 12 midnight." Lieutenant Dalton +continues: "I was with Tom when he advanced to the position that +night, and the stench of the dead that covered our road was so awful +that we both used some foot-powder on our faces. When we reached our +objective we dug ourselves in, and then, at five o'clock p.m. on the +9th, we attacked Guinchy. I was just behind Tom when we went over the +top. He was in a bent position, and a bullet got over a steel +waistcoat that he wore and entered his heart. Well, he only lasted +about one minute, and he had my crucifix in his hands. Then Boyd took +all the papers and things out of Tom's pockets in order to keep them +for Mrs. Kettle, but poor Boyd was blown to atoms in a few minutes. +The Welsh Guards buried Mr. Kettle's remains. Tom's death has been a +big blow to the regiment, and I am afraid that I could not put in +words my feelings on the subject." In another letter Lieutenant Dalton +says: "Mr. Kettle died a grand and holy death--the death of a soldier +and a true Christian." + +Lieutenant Kettle left his political testament in a letter to his wife +and in verses addressed to his little daughter. The letter, written a +few days before his death, with directions that it was to be sent to +Mrs. Kettle if he were killed, says-- + + "Had I lived I had meant to call my next book on the relations + of Ireland and England _The Two Fools; A Tragedy of Errors_. It + has needed all the folly of England and all the folly of Ireland + to produce the situation in which our unhappy country is now + involved. I have mixed much with Englishmen and with Protestant + Ulstermen, and I know that there is no real or abiding reason + for the gulfs, salter than the sea, that now dismember the + natural alliance of both of them with us Irish Nationalists. It + needs only a Fiat Lux of a kind very easily compassed to replace + the unnatural by the natural. In the name, and by the seal, of + the blood given in the last two years I ask for Colonial Home + Rule for Ireland, a thing essential in itself, and essential as + a prologue to the reconstruction of the Empire. Ulster will + agree. And I ask for the immediate withdrawal of martial law in + Ireland, and an amnesty for all Sinn Fein prisoners. If this war + has taught us anything it is that great things can be done only + in a great way." + +The lines, "To my daughter Betty--The Gift of Love," were written "In +the field before Guillamont, Somme, September 4, 1916-- + + "In wiser days, my darling rosebud, blown + To beauty proud as was your mother's prime-- + In that desired, delayed, incredible time + You'll ask why I abandoned you, my own, + And the dear breast that was your baby's throne, + To dice with death, and, oh! they'll give you rhyme + And reason; one will call the thing sublime, + And one decry it in a knowing tone. + So here, while the mad guns curse overhead, + And tired men sigh, with mud for couch and floor, + Know that we fools, now with the foolish dead, + Died not for Flag, nor King, nor Emperor, + But for a dream, born in a herdsman shed + And for the secret Scripture of the poor." + +These young leaders have won the wooden cross--the symbol of the +supreme sacrifice they made that others might live; the symbol, also, +of eternal peace for themselves--the wooden cross which marks their +graves. From north, south, east and west of Ireland, of differing +creeds, of opposing political opinions--these men of the Irish Brigade +and the Ulster Division--they lie, as they fought, side by side, +comrades in a noble cause. It is sad to think of the many rare +intelligences, ardent and glowing spirits, which are quenched for ever +in the little cemeteries that have sprung up along the Allied Front. +The loss to Ireland is incalculable. But gain might come from it, +which, weighed in the balance, would not be found wanting, if only the +solemn lesson which it teaches were brought home to all: that one in +Irish name, as one in Irish fame, are the northerners and southerners +who died in France for the liberation of humanity. + +Major-General Hickie--as mindful of the memories of those of his men +who have fallen as of the well-being of those still in the fighting +ranks--erected as a memorial to the dead of the Irish Brigade a statue +in white marble of Our Lady of Victories in a town of the district. +Another striking proof of his esteem for the men is afforded by the +following Order which he issued on December 18, 1916-- + + "To-day is the anniversary of the landing of the Irish Division + in France; The Divisional Commander wishes to express his + appreciation of the spirit which has been shown by all ranks + during the past year. He feels that the Division has earned the + right to adopt the motto which was granted by the King of France + to the Irish Brigade, which served in this country for a hundred + years: 'Everywhere and always faithful.' With the record of the + past, with the memory of our gallant dead, with this motto to + live up to, and with our trust in God, we can face the future + with confidence." + + GOD SAVE THE KING. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +MORE IRISH HEROES OF THE VICTORIA CROSS + +DEEDS OF THE HIGHEST MERIT AND LUSTRE + + +In this war Victoria Crosses are being won in remarkably large +numbers, despite dangers and sufferings immeasurably greater than were +ever conceived of in any war of the past. It would seem, indeed, as if +human nature is capable of withstanding any test to which it can +conceivably be put. "Man," said Mr. Lloyd George, "is the bravest +animal that God has made; and, in comparison with him, the lion is an +arrant coward." + +Up to the end of 1916 the war has contributed 221 additional names to +that golden chronicle of valorous deeds--The Roll of the Victoria +Cross. Of these as many as thirty-five are Irishmen. That is a most +glorious achievement, having regard to the proportion of Irishmen in +the Army. The number, taking the Irish regiments, the Irishmen in +English and Scottish regiments and in the forces of the different +Dominions, is altogether about 500,000; and estimating the entire +strength of the Army to be 5,000,000, it will be seen that if the +other nationalities won Victoria Crosses in the same ratio to their +numbers as the Irish, the Roll of the present war would contain not +221, but 350 names. To put it in another way, the Irish on a basis of +numbers would be entitled only to twenty-two of the 221 Victoria +Crosses that have actually been awarded. + +But however that may be, the Irish part of the Roll, as it stands, +will be found to be a very thrilling record of the gallantry of Irish +officers and men in the various theatres of war. Twenty of the +thirty-five Irish heroes of the Victoria Cross are dealt with in the +first series of _The Irish at the Front_. Of the remaining fifteen, +the deeds of four are recounted in the exploits of the Ulster +Division; one, in the story of the Irish Brigade--the second Cross +that fell to the Brigade having been won by an English officer--and +the other ten are dealt with here. + +Sub-Lieutenant Arthur Walderne St. Clair Tisdall, V.C., of the Royal +Naval Volunteer Reserve, was another of the many gallant Irishmen who +distinguished themselves at the memorable first landing at Gallipoli +on April 25, 1915, when the Munsters and the Dublins won imperishable +renown. The announcement of the award of the Victoria Cross to +Sub-Lieutenant Tisdall was not made until March 31, 1916. The +following official statement explains the delay-- + + "During the landing from the ss. _River Clyde_ at V Beach, in + the Gallipoli Peninsula, on April 25, 1915, Sub-Lieutenant + Tisdall, hearing wounded men on the beach calling for + assistance, jumped into the water, and, pushing a boat in front + of him, went to their rescue. He was, however, obliged to obtain + help, and took with him on two trips Leading Seaman Malin, and + on other trips Chief Petty Officer Perring and Leading Seamen + Curtiss and Parkinson. In all Sub-Lieutenant Tisdall made four + or five trips between the ship and the shore, and was thus + responsible for rescuing many wounded men under heavy and + accurate fire. Owing to the fact that Sub-Lieutenant Tisdall and + the platoon under his orders were on detached service at the + time, and that this officer was killed in action on May 6, it + has now only been possible to obtain complete information as to + the individuals who took part in this gallant act." + +Sub-Lieutenant Tisdall came of a well-known Irish family, the Tisdalls +of Charlesfort, who have been established in co. Meath since the year +1668. The late head of the family, Major Tisdall of the Irish Guards, +fell guarding the retreat of the British Army in France in September +1914. The volume of _Memoirs and Poems of A.W. St. C. Tisdall, V.C._, +by Mrs. M.L. Tisdall, states that among his ancestors and relatives on +both sides were "Crusaders, Royalists, who lost everything--even their +family name--for King Charles I; Scotch Covenanters and French +Huguenots, who had been driven from their own countries for their +faith's sake; Irish patriots who fought at the Battle of the Boyne, a +Danish Diplomatist who had danced with Queen Marie-Antoinette; an +ancestress who is said to have fired the first cannon at the siege of +Gibraltar; a famous Attorney-General for Ireland; a brilliant and +versatile Cathedral Chancellor, a Bishop, three missionaries, and many +university, military and naval men." He was born at Bombay on July 21, +1890, his father--the Rev. Dr. St. Clair Tisdall (now of St. George's +Vicarage, Deal)--being then in charge of the Mohammedan mission of the +Church Missionary Society. He was educated at Bedford School from 1900 +to 1909, when he left as Scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge, where +he had a distinguished career, culminating in the winning of the +Chancellor's Gold Medal in the university in 1913, after which he +entered the Home Civil Service. On the outbreak of war he was called +to the Colours as an A.B. of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, of +which he had been a member for some time previously. He served in the +ranks in the Antwerp expedition, and was afterwards given a +commission. By this time, the memoirs tell us, "he had acquired great +self-control, and had practically conquered two of his Irish +handicaps--viz. a hot temper and a certain carelessness, or +casualness, in business. Latterly, the 'Tisdall temper,' as it is +called in the family, only flashed out in the presence of what he +considered wrong or unjust." + +The following extract from a letter by an officer of the Royal Navy +who took part in the landing in Gallipoli was published in _The Times_ +on December 6, 1916-- + + "It has been, unfortunately, my sad lot to write of the ending + on this earth of many heroes, for I have been through much since + August 1914; but I sincerely assure you that I have never seen + more daring and gallant deeds performed by any man, naval or + military, than those performed by the man I now know to have + been Sub-Lieutenant A.W. St. Clair Tisdall, Anson Battalion, + R.N.V.R., at the landing from the _River Clyde_ on that terrible + 'V' Beach. Throughout the afternoon of April 25 a boat + containing an officer (unknown to all) and three bluejackets, + one of them a petty officer, was very prominent. The officer and + the petty officer did the most daring of things, and were seen + by very many. Time after time they visited that awful beach and + brought back wounded officers and men. Darkness came on and that + officer was nowhere to be found. All the petty officer and + bluejackets could say was, 'He's one of those Naval Division + gents.' Days and weeks passed away, and I and others never + ceased trying to find out if we could who and where the unknown + hero was. Over and over we discussed in the _River Clyde_ and in + dug-outs on the beach how those two had escaped." + +It was not till June 15, 1915, that the writer of the letter learned +who the hero was. He adds: "His very saving of the wounded and the +handling of them was in itself the work of an artist, and a very great +one." The end of this gallant officer is told by an A.B. of the Anson +Battalion, who, writing to Mrs. Tisdall, says: "On May 6 the Naval +Division got orders to make an advance, which we did, and advanced +about a mile. When we got nicely settled in the enemy trench your son +stood up on the parapet, looking for the enemy, but was not there +long before he was shot through the chest, and he never said one +word." This was at the first battle of Achi Baba. Tisdall was buried +on the night of May 7, a few yards from where he fell. It was a +glorious death, but far from the kind of death he had dreamt of. In a +poem, "Love and Death," written in 1910, he says-- + + "Be love for me no hoarse and headstrong tide, + Breaking upon a deep-rent, sea-filled coast, + But a strong river on which sea-ships glide, + And the lush meadows are its peaceful boast. + + Be death for me no parting red and raw + Of soul and body, even in glorious pain, + But while my children's children wait in awe, + May peaceful darkness still the toilsome brain." + +Corporal William Richard Cotter, an Irishman serving in the East Kent +Regiment, got the V.C. for an act of unexampled courage and endurance. +It was a deed which showed to what heights the bravery of Irish +soldiers can soar. On the night of March 6, 1916, in the course of a +raid made by his company along an enemy trench, his own bombing party +was cut off owing to heavy casualties in the centre of the attack. The +situation was so serious that Cotter went back under heavy fire to +report and bring up more bombs. On the return journey his right leg +was blown off close below the knee, and he was wounded in both arms. +By a kind of miracle, the miracle of human courage, he did not drop +down and die in the mud of the trench--mud so deep that unwounded men +found it hard to walk in it--but made his way for fifty yards towards +the crater where his comrades were hard pressed. He came up to +Lance-Corporal Newman, who was bombing with his sector to the right of +the position. Cotter called to him and directed him to bomb six feet +towards where help was most needed, and worked his way forward to the +crater against which the Germans were making a violent counter-attack. +Men fell rapidly under the enemy's bomb fire, but Cotter, with only +one leg, and bleeding from both arms, took charge. The enemy were +repulsed after two hours' fighting, and only then did Cotter allow his +wounds to be bandaged. From the dug-out where he lay while the +bombardment still continued he called out cheery words to the men, +until he was carried down, fourteen hours later. He died of his +wounds. A wonderful story of gallantry, endurance and fortitude, it +would seem almost incredible were it not established by official +record of the awarding of the V.C. to Corporal Cotter-- + + "For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty. When his + right leg had been blown off at the knee, and he had also been + wounded in both arms, he made his way unaided for fifty yards to + a crater, steadied the men who were holding it, controlled their + fire, issued orders, and altered the dispositions of his men to + meet a fresh counter-attack by the enemy. For two hours he held + his position, and only allowed his wounds to be roughly dressed + when the attack had quieted down. He could not be moved back for + fourteen hours, and during all this time had a cheery word for + all who passed him. There is no doubt that his magnificent + courage helped greatly to save a critical situation." + +Cotter was born at Sandgate, near Folkestone, of Irish parents who +came from Limerick, and was thirty-four years of age. He was educated +at the Catholic School, Folkestone. Always fond of adventure, he ran +away to sea as a boy. He then enlisted in the Army, and, after twelve +years in the Buffs, came out on the Reserve in 1914, and was employed +by the Sandgate Council. He was called up at the outbreak of war. He +had lost an eye as the result of an accident, but nevertheless was +sent on active service, and this disability enhances the extraordinary +heroism of his deed. He was the eldest of six sons, one of whom was +killed in France, one was in the Navy, one in Salonika, and another +died after serving in the South African War. The chaplain of his +regiment wrote to his parents informing them of his death, and said +his last words were "Good-bye, God bless them all." Cotter was +previously recommended for the Distinguished Conduct Medal in December +1915. + +Thomas Hughes, of the Connaught Rangers, got the V.C. for most +conspicuous bravery and determination. The official record adds: "He +was wounded in an attack, but returned at once to the firing line +after having his wounds dressed. Later, seeing a hostile machine-gun, +he dashed out in front of his company, shot the gunner, and +single-handed captured the gun. Though again wounded, he brought back +three or four prisoners." He was born at Corravoo, near Castleblayney, +co. Monaghan, his father being a farmer, and was at the Curragh, +employed as a jockey in a racing stable, until, on the outbreak of +war, he joined the Connaught Rangers. + +"Come on, the Dubs." This slogan was heard at a critical moment during +one of the pushes on the Somme in the summer of 1916. It was shouted +by Sergeant Robert Downie of the Dublin Fusiliers, and his coolness +and resource in danger saved the situation and got him the Victoria +Cross. The Dublins have been through many memorable campaigns and +battles and have won many honours, but Sergeant Downie is the first of +his regiment to win the most prized of all distinctions. The following +is the official record of the award-- + + "For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty in attack. + When most of the officers had become casualties, this + non-commissioned officer, utterly regardless of personal danger, + moved about under heavy fire and reorganised the attack, which + had been temporarily checked. At the critical moment he rushed + forward alone, shouting, 'Come on, the Dubs.' This stirring + appeal met with immediate response, and the line rushed forward + at his call. Sergeant Downie accounted for several of the enemy, + and in addition captured a machine-gun, killing the team. Though + wounded early in the fight, he remained with his company, and + gave valuable assistance, whilst the position was being + consolidated. It was owing to Sergeant Downie's courage and + initiative that this important position, which had resisted four + or five previous attacks, was won." + +Sergeant Downie is twenty-three years of age. He was born in Glasgow +of Irish parents, both his father and mother being natives of +Laurencetown, co. Down, and received his education at St. Aloysius' +Catholic Schools, Springburn, Glasgow. He is one of a family of +sixteen, of whom thirteen are alive. His father was employed for +thirty years in the Hydepark Locomotive Works, Glasgow, as an oiler +and beltman. After leaving school young Downie served for some time in +the same works as his father, and at the age of eighteen he enlisted +in the Dublin Fusiliers. He went to France with the Expeditionary +Force. He is married, and his wife lives with her two children at +Springburn. + +A wounded officer of the Dublins thus describes how Downie won the +V.C.-- + + "For coolness and resource under danger, it would be impossible + to beat Downie. The ordeal we had to go through that day was one + of the most severe we have struck since the present war, and, as + you know, the 'Dubs' have been in many tight corners. We had + orders to advance against a position that had so far resisted + all efforts of our men to take. We knew it had to be taken this + time, be the cost what it might. We went over with a good heart. + The men were magnificent. They faced their ordeal without the + slightest sign of wavering. The enemy's fire was ploughing + through our ranks. We lost heavily. In a short time there was + not an officer left capable of giving directions. It was only + then that the attack began to falter. At that moment the enemy + fire increased its intensity. It was many times worse than any + hell I have ever heard of. The machine-gun fire of the enemy + swept across the ground like great gusts of wind, and the finest + troops in the world might have been pardoned for a momentary + hesitation in face of such fire. Downie took the situation in. + He ran along the line of shell holes in which the men were + sheltering and cried out, 'Come on, the Dubs.' + + "The effect was electrical. The men sprang from their cover, and + under his leadership dashed to the attack on the enemy position. + Their blood was now up, and there was no stopping them until the + goal was reached. The immediate approach to the part of the + trench they were attacking was swept by the fire of one + machine-gun that galled the attacking party a lot. Downie made + straight for that. Using alternately bomb, bayonet, and rifle, + he wiped out the entire crew, and captured the gun, which he + quickly turned on the enemy. The effect of this daring exploit + was soon felt. The enemy resistance weakened, and the Dublin + lads were soon in possession of the trench. It was later on, + when the attack was being pressed home, that Downie was wounded. + It was severe enough to justify any man in dropping out, but + Downie was made of better stuff. He stuck to his men, and for + the rest of the day he directed their operations with a skill + and energy that defeated repeated attempts of the enemy to win + back the lost ground. Throughout the very difficult operations + his cheery disposition and his eye for discerning the best thing + to do in given circumstances, were as good as a reinforcement to + the hard-pressed Irishmen." + +Captain John A. Sinton, Indian Medical Service, was awarded the +Victoria Cross, after the action at Shaikh Saad in Mesopotamia. The +official record is as follows-- + + "For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty. Although + shot through both arms and through the side he refused to go to + hospital, and remained as long as daylight lasted attending to + his duties under very heavy fire. In three previous actions + Captain Sinton displayed the utmost bravery." + +Captain Sinton was born in Lisburn, co. Antrim, and is thirty-one +years of age. He is a member of a well-known Quaker family. As a boy +he went to the Memorial School in Lisburn, named after the heroic +Brigadier-General, John Nicholson, of the Indian Mutiny, and +afterwards attended the Royal Belfast Academical Institution. He had a +brilliant career in the Medical School at Queen's University, Belfast. +He took first place at the examination for the Indian Medical Service +at the School of Tropical Medicine in Liverpool. He went to India in +1912, and was attached to the 31st Duke of Connaught's Own Lancers at +Kohat. At the outbreak of war he transferred to the Dogras, in order +to take part in the operations of the Indian Expeditionary Force in +the Persian Gulf. + +Private Henry Kenny of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment is another +London Irishman, and the third of the name of Kenny who have gained +the coveted V.C. The stories of the other two Kennys are told in the +first series of _The Irish at the Front_. Private Kenny's father is a +native of Limerick, where all his people belonged to, and from where +he moved to England with his parents. Private Kenny himself was born +in Hackney, London, and enlisted, at the age of eighteen, in 1906. On +the outbreak of war he was recalled to the Colours as a reservist, and +took part in many famous engagements. The official record of his +gallantry is as follows-- + + "For most conspicuous bravery. Private Kenny went out on six + different occasions on one day under a very heavy shell, rifle + and machine-gun fire, and each time succeeded in carrying to a + place of safety a wounded man who had been lying in the open. He + was himself wounded in the neck whilst handing the last man over + the parapet." + +When Kenny was invalided home on account of the wounds he received in +performing the noble action for which he won the Victoria Cross, he +made no reference to his achievement. The sixth man whom he rescued +was his own Colonel, and it was while he was bearing his commanding +officer into safety that he was himself wounded. On his return home +for a holiday after the announcement of the award he visited the House +of Commons, and was introduced to Sir E. Carson, Lord and Lady Pirrie, +Mr. and Mrs. Redmond, Lord Wimborne and Colonel Churchill, and had tea +on the terrace. + +There was much rejoicing amongst the pupils and staff of the Royal +Hibernian Military School, Phoenix Park, Dublin, when it became known +that the greatest honour that can be bestowed upon a soldier--the +Victoria Cross--had been won by a former pupil of the school in the +person of Private Frederick Jeremiah Edwards, of the Middlesex +Regiment. There are three Royal Military Schools in the United Kingdom +(the Duke of York's School, near London, the Queen Victoria School in +Scotland, and the Royal Hibernian School), and naturally there was +keen anxiety amongst them as to which would be the first to place a +V.C. to its credit in the present war. The Irish school has won, +thanks to Private "Jerry" Edwards. He is the second "old boy" of the +Hibernian School to win the V.C., the previous occasion on which the +distinction was gained being during the Crimean War. Private Edwards +was born at Queenstown, co. Cork, the son of a soldier. He entered the +Hibernian School at seven years of age. He is spoken of as a bright, +intelligent and plucky lad by the schoolmasters, to whom his lively +spirits were oftentimes a source of worry--and, perhaps, of trouble +for "Jerry." When he was fourteen he left the school to join the Army. +The circumstances under which he won the V.C. in his twenty-first year +are thus officially described-- + + "For most conspicuous bravery and resource. His part of the line + was held up by machine-gun fire, and all officers had become + casualties. There was confusion and indication of retirement. + Private Edwards, grasping the situation, on his own initiative + dashed out towards the gun, which he knocked out with his bombs. + This very gallant act, coupled with great presence of mind and a + total disregard of personal danger, made further advance + possible and cleared up a dangerous situation." + +A former schoolmate of Private Edwards, and a comrade in the Middlesex +Regiment, gives the following more specific particulars of the hero's +courage and determination in carrying along the wavering men by the +force of his example-- + + "The day our regiment went over there was some wild work. The + enemy concentrated on our part of the line a furious fire. There + was absolutely no cover for a great part of the way. One by one + our officers were picked off. Young Lieutenant ---- was the last + to go. As he fell he called to the men to go right on. They did + so for a time, but things got worse, and finally the men seemed + to lose heart. 'Jerry' Edwards declared that he wasn't going + back. He sprang forward into the thick hail of machine-gun + bullets, in full view of the taunting Huns on their parapet. + 'This way, Die-hards,' he cried, and at the sound of the + glorious old nickname the men recovered from their panic. + Gradually order was restored, and the men followed Edwards up to + the enemy parapet. This was stormed in a few minutes. Edwards + himself bowled over a machine-gun and its crew. He picked up a + couple of bombs and threw them. Privates behind him handed up + more, and from an exposed position on the enemy parapet he kept + raining bombs on the foe. The gun and crew were blown to bits, + and the rest of the enemy bolted to their next position. Edwards + saw what they were up to, and, leading some of the men by the + near cut, he intercepted the flying enemy. Then a great bombing + match began. Our lads won, thanks to the way the team was + handled by Edwards. Though the position was dangerous for some + time afterwards, we held on, and finally consolidated the + ground." + +The finest quality in gallantry is that which impels a soldier to +leave a place of safety voluntarily, and, though he is not under the +excitement of battle, to plunge with cool calculation into some danger +which he knows and has estimated to its full extent. For a deed of +valour of that character the Victoria Cross was given to Private +William Young, East Lancashire Regiment. The official record says-- + + "On seeing that his sergeant had been wounded he left his trench + to attend to him under very heavy fire. The wounded + non-commissioned officer requested Private Young to get under + cover, but he refused, and was almost immediately very seriously + wounded by having both jaws shattered. Notwithstanding his + terrible injuries, Private Young continued endeavouring to + effect the rescue upon which he had set his mind, and eventually + succeeded with the aid of another soldier. He then went unaided + to the dressing-station, where it was discovered that he had + also been wounded by a rifle bullet in the chest. The great + fortitude, determination, courage, and devotion to duty + displayed by this soldier could hardly be surpassed." + +Private Young was born in Glasgow of Irish parents, and joined the +East Lancashire Regiment in May 1899, when about twenty-one years of +age. He was transferred to the Army Reserve in August 1902, and joined +Section D, Army Reserve, in May 1911. He responded to the mobilisation +call on August 5, 1914, and went to France on September 14, going all +through the fighting until wounded at the battle of Ypres in November +1914, by a bullet in the thigh. Returning to the Front, he was +"gassed," and the resulting injuries to his eyes laid him up for three +weeks in hospital. On going back to the trenches the second time he +performed his heroic deed on December 22, 1915. + +Young's home was at Preston, where he had a wife and nine children, +the youngest of whom was born while the father was at the war. In the +following letter to his wife Private Young told how the news of his +distinction was received by him in a military hospital in England, +where he underwent an operation for the complete removal of his lower +jaw and the fitting of an artificial one in its place. + + "Of course, long enough before you get this letter you will see + by the papers that I have received the greatest honour that any + Britisher can get, namely, the V.C., and, of course, I am + naturally very proud of the great honour, both for my sake and + the sake of you and the kiddies and the good old regiment I have + the honour to belong to, and the old proud town of Preston. I + was shaving when the news came through, and the matron and + sisters, nurses and patients have the hands wrung off me, and I + can see I could do with another pair of hands. There are + telegrams coming every two or three minutes, so I have a busy + time in front of me. I have another soldier from Lancashire + helping me to answer them." + +Young's indomitable spirit was finely evidenced in a second letter to +his wife-- + + "I feel all right, seeing what I have gone through; in fact it + was the grace of God, careful nursing, and a grand constitution + that pulled me through.... You know the old saying, 'Fools rush + in where Angels dare not tread,' and if I was in the same place + to-morrow I would do exactly the same thing. I knew that if I + went over the wife and the kiddies would be well looked after. I + am very glad to say that the sergeant I carried out is all + right, and I expect in about a fortnight's time he will be at + home on sick leave with his young wife, as he only got married + just after the war broke out, so you see it's an ill wind that + blows nobody good." + +Young was able in April 1916 to visit Preston, where he was given a +public welcome. But he had to return to hospital again, and died in +August 1916. A local fund was raised, and so generously responded to +that it was possible to invest a sum of over £500 for the family. + +Captain Henry Kelly of the Duke of Wellington's West Riding Regiment +got the V.C. for deeds which are thus officially described-- + + "For most conspicuous bravery in attack. He twice rallied his + company under the heaviest fire, and finally led the only three + available men into the enemy trench, and there remained bombing + until two of them had become casualties and enemy reinforcements + had arrived. He then carried his company sergeant-major, who + had been wounded, back to our trenches, a distance of seventy + yards, and subsequently three other soldiers. He set a fine + example of gallantry and endurance." + +Captain Kelly was born in Manchester of Irish parentage. His father +was from Wicklow and his mother from Limerick. He is twenty-eight +years of age, and joined the Manchester "Pals" with his younger +brother on September 4, 1914. He was promoted to the rank of +Sergeant-Major two months later, and in the following May was gazetted +Second Lieutenant to the West Riding Regiment. Prior to joining the +Army he was employed at the General Post Office in Manchester as a +sorting clerk and telegraphist. He was a prominent member of the +Ancient Order of Hibernians, and also of the city branch of the United +Irish League. He could speak the Irish language before he ever spent a +holiday in Ireland. A detailed account of the circumstances in which +Captain Kelly won the V.C. is given by a soldier in his company-- + + "The enemy had pounded us unmercifully with their big guns, and + the strain put on our men was so great that they began to waver. + Captain Kelly sprang forward and urged his men to the attack + under a blistering hot fire. They responded with cheers, and + under his direction they held a very exposed position for hours. + Later, things looked black once more. So he up again and called + on his lads to hold fast for all they were worth. To show his + contempt for the danger to which we were exposed he led the way + towards another position. He decided to have a cut in at the + enemy's trench. He got hold of a non-com, and two privates + belonging to the bombing section. With these he entered the + enemy trench and started to bomb the Boches out. They got a good + way along, driving before them an enemy more than big enough to + eat up the whole company. Then Fritz was reinforced, and under + the direction of a very brave officer the enemy began to push + our party back. The two privates were knocked out, and Captain + Kelly had to make for home. He picked up the sergeant-major and + carried him out of the German trench. The enemy had many a pot + shot at him, and the shell fire continued as well. It is a + miracle how he escaped. The Boches were close on his heels. The + captain just laid down his burden for a few minutes and threw a + bomb or two at them. They skulked back. Then he picked up his + burden and came marching back to us. All the way he was under + heavy fire. After taking a look round to see how things were + shaping he found that three of our chaps were out in the open, + wounded. Immediately he set off to find them. One by one he + carried them into safety, in spite of the furious fire kept up + by the enemy." + +Australia is proud of Private Martin O'Meara, V.C., of the Australian +Infantry. So also is Tipperary. He comes of an old Tipperary family, +and has well sustained the splendid traditions of the fighting race. +The official record of the award of the V.C. is as follows-- + + "For most conspicuous bravery. During four days of very heavy + fighting he repeatedly went out and brought in wounded officers + and men from 'No Man's Land' under intense artillery and + machine-gun fire. He also volunteered and carried up ammunition + and bombs through a heavy barrage to a portion of the trenches + which was being heavily shelled at the time. He showed + throughout an utter contempt of danger and undoubtedly saved + many lives." + +Private O'Meara, V.C., is thirty-two years of age. He is the youngest +son of Mr. Thomas O'Meara, Rathcabbin, Birr, and is one of a family of +nine children. Before he left Ireland, in 1911, Private O'Meara worked +as a tree-feller, and in Australia he continued to labour in the +woods, being engaged in making railway sleepers at Collie in West +Australia. In the August of 1915 he answered the call to arms, and +entered the Blackboy Training Camp as a member of the 12th +reinforcements of the Australian Infantry. Before embarking from +Australia a friend vouches that O'Meara said: "As I am going I will do +the best I can to bring back the Victoria Cross." To achieve the +highest award in the British Army was evidently strongly before his +mind. He was two months in France before going up to the trenches, +where he remained five days in all, covering himself with glory and +winning the V.C. in this short period. + +Private O'Meara got a fortnight's leave in October 1916--two months +after he had won the V.C.--and availed himself of it to visit his +native place. The modesty of the man is to be seen in the mode of his +home-coming. His family expected him, but did not know the exact date +of his arrival. He got off the train at Birr Station and walked +home--about five miles--in the darkness, along the disused Birr and +Portumna railway line, which passes close to his home. No one +recognised him at the station or along the way. He opened the door and +walked in, surprising his brother and sister inside. At the end of his +leave he returned almost as quietly as he had come. A fund to make him +a presentation was raised locally, and a considerable sum was invested +in War stock, and a gold watch was bought. Advantage was taken of the +presence of General Hickie, commanding an Irish Division, on a short +visit from France to his home at Selvoir, North Tipperary, to have him +present the gold watch to O'Meara. But O'Meara, like the genuine +fighting man that he is, had immediately volunteered for active +service on his return to London from home, after recovering from his +wounds, and it was found exceedingly difficult to get into touch with +him. In fact, but for the interest taken by General Hickie it would +have been impossible. Ultimately his exact whereabouts were learned +through the War Office, and arrangements were made for his return. +Even so, O'Meara could not get home in time for the presentation, and +it was made to his brothers and sisters. Physically, he is a fine type +of manhood, and in disposition is most lovable. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +RELATIONS BETWEEN ENEMY TRENCHES + +IRISH KINDLINESS AND GERMAN GUILE + + +In the trenches one evening a battalion of the Leinster Regiment held +a "kailee" (_ceilidh_), or Irish sing-song, at which there was a +spirited rendering of the humorous old ballad, "Bryan O'Lynn," sung to +an infectiously rollicking tune. The opening verse runs-- + + "Bryan O'Lynn had no breeches to wear, + So he bought a sheep-skin to make him a pair, + With the woolly side out, and the skinny side in, + Faix, 'tis pleasant and cool, says Brian O'Lynn." + +The swing of the tune took the fancy of the Germans in their trenches, +less than fifty yards away. With a "rumpty-tum-tumty-tum-tumty-tum-tum," +they loudly hummed the air of the end of each verse, all unknowing +that the Leinsters, singing at the top of their voices, gave the words +a topical application-- + + "With the woolly side out and the skinny side in, + Sure, We'll wallop the Gerrys, said Brian O'Lynn." + +Hearty bursts of laughter and cheers arose from both trenches at the +conclusion of the song. It seemed as if the combatants gladly availed +themselves of the chance opportunity of becoming united again in the +common brotherhood of man, even for but a fleeting moment, by the +spirit of good-humour and hilarity. + +Lieutenant Denis Oliver Barnett, a young English officer of a +different battalion of the same Leinster Regiment (whose letters from +the Front have been published as a memorial by his parents), tells of +a more curious incident still, which likewise led to a brief cessation +of hostilities. Two privates in his company had a quarrel in the +trenches, and nothing would do them but to fight it out on No Man's +Land. The Germans were most appreciative and accommodating. Not only +did they not molest the pugilists, but they cheered them, and actually +fired the contents of their rifles in the air by way of a salute. The +European War was, in fact, suspended in this particular section of the +lines while two Irishmen settled their own little differences by a +contest of fists. + +"Who will now say that the Germans are not sportsmen?" was the comment +of the young English officer. There is, however, another and perhaps a +shrewder view of the episode. It was taken, I have been told, by a +sergeant of the company. "Yerra, come down out of that, ye pair of +born fools," he called out to the fighters. "If ye had only a glimmer +of sense ye'd see, so ye would, that 'tis playing the Gerrys' game ye +are. Sure, there's nothing they'd like better than to see us all +knocking blazes out of each other." But as regards the moral pointed +by the officer, there must be, of course, many "sportsmen" among the +millions of German soldiers; though the opinion widely prevailing in +the British Army is that they are more often treacherous fighters. +Indeed, to their dirty practices is mainly to be ascribed the bitter +personal animosity that occasionally mark the relations between the +combatants, when the fighting becomes most bloody and desperate, +and--as happens at times in all wars--no quarter is given to those who +allow none. + +In the wars of old between England and France, both sides were +animated by a very fine sense of chivalry. Barère, one of the chief +popular orators during the worst excesses of the French Revolution, +induced the Convention to declare that no quarter was to be given to +the English. "Soldiers of Liberty," he cried, "when victory places +Englishmen at your mercy, strike!" But the French troops absolutely +refused to act upon the savage decree. The principle upon which both +French and English acted during the Peninsular War was that of doing +as little harm to one another as possible consistently with the +winning of victory. Between the rank and file friendly feelings may be +said, without any incongruity, to have existed. They were able, of +their own accord, to come to certain understandings that tended to +mitigate, to some extent, the hardships and even the dangers to which +they were both alike exposed. One was that sentries at the outposts +must not be fired on or surprised. Often no more than a space of +twenty yards separated them, and when the order to advance was given +to either Army the sentries of the other were warned to retire. Once a +French sentry helped a British sentry to replace his knapsack so that +he might more quickly fall back before the firing began. A remarkable +instance of signalling between the opposing forces is mentioned by +General Sir Charles Napier in his _History of the Peninsular War_. +Wellington sent a detachment of riflemen to drive away some French +troops occupying the top of a hill near Bayonne, and as they +approached the enemy he ordered them to fire. "But," says Napier, +"with a loud voice one of those soldiers replied, 'No firing,' and +holding up the butt of his rifle tapped it in a peculiar way." This +was a signal to the French and was understood by them--probably as a +result of a mutual arrangement--to mean, "We must have the hill for a +short time." "The French, who, though they could not maintain, would +not relinquish the post without a fight if they had been fired upon, +quietly retired," Napier writes; "and this signal would never have +been made if the post had been one capable of a permanent defence, so +well do veterans understand war and its proprieties." + +Throughout that long campaign the British and French recognised each +other as worthy foemen, and they were both solicitous to maintain +unstained the honour and dignity of arms. As the opposing forces lay +resting before Lisbon for months, the advanced posts got so closely +into touch that much friendly intercourse took place between them. +French officers frequently asked for such little luxuries as cigars, +coffee and stationery to be brought to them from Lisbon, which was +held by the British, and their requests were always readily complied +with. At the battle of Talavera, on July 28, 1809, the possession of a +hill was fiercely contested all day. The weather was so intensely hot +that the combatants were parched with thirst. At noon there was an +almost entire cessation of artillery and rifle fire, as if an informal +truce had been suddenly come to, by a flash of intuition, and with one +accord French and British rushed down to the rivulet at the foot of +the hill to moisten their burning throats. "The men crowded on each +side of the water's edge," says Napier. "They threw aside their caps +and muskets, and chatted to each other in broken French and still more +fragmentary English across the stream. Flasks were exchanged; hands +shaken. Then the bugle and the rolling drum called the men back to +their colours, and the fight awoke once more." + +Such amenities between combatants are very ancient--the Greeks and +Trojans used to exchange presents and courtesies, in the intervals of +fighting--and the early stages of this war seemed to afford a promise +that they would be revived. The fraternising of the British and +Germans at their first Christmas under arms, in 1914, will, perhaps, +always be accounted as the most curious episode of the war. It was +quite unauthorised by the higher command. The men themselves, under +the influence of the great Christian festival, brought about a +suspension of hostilities at several points of the lines, and they +availed themselves of the opportunity to satisfy their natural +curiosity to see something more of each other than they could see +through the smoke of battle with deadly weapons in their hands and +hatred in their eyes. Each side had taken prisoners; but prisoners are +"out of it," and therefore reduced to the level of non-combatants. The +foeman in being appears in a very different light. He has the power to +strike. You may have to kill him or you may be killed by him. So the +British and the Germans, impelled in the main by a common feeling of +inquisitiveness, met together, unarmed, in No Man's Land. There was +some amicable conversation where they could make themselves understood +to each other, which happened when a German was found who could speak +a little English. Cigarettes and tunic-buttons were freely exchanged. +But, for the most part, British and Germans stood, with arms folded +across their breasts, and stared at each other with a kind of dread +fascination. + +It never happened again. How could it possibly be repeated? The +introduction of the barbaric elements of "frightfulness," hitherto +confined to savage tribes at war, the use of such devilish inventions +as poison gas and liquid fire, are due to the malignant minds of the +German high command, and for them the German soldiers cannot be held +accountable. But the native lowness of morality shown by so many of +the German rank and file, their apparent insensitiveness to ordinary +humane instincts, the well-authenticated stories of their filthy and +cruel conduct in the occupied districts, inevitably tended to harden +and embitter their adversaries against them too. Of the instances of +their treachery to Irish soldiers which have been brought to my +notice, I will mention only two. One arose out of the "truce" of +Christmas Day, 1914, despite the goodwill of the occasion. The victim, +Sergeant Timothy O'Toole, Leinster Regiment, first mentions that he +took part in a game of football with the Germans, and then proceeds-- + + "I was returning to my own trench unaccompanied about 12.15 p.m. + When I reached within fifteen paces I was sniped by a Hunnish + swine, the bullet entering my back, penetrating my intestines. + Following the example of Our Lord, I instantly forgave him, + concluding he was only a black sheep, characteristic of any army + or community, but I was labouring under a delusion. Within five + minutes of being hit, I had quite a number around me, including + officers and clergymen. I was so mortally wounded that the + 'Padre' administered the last rite of the Church on the spot. + Four stretcher bearers came out for me. I noticed the white band + and Red Cross on their arms. Immediately I was lifted up on the + stretcher. Though I was semi-unconscious I remember the bullets + beating the ground like hailstone on a March day. I was wounded + again, this time the bullet going through the lower part of my + back. Here two of my bearers got hit, Privates Melia and Peters. + The former died in hospital immediately after. Naturally the two + bearers instantly dropped the stretcher. I fell violently to the + ground--nice medicine for a man wounded in the abdomen." + +"Thank Providence, I am still living," Sergeant O'Toole adds, "but a +living victim of German atrocity and barbarism." In the other case a +very gallant young officer of the Dublin Fusiliers, Lieutenant Louis +G. Doran, lost his life on the Somme, October 23, 1916, through the +guile and falsehood of German soldiers. The circumstances are told in +a letter written by Captain Louis C. Byrne to the father of Lieutenant +Doran, Mr. Charles J. Doran of Blackrock, co. Dublin-- + + "Believe me, Mr. Doran, I sympathise fully with you in your + loss because I was your son's company commander and by his death + I have lost one of the best officers in my company. We attacked + a certain position and we had just got to it when some Germans + put up their hands to surrender. Your son went out to take their + surrender and they shot him through the heart and he died at + once. My other three officers were also knocked out, and only + myself and thirty-six men returned to headquarters after the + battle. Still, we took the position owing to gallantry of men + like your son. He died a noble and heroic death--no man could + possibly wish for a better one. He told me he had just had a + brother wounded, so your loss is double and words cannot express + my sympathy with you. Your son was buried with the men in the + position we took. It was impossible to bring his body down owing + to heavy fire. I think it is what he would have liked best." + +The lady to whom Lieutenant Doran was engaged to be married kindly +sent me a few extracts from his letters which convey something of his +care and thought for his men. "Those I have seen from the men," she +says, "amplify this from their own experience in ways which he would +never dream of mentioning, he was always so modest about all he did." +"I'm going to tell you what I would really love to get now and again," +Lieutenant Doran wrote in one letter. "You see, we officers are never +very hard up for grub, and I would much prefer to receive something +for my men, who get very little in the way of luxuries or dainties. As +you know, a platoon is split into four sections, and anything that I +could divide into four parts amongst them would be most acceptable. +For instance, four small tins of butter would be a great luxury, or a +big cake--anything that gives them a change." In another he said: "As +you say, there are always hungry soldiers to be found, and I often +wish some of the presents I receive would only come together, as one +cake is a useless thing among forty hungry men. The poor fellows have +fairly rough fare as a rule, and sometimes not even much of that. One +wonders how it is they keep so cheerful." The men, in turn, were most +devoted to Lieutenant Doran. They would do anything to prevent a hair +of his head being hurt. + +Generally speaking, feeling in the British Army is, however, +extraordinarily devoid of that vindictiveness which springs from a +deep sense of personal injury, and evokes, in turn, a desire for +revenge which, were it shown, would, however lamentable, be not +unnatural in many circumstances of this war. The Germans, in the mass, +are regarded as having been dehumanised and transformed into a process +of ruthless destruction. In any case, they are the enemy. As such, +there is a satisfaction--nay, a positive delight--in sweeping them out +of existence. That is war. But the rage for killing them is +impersonal. Against the German soldier individually it may be said +that, on the whole, there is no rancour. In fact, the British soldiers +have a curiously detached and generous way of regarding their +country's enemies. When the German soldier is taken prisoner, or +picked up wounded, the British soldier is disposed, as a hundred +thousand instances show, to treat him as a "pal"--to divide his food +and share his cigarettes with him as he passes to the base. + +It is very noticeable how all the war correspondents, in their +accounts of the taking of the village of Guinchy on the Somme by the +Irish Division, dwelt on the chivalrous way in which the Irish treated +their vanquished foes. Once the spirit of combativeness is aroused in +the Irish soldiers they hate the enemy like the black death to which +they strive to consign them. But when the fury of battle has died down +in victory there are none so soft and kindly to the beaten enemy. +Surrender should always, of course, disarm hostility. No true soldier +would decline to lower his bayonet when a foeman acknowledges defeat +and places his life in his keeping. That is, after a fair and gallant +fight on the part of the foeman. It was because the Germans at +Guinchy were vindictive in combat, and despicable when overthrown, +that the Irish acted with rare magnanimity in accepting their +submission and sparing their lives. + +In that engagement the Irish made a characteristically headlong dash +for the enemy positions. Rifle and machine-gun fire was poured into +them by the Germans up to the very last moment--until, in fact, they +had reached the trenches; and then, as they were about to jump in and +bayonet and club their bloodthirsty foemen, they found them on their +knees, with hands uplifted. The Irish were enraged at the sight. To +think that men who had been so merciless should beg for mercy when +their opponents were on top of them! Were their comrades slain only a +moment since to go unavenged? These thoughts passed rapidly through +the minds of the Irish. As swiftly came the decision, worthy of +high-souled men. An enemy on his knees is to them inviolable, not to +be hurt or injured, however mean and low he may have proved himself to +be. So the Irish bayonet, at the very breasts of the Germans, was +turned aside; that was the right and proper thing to do, and it would +not call for notice but that it shines with the light of chivalry in +comparison with the black meanness and treachery of the Germans. + +In the gladiatorial fights for the entertainment of the people in +ancient Rome the defeated combatant was expected to expose his throat +to the sword of the victor, and any shrinking on his part caused the +arena to ring with the angry shouts of the thousands of spectators: +"Receive the steel." The way of the Irish at Guinchy was different, +and perhaps the renunciation of their revenge was not the least +magnificent act of a glorious day. + +"If we brained them on the spot, who could blame us? 'Tis ourselves +that would think it no sin if it was done by any one else," said a +private of the Dublin Fusiliers. "Let me tell you," he went on, "what +happened to myself. As I raced across the open with my comrades, +jumping in and out of shell holes, and the bullets flying thick around +us, laying many the fine boy low, I said to myself, this is going to +be a fight to the last gasp for those of us that get to the Germans. +As I came near to the trenches I picked a man out for myself. Straight +in front of me he was, leaning out of the trench, and he with a rifle +firing away at us as if we were rabbits. I made for him with my +bayonet ready, determined to give him what he deserved, when--what do +you think?--didn't he notice me and what I was up to. Dropping his +rifle, he raised himself up in the trench and stretched out his hands +towards me. What could you do in that case, but what I did? Sure you +wouldn't have the heart to strike him down, even if he were to kill +you. I caught sight of his eyes, and there was such a frightened and +pleading look in them that I at once lowered my rifle. I could no more +prod him with my bayonet than I could a toddling child. I declare to +the Lord the state of the poor devil almost made me cry. I took him by +the hand, saying, 'You're my prisoner.' I don't suppose he understood +a word of what I said, but he clung to me, crying, 'Kamerad! kamerad!' +I was more glad than ever then that I hadn't the blood of him on my +soul. 'Tis a queer thing to say, maybe, of a man who acted like that; +but, all the same, he looked a decent boy every bit of him. I suppose +the truth of it is this: we soldiers, on both sides, have to go +through such terrible experiences that there is no accounting for how +we may behave. We might be devils, all out, in the morning, and +saints, no less, in the evening." + +The relations between the trenches include even attempts at an +exchange of repartee. The wit, as may be supposed, in such +circumstances, is invariably ironic and sarcastic. My examples are +Irish, for the reason that I have had most to do with Irish soldiers, +but they may be taken as fairly representative of the taunts and +pleasantries which are often bandied across No Man's Land. The Germans +holding part of their line in Belgium got to know that the British +trenches opposite them were being held by an Irish battalion. "Hello, +Irish," they cried; "how is King Carson getting on? and have you got +Home Rule yet?" The company sergeant-major, a big Tipperary man, was +selected to make the proper reply, and in order that it might be fully +effective he sent it through a megaphone which the colonel was +accustomed to use in addressing the battalion on parade. "Hello, +Gerrys," he called out. "I'm thinking it isn't information ye want, +but divarshion; but 'tis information I'll be after giving ye, all the +same. Later on we'll be sending ye some fun that'll make ye laugh at +the other side of ye'r mouths. The last we heard of Carson he was +prodding the Government like the very devil to put venim into their +blows at ye, and more power to his elbow while he's at that work, say +we. As for Home Rule, we mean to have it, and we'll get it, please +God, when ye're licked. Put that in ye're pipes and smoke it." + +Of all the horrible features of the war, surely the most heartrending +is the fate of the wounded lying without succour in the open between +the opposing lines, owing to the inability of the higher command on +both sides to agree to an arrangement for a short suspension of +hostilities after an engagement so that the stricken might be brought +in. Prone in the mud and slush they lie, during the cruel winter +weather, with the rain pouring down upon them, their moans of agony in +the darkness of the night mingling with the cold blasts that howl +around them. But, thanks to the loving kindness of man for his +fellow, even in war, these unfortunate creatures are not deserted. +British soldiers without number have voluntarily crept out into No +Man's Land to rescue them, often under murderous fire from the enemy. +Many of the Victoria Crosses won in this war have been awarded for +conspicuous gallantry displayed in these most humane and chivalrous +enterprises. + +One of the most uplifting stories I have heard was told me by a +captain of the Royal Irish Fusiliers. Out there in front of the trench +held by his company lay a figure in khaki writhing in pain and wailing +for help. "Will no one come to me?" he cried in a voice broken with +anguish. He had been disabled in the course of a raid on the German +trenches the night before by a battalion which was relieved in the +morning. These appeals of his were like stabs to the compassionate +hearts of the Irish Fusiliers. Several of them told the captain they +could stand it no longer, and must go out to the wounded man. If they +were shot in the attempt, what matter? It happened that a little dog +was then making himself quite at home in both the British and German +trenches at this part of the lines. He was a neutral; he took no +sides; he regularly crossed from one to the other, and found in both +friends to give him food and a kind word, with a pat on the head. The +happy thought came to the captain to make a messenger of the dog. So +he wrote, "May we take our wounded man in?", tied the note to the +dog's tail, and sent him to the German trenches. The message was in +English, for the captain did not know German, and had to trust to the +chance of the enemy being able to read it. In a short time the dog +returned with the answer. It was in English, and it ran: "Yes; you can +have five minutes." So the captain and a man went out with a stretcher +and brought the poor fellow back to our lines. + +Some of these understandings are come to by a sort of telepathic +suggestion inspired by the principle of "live and let live," however +incongruous that may seem in warfare. As an instance, recuperative +work, such as the bringing up of food to the firing lines is often +allowed to go on in comparative quietude. Neither side cares to stand +on guard in the trenches with an empty stomach. Often, therefore, +firing is almost entirely suspended in the early hours of the night, +when it is known that rations are being distributed. That is not the +way everywhere and always. A private of the Royal Irish Regiment told +me that what he found most aggravating in the trenches was the +fusillading by the Germans when the men were getting ready a bit to +eat. "I suppose," he remarked, "'twas the smell of the frying bacon +that put their dandher up." But even defensive work has been allowed +to proceed without interference, when carried on simultaneously by +both sides. Heavy rain, following a hard frost, turned the trenches in +the Ypres district into a chaos of ooze and slime. "How deep is it +with you?" a German soldier shouted across to the British. "Up to our +knees, bedad," was the reply. "You are lucky fellows. We're up to our +belts in it," said the German. Driven to desperation by their hideous +discomfort, the Germans soon after crawled up on to their parapets and +sat there to dry and stretch their legs, calling out, "Kamerads, don't +shoot; don't shoot, kamerads!" The reply of the Irish was to get out +of their trenches and do likewise. On another occasion, in the broad +daylight, unarmed parties of men on both sides, by a tacit agreement, +set about repairing their respective barbed-wire entanglements. They +were no more than fifteen or twenty yards apart. The wiring-party on +the British side belonged to the Munster Fusiliers. Being short of +mallets, one of the Munsters coolly walked across to the enemy and +said, "Good-morrow, Gerrys. Would any of ye be so kind as to lend me +the loan of a hammer?" The Germans received him with smiles, but as +they did not know English they were unable to understand what he +wanted until he made it clear by pantomimic action, when he was given +the hammer "with a heart and a half," as he put it himself. Having +repaired the defences of his own trench, he brought back the hammer to +the Germans, and thought he might give them "a bit of his mind," +without offence, as they did not know what he was saying. "Here's your +hammer, and thanks," said he. "High hanging to the man that caused +this war--ye know who I mean--and may we be all soon busily at work +hammering nails into his coffin." + +Many touching stories might be told of the sympathy which unites the +combatants when they find themselves lying side by side, wounded and +helpless, in shell holes and copses, or on the open plain after an +engagement. The ruling spirit which animates the soldier in the fury +of the fight is, as it seems to me, that of self-preservation. He +kills or disables so that he may not be killed or disabled himself. +Besides that, each side are convinced they are waging a purely +defensive war. So it is that hostility subsides, once the sense of +danger is removed, and each side sees in its captives not devils or +barbarians, but fellow-men. Especially among the wounded, British and +German, do these sentiments prevail, as they lie together on the field +of battle. In a dim way they pitifully regard each other as hapless +victims caught in the vortex of the greatest of human tragedies, or +set against each other by the ambitions of rulers and statesmen in +which they have no part. They try to help each other, to ease each +other's sufferings, to stanch each other's wounds, to give each other +comfort in their sore distress. + +"Poor devil, unnerved by shell shock," was the comment passed as a +wounded German was being carried by on a stretcher sobbing as if his +heart would break. It was not the roar of the artillery and the +bursting of high explosives that had unnerved him, but the +self-sacrifice of a Dublin Fusilier, who, in succouring him, lost his +own life. At the hospital the German related that, on recovering his +senses after being shot, he found the Dublin Fusilier trying to stanch +the wound in his shattered leg, from which blood was flowing +profusely. The Irishman undid the field-dressing, consisting of +bandage and antiseptic preparation, which he had wrapped round his own +wound, and applied it to the German, as he appeared to be in danger of +bleeding to death. Before the two men were discovered by a British +stretcher party, the Dublin Fusilier had passed away. He developed +blood-poisoning through his exposed wound. The German, on hearing the +news, broke down and wept bitterly. + +Reconciliation between wounded foemen is happily a common occurrence +on the stricken plain. The malignant roar of the guns may still be in +their ears, and they may see around them bodies battered and twisted +out of all human shape. All the more are they anxious to testify that +there is no fury in their hearts with each other, and that their one +wish is to make the supreme parting with words of reconciliation and +prayers on their lips. I have had from a French officer, who was +wounded in a cavalry charge early in the war, an account of a pathetic +incident which took place close to where he lay. Among his companions +in affliction were two who were far gone on the way to death. One was +a private in the Uhlans, and the other a private in the Royal Irish +Dragoons. The Irishman got, with a painful effort, from an inside +pocket of his tunic a rosary beads which had a crucifix attached to +it. Then he commenced to mutter to himself the invocations to the +Blessed Virgin of which the Rosary is composed. "Hail, Mary! full of +grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and +blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus." The German, lying huddled +close by, stirred with the uneasy movements of a man weak from pain +and loss of blood on hearing the murmur of prayer, and, looking round +in a dazed condition, the sight of the beads in the hands of his +fellow in distress seemed to recall to his mind other times and +different circumstances--family prayers at home somewhere in Bavaria, +and Sunday evening devotions in church, for he made, in his own +tongue, the response to the invocation: "Holy Mary, Mother of God, +pray for us sinners now at the hour of our death. Amen." So the voices +intermingled in address and prayer--the rapt ejaculations of the +Irishman, the deep guttural of the German--getting weaker and weaker, +in the process of dissolution, until they were hushed on earth for +evermore. + +War has outwardly lost its romance, with its colour and pageantry. It +is bloody, ugly and horrible. Yet romance is not dead. It still +survives, radiant and glowing, in the heroic achievements of our +soldiers, and in the tender impulses of their hearts. + + + + +THE END + + + + + PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED, + BRUNSWICK ST., STAMFORD ST., S.E., AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK. + + + + +THE IRISH AT THE FRONT + +By MICHAEL MacDONAGH + + +FROM THE REVIEWS OF THE FIRST SERIES + + _Westminster Gazette._--"Mr. MacDonagh has crammed into a small + volume an almost incredible number of thrilling stories of great + deeds, whether of collective dash and daring and endurance or of + individual heroism. He has found his material in the letters of + officers and men and the conversation of those who have come + home, as well as from the records compiled at regimental depots; + and he has utilised it skilfully, avoiding too frequent + quotation and giving his reader a connected and fluent narrative + that is of absorbing interest. He gives us vivid pictures of the + retreat from Mons--of the Irish Guards receiving their baptism + of fire; of the Connaught Rangers' part in the first stand that + was made ('It was a grand time we had,' one of them said, 'and I + wouldn't have missed it for lashin's of money!'); of the Dublins + at Cambrai, where they went into the fray in a way that is well + described as 'uproariously and outrageously Irish,' after + singing all the Fenian songs for which they had time; and of the + Munsters who harnessed themselves cheerfully, for lack of + horses, to the guns they had captured from the Germans. He tells + us of the green flag that Corporal Cunningham bought from a + pedlar in London, and that the Irish Guards have since followed + to the gates of death on a score of fields; of the Irish Rifles + rallying to the 'view-hallo' that Lieutenant Graham gave them on + a French newsboy's horn; of the glorious sacrifices of the + Dublins and the Munsters at the Gallipoli landings; and of the + desperate resistance at Loos, where, as the Brigadier said to + his men when it was over, 'It was the London Irish who helped to + save a whole British Army Corps.' From first to last it is a + glorious story of almost incredible deeds." + + _Star._--"It is an amazing story of incredible gallantry and + fantastic daring, gay with humour and poignant with pathos. I + defy anybody except a tapeworm to read it without a lump in the + throat and tears in the eyes."--JAMES DOUGLAS. + +Bound in cloth, 1s. 3d. net. Postage 4d. extra. + + +THE IRISH AT THE FRONT + +SOME FURTHER REVIEWS + + _The Times._--"'It is heroic deeds entering into their + traditions that give life to nations,' writes Mr. John Redmond + in his preface to Mr. Michael MacDonagh's _The Irish at the + Front_. The phrase sums up the aim and temper of the book, which + is designed to bring home to English, and especially to Irish, + readers the magnificent service of Irish soldiers in the war and + the sanctity of the cause for which they fight. It is an appeal + to Irishmen not to let the national effort flag, for the sake of + the highest interests both of humanity and of Ireland. In a + vivid and earnest popular style Mr. MacDonagh puts flesh and + blood on the dry bones of the official dispatches by drawing on + regimental records and the narratives of officers and men. The + letters of Irish soldiers give a lively impression of battle + scenes, and add greatly to the spirit of the volume; but many of + the most striking testimonies to the achievements of the Irish + regiments come from comrades who are not Irish. It is + indisputable that the traditional military valour of the Irish + race has been brilliantly sustained in this war, not only by the + old Regular battalions, but by the Irishmen of the New Army." + + _Irish Times._--"Page after page uncovers the story of a heroism + such as few of us had dreamt of--a story told with the + understanding of one who is an Irishman of Nationalist + sympathies, intensely proud of his country, and of the form of + faith which is predominant in Ireland. We do not regard + ourselves as easily giving visible expression to our feelings, + but we must confess that we found the tears coming to our eyes + again and again as we read the magnificent, yet sad, story. + Whether it was the valour of the Munsters in their retreat from + Mons, or the headlong impetuosity of the Irish Guards at the + Battle of the Rivers, or the football charge of the London Irish + at Loos, or the glorious but ghastly tale of the 29th Division + at Beach V, or the hardly less awful landing of the 10th + Division at Suvla Bay, it was the same. We were overcome, yet + filled with pride, at the glory and the sorrow of it all. The + old spirit is still in the soldiers of Ireland. The shifting + scenes of the narrative tell us that the imperturbability and + daring which belonged to the Irish of past battles are seen as + strongly marked as ever in the hurriedly trained units of the + New Armies." + + _Freeman's Journal._--"A vivid human narrative of the war, at + once a fine contribution to the history of the great deeds of + our day and a tribute to the heroism and sacrifices of the + Irish." + +HODDER & STOUGHTON: London, New York and Toronto. + + + + +SOME RECENT WAR BOOKS + + +WITH A PREFACE BY RUDYARD KIPLING + + BRITAIN AND THE WAR. By ANDRÉ CHEVRILLON. With a Preface by + RUDYARD KIPLING. Cloth, 5/-net. + + + J.P. BANG + + HURRAH AND HALLELUJAH: The Spirit of New Germanism. A + Documentation. By J.P. BANG, Professor of Theology in the + University of Copenhagen. Second Edition. Cloth, 5/-net. + + + CAPTAIN PHILIPPE MILLET + + COMRADES IN ARMS: Vignettes from the Trenches, the Artillery Zone, + or Behind the Lines. By Captain PHILIPPE MILLET. Translated by + Lady FRAZER. Cloth, 3/6 net. + + + JOHANNES JORGENSEN + + FALSE WITNESS: The Authorised Translation of "Klokke Roland." By + JOHANNES JORGENSEN. With Illustrations. Cloth, 3/6 net. + + + L. MOKVELD + + THE GERMAN FURY IN BELGIUM: The Personal Experiences of a + Netherlands Journalist during Four Months with the German + Armies. By L. MOKVELD, War Correspondent of _De Tyd_. Cloth, 3/6 + net. + + + JACQUES BAINVILLE + + ITALY AND THE WAR. By JACQUES BAINVILLE. Cloth, 3/6 net. + + + Ch. DE VISSCHER + + BELGIUM'S CASE: A Juridical Enquiry. By CH. DE VISSCHER, Professor + of Law at the University of Ghent. Cloth, 3/6 net. + +HODDER & STOUGHTON, Publishers, Warwick Sq., London, E.C. + + + * * * * * + + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + | Typographical errors corrected in text: | + | | + | Page 78: ojects replaced with objects | + | Page 93: chose replaced with choose | + | Page 157: Leiutenant replaced with Lieutenant | + | | + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + + * * * * * + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Irish on the Somme, by Michael MacDonagh + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE IRISH ON THE SOMME *** + +***** This file should be named 34907-8.txt or 34907-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/9/0/34907/ + +Produced by Jeannie Howse, David Clarke and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Irish on the Somme + Being a Second Series of 'The Irish at the Front' + +Author: Michael MacDonagh + +Release Date: January 10, 2011 [EBook #34907] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE IRISH ON THE SOMME *** + + + + +Produced by Jeannie Howse, David Clarke and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<div class="tr"> +<p class="cen" style="font-weight: bold;">Transcriber's Note:</p> +<br /> +<p class="noin">Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has been preserved.</p> +<p class="noin" style="text-align: left;">Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. +For a complete list, please see the <span style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="#TN">end of this document</a>.</span></p> +</div> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h2>THE IRISH ON THE SOMME</h2> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<h1>THE IRISH<br /> +ON THE SOMME</h1> + +<h4><i>BEING THE SECOND SERIES OF<br /> +"THE IRISH AT THE FRONT"</i></h4> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h3>By <span class="sc">MICHAEL MacDONAGH</span></h3> +<p class="cen"><i>Author of "Irish Life and Character"</i></p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h4><i>WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY</i></h4> +<h3>JOHN REDMOND, M.P.</h3> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h4>HODDER AND STOUGHTON<br /> +LONDON NEW YORK TORONTO<br /> +MCMXVII</h4> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + + +<h4>TO<br /> +THE MEMORY OF</h4> + +<h2>MAJOR WILLIAM REDMOND, M.P.<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%;">ROYAL IRISH REGIMENT (IRISH BRIGADE)</span></h2> + +<h4>WHO DIED OF WOUNDS RECEIVED IN ACTION<br /> +JUNE 7, 1917<br /> +LEADING HIS MEN IN THE ATTACK<br /> +ON WYTSCHAETE WOOD</h4> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<h3>INTRODUCTION<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3><span class="sc">By John Redmond, M.P.</span></h3> + +<br /> + +<h4>THE RESPONSE OF THE IRISH RACE</h4> + +<p>This war is a war of liberation, and its battle-cry is the rights and +liberties of humanity. From the very beginning of the conflict my +colleagues of the Irish Party, and I myself, have availed of every +opportunity in Parliament, on the platform, and in the Press, to +present this view of it to the Irish race at home and abroad; and +despite the tragic mistakes made in regard to Ireland by the +successive Governments which have held office since war broke out, we +are still unshaken in our opinion that Ireland's highest interests lie +in the speedy and overwhelming victory of England and the Allies.</p> + +<p>The response of the Irish race the world over to our appeal to rise in +defence of civilisation and freedom has been really wonderful. The +example was set by Ireland herself.</p> + +<p>At the outbreak of the war I asked the Irish people, and especially +the young men of Ireland, to mark the profound change which has been +brought about in the relations of Ireland to the Empire by +wholeheartedly supporting the Allies in the field. I pointed out that +at long last, after centuries of misunderstanding, the democracy of +Great Britain had finally and irrevocably decided to trust Ireland +with self-government; and I called upon Ireland to prove that this +concession of liberty would have the same effect in our country as it +has had in every other portion of the Empire, and that henceforth +Ireland would be a strength instead of a weakness. I further pointed +out that the war was provoked by the intolerable military despotism of +Germany, that it was a war in defence of small nationalities, and that +Ireland would be false to her own history and traditions, as well as +to honour, good faith and self-interest, if she did not respond to my +appeal.</p> + +<p>The answer to that appeal is one of the most astonishing facts in +history. At the moment, fraught with the most terrible consequences to +the whole Empire, this Kingdom found for the first time in the history +of the relations between Great Britain and Ireland that the Irish +Nationalist members, representing the overwhelming mass of the people +of Ireland, were enabled to declare themselves upon the side of +England. They did that with their eyes open. They knew the +difficulties in the way. They knew—none so well—the distrust and +suspicion of British good faith which had been, in the past, universal +almost in Ireland. They recognised that the boon of self-government +had not been finally granted to their country. They knew the +traditional hostility which existed in many parts of Ireland to +recruiting for the British Army. Facing all these things, and all the +risks that they entailed, they told Ireland and her sons abroad that +it was their duty to rally to the support of the Allies in a war which +was in defence of the principles of freedom and civilisation. We +succeeded far better than we had anticipated, or hoped at the +commencement. This is a notorious fact. There is genuine enthusiasm in +Ireland on the side of the Allies. Addressing great popular gatherings +in every province in Ireland in support of the Allies, I called for a +distinctively Irish army, composed of Irishmen, led by Irishmen and +trained at home in Ireland. With profound gratitude I acknowledge the +magnificent response the country has made. For the first time in the +history of the Wars of England there is a huge Irish army in the +field. The achievements of that Irish army have covered Ireland with +glory before the world, and have thrilled our hearts with pride. North +and South have vied with each other in springing to arms, and, please +God, the sacrifices they have made side by side on the field of battle +will form the surest bond of a united Irish nation in the future.</p> + +<p>From Ireland, according to the latest official figures, 173,772 +Irishmen are serving in the Navy and Army, representing all classes +and creeds amongst our people. Careful inquiries made through the +churches in the north of England and Scotland and from other sources, +show that, in addition, at least 150,000 sons of the Irish race, most +of them born in Ireland, have joined the Colours in Great Britain. It +is a pathetic circumstance that these Irishmen in non-Irish regiments +are almost forgotten, except when their names appear in the casualty +lists. Some of the Irish papers have, for a considerable time past, +been publishing special lists of killed and wounded under the heading, +"Irish Casualties in British Regiments." One of these daily lists, +taken quite haphazard, and published on November 1, 1916, contains 225 +names, all distinctively Irish—O'Briens, O'Hanlons, Donovans, etc. +These men were scattered amongst the following non-Irish regiments—</p> + +<div class="block2"><p class="noin"> + Grenadier Guards.<br /> + Coldstream Guards.<br /> + Scots Guards.<br /> + Welsh Guards.<br /> + Royal Field Artillery.<br /> + Royal Engineers.<br /> + Royal Scots Fusiliers.<br /> + The Black Watch.<br /> + Northumberland Fusiliers.<br /> + Yorkshire Regiment.<br /> + East Yorks Regiment.<br /> + Dorsetshire Regiment.<br /> + Cheshire Regiment.<br /> + York and Lancaster Regiment.<br /> + Lancashire Fusiliers.<br /> + King's Royal Rifles.<br /> + London Regiment.<br /> + Manchester Regiment.<br /> + King's Liverpool Regiment.<br /> + Loyal North Lancashire Regiment.<br /> + Royal Warwickshire Regiment.<br /> + Highland Light Infantry.<br /> + Leicestershire Regiment.<br /> + Worcestershire Regiment.<br /> + Sherwood Foresters.<br /> + King's Own Yorks Light Infantry.<br /> + Border Regiment.<br /> + Durham Light Infantry.<br /> + Notts. & Derby Regiment.<br /> + Machine Gun Corps.<br /> + Army Service Corps.<br /> + Army Cyclist Corps.</p> +</div> + +<p>As showing the extent to which Scottish regiments at the Front are +made up of Irishmen, one newspaper quotes four hundred names from the +casualty lists issued on four successive days one week. All the names +are Irish, all the addresses are Scotch, and in only about twenty +cases were the men enrolled in Irish regiments, all the others being +attached to Scottish regiments. These sad records show the many +thousands of Irishmen serving in non-Irish regiments who are never +taken into account to the credit of Ireland, in estimating the part +she is playing in this war, until they come to light in the casualty +lists.</p> + +<p>In addition to these voluntary contributions of Ireland and her sons +in Great Britain to the British Army, I am informed on the highest +authority that from twenty to twenty-five per cent of all the troops +from the oversea Dominions are men of Irish blood. General Botha sent +me this cablegram from South Africa: "I entirely endorse your view +that this victory"—he is referring to his great defeat of the Germans +in their colonies—"is the fruit of the policy of liberty and the +recognition of national rights in this part of the Empire." General +Botha had enormous difficulties to face, serious racial animosity, and +bitter national memories. Does any fair-minded man think that General +Botha could have overcome those difficulties as he did if the war had +broken out just after the recognition of those national rights to +which he referred and before they had come into operation? The +national rights of Ireland are recognised, but they have not yet come +into operation. Yet it is true to say that the overwhelming sentiment +of the Irish people is with the Empire for the first time. That fact +is of incalculable value. Its influence has spread to every corner of +the Empire. If the sentiment of the Irish people at home had not been +with England in this war, the depressing and benumbing effect would +have been felt everywhere in the self-governing Dominions. Ireland +herself has made a splendid response, and the result has been that a +wave of enthusiasm has stirred the hearts of men of Irish blood +throughout the Empire. I received a New Year's card from the +commanding officer and the other officers of a regiment raised in +Vancouver, commanded by Irishmen and composed of Irishmen. They call +themselves "The Vancouver Irish Fusiliers." Then, not long since, in +Cape Town, green flags were presented by General Botha's wife—a +member of the historic Emmet family—to an Irish regiment raised +there. These facts constitute a striking result of the action we felt +it our duty to take to bring feeling in Ireland in regard to the war +into line with that of the rest of the Empire. Then there is that +remarkable Irish battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, the +Irish Canadian Rangers, which is composed of Irish Catholics and Irish +Protestants in equal numbers, commanded by officers more than half of +whom are Catholics and having a Catholic chaplain and a Protestant +chaplain. This battalion, unique among the fighting units raised at +home or abroad during the war, and a magnificent body of men, made a +tour through the ancient motherland of their race in January 1917 (on +their way to the Front), and received in Dublin, Belfast, Cork and +Limerick the most enthusiastic popular welcomes.</p> + +<p>Ireland is very proud of these sons of the Irish race who, in every +part of the Empire, have followed the lead which she herself has given +in rallying to the cause with which she has always sympathised and has +always supported—the cause of right against might. The Irish race is +represented in this war by at least half a million of men who have +voluntarily joined the Colours. How gallantly they have fought this +book, in part, relates. In his first series of <i>The Irish at the +Front</i> Mr. MacDonagh deals with the achievements of the Irish Guards +and the Regular Irish regiments of the Line in Flanders and France in +the earlier years of the war; the landing of the Munsters and Dublins +of the immortal 29th Division at Beach V, Gallipoli; and the fighting +of the 10th (Irish) Division of the New Armies at Suvla Bay. The +story of these glorious deeds sent a wave of emotion through the land. +The King, addressing a battalion of the Irish Guards on St. Patrick's +Day, 1916, said—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"On St. Patrick's Day, when Irishmen the world over unite to +celebrate the memory of their Patron Saint, it gives me great +pleasure to inspect the reserve battalion of my Irish Guards, +and to testify my appreciation of the services rendered by the +regiment in this war.... I gratefully remember the heroic +endurance of the 1st Battalion in the arduous retreat from Mons, +again at Ypres on the critical November 1st, when, as Lord +Cavan, your Brigadier, wrote, those who were left showed the +enemy that Irish Guards must be reckoned with, however hard hit. +After twenty-eight days of incessant fighting against heavy +odds, the battalion came out of the line less than a company +strong, with only four officers—a glorious tribute to Irish +loyalty and endurance.... In conferring the Victoria Cross on +Lance-Corporal, now Lieutenant, Michael O'Leary, the first Irish +Guardsman to win this coveted distinction, I was proud to honour +a deed that, in its fearless contempt of death, illustrates the +spirit of my Irish Guards. At Loos the 2nd Battalion received +its baptism of fire and confirmed the high reputation already +won by the 1st Battalion."</p></div> + +<p><i>The Daily Telegraph</i> (London), writing on March 18, 1916, said—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"There is one key to the soul of Ireland—the word 'freedom.' It +was realised instantly that this was no dynastic war on the part +of the Allies, no struggle for material ends, but a life and +death conflict for liberty of thought and action. Once the issue +was exposed, Irishmen, with all the white heat which injustice +inspires in their breasts, threw themselves into the battle. The +enemy has since felt Irish steel and fallen under Irish bullets. +Whatever the future may have in store, the British people will +never forget the generous blood of the sister nation, which has +been shed on so many hard-fought battlefields since the +world-war began."</p></div> + +<p>In this, the second series of <i>The Irish at the Front</i>, the thrilling +story is continued. The Irish troops dealt with are all of the New +Armies—the Ulster Division, the Irish Division and the Tyneside Irish +Brigade. I am as proud of the Ulster regiments as I am of the +Nationalist regiments. I do not want to boast of their valour. We +Irishmen are inclined to take it as a matter of course. These Irish +regiments, Unionist and Nationalist, merely keep up the tradition of +our race. But I say that Lord Kitchener's words remain true—the words +that he wrote to the Viceregal Recruiting Conference in Dublin in +1915, when he said that in the matter of recruiting, "Ireland's +performance has been magnificent." Let me ask any fair-minded man this +question: If five years ago any one had predicted that in a great war +in which the Empire was engaged 173,772 men would have been raised +from Ireland, and that there would be more than half a million +Irishmen with the Colours, would he not have been looked upon as a +lunatic? It is the free offering of Ireland. Surely it must be +regarded as a proud and astonishing record!</p> + +<p class="right sc">J.E. Redmond.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<h3>PREFACE<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> +<br /> + +<p>This narrative is concerned chiefly with the three distinctively Irish +units of the New Armies engaged on the Western Front—the Ulster +Division, the Irish Division (representative of the south and west), +and the "Tyneside Irish," in which Irishmen living in the north of +England enlisted. It also deals incidentally with the Irish Regular +regiments of the Line, and with that numerous body of Irishmen serving +in English, Scottish and Welsh battalions and in the Anzacs and +Canadians.</p> + +<p>The first series of <i>The Irish at the Front</i> covers, first, the +fighting of the Irish regiments of the Regular Army in France, +Flanders and the Dardanelles during the early stages of the war; and, +secondly, the operations of the 10th (Irish) Division—composed +entirely of "Kitchener's men"—against the Turks at Gallipoli. The +latter, an exceptionally fine body of young Irishmen, gallantly fought +and fell—as the story discloses—in that expedition, so ill-fated and +yet so romantic, though they had never handled a rifle or done a day's +drill before the war. In this series we see Irishmen of the same type +matched against the Germans in France. As we know, Germany confidently +expected that such levies, hastily raised and insufficiently trained, +would break in pieces at the first encounter with her seasoned +troops. But it was the formidable German lines that were broken, and +they were broken by these very raw levies at the bayonet's point.</p> + +<p>For the telling of the Irish part in the story of the Somme I am much +indebted to the assistance given by officers and men of the Irish +battalions engaged in that mighty battle. But the Irish soldiers are +not only "splendid fighting material"—a rather non-human phrase now +much in vogue, as if the only thing that matters in warfare is the +physical capacity of man—they have souls and minds and hearts, as +well as strong right hands, and of these also something is said in +this book.</p> + +<p class="right sc">Michael MacDonagh.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="toc" id="toc"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<h3>CONTENTS</h3> +<br /> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="Table of Contents"> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc" colspan="2"><a href="#INTRODUCTION">Introduction by John Redmond, M.P.</a></td> + <td class="tdr" style="font-size: 80%;">PAGE</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc" colspan="2"><a href="#PREFACE">Preface</a></td> + <td class="tdr">7</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="10%" style="font-size: 80%;">CHAP.</td> + <td class="tdl" width="70%"> </td> + <td class="tdr" width="20%"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsch" colspan="2">I.—<a href="#CHAPTER_I">In the Trenches with the Connaught Rangers</a></td> + <td class="tdr">11</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Scenes Comic and Tragic</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsch" colspan="2">II.—<a href="#CHAPTER_II">Exploits of the Ulster Division</a></td> + <td class="tdr">24</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Belfast's Tribute to the Dead</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsch" colspan="2">III.—<a href="#CHAPTER_III">Ulsters' Attack on the Slopes of Thiepval.</a></td> + <td class="tdr">32</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">"Not a man turned to come back, not one"</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsch" colspan="2">IV.—<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">Four Victoria Crosses to the Ulster Division</a></td> + <td class="tdr">47</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Brilliant Additions to the Record of Irish Valour and Romance</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsch" colspan="2">V.—<a href="#CHAPTER_V">Combativeness of the Irish Soldier</a></td> + <td class="tdr">56</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">The British Blends of Courage</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsch" colspan="2">VI.—<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">With the Tyneside Irish</a></td> + <td class="tdr">67</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Over the Heights of La Boiselle, through Bailiff's Wood to Contalmaison</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsch" colspan="2">VII.—<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">The Wearing of Religious Emblems at the Front</a></td> + <td class="tdr">84</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsch" colspan="2">VIII.—<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">The Irish Soldier's Humour and Seriousness</a></td> + <td class="tdr">104</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Stories from the Front, Funny and Otherwise</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsch" colspan="2">IX.—<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">The Irish Brigade</a></td> + <td class="tdr">118</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">"Everywhere and Always Faithful"</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsch" colspan="2">X.—<a href="#CHAPTER_X">Irish Replies to German Wiles and Poison Gas</a></td> + <td class="tdr">128</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">How the Munsters captured the Enemy's wheedling Placards</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsch" colspan="2">XI.—<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">Storming of Guillamont by the Irish Brigade</a></td> + <td class="tdr">138</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Raising the Green Flag in the Centre of the Village</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsch" colspan="2">XII.—<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">The Brigade's Pounce on Guinchy</a></td> + <td class="tdr">146</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Gallant Boy Officers of the Dublin Fusiliers</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsch" colspan="2">XIII.—<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">Honours and Distinctions for the Irish Brigade</a></td> + <td class="tdr">152</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">How Lieut. Holland of the Leinsters won the V.C.</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsch" colspan="2">XIV.—<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">The Wooden Cross</a></td> + <td class="tdr">158</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Death of Lieut. T.M. Kettle of the Dublins</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsch" colspan="2">XV.—<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">More Irish Heroes of the Victoria Cross</a></td> + <td class="tdr">165</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Deeds of the Highest Merit and Lustre</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsch" colspan="2">XVI.—<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">Relations Between Enemy Trenches</a></td> + <td class="tdr">182</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Irish Kindliness and German Guile</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER I</h3> + +<h3>IN THE TRENCHES WITH THE CONNAUGHT RANGERS<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>SCENES COMIC AND TRAGIC</h4> +<br /> + +<p>"The men are as anxious for the road, sir, as if 'twere to Galway +races they were going, no less, or to Ballinasloe Fair," said the +company sergeant-major to the captain. Those referred to belonged to a +battalion of the Connaught Rangers ordered to the firing-trenches for +the first time. "The real thing at last;" "The genuine McCoy, and no +mistake," they said to one another as, in preparation for the march, +they hurriedly packed their things in the barns and cow-sheds that +served as billets, and, to provide further vent for their jubilation, +danced Irish jigs and reels and sang national songs.</p> + +<p>These Irishmen had read a lot about the fighting, and had heard a +great deal more, but they felt that print and talk, however graphic +and copious, left many strange things to be disclosed by the actual +experience. Some of them would "get the beck"—the call from +Death—but what matter? Were not soldiers who died in action to be +envied, rather than pitied, by those who found themselves alive when +the war was over, and had not been to the mysterious Front at all? So +they thought and said, and now that they were on the road there was a +look of proud elation on their faces, as though they had been singled +out by special <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>favour for a grand adventure. They did not regard +themselves in the least as heroes, these entirely unsophisticated men, +without a trace of self-consciousness. They had volunteered for +service in the belief that Ireland would be false to her historical +self if she did not take part in this war for freedom, democracy and +humanity. But now there was nothing in their minds about revenging the +wrongs of Belgium, or driving the invader from the soil of France, or +even of saving the British Empire. It was the fight that was the +thing. It was the chance of having a smack at "the Gerrys"—as the +enemy is called by the Irish soldiers—that they prized. More exalted +feelings would come again when the battle was over and won. Then, and +not till then, as they return with many gaps in their ranks, do Irish +troops see themselves as an army of redemption and deliverance; and +the only land they think of having saved is Ireland. To them Ireland +personifies all the great causes of the war, and a blow struck for +these causes, no matter where, is a blow struck for her.</p> + +<p>By the light of many stars sparkling in the sky that dark October +night the men could see signs that battles had been fought in the +country they were traversing. It was a devastated bare expanse, +stretching for miles and miles, very muddy and broken up with shell +holes. Roads had been made across it, and along one of these the +battalion went in the wake of the guides with swinging lanterns. The +men were fully loaded. In addition to his fighting equipment, almost +every one carried something extra, such as a pick or shovel, a bag of +rations, or a bundle of fire-wood. The company officers also had heavy +packs strapped on their shoulders. Great good-humour prevailed. +Whenever, at awkward turns of the road, or at very dark points, +progress was interrupted, those in front would shout some preposterous +explanation <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>of the delay to their comrades behind. "Begonnies, boys, +we're taking tickets here for Galway. Word has come down that the war +is over," cried one joker. Deep groans of pretended dismay and +disappointment rose from the rear ranks. "And poor me, without a +German helmet, or even a black eye, to show that I was in it," was one +of the responses.</p> + +<p>When the open plain was quitted the battalion disappeared into a +trench like a narrow country lane winding between high banks. It was +much darker in these deeps than it had been outside. The gloom was +broken occasionally by the light of lanterns carried by sentinels, or +electric torches at junctions where several trenches crossed. Soon the +trench became narrower and more tortuous. It also became more soaked +with rain. Pools of water were frequently encountered. The battalion +was now a floundering, staggering, overloaded and perspiring closely +packed mass of men, walking in couples or in single file and treading +on each other's heels.</p> + +<p>The mishaps arising from this crowded scramble in the dark through mud +and mire, between banks of unsupported crumbling earth, did not +exhaust the Irish cheerfulness of the battalion. There was laughter +when a man got a crack on the skull from a rifle which a comrade +carried swung across his shoulder. There was louder laughter still +when another, stooping to pick up something he had dropped, was bumped +into from behind and sent sprawling. So sucking and tenacious was the +mud that frequently each dragging footstep called for quite a physical +effort, and a man was thankful that he did not have to leave a boot +behind. "Ah, sure this is nothin' to the bog away in Connemara, where +I often sunk up to me neck when crossing it to cut turf," was the +comfort imparted in a soft brogue. "True for you, Tim," remarked +another. "It's an ould sayin' <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>and a true one that there's nothin' so +bad but it could be worse."</p> + +<p>The trench certainly proved the truth of the saying. Bad as it had +been, it sank to a still lower degree of slush. There were deep holes +filled with water into which the men went with an abrupt plunge and +passed through with much splashing. Just ahead of one of these +particularly treacherous points singing was heard. The chorus was +taken up by many voices, and its last line was rapped out with hearty +boisterousness—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Out and make way for the bould Fenian Men."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noin">This joyous noise heralded the appearance of a party of the Dublin +Fusiliers, belonging to the same Division, who were coming down the +trench. By the light of lanterns and lamps it was seen that they had +taken off their trousers and socks and, holding up their shirts, were +wading in their boots blithely through the pools, like girls in bare +legs and lifted petticoats paddling at the seaside.</p> + +<p>The Connaught men laughed hilariously. "Sure the Dublin jackeens have +never been beaten yet for cuteness," they cried. "They stripped to +their pelts so as they wouldn't get the 'fluensy by means of their wet +clothes. And, faix, 'twould be the greatest pity in the world anything +would ail stout and hearty boys like them." As they spoke, the men of +the west lay close against the embankments to let the men of the east +go by. But weren't the Dublins in the divil of a hurry back to +billets? the Rangers went on to remark. And why not? answered the +Dublins. Sure if they'd only sniff with their noses they would smell +the roast beef and the steaming punch that were being got ready for +them by special orders of Field-Marshal Haig for the great things they +did away <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>up in the firing-line. "Lucky boys!" shouted the Rangers, +responding to the joke. "And tell us now, have ye left us a Gerry at +all alive to get a pelt at, and we new at the game?" A Dublin man gave +the reply as he went past. "To tell ye the truth, except there's a +raid, there isn't much divarshion in the way of fighting; but every +man of ye will have his full and plenty of mud and water before he's +much oulder." "Well, there's nothing in that to yowl about." "Maybe +not, if you can swim." The trench resounded with laughter at the +exchange of banter. But for fear any of the Rangers might take some of +the talk as half a joke and whole earnest, a kind-hearted sergeant of +the Dublins, wishful to say the cheery word, called out, "Don't mind +them playboys; there's no more water and mud in it than is natural in +such wet weather as we're getting."</p> + +<p>The Rangers reached their destination just as the day was dawning in a +cold drizzle from a grey, lowering sky. They were all plastered with +yellowish mud. Mud was on their hands, on their faces, in their hair, +down their backs; and the barrels of their rifles were choked with +mud. For the next four days and nights of duty in the trenches they +were to be lapped about with mud. War was to be for them a mixture of +mud and high explosives. Of the two mud was the ugliest and most +hateful. Soon they would come to think that there was hardly anything +left in the world but mud; and from that they would advance to a state +of mind in which they doubted whether there ever had been a time in +their existence when they were free from mud. But through it all this +battalion, like the others in the Division, preserved their +good-humour. They are known, in fact, as "The Light-Hearted Brigade." +Every difficulty was met with a will to overcome it, tempered with a +joke and a laugh. No matter how encrusted with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>filth their bodies +might be, their souls were always above contamination.</p> + +<p>Men off duty at night slept in shelter pits dug deep into the soil by +the side of the trenches. It was overcrowded in stark violation of all +the sanitary by-laws relating to ventilation in civil life. No time +was wasted in undressing. The men lay down fully clad in their +mud-crusted clothes, even to their boots, wrapped round in blankets. +During the night they were awakened by a loud explosion. "All right, +boys; don't stir," cried the sergeant. "It's only one of those chape +German alarum clocks going off at the wrong time. Get off to sleep +again, me heroes." In the morning more time was saved by getting up +fully dressed, and not having to wash or to shave, so as to spare the +water. A private, looking round the dug-out and noticing the absence +of windows, remarked, "Faix, those of us who are glaziers and +window-cleaners will find it hard to make a living in this country."</p> + +<p>As the battalion was new to the trenches, another Irish battalion of +more experience shared with them the holding of this particular line. +To a group of lads gathered about a brazier of glowing coke in a +sheltered traverse an old sergeant that had seen service in the +Regular Army was giving what, no doubt, he thought was sound and +valuable advice, but which was at times of a quality calculated more +to disturb, perhaps, than to reassure.</p> + +<p>"Bullets are nothin' at all," said he. "I wouldn't give you a snap of +me fingers for them. Listen to them now, flyin' about and whinin' and +whimperin' as if they wor lost, stolen or strayed, and wor lookin' for +a billet to rest in. They differ greatly, do these bullets; but sure +in time you'll larn them all by sound and be able to tell the humour +each one of them is in. There's only one kind of bullet, boys, that +you'll <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>never hear; and that is the one which gives you such a pelt as +to send you home to Ireland or to kingdom come. But," he continued, +"what'll put the fear of God into your sowls, if it isn't there +already, is the heavy metal which the Gerrys pitch across to us in +exchange for ours. The first time I was up here I was beside a man +whose teeth went chatterin' in a way that put me in fear of me life. +Sure, didn't I think for a minute it was a Gerry machine-gun—may the +divil cripple them!—startin' its bloody work at me ear. Now, there +must be none of that in this trench. If you're afraid, don't show it; +remimber always that the Gerrys are in just as great a fright, if not +more so. Show your spunk. Stand fast or sit tight, and hope for the +best. Above all, clinch your teeth."</p> + +<p>The bombardment of a trench by shells from guns in the rear of the +enemy's lines, or by bombs thrown from mortars close at hand, is +probably the greatest test of endurance that has ever been set to +humanity. The devastating effect is terrific. At each explosion men +may be blown to pieces or buried alive. Even the concussion often +kills. A man might escape being hit by the flying projectiles and yet +be blinded or made deaf or deprived of his speech by the shock. All +feel as if their insides had collapsed. The suspense of waiting for +the next shell or bomb, the uncertainty as to where it is going to +fall, followed by the shake which the detonation gives the nervous +system, are enough to wear out the most stout-hearted of soldiers. It +is then that companionship and discipline tell. The men catch from one +another the won't-appear-frightened determination, and the spirit of +won't-give-in.</p> + +<p>Crash! A fierce gust of wind sweeps through the trench. Men are lifted +from their feet and flung violently to the ground amid showers of +earth and stones. There is a brief pause; and then is heard the most +unexpected of sounds—not the moaning of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>pain, but a burst of +laughter! Four men of the battalion were playing "Forty-five," a card +game beloved of Hibernians, seated under a piece of tarpaulin propped +up on poles, as much at their ease as if they lay under a hedge on a +Sunday evening in summer at home in Ireland, with only the priest to +fear, and he known to be on a sick call at the other side of the +parish. The bomb came at the most inopportune moment, just as the fall +of the trick was about to be decided. When the card party recovered +their senses, the man who held the winning card was found to be +wounded. "'Twas the Gerrys—sweet bad luck to them!—that jinked the +game that time, boys," he exclaimed. His companions, standing round +him, burst into laughter at the remark.</p> + +<p>Merriment is not uncommon as the shells are bursting. The spectacle of +four or five men hurriedly tumbling for shelter into the same "funk +hole," a wild whirl of arms and legs, has its absurd side and never +fails to excite amusement. The way in which men disentangle themselves +from the ruins caused by the explosion is often also grotesque. Racy +oddities of character are revealed. One man was buried in the loose +earth. His comrades hastened to rescue him, and to cheer him up told +him he would be got out next to no time, for Tim Maloney, the biggest +as well as the fastest digger in the company was engaged on the job. +"I feel that right well," cried the victim, as he spluttered the mud +from his mouth. "But I've enough on top of me without him! Pull me out +of this from under his feet." There was an explosion close to a man at +work repairing the trench. The man was overheard saying to himself, as +he turned his back disdainfully to the shell, "Oh, go to blazes, with +yez."</p> + +<p>But it is not all comedy and farce. How could it be with stern, +black-visaged Death always watching <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>with wolfish eyes to see men die? +Fate plays unimaginable tricks with its victims. A bullet stops many a +casual conversation for ever. "Look at this!" cries a man, holding up +his cap for a comrade to see the bullet-hole that had just been made +through it. "A close shave," he adds; "but what matter? Isn't a miss +as good as a mile?" And, as he was putting the cap on again, he fell a +corpse to a surer bullet. There he lay, just a bundle of muddy khaki; +and a dozing comrade, upon whom he dropped, elbowed him aside, saying +impatiently, "Get out of that, with yer andrew-martins" (jokes and +tricks); "can't you let a poor divil get a wink of sleep?" Tragedy +takes on, at times, queer, fantastic shapes. A man has his right arm +blown off close to the shoulder. He picks the limb up with his left +hand, shouting, "My arm! my arm! Oh, holy mother of God, where's my +arm?" In raging agony he rushes shrieking down the trench carrying the +limb with him until he encounters his company officer. "Oh, captain, +darlin'," he cries. "Look what the Gerrys have done to me! May God's +curse light upon them and theirs for ever! An' now I'll never shoulder +a rifle for poor ould Ireland any more."</p> + +<p>The night, and only the night, has terrors for the Irish soldiers, +especially those from the misty mountains and remote seaboard of the +west and south. In the daylight they are merry and prolific of jest. +Strongly gregarious by instinct, they delight in companionship. They +are sustained and upheld by the excitement of battle's uproar. They +will face any danger in the broad daylight. But they hate to be alone +in the dark anywhere, and are afraid to pass at night even a graveyard +in which their own beloved kith and kin lie peacefully at rest for +ever. They feel "lonesome and queer" as they would say themselves.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>So it is that when by himself at a listening post in a shell hole in +No Man's Land, lapped about with intense blackness, peering and +hearkening, the superstitious soul of the Irish soldier seems to +conjure up all the departed spectral bogies and terrors of the Dark +Ages. He is ready to cry out like Ajax, the Greek warrior, in "Homer," +"Give us but light, O Jove; and in the light, if thou seest fit, +destroy us."</p> + +<p>Even a Cockney soldier, lacking as he is in any subtle sympathy with +the emotional and immaterial sides of life, confesses that it gives +him the creeps proper to be out there in the open jaws of darkness, +away from his mates and almost right under the nose of old Boche. An +Irish soldier will admit that on this duty he does have a genuine +feeling of terror. Crouching in the soft, yielding earth, he imagines +he is in the grave, watching and waiting he knows not for what. +Everything is indefinite and uncertain. There is a vague presentiment +that some unknown but awful evil is impending. Perhaps a thousand +hostile German eyes are staring at him through the darkness along +rifle barrels; or, more horrible still, perhaps a thousand invisible +devils are on the prowl to drag his soul to hell. The supernatural +powers are the only forces the Irish soldier fears.</p> + +<p>The senses of the sentry are so abnormally alert that if grass were +growing near him he had only to put his ear to the ground to hear the +stirring of the sap. But though he listens intently, not a sound comes +out of the blackness. He regards the profound stillness as +confirmation of his worst fears. All is silence in the trench behind +him, where his comrades ought to be. He would welcome the relief of +voices and the sound of feet in the enemy's lines. But the Gerrys give +no sign of life. Is he alone in the whole wide world, the solitary +survivor of this terrible war? What would he not part with to be able +to get up and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>run! But he is fixed to his post by a sense of duty, +just as strong as if he were chained there by iron bands. To cry out +would afford immense relief to his overwrought feelings. But his +tongue seems paralysed in his mouth. Then he bethinks him of his +prayers. From his inside tunic pocket he takes out his beads—which +his mother gave him at parting and made him promise faithfully always +to carry about his person—and, making the sign of the cross, he is +soon absorbed in the saying of the Rosary. Resignation and fortitude +came to his aid. The invisible evil agencies by which he had really +been encompassed—loneliness, anxiety, melancholy—are dispelled.</p> + +<p>Scouting is the night work that appeals most to the Irish soldiers. +There is in it the excitement of movement, the element of adventure +and the support of companionship, too, for four, five or six go out +together. Oh, the fearful joy of crawling on one's stomach across the +intervening ground, seeking for a passage through the enemy's wire +entanglements or wriggling under it, taking a peep over their +parapets, dropping down into a sparsely occupied part of the trench, +braining the sentry and returning with rifle and cap as trophies! This +is one of the most perilous forms of the harassing tactics of war, and +for its success uncommon pluck and resource are required. Yet, like +everything else at the Front, it often has an absurd side. A Connaught +Ranger, back from such an expedition, related that, hearing the Gerrys +talking, he called out, "How many of ye are there?" To his surprise he +got an answer in English: "Four." Then, throwing in a bomb, he said, +"Divide that between ye, an' be damned to ye." "Faix, 'twas the bomb +that divided them," he added, "for didn't they come out of the trench +after me in smithereens." Another party returned from a raid with +tears streaming down their cheeks. "Is it bad <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>news ye bring, crying +in that way?" they were asked. No! they hadn't bad news; nor were they +crying. If it was crying they were, wouldn't they be roaring and +bawling? and there wasn't a sound out of them for any one to hear. +Only asses could say such a thing as that. 'Twas they that looked like +silly asses, they were told, with the tears pouring out of their eyes +like the Powerscourt waterfall. What the mischief was the matter with +them, anyway? Well, then, if any one cared to know, was the reply, +'twas the Gerrys that treated them to a whiff of lachrymose gas!</p> + +<p>The fatigue, the disgust, and the danger of life in the trenches are, +at times, stronger than any other impulse, whether of the flesh or of +the soul. "'Tis enough to drive one to the drink: a grand complaint +when there's plenty of porter about," said a private; "but a terrible +fate when there's only the water we're wading in, and that same full +up—the Lord save us!—of creeping and wriggling things." "True for +you; it's the quare life, and no mistake," remarked another. "You do +things and get praise for them, such as smashing a fellow's skull, or +putting a bullet through him, which if you were to do at home you'd be +soon on the run, with a hue and cry and all the police of the country +at your heels."</p> + +<p>Back in billets again, for a wash and a shave and a brush up, and +lying in their straw beds in the barns, the Rangers would thus +philosophise on their life. The bestial side of it—the terrible +overcrowding of the men, the muck, the vermin, the gobbling of food +with filthy hands, the stench of corrupting bodies lying in the open, +or insufficiently buried, and, along with all that, its terror, agony +and tragedy are, indeed, utterly repellent to human nature. Still, +there was general agreement that they had never spent a week of such +strange and exquisite experiences. Fear there was at <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>times, but it +seemed rather to keep up a state of pleasurable emotion than to +generate anguish and distress. Certainly most Connaught Rangers will +swear that life in the trenches has at least three thrilling and +exalting moments. One is when the tot of rum is served round. Another +is the first faint appearance of light in the sky behind the enemy's +lines, proclaiming that the night is far spent and the day is at hand. +The third is the call to "stand to," telling that a visit from the +Gerrys is expected, when the men cease to be navvies and become +soldiers again—throwing aside the hateful pick and shovel and taking +up the beloved rifle and bayonet.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER II<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>EXPLOITS OF THE ULSTER DIVISION</h3> + +<h4>BELFAST'S TRIBUTE TO THE DEAD</h4> + +<div class="block3"><p>"I am not an Ulsterman, but as I followed the amazing +attack of the Ulster Division on July 1, I felt that I +would rather be an Ulsterman than anything else in the +world. With shouts of 'Remember the Boyne' and 'No +Surrender, boys,' they threw themselves at the Germans, +and before they could be restrained had penetrated to the +enemy fifth line. The attack was one of the greatest +revelations of human courage and endurance known in +history."—A British officer on the exploits of the +Ulster Division, July 1, 1916.</p></div> +<br /> + +<p>One of the most striking and impressive tributes ever paid to the +heroic dead was that of Belfast on the 12th of July, 1916, in memory +of the men of the Ulster Division who fell on the opening day of that +month in the great British offensive on the Somme. For five minutes +following the hour of noon all work and movement, business and +household, were entirely suspended. In the flax mills, the linen +factories, the ship yards, the munition workshops, men and women +paused in their labours. All machinery was stopped, and the huge +hammers became silent. In shop and office business ceased; at home the +housewife interrupted her round of duties; in the streets traffic was +brought to a halt, on the local railways the running trains pulled up. +The whole population stood still, and in deep silence, with bowed +heads but with uplifted hearts, turned their thoughts to the valleys +and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>slopes of Picardy, where on July 1 the young men of Ulster, the +pride and flower of the province, gave their lives for the +preservation of the British Empire, the existence of separate and +independent States, and the rule of law and justice in their +international relations.</p> + +<p>"The Twelfth" is the great festival of Belfast. On that day is +celebrated the Williamite victories of the Boyne, July 1, and Aughrim, +July 12, 1690, in which the cause of the Stuarts went down for ever. +It is kept as a general holiday of rejoicing and merrymaking. The +members of the Orange lodges turn out with their dazzling banners and +their no less gorgeous yellow, crimson and blue regalia; and the +streets resound with the lilt of fifes, the piercing notes of cornets, +the boom and rattle of many drums, the tramp of marching feet and the +cheers of innumerable spectators. There was no such demonstration on +July 12, 1916. For the first time in the history of the Orange +Institution the observance of the anniversary was voluntarily +abandoned, so that there might be no stoppage of war work in the ship +yards and munition factories. But at the happy suggestion of the Lord +Mayor (Sir Crawford McCullagh), five minutes of the day were given +reverently to lofty sorrow for the dead, who, by adding "The Ancre," +"Beaumont Hamel" and "Thiepval Wood" to "Derry," "Enniskillen," "The +Boyne" and "Aughrim" on the banners of Ulster, have given a new +meaning and glory to the celebration of "The Twelfth" in which all +Ireland can share. Major-General O.S.W. Nugent, D.S.O., commanding the +Ulster Division, in a special Order of the Day, issued after the +advance, wrote—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"Nothing finer has been done in the War.</p> + +<p>"The Division has been highly tried and has emerged from the +ordeal with unstained honour, having fulfilled in every part the +great expectations formed of it.</p> + +<p>"None but troops of the best quality could have faced the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>fire +which was brought to bear on them, and the losses suffered +during the advance.</p> + +<p>"A magnificent example of sublime courage and discipline."</p></div> + +<p>This glory was gained at a heavy cost. There was cause for bitter +grief as well as the thrill of pride in Ulster. Nothing has brought +home more poignantly to the inhabitants of a small area of the kingdom +the grim sacrifices and the unutterable pathos of the war than the +many pages of names and addresses of the dead and wounded—relatives, +friends and acquaintances—which appeared in the Belfast newspapers +for days before "The Twelfth" and after. So blinds were drawn in +business and private houses; flags were flown at half-mast; and bells +were mournfully tolling for Ulster's irremediable losses when, at the +stroke of twelve o'clock, traffic came instantaneously to a +standstill, and for five minutes the citizens solemnly stood with +bared heads in the teeming rain thinking of the gallant dead, the +darkened homes and the inconsolable mothers and wives.</p> + +<p>The Ulster Division possesses an individuality all its own. It has no +like or equal among the units of the British Army on account of its +family character; the close and intimate blood relationship of its +members; its singleness of purpose; the common appeal of racial, +political and religious ideals that binds it together by stronger +links than steel. The United Kingdom, as a whole, may be said to have +been totally unready when war broke out. But it happened that one +small section of this industrial and peace-loving community was +prepared, to some extent, for the mighty emergency. That was Ulster. +It was immersed in business at the time, just as much as Manchester or +Sheffield, and in making money out of its flourishing prosperity. But, +unlike those English industrial centres, Ulster had in its history and +traditions an influence which bred a combative disposition, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>and ever +kept burning a martial flame, even in its marts and workshops. The +community was convinced that in defence of all they hold dearest in +religious beliefs and political principles they might have some day, +not, as in England when opinions are at stake, to flock to the polling +stations at a General Election, but take to the field and fight. The +very pick of the manhood of the province joined the Ulster Volunteer +Force, and armed and trained themselves as soldiers. So it was that in +the years immediately preceding the war it seemed almost certain they +would have to follow the example of their forefathers centuries before +and raise the Orange flag at Enniskillen and Derry. Then came the +challenge of Germany to British ideals. The aim and purpose of the +Ulster Volunteer Force remained the same, as the members conceived it, +but it was turned into a wholly unexpected channel. By an astounding +transformation of events they were to bleed and give their lives for +all they revere and cherish, not in Ulster but on the hills and in the +woods of Picardy.</p> + +<p>The Ulster Division is entirely Protestant and Unionist; or was, until +it was decimated on the Somme. It was formed out of the men who had +previously bound themselves together by a solemn covenant, signed on +"Ulster Day," Saturday, September 28, 1912, to stand by one another in +defending, for themselves and their children, their cherished civil +and religious heritage, should Home Rule be established. Thus the +Division is unparalleled for its kind since Cromwell's "Ironsides" in +enlisting stern religious fervour and political enthusiasm in a +fighting phalanx. It consists of twelve battalions forming three +brigades. It is wholly Irish. Nine of the battalions have the +regimental title of Royal Irish Rifles. The other battalions have the +titles of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and the Royal Irish +Fusiliers, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>the two other regiments of the Line associated with +Ulster. The battalions have also territorial classifications denoting +their origin from the Ulster Volunteer Force, such as "North Belfast +Volunteers"; "East Belfast Volunteers"; "Young Citizen Volunteers"; +"South Belfast Volunteers"; "West Belfast Volunteers"; "South Antrim +Volunteers"; "Down Volunteers"; "County Armagh Volunteers"; "Central +Antrim Volunteers"; "Tyrone Volunteers"; "Donegal and Fermanagh +Volunteers"; "Derry Volunteers." It has its own Engineers, Army +Service Corps, Army Medical Corps and a complete Ambulance equipment. +There are also reserve battalions. In the pleasant surroundings of the +Botanic Gardens, Belfast, a splendid hospital was established for the +care of the wounded, and the provision of artificial limbs to those +who might need them; and as evidence of the characteristic +thoroughness with which everything was attended to, a fund has been +raised to assist members of the Division who may be left maimed and +broken in health, and to support the dependents of the fallen, outside +any aid that may be derived from the State. The Commander, +Major-General Nugent, is a county Cavan man, a Deputy Lieutenant for +the county, and a kinsman of the Earl of Westmeath. He served in the +King's Royal Rifles for seventeen years, and was wounded in both the +Chitral and South African campaigns.</p> + +<p>The Division completed its training at Seaford, in Sussex. On visiting +the district I was amused to find that the advent of "the wild Irish" +had been anticipated by the inhabitants with much misgiving. They were +apprehensive of their ancient peace being disturbed by the hilarity +and commotion that spring from high and undisciplined spirits. What +did happen agreeably surprised the Sussex folk. The Ulstermen quickly +earned the esteem of every one for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>their affable qualities and +good-humour. What was particularly remarkable was that they were found +to be most pliant and tractable—qualities which, by common tradition, +are supposed not to be looked for in any body of Irishmen; and as for +their moral behaviour, what was more astonishing still was that the +church or the chapel was to them infinitely more attractive than the +inn.</p> + +<p>So the Division prepared themselves for taking the field against the +enemy. They were reviewed by the King shortly before leaving for the +Front. "Your prompt patriotic answer to the nation's call to arms will +never be forgotten," said his Majesty. "The keen exertions of all +ranks during the period of training have brought you to a state of +efficiency not unworthy of any Regular Army. I am confident that in +the field you will nobly uphold the traditions of the fine regiments +whose names you bear. Ever since your enrolment I have closely watched +the growth and steady progress of all units. I shall continue to +follow with interest the fortunes of your Division. In bidding you +farewell I pray God may bless you in all your undertakings." In the +autumn of 1915 they went to France, determined to uphold the highest +traditions of the fighting qualities of the Irish race, and burning +for a chance of distinction.</p> + +<p>During the winter months of 1915-16 the Division took its turns in the +firing-line. Every battalion experienced the hardships and dangers of +the front trenches, when the weather was at its worst for chills, +bronchitis, pneumonia and frost-bite, and when the Germans were most +active at sniping and bombarding. Names of men in the Division began +to appear in the lists of casualties within ten days of the landing in +France. The battalions passed through these preliminary stages with +courage, endurance and splendid determination. They quickly earned a +fine reputation <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>among the highest military commanders for such +soldierly qualities as willingness and cheerfulness in doing any sort +of work, however unpleasant, that fell to them in the trenches, and +their coolness and alertness on such dangerous missions as going out +at night to the listening posts in No Man's Land and repairing the +wire entanglements. Eager to snatch their share of peril and glory, +they were also among the foremost in volunteering for such wild +adventures as bombing raids on the German trenches under cover of +darkness. One such daring exploit by the Tyrone Volunteers was the +subject of a special order of the day issued by Major-General Nugent, +commanding the Division. It was as follows—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"A raid on the German trenches was carried out at midnight on +—— by the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. The raiding party +consisted of Major W.J. Peacocke, Captain J. Weir, Lieutenant +W.S. Furness, Second-lieutenant L.W.H. Stevenson, +Second-Lieutenant R.W. M'Kinley, Second-Lieutenant J. Taylor, +and eighty-four other ranks. The raid was completely successful, +and was carried out exactly as planned. Six German dugouts, in +which it is certain there were a considerable number of men, +were thoroughly bombed, and a machine-gun was blown up, while a +lively bombing fight took place between the blocking detachments +of the raiding party and the Germans. Having accomplished the +purpose of the raid, the party was withdrawn, with the loss of +one man killed and two wounded. The raid was ably organised by +Major Peacocke, and was carried out by the officers and men of +the party exactly in accordance with the plan, and the +discipline and determination of the party was all that could be +desired. The Divisional Commander desires that his +congratulations should be extended to all who took part in it.</p> + +<p>"Brigadier-General Hickman, in a special brigade order, says the +arrangements and plans reflect the greatest credit on Colonel A. +St. Q. Ricardo, D.S.O., commanding the battalion, Major +Peacocke, and the other officers concerned. The whole scheme was +executed with great dash and determination, cool judgment and +nerve."</p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>Such was the fame of the raid and its success that the +Commander-in-Chief, Sir Douglas Haig, visited the battalion and +personally congratulated them.</p> + +<p>Dr. Crozier, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ireland, visited +the Division in January 1916; and after a week spent with the +battalions, brought home a deep impression of their spirit and +devotion. "A more capable, energetic and cheerful body of men I have +never come across," he writes. "I have seen them at rifle practice, +bomb-throwing, route marching, road-mending, and in the trenches, and +everywhere my experience was the same—officers and men working in +splendid harmony, and taking the keenest interest in any and every job +they were given to do. One night I met a couple of hundred men coming +back from eight days' weary work in water-logged trenches, and they +were singing so lustily that I really thought at first they were +coming from a concert. And yet the war is to them a terrible reality, +and they have already experienced some of its horror. I could not help +noticing that this has produced a deep sense of responsibility, and +has intensified their belief in the reality of duty; and whether at +Sunday services or at weekday informal addresses, there were no +restless or inattentive men, but they seemed to welcome every word +that spoke of God's presence and guidance in all life's difficulties +and dangers."</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER III</h3> + +<h3>ULSTERS' ATTACK ON THE SLOPES OF THIEPVAL<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>"NOT A MAN TURNED TO COME BACK, NOT ONE"</h4> +<br /> + +<p>The Division was put to the great test on July 1, 1916, the memorable +day of the opening of the Battle of the Somme and the British attack +in force to break through the German trenches in Picardy. It was a +formidable task. The strength of the enemy positions was that they +stood on high ground. That, also, was the reason of their importance. +The table-land must be taken and held to permit of an advance in the +stretch of open country spreading on the other side to the north. It +was to be uphill work. So the battle became the greatest the world has +ever known, so far, for its dimensions, the numbers engaged and the +duration. The Ulstermen were in the left wing of the British lines, +and the scene of their operations was, roughly, three miles of broken +country, dips and swells, on each side of the river Ancre, between the +village of Beaumont Hamel, nestling in a nook of the hill above the +river, eastwards to the slopes of Thiepval, perched on a height about +500 feet, below the river, all within the German lines. The main body +of the Division assembled in the shelter of a Thiepval wood. +"Porcupine Wood" it was called by the men. The trees were so stripped +of foliage and lopped into distorted shapes by enemy gun-fire that +their bare <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>limbs stood up like quills of the fretful porcupine. At +half-past seven in the morning the advance commenced. For ten days the +British batteries had been continuously bombarding the whole German +front. There was no sudden hush of the cannonade at the moment of the +attack. For a minute there was a dramatic pause while the guns were +being lifted a point higher so that they might drop their shells +behind the enemy's first lines. Then the British infantry emerged from +their trenches and advanced behind this furious and devastating +curtain of fire and projectiles.</p> + +<p>The morning was glorious and the prospect fine. The sun shone brightly +in the most beautiful of skies, clear blue flecked with pure white +clouds; and as the Ulstermen came out of the wood and ranged up in +lines for the push forward, they saw, in the distant view, a sweet and +pleasant upland country, the capture of which was the object of the +attack. In the hollows the meadows were lush with grass, thick and +glossy. There was tillage even, green crops of beetroot growing close +to the ground, and tall yellowing corn, far behind the main German +trenches. It was like a haunt of husbandry and peace. The only sound +one would expect to hear from those harvest fields was that of the +soothing reaping-machine garnering the wheat to make bread for the +family board of a mother and a brood of young children. But no tiller +of the soil was to be seen, near or far. The countryside to the +horizon ridge was tenantless, until these tens of thousands of British +soldiers suddenly came up out of the ground. Even in the +Franco-Prussian War of 1870 the agriculturists of northern +France—then, as now, the zone of conflict—remained in the homes and +pursued their avocations. During the battle of Sedan, which sealed the +fate of France, an extraordinary incident occurred—a peasant was +observed in one of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>the valleys within the area of the fight calmly +guiding the plough drawn by a big white horse. "Why should the man +lose a day?" says Zola in <i>The Downfall</i>. "Corn would not cease +growing, the human race would not cease living, because a few thousand +men happened to be fighting." But war is waged differently now. It is +spread along fronts hundreds of miles in extent and depth. Millions of +men are engaged. They burrow underground and are armed with terrific +engines of destruction. So it was that behind that green and pleasant +land, bathed in sunshine, ferocity and death are skulking underground. +Those elaborately interlacing white chalky lines over the face of the +landscape mark the run of the German trenches. Each dip is a +death-trap. The copses are barricaded with fallen timber and wired; +the villages are citadels, the farmsteads are forts, the ridges of the +two plateaux are each one succession of batteries. Swallows were +darting to and fro hawking for flies for their young, and in the clear +air soaring larks were singing to their mates brooding on their eggs +in the grass, showing that Nature was still carrying on her eternal +processes, but the husbandman had fled the deceiving scene, and the +after-crops from his old sowings of corn and mustard were mixed with +weeds in No Man's Land.</p> + +<p>Things befell the Ulstermen, when they appeared in the open, which +were things indeed. The fortunes of war varied along the British +advance. A group of war correspondents on a height near the town of +Albert, about midway in the line, noticed that while some of the +British battalions were comparatively unmolested, the resistance of +the enemy to the left or west was of the fiercest and most desperate +character. The Germans seem to have expected the main assault at this +part of the field of operations. Their guns and men were here most +heavily massed. On the left of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>the valley made by a curve of the +river Ancre is a crest, in a crease of which lay on that July morning +the village of Beaumont Hamel, or rather its site, for it had been +blown almost out of existence by the British artillery fire. Under the +village—as shown by explorations made after it fell—were a vast +system of passages and cellars, in which whole battalions of Germans +found shelter from the bombardment. On the right of the valley is the +plateau of Thiepval. It was as strong a position as the consummate +skill of German engineers and gunners could make it. On the sky line +at the top of a ridge of the plateau were the ruins of the village of +Thiepval—heaps of bricks and slates and timber that once were walls +and roofs of houses—encircled by blackened stumps of trees that once +in the spring were all pink and white of the apple blossom. The ground +sloping down to the valley, and the valley itself was a network of +German trenches—mostly turned into a maze of upheaved earth-mounds by +shell-fire—studded with many machine-gun posts. The main part of the +Ulster Division advanced across the valley that rose gently, with many +undulations upwards, to the slopes on the western or left side of +Thiepval. They had to take what were called the A, B and C lines of +trenches. As will be seen, they pushed far beyond their objective.</p> + +<p>Clouds of smoke had been liberated from the British lines to form a +screen for the attackers. Into it the men disappeared as they marched, +line after line, in extended order, over the intervening stretch of +ground. But almost immediately they were all scourged—especially the +Ulster battalions on the extreme left moving towards Beaumont +Hamel—with machine-gun fire poured at them from various points, to +the continuous accompaniment of short, sharp, annihilating knocks. The +bullets literally came like water from an immense hose with a +perforated top. The streams <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>of lead crossed and re-crossed, sweeping +the ranks about the ankles, at the waist; breast high, around their +heads. Comrades were to be seen falling on all sides, right, left, +front and rear. So searching was the fire that it was useless to seek +cover, and advance in short rushes in between. So the lines kept +undauntedly on their way, apparently not minding the bullets any more +than if they were a driving and splashing shower of hail.</p> + +<p>"Let her rip, ye divils!" shouted some of the Ulstermen in jocular +defiance at the enemy and his machine-gun; "and," said an officer +relating the story, "the Bosche let her rip all right." One of the +wounded rank and file told me that in the advance he lost entire +perception of the roar of the British guns which was so impressive as +he lay with his comrades in the wood, though they still continued +their thundering. Their terrible diapason of sound seemed to be lulled +into absolute silence, so far as he was concerned, by the hollow, +crepitating "tap-t-t-tap" of the German machine-guns; and the swish, +swish, swish of the bullets, of all the noises of battle the most +unnerving to soldiers assailing a position. But the Ulstermen were in +a mood of the highest exaltation, a mood in which troops may be +destroyed but will not easily be subjugated. The day had thrilling +historic memories for them.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"July the First on the banks of the Boyne,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">There was a famous battle."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noin">The opening lines of their song, "The Boyne Water," recounting the +deeds of their forefathers, came inevitably to their minds. "Just as +we were about to attack," writes Rifleman Edward Taylor of the West +Belfast Volunteers, "Captain Gaffikin took out an orange handkerchief +and, waving it around his head, shouted, 'Come on, boys, this is the +first of July!'" <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>"No surrender!" roared the men. It was the answer +given by the gallant defenders of Derry from their walls to King James +and the besieging Jacobites. On the fields of Picardy new and noble +meanings were put into these old, out-worn Irish battle-cries. One +sergeant of the Inniskillings went into the fray with his Orange sash +on him. Some of the men provided themselves with orange lilies before +they went up to the assembly trenches, and these they now wore in +their breasts. But, indeed, their colours were growing in profusion at +their feet when they came out of the trenches—yellow charlock, +crimson poppies and blue cornflowers, and many put bunches of these +wild flowers in their tunics. So the Ulstermen were keen to prove +their metal. They divided their forces and advanced to German +positions on the right and left. Through it all their battle-shout was +"No surrender." But there was one surrender which they were prepared +to make, and did make—the surrender, for the cause, of their young +lives and all the bright hopes of youth.</p> + +<p>When the battalions on the right reached the first German line they +found shapeless mounds and cavities of soil and stones and timber, +shattered strands and coils of barbed wire, where the trenches had +been, and the dead bodies of the men who were in occupation of them at +the bombardment. The Ulstermen then pushed on to the second line, +which still held living men of courage and tenacity who had to be +disposed of by bayonet and bomb. On to the third line the Ulstermen +went at a steady pace. They were still being whipped by machine-gun +fire. Their ranks were getting woefully thinner. In their tracks they +left dead and wounded. At the sight of a familiar face among the +curiously awkward attitudes and shapes of those instantaneously killed +there was many a cold tug at the heart-strings of the advancing men, +and many a groan of sorrow was suppressed on their lips.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>The moaning of the wounded was also terrible to hear, but their spirit +was magnificent. "Lying on the ground there under fire, they had no +thought of their own danger, but only of the comrades who were going +forward, and they kept shouting words of encouragement after the +attacking column until it was well out of sight," said an Inniskilling +Fusilier. "One company, recruited mainly from the notorious Shankill +road district of Belfast, was going forward, when a wounded man +recognised some of his chums in it. 'Give them it hot for the Shankill +road,' he cried, and his comrades answered with a cheer." The same +man, giving a general account of the fiercely contested attack on the +enemy positions, said, "It was a case of playing leapfrog with death, +but all obstacles were overcome, and the Fusiliers carried the enemy +trenches with a magnificent rush. The Huns turned on them like baffled +tigers and tried to hurl the Irishmen out again, but they might as +well have tried to batter down the walls of Derry with toothpicks. The +Inniskillings held their ground, and gradually forced the enemy still +further back."</p> + +<p>The German trenches, with their first, second, third, fourth and fifth +lines, formed a system of defences of considerable depth, into which +the Ulstermen had now penetrated for distances varying from two to +three miles in depth. It was a land of horrible desolation. The ground +at this point was almost bare of vegetation. It was torn and lacerated +with shell holes. The few trees that remained standing were reduced to +splintered and jagged stumps. All was smoke, flashes, uproar and +nauseating smells. In this stricken battle area the defence was as +stubborn and desperate as the attack. It seemed impossible for men +with a nervous system and imagination to retain their reason and +resolution in the terrific, intensive and searching preliminary +bombardment. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>Nevertheless, the Germans did it. The British guns had, +indeed, wrought widespread havoc. Not only lines of trenches were +pounded to bits, but spots outside, affording concealment for guns and +troops, were discovered and blown to atoms. There were, however, deep +dug-outs going as many as thirty feet below ground, and in some cases, +even at that depth, there were trapdoors and stairs leading to still +lower chambers, and up from these underground fortifications the +Germans came when the cannonade lifted. There were also hidden +machine-gun shelters in the hollows and on the slopes which the +British artillery failed to find. The resistance offered to the +advance of the Ulstermen was accordingly of the most obstinate and +persistent nature. The hand-to-hand fight with bayonet and bomb at the +third line of trenches was described by a man of the Irish Rifles as +"a Belfast riot on the top of Mount Vesuvius." No more need be said. +The phrase conveys a picture of men madly struggling and yelling amid +fire and smoke and the abominable stench of battle. Yet the enemy's +fourth line fell before these men who would not be stopped. There +remained the fifth line, and the Ulstermen were preparing to move +forward to it when the order came to fall back. The state of affairs +at this time of the evening is well explained by one of the men—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"We had been so eager that we had pressed too far forward, and +were well in advance of our supporting troops, thus laying +ourselves open to flank attacks. The position became more +serious as the day advanced, and the supporting troops were +unable to make further progress, while the Huns kept hurrying up +fresh men. We kept shouting the watchword of 'No Surrender,' +with which our fathers had cheered themselves in the siege of +Derry, and every time the Huns attacked we sent them reeling +back with something to remind them that they were fighting +Irishmen. We couldn't help taunting them a lot. 'Would you like +some Irish rebellion?' we called out to them, and they didn't +like it. They kept throwing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>in fresh reinforcements all day, +and gradually the pressure became almost unbearable. Still we +held our ground, and would have continued to hold it if +necessary."</p></div> + +<p>"Retirement," he adds, "is never a pleasant task, especially after you +have fought your corner as we fought ours. We felt that the ground won +was part of ourselves, but orders had to be obeyed, and so we went +back." The retirement was to the third line of trenches, at the point +known as "the Crucifix," just north-west of Thiepval. It was carried +out at nightfall, after fourteen hours' continuous fighting. This +section of the Division, in the words of Major-General Nugent, +"captured nearly 600 prisoners, and carried its advance triumphantly +to the limits of the objective laid down."</p> + +<p>The battalions, two in number, operating on the left at Beaumont +Hamel, were not so fortunate. They were broken to pieces by the +devastating machine-gun fire. The remnants, by a magnificent effort, +succeeded in getting into the German trenches. They were held up there +by an utterly impassable curtain of shells and bullets. It was not +their fault that they could not advance any further. They had to face +a more terrific ordeal than any body of men have had to encounter in +battle before. "They did all that men could do," says Major Nugent, +"and, in common with every battalion in the Division, showed the most +conspicuous courage and devotion."</p> + +<p>Lieut.-Colonel Ambrose Ricardo, D.S.O., of Lion House, Strahane, +commander of the Tyrone battalion of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, +gives an account of the experience of the Ulster Division which is of +the greatest value for the reasons it supplies why the Division lost +so heavily and thus were unable to hold the advanced positions they +had taken. He first describes how his men set out for their plunge +into <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>the terrible unknown. "Every gun on both sides fired as fast as +it could, and during the din our dear boys just walked out of the wood +and up rumps we had cut through our parapet and out through lanes in +our wire," he says. "I shall never forget for one minute the +extraordinary sight. The Derrys on our left were so eager they started +a few minutes before the ordered time, and the Tyrones were not going +to be left behind, and they got going without delay. No fuss, no +shouting, no running; everything orderly, solid and thorough, just +like the men themselves. Here and there a boy would wave his hand to +me as I shouted good luck to them through my megaphone, and all had a +happy face. Most were carrying loads. Fancy advancing against heavy +fire carrying a heavy roll of barbed wire on your shoulder!"</p> + +<p>Then dealing with the Division generally, Colonel Ricardo states that +the leading battalions suffered comparatively little until they almost +reached the German front line, when they came under appalling +machine-gun fire which obliterated whole platoons. "And, alas for us," +he cries, "the Division on our right could not get on, and the same +happened to the Division on our left, so we came in for the +concentrated fire of what would have been spread over three Divisions. +But every man who remained standing pressed on, and, without officers +or non-commissioned officers, they carried on, faithful to their job. +Not a man turned to come back, not one."</p> + +<p>Eventually small parties of all the battalions of the Division—except +the two operating towards Beaumont Hamel—gathered together in the +section of the German third line, which was their part in the general +British advance. They had captured, in fact, a portion of the famous +Schwabon Redoubt on the summit of the ridge facing them, and set to +work to consolidate it. "The situation after the first two hours <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>was +indeed a cruel one for the Ulster Division," continues Colonel +Ricardo. "There they were, a wedge driven into the German lines, only +a few hundred yards wide, and for fourteen hours they bore the brunt +of the German machine-gun fire and shell-fire from three sides, and +even from behind they were not safe. The parties told off to deal with +the German first and second lines had in many cases been wiped out, +and the Germans sent parties from the flanks in behind our boys. Yet +the Division took 800 prisoners, and could have taken hundreds more, +had they been able to handle them."</p> + +<p>Major John Peacocke, "a most gallant and dashing officer" (as Colonel +Ricardo describes him), was sent forward to see how matters stood. He +crossed "No Man's Land" at a time when the fire sweeping it was most +intense. Taking charge of the defence of the captured position, he +gave to each unit a certain task to do in furtherance of the common +aim. Then he sent runners back with messages asking for +reinforcements, for water and for bombs. "But," says Colonel Ricardo, +"no one had any men in reserve, and no men were left to send across. +We were told reinforcements were at hand, and to hold on, but it was +difficult, I suppose, to get fresh troops up in time. At any rate the +help did not come. In the end, at 10.30 p.m. (they had got to the +third line at 8.30 a.m.), the glorious band in front had to come back. +They fought to the last and threw their last bomb, and were so +exhausted that most of them could not speak. Shortly after they came +back help came, and the line they had taken and held was reoccupied +without opposition, the Germans, I suppose, being as exhausted as we +were. Our side eventually lost the wedge-like bit after some days. It +was valueless, and could only be held at very heavy cost. We were +withdrawn late on Sunday evening, very tired and weary."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>A private in one of the battalions sent to his parents in Ulster a +very vivid account of the advance. As he was crossing "No Man's Land" +two aspects of it, in striking contrast, arose in his mind. "How often +had I, while on sentry duty in our own trenches, looked out over that +same piece of ground," he says. "How calm and peaceful it looked then; +how fresh, green, and invitingly cool looked that long, blowing grass! +Now, what a ghastly change! Not a level or green spot remained. Great, +jagged, gaping craters covered the blackish, smoking ground, furrowed +and ploughed by every description of projectile and explosive. In the +blue sky above white, puffy clouds of shrapnel burst, bespattering the +earth below with a rain of bullets and jagged shrapnel missiles."</p> + +<p>Tripping and stumbling went the men over the broken and ragged ground. +"Fellows in front, beside, and behind me would fall; some, with a +lurch forward, wounded; others, with a sudden, abrupt halt, a sickly +wheel, would drop, give one eerie twist, and lie still—dead!" They +find the first line in the possession of comrades; and moving on to +the second, came to blows there with the enemy. "An Inniskilling, +scarcely more than a boy, standing on the parapet, yells madly 'No +surrender,' and fires several shots into the German mob. From every +part of the trench we closed forward, bayonet poised, on the crowd of +grey figures. A short scuffle; then we swayed back again, leaving a +heap of blood-stained greyishness on the ground. 'Come on, boys!' +yells the lieutenant, springing up on to the parapet. 'Come on, the +Ulsters.' Up we scramble after him and rush ahead towards the far-off +third line. Vaguely I recollect that mad charge. A few swirlings here +and there of grey-clad figures with upraised hands yelling 'Kamerad.' +Heaps of wounded and dead. Showers of dust and earth and lead. +Deafening explosions <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>and blinding smoke. But what concerned me most +and what I saw clearest were the few jagged stumps of the remnants of +the wire entanglements and the ragged parapet of the third line—our +goal!"</p> + +<p>From this enemy trench the Ulsterman looked back over the ground he +had covered, and this is what he saw: "Through the dense smoke pour +hundreds and hundreds of Tommies, with flashing bayonets and distorted +visages, apparently cheering and yelling. You couldn't hear them for +the noise of the guns and the exploding shells. Everywhere among those +fearless Ulstermen burst high-explosive shells, hurling dozens of them +up in the air, while above them and among them shrapnel bursts with +sharp, ear-splitting explosions. But worst of all these was the silent +swish, swish, swishing of the machine-gun bullets, claiming their +victims by the score, cutting down living sheaves, and leaving bunches +of writhing, tortured flesh on the ground." He, too, noticed that +their co-operating Divisions had failed, for some reason, to advance. +"Look there, something <i>must</i> be wrong!" he called out to his +comrades. "Why, they're not advancing on <i>that</i> side at all," pointing +towards the left flank. "Not a sign of life could be seen," he says. +"The Ulster Division were out to the Huns' first, second, third, +fourth, and even fifth lines, with all the German guns pelting us from +every side and at every angle."</p> + +<p>Many a brave and self-sacrificing deed was done in these affrighting +scenes. Here are a few instances taken haphazard from the records of +one battalion alone, the 9th Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. They were +repeated a hundredfold throughout the Division.</p> + +<p>Corporal Thomas M'Clay, Laghey, county Donegal, assisted +Second-Lieutenant Lawrence to take twenty prisoners. He conveyed them +single-handed over "No Man's Land," and then returned to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span>German +third line, all the time having been under very heavy fire. When he +got back he had been fighting hard for ten hours. Private Thomas +Gibson, of Coalisland, saw three Germans working a machine-gun. He +attacked them alone, and killed them all with his clubbed rifle. +Corporal John Conn, Caledon, came across two of our machine-guns out +of action. He repaired them under fire, and with them destroyed a +German flanking party. He carried both guns himself part of the way +back, but had to abandon one, he was so utterly exhausted. +Lance-Corporal Daniel Lyttle, Leckpatrick, Strabane, was trying to +save two machine-guns from the enemy when he found himself cut off. He +fired one gun until the ammunition was spent, then destroyed both guns +and bombed his way back to the rest of his party at the Crucifix line. +Sergeant Samuel Kelly, Belfast, volunteered to take a patrol from the +Crucifix line to ascertain how things were going on our right. +Corporal Daniel Griffiths, Dublin; Lance-Corporal Lewis Pratt, Cavan; +and Private William Abraham, Ballinamallard, went with him. The latter +was killed, but the remainder got back with valuable information. +Sergeant Kelly did great work to the last in organising and +encouraging his men when all the officers of his company had fallen. +Corporal Daniel Griffith, Lance-Corporal Lewis Pratt, with Private +Fred Carter, Kingstown, bombed and shot nine Germans who were trying +to mount a machine-gun. Private Samuel Turner, Dundrun, and Private +Clarence Rooney, Clogher, forced a barricaded dug-out, captured +fifteen Germans and destroyed an elaborate signalling apparatus, +thereby preventing information getting back. Lance-Corporal William +Neely, Clogher; Private Samuel Spence, Randalstown; Private James +Sproule, Castlederg; and Private William R. Reid, Aughnacloy, were +members of a party blocking the return of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>Germans along a captured +trench. Their officer and more than half their comrades were killed, +but they held on and covered the retirement of the main party, +eventually getting back in good order themselves and fighting every +inch of the way. Private Fred Gibson, Caledon, pushed forward alone +with his machine-gun, and fought until all his ammunition was used. +Private James Mahaffy, Caledon, was badly wounded in the leg early in +the day, and was ordered back. He refused to go, and continued to +carry ammunition for his machine-gun. Lance-Corporal John Hunter, +Coleraine, succeeded in picking off several German gunners. His cool +and accurate shooting at such a time was remarkable. Private Robert +Monteith, Lislap, Omagh, had his leg taken off above the knee. He used +his rifle and bayonet as a crutch, and continued to advance. Private +Wallie Scott, Belfast, met five Germans. He captured them +single-handed, and marched them back to the enemy second line, where a +sergeant had a larger party of prisoners gathered.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER IV</h3> + +<h3>FOUR VICTORIA CROSSES TO THE ULSTER DIVISION<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>BRILLIANT ADDITIONS TO THE RECORD OF IRISH VALOUR AND ROMANCE</h4> +<br /> + +<p>The most signal proof of the exceptional gallantry of the Ulstermen is +afforded by the awarding of four Victoria Crosses to two officers and +two privates of the Division. There is many a Division that has not +won a single V.C. They must not be belittled on that score; their +ill-fortune and not their service is to blame. But the rarity of the +distinction, and the exceptional deed of bravery and self-sacrifice +needed to win it, reflects all the more glory on the achievements of +the Ulstermen. By the winning of four Victoria Crosses the Ulster +Division have made a name which will shine gloriously for all time in +the imperishable record of British gallantry on the battlefield.</p> + +<p>Private William Frederick McFadzean of the Royal Irish Rifles was +posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for sacrificing himself +deliberately to save his comrades. The men of the battalion were +packed together in a concentration trench on the morning of July 1. +Just prior to the advance bombs were being distributed for use when +the German lines were reached. One of the boxes of these missiles +slipped down the trench and emptied its contents on the floor. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>Two of +the safety pins fell out. Shouts of alarm were raised. Men who would +face the German bombs undaunted shrank with a purely physical reaction +from the peril which thus accidentally threatened them. They knew that +in a moment these bombs would explode with a terrific detonation and +scatter death and mutilation among them. In that instant McFadzean +flung himself bodily on the top of the bombs. He was a bomber himself, +and he well knew the danger, but he did not hesitate. The bombs +exploded. All their tremendous powers of destruction were concentrated +upon the body which enveloped them in an embrace. McFadzean was blown +literally to bits. One only of his comrades was injured.</p> + +<p>McFadzean was only twenty-one years of age. He was born at Lurgan, +County Armagh, and was a Presbyterian. A member of the Ulster +Volunteer Force, he joined the Young Citizens' Battalion (Belfast) of +the Royal Irish Rifles in September 1914.</p> + +<p>The other private who won the Victoria Cross is Robert Quigg, also of +the Royal Irish Rifles. On the morning after the advance he went out +seven times, alone and in the face of danger, to try to find his +wounded officer, Sir Harry Macnaghten of Dundaraye, Antrim, and +returned on each occasion with a disabled man. Private Quigg is +thirty-one, the son of Robert Quigg, a guide and boatman at the +Giant's Causeway, Antrim. He was a member of the Ulster Volunteer +Force, and enlisted in the Royal Irish Rifles (Central Antrim +Volunteers) in September, 1914. He is an Episcopalian, an Orangeman +and a member of the flute band of his lodge.</p> + +<p>The official account of Private Quigg's exploit is as follows—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"For most conspicuous bravery. He advanced to the assault with +his platoon three times. Early next morning, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>hearing a rumour +that his platoon officer was lying out wounded, he went out +seven times to look for him under heavy shell and machine-gun +fire, each time bringing back a wounded man. The last man he +dragged in on a waterproof sheet from within a few yards of the +enemy's wire. He was seven hours engaged in this most gallant +work, and finally was so exhausted that he had to give it up."</p></div> + +<p>It was also "for most conspicuous bravery" in searching for wounded +men under continuous and heavy fire that Lieutenant Geoffrey +Shillington Cather of the Royal Irish Fusiliers got the Victoria +Cross. He lost his life in thus trying to succour others on the night +and morning after the advance of the Ulster Division. "From 7 p.m. +till midnight he searched 'No Man's Land,' and brought in three +wounded men," says the official account. "Next morning, at 8 a.m., he +continued his search, brought in another wounded man, and gave water +to others, arranging for their rescue later. Finally, at 10.30 a.m., +he took out water to another man, and was proceeding further on when +he was himself killed. All this was carried out in full view of the +enemy, and under direct machine-gun fire, and intermittent artillery +fire. He set a splendid example of courage and self-sacrifice."</p> + +<p>Lieutenant Cather was twenty-five years of age, a son of Mrs. Cather, +Priory Road, West Hampstead, London. His father, who was dead, had +been a tea merchant in the City. On his mother's side, Lieutenant +Cather was a grandson of the late Mr. Thomas Shillington, of Tavanagh +House, Portadown; and on his father's side, of the late Rev. Robert +Cather, a distinguished minister of the Irish Methodist Church. He was +a nephew of Captain D. Graham Shillington, of Ardeevin, Portadown, +who, with his son, Lieutenant T.G. Shillington, was serving in the +same battalion of the Royal Irish Fusiliers. Lieutenant Cather was +educated at Rugby. He first joined the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>Public Schools' Battalion of +the Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment), and obtained his +commission in the County Armagh Volunteers in May, 1915.</p> + +<p>The second officer of the Ulster Division to win the Victoria Cross +was Captain Eric N.F. Bell of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, whose +gallantry on July 1 also cost him his life. He was about twenty-two +years old, one of three soldier sons of Captain E.H. Bell, formerly of +the Inniskillings (serving in Egypt in a garrison battalion of the +Royal Irish Regiment), and Mrs. Bell, an Enniskillen lady living in +Bootle. The two brothers of the late Captain Bell hold commissions in +the Ulster Division. The deeds for which he was awarded the Victoria +Cross are thus set out in the official account—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"For most conspicuous bravery. He was in command of a trench +mortar battery, and advanced with the infantry in the attack. +When our front line was hung up by enfilading machine-gun fire +Captain Bell crept forward and shot the machine gunner. Later, +on no less than three occasions, when our bombing parties, which +were clearing the enemy's trenches, were unable to advance, he +went forward and threw trench mortar bombs among the enemy. When +he had no more bombs available he stood on the parapet, under +intense fire, and used a rifle with great coolness and effect on +the enemy advancing to counter-attack. Finally he was killed +rallying and reorganising infantry parties which had lost their +officers. All this was outside the scope of his normal duties +with his battery. He gave his life in his supreme devotion to +duty."</p></div> + +<p>Colonel Ricardo, in a very fine and sympathetic letter to the bereaved +mother, gives additional particulars of Captain Bell's gallantry—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"The General, hearing that his parents were old friends of mine, +has asked me to write on his behalf, sending his sympathy and +telling of the gallantry of Eric, which was outstanding on a day +when supreme courage and gallantry was the order of the day. +Eric was in command on July 1 of his trench mortar battery, +which had very important duties to perform, and which very +materially helped the advance. We know <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>from his servant, +Private Stevenson, a great deal of Eric's share in the day's +work. He went forward with the advance, and, coming under heavy +machine-gun fire, and seeing where it came from, he took a rifle +and crawled towards the machine-gun and then shot the gunner in +charge, thus enabling a party on his flank to capture the gun. +This gallant action saved many lives.</p> + +<p>"When in the German lines Eric worked splendidly, collecting +scattered units and helping to organise the defence. He was most +energetic, and never ceased to encourage the men and set all a +very fine example. Having exhausted all his mortar ammunition, +he organised a carrying party and started back to fetch up more +shells; it was whilst crossing back to our own line that Eric +was hit. He was shot through the body, and died in a few moments +without suffering. His servant stayed with him to the end and +arrived back quite exhausted, and has now been admitted into +hospital. Nothing could have exceeded the courage and resource +displayed by Eric. The Brigade are proud that he belonged to it. +It is only what I should have expected from him. It must be a +solace to his father and mother that he died such a gallant +death. He was a born soldier and a credit to his regiment. May I +add my heartfelt sympathy to my dear old friends."</p></div> + +<p>Among the many other distinctions gained by the Division were Military +Crosses to two of the chaplains: Captain Rev. J. Jackson Wright and +Captain Rev. Joseph Henry McKew. Captain Wright was the Presbyterian +minister of Ballyshannon, County Donegal. He gave up that position +temporarily to accept an Army chaplaincy, and was posted to the Ulster +Division in November, 1914, being attached to the Inniskilling +Brigade. He was ordained in 1893. Captain McKew was curate of the +parish of Clones prior to being appointed Church of Ireland chaplain +to the troops in August, 1915. He is a Trinity man, and during his +university career won a moderatorship in history. Ordained in 1914, he +has spent his entire ministry under Canon Ruddell in Clones. Before +going to the Front he was a chaplain at the Curragh.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>The company officers led their men with conspicuous gallantry and +steadfastness. "Come on, Ulsters;" "Remember July the First," they +cried. They were severely thinned out before the day was far advanced. +It was the same with the non-commissioned ranks. At the end several +parties of men desperately fighting had not an officer or a +non-commissioned officer left. Among the officers lost were two +brothers, Lieutenant Holt Montgomery Hewitt, Machine-gun Corps (Ulster +Division), and Second-Lieutenant William Arthur Hewitt, Royal +Inniskilling Fusiliers (Tyrone Volunteers). They were the sons of Mr. +J.H. Hewitt, manager of the workshops for the blind, Royal Avenue, +Belfast. A third son, Lieutenant Ernest Henry Hewitt, Royal Lancaster +Regiment, was killed in action on June 15, 1915. The three brothers +were members of the Ulster Volunteer Force before the War. They were +prominent athletes, and played Rugby football for the North of Ireland +club. In that respect they were typical of the officers of the Ulster +Division. They were also typical of them for high-mindedness and +cheerful devotion to duty. "Poor Holt, the most genial and lovable of +souls!" exclaims Lieutenant E.W. Crawford, the adjutant of his +battalion of the Inniskillings. "Willie led his platoon fearlessly +over the top." The commanding officer of the battalion, Colonel +Ricardo, in a letter to Mr. Hewitt, pays a remarkable tribute to +Second-Lieutenant William Holt. He says: "It was a sad day for us, and +I feel quite stunned and heartbroken. Your Willie was one of the +nicest-minded boys I ever knew. My wife saw a letter he wrote to the +widow of a man in his company, and she told me it was the most +beautiful letter of sympathy she had ever read. No one but a +spiritually-minded boy could have written such a letter. I made him my +assistant-adjutant, and of all my young lads I could <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>spare him the +least. No words can express the sympathy we all feel for yourself and +Mrs. Hewitt and your family in this grievous double blow."</p> + +<p>Captain C.C. Craig, Royal Irish Rifles (South Antrim Volunteers), M.P. +for South Antrim and brother of Colonel James Craig, M.P. for East +Down, was taken prisoner. When last seen he was lying wounded in a +shell hole at the most advanced point of the narrow and dangerous +salient carved by the Ulstermen in the enemy lines, shouting +encouragement to his company. In a letter to his wife, written from a +hospital at Gutersloh, Westphalia, Germany, and dated July 13, Captain +Craig states it was while he was directing his men to convert the C +line of trenches into defences against the Germans by making them face +the opposite way, that he was hit by a piece of shrapnel in the back +of the leg below the knee. "This put me out of action," he says. "I +was bandaged up, and, as I could not get about, I sent a message to R. +Neill to take command, and I crawled to a shell-hole, where I lay for +six hours. This was at about 10 a.m. on the 1st July. During this six +hours the shelling and machine-gun fire was very heavy, but my +shell-hole protected me so well that I was not hit again, except for a +very small piece of shrapnel on the arm, which only made a small cut." +At about four o'clock in the afternoon the enemy made a counter +attack, during which Captain Craig was found and taken prisoner. +Describing his treatment as a prisoner, Captain Craig says—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"I had to hobble into a trench close at hand, where I stayed +till ten o'clock, till two Germans took me to another line of +trenches about 400 or 500 yards further back. This was the worst +experience I had, as my leg was stiff and painful. The space +between the lines was being heavily shelled by our guns, and my +two supporters were naturally anxious to get over the ground as +quickly as possible, and did not give me much rest, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>so I was +very glad when, after what seemed an age, though it was not more +than fifteen minutes or so, we got to the trench. I was put in a +deep dug-out, where there were a lot of officers and men, and +they were all very kind to me and gave me food and water, and +here I spent the night. My leg was by now much swollen, but not +painful except when I tried to walk. There were no stretchers, +so in the morning I had to hobble as best I could out of the +trenches till we came to a wood. Soon after I passed a dug-out +where some artillery officers lived, and the captain seeing my +condition refused to allow me to go any further on foot, and +took me in and gave me food and wine, and set his men to make a +kind of sling to carry me in. This proved a failure; as I was so +heavy, I nearly broke the men's shoulders. He then got a +wheelbarrow, and in this I was wheeled a mile or more to a +dressing station, where my wound was dressed, and I was +inoculated for tetanus. That night I was taken to a village, and +had a comfortable bed and a good sleep."</p></div> + +<p>Another officer of the Division who was "pipped," as he calls it, +tells in an interesting story how he worked himself along the ground +towards the British lines, and his experiences on the way. "By and +by," he says, "a Boche corporal came crawling along after me. He +shouted some gibberish, and I waved him on towards our lines with my +revolver. He wasn't wounded, but he was devilish anxious to make sure +of being a prisoner—begad, you don't get our chaps paying them the +same compliment. They'll take any risks sooner than let the Boche get +them as prisoners. So this chap lay down close beside me. I told him +to be off out o' that, but he lay close, and I'd no breath to spare. +That crawling is tiresome work. Presently I saw a man of ours coming +along, poking round with his rifle and bayonet. He'd been detailed to +shepherd in prisoners. He was surprised to see me. Then he saw my +Boche. 'Hell to yer sowl!' says he; 'what the divil are ye doin' there +beside my officer? Get up,' says he, 'an' be off with ye out a' that!' +And he poked at him with his bayonet; so the fellow <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>squealed and +plucked up enough courage to get up on his feet and run for our lines. +Our own man wanted to help me back—a good fellow, you know—but I'd +time enough before me, so told him to carry on. I wriggled all the way +back to our line, and a stretcher-bearer got me there, so I was all +right."</p> + +<p>When they were relieved, the survivors of the Division came back very +tired and bedraggled, their faces black with battle smoke and their +uniforms white from the chalky soil. But they were in a joyous mood; +and well they might be, for they had battered in one of the doors of +the supposed impregnable German trenches and left it ajar. Their +exploits add a brilliant chapter to the record of Irish valour and +romance. Grief for the dead will soon subside into a sad memory, but +the glory of what they accomplished will endure for ever. Because of +it, the First of July is certain to be as great a day for Ulster in +the future as the Twelfth has been in the past.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER V</h3> + +<h3>COMBATIVENESS OF THE IRISH SOLDIER<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>THE BRITISH BLENDS OF COURAGE</h4> +<br /> + +<p>There is a story of Wellington and his army in the Peninsular campaign +which embodies, in a humorous fashion, the still popular idea of the +chief national characteristics of the races within the United Kingdom.</p> + +<p>It says that if Wellington wanted a body of troops to get to a +particular place quickly by forced marches he gave an assurance that +on their arrival Scottish regiments would be given their arrears of +pay; English regiments would have a good dinner of roast beef, and the +bait held out to Irish regiments to give speed to their feet, however +weary, was an all-round tot of grog. The Welsh, it will be noticed, +are not in the story. This cannot be explained by saying they had yet +to achieve separate national distinction on the field of battle. The +23rd Regiment of Foot (Royal Welsh Fusiliers) served under Wellington +and contributed more than their fair share to the martial renown of +the British Army. It is solely due, I think, to the fact that they had +not yet emerged from their absorption in the English generally. But, +to round off the story, what motive of a material kind would impel the +Welsh Regiments to greater military exertions? Shall we say any one of +the three inducements mentioned—pay, grub or grog, or, better still, +all of them together?</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>The present war has provided the most searching tests of the qualities +of the races involved in it. They have all been profoundly moved to +the uttermost deeps of their being, both in the mass and as +individuals. The superficial trappings of society and even of +civilisation have fallen from them, and they appear as they really +are—brave or cowardly, noble or base, unselfish or egotistical. We +see our own soldiers, English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish, not perhaps +quite as each came from the hands of Nature, but certainly as the +original minting of each has been modified only by the influence of +racial environment. All the races within the United Kingdom are alike +in this, that each is a medley of many kinds of dissimilar individuals +with very varied faculties and attributes. But there are certain +broad, main characteristics which distinguish in the mass each racial +aggregate of dissimilar units; and it is these instincts, ideas, +habits, customs, held in common, that fundamentally separate each +nationality from the other. That is what I mean by racial environment.</p> + +<p>The soldiers of the United Kingdom possess in general certain fine +qualities of character and conduct which may be ascribed to the +traditions and training of the British Army. But when we come to +consider them racially we find that their points of difference are +more striking even than their points of similarity. Each nationality +evolves its own type of soldier, and every type has its distinctly +marked attributes. As troops, taken in the mass, are the counterpart +of the nations from which they spring, and, indeed, cannot be anything +else, so they must, for one thing, reveal in fighting the particular +sort of martial spirit possessed by their race. Though I am an +Irishman, I would not be so boastful as to say that the Irish soldiers +have a superior kind of courage to which neither the English, the +Scottish nor the Welsh can <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>lay claim. They are all equally brave, but +the manifestation of their bravery is undoubtedly different—that is, +different not so much in degree as in kind. In a word, courage, like +humour, is not racial or geographical, but, like humour also, it takes +on a racial or geographical flavour.</p> + +<p>General Sir Ian Hamilton has written: "When, once upon a time, a Queen +of Spain saw the Grenadier Guards she remarked they were strapping +fellows; as the 92nd Highlanders went by she said, 'The battalion +marches well'; but, at the aspect of the Royal Irish, the words +'Bloody War!' were wrung from her reluctant lips." After a good deal +of reading on the subject, and some thought, I venture to suggest the +following generalisations as to the qualities which distinguish the +English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish, in valour, one from another.</p> + +<div class="block"><p>English—the courage of an exalted sense of honour and devotion +to duty, and of the national standard of conduct which requires +them to show, at all costs, that they are better men than their +opponents, whoever they may be.</p> + +<p>Scottish—the courage of mental as well as physical tenacity, +coolly set upon achieving the purpose in view.</p> + +<p>Welsh—the courage of perfervid emotion, religious in its +intensity.</p> + +<p>Irish—the courage of dare-devilry, and the rapture of battle.</p></div> + +<p>All these varieties of courage are to be found, to some extent, in +each distinct national unit, and thus they cross and recross the +racial boundary lines within our Army. Still, I think they represent +broadly the dominant distinguishing characteristics of the English, +Scottish, Welsh and Irish as fighting men. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>qualities lacking in +one race are supplied by the others; and the harmonious whole into +which all are fused provide that fire and dash, cool discipline, +doggedness and high spirits for which our troops have always been +noted. The Commander-in-Chief, Sir Douglas Haig, is said to have made +a most interesting estimate of the qualities of the soldiers of the +three home races under his command. The Irish are best for brilliant +and rapid attack, and the English are best for holding a position +against heavy onslaughts. The Scottish, he thinks, are not quite so +fiery and dashing in assault as the Irish, but they are more so than +the English, and not quite so tenacious in holding on under tremendous +fire as the English, but they are more so than the Irish.</p> + +<p>It is this combination of attributes which enables the British Army, +more perhaps than any other army, to get out of a desperate situation +with superb serenity and honour. There is an old saying that it never +knows when it is beaten. Soult, Marshal of France, whose brilliant +tactics in the Peninsular War so often countered the consummate +strategy of Wellington and the furious dash of the Irish infantry, +bore testimony in a novel and vivid way to this trait of the British. +"They could not be persuaded they were beaten," he said. "I always +thought them bad soldiers," he also said. "I turned their right, +pierced their centre, they were everywhere broken; the day was mine; +and yet they did not know it and would not run."</p> + +<p>Any other troops, in a hopeless pass, would retreat or surrender, and +would do so without disgrace. There are numberless instances in +British military history where our troops, faced with fearful odds, +stood, magnificently stubborn, with their backs to the wall, as it +were, willing to be fired at and annihilated rather than give in. Mr. +John Redmond tells a story of a reply given by an English General when +asked his opinion <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>of the Irish troops. "Oh," he said, "they are +magnificent fighters, but rotten soldiers. When they receive an order +to retire their answer is, 'Be damned if we will.'" I may add, in +confirmation of this story, that one of the incidents of the retreat +from Mons, which was the subject afterwards of an inquiry by the +military authorities, was the refusal of a few hundred men of a famous +Irish regiment to retire from what appeared to be an untenable +position, much less to surrender, one or other of which courses was +suggested by their superior officer. The answer of the men was as +stunning as a blow of a shillelagh, or as sharp as a bayonet thrust. +"If we had thrown down our arms," one of them said to me, "we could +never have shown our faces in Ireland again."</p> + +<p>Racial distinctions are to be seen on the weak side as well as on the +strong side of character. Each nationality, regarded as fighters, has +therefore its own particular failing. The Irish are disposed to be +foolhardy, or heedless of consequences. It is the fault of their +special kind of courage. "The British soldier's indifference to +danger, while it is one of his finest qualities, is often the despair +of his officers," says Mr. Valentine Williams, one of the most +brilliant and experienced of war correspondents, in his book, <i>With +our Army in Flanders</i>, and he adds, "The Irish regiments are the +worst. Their recklessness is proverbial." They are either insensible +to the perils they run, or, what is more likely, contemptuous of them.</p> + +<p>I have been given several examples of the ways they will needlessly +expose themselves. Though they can get to the rear through the safe, +if wayward, windings of the communication trenches, it is a common +thing for them to climb the parapets and go straight across the open +fields under fire so as to save half an hour. To go by the trenches, +they will argue, doubles the time taken in getting back without +halving the risk. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>In like manner, they prefer to go down a road swept +by the enemy's artillery, which leads direct to their destination, +rather than waste time by following a secure but circuitous way round. +There is an Irish proverb against foolhardy risks which says it is +better to be late for five minutes than dead all your lifetime, but +evidently it is disregarded by Irish soldiers at the Front.</p> + +<p>An English officer in the Royal Irish Regiment writes: "Really the +courage and cheerfulness of our grand Irish boys are wonderful. They +make light of their wounds, and, owing to their stamina, make rapid +recoveries. The worst of them is they get very careless of the German +bullets after a while and go wandering about as if they were at home." +Another English officer begins an amusing story of an Irish orderly in +an English regiment with the comment: "I shall never now believe that +there is on this earth any man to beat the Irish for coolness and +pluck." The officer was in his dug-out, and first noticed the Irishman +chopping wood to make a fire for cooking purposes on a road which was +made dangerous during the day by German snipers. He remarked to +another officer, "By Jove! that man will get shot if he isn't +careful." "No sooner had I said the word," he writes, "when a bullet +splattered near his head. Then another between his legs. I saw the mud +fly where the bullet struck. The man, who is the Captain's servant, +turned round in the direction of the sniper and roared, 'Good shot, +Kaiser. Only you might have hit me, though, for then I could have gone +home.' After this the orderly proceeded to roast a fowl, singing quite +unconcernedly, 'I often sigh for the silvery moon.' Another bullet +came and hit him in the arm. He roared with delight; and, as he basted +the fowl, exclaimed, 'Oh, I'm not going to lave you, me poor bird.' +The officer shouted to him to come <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>into the dug-out. He did so, but +when he had licked the wound in his arm, and bound it up, he said he +must get the fowl, or it would be overdone; and before the officer +could utter a word of protest, he ran across the road to the fire, +started singing again, though the bullets, once more, came whistling +past his ear. When he returned to the dug-out with the fowl nicely +roasted he remarked cheerily, 'People may say what they like, but them +Germans are some marksmen, after all.'"</p> + +<p>The whimsical side of Irish daring is further illustrated by a story +of some men of the Royal Munster Fusiliers. To while away the time in +the trenches one night they made bets on doing this or that. One +fellow wagered a day's pay that he would go over to the German lines +and come back with a maxim gun, which was known to be stationed at a +particular point. In the darkness he wriggled across the intervening +space on his stomach, and, coming stealthily upon the guard, stabbed +him with a dagger. Then slinging the maxim across his shoulder, he +crawled safely back to the trenches. "Double pay to-day!" he cried to +the comrade he made the bet with. "But you haven't won," said the +other. "Where's the machine's belt and ammunition?" The next night he +sallied forth on his belly again, and returned with the complete +outfit. The spirit of the anecdote is true to the Irish temperament, +though the episode it records may be fanciful. There is no doubt that +things of the kind are done very frequently by Irish soldiers. They +call it "gallivanting"; and the mood takes on an air of, say, +recklessness which, at times, seems very incongruous against the +frightful background of the war.</p> + +<p>The very root of courage is forgetfulness of self. Self-consciousness +is, in no great degree, an Irish failing, or virtue, either, if it is +to be regarded as such. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>Especially when he is absorbed in a martial +adventure, the Irishman has no room in his mind left for a thought of +being afraid, or even nervous. He likes the thrill of movement, the +fierce excitement of advancing under fire for a frontal attack on the +enemy, the ferocity of a contest at close grips. This is the +temperament that responds blithely to the whistle—"Over the +parapets!" His blood is stirred when the actual fighting begins, and +as it progresses he is carried more and more out of himself. The part +of warfare repugnant to him, most trying to his temper, is that of +long watching and waiting. For the work of lining the trenches a +different kind of courage is required. The slush, the miseries, the +herding together, the cramped movements, are enough to drive all the +heat out of the blood. The qualities needed for the severe and +incessant strain of this duty are an immovable calm, a tireless +patience, an endurance which no hardships can break down. Here the +English and the Scottish shine, for by nature they are more +disciplined, more submissive to authority, and they hold on to the end +with an admirable blend of good-humour and doggedness. On the other +hand, I am told, on the authority of an officer of the Welsh Guards, +that when the Irish Guards are in the trenches they find the long +dreary vigil and the boredom of inaction so insupportable that it is a +common thing for parties of them to go to the officer in command and +say, "Please, sir, may we go out and bomb the Germans?"</p> + +<p>As Lord Wolseley had "the Irish drop in him," perhaps it is not to be +wondered at that he discounts the old proverb that the better part of +valour is discretion. "There are a great many men," he writes, "who +pride themselves upon simply doing their duty and restricting +themselves exclusively to its simple performance. If such a spirit +took possession of an <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>army no great deeds can ever be expected from +it." What more can one do, it may be asked, than one's duty? Evidently +Lord Wolseley would have duty on the battlefield spiced or gingered +with audacity. The way the Irish look at it is well illustrated, I +think, in a letter which I have seen from a private in a Devon +regiment. He states that while he and some comrades were at an +observation post in a trench near the enemy's line six Germans +advanced close to them, and though they kept firing at them they could +not drive them back. "Two fellows of the Royal Irish Rifles came up," +continues the Devon man, "and asked us what was on. We told them. Then +one turned round to the other and said, 'Come on, Jim, sure we'll +shift them.' Then the two of them fixed their bayonets and rushed at +the Germans. You would have laughed to see the six Germans running +away from the two Irishmen." We have here an exhibition of the spirit +of the born fighter who does not stop to count the odds or risks too +cautiously. The incident recalls, in a sense, the scene depicted by +Shakespeare in <i>King Henry V</i> at the camp before Harfleur, France, +when Fluellen the Welshman—all shilly-shallying and dilly-dallying in +enterprise—wants to argue with Captain Macmorris, the Irishman, +concerning the disciplines of war. But the Irishman wants not words +but work. Away with procrastination! So he bursts out, in +Shakespeare's most uncouth imitation of the brogue—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"It is no time to discourse, so Chrish save me: the day is hot, +and the weather, and the wars and the King, and the dukes: it is +no time to discourse. The town is beseeched, and the trumpet +call us to the breach, and we talk, and, be Chrish, do nothing; +'tis shame for us all: so God sa' me 'tis shame to stand still; +it is shame by my hand; and there is throats to be cut, and +works to be done; and there isn't nothing done, so Chrish sa' +me, la!"</p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>Lord Wolseley also lays greater store on the spontaneous courage of +the blood, the intuitive or unconscious form of courage, which is +peculiarly Irish, than on moral courage, the courage of the mind, the +courage of the man who by sheer will-power masters his nervous system +and the shrinking from danger which it usually excites. In Lord +Wolseley's opinion the man who is physically brave—the man of whom it +may often be said that he has no sense of fear because he has no +perception of danger—is the true military leader who draws his men +after him to the achievement of deeds at which the world wonders.</p> + +<p>That is the kind of courage which of old led the mailed knight, bent +on a deed of derring-do, to cleave his way with sword or battle-axe to +the very heart of the enemy's phalanx for the purpose of bringing +their banner to the ground, or dealing them a more vital blow by +slaying their commander. There may be little opportunity in trench +warfare and in duels between heavy guns, both sides concealed behind +the veils of distance, for such a show of spectacular bravery. War is +no longer an adventure, a game or a sport. It is a state of existence, +and what is needed most for its successful prosecution, so far as the +individual fighter is concerned, is a devotion to duty which, however +undramatic, never quails before any task to which it is set.</p> + +<p>But the Irish soldier still longs for the struggle to the death +between man and man, or, better still, of one man against a host of +men. At dawn one day a young Irish soldier, inexperienced and of a +romantic disposition, took his first turn in the trenches. He had come +up filled with an uplifting resolve to do great things. The Germans +immediately began a bombardment. The lad at first was filled with +vague wonderments. He was puzzled especially by the emptiness of the +battlefield. He had in mind the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>opposing armies moving in sight of +each other, as he had seen them in manœuvres. Where was the enemy? +Whence came these shells? Then the invisibility of the foe, and this +mechanical, impersonal form of fighting appalled him. One of his +comrades was blown to pieces by his side. A dozen others disappeared +from view in an upheaval of the ground. This was a dastardly massacre +and not manly warfare, thought the youth.</p> + +<p>He could stand the ordeal no longer. He ran, bewildered, up the +trench, shouting "Police! police!" "Hello, there; what are you up to?" +said an officer, barring the way. "Oh, sir," cried the young soldier, +"there's bloody murder going on down there below, and I am looking for +the police to put an end to it."</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER VI</h3> + +<h3>WITH THE TYNESIDE IRISH<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>OVER THE HEIGHTS OF LA BOISELLE, THROUGH BAILIFF'S WOOD TO CONTALMAISON</h4> +<br /> + +<p>The men of the Tyneside Irish battalions stood to arms in the assembly +trenches by the Somme on the morning of July 1, 1916. Suddenly the +face of the country was altered, in their sight, as if by a frightful +convulsion of Nature. Their ears were stunned by shattering +explosions, and looking ahead, they saw the earth in two places +upheaving, hundreds of feet high, in black masses of smoke. The ground +rumbled under their feet, so that many feared it would break apart and +bring the parapets down on top of them. Two mines had been sprung +beneath the first line of the German trenches to the south-west and +north-east of the heap of masonry and timber that once had been the +pretty little hamlet of La Boiselle. It was the signal to the +Division, which included the Tyneside Irish, that the hour of battle +had come.</p> + +<p>The part in the general British advance allotted to the Division was +first to seize the heights on which La Boiselle stood. This was a few +miles beyond the town of Albert, held by the Allies, on the main road +to the town of Bapaume, in the possession of the Germans. Thence they +were to move forward to Bailiff's Wood, to the north-west of +Contalmaison, and to a position on the cross-roads to the north-east +of that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>village. Contalmaison lay about four miles distant, almost in +ruins amid its devastated orchards, and with the broken towers of its +chateau standing out conspicuously at the back. One brigade had to +take the first line of German trenches, other battalions of the +Division had to take the second and third lines, after which the +Tyneside Irish were to push on over all these lines to the farthest +point of the Brigade's objective, the second ridge on which +Contalmaison stood, where they were to dig themselves in and remain.</p> + +<p>The Tyneside Irish had already had their baptism of fire, and had +proved themselves not unworthy of the race from which they have +sprung. Captain Davey—formerly editor of the <i>Ulster Guardian</i> (a +Radical and Home Rule journal)—records a stirring incident of St. +Patrick's Day, 1916. On the night of March 15-16 a German patrol +planted a German flag in front of the Tyneside Irish, half-way across +"No Man's Land." It was determined to wipe out the insult. During the +day snipers were allowed to amuse themselves firing at the flag, and +it was not long before a lucky shot smashed the staff in two, and left +the German ensign trailing in the dust. But the real work was reserved +for the night. There were abundance of volunteers, but Captain Davey, +with pride in his own province, selected an Ulsterman for the +adventure. The man chosen was Second-Lieutenant C.J. Ervine, of +Belfast. Mr. Ervine, supported by two Tyneside Irishmen, set out on +the eve of St. Patrick's Day, and entered the gloomy depths of "No +Man's Land." An hour passed and they returned—but without the flag. +The enemy was too keenly on the alert. But in the early hours of St. +Patrick's Day Lieutenant Ervine set off again—this time by himself. +What happened is thus described by Captain Davey—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"For an hour and a half we waited for his return, expecting each<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> +minute to hear the confounded patrol and machine-gun making the +familiar declaration that 'We will not have it.' So keen were +the sentries that even when relieved they would not leave their +posts. After an hour had passed, Mr. Ervine's sergeant, getting +impatient, went over the parapet and crawled to our wire so as +to see better. Punctually at a quarter to three a German +star-light went up, and by it we could see a dark form making in +our direction. In five minutes it reached our wire, and in ten +it was over the parapet. The Germans had been caught napping. In +less than half an hour, while the spoiler of the Huns stood by +in the crude garb of a Highlander in trench boots—for he had +fallen into a ditch full of water on the way and we bring no +change of clothing to the trenches—another officer and myself +had erected a flagstaff in a firing-bay and nailed to it was the +German ensign, while <span class="fakesc">ABOVE</span> it floated a green flag with +the harp which had been presented to our company before we left +home. And so we ushered in St. Patrick's Day!"</p></div> + +<p>Captain Davey proceeds—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"Proudly the green banner floated out, while, of course, we +flattered ourselves that the black, white and red of Prussia +hung its head in shame below. It was not long before the Germans +showed that they were wide awake at last, and the bullets began +to sing about our newly-erected monument to Ireland and +Ireland's patron saint. But it was a stout flagstaff, and though +dozens of bullets struck it, nothing short of a shell could have +shifted it. And there it stood all day with the Green above the +Black, White and Red. It was no longer a case of 'Deutschland' +but of 'Ireland Uber Alles.' I don't know if any similar sight +has been seen in a British trench. I know the green flag has led +Irish troops to victory in this war, but I think this is the +first time the spectacle has been seen of the Irish ensign +hoisted above a captured German flag. At any rate the spectacle +was sufficiently novel to cause us to have admiring visitors all +day long from other parts of the line."</p></div> + +<p>Unfortunately there is a sad pendant to this story of St. Patrick's +Day at the Front. Lieutenant Ervine, the gallant hero of the exploit, +died from wounds.</p> + +<p>The country which faced the Tyneside Irish on July 1, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>1916, had been +an agricultural country, inhabited by peasant cultivators before the +war. The ravages of war had turned it into a barren waste. The +productive soil was completely swept away. Nothing remained but the +raw, elemental chalk. It was bare of vegetation, save where, in +isolated spots, the hemlock, the thistle, and other gross weeds, +proclaimed the rankness of the ground, and also that the processes of +Nature ever go on unchecked, even in a world convulsed by human hate. +Not only were the villages pounded into rubbish by gun-fire, but the +woods—also numerous in these parts—appeared, as seen from a +distance, to be but mere clusters of gaunt and splintered tree stumps +devoid of foliage. Not a human being was to be seen. Yet that +apparently empty waste was infested with men—men turned into +burrowing animals like the badger, or, still more, like the weasel, so +noted for its ferocious and bloodthirsty disposition. In every +shattered wood, in every battered hamlet, in all the slopes and dips +by which the face of the country was diversified, they lie concealed, +tens of thousands of them, in an elaborately and cunningly contrived +system of underground defences, armed with rifles, bombs, +machine-guns, trench-mortars, and ready to spring out, with all their +claws and teeth displayed, on the approach of their prey, the man in +khaki. But, as things turned out, the man in khaki pared the nails of +Fritz, and broke his jawbone.</p> + +<p>"Before starting, and when our guns were at their heaviest, there was +a good deal of movement, up and down, and talking in the trenches. A +running fire of chaff was kept up, and there was many a smart reply, +for Irish wit will out even in the face of death," said Lieutenant +James Hately, who was wounded in that battle. "Some of the fellows +were very quiet, but none the less determined. Most of us were +laughing. At the same time I felt sorry, for the thought would +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>obtrude itself on my mind that many of the poor chaps I saw around me +would never see home again. As for myself, curiously enough, it never +occurred to me that I would even be hit. Perhaps that was because I am +of a sanguine or optimistic disposition. I started off, like many +another officer, with a cigarette well alight. Many of the men were +puffing at their pipes. Officers and men exchanged 'good-lucks,' +'cheer-ohs' and other expressions of comradeship and encouragement."</p> + +<p>Many were, naturally, in a serious mood. They felt too near to death +for the chaff of the billets or trenches to be seemly. They thought of +home, of dear ones, of life in the workshops and offices of Newcastle +and Sunderland, and the gay companions of favourite sports and +amusements, and, more poignant still, some recalled the last sight of +the cabin in Donegal, before turning down the lane to the valley and +the distant station, on their way to try their fortune in England. +Thus there was some restlessness and anxiety, but the company officers +in closest touch with the men agree that the general mood was +eagerness to get into grips with the enemy, and relish for the +adventure, without any great concern as to its results to themselves +individually. When the command was given, "up and over," the Brigade, +in fact, was like a huge electric battery fresh from a generating +station, for its immense driving force and not less for the lively +agitation of its varied emotions. Up and over the battalions went, and +moved forward in successive waves, the men in single file abreast, the +lines about fifty yards apart. For about two hundred yards or so +nothing of moment happened. Then they came under heavy fire. Shells +burst about them, shrapnel fell from above, bullets from rifle and +machine-gun tore through the air, or caused hundreds of little spurts +of earth to leap and dance about their feet. One of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>the men told me +that the shrieking and hissing of these deadly missiles reminded him +of banshees and serpents, a confused and grotesque association +appropriate to a battlefield as to a nightmare.</p> + +<p>It must not be supposed that everything was carried with a rush and a +shout, at point of the bayonet. An impetuous advance is what the men +would have liked best. It would be most in tune with the ardour of +their feelings, and less a strain on their nerves. But there were many +reasons why that was impossible. The country, in its natural +formation, was upward sloping, and all dips and swells. It was broken +up into enormous shell-holes and mine-craters, seamed with zigzag +lines of white chalky rubble marking the German trenches, and strewn +with the wire of demolished entanglements, fallen trees and the +wreckage of houses. The men were heavily equipped in what is called +fighting order. They carried haversacks, water-bottles, gas-helmets, +bandoliers filled with cartridges, as well as rifles and bayonets. +Some were additionally burdened with bombs and hand grenades. Behind +them came the working parties with entrenching tools, such as picks +and shovels. Accordingly, the physical labour of the advance alone was +tremendous. It would have been stiff and toilsome work for the +strongest and most active, even if there had been no storm of shot and +shell to face besides. There was, furthermore, the danger in a too +hasty progress of plunging headlong into the curtain of high +explosives which the artillery, firing from miles behind, hung along +the front of the infantry, lifting it and moving it forward as the +lines were seen to advance.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless the men went on steadily, undaunted by the fire and +tumult; and the shuddering earth; undaunted even by the spectacle of +the dead and dying of the battalions which preceded them in the +attack; shaken only by one horror—a horror <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>unspeakable—that of +seeing fond comrades of their own falling bereft of life, as in a +flash, by a bullet through the brain or heart; or, worse still, just +as suddenly disappearing into bloody fragments amid the roar and smoke +of a bursting shell. Now and then men stopped awhile, trembling at the +sight and aghast; and, under the sway of impulses that were +irresistible, put their right hands over their faces as a protection +to their eyes—an appeal, expressed in action rather than in words, +that they might be mercifully spared their sight—or else made a +sweeping gesture of the arm, as if to brush aside the bullets which +buzzed about them like venomous insects.</p> + +<p>The pace, therefore, was necessarily slow. It was rather a succession +of short rushes, a few yards at a time, with intervening pauses behind +such shelter as was available in order to recover breath. The right +soldierly quality is not to be over rash, but to adapt oneself to the +nature of the fighting and its scene; the circumstances of the moment, +the ever-varying requirements of the action. Such an advance, whatever +precautions be taken, entails great sacrifices. Every life that is +lost should be made to go as far as possible in the gaining of the +victory. Foolhardy movements, due to unreflecting bravery, were +accordingly discouraged. Advantage was to be taken of any cover +afforded by the natural features of the country or the state into +which it had been transformed by the pounding of high explosives. The +influence of the officers, so cool and alert were they, so suggestive +of capability in direction, was most reassuring and stimulating to the +men. On the other hand, the officers were relieved by the +intelligence, the amenable character of the men and their fine +discipline, from the worry and annoyance which company commanders have +so often to endure in the course of an action by the casual doings, +and the lack of initiative on the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span>part of those under their charge. +Simple, biddable, gallant and faithful unto death, it was the wish of +the Tyneside Irish that, if they were to fall, their bodies might be +found, not in the line of the advance, but at the German positions to +the north-west of Contalmaison, out of both of which they had helped +to drive the enemy.</p> + +<p>But now the lines or waves of men which had left the trenches in +extended formation were broken up into separate little bodies, all +independently engaged in various grim tasks. They had mounted La +Boiselle hill, and moved down into the valley which still intervened +between them and Bailiff's Wood and Contalmaison. Thus they were in +the very centre of the labyrinth of the enemy's system of defences. An +air of intolerable mystery and sinister hidden danger hung over it. +Was it not possible that those brutes, those dirty fighters, the +inventors of poisonous gas, liquid fire and flame jets, who had +established themselves in the very vitals of the place, might not have +other devilish inventions prepared for the wholesale massacre of their +adversaries? The thought arose in the minds of many, and caused a +vague sense of apprehension. The Germans, however, had no further +hellish surprises. Even so, the place was baneful and noxious enough. +The Germans had suffered terrible losses and were morally shaken by +the artillery bombardment—gigantic, devastating, thunderous—which +preceded the British advance. It is the fact, nevertheless, that most +of the survivors had enough courage and tenacity left doggedly to +contest every inch of the way. They lay concealed in all sorts of +cunning traps and contrivances, apart from their demolished trenches. +Machinery on the side of the British—in the form of big guns—had +done its part. The time had come for the play of human qualities, the +pluck, the endurance and the stout arm of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>British infantry man. +Snipers had to be dislodged from their burrows; hidden machine-gun +posts had likewise to be found out and silenced. So the men of the +Tyneside Irish were rushing about in small parties, shooting, +bayoneting, clubbing, bombing; and the triumphant yells which arose +here and there proclaimed the discovery of yet another lair of the +foe.</p> + +<p>Many a stirring story of personal adventure could be told. Sergeant +Knapp of Sunderland, who won his stripes in the advance, gives this +account of his experiences—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"I had just taken the machine-gun off my mate to give him a rest +when 'Fritz' opened fire on us from the left with a machine-gun, +which played havoc with the Irish. Then I heard my mate shout, +'Bill, I've been hit,' and when I looked round I saw I was by +myself; he, poor chap, had fallen like the rest. Now I had to do +the best I could, so I picked up a bag of ammunition for the gun +and started across 'No Man's Land.' Once I had to drop into a +shell-hole to take cover from machine-gun fire.</p> + +<p>"After a short rest I pushed on again and got into the German +second line. By this time I was exhausted, for I was carrying a +machine-gun and 300 rounds of ammunition, besides a rifle and +120 rounds in my pouches, equipment, haversack and waterproof +cape, so I had a fair load. I stopped there for a few minutes +picking off stray Boches that were kicking about. Then along +came a chap, whom I asked to give me a help with the gun, which +he did. We had scarcely gone ten yards when a shell burst on top +of us. I stood still, I don't think I could have moved had I +wanted to. Then I looked around for my chum, but alas! man and +gun were missing. Where he went to I don't know, for I have not +seen him or my precious weapon since."</p></div> + +<p>Who that has talked with many wounded soldiers has not found that +often they are unable to give any coherent account of their own +actions and feelings during a battle. In some cases it is due to an +unwillingness to revive haunting memories, a wish to banish out of +mind for ever the morbid, terrible and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span>grotesque, the ugly aspects in +which many experiences in battle present themselves, surpassing the +nightmares of any opium eater. In other cases there is an obvious +distaste for posing. All one gallant Irish Tynesider would say to me +was, "Sure I only went on because I had to. Didn't the officers tell +us before we left the trenches that there was to be no going back?" He +brushed aside everything he had done that terrible day which got him +the Distinguished Conduct Medal, with the jocose assumption that he +was but the most unheroic of mortals, that he went to a place where he +would not have gone if he had had any choice in the matter. The +incommunicativeness of the soldier is also due to the fact that he +cannot recall his sensations. During an engagement his mind is in a +whirl. He has no disposition to note his thoughts and feelings in the +midst of the fighting. In fact, few men can analyse the processes of +their emotions in such a situation, either at the time or afterwards. +As a rule, an overmastering passion possesses the soldier to stab, +hack and annihilate the foe who want to take that life which he so +greatly desires to preserve. All else is confused and blurred—a vague +sense of desperate happenings shrouded in fire and smoke, out of which +there emerges, now and then, with sharp distinctness, some specially +horrible incident, such as the shattering of a comrade into bits.</p> + +<p>But I have met with cases still more strange, where the mind was a +blank during the advance through the showering bullets and shrapnel +and the exploding shells. Even the simplest process of the +brain—memory, or self-consciousness—was dormant. The soldiers in +this mental condition appear to have been like the somnambulist who +does things mechanically as he walks in his sleep, and when aroused +has an impression of having passed through some unusual experience, +but what he cannot tell, so vague and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>formless is it all. Suddenly +all the senses of these hypnotised soldiers became wide awake and +alert. This happened when they caught sight of figures in skirted grey +tunics and flat grey caps with narrow red bands, emerging from +cavernous depths into the light of day, or unexpectedly came upon them +crouching in holes or behind mounds of earth away from the trenches. +Germans! Face to face with the Bosche at last! The effect was like +that of a sudden and peremptory blast of a bugle in a deep stillness. +Each Irish Tynesider braced up his nerves for bloody deeds. "My life, +or theirs," was the thought that sprang to his mind. Thus it was a +scene of appalling violence. It resounded with the clash of bayonets; +the crackle of musketry; the explosion of bombs; the rattle of +machine-guns; and in that confusion of hideous mechanical noises were +also heard the shriek of human anguish and the cry of victory.</p> + +<p>It was in a wood not far off Contalmaison that the fighting was most +desperate and sanguinary of all. The place was full of Germans. The +paths and glades were blocked or barricaded with fallen trees. Beneath +the splintered and blackened trunks that were still standing, the +undergrowth, freed from the attentions of the woodman in the two years +of the war, was dense and tangled. Right through the wood were +trenches with barbed wire obstructions. At its upper end were +peculiarly strong outposts, which poured machine-gun fire through the +trees and bushes. It was commanded by batteries on two sides—from +Contalmaison on the right and Oviliers on the left. The attackers had +to penetrate this dreadful wood, scrambling, tearing, jumping, +creeping in the sultry and stifling heat of the day. There were +ferocious personal encounters. The form of fighting was one of the +most terrible to which this most hideous of wars has given rise. +Probably there has been nothing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>like it since early man fought those +horrid and extinct mammoth animals, the skeletons of which are now to +be seen in museums, what time they were alive and savage and ruthless +in their haunts in the primeval forest.</p> + +<p>The battle was marked by ever-varying vicissitudes of advance and +repulse. "The German Guardsmen fought like tigers to hold it," is a +phrase in one letter of an Irish Tynesider. Our own official +despatches relating to the Somme battle also show that this part of +the German front—Oviliers, La Boiselle, Bailiff's Wood, Contalmaison, +Mametz Wood—was held by battalions of the Guards, composed of the +flower of the youth of Prussia, and standing highest in the mightiest +army in the world. These were not the kind of men to put up their +hands and cry "Kamerad, mercy!" at the sight even of that pitiless and +unnerving thing—a bayonet at the end of a rifle in the hands of a +brawny Irishman, with the fury of battle flaming in his eyes. They +held on tenaciously, and gave blow for blow. A long bombardment, night +and day, by modern heavy guns, is a frightful ordeal. Its objects are, +first, to kill wholesale; and, next, to paralyse the survivors with +the fear of death, so that they could but offer only a feeble +resistance to the advancing troops. Shaken and despairing men were, +therefore, encountered—filthy, unshaven, vile-looking, and so +mentally dazed as to act and talk like idiots. But they were not all +like that. So well-designed and powerful were their subterranean +defences that large numbers were unaffected by the visitations of the +high explosives, and through it preserved their courage and their +rage. Conspicuous among these were the Prussian Guards. They made +furious efforts to stop the advancing lines of the Tyneside Irish, and +that they were overpowered is a splendid testimony to the martial +qualities of our men. Think of it! Two years <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>ago, or so, these young +lads of various industrial callings—farm hands, railway porters, +clerks, drapers' assistants, policemen, carters, messenger boys, +miners—would have regarded as preposterous the idea that at any time +of what seemed to them to be their predestined humdrum existence, or +in any period even of a conceivably mad and topsy-turvy world, they +would not only be soldiers but would encounter the Germans on the +fields of France; and—most incredible phantasy of all—defeat the +renowned Prussian Guards—men whose hearts from their earliest years +throbbed high at the thought that they were to be soldiers; men highly +disciplined and trained, belonging to the proudest regiments in the +German Army, and always ready and eager for the call of battle.</p> + +<p>Bailiff's Wood and Contalmaison appear to have been the furthest +points reached on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. If they +did not then fall, the superb action of the Tyneside Irish made +breaches in these strongholds which, when widened and deepened by +subsequent assaults, led to their complete capture on July 10. As +Captain Downey, an officer of the Tyneside Irish says: "Our men paved +the way for various other British regiments who swept through some +days later." A few companies of one of these battalions which got into +Contalmaison on July 7, and were driven out, brought back some +Tyneside Irish and Scottish that were imprisoned in a German dug-out +in the village. They also found outside the village the bodies of +several Tyneside Irish, gallant fellows who died in the attempt to +push on to the point they had orders to reach.</p> + +<p>The effectiveness of the attack by the Brigade on July 1 depended a +good deal upon the progress made by troops of other Divisions who were +co-operating on both sides. "On our left flank the parallel Division +was held up; on our right the Division moved slowly," <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>says an officer +of the Irish Brigade. The difficulties of the advance would probably +have held up indefinitely any other troops in the world. But there is +never any danger of the momentum of an attack by Irish troops being +weakened through excessive caution against what is called "over +running." Indeed, it is a fault of their courage that they are +sometimes prone to act with too much precipitation, and, in fact, on +this occasion it was not so much that the Divisions to the right and +left were behind time as that the Irish Brigade were somewhat ahead of +it. The result, however, was that the Irish Tynesiders were exposed on +their right to a deadly enfilading fire that swept across from +Oviliers, which was not yet in British possession. Nevertheless, they +did not stop. "No matter who cannot get on, we must." That was the +order of the officers in command, and so dauntless was the response to +it that by one o'clock the men got to a point in front of +Contalmaison. Here what remained of the Brigade held on for some days +and nights, until the reserves came to their relief on July 4.</p> + +<p>The casualties among all ranks were heavy. The officers, sharing every +hardship and being foremost in every danger, suffered most grievously. +"Our Brigadier, our colonels, our company commanders, were badly +wounded. Every officer, with the exception of two subalterns, was hit. +Some were hit in no less than three places. Yet they carried on. Those +too weak to walk crawled until they eventually gave up through loss of +blood. The losses among the N.C.O.s were just as large." This is the +testimony of Captain Downey. Lieut.-Colonel L. Meredith Howard of the +Tyneside Irish was severely wounded, and died two days afterwards. +Among the officers of the Brigade who fell in action was +Second-Lieutenant Gerald FitzGerald. A brother officer says, "He died +shouting to his men: 'Come on.'" His father was Lord Mayor of +Newcastle the year in which the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>Brigade was raised. Other officers +killed were Captain Kenneth Mackenzie of Kinsale, co. Cork, whose +father was formerly an Irish Land Commissioner; Lieutenant Louis +Francis Byrne of Newcastle, who was serving his articles as a +solicitor when war broke out; and Lieutenant J.R.C. Burlureaux, a +journalist.</p> + +<p>The disappearance of so many of the officers was enough to have +dispirited and confused any body of men. Would it be possible for them +to extricate themselves from the fearful labyrinth in which they were +involved? Would there be any of them left for the final dash at their +objective? The non-commissioned officers rose splendidly to the +emergency. One battalion had not far advanced when all the officers +were shot down. Quartermaster-Sergeant Joseph Coleman took command and +continued onward. Soon he found himself with only three men left. +Everything seemed lost in his part of that scene of tumult and death +but for his coolness and gallantry. He went back, gathered up the +remnants of other scattered companies, and led a willing and eager +band to the capture of the position put down to the battalion in the +scheme of operations. For this Coleman got the Distinguished Conduct +Medal, and had it pinned on his breast by General Munro, the +Brigadier.</p> + +<p>When the Brigade was relieved, their return to the haven behind the +lines was attended with almost as much danger as their advance to the +hell beyond the ridge had been. As the men ascended the slope of La +Boiselle, down which they had charged a few days before, the German +machine-guns were still rattling from the opposite hill, and snipers +were picking off the stragglers. The hideousness of the field of +action had also increased. The devastated ground, with its +shell-holes, its great gaping craters and its trenches, was now strewn +with the unsavoury litter of the wake of battle—discarded rifles, +helmets, packs, burst and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>unburst shells; boots, rags, meat-tins, +bottles and newspapers. Such of the wounded as could walk at all +limped along on the arms of comrades. Every one was inconceivably +dirty. Down their blackened faces were white furrows made by their +sweat. Thus they came back, the Irish Tynesiders, with bloody but +unbowed heads. "I saw our battalions file out from their bivouac under +cover of night, and, though each man knew of the deadly work before +him, the ready jest and witty retort were as abundant as ever," writes +Lieutenant F. Treanor, Quartermaster of one of the battalions of the +Tyneside Irish, and a native of Monaghan. "In the dressing-stations +afterwards I saw many of them, and there were still the same heroic +fortitude and the exchange of comments, many grimly humorous, as that +of one poor fellow who remarked, when asked if he had any souvenirs. +'Be danged, 'twas no place for picking up jewellery.'"</p> + +<p>The Brigade received the highest praises from the Commander of the +Army Corps and the Commander of the Division, as well as from their +own General. The corps commander wrote: "The gallantry, steadiness and +resource of the Brigade were such as to uphold the very highest and +best traditions of the British Army." Major-General Ingouville-Williams, +who commanded the Division, wrote to the Tyneside committee—</p> + +<p>"It is with the greatest pride and deepest regret that I wish to +inform you that the Division which included the Tyneside Irish covered +itself with glory on July 1, but its losses were very heavy. Every one +testifies to the magnificent work they did that day, and it is the +admiration of all. I, their commander, will never forget their +splendid advance through the German curtain of fire. It was simply +wonderful, and they behaved like veterans. Tyneside can well be proud +of them; and although they will sorrow for all my brave and faithful +comrades, it is some <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>consolation to know they died not in vain, and +that their attack was of the greatest service to the Army on that +day."</p> + +<p>Writing to his wife on July 3, 1916, Major-General Ingouville-Williams +said: "My Division did glorious deeds. Never have I seen men go +through such a hell of a barrage of artillery. They advanced as on +parade and never flinched. I cannot speak too highly of them. The +Division earned a great record, but, alas! at a great cost." On July +20 he also wrote to his wife: "Never shall I cease singing the praises +of my old Division, and I never shall have the same grand men to deal +with again." A few days later Major-General Ingouville-Williams died +for his country.</p> + +<p>Seventy-three officers and men of the Tyneside Irish received +decorations. Four Distinguished Service Orders and twenty Military +Crosses went to the officers, eight Distinguished Conduct Medals and +forty Military Medals were received by the men, and a sergeant was +awarded the high Russian decoration of the Order of St. George. Among +the officers who received the Military Cross was Lieutenant T.M. +Scanlan, whose father, Mr. John E. Scanlan, Newcastle-on-Tyne, took a +prominent part in the raising of the Brigade. Lieutenant Scanlan +states that only eight men were left out of his platoon after July 1, +and six of them were awarded honours. All honour to the Brigade! Those +who helped to raise the battalions—Mr. Peter Bradley and Mr. N. +Grattan Doyle, the chairmen of the committee; Mr. Gerald Stoney and +Mr. John Mulcahy, the joint secretaries—have reason to be proud of +the magnificent quality of the men who responded to their call. Let it +stand as the last word of the story of their achievement that they +overthrew and trampled down the proud Prussian Guards, and relaxed the +grip which Germany had held for two years on a part of France.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER VII</h3> + +<h3>THE WEARING OF RELIGIOUS EMBLEMS AT THE FRONT<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>SPREAD OF THE EXAMPLE SET BY IRISH SOLDIERS</h4> + +<div class="block3"><p>"Nearly every man out here is wearing some sort of +Catholic medallion or a rosary that has been given him, +and he would rather part with his day's rations or his +last cigarette than part with his sacred +talisman."—Extract from a letter written from the Front +by a non-Catholic private in the Hussars.</p></div> +<br /> + +<p>The wearing of religious emblems by soldiers of the British Army is +much talked of by doctors and nurses in military hospitals in France +and at home. When wounded soldiers are undressed—be they non-Catholic +or Catholic—the discovery is frequently made of medals or scapulars +worn around their necks, or sacred badges stitched inside their +tunics. It is a psychological phenomenon of much interest for the +light it throws upon human nature in the ordeal of war. It shows, too, +how war is a time when supernatural signs and wonders are multiplied.</p> + +<p>Testimony to the value of these religious favours as safeguards +against danger and stimulants to endurance and heroism was given in a +most dramatic manner by Corporal Holmes, V.C., of the King's Own +Yorkshire Light Infantry, who also holds the highest French +decoration, the Medaille Militaire. He visited the Catholic schools at +Leeds. All the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>girls and boys were assembled to see him. One of the +nuns told the children how Corporal Holmes won his honours during the +retreat from Mons. He carried a disabled comrade out of danger, +struggling on with his helpless human burden for three miles under +heavy fire. Then taking the place of the driver, who was wounded, he +brought a big gun, with terror-stricken horses, out of action, through +lines of German infantry and barbed wire entanglements. At the +crossing of the Aisne a machine-gun was left behind, as the bridge +over which it was hoped to carry it was shelled by the enemy. Corporal +Holmes plunged into the river with it, some distance below the bridge, +and, amid shot and shell, brought it safely to the other bank. When +the nun had finished recounting his deeds, Corporal Holmes +unexpectedly turned back his tunic, and saying, "This is what saved +me," pointed to his rosary and medal of the Blessed Virgin.</p> + +<p>There is the equally frank and positive declaration made by +Lance-Corporal Cuddy of the Liverpool Irish (the King's Liverpool +Regiment), who was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for +gallantry in saving life after the great battle of Festubert. He was +in the trenches with his regiment. Cries for help came from some +wounded British soldiers lying about fifteen yards from the German +trenches. The appeal smote the pitying heart of Cuddy. He climbed the +parapet of his trench, and, crawling forward on his stomach, +discovered two disabled men of the Scottish Rifles. One of them had a +broken thigh. Cuddy coolly bound up the limb, under incessant fire +from the German trenches, and crawled back to his trench, dragging the +man with him. Then, setting out to bring in the second man, he was +followed by Corporal Dodd of the same battalion, who volunteered to +assist him. On the way a bullet struck Dodd on the shoulder and passed +out through his leg. Cuddy <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>bandaged him and carried him safely back. +Once more he crawled over the fire-swept ground between the trenches +to the second Scottish rifleman. This time he took an oil-sheet with +him. He wrapped it round the wounded man and brought him in also. All +this was the work of hours. Not for a moment did this brave and simple +soul flinch or pause in his humane endeavours. He seemed to be +indifferent, or absolutely assured, as to his own fate. And he had the +amazing good luck of going through the ordeal scathless, save for a +slight wound in the leg. As is the way with soldiers, the comrades of +Cuddy joked with him on his success in dodging the bullets of the +bloody German snipers. "They were powerless to hit me. I carry the +Pope's prayer about me, and I put my faith in that," he answered, in +accordance with his simple theology. This prayer of Pope Benedict XV +is one "to obtain from the mercy of Almighty God the blessings of +Peace."</p> + +<p>Both soldiers were convinced, as Catholics, that, being under the +special protection of the Heavenly Powers whose symbols they wore, +they were safe and invincible until their good work was done. Psalm +civ. speaks of God, "who maketh the sweeping winds his angels, and a +flaming sword His ministers." Why should He not work also through the +agency of the religious emblems of His angels and saints? With this +belief strong within them, Holmes and Cuddy leaped at the chance of +bringing comfort to comrades in anguish, and help to those sorely +pressed by the enemy.</p> + +<p>There is another aspect of this question of the psychology of war. It +is a boast of the age that we have freed ourselves from what is called +the deadening influence of superstition. Nevertheless, since the +outbreak of the war there has been an extraordinary revival of the +secular belief in omens, witchcraft, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>incantations and all that they +imply—the direct influence of supernatural powers, of some sort or +other, on the fortunes of individuals in certain events. One amiable +form of it is the enormously increased demand for those jewellers' +trinkets called charms and amulets, consisting of figures or symbols +in stone and metal which are popularly supposed to possess powers of +bringing good fortune or averting evil, and which formerly lovers used +to present to each other, and wear attached to bracelets and chains, +to ensure mutual constancy, prosperity and happiness. Even the +eighteenth-century veneration of a child's caul—the membrane +occasionally found round the head of an infant at birth—as a sure +preservative against drowning is again rife among those who go down to +the sea in ships. The menace of the German submarine has revivified +the ancient desire of seafaring folk to possess a caul, which was laid +dormant by the sense of security bred by years of freedom from piracy, +and the article has gone up greatly in price in shops that sell +sailors' requirements at the chief ports. Fortune-tellers, +crystal-gazers, and other twentieth-century witches and dealers in +incantations, who pretend to be able to look into the future and +provide safeguards against misfortune, are being consulted by mothers, +wives and sweethearts, anxiously seeking for some safe guidance for +their nearest and dearest through the perils of the war.</p> + +<p>So far as the Army is concerned, the belief that certain things bring +good luck or misfortune has always been widely held by the rank and +file. Formerly there were two talismans which were regarded as +especially efficacious in warding off evil, and particularly death and +disablement in battle. These were, in the infantry, a button off the +tunic of a man, and, in the cavalry, the tooth of a horse, in cases +where the man and the horse had come scathless <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>through a campaign. A +good many years ago the old words "charm," "talisman," "amulet," +dropped out of use in the Army. The French slang word "mascot," which +originated with gamblers and is applied to any person, animal or thing +which is supposed to be lucky, came into fashion; and some animal or +bird—monkey, parrot, or goat, or even the domestic dog or cat—was +appointed "the mascot of the regiment." But since the outbreak of the +war the Army has returned to its old faith in the old talisman. A +special charm designed for soldiers, called "Touchwood," and described +as "the wonderful Eastern charm," has had an enormous sale. It was +suggested by the custom, when hopes are expressed, of touching wood, +so as to placate the fates and avert disappointment, a custom which is +supposed to have arisen from the ancient Catholic veneration of the +true Cross.</p> + +<p>"Touchwood" is a tiny imp, mainly head, made of oak, surmounted by a +khaki service cap, and with odd, sparkling eyes, as if always on the +alert to see and avert danger. The legs, either in silver or gold, are +crossed, and the arms, of the same metal, are lifted to touch the +head. The designer, Mr. H. Brandon, states that he has sold 1,250,000 +of this charm since the war broke out. Not long ago there was a +curious scene in Regent's Park. This was the presentation of +"Touchwood" to each of the 1200 officers and men of a battalion of the +City of London Regiments (known as "The Cast-Irons") by Mdlle. +Delysia, a French music-hall dancer, before they went off for the +Front. Never has there been such a public exhibition—uncontrolled and +unashamed—of the belief in charms. Mr. Brandon has received numerous +letters from soldiers on active service, ascribing their escape from +perilous situations to the wearing of the charm. One letter, which has +five signatures, says—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"We have been out here for five months fighting in the trenches,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> +and have not had a scratch. We put our great good fortune down +to your lucky charm, which we treasure highly."</p></div> + +<p>Thus we see that mankind has not outgrown old superstitions, as so +many of us thought, but, on the contrary, is still ready to fly to +them for comfort and protection in danger. The truth is that the human +mind remains at bottom essentially the same amid all the changes made +by time in the superficial crust of things. Man is still the heir of +all the ages. Some taint of "the old Popish idolatries" survives in +the blood of most of us, no matter how Protestant and rationalistic we +may suppose ourselves to be. And now that the foundations of +civilisation are disrupted, and humanity is involved in the coils of +the most awful calamity that has ever befallen it, is it to be +wondered at that hands should be piteously stretched out on all sides, +and in all sorts of ways—unorthodox as well as orthodox—groping in +the dark for protective touch with the unseen Powers who rule our +destinies.</p> + +<p>It is in these circumstances that non-Catholic soldiers of the new +Armies are turning from materialistic charms to holy emblems. It may +be thought that this new cult is but a manifestation, in a slightly +different form, of the same primal superstitious instinct of mankind +as inspired the old, but as it has a religious origin and sanction and +is really touched by spiritual emotion, it seems to me to be far +removed from the other in spirit and intention. Non-Catholic soldiers +appear to have been led into the new practice by the example of +Catholic soldiers. These religious objects, commemorative of the +Blessed Virgin and other saints, have always been carried about their +persons by Irish Catholic soldiers, to some extent, as well as by +Catholics generally in civil life. The custom is now almost universal +among Catholic officers and men at <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>the Front. It resembles, in a way, +the still more popular practice of carrying photographs of mother, +wife and child. Will it be denied that the soldier, as he looks upon +the likenesses of those who cherish him, and hold him ever in their +thoughts, does not derive hope and consolation from his consciousness +of their watchful and prayerful love?</p> + +<p>There are several little breastplates thus worn by Catholics to shield +them from spiritual evil and bodily calamity. The chaplet of beads, +known as the rosary, is well known. The brown scapular of St. Mary of +Mount Carmel is made of small pieces of cloth connected by long +strings, and is worn over the shoulders in imitation of the brown +habit of the Carmelite friars. Then there are the Medal of Our Lady of +Perpetual Succour, a reproduction of the wonderful picture discovered +by the Redemptorist Order in Rome; and the Miraculous Medal of Our +Lady, revealed by the Immaculate Virgin to Catherine Labouré, Sister +of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, in Paris. Another is the "Agnus +Dei" ("Lamb of God"), a small disc of wax, impressed with the figure +of a lamb supporting a cross, and blessed by the Pope, which is the +most ancient of the sacramentals, or holy objects worn, used or +preserved by Catholics for devotional purposes. But what is now +perhaps the most esteemed of all is the Badge of the Sacred Heart. On +an oval piece of red cloth is printed a picture of Jesus, standing +before a cross, with His bleeding heart, encircled by thorns and +flames, exposed on His breast. The badge is emblematical of the +sufferings of Jesus for the love of and redemption of mankind. It is +the cognisance of a world-wide league, known as the Apostleship of +Prayer, conducted by the Society of Jesus, and having, it is said, a +membership of 25,000,000 of all nations. The promotion of these +special devotions in the Catholic Church has been <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>assigned to +different Orders: such as the rosary to the Dominicans; the scapular +to the Carmelites; the Way of the Cross to the Franciscans. So the +spread of the devotion of the Sacred Heart is the work of the Jesuits. +The headquarters of the Apostleship of Prayer in this country is the +house of the Jesuits in Dublin, who publish as its organ a little +monthly magazine called <i>The Messenger</i>. There has been so enormous a +demand for the badge since the war broke out that the Jesuits have +circulated a statement emphasising that it is not to be regarded as "a +charm or talisman to preserve the wearer from bullets and shrapnel." +To wear it in this spirit would, they say, be "mere superstition." +"What it stands for and signifies is something far nobler and +greater," they also say. "It is, in a sense, the exterior livery or +uniform of the soldiers and clients of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, King +of heaven and earth, just as the brown scapular is the livery of the +servants and soldiers of Mary, heaven's glorious Queen. As such it +procures for those who wear it in the proper spirit the grace and +protection of God; and the scapulars the special protection of Mary, +much more than the livery or uniform of a country procures for those +who fight under its flag the help and protection of the nation to +which they belong."</p> + +<p>What is the attitude of the Irish Catholic soldier towards this +religious movement as a means of preservation and grace in the trials +and perils of war? I have read many letters from Irish Catholics on +service in France, Flanders and the East in which the matter is +referred to, and have discussed it with some of those who have been +invalided home. All this testimony establishes beyond question that +the mystical sense of the Irish nature, which has been developed to a +high degree by the two tremendous influences of race and religion, +leads the Irish <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>Catholic soldier profoundly to believe that there is +a supernatural interference often with the chances and fortunes of the +battlefield in answer to prayers. Michael O'Leary, V.C., a splendid +type of the Irish soldier in body and mind, gave a brief but pointed +statement of his views on the matter. "A shell has grazed my cheek and +blown a comrade by my side to pieces," he said, "though there was no +reason, so far as I could see, but the act of God, why the shell +should not have knocked my head off and grazed my comrade's cheek."</p> + +<p>The average Irish soldier probably knows nothing of the materialistic +theory that Nature is a closed system; that the laws of the universe +are fixed and immutable; that no wearing of holy objects, and no +amount of praying even, will ever disturb their uniform mechanical +working; and that the sole reason why any soldier on the battlefield +escapes being hit by a bullet or piece of explosive shell is that he +was not directly in its line of flight. Such a doctrine would be +regarded, at least by the simple and instinctive natures in the Irish +ranks, as the limit of blasphemy. Their belief in the reality and +power of God is most profound. God is to them still the lord and +master of all the forces of Nature; and the turning aside of a bullet +or piece of explosive shell would be but the slightest manifestation +of His almighty omnipotence. Mystery surrounds the Irish Catholic +soldier at all times. His realisation of the unseen is very vivid. The +saints and angels are his companions, not the less real and potent +because they are not visible to his eyes. But it is on the field of +battle that he is most closely enveloped by these spiritual presences. +He is convinced that he has but to call upon them, and that, if he be +in a state of grace, they will come to his aid as the ministers of +God. So he prays that God may protect and save him, and he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span>wears next +his heart the emblems of God's angels and saints. Thus he feels +invincible against the powers of darkness in both the spiritual and +material worlds. For these devotions have also the effect of putting +him in train to receive submissively whatever fate God may will him. +He knows that God can safeguard him in the fight if He chooses; and he +believes that if God does not choose so to do it is because in His +wisdom He does not deem it right. "Blessed be the holy will of God!" +The old, familiar Irish ejaculation springs to his lips, that variant +of Job's unshakable trust in the Almighty: "Though He slay me, yet +will I trust Him." Thus it is that the sight of his comrades lying +around him, dead and wounded, who prayed like him and, like him, +carried rosary beads or wore the badge of the Sacred Heart, has no +effect in shaking his belief in his devotions and his holy emblems. So +when the hour of direst peril is at hand he is found not unnerved and +incapable of standing the awful test. There is an ancient Gaelic +proverb which says: "What is there that seems worse to a man than his +death? and yet he does not know but it may be the height of his good +luck." Even if death should come, what is it but the shadowy gate +which opens into life everlasting and blissful?</p> + +<p>There are on record numerous cases of protection and deliverance +ascribed by non-Catholics as well as Catholics to the wearing of +religious emblems. The Sisters of Mercy, Dungarvon, Waterford, tell +the story of the marvellous escape from death of Private Thomas Kelly, +Royal Munster Fusiliers, at the first landing on the Gallipoli +peninsula on April 25, 1915. Kelly had emerged with his comrades from +the <i>River Clyde</i>—the steamer which had brought his regiment to the +landing-place, Beach V—and was in the water wading towards the shore +when this happened to him—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"A bullet struck him, passing through his left hand, which at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> +the moment was placed over his heart. The bullet hit and +shattered a shield badge of the Sacred Heart, which was sewn +inside his tunic, then glanced aside and passed over his chest, +tearing the skin. The mark of its passage across the chest can +still be plainly seen. The bullet then passed through the pocket +of his tunic at the right-hand side, completely destroying his +pay-book. When wounded he fell into the water, where he lay for +about two hours under a perfect hurricane of bullets and +shrapnel. In all that time, while his companions were falling on +every side, he received only one slight flesh wound. He is now +in Ireland, loudly proclaiming, to all whom he comes in contact +with, his profound gratitude to the Sacred Heart. He is quite +recovered from his wounds, and expects soon to be sent to the +Front. His trust in the Sacred Heart is unbounded, and he is +fully convinced that the Sacred Heart will even work miracles +for him, if they are necessary, to bring him safely home again."</p></div> + +<p>Private Edward Sheeran, Royal Irish Rifles, relating his experiences +in France, says—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"We were waiting in reserve, and were shelled heavily before the +advance. Four of us were lying low in the traverse of a trench. +Every time I heard a shell approaching I said, 'O Sacred Heart +of Jesus, have mercy on us!' Just as I was reciting this +ejaculation a shell burst in our midst. For a minute I was +dazed, and when I surveyed the damage, imagine my surprise to +find the man next to me blown to pieces, parts of him over me. +Another never moved again to my knowledge, while the remaining +one had his arms shattered. As regards myself, my pack was blown +off my back, but all the injury I received was a very slight +wound in the left shoulder. Thanks to the mercy of the Sacred +Heart I was able to rejoin my battalion two days afterwards."</p></div> + +<p>"A very grateful sister," writing to the <i>Irish Messenger</i>, in +thanksgiving for "a great favour obtained through Our Blessed Lady of +Perpetual Succour," states—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"My brother was ordered out to the war and was in the fighting +line from the first. I sent him a miraculous medal of Our +Blessed Lady and promised publication if he came back <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>safe. He +has been in twelve battles and got nine wounds, none dangerous, +only on his hands and one leg badly broken. He was being carried +off the field by his comrades and the shells were falling so +fast that they had to leave him and fly for their lives. He lay +there three hours, bleeding and faint, until he was picked up +again, and, thanks to Our Blessed Lady's protection, he is now +safe in a London hospital and making a speedy recovery."</p></div> + +<p>The brother of an Irish Catholic nurse in a British military hospital +in France writes to the <i>Irish Messenger</i>—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"I was speaking lately to my sister, the nurse to whom you sent +the parcel of badges, beads, etc. She says if every parcel of +badges did as much good as hers has done and is doing, you will +have a big reward in eternity. The poor Irish and English +Catholic lads in their torments find the greatest comfort in +their beads and badges, and put more trust in the Sacred Heart +than in surgeons and nurses. One poor man said: 'I know I am +dying, but, nurse, write to my poor wife and tell her that my +beads and a sip of Holy Water was my consolation. Tell her I put +my trust in the Sacred Heart and die confident. Send her this +old badge which I wore all through the war.'"</p></div> + +<p>In Ireland there are tens of thousands of Catholic mothers, wives and +sisters, ever praying for the safe return of their men from the Front, +or else that they be given the grace of a happy death, and there is +nothing that tends more to prevent them brooding when the day, the +hour, the moment may come with a dread announcement from the War +Office, than the consoling thought that these dear ones are faithful +in all the dangers and emergencies of their life to the practices of +their religion. That is why Private Michael O'Reilly, of the Connaught +Rangers in France, writes to his mother: "I have the Sacred Heart +badge on my coat and three medals, a pair of rosary beads and father's +Agnus Dei around my neck, so you see I am well guarded, and you have +nothing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>at all to fear so far as I am concerned." Even for the +mother, death loses its sting when she gets news of her son which +leaves her in no doubt as to his soul's eternal welfare. Here is a +characteristic specimen of many letters from bereaved but comforted +mothers which have been printed in <i>The Messenger</i>—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"<span class="sc">Dear Rev. Father</span>,—I beg to appeal to you for my dear +good son who was killed in action on the 25th of March, and who +died a most holy death. I have heard from Father Gleeson that he +died with his rosary beads round his neck and reciting his +rosary. He got a gunshot wound in the head and lived several +hours after receiving the wound. I know perfectly well that it +was owing to his having St. Joseph's Cord about him that he got +such a happy death, and had the happiness of receiving his +Easter duty on Sunday the 21st. He also had the Sacred Heart +Badge, a crucifix, and his Blue and Brown Scapulars on him, so +that I am content about the way he died. He is buried in Bethune +cemetery. I am a subscriber to <i>The Messenger</i>, and my son was +in the Apostleship of Prayer and used to get the leaflets in his +young days at the school he was going to, taught by the +Christian Brothers. He was twenty-one years and seven months the +day of his sad death. He belonged to the Royal Munster +Fusiliers."</p></div> + +<p>Some people, no doubt, will smile indulgently or mockingly—according +to their natures—at what appears to them to be curious instances of +human credulity. Others will cry out in angry protest against "Popish +trumperies"; "idolatrous practices"; "fetishism." No religion can be +truly understood from the outside. It must be lived in, within, to be +apprehended. But surely those who are not altogether cursed with +imperfect sympathies—those, at least, who take pleasure in the happy +state of others, will shout aloud in joy to know that there is +something left—no matter what—to sustain and console in this most +terrible time of youth's agony and motherhood's lacerated heart.</p> + +<p>It must not be supposed that the religious practices of the Irish +Catholic troops are confined to the wearing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>of scapulars, medals and +Agnus Deis. There are among them, of course, many who attribute all +kinds of phenomena to natural rather than to miraculous causes. By +them, also, beads, medals and scapulars are venerated, and proudly +displayed over their tunics—often, too, rosary beads are to be seen +twisted round rifle barrels—as outward symbols of the spirit of their +religion, as aids to worship, as bringing more vividly before them the +God they adore and the saints whose aid they invoke. But their faith +gives, in addition, to the Catholic troops the Mass, which is +celebrated by the Army chaplains up at the Front in wrecked houses or +on the open, desolate fields, and attended by many hundreds of men in +silent and intent worship, the sacraments of Confession and Communion, +and makes possible that solemn spectacle of the priest administering +the General Absolution, or forgiveness of sin, to a whole battalion, +standing before him with bared and bowed heads, before going into +action. All these religious scenes have greatly impressed non-Catholic +soldiers. They wonder at the consolation and inspiration which +Catholic comrades derive from their services and their symbols. They +feel the loneliness and the dread of things. They are impressed by the +number of wayside shrines, with Crucifixes and Madonnas, which have +survived the ravages of war. In their hearts they crave for spiritual +companionship and help which the guns thundering behind them cannot +give any more than the guns thundering in front; and they, too, put +out their hands to grasp the supernatural presences, unseen but so +acutely felt in the shadowy arena of war. If there was scoffing at a +praying soldier in barracks, there is respect for him in the trenches. +Non-Catholics join in the prayers that are said by Catholics. "Plenty +of shells were fired at our trenches, but, thank God, no harm was +done," writes an Irish soldier. "When the shells <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>came near us we used +to pray. Prayers are like a double parapet to them, I think. Yesterday +we were reciting the Litany of the Sacred Heart while the shells were +annoying us. I was reading the beautiful praises and titles of the +Litany, and both my Protestant and Catholic mates were answering me +with great fervour. I was just saying 'Heart of Jesus, delight of all +the Saints, succour us,' when one shell hit our trench and never +burst, and, furthermore, no shell came near us after that, for our +opponents directed their attention elsewhere for the rest of the day." +He adds that every night in the trenches the Rosary of the Blessed +Virgin was recited; and the responses were given by non-Catholics as +well as by Catholics.</p> + +<p>In like manner, non-Catholic soldiers are being weaned from the use of +pagan charms and talismans, and are taking instead to the Catholic +substitutes which have been blessed by the priest making over them the +sign of the cross. Father Plater stated at a meeting of the +Westminster Catholic Federation that, travelling in the south of +England, he met in the train some soldiers of the Ulster Division, all +Orangemen, and instead of consigning the holy father to other realms, +as they probably would have done in other times and other +circumstances, they actually asked him to bless their miraculous +medals. There is an ever-increasing desire among them for medals, +rosaries, and for holy pictures, such as the little prints of saints +and angels which Catholics carry in their prayer-books. At the +convents in London where the Badge of the Sacred Heart is to be had, +Protestant soldiers are constantly calling to get it, and they tell +stories which they had heard of wonderful escapes by those who wore +it. One nun told me they cannot keep the supply abreast of the demand. +For instance, she said that on the day I saw her a private of the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>Royal Welsh Fusiliers got fifty badges for distribution in the +regiment.</p> + +<p>Religious emblems have a warmth and intimacy about them which secular +charms lack. They are regarded as representing real spiritual beings, +saints and angels. Secular charms, on the other hand, are devoid of +association with any potentate or power known or believed to exist in +the other world, and seem still to possess something of the mingled +simplicity and grossness of the first dawning of superstition on the +mind of the savage. The curiosity and interest of the non-Catholic +soldier in these religious symbols being thus excited, the moment he +handles one and examines its design, he feels a pleasant sensation of +help and comfort, and a consequent increase in his vitality. He highly +treasures his holy talisman. Should he pass unscathed through the +constant yet capricious menace of an engagement, he ascribes his luck +to supernatural protection. As the English troops were passing through +Hornu, near Mons, a young Belgian lady took a rosary from her neck and +gave it to Private Eves of the West Riding Regiment, telling him to +wear it as a protection against the bullets of the Germans. Eves, a +non-Catholic Northumbrian, wore the rosary during the battle of Mons. +"The air was thick with shells and machine-gun bullets," he says, "and +how I escaped I don't know. A shell burst close to me. A piece of it +struck my ammunition band and bent five cartridges out of shape; but I +escaped with only a bruise on the chest. I always say this rosary had +something to do with it."</p> + +<p>Many stories of the like might be told. A driver of the Royal Field +Artillery says: "I think I owe all my luck to a mascot which I carry +in my knapsack. It is a beautiful crucifix, given me by a Frenchwoman +for helping her out of danger. It is silver, enamel <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>and marble, and +she made me take it." Private David Bulmer of the Royal Engineers, an +Ulster Presbyterian, returned home on furlough to his parents at +Killeshandra, wearing a rosary. He declared it was the beads that +saved his life on the battlefield, as he was the only man left in his +company. Sapper Clifford Perry has written to a Cardiff friend: +"Rosaries are very popular here. I think I can safely say that four +out of every ten men one meets wear them around their necks. Strange +to say, they are not all Catholics. Those who are not Catholics do not +wear them as curios or ornaments either, as upon cases of inquiry they +attach some religious value to them even though they cannot explain +what it is. Still, no one could convince them to part with them." +Often the emblems and badges worn by non-Catholic soldiers are gifts +from Catholic wives and children concerned for their spiritual and +temporal well-being. "An Irish mother who trusts in the Sacred Heart" +writes from Kensington in acknowledgment of the "wonderful escape" of +her husband. "He had only gone out from a stable when a German shell +knocked the roof in, killing his two horses, and also killing one man +and wounding five others. My husband, who is a Protestant, is wearing +a Sacred Heart Badge and the Cross belonging to my rosary. He has been +saved during many battles from the most awful dangers, having been +fighting regularly since September 1914." Father Peal, S.J., of the +Connaught Rangers serving in France, relating some of his experiences +as a chaplain after a battle, says: "It was very solemn, creeping in +and out among the wounded, finding who were Catholics. Some could not +speak, others just able to whisper. One poor man lay on his face, with +a hole in his back. He was actually breathing through this hole. I +felt round his neck for his identification disc and found he had a +medal <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>and Agnus Dei. I naturally thought he was a Catholic, but he +whispered to me, 'Missus and the children did that.' We repeated an +act of contrition, and I gave him conditional absolution." So it has +come to pass that rosaries, which were formerly a monopoly of the +religious repositories in French towns and villages, may now be seen +displayed in every shop window, so great is the demand for them, and +that "The League of the Standard of the Cross"—an Anglican +society—has, up to the end of 1916, sent out over 10,000 crucifixes +to Protestant soldiers.</p> + +<p>The wearing of Catholic emblems by the rank and file is encouraged by +many officers who understand human nature, and make allowance for what +some of them, no doubt, would call its inherent weaknesses. The +practice has been proved to have on conduct a profound influence for +good. It seems to incite and fortify the soldiers' courage. Man's will +and resolution often prove to be weak and fickle things, especially on +the field of battle, where they are put to the sternest and most +searching of tests. Fear of death, which, after all, is but a +manifestation of the primal instinct of self-preservation, often +militates against the efficiency of the soldier. It disorganises his +understanding; it paralyses his power to carry out orders. The +elimination of fear, or its control, is therefore part of the training +of the soldier. How fortunate, then, is the soldier who can find such +tranquillity in battle that he has passed beyond the fear of death. +Psychologists tell us, such is the influence of the body upon the +mind, that whether a man shall act the hero or the coward in an +emergency depends largely on his physical condition at the time. The +body of the soldier must, as far as possible, be made subordinate to +his mind. Religious sensibility and emotion, in whatever form it may +manifest itself, tends to the exaltation of the mental mood; and as +good officers <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span>know they cannot afford to neglect any means which +promises to steady their men, calm them and give them confidence in +action or under fire, they have enlisted this tremendous force on +their side by favouring and promoting the Catholic custom of wearing +holy objects.</p> + +<p>A nun writing from a convent in South London says: "The colonel at +—— sent twenty-two medals to Father X—— to be blessed. The Father +took the medals to the barracks himself, where the colonel informed +him that he wanted them for Protestant officers who were going to +France." The girls of the Notre Dame Convent School, Glasgow, sent a +parcel of 1200 medals to a Scottish regiment. They received a letter +of thanks from one of the officers, in which he says: "You will be +glad to know that most, if not all the men, Protestants though they +be, have put your medals on the cord to which their identity discs are +tied, so that Our Lady may help them."</p> + +<p>Thus is the wearing of scapulars and medals in the Army welcomed as an +aid to our arms, a reinforcement of our military power. In it may be +found the secret of much of the dash and gallantry of the Irish +troops. Up to the end of 1916, 221 Victoria Crosses have been awarded +for great deeds done in the war. As many as twenty-four have been won +by Catholics, of whom eighteen are Irish, a share out of all +proportion to their numbers, but not—may I say?—to their valour. In +order to appreciate adequately the significance of these figures it is +necessary to remember the nature of the deed for which the Victoria +Cross is given. It must be exceptionally daring, involving the +greatest risk to life. It must be of special military value, or must +lead to the saving of comrades otherwise hopelessly doomed. Above all, +it must be done not under orders but as a spontaneous act on the +soldier's own motion. It is largely due to their religion and the +emblems of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>their religion, and their views of fate and destiny, that +Irish Catholic soldiers are so pre-eminently distinguished in the +record of the highest and most noble acts of valour and self-sacrifice +in war. There is the significant saying of Sergeant Dwyer, V.C., an +Irishman and a Catholic, at a recruiting meeting in Trafalgar Square. +"I don't know what the young men are afraid of," said he. "If your +name is not on a bullet or a bit of shrapnel it won't reach you, any +more than a letter that isn't addressed to you." He, poor fellow, got +a bullet addressed to him on the Somme. "'Twas the will of God," was +the lesson taught him by his creed.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER VIII</h3> + +<h3>THE IRISH SOLDIER'S HUMOUR AND SERIOUSNESS<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>STORIES FROM THE FRONT, FUNNY AND OTHERWISE</h4> +<br /> + +<p>The memorable words of an Irish member, speaking in the House of +Commons during the South African War, on the gallantry of the Irish +regiments, come to my mind. "This war has shown," said he, "that as +brave a heart beats under the tunic of a Dublin Fusilier as under the +kilt of a Gordon Highlander."</p> + +<p>The saying may be curiously astray as to the anatomy of the Scotch, +but the truth of it in regard to Irish courage has been emphasised by +the victories and disasters alike of the great world war. On all the +fields of conflict east and west the Irish soldiers have earned the +highest repute for valour. "They are magnificent fighters," says +Lieutenant Denis Oliver Barnett, an English officer of a battalion of +the Leinster Regiment, in letters which he wrote home to his own +people. A public school boy, with a high reputation for scholarship, +he became a soldier at the outbreak of war instead of going to Oxford. +Courageous and high-minded himself—as his death on the parapet of the +trenches, directing and heartening his men in bombing the enemy, +testifies—his gay and sympathetic letters show that he was a good +judge of character. He also says of his men, "They are cheerier than +the English Tommies, and will stand <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>anything." Cheeriness in this +awful war is indeed a most precious possession. It enhances the +fighting capacity of the men. Where it does not exist spontaneously +the officers take measures to cultivate it. As far as possible they +try to remove all depressing influences, and make things bright and +cheerful. I have got many such glimpses of the Irish soldier at the +Front, and their total effect is the impersonation or bodying forth of +an individual who provides his own gaiety, and has some over to give +to others—whimsical, wayward, with a childlike petulance and +simplicity; and yet very fierce withal.</p> + +<p>I met at a London military hospital an Irish Catholic chaplain and an +Irish officer of the Army Medical Corps back from French Flanders. +They told Irish stories, to the great enjoyment and comfort of the +wounded soldiers in the ward. "Be careful to boil that water before +drinking it," said the doctor to men of an Irish battalion whom he +found drawing supplies from a canal near Ypres. "Why so, sir?" asked +one of the men. "Because it's full of microbes and boiling will kill +them," answered the doctor. "And where's the good, sir?" said the +soldier. "I'd as soon swallow a menagerie as a graveyard any day." +Another example of a quick-witted Hibernian reply was given by the +chaplain. He came upon a man of the transport service of his battalion +belabouring a donkey which was slowly dragging a heavy load. "Why do +you beat the poor animal so much?" remonstrated the priest; and he +recalled a legend popular in Ireland by saying, "Don't you know from +the cross on the ass's back that it was on an ass Our Lord went into +Jerusalem?" "But, Father," said the soldier, "if Our Lord had this +lazy ould ass He wouldn't be there yet." One of the inmates of the +ward kept the laughter going by giving an example of Irish traditional +blundering humour from the trenches—a humour due <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>to an excited and +over-active mind. "Don't let the Germans know we're short of powder +and shot," cried an Irish sergeant to his men, awaiting the bringing +up of ammunition; "keep on firing away like blazes."</p> + +<p>Some of the flowers of speech that have blossomed from the Irish +regiments at the Front are also worth culling. Speaking of the +Catholic chaplain of his battalion, a soldier said, "He'd lead us to +heaven; an' we'd follow him to hell." As a loaf of bread stuck on a +bayonet was passed on to him in the trenches another exclaimed, "Here +comes the staff of life on the point of death." The irregularity of +the food supply in the trenches was thus described: "It's either a +feast or a famine. Sometimes you drink out of the overflowing cup of +fulness, and other times you ate off the empty plate." "What have you +there?" asked a nurse of an Irish private of the Army Medical Corps, +at a base hospital, as he was rummaging among the contents of a +packing-case. Taking out a wooden leg, he answered: "A stump speech +agin the war."</p> + +<p>Good-humour at the Front is by no means an exclusively Irish +possession. Happily the soldiers of all the nationalities within the +United Kingdom are so light-hearted as to find even in the most dismal +situation cause for raillery, pleasantry and laughter, and to derive +from their mirth a more enduring patience of discomfort and trouble. +The Irish form of humour, however, differs entirely from the English, +Scottish or Welsh variety not only in quality but in the type of mind +and character it expresses. In most things that the Irish soldier says +or does there is something racially individual. Perhaps its chief +peculiarity, apart from its quaintness, is that usually there is an +absence of any conscious aim or end behind it. The English soldier, +and the Cockney especially, is a wag and a jester. He is very prone to +satire and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>irony, deliberate and purposeful. Even his "grousing"—a +word, by the way, unheard in the Irish regiments, unless it is +somewhat incomprehensibly used by an English non-commissioned +officer—is a form of caustic wit. Irish humour has neither subtlety +nor seriousness. It is just the light and spontaneous whim, caprice or +fancy of the moment. It is humour in the original sense of the word, +that is the expression of character, habit and disposition.</p> + +<p>The Munstermen have contributed to the vocabulary at the Front the +expressive phrase, "Gone west," for death; the bourne whence no +traveller returns. In Kerry and Cork the word "west" or "wesht," as it +is locally pronounced, expresses not only the mysterious and unknown, +but is used colloquially for "behind," "at the back," or "out of the +way." So it is also at the Front. A lost article is gone west as well +as a dead comrade. "When I tould the Colonel," said an Irish orderly, +"that the bottle of brandy was gone wesht, he was that mad that I +thought he would have me ate." As food and drink are sent west, +perhaps the Colonel had his suspicions. The saying, "Put it wesht, +Larry, an' come along on with you," may be heard in French estaminets +as well as in Kerry public-houses.</p> + +<p>At parade a subaltern noticed that one of his men had anything but a +clean shave on the left side of his jaw. "'Twas too far wesht for me +to get at, sir," was the excuse. "Well," said the dentist to a Munster +Fusilier, "where's this bad tooth that's troubling you?" "'Tis here, +sir," said the soldier, "in the wesht of me jaw." Another Irish +soldier told his Quartermaster that he was in a very unpleasant +predicament for want of a new pair of trousers. "The one I've on me is +all broken wesht," said he. It is fairly obvious what part of the +trousers the west of it was.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>It would seem from the stories I have heard that odd escapes from +death are an unfailing source of playfulness and laughter. A shell +exploded in a trench held by an Irish battalion. One man was hurled +quite twelve feet in the air, and, turning two somersaults in his +descent, alighted on his back, and but little hurt, just outside the +trench. He quickly picked himself up and rejoined his astonished +comrades. "He came down with that force," said an invalided Irish +soldier who told me of the incident, "that it was the greatest wonder +in the world he didn't knock a groan out of the ground." No groan came +from the man himself. "That was a toss and a half, and no mistake," he +remarked cheerily when he got back to the trench; and in answer to an +inquiry whether he was much hurt he said, "I only feel a bit moidhered +in me head." More comical still in its unexpectedness was the reply of +another Irishman who met with a different misadventure from the same +cause. A German 17-in. shell exploded on the parapet of a trench, and +this Irishman was buried in the ruins. However, he was dug out alive, +and his rescuers jokingly asked him what all the trouble was about. +"Just those blessed snipers again," he spluttered through his mouth +full of mud, "and may the divil fly away with the one that fired that +bullet."</p> + +<p>It is readily acknowledged at the Front that the Irish soldiers have a +rich gift of natural humour. But, what is more—as some of my stories +may show—they are never so exceedingly comic as when they do not +intend to be comic at all. Is it not better to be funny without +knowing it than to suffer the rather common lot of attempting to be +funny and fail? It arises from an odd and unexpected way of putting +things. How infinitely better it is than to be of so humdrum a quality +as to be incapable of being comical even unconsciously in saying or in +deed! Yet in this <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>essentially Irish form of fun there is often a +snare for the unwary. How can you tell that these laughable things are +said and done by Irish soldiers without any perception of humour or +absurdity? If you could look behind the face of that apparently +simple-minded Irish soldier you might find that in reality he was +"pulling your leg"—or "humbugging," as he would say himself—in a way +that you would regard as most uncalled for and aggravating.</p> + +<p>For instance, an Irish sentry in a camp in France was asked by a +colonel of the Army Service Corps whether he had seen any of his +officers about that morning. "Indeed, and I did, sir," was the reply. +"'Twas only a while ago that two of the gintlemen came out of the +office down there below, and passed by this way." "And how did you +know they were Army Service officers?" "Aisy enough, sir. Didn't I see +their swords stuck behind their ears?" And in which category must be +placed the equally amusing retort of another Irish sentry to his +officer—the naïvely simple, or the slyly jocular? The sentry looked +so shy and inexperienced that the officer put to him the question, +"What are you here for?" and got the stereotyped answer, "To look out +for anything unusual." "What would you call unusual?" asked the +officer. "I don't know exactly, sir, until I saw it," was the reply. +The officer became sarcastically facetious. "What would you do if you +saw five battleships steaming across the field?" he said. "Take the +pledge, sir," was the sentry's answer.</p> + +<p>These officers are, by all accounts, but two of many who have got +unlooked-for but diverting answers from Irish soldiers. A sergeant who +was sent out with a party to make observations felt into an ambuscade +and returned with only a couple of men. "Tell me what happened," said +the commanding officer, when the sergeant came to make his report; +"were <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>you surprised?" "Surprised isn't the word for it, sir," +exclaimed the sergeant. "It was flabbergasted entirely I was when, +creeping round the end of a thick hedge, we came plump into the divil +of a lot of Germans lying on their stomachs." Then, seeing the officer +smiling, as if in doubt, as he thought, he hastened thus to emphasise +his wonder and astonishment at this sudden encounter. "I declare to +you, sir, it nearly jumped the heart up out of me throat with the +start it gave me." Of a like kind for ingenuousness was the report +made by another Irish non-com. who found himself all alone in a +trench, with only a barrier of sandbags between him and the Germans. +"I had nayther men, machine-gun or grenade," he wrote, expressing not +only his temporal but his spiritual condition, for he added, "nothing, +save the help of the Mother of God."</p> + +<p>In Ireland domestic servants are noted for their forward manners and +liberty of speech with the family, and the same trait is rather +general in the relations between different social grades. An +illustration of what it leads to in the Army was afforded at a camp +concert attended by a large assembly of officers and men of a certain +Division, into which, at a solemn moment, an unsophisticated Irish +soldier made a wild incursion. Lord Kitchener had been there that day +and had inspected the Division, and the General in command announced +from the platform how greatly pleased the Secretary for War was with +the soldierly fitness of the men. "I told Lord Kitchener," continued +the General, speaking in grave and impressive tones, "that the +Division would see the thing through to the bitter end." In the midst +of a loud burst of cheering an Irish private rushed forward, and +sweeping aside the attempt of a subaltern to stop him, jumped on to +the platform, and seizing the aged General by the hand, exclaimed, +"Glory to you, me <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>vinerable friend! The ould Division will stick to +it to the last, and it's you that's the gran' man to lade us to +victory and everlasting fame." The General, greatly embarrassed, could +only say, "Yes, yes, to be sure, my good fellow; yes, yes"; and the +staff turned aside to hide their grins at this comic encounter between +incongruities.</p> + +<p>The Colonel of an Irish battalion, after a harassing day in the +trenches, got a pleasant surprise in the shape of a roast fowl served +for dinner by his orderly. After he had eaten it and found it tender +he recalled that complaints were rather rife among the inhabitants +about the plundering of hen-roosts, and his conscience smote him. "I +hope you got that fowl honestly," he said. "Don't you be troubling +your head about that, sir," replied the orderly, in a fine burst of +evasion and equivocation. "Faith, 'twas quite ready for the killing, +so it was, and that's the main thing." Then, as if to improve the +occasion by a homily, he added, in a tone of religious fervour, "Ah, +sure, if we wor all as ready to die as that hin, sir, we needn't mind +a bit when the bullet came." The Colonel was almost "fit to die" with +quiet laughter.</p> + +<p>It may well be that sometimes the English officers of Irish battalions +are puzzled by the nature of their men—its impulsiveness, its glow, +its wild imagery and over-brimming expression. It is easy to believe, +too, that the changeful moods of the men, childlike and petulant, now +jovial, now fierce, and occasionally unaccountable, may be a sore +annoyance to officers who are very formal and precise in matters of +discipline. I have heard from an Irish Colonel of an Irish battalion +that the English commander of the Brigade of which the battalion was a +unit came to him one day in a rage and asked him where his damned +fools had been picked up. It appears the Brigadier-General, going the +rounds alone, came suddenly upon one of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>the sentries of the battalion +at a remote post. The sentry happened to be a wild slip of an Irish +boy, not long joined and quite fresh from Mayo, and, taken by +surprise, he challenged the Brigadier-General by calling out, "In the +name of God, who the divil are you?" The Colonel told me his reply to +the Brigadier-General was this: "Certainly, the challenge and the +salute were not quite proper. But you can imagine what kind of a +reception that simple but fearless lad would give to a German; and, +after all, is not that the main thing just now?" Yes, the capacity of +fighting well should, in war time, cover a multitude of imperfections +in a soldier.</p> + +<p>In order to get the best out of the Irish soldiers it is necessary to +have a knowledge of their national habits and peculiarities, and a +sympathetic understanding of their qualities and limitations. I am +glad to be able to say that the most glowing tributes to the sterling +character of the Irish soldiers that I have heard have come from their +English or Scottish officers. These are true leaders, because they +possess imagination and sympathy by which they can look into the +hearts of men that are diverse from them in blood and temperament and +nature.</p> + +<p>I suppose there is nothing on earth, no matter how solemn or terrible, +which may not be turned into a subject of irreverent humour in one or +other of its aspects. English soldiers appear to have found that out +even in regard to the war. An officer told me of a remarkable +encounter on a Flanders high road between an Irish battalion coming +back from the trenches and an English battalion going up for a turn at +holding a section of the lines, which he thought presented a striking +contrast in racial moods. The uniforms of the Irishmen were plastered +with mud, and they had a week's grime on their unshaven faces. They +had also suffered heavily in repelling a German <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>attack. Yet they +looked as proud as if they had saved Ireland by their exertions, and +hoped to save the Empire by their example, and they sang from the +bottom of their hearts, and at the top of their voices, the anthem of +their national yearnings and aspirations, with its refrain—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Whether on the scaffold high, or the battlefield we die,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">What matter when for Erin dear we fall."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noin">The English battalion, spick and span, swung by to horrible +discomforts, to wounds and death, as blithely as if they were on a +route march at home. They also were singing, and if they were in the +same mood as the Irishmen they would be rendering the chorus—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Land of Hope and Glory,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Mother of the Free,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How shall we extol thee<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Who are born of thee?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wider still and wider<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Shall thy bounds be set;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">God, who made thee mighty,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Make thee mightier yet."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noin">But instead of that the chorus of their song, set to a hymn tune, was +this—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Will you fight for England?<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Will you face the foe?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And every gallant soldier<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Boldly answered—NO!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noin">It has been said, with general acceptance, that the spirit of a nation +can best be studied in its songs. But can it really? How wrong would +be the moral drawn from its application in this case! High patriotism +is a solemn thing; but the average British soldier's attitude towards +it is like that of Dr. Johnson when he took up philosophy—"somehow +cheerfulness was always breaking in." The English soldier will <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span>not +sing songs of a lofty type and deep purpose—songs which express +either intimate personal feeling or deeply felt national convictions. +These emotions he hides or suppresses, for he cannot give vent to them +without feeling shamefaced or fearing that he may be regarded as +insincere. Yet he is by no means so inconsequential or cynical as he +affects to be. He is animated—none more so—by the spirit of duty and +sacrifice. When it comes to fighting he is in earnest, desperately and +ferociously in earnest, as the Germans know to their cost. It seems to +me that he has been misled by Kipling into supposing that the true +pose of the British soldier is to be more concerned with the temporal +than with the spiritual, to grumble about the petty inconveniences of +his calling, to pretend to an indifference to its romantic side and +its ideals, to die without thinking that the spirits of his national +heroes are looking down upon him.</p> + +<p>The Irish have the reputation of having a delight in fighting. It is +supposed that "ructions" are the commonplace of their civic life. +Undoubtedly they have "a strong weakness"—as they would phrase it +themselves—for distributing bloody noses and cracked crowns even +among friends. It is true, also, that they find the grandest scope for +their natural disposition in warfare. A war correspondent relates that +he met a wounded Dublin Fusilier hobbling painfully back to the field +dressing-station after a battle, and giving the man his arm to help +him on, he was prompted to make the pitying remark: "It's a dreadful +war." "'Tis indeed, sir; a dreadful war enough," said the soldier; and +then came the characteristic comment: "but, sure, 'tis far better than +no war at all."</p> + +<p>Still, individuals are to be found among the Irish soldiers who take +quite a materialistic view of the Army, and fail to rise to the +anticipation of glory in a pending action. An agricultural labourer +who had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span>become one of Kitchener's men was asked how he liked +soldiering. "It's the finest life in the whole wide world," he +exclaimed. "It's mate, drink, lodgin' and washin' all in one. Wasn't I +working hard for ten long years for a farmer there beyant in Kerry, +and never once in all that time did the ould boy say to me, 'Stand at +aise.'" It will be noticed that in this enthusiastic outburst there is +nothing about the divarshion of fighting. Another story that I heard +records the grim foreboding of an Irish soldier who was lagging behind +on the march to the trenches for the first time. "Keep up, keep up," +cried the officer; and, by way of encouragement, he added: "You know, +we'll soon make a Field Marshal of you." "You're welcome to your joke, +sir," said the soldier; "but I know well what you'll make of me—a +casualty, sure enough." Another Irish soldier thought he saw a way of +making money out of the fighting. The Colonel of the battalion told +his men, according to the story, that for every German they would kill +he would give a sovereign. The next morning the men were told the +Germans were coming. "How many?" "Thirty thousand at least." "Wake up, +Mike," said one to a sleeping comrade; "our fortune is made."</p> + +<p>There is also a story told of a remark made by an Irish soldier +regardless of the glory and romance of the highest distinction in the +Army. The award of the Victoria Cross to Michael O'Leary was held up +to a battalion for emulation. "Yerra," cried a voice, "I'd a great +deal rather get the Victoria 'bus." It may be that in this we have +nothing more than an instance of the impish tendency in the Irish +nature displaying itself at the spur of the moment, rather than the +yearning for home, its ease, repose and comforts. It recalls an +anecdote of the American Civil War. General Thomas Francis Meagher of +the Irish Brigade was informed by an aide-de-camp in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>course of a +battle that the Federalists had carried an important strategic point +and several colours belonging to Confederate battalions. "Here's good +news for ye, boys," shouted Meagher. "Our troops have won the day and +captured the enemy's colours." "Yerra, Gineral," cried a private, +looking up at Meagher, who was on horseback, "I'd rather have, this +blessed minute, half a pint of Dinnis McGure's whisky than all the +colours of the rainbow." Then there is the story told by the Colonel +of an Irish regiment of an incident in the Battle of the Somme. He +noticed that a private followed everywhere at his heels, and +especially where the fighting was hottest. The Colonel thought that +perhaps the private was anxious to come to his aid should any harm +befall him. At the end of the day, however, the private thus explained +his conduct to the Colonel: "My mother says to me, sir, 'Stick to the +Colonel, and you'll be all right. Them Colonels never get hurt.'"</p> + +<p>But, with all their playfulness and jocularity, there are no soldiers +to whom the serious aspects of the war make a more direct appeal than +to the Irish. This is seen in various ways. It is seen in their +devotional exercises. The Irish Guards and other Irish regiments have +been known frequently to recite the Rosary and sing hymns even in the +trenches. It is seen also in their national fervour. They go into +action singing their patriotic songs. From these qualities they derive +support for their martial spirit, their endurance and their +unconquerable courage. They never quail in the face of danger. No +soldiers have risen to loftier heights of moral heroism, as the +numerous records of their deeds on the roll of the Victoria Cross bear +inspiring witness.</p> + +<p>But their humour always remains. One of the injunctions to men at the +Front is "Don't put your head above the parapet." The Irish soldiers +are more apt <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>than others to disregard it, however frequently its +wisdom is brought home to them. I have heard only one that was +convinced. "Faix," he remarked, as the bullets of the snipers soon +stopped his survey of the prospect outside the trench, "it's aisy to +understand that the more a man looks round in this war the less he's +likely to see." They have a comforting philosophy that it takes many a +ton of lead to kill a man. An Irish soldier invalided home from France +was asked what struck him most about the battles he took part in. +"What struck me most?" said he. "Sure it was the crowd of bullets +flying about that didn't hit me!"</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER IX</h3> + +<h3>THE IRISH BRIGADE<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>"EVERYWHERE AND ALWAYS FAITHFUL"</h4> +<br /> + +<p>Pride and sorrow struggle for mastery at the spectacle of troops +returning to camp from the battle, their appearance telling of the +intolerable strain which this war imposes, even in the case of +victory, upon the human faculties. The thought of it alone is painful +to the feelings of any one who has the least imagination. They are all +begrimed and careworn, and many have the distraught look of those who +have seen and suffered terrible things. So the Irish Brigade came back +from Guillamont and Guinchy, on the Somme, in the early days of +September 1916, what time the Empire was resounding with the fame of +their exploits. On a Sunday they carried Guillamont with a rush; on +the following Saturday they literally pounced upon Guinchy, and in +between they lay in open trenches under continuous shell fire.</p> + +<p>I saw the Irish Brigade before they left for the Front, and noted in +the ranks the many finely shaped heads and thoughtful faces of poets +and leaders of men, interspersed with the lithe frames of athletes and +the resolute, hard-bitten countenances of born fighters. At first I +was moved to sorrow at the thought of the pass to which civilisation +has come that the best use which could be made of all this superb +youth and manhood in its valiancy was to send it forth into the +devouring jaws of war. Then I perceived that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>something like a +radiance shimmered about the marching ranks. It came, I noticed, both +from their muscular strength and their martial ardour, for the flush +of battle already mantled their cheeks, and its light was in their +dancing eyes; and at once I understood that if I saw but the mound +surmounted by the little wooden cross in France, and in Ireland the +desolate hearthstone, they, with the wider and more aspiring +imagination of youth, rejoiced that they were going out to fight in +liberty's defence, and saw only their bayonets triumphantly agleam in +the fury of the engagement. Careless and gay, they captured the two +villages on the Somme in a ding-dong, helter-skelter fashion. They +maintained the reputation of the Irish infantry as "the finest missile +troops in the British Army" (so they are described by Colonel +Repington, the renowned military correspondent of <i>The Times</i>), by the +spirit and dash of their charge, their eagerness to get quickly into +touch with the foe, and the energy and dexterity with which they wield +that weapon which finally decides the issue of battles—the bayonet.</p> + +<p>As they emerged out of the cloud of smoke on the Somme, and marched +back to camp in much diminished numbers—caked with mud, powdered with +grey dust, very tired—across the ground their valour had won and +their grit maintained against fierce counter attacks, they displayed +quite another phase of the Irish nature—its melancholy and its +mysticism. The piper that led them back began to play some old Irish +rhapsodies having that wonderful blending of joy and grief which makes +these airs so haunting. That was well. For the men were in so extreme +a stage of exhaustion, physical and mental, that they lurched and +reeled, and were overwhelmed with distress at missing many beloved +comrades that fought with them, and officers that led them only a few +days <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>before. Then they heard the pipes, and their hearts were +uplifted by the strains, plaintive and yearning, defiant and +challenging, which expresses in music the history of their race. They +seemed, indeed, to have caught even some of the jaunty, boastful +swagger of the piper, as he strode before them, blowing into his reeds +and working the bag with his left elbow.</p> + +<p>The General of the Brigade watched his troops go by, and in his eyes +they were all the grander for the horrid disarray of their torn, muddy +and bloody uniforms, and their haggard faces blackened with sweat and +smoke and soil. "I am proud of you," he called out in a voice surging +with emotion. "Ye did damned well, boys." A handful of men, once a +company, was led by a sergeant. Every officer was gone. "Bravo, +Dublins!" exclaimed the General; but for the moment his heart was +heavy within him as he recalled to mind the dashing, gallant young +lads, so hearty and joyous, buried now round about the ruins of the +villages from which the Germans had been driven at the bayonet-point +by the splendid rank and file at whose head they fell. Quickly the +thoughts of the General came back to the survivors. "Ireland is proud +of you, boys," he cried in exultant tones. He knew that would stir +them. Ireland is their glory; and they lifted up their heads a little +more as they caught the import of their Commander's words.</p> + +<p>This Irish Brigade, officially known as the Irish Division, was the +outcome of the meeting in Dublin addressed by Mr. Asquith, shortly +after the outbreak of the war, in the course of his tour of the +country as Prime Minister to explain the origins and aims of the +conflict. Lord Wimborne, the Viceroy, presided. The Lord Mayor of +Dublin and mayors of most of the chief towns of Ireland, the chairmen +of county councils and representatives of all shades of political and +religious opinions were present. Mr. John <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>Redmond proposed, at the +meeting, the formation of an Irish Brigade. While "Irish Division" +sounds meaningless to young Irishmen, "Irish Brigade" at once arouses +thrilling memories of the battlefields of Europe during the eighteenth +century. For a hundred years, from the fall of the Stuarts to the +French Revolution, there was an Irish Brigade in the service of +France. It was regularly recruited from Ireland through that long span +of time, though to join it was a penal offence. As the young men stole +secretly away to France in smuggling crafts from the west of Ireland, +they were popularly known as "the wild geese." "Everywhere and always +Faithful" was the motto bestowed on the Brigade by the King of France. +That being so, there was a hearty response to the call for a new Irish +Brigade to serve again in France, and for causes more worthy than the +old.</p> + +<p>Just as the Ulster Division was composed of Unionists and Protestants, +the Irish Division was recruited mainly from the Nationalist and +Catholic sections of the population. The Nationalist Volunteers, +supporters of the policy and aims of the Irish Parliamentary Party, +provided most of the rank and file. Like another Irish Division, the +first of Ireland's distinctive contributions to the New Armies, which +perished in the ill-starred expedition to Gallipoli, the Irish +Division was composed of the youth of Ireland at its highest and +best—clean of soul and strong of body, possessing in the fullest +measure all the brightest qualities of the race, the intellectual and +spiritual, not less than the political and humorous.</p> + +<p>One of the first to join was Mr. William Redmond, M.P. for East Clare, +younger brother of the Irish Leader, though he was well over the +military age. He was appointed Captain in the Royal Irish +Regiment—the premier Irish regiment—in which he had served +thirty-three years previously, before his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>election to the House of +Commons. Speaking at an early recruiting meeting, he said that, should +circumstances so demand, he would say to his countrymen "Come" instead +of "Go." He was as good as his word. For his services at the Front he +was promoted to the rank of Major, and has been mentioned by +Field-Marshal Haig in despatches. Other nationalist Members of +Parliament who were officers of the Brigade were Captain W. Archer +Redmond, Dublin Fusiliers, son of Mr. John Redmond, Captain Stephen +Gwynn, well known as a man of letters, who joined the Connaught +Rangers as a private and was promoted to the rank of Captain in the +battalion; Captain J.L. Esmonde, Dublin Fusiliers, and Captain D.D. +Sheehan, Munster Fusiliers, who also gave his two boys to the Brigade. +General Sir Lawrence Parsons, son of the Earl of Rosse—scion of a +distinguished Irish family resident for centuries at Birr, King's +Co.—was appointed to the command of the Division.</p> + +<p>Sir Francis Vane, an eminent Irish soldier of Nationalist sympathies, +who was appointed by the War Office to supervise the recruiting for +the Division, says that never in his life did he witness so +extraordinary a scene as that presented at Buttevant and Fermoy, co. +Cork, where the men first assembled in September and October 1914. "It +reminded me," he says, "of the pages of Charles Lever in the variety +of Irish types answering to the call. There were old men and young +sportsmen, students, car drivers, farm labourers, Members of +Parliament, poets, <i>litterateurs</i>, all crowding into barracks which +were totally incapable of housing decently the half of them." They +were dressed in all sorts of clothes, from the khaki, red and blue of +the Services, to "the latest emanation of the old clo' merchants." +That curious assortment of all types and classes was the rough +material out of which was fashioned, by training and discipline, a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span>superb military instrument. The soldierly essentials were there in +abundance. Within two years they came successfully through ordeals +that would have tried the nerves of the toughest veterans of the Old +Guard of Napoleon.</p> + +<p>In the course of 1915 the Division was removed to camps at Aldershot +to complete their training. The men were visited there, in November, +by Cardinal Bourne, Archbishop of Westminster, who gave them his +benediction, and said he was sure they would do their duty at the +Front "as good children of Ireland and good sons of the Catholic +Church." Early in December they were reviewed by the Queen. It was +originally arranged that the review should be held by the King, but +his Majesty, on a visit to the Front, had been flung from his horse, +and was not sufficiently recovered from the accident to be able to be +present. Among those in the reserved enclosure surrounding the +saluting-base that day were Mr. John Dillon, M.P., and Mr. T.P. +O'Connor, M.P. In the march past the Queen they were led off by the +South Irish Horse, a body of Yeomanry. Each of the three infantry +brigades was headed by one of the Irish wolfhounds which Mr. John +Redmond presented to the Division as mascots. At the conclusion of the +review her Majesty sent for General Parsons and the three +Brigadier-Generals, and congratulated them upon the appearance and +efficiency of the troops.</p> + +<p>Shortly afterwards the Division left for the Front, under the command +of Major-General William Bernard Hickie, C.B., an Irishman and a +Catholic, who has had a very brilliant military career. Born on May +21, 1865, the eldest son of the late Colonel J.F. Hickie of Slevoyre, +Borrisokane, co. Tipperary, he was educated at Oscott and Sandhurst. +At the age of nineteen he joined his father's old regiment, the 1st +battalion of the Royal Fusiliers, of which in due <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>course he became +Colonel. In the South African War he served on the Staff, in command +of a mounted infantry corps and of a mobile column. On his return home +he became Deputy Assistant Quartermaster-General to the 8th Division. +In 1912 he was appointed Assistant Quartermaster-General of the Irish +Command. On the outbreak of the war General Hickie became Deputy +Assistant Quartermaster-General of the Second Army, and is stated to +have particularly distinguished himself maintaining good order during +the retreat from Mons. The Irish Brigade was most fortunate in having +such a man as Commander. Thoroughly understanding the Irish character, +its weak points as well as its strong ones—its good-humoured and +careless disposition; its impatience often of the restraints and +servitude of military life; its eagerness always for a fight or any +sort of enterprise with a spice of danger in it—he was able to get +the most out of his men. One of his happy thoughts was the institution +of a system of rewards in the Division apart from but supplementary to +the usual military honours. Any company officer or man who, in the +opinion of the commander of his regiment, has given proof of +exceptional good conduct and devotion to duty in the field, is +presented by General Hickie with a Parchment Certificate at a parade. +The certificate has been specially prepared in Ireland, having the +words "The Irish Brigade" in Gaelic letters enwreathed with shamrocks +at the top, setting out the name of the recipient, the nature and date +of his achievement, and the signature of the General. The men send +these certificates home, where they are preserved as precious +mementoes. An Honours Book of the Irish Brigade is also kept in which +these presentations and the military honours won are recorded.</p> + +<p>The first experience which the Irish Brigade had of the trenches was +in the Loos-Hullock line. It <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span>is the most desolate of the war-stricken +regions, one bare, black, open plain, where everything has been blown +to pieces and levelled to the ground, save here and there some wire +entanglements; where there is no sign of human life, except when +parties of the thousands upon thousands of combatants who burrow +beneath its surface, emerge in the darkness of the night for stealthy +raids on each other's positions. The front line trenches of both sides +run close together. At one point they are no more than sixteen yards +apart. They are notoriously of the worst type, nothing more, indeed, +than shallow and slimy drains, badly provided with dug-outs, and much +exposed to fire. Under such conditions the craving of the body for +food and rest could be satisfied only at the bare point of existence.</p> + +<p>Major William Redmond, in a letter to Dr. Fogarty, Bishop of Killaloe, +dated February 3, 1916, says: "Our first spell in the trenches was for +twelve days, and in that time we had no change of clothing, just +stayed as we were all the time. The shelling was terrific, and the +Division suffered some losses. The day before we came out the enemy +began to celebrate the Kaiser's birthday, January 27, and we were +shelled without ceasing for twenty-four hours. The men of our Division +behaved very well, and received good reports; so the General said." +Testimony to the excellent way in which the Irishmen passed through +the ordeal comes from quite independent and impartial sources. Here, +for example, is an extract from a letter written by the Rev. H.J. +Collins, chaplain to a battalion of the Black Watch—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"Our Division had the privilege of introducing the Irish +battalions to the trenches, when they arrived out here; and they +were our guests for a week or so before taking over on their own +account. They made a great impression on our lads by their +cheerfulness and their eagerness to be 'up and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>at' the Hun. The +Connaughts arrived one evening just as our line was being +heavily shelled, and although they were our visitors they at +once took charge of the situation. They had never been in the +trenches in their lives before; they were experiencing shell +fire for the first time; and before they had had time to get +their packs off and settle down, one impatient sergeant was over +the parapet, crying out in a rich and musical brogue: 'Come on, +the Connaughts!'"</p></div> + +<p>As is well known, the men of one regiment are not greatly disposed to +praise those of another. In fact, some bitter regimental feuds exist +in the British Army, or used to among the old Regulars. It is, +therefore, all the more remarkable to find in the <i>Glasgow Herald</i> of +February 24, 1916, a letter signed "Jock," proclaiming in the warmest +terms the fine qualities of the new Irish soldiers. "Your readers may +like to hear that we Scotsmen, who have been tried and not found +wanting, have a great admiration for the new Irish Division that came +out some time ago," says "Jock." "We have lived in the trenches side +by side with them, and find them as keen as a hollow-ground and as +ardent as a young lover. At a recent attack when the Germans were +advancing the excitement became unbearable, and one sergeant got up on +the parapet with the shout of: 'Come on, bhoys, get at them.' One of +them, too, was heard to grumble, 'Here we've been in th' trinches fur +two weeks an' niver wance over th' paradise.' It is to be feared they +will outvie even the kilts."</p> + +<p>Yet during this instructional period, when the various battalions of +the Brigade were attached to other regiments for preliminary practice +in the trenches, some high military honours were won. Sergeant J. +Tierney, of the Leinster Regiment; Lance-Corporal A. Donagh, and +Private P.F. Duffy, of the Connaught Rangers, gained the Distinguished +Conduct Medal. Donagh and Duffy, in response to a call for volunteers, +undertook to carry messages <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>forward under heavy fire, as all +telephone communication had been cut. The task was one of extreme +danger, but the men succeeded in accomplishing it unhurt, and were +awarded the D.C.M. for their coolness and bravery. Corporal Timoney, +of the Munster Fusiliers, was especially mentioned in Army Orders for +an act of courage in picking up and throwing away a live Mills-grenade +which had fallen among some men under instruction. By this act he +undoubtedly saved the lives of several men, and if it had happened in +the field instead of at practice he would have been eligible for +recommendation for a higher honour.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER X</h3> + +<h3>IRISH REPLIES TO GERMAN WILES AND POISON GAS<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>HOW THE MUNSTERS CAPTURED THE ENEMY'S WHEEDLING PLACARDS</h4> +<br /> + +<p>It was from the Germans that the Irish Brigade got the first +intimation of the troubles in Dublin at Easter, 1916. The Germans, +heedless of their failure to induce the Irish soldiers in their +captivity to forswear allegiance and honour, availed themselves of the +Rebellion to try their wiles on the Irish soldiers in the field. Both +sides in the trenches often become acquainted, in curious ways, with +the names and nationality of the regiments opposed to them. But in +regard to a particular section of the British line, between Hulluch +and Loos, in April 1916, the Germans might easily know it was held by +Irish troops. The fact was proclaimed by the green banner with the +golden harp which the boys of the Brigade hoisted over the +breastworks—the flag which, in their eyes, has been consecrated in +the great cause of liberty by the deeds and sacrifices of their +forefathers, the flag for whose glorified legend they were proud to +die. So it happened that one morning these Irish troops were surprised +to see two placards nailed to boards on the top of poles, displayed by +the Germans, on which the following was written in English—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"Irishmen! In Ireland's revolution English guns are firing on +your wives and children. The English Military Bill <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span>has been +refused. Sir Roger Casement is being persecuted. Throw away your +arms; we give you a hearty welcome.</p> + +<p>"We are Saxons. If you don't fire, we won't."</p></div> + +<p class="noin">The Irish Brigade and the Irish Volunteers who rose in rebellion in +Dublin were alike recruited from the same class. Such are the +unhappily wayward circumstances of Irish life that the tremendous fact +whether this lad or that was to fight for England in Flanders or +against her in Dublin was in many cases decided by mere chance or +accident. At any rate, the kith and kin of numbers of men of the Irish +Brigade were among the Sinn Feiners. A widowed mother in Dublin had, +in consequence, a most tragic experience. The post on Easter Monday +morning brought her a letter from a company officer of a battalion in +the Irish Brigade announcing that her son had been killed in action. +"He died for Ireland," said the officer, knowing that it was true and +that it would help to soften her maternal grief. Before the day was +out her other son, wearing the green uniform of the Irish Volunteers, +staggered home mortally wounded, and as he lay gasping out his life on +the floor he, too, used the same phrase of uplifting memories: +"Mother, don't fret. Sure, I'm dying for Ireland."</p> + +<p>The effect of the German placards on the battalion of Munster +Fusiliers, then holding the British line, was very far astray from +that which their authors hoped for and intended. A fusillade of +bullets at once bespattered the wheedling phrases. What fun to make a +midnight foray on the German trenches and carry off the placards as +trophies! No sooner was the adventure suggested than it was agreed to. +In the darkness of night a body of twenty-five men and two officers of +the Munsters crawled out into No Man's Land. They were discovered when +about half-way across by a German searchlight, and then the flying +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span>bullets of two machine-guns commenced to splutter about them. Some of +the men were killed; some were wounded. The others lay still for hours +in the rank grass before they resumed their stealthy crawl, like the +Indians they used to read of in boyhood stories, and, having +noiselessly cut their way under the enemy entanglements, they sprang, +with fixed bayonets and terrifying yells, into the trench. The +Germans, startled out of their senses by this most unexpected visit, +scurried like rabbits into the nearest dug-outs. The notice-boards +were then seized and borne in triumph to the Irish trenches, to the +unbounded delight and pride of the battalion; and they are now +treasured among the regiment's most precious spoils of vanquished +enemies.</p> + +<p>A few days later, on the morning of April 27, the Germans tried what +blows could do where lying blandishments had failed; and the Irish +Brigade had to face, for the first time, an infantry attack in force. +The enemy began their operations by concentrating a bombardment of +great intensity upon trenches held by Dublin Fusiliers. Then, shortly +after five o'clock, there came on the light breeze that blew from the +German lines a thick and sluggish volume of greenish smoke. "Poison +gas! On with your helmets!" Surely, the hearts of the most indomitable +might well have quailed at the thought of the writhing agony endured +by those who fall victims to this new and most terrible agency of war. +Instead of that, the flurry and excitement of putting on the masks was +followed by roars of laughter as the men looked at one another and saw +the fantastic and absurd beings, with grotesque goggle-eyes, into +which they had transformed themselves. But they were not the only +monsters in the uncanny scene. Like grey spectres, sinister and +venomous, the Germans appeared as they came on, partly screened by the +foul vapour which <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span>rolled before them. Not one of them reached the +Irish trenches. The Dublins, standing scathless in the poison clouds +which enveloped them, poured out round after round of rifle fire, +until the Germans broke and fled, leaving piles of their dead and +wounded at the wire entanglements, and the body of the officer who had +led them caught in the broken strands.</p> + +<p>Two hours later, that same morning, there was another sally from the +German trenches, under cover of gas, against a different section of +the Irish. The parapets here had been so demolished by shell fire that +the Germans gained a footing in the trenches. But they were hardly in +before they were out again. "The time during which the Germans were in +occupation of our trenches was a matter of minutes only," says the war +correspondent of <i>The Times</i>. They were put to rout by the +Inniskillings, who came up from the reserve trenches at the double. +"Never was a job more cleanly and quickly done," adds <i>The Times</i> +correspondent. On the next occasion that the Germans launched an +attack with gas, they had themselves to drink, so to speak, the poison +cup they had prepared for the Irish. That was two days subsequently, +on April 29. "Providence was on our side," writes Major William +Redmond, "for the wind suddenly changing, the gas blew back over the +German trenches where the Bavarians had already massed for attack. +Taken by surprise, they left their front line and ran back across the +open under the heavy and well-directed fire of our artillery. In one +battalion of that Bavarian Infantry Regiment the losses from their own +gas and from our fire on that day were stated to be, by a deserter, +over eight hundred; and the diary of a prisoner of another battalion +captured on the Somme in September states that his regiment also had +about five hundred gassed cases, a large number of whom died."</p> + +<p>The Irish Division continued to hold the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span>Hulluch-Loos sector of the +line until the end of August 1916. They were subjected to severe +bombardments. It was a common occurrence for the enemy to send from +two to five thousand 5.9 shells a day into their trenches. What +fortitude and grim determination must they not have had at their +command to enable them to pass unshaken through these terrible +ordeals. They retaliated in the way they love best, with many a +dashing raid on the German positions.</p> + +<p>For conspicuous gallantry in these operations the Military Cross was +awarded to several of the officers. In the cases of Captain Victor +Louis Manning and Lieutenant Nicholas Joseph Egan of the Dublin +Fusiliers, the official record says that "by skilful and determined +handling of their bombing parties they drove off three determined bomb +attacks by the enemy in greatly superior numbers," and that "they +continued to command their parties after they had both been wounded," +gives but a faint idea of the faring nature of their deed. A small +counter-mine was exploded under a German mine at a point between the +opposing lines, but nearer to those of the Germans. The Germans were +able to occupy the mound first and establish a machine-gun on it, with +which they dominated the Dublin trenches. Volunteers being called for +to clear them out, Lieutenant Egan and a small party of privates, +armed with bombs, rushed out and carried the position. Then they had +to hold it against German counter-attacks which were launched during +the next three days. Lieutenant Egan was wounded in the wrist early in +the fight, but he and six men, being plentifully supplied with bombs, +held their ground doggedly. Instead of waiting for the Germans to +reach the mound, in what threatened to be the worst of the +counter-attacks, the party of Dublins advanced to meet them and drove +them back, thus conveying the impression that they were in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>greater +strength than was really the case. On the night of the third day +another party, under Captain Manning, came to their support. After a +further series of encounters had ended in favour of the Dublins, the +Germans abandoned the hope of recapturing the post, which was +subsequently strongly consolidated by the victors. On the fourth day, +when the struggle had definitely ended in favour of the Dublins, and +Lieutenant Egan was about to return to the lines, a bomb fell at his +feet. He was blown a distance of fifteen yards, and was picked up +seriously wounded in the thigh. Lieutenant Egan is a grandson of Mr. +Patrick Egan of New York, well known in the stormy agrarian agitation +in Ireland under Parnell and Davitt as the treasurer of the Land +League. Previous to the war Lieutenant Egan was in business in Canada.</p> + +<p>Another fine exploit standing to the credit of the Irish Brigade was +that of Lieutenant Patrick Stephen Lynch of the Leinsters, who got the +Military Cross "for conspicuous gallantry when successfully laying and +firing a torpedo under the enemy's wire." It was an uncommon deed, and +just as uncommon is the very remarkable tribute with which the +official record ends: "His cool bravery is very marked and his +influence over his men very great." The Brigadier-General, George +Pereira, D.S.O., in a letter of congratulation to Lieutenant Lynch, +dated July 1, 1916, says: "Your leading the attack along the parapet +was splendid, but you must be more careful another time." Before the +month was out Lieutenant Lynch got a bar to his Military Cross—in +other words, he had won the distinction twice over—an honour which, +as General Hickie wrote to him, was well deserved, and likely to be +very rare. This young Waterford man—a fine type of the fearless and +dashing Irish officer, made out of a civilian in two years—was +promoted <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span>Captain in the Leinsters, and was killed on his birthday and +the completion of his twenty-fifth year, December 27, 1916. The +battalion was plunged into grief by the loss of Captain Lynch. +"'Paddy'—the name we all knew him by from the C.O. down to the +youngest sub.—was considered the most efficient officer in this +battalion, and he was certainly the most popular," writes Lieutenant +H.W. Norman, an officer of the Captain's company. "Everybody mourns +his death, and when the news got to his men they could not believe +that such a brave and daring officer could be killed, but the news was +only too true; and when it was confirmed I saw many's the officer and +man crying like children. He lost his life to save his men, who were +in a trench that was being heavily shelled. He went up with a +sergeant, in spite of danger and certain death, to get them out, and +on the way up a shell landed in the trench where they were, killing +both instantaneously." Another noble deed was that for which +Lieutenant John Francis Gleeson, Munster Fusiliers, won the Military +Cross. "Under heavy rifle fire and machine-gun fire, he left his +trench to bring in a wounded man lying within ten yards of the enemy +entanglements."</p> + +<p>It was also in connection with these raids on the German trenches that +the Irish Division gained the first of its Victoria Crosses. The hero +is Captain Arthur Hugh Batten-Pooll of the Munster Fusiliers—a +Somerset man, and he got the V.C. "for most conspicuous bravery whilst +in command of a raiding party." "At the moment of entry into the +enemy's lines," the official record continues, "he was severely +wounded by a bomb, which broke and mutilated all the fingers of his +right hand. In spite of this he continued to direct operations with +unflinching courage, his voice being clearly heard cheering on and +directing his men. He was urged, but refused, to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>retire. Half an hour +later, during the withdrawal, whilst personally assisting in the +rescue of other wounded men, he received two further wounds. Still +refusing assistance, he walked unaided to within a hundred yards of +our lines, when he fainted, and was carried in by the covering party." +Captain D.D. Sheehan of the Munster Fusiliers supplies the following +spirited account of the raid—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"Our men got into the enemy's trenches with irresistible dash. +They met with a stout resistance. There was no stopping or +stemming the sweep of the men of Munster. They rushed the +Germans off their feet. They bombed and they bludgeoned them. +Indeed, the most deadly instrument of destruction in this +encounter was the short heavy stick, in the shape of a +shillelagh, the use of which, we are led to believe, is the +prescriptive and hereditary right of all Irishmen. The Munster +Fusiliers gave the Huns such a dressing and drubbing on that +night as they are not likely to have since forgotten. Half an +hour in the trenches and all was over. Dug-outs and all were +done for. Of the eight officers, four were casualties, two, +unhappily, killed, and two severely wounded, of whom one was +Batten-Pooll."</p></div> + +<p>For months the Irish Brigade had on their right the renowned Ulster +Division. Thus the descendants of the two races in Ireland who for +more than two centuries were opposed politically and religiously, and +often came to blows under their rival colours of "Orange" and "Green," +were now happily fighting side by side in France for the common rights +of man. Though born and bred in the same tight little island, the men +themselves had been severed by antagonisms arising out of those +hereditary feuds, and thus but imperfectly understood each other. +"When they met from time to time," says Major William Redmond, M.P., +"the best of good feeling and comradeship was shown as between brother +Irishmen." Evidence of these amicable relations is afforded by a +letter written by Private J. Cooney of the Royal Irish Regiment. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span>"The +Ulster Division are supporting us on our right," he says. "The other +morning I was out by myself and met one of them. He asked me what part +of Ireland I belonged to. I said a place called Athlone, in the county +Westmeath. He said he was a Belfast man and a member of the Ulster +Volunteers. I said I was a National Volunteer, and that the National +Volunteers were started in my native town. 'Well,' said he, 'that is +all over now. We are Irishmen fighting together, and we will forget +all these things.' 'I don't mind if we do,' said I; 'but I'm not +particularly interested. We must all do our bit out here, no matter +where we come from, north or south, and that is enough for the time.'" +Private Cooney adds: "This young Belfast man was very anxious to +impress me with the fact that we Irish were all one; that there should +be no bad blood between us, and we became quite friendly in the course +of a few minutes." Meeting thus in the valley of darkness, blood and +tears, the fraternity born of the dangers they were incurring for the +same great ends, united them far more closely than years of ordinary +friendship could have done. To many on both sides the cause of their +traditional hostility appeared very trivial; and there were revealed +to them reasons, hitherto obscured by prejudice and convention, for +mutual loving-kindness and even for national unification.</p> + +<p>But it was not the first time that north and south fought together in +the Empire's battle. There is an eloquent passage on the subject in +Conan Doyle's <i>Great Boer War</i>. It refers to the advance of Hart's +"Irish Brigade"—consisting of the 1st Inniskillings, 1st Connaughts +and 1st Dublins—over an open plain to the Tugela river, at the Battle +of Colenso, under heavy fire from front and flank, and even from the +rear, for a regiment in support fired at them, not knowing that any of +the line was so far advanced—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"Rolling on in a broad wave of shouting, angry men, they never<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> +winced from the fire until they swept up to the bank of the +river. Northern Inniskillings and Southern men of Connaught, +orange and green, Protestant and Catholic, Celt and Saxon, their +only rivalry now was who could shed his blood most freely for +the common cause. How hateful those provincial politics and +narrow sectarian creeds which can hold such men apart!"</p></div> + +<p>On July 1 the Ulster Division won immortal renown on the Somme. It was +now the turn of the Irish Brigade to uphold the martial fame of the +race on the same stricken field. They were done with trench raids for +a while, and in for very big fighting.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XI</h3> + +<h3>STORMING OF GUILLAMONT BY THE IRISH BRIGADE<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>RAISING THE GREEN FLAG IN THE CENTRE OF THE VILLAGE</h4> +<br /> + +<p>At the end of August the Irish Brigade was ordered to the Somme. The +civil authorities of the district, headed by the mayor and curé, +called upon General Hickie to express their appreciation of the good +conduct and religious devotion of his troops. The General was a proud +man that day. Nothing pleased him more than praise of his soldiers. In +return, they gloried in him. As an example of his fatherly solicitude +for them, he had established a divisional laundry under the care of +the nuns, in which 25,000 shirts a week and 5000 pairs of socks per +day are washed for them, and every day's rations sent to the men in +the trenches was accompanied by a dry pair of socks. The result was +that "trench feet"—feet benumbed with the cold and the wet—were +almost unknown in the Division. He also provided for a thousand baths +a day being given to his men in a specially constructed bath-house.</p> + +<p>The marches of the Brigade to their new station was done to the +accompaniment of patter, drip, trickle, ripple, splash—all the creepy +sounds of continuous rain, and across the sodden and foul desolation +that was once the fair fields of France. Up to the firing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span>line swung +a battalion of the Munster Fusiliers, gaily whistling and singing in +the rain. They carried a beautiful banner of the Sacred Heart, the +gift of the people of the city of Limerick, from which many of the men +came. Miss Lily Doyle of Limerick, who made the presentation to Major +Lawrence Roche of the battalion, tells me that the idea of the banner +originated with the Reverend Mother of the Good Shepherd's Convent, +Limerick, who had read, in what are termed the "Extended Revelations," +that a promise was given by Jesus to Blessed Margaret Mary that, +inasmuch as soldiers derided His Sacred Heart when He hung upon the +Cross, any soldiers who made reparation by carrying His standard would +have victory with them. The cost of the banner (£10) was mainly raised +by penny subscriptions. It was worked by the Good Shepherd nuns on +crimson poplin. On one side is a beautiful piece of embroidery +representing Our Lord with His Heart exposed on His breast to Blessed +Margaret Mary, with the inscriptions, "Tu Rex Gloria Christi" and +"Parce Domine, parce populo tuo." On the other side are the words of +the Archangel Michael: "Quis ut Deus," surrounded with monograms of +"Royal Munster Fusiliers" and "God save Ireland." "You could not have +sent us a more suitable gift," the Rev. J. Wrafter, S.J., chaplain of +the battalion, wrote to Miss Doyle, "or one which would give more +pleasure to the men. I believe they prefer it to any material comforts +that are sent to them." This is the third religious banner borne by +soldiers since the Crusades. The first was the standard of Joan of +Arc, and the second that of the Pontifical Zouaves, when Rome was an +independent state. As the Munsters thus marched to battle a cry of +"Look!" was suddenly raised in the ranks, and as all eyes turned in +the direction indicated a wonderful sight was seen. The great tower of +Albert Cathedral <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span>appeared through the mist of rain, and the sun shone +on the great copper statue of the Blessed Virgin and the Child, which +dominated the countryside for miles around, and, laid prostrate by +German gunners, was now lying out level with the top of the tower. +Thus that symbol of faith, though fallen, was not overthrown. Its +roots in the pedestal were firm and strong. The Virgin Mother, facing +downwards, still held the Infant Jesus scathless in her outstretched +hands, as if showing Him the devastation below, ready to be uplifted +again on the day of Christianity's victory. The piety of the battalion +was kindled by that strange and moving spectacle. Quickly responsive +always to things that appeal to the imagination, the men felt as if +they were witnesses of a miracle, and with one accord they took off +their helmets and cheered and cheered again.</p> + +<p>Though it is an unusual thing for the Commander-in-Chief to give in +his dispatches the names of the troops who took part in a particular +engagement, Sir Douglas Haig makes special mention of the Irish +Brigade in his message announcing that Guillamont had fallen. "The +Irish regiments which took part in the capture of Guillamont on +September 3 behaved," he says, "with the greatest dash and gallantry, +and took no small share in the success gained that day."</p> + +<p>September 3 was a Sunday. On the night before the battle the Irish +troops selected for the attack on Guillamont bivouacked on the bare +side of a hill. They were the Connaughts, the Royal Irish, the +Munsters and the Leinsters. The rain had ceased, but the ground was +everywhere deep in mud, the trenches were generally flooded and the +shell holes full of water. It was a bleak and desolate scene, relieved +only here and there by the sparkle of the little fires around which +the platoons clustered. Just as the men of one of the battalions were +preparing to wrap <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span>themselves in their greatcoats and lie down for the +rest which they might be able to snatch in such a situation, the +Catholic chaplain came over the side of the hill and right to the +centre of the camp. "In a moment he was surrounded by the men," writes +Major Redmond. "They came to him without orders—they came gladly and +willingly, and they hailed his visit with plain delight. He spoke to +them in the simple, homely language which they liked. He spoke of the +sacrifice which they had made in freely and promptly leaving their +homes to fight for a cause which was the cause of religion, freedom +and civilisation. He reminded them that in this struggle they were +most certainly defending the homes and the relations and friends they +had left behind them in Ireland. It was a simple, yet most moving +address, and deeply affected the soldiers." Major Redmond goes on to +say: "When the chaplain had finished his address he signed to the men +to kneel, and administered to them the General Absolution given in +times of emergency. The vast majority of the men present knelt, and +those of other faith stood by in attitudes of reverent respect. The +chaplain then asked the men to recite with him the Rosary. It was most +wonderful the effect produced as hundreds and hundreds of voices +repeated the prayers and recited the words, 'Pray for us now and at +the hour of our death. Amen.' At the dawn Masses were said by the +chaplains of all the battalions in the open, and most of the officers +and men received Holy Communion."</p> + +<p>The attack was timed to begin at noon. All the morning the war-pipes +of these Leinsters, Munsters and Connaughts gave out inspiring Irish +tunes—"Brian Boru's March," that was played at the Battle of Clontarf +in the eleventh century when the Danish invaders were driven from +Ireland; "The White Cockade," the Jacobite marching tune of the first +Irish <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span>Brigade in the service of France; "The Wearin' o' the Green," +one of the finest expressions of a country's devotion to an ideal; and +"A Nation Once Again," thrilling with the hopes of the future. The +pipers strode up and down, green ribbons streaming from their pipes, +sending forth these piercing invocations to ancient Irish heroes, to +venerable saints of the land, to the glories and sorrows of Ireland, +to the love of home, to the faith and aspirations of the race, to come +to the support of the men in the fight. And what of the men as they +waited in the assembly trenches for the word? The passage from +Shakespeare's <i>Henry V</i> best conveys their mood: "I see ye stand like +grey-hounds in the leash straining upon the start."</p> + +<p>At twelve o'clock the battalions emerged from the trenches. Numbers of +the men had tied to their rifles little green flags with the yellow +harp. Like the English infantry associated with them, the Irish +advanced in the open snaky lines in which such attacks are always +delivered. But there was a striking difference—noted by the war +correspondents—in the pace and impetus of the Irish and the English. +Mr. Beach Thomas of the <i>Daily Mail</i> says: "It gives, I think, a +satisfying sense of the variety and association of talent in the new +Army to picture these dashing Irish troops careering across the open +while the ground was being methodically cleared and settled behind +them by English riflemen." "The English riflemen who fought on their +right had more solidity in their way of going about the business," +says Mr. Philip Gibbs of the <i>Daily Chronicle</i>, "but they were so +inspired by the sight of the Irish dash and by the sound of the Irish +pipes that those who were in support, under orders to stand and hold +the first German line, could hardly be restrained from following on." +The English advance was calm, restrained, deliberate, infused by a +spirit of determination that glowed rather than <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span>flamed. A breath of +fire seemed to sweep through the Irish. From first to last they kept +up a boisterous jog-trot charge. "It was like a human avalanche," was +the description given by the English troops who fought with them.</p> + +<p>The country across which this dash was made was pitted with +innumerable shell holes, most of them of great width and depth and all +full of water and mud. A Munster Fusilier graphically likened the +place to a net, in his Irish way—"all holes tied together." So the +men, as they advanced, stumbled over the inequalities of the ground, +or slipped and tripped in the soft, sticky earth. It was a scene, too, +of the most clamorous and frightful violence. The shells were like +fiends of the air, flying with horrid shrieks or moans on the wings of +the wind, ignoring one another and intent only on dropping down to +earth and striking the life out of their human prey. Blasts of fire +and flying bits of metal also swept the plain.</p> + +<p>There is a loud detonation, and when the smoke clears away not a trace +is seen of the ten or dozen comrades that a moment before were rushing +forward like a Rugby pack after the ball. They have all been blown to +the four winds of heaven. "Jim, I'm hit," cries a lad, as if +boastingly, on feeling a blow on his chest. He twirls round about like +a spinning top and then topples face downward. His body has been +perforated by a rifle bullet. A shell explodes and a man falls. He +laughs, thinking he has been tripped up by a tree root or piece of +wire. Both his legs are broken. Another shell bursts. A Leinsterman +sees a companion lifted violently off his feet, stripped of his +clothes, and swept several yards before he is dashed violently to the +ground. He goes over to his friend and can see no sign of a wound on +the quite naked body. But his friend will never lift up his head +again. The blasting force of the high explosive, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span>the tremendous +concussion of the air, has knocked the life out of him. "Good-bye, +Joe, and may God have mercy on your soul," the Leinsterman says to +himself, and, as he dashes on again he thinks, "Sure, it may be my own +turn next." It is that which assuages the grief of a soldier for a +dead comrade, or soon ousts it altogether from his mind.</p> + +<p>Khaki and grey-clad forms were lying everywhere in the frightfully +distorted postures assumed by the killed in action—arms twisted, legs +doubled together, heads askew. Some had their lips turned outward, +showing their teeth in a horrible sneer. Their mouths had been +distended in agony. Others had a fixed expression of infinite sadness, +as if in a lucid moment before death there came a thought of home. +More horrifying still was the foul human wreckage of former +battles—heads and trunks and limbs trodden under foot in the mud, and +emitting a fearful stench.</p> + +<p>The priests followed in the wake of the troops to give the +consolations of religion to the dying. They saw heartrending sights. +One of them, describing his experiences, says: "I was standing about a +hundred yards away, watching a party of my men crossing the valley, +when I saw the earth under their feet open, and twenty men disappear +in a cloud of smoke, while a column of stones and clay was shot a +couple of hundred feet into the air. A big German shell, by the merest +chance, had landed in the middle of the party. I rushed down the +slope, getting a most unmerciful whack between the shoulders. I gave +them all a General Absolution, scraped the clay from the faces of a +couple of buried men who were not wounded, and then anointed as many +of the poor lads as I could reach. Two of them had no faces to anoint, +and others were ten feet under the clay, but a few were living still. +By this time half a dozen volunteers had run up, and were digging the +buried men out. We <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span>dug like demons for our lads' lives, and our own, +to tell the truth, for every few minutes another 'iron pill' from a +Krupp gun would come tearing down the valley." Another priest says: +"Many of the wounded were just boys, and it was extraordinary how they +bore pain, which must have been intense. Very few murmurings were +heard. One young man said to me, 'Oh, father, it is hard to die so far +from home in the wilds of France.' Certainly the fair land of France +just here did seem wild, with the trees all torn and riven with shot, +and the earth on every side ploughed with huge shell holes."</p> + +<p>But the Irish troops swept on. Nothing could stop them—neither their +fallen comrades, nor the groans of the wounded, nor the abominably +mangled dead; and the blasts of fire and iron and steel which the +enemy let loose beat in vain against their valour and resolution. +"'Tis God's truth I'm telling you," a Leinsterman remarked to me, +"when I say we couldn't stop ourselves in the height of our hurry, we +were that mad." In fact, they had captured Guillamont before they were +aware of it. "Where's that blessed village we've got to take?" they +shouted, as they looked round and saw not a stick or a stone. "We're +in it, boys," replied a captain of the Munsters as he planted a green +flag with a yellow harp on the dust heap which his map indicated was +once the centre of Guillamont, and the Irishmen, mightily pleased with +themselves, raised a wild shout.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XII</h3> + +<h3>THE BRIGADE'S POUNCE ON GUINCHY<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>GALLANT BOY OFFICERS OF THE DUBLIN FUSILIERS</h4> +<br /> + +<p>Guinchy fell within the same week as Guillamont. It was stormed on the +following Saturday, September 9. The village had been taken two or +three times previously—some accounts say four—by the British and +recaptured each time by the Germans. But the grip of the Irish Brigade +could not be relaxed. Standing on a hill 500 feet high, Guinchy was +one of the most important enemy strongholds on the Somme, particularly +for artillery. It had been fortified with the accumulated skill of +eighteen months' labour by the German engineers. It was well protected +by guns. Picked troops—the Bavarians—defended it. The Germans, +according to a captured officer, believed that Guinchy could not be +taken. "But," he added, "you attacked us with devils, not men. No one +could withstand them." The capture of the place was therefore a good +day's work. It stands solely to the credit of the Irish Brigade. They +did it all by themselves.</p> + +<p>The attack was mainly delivered from the direction of Guillamont. All +through the week, for five days and nights, most of the Irish +battalions had lain in the trenches—connected shell craters for the +most part—under heavy artillery fire. In these circumstances they +could get nothing hot to eat. They subsisted mainly on the iron +rations of bully beef and biscuit, which formed part of each man's +fighting equipment, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>and a little water. As for sleep, they were +unable to get more than disturbed and unrefreshing snatches. Yet they +were as full of spirit and had nerves as unshaken as if they had come +fresh from billets, and they were as eager for a fight as ever.</p> + +<p>In preparation for the advance, a thunderstorm of British fire and +steel broke over the German trenches. The splitting, tearing crashes +of the mighty "heavies" lying miles back; their firing accuracy, the +penetrating power of their shells, had a heartening influence on the +men. "Ah, those guns," said an officer of the Royal Irish +Regiment—"their effect, spiritual and temporal, is wonderful. Your +own makes you defiant of the very devil; the enemy's put the fear of +God into you." The German lines were blotted out by smoke and flying +soil. The ground rocked and swayed. It was like a heavy sea, only the +waves were of earth.</p> + +<p>The whistle sounded at four o'clock, and up and over went the men in a +mass. Like the country before Guillamont, the country before Guinchy +was slashed and gouged and seared, and the air had the sickening taste +of gunpowder, poison gas and the corruption of the body. The men +walked or ran, in broken array, in and out of the shell holes or over +the narrow ledges that separated them. Soon the enemy got the range. +Severed limbs, heads, arms and legs, and often the whole body, were +flung high into the air. It was a dreadful scene. The noise, too, was +appalling, what with the roaring of the guns, the bursting of the +shells, and, not less, the frenzied yells of the charging masses. +There is no shout in the mêlée of battle so fierce as the Irish shout. +Every man is like "Stentor of the brazen voice," whose shout, as Homer +says in the <i>Iliad</i>, "was as the shout of fifty men." So the Irish +shouted as they dashed forward, partly in relief of their feelings, +and partly in the hope of confusing and dismaying their adversaries. +It was an amazing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>martial feat, that charge of the Irish Brigade at +Guinchy. Within just eight minutes they had overrun the intervening +ground and captured the village. Nothing stopped nor stayed them. They +did not pause to lie down for a while and let the bullets and shrapnel +fly over them. Many were seen, as the advance proceeded, lying huddled +on the ground as if taking shelter. They had taken shelter, indeed, +but it was behind a stronger thing than a mound of earth—and that is +death.</p> + +<p>The most graphic and thrilling narrative of the engagement is given in +a letter written home by a second lieutenant of one of the Irish +battalions. They were in reserve, five or six hundred yards behind the +first line, who were in occupation of the rising slope nearer to +Guinchy. It was about four o'clock when they were ordered to move up +so as to reinforce the first line. They got up in the nick of time, +just as the great charge had begun, and they saw a sight which the +officer says stirred and thrilled them to the depths of their souls. +"Mere words," he says, "must fail to convey anything like a true +picture of the scene, but it is burned into the memory of all those +who were there and saw it. Between the outer fringe of Guinchy and the +front line of our own trenches is No Man's Land, a wilderness of pits +so close together that you could ride astraddle the partitions between +any two of them. As you look half right, obliquely down along No Man's +Land, you behold a great host of yellow-coated men rise out of the +earth and surge forward and upward in a torrent—not in extended +order, as you might expect, but in one mass. There seems to be no end +to them. Just when you think the flood is subsiding, another wave +comes surging up the bend towards Guinchy. We joined in on the left. +There was no time for us any more than the others to get into extended +order. We formed another stream <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>converging on the others at the +summit." He goes on to give a wonderful impression of the spirit of +the men—their fearlessness and exuberance which nothing could daunt. +"By this time we were all wildly excited. Our shouts and yells alone +must have struck terror into the Huns. They were firing their +machine-guns down the slope. Their shells were falling here, there and +everywhere. But there was no wavering in the Irish host. We couldn't +run. We advanced at a steady walking pace, stumbling here and there, +but going ever onward and upward. That numbing dread had now left me +completely. Like the others, I was intoxicated with the glory of it +all. I can remember shouting and bawling to the men of my platoon, who +were only too eager to go on."</p> + +<p>The officer mentions a curious circumstance which throws more light on +that most interesting subject—the state of the mind in battle. He +says the din must have been deafening—he learned afterwards that it +could be heard miles away—and yet he had a confused remembrance only +of anything in the way of noise. How Guinchy was reached and what it +was like is thus described: "How long we were in crossing No Man's +Land I don't know. It could not have been more than five minutes, yet +it seemed much longer. We were now well up to the Boche. We had to +clamber over all manner of obstacles—fallen trees, beams, great +mounds of brick and rubble—in fact, over the ruins of Guinchy. It +seems like a nightmare to me now. I remember seeing comrades falling +round me. My sense of hearing returned to me, for I became conscious +of a new sound—namely, the pop, pop, pop, pop of machine-guns, and +the continuous crackling of rifle fire. By this time all units were +mixed up, but they were all Irishmen. They were cheering and cheering +like mad. There was a machine-gun playing on us near by, and we all +made for it."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span>Through the centre of the smashed and battered village ran a deep +trench. It was occupied by about two hundred Germans, who continued to +fire rifle and machine-gun even after the Irish had appeared on all +sides, scrambling over the piles of masonry, bent and twisted wood and +metal and broken furniture. "At this moment we caught our first sight +of the Huns," the officer continues. "They were in a trench of sorts, +which ran in and out among the ruins. Some of them had their hands up. +Others were kneeling and holding their arms out to us. Still others +were running up and down the trench, distracted, as if they didn't +know which way to go, but as we got closer they went down on their +knees, too." In battle the Irish are fierce and terrible to the enemy, +and in victory most magnanimous. "To the everlasting good name of the +Irish soldiery," the officer says, "not one of these Huns, some of +whom had been engaged in slaughtering our men up to the very last +moment, was killed. I did not see a single instance of a prisoner +being shot or bayoneted. When you remember that our men were worked up +to a frenzy of excitement, this crowning act of mercy to their foes is +surely to their eternal credit. They could feel pity even in their +rage." He adds: "It is with a sense of pride that I can write this of +our soldiers."</p> + +<p>Many incidents in which smiles and tears were commingled took place in +the nests of dug-outs and cellars among the ruins of the village. The +Dublin Fusiliers lost most of their officers in the advance. Many of +them were the victims of snipers. In the village the direction of +affairs was in the hands of young subalterns. The manliness and +decision of these boys were wonderful. One of them captured, with the +help of a single sergeant, a German officer and twenty men whom they +had come upon on rounding the corner of a trench. The German officer +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span>surrendered in great style. He stood to attention, gave a clinking +salute, and said in perfect English, "Sir, myself, this other officer +and twenty men are your prisoners." The subaltern said, "Right you +are, old chap!" and they shook hands. Hundreds of the defenders of +Guinchy had fled. "An' if they did itself, you couldn't blame them," +said a wounded Dublin Fusilier to me. "We came on jumping mad, all +roaring and bawling, an' our bayonets stretched out, terribly fierce, +in front of us, that maybe 'tis ourselves would get up and run like +blazes likewise if 'twere the other way about."</p> + +<p>Hot and impulsive in all things, the Irishmen were bent on advancing +into the open country beyond Guinchy in chase of the retreating +Germans. The officers had frantically to blow their whistles and shout +and gesticulate to arrest this onward rush of the men to destruction +in the labyrinth of the enemy supports which had escaped bombardment. +"Very frankly the men proclaimed their discontent," says the special +correspondent of <i>The Times</i>, "with what they called the 'diplomacy' +which forbade them to go where they wanted—namely, to hell and +beyond, if there are any Germans hiding on the other side."</p> + +<p>The only cases of desertion in the Irish Division occurred on the +night before the storming of Guinchy. It is a deliciously comic +incident. Three servants of the staff mess of one of the brigades +disappeared. They left a note saying that, as they had missed +Guillamont, they must have a hand in the taking of Guinchy. "If all +right, back to-morrow. Very sorry," they added. Sure enough they were +found in the fighting line.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XIII</h3> + +<h3>HONOURS AND DISTINCTIONS FOR THE IRISH BRIGADE<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>HOW LIEUTENANT HOLLAND OF THE LEINSTERS WON THE V.C.</h4> +<br /> + +<p>Many decorations and rewards were won by the Irish Brigade. The +Honours Book of the Brigade contained, at the end of 1916, about one +thousand names of officers and men, presented by Major-General Hickie +with the parchment certificate for gallant conduct and devotion to +duty in the field. Over three hundred military decorations were +gained. Two high Russian honours were also awarded—the Cross of St. +George, Second Class, to Lance-Corporal T. McMahon, Munster Fusiliers, +and the Cross of St. George, Fourth Class, to Lance-Sergeant L. +Courtenay, Dublin Fusiliers. The list of decorations is so long that +only a select few of those won by officers of the Brigade for gallant +conduct in the capture of Guillamont and Guinchy can be given. Father +Maurice O'Connell, the senior chaplain of the Brigade, got the +Distinguished Service Order. Father Wrafter, S.J., and Father Doyle, +S.J., got the Military Cross. All the Chaplains of the Division were +indeed splendid. The others are: Fathers Browne, S.J., Burke, Cotter, +O'Connor, and FitzMaurice, S.J. The official records show that the +D.S.O. was also awarded to the following—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"Temporary Captain (temporary Major) Robert James Abbot Tamplin,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> +Connaught Rangers.—He led his company with the greatest courage +and determination, and was instrumental in capturing the +position. He was wounded."</p> + +<p>"Second-Lieutenant Cyril Paxman Tiptaft, Connaught Rangers, +Special Reserve.—With his platoon he consolidated and held for +fourteen hours a strong point, thus preventing the enemy from +getting behind our advanced positions, which they tried to do +again and again. He set a fine example to his men, and kept up +their spirits in spite of heavy casualties."</p> + +<p>"Temporary lieutenant-Colonel George Alexander McLean Buckley, +Leinster Regiment.—He led his battalion with the greatest +courage and determination. He has on many occasions done very +fine work."</p> + +<p>"Temporary Lieutenant-Colonel Edwin Henry Charles Patrick +Bellingham, Royal Dublin Fusiliers.—He took command of the two +leading battalions when the situation was critical, and +displayed the greatest determination under shell and machine-gun +fire. The success of the operation was largely due to his quick +appreciation of the situation, and his rapid consolidation of +the position."</p> + +<p>"Temporary Captain John Patrick Hunt, Royal Dublin +Fusiliers.—He formed and held a defensive flank for ten hours, +until relieved, under heavy machine-gun and rifle fire, thus +frustrating the enemy's attempt to turn the flank."</p> + +<p>"Major Walter McClelland Crosbie, Royal Munster Fusiliers.—He +led two companies with the greatest courage and initiative. +Later, he organised the position with great skill, displaying +great coolness throughout. He was wounded."</p></div> + +<p>The Military Crosses won included the following—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"Captain William Joseph Rivers Reardon, Royal Irish Regiment, +Special Reserve.—He led his men with great dash, and during a +counter-attack, though wounded, stayed with a party of men in a +most exposed position, till he could carry on no longer."</p> + +<p>"Lieutenant Edward Alexander Stoker, Royal Irish Regiment, +Special Reserve.—With two or three men he went under heavy +shell fire, and captured some enemy snipers. During the enemy +counter-attack he brought a party of men across the open to the +threatened flank, under heavy fire."</p> + +<p>"Temporary Second-Lieutenant Thomas Adams, Royal Inniskilling +Fusiliers.—For conspicuous gallantry when leading a raid. He +entered the enemy's trenches, and it was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span>largely due to his +skill and determination that the raid was successful."</p> + +<p>"Temporary Second-Lieutenant Hugh Abbot Green, Royal +Inniskilling Fusiliers.—When two senior company commanders had +become casualties, he took command and led the men forward, +capturing a portion of the final objective, which had been +missed by the first attacking troops. He then advanced eighty +yards, and, though himself wounded, consolidated his position."</p> + +<p>"Temporary Captain Victor Henry Parr, Royal Inniskilling +Fusiliers.—He rallied men of different units in a wood during +an enemy counter-attack, and, though wounded, led them forward +and beat off the attack."</p> + +<p>"Temporary Second-Lieutenant Charles Lovell Naylor, Royal Irish +Fusiliers.—He took command of his company when the other +officers had become casualties, and showed great pluck when +driving off a counter-attack. He then advanced and reoccupied +one of our advanced posts."</p> + +<p>"Temporary Captain Thomas Francis O'Donnell, Royal Irish +Fusiliers.—In the attack he dashed forward and led the +battalion the whole way. He was first into the enemy's position, +where he did fine work consolidating the defences."</p> + +<p>"Lieutenant Valentine Joseph Farrell, Leinster Regiment, Special +Reserve.—When the senior officers of two companies had become +casualties in the firing line he took command, and, by his fine +example, kept his men together under intense fire."</p> + +<p>"Captain Charles Carleton Barry, Leinster Regiment, Special +Reserve.—For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty when +returning with another officer from reconnaissance. The latter +officer was severely wounded. Although wounded in the arm, +Captain Barry succeeded in pulling his comrade into a shell +hole, and dressing his wound. He finally succeeded in getting +the officer back to our trench. These actions were carried out +under heavy machine-gun and snipers' fire."</p> + +<p>"Temporary Second-Lieutenant Nicholas Hurst, Royal Dublin +Fusiliers.—He organised a party to rush two machine-guns, which +were holding up the advance, and, when the first party failed, +he organised a second, which succeeded. The strong point was +captured and two officers and thirty men made prisoners."</p> + +<p>"Temporary Second-Lieutenant Harold Arthur Jowett, Royal Dublin +Fusiliers.—For conspicuous gallantry during an attack, moving +up and down his line under heavy fire, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>encouraging his men and +setting a fine example to all ranks. He displayed considerable +coolness and skill in maintaining his position until the line +was re-established."</p> + +<p>"Temporary Lieutenant William Kee, Royal Dublin +Fusiliers.—Although twice wounded, he continued to lead his men +during an attack until ordered back to the dressing station. He +has several times carried out reconnaissance work most +efficiently."</p> + +<p>"Temporary Lieutenant Eugene Patrick Quigley, Royal Dublin +Fusiliers.—Though wounded, he brought a machine-gun into action +against some enemy who were collecting to repel our attack. Not +finding a suitable rest for one of his guns, he had it placed on +his shoulder, where it opened fire."</p> + +<p>"Temporary Second-Lieutenant Dennis Joseph Baily, Royal Munster +Fusiliers.—When all the officers round him had become +casualties he took command and led the men forward with great +dash and ability."</p> + +<p>"Temporary Lieutenant Labouchere Hillyer Bainbridge-Bell, Royal +Munster Fusiliers. He continually repaired breaks in the line +during several days of heavy shelling, never hesitating to go +out when the wires were cut. He was several times smothered in +debris, and was much bruised."</p> + +<p>"Temporary Captain Cecil William Chandler, Royal Munster +Fusiliers.—Although wounded, he led his men and beat off +repeated enemy attacks, displaying great courage and initiative +throughout."</p> + +<p>"Temporary Captain Maurice Fletcher, Royal Munster +Fusiliers.—He directed a working party, close to the enemy's +line, and completed his task under continuous shelling and rifle +fire. He has done other fine work."</p> + +<p>"Temporary Lieutenant Fabian Strachan Woodley, Royal Munster +Fusiliers.—By his skill and determination he beat off three +counter-attacks of the enemy, who were endeavouring to reach his +trench. Four days later he led his men in two attacks with great +pluck."</p> + +<p>Captain Place, Royal Irish Regiment, was awarded bar to Cross he +had already won.</p></div> + +<p>These official records, brief and coldly phrased though they be, +cannot be read without a thrill of pride in the race which produced +the men. There is one other account of the winning of a Military Cross +that must be specially given, for it describes the feats of "the boy +hero of Guinchy," Second-Lieutenant James <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span>Emmet Dalton, of the Dublin +Fusiliers. He joined the Army in January 1916, and was only eighteen +years of age when he took command and proved himself a born leader of +men at Guinchy. The following is the official record, which, happily, +is more extended than usual—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"At the capture of Guinchy, on the 9th of September, 1916, he +displayed great bravery and leadership in action. When, owing to +the loss of officers, the men of two companies were left without +leaders, he took command and led these companies to their final +objective. After the withdrawal of another brigade and the right +flank of his battalion was in the rear, he carried out the +protection of the flank, under intense fire, by the employment +of machine-guns in selected commanding and successive positions. +After dark, whilst going about supervising the consolidation of +the position, he, with only one sergeant escorting, found +himself confronted by a party of the enemy, consisting of one +officer and twenty men. By his prompt determination the party +were overawed and, after a few shots, threw up their arms and +surrendered."</p></div> + +<p>The Irish Brigade also got a second Victoria Cross at the Battle of +the Somme. It was won by Lieutenant John Vincent Holland of the +Leinster Regiment for most conspicuous bravery. He was born at Athy, +co. Kildare, the son of John Holland, a past President of the Royal +College of Veterinary Surgeons of Ireland, was educated at the +Christian Brothers' Schools, and Clongowies Wood College. At the +outbreak of war he was employed in the chief mechanical engineers' +department of the Central Argentine Railway at Rosario, and, hastening +home, got his commission in the Leinster Regiment. For his services at +the Front he received the Certificate of the Irish <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span>Brigade. It was at +Guillamont that Lieutenant Holland won the Victoria Cross. The +official account of his exploits is as follows—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"For most conspicuous bravery during a heavy engagement, when, +not content with bombing hostile dug-outs within the objective, +he fearlessly led his bombers through our own artillery barrage +and cleared a great part of the village in front. He started out +with twenty-six bombers and finished up with only five, after +capturing some fifty prisoners. By this very gallant action he +undoubtedly broke the spirit of the enemy, and thus saved us +many casualties when the battalion made a further advance. He +was far from well at the time, and later had to go to hospital."</p></div> + +<p>As proof of Lieutenant Holland's dash it is related that the night +before the engagement he made a bet of five pounds with a brother +officer that he would be first over the parapet when the order came. +He won the bet, the V.C., and, in addition, he was made a Chevalier of +the Legion of Honour and of St. George of Russia.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XIV</h3> + +<h3>THE WOODEN CROSS<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>DEATH OF LIEUTENANT T.M. KETTLE OF THE DUBLINS</h4> +<br /> + +<p>For all this glory and renown the Irish Brigade had to pay a bitter +price. Many a home in Ireland was made forlorn and desolate. The roads +of the countryside by which the men went off to the war will be lonely +and drear for ever to womenfolk, for never again will they be +brightened by the returning foot-steps of son or husband.</p> + +<p>One of the most grievous losses which the Brigade sustained was the +death of Lieutenant-Colonel Lenox-Conyngham of the Connaught Rangers. +He came of an Ulster soldier family. He was the son of Colonel Sir W. +Fitzwilliam Lenox-Conyngham of Springhill, co. Derry, was born in +1861, and three of his brothers were also serving in the Army with the +rank of Colonel. He fell at the head of his battalion, which was +foremost in the rush for Guillamont. "I cannot imagine a more fitting +death for him," writes Captain Stephen Gwynn, M.P., who served under +Colonel Lenox-Conyngham since the days the battalion was formed at +Fermoy. "He was never in doubt as to how his men would acquit +themselves. To us officers he said things in private which would sound +a little arrogant if I quoted them—and yet they have been made good." +The welfare of the men was always his first concern. Captain Gwynn +relates that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span>on the return of the battalion one night, after a dreary +day of field operations at home, the company officers, feeling very +miserable, were gathered about the door of their mess-room, waiting +for dinner, when the Colonel called out that their proper place was in +the cook-house, seeing that the men were first served. The incident +greatly rejoiced the heart of Captain Gwynn, for, having served in the +ranks, he knew that the officer who is best served by the men is he +who places their comfort and well-being before his own. In France, +whenever any compliment was paid to Colonel Lenox-Conyngham, he could +not be content until, with frank generosity, he passed it on to the +company officers. "It is you who have done it," he would say. "He was +right too," says Captain Gwynn. "We did the work, and no men were ever +less interfered with; but we did it as we had been taught to do it, +and because we were kept up to it at every point."</p> + +<p>I can only mention a few typical cases of the officers of the Irish +Brigade killed at Guillamont and Guinchy. Lieutenant E.R.F. Becher, of +the Munster Fusiliers, was but nineteen, and the only child of E.W. +Becher, Lismore, co. Waterford. He was descended in direct line from +Colonel Thomas Becher, who was aide-de-camp to King William at the +Battle of the Boyne, and was on that occasion presented by the King +with his watch, which is still an heirloom in the family. Captain H.R. +Lloyd of the Royal Irish Regiment was descended from the ensign who +carried the colours of the Coldstream Guards at Waterloo. He was +educated at Drogheda Grammar School, and was at business in Brazil +when the war broke out. Lieutenant J.T. Kennedy of the Inniskillings +was editor of the <i>Northern Standard</i>, Monaghan. Lieutenant Charles P. +Close of the Dublin Fusiliers was a native of Limerick, and conducted +a teaching academy in that city. At the time <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span>he volunteered he was +the commanding officer of the City Regiment of National Volunteers. +Another officer of the National Volunteers was Lieutenant Hugh +Maguire, son of Dr. Conor Maguire of Claremorris. He was a university +student when he volunteered for service in response to the national +call, and got a commission in the Connaught Rangers, but was +temporarily attached to the Inniskillings when he was killed. Another +gallant youth was Lieutenant Thomas Maxwell, Dublin Fusiliers, son of +Surgeon Patrick W. Maxwell of Dublin, who was in his twenty-first year +when he fell while in temporary command of the leading company of his +battalion in the taking of Guinchy. Then there is Second-Lieutenant +Bevan Nolan. He was the third son of Walter Nolan, Clerk of the Crown +for South Tipperary. When the war broke out he was in Canada, and, +returning at once, obtained a commission in the Royal Irish Regiment. +He was a very gallant young officer, and most popular with his +comrades. In the camp the general verdict was: "Nolan is destined for +the V.C., or to die at the head of his platoon." He was only +twenty-one years of age, and a splendid type of young Tipperary.</p> + +<p>The greatest loss in individual brain-power which Ireland suffered was +through the death of that brilliant man of letters and economist, +Lieutenant T.M. Kettle of the Dublin Fusiliers. He was a son of Andrew +J. Kettle, a Dublin farmer, one of the founders of the Land League, +and a member of the executive who in 1881, on the arrest of the +leaders, Parnell, Davitt and Dillon, signed the No-Rent Manifesto +addressed to the tenants. In the House of Commons, where he sat as a +Nationalist from 1906 to 1910, young Kettle made a reputation for +eloquence and humour of quite a fresh vein. He resigned on his +appointment as Professor of National Economics in the National +University of Ireland. He was married to Margaret, daughter of David +Sheehy, M.P., whose sister is the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span>widow of Sheehy Skeffington, shot +by the military in the Dublin Rebellion.</p> + +<p>In public life Kettle was a vivid figure, and very Irish. At first he +belonged to the extreme, or irreconcilable section of Nationalists, +noted for a cast of thought or bias of reasoning which finds that no +good for Ireland can come out of England. When England was fighting +the Boers he distributed anti-recruiting leaflets in the streets of +Dublin. To his constituents in East Tyrone he once declared that +Ireland had no national independence to protect against foreign +invasion. "I confess," he added, referring to the over-taxation of +Ireland, "I see many reasons for preferring German invasion to British +methods of finance in Ireland." But increased knowledge brought wider +views. As a result of his experiences in Parliament, where he found in +all parties a genuine desire to do what was best for Ireland according +to their lights, he approached the consideration of Irish questions +with a remarkably tolerant, broad-minded and practical spirit. When +the war broke out there was no more powerful champion of the Allies. +The invasion of Belgium, which he had witnessed as a newspaper +correspondent, moved him to an intense hatred of Germany, and, +throwing himself with all his energy into the recruiting campaign in +Ireland, he addressed no fewer than two hundred meetings, bringing +thousands of his countrymen to the Colours. One of his epigrammatic +and pointed sayings—suggested by the ill-favour of absentee +landlordism of old in Ireland—was: "Nowadays the absentee is the man +who stays at home."</p> + +<p>In a letter written to a friend on the night his battalion was moving +up to the Somme, Kettle said he had had two chances of leaving—one on +account of sickness and the other to take a Staff appointment. "I have +chosen to stay with my comrades," he writes. "The bombardment, +destruction and bloodshed are <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span>beyond all imagination. Nor did I ever +think that valour of simple men could be quite as beautiful as that of +my Dublin Fusiliers." On the eve of his death he wrote to his wife +another fine tribute to his battalion. "I have never," he says, "seen +anything in my life so beautiful as the clean and, so to say, radiant +manner of my Dublin Fusiliers. There is something divine in men like +that."</p> + +<p>Kettle fell in the storming of Guinchy. His friend and comrade, +Lieutenant James Emmet Dalton, M.C., states that they were both in the +trenches in Trones Wood opposite Guillamont, on the morning of +September 8th, discussing the loss of two hundred men and seven +officers which the battalion had sustained the day before from German +shell fire, when an orderly arrived with a note for each of them, +saying, "Be in readiness. Battalion will take up A and B position in +front of Guinchy to-night at 12 midnight." Lieutenant Dalton +continues: "I was with Tom when he advanced to the position that +night, and the stench of the dead that covered our road was so awful +that we both used some foot-powder on our faces. When we reached our +objective we dug ourselves in, and then, at five o'clock p.m. on the +9th, we attacked Guinchy. I was just behind Tom when we went over the +top. He was in a bent position, and a bullet got over a steel +waistcoat that he wore and entered his heart. Well, he only lasted +about one minute, and he had my crucifix in his hands. Then Boyd took +all the papers and things out of Tom's pockets in order to keep them +for Mrs. Kettle, but poor Boyd was blown to atoms in a few minutes. +The Welsh Guards buried Mr. Kettle's remains. Tom's death has been a +big blow to the regiment, and I am afraid that I could not put in +words my feelings on the subject." In another letter Lieutenant Dalton +says: "Mr. Kettle died a grand and holy death—the death of a soldier +and a true Christian."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span>Lieutenant Kettle left his political testament in a letter to his wife +and in verses addressed to his little daughter. The letter, written a +few days before his death, with directions that it was to be sent to +Mrs. Kettle if he were killed, says—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"Had I lived I had meant to call my next book on the relations +of Ireland and England <i>The Two Fools; A Tragedy of Errors</i>. It +has needed all the folly of England and all the folly of Ireland +to produce the situation in which our unhappy country is now +involved. I have mixed much with Englishmen and with Protestant +Ulstermen, and I know that there is no real or abiding reason +for the gulfs, salter than the sea, that now dismember the +natural alliance of both of them with us Irish Nationalists. It +needs only a Fiat Lux of a kind very easily compassed to replace +the unnatural by the natural. In the name, and by the seal, of +the blood given in the last two years I ask for Colonial Home +Rule for Ireland, a thing essential in itself, and essential as +a prologue to the reconstruction of the Empire. Ulster will +agree. And I ask for the immediate withdrawal of martial law in +Ireland, and an amnesty for all Sinn Fein prisoners. If this war +has taught us anything it is that great things can be done only +in a great way."</p></div> + +<p>The lines, "To my daughter Betty—The Gift of Love," were written "In +the field before Guillamont, Somme, September 4, 1916—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"In wiser days, my darling rosebud, blown<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To beauty proud as was your mother's prime—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In that desired, delayed, incredible time<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You'll ask why I abandoned you, my own,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the dear breast that was your baby's throne,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To dice with death, and, oh! they'll give you rhyme<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And reason; one will call the thing sublime,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And one decry it in a knowing tone.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So here, while the mad guns curse overhead,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And tired men sigh, with mud for couch and floor,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Know that we fools, now with the foolish dead,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Died not for Flag, nor King, nor Emperor,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But for a dream, born in a herdsman shed<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And for the secret Scripture of the poor."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>These young leaders have won the wooden cross—the symbol of the +supreme sacrifice they made that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span>others might live; the symbol, also, +of eternal peace for themselves—the wooden cross which marks their +graves. From north, south, east and west of Ireland, of differing +creeds, of opposing political opinions—these men of the Irish Brigade +and the Ulster Division—they lie, as they fought, side by side, +comrades in a noble cause. It is sad to think of the many rare +intelligences, ardent and glowing spirits, which are quenched for ever +in the little cemeteries that have sprung up along the Allied Front. +The loss to Ireland is incalculable. But gain might come from it, +which, weighed in the balance, would not be found wanting, if only the +solemn lesson which it teaches were brought home to all: that one in +Irish name, as one in Irish fame, are the northerners and southerners +who died in France for the liberation of humanity.</p> + +<p>Major-General Hickie—as mindful of the memories of those of his men +who have fallen as of the well-being of those still in the fighting +ranks—erected as a memorial to the dead of the Irish Brigade a statue +in white marble of Our Lady of Victories in a town of the district. +Another striking proof of his esteem for the men is afforded by the +following Order which he issued on December 18, 1916—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"To-day is the anniversary of the landing of the Irish Division +in France; The Divisional Commander wishes to express his +appreciation of the spirit which has been shown by all ranks +during the past year. He feels that the Division has earned the +right to adopt the motto which was granted by the King of France +to the Irish Brigade, which served in this country for a hundred +years: 'Everywhere and always faithful.' With the record of the +past, with the memory of our gallant dead, with this motto to +live up to, and with our trust in God, we can face the future +with confidence."</p> + +<p class="sc cen">God Save the King.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XV</h3> + +<h3>MORE IRISH HEROES OF THE VICTORIA CROSS<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>DEEDS OF THE HIGHEST MERIT AND LUSTRE</h4> +<br /> + +<p>In this war Victoria Crosses are being won in remarkably large +numbers, despite dangers and sufferings immeasurably greater than were +ever conceived of in any war of the past. It would seem, indeed, as if +human nature is capable of withstanding any test to which it can +conceivably be put. "Man," said Mr. Lloyd George, "is the bravest +animal that God has made; and, in comparison with him, the lion is an +arrant coward."</p> + +<p>Up to the end of 1916 the war has contributed 221 additional names to +that golden chronicle of valorous deeds—The Roll of the Victoria +Cross. Of these as many as thirty-five are Irishmen. That is a most +glorious achievement, having regard to the proportion of Irishmen in +the Army. The number, taking the Irish regiments, the Irishmen in +English and Scottish regiments and in the forces of the different +Dominions, is altogether about 500,000; and estimating the entire +strength of the Army to be 5,000,000, it will be seen that if the +other nationalities won Victoria Crosses in the same ratio to their +numbers as the Irish, the Roll of the present war would contain not +221, but 350 names. To put it in another way, the Irish on a basis of +numbers would be entitled only to twenty-two <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span>of the 221 Victoria +Crosses that have actually been awarded.</p> + +<p>But however that may be, the Irish part of the Roll, as it stands, +will be found to be a very thrilling record of the gallantry of Irish +officers and men in the various theatres of war. Twenty of the +thirty-five Irish heroes of the Victoria Cross are dealt with in the +first series of <i>The Irish at the Front</i>. Of the remaining fifteen, +the deeds of four are recounted in the exploits of the Ulster +Division; one, in the story of the Irish Brigade—the second Cross +that fell to the Brigade having been won by an English officer—and +the other ten are dealt with here.</p> + +<p>Sub-Lieutenant Arthur Walderne St. Clair Tisdall, V.C., of the Royal +Naval Volunteer Reserve, was another of the many gallant Irishmen who +distinguished themselves at the memorable first landing at Gallipoli +on April 25, 1915, when the Munsters and the Dublins won imperishable +renown. The announcement of the award of the Victoria Cross to +Sub-Lieutenant Tisdall was not made until March 31, 1916. The +following official statement explains the delay—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"During the landing from the ss. <i>River Clyde</i> at V Beach, in +the Gallipoli Peninsula, on April 25, 1915, Sub-Lieutenant +Tisdall, hearing wounded men on the beach calling for +assistance, jumped into the water, and, pushing a boat in front +of him, went to their rescue. He was, however, obliged to obtain +help, and took with him on two trips Leading Seaman Malin, and +on other trips Chief Petty Officer Perring and Leading Seamen +Curtiss and Parkinson. In all Sub-Lieutenant Tisdall made four +or five trips between the ship and the shore, and was thus +responsible for rescuing many wounded men under heavy and +accurate fire. Owing to the fact that Sub-Lieutenant Tisdall and +the platoon under his orders were on detached service at the +time, and that this officer was killed in action on May 6, it +has now only been possible to obtain complete information as to +the individuals who took part in this gallant act."</p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span>Sub-Lieutenant Tisdall came of a well-known Irish family, the Tisdalls +of Charlesfort, who have been established in co. Meath since the year +1668. The late head of the family, Major Tisdall of the Irish Guards, +fell guarding the retreat of the British Army in France in September +1914. The volume of <i>Memoirs and Poems of A.W. St. C. Tisdall, V.C.</i>, +by Mrs. M.L. Tisdall, states that among his ancestors and relatives on +both sides were "Crusaders, Royalists, who lost everything—even their +family name—for King Charles I; Scotch Covenanters and French +Huguenots, who had been driven from their own countries for their +faith's sake; Irish patriots who fought at the Battle of the Boyne, a +Danish Diplomatist who had danced with Queen Marie-Antoinette; an +ancestress who is said to have fired the first cannon at the siege of +Gibraltar; a famous Attorney-General for Ireland; a brilliant and +versatile Cathedral Chancellor, a Bishop, three missionaries, and many +university, military and naval men." He was born at Bombay on July 21, +1890, his father—the Rev. Dr. St. Clair Tisdall (now of St. George's +Vicarage, Deal)—being then in charge of the Mohammedan mission of the +Church Missionary Society. He was educated at Bedford School from 1900 +to 1909, when he left as Scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge, where +he had a distinguished career, culminating in the winning of the +Chancellor's Gold Medal in the university in 1913, after which he +entered the Home Civil Service. On the outbreak of war he was called +to the Colours as an A.B. of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, of +which he had been a member for some time previously. He served in the +ranks in the Antwerp expedition, and was afterwards given a +commission. By this time, the memoirs tell us, "he had acquired great +self-control, and had practically conquered two of his Irish +handicaps—viz. a hot temper and a certain carelessness, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span>or +casualness, in business. Latterly, the 'Tisdall temper,' as it is +called in the family, only flashed out in the presence of what he +considered wrong or unjust."</p> + +<p>The following extract from a letter by an officer of the Royal Navy +who took part in the landing in Gallipoli was published in <i>The Times</i> +on December 6, 1916—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"It has been, unfortunately, my sad lot to write of the ending +on this earth of many heroes, for I have been through much since +August 1914; but I sincerely assure you that I have never seen +more daring and gallant deeds performed by any man, naval or +military, than those performed by the man I now know to have +been Sub-Lieutenant A.W. St. Clair Tisdall, Anson Battalion, +R.N.V.R., at the landing from the <i>River Clyde</i> on that terrible +'V' Beach. Throughout the afternoon of April 25 a boat +containing an officer (unknown to all) and three bluejackets, +one of them a petty officer, was very prominent. The officer and +the petty officer did the most daring of things, and were seen +by very many. Time after time they visited that awful beach and +brought back wounded officers and men. Darkness came on and that +officer was nowhere to be found. All the petty officer and +bluejackets could say was, 'He's one of those Naval Division +gents.' Days and weeks passed away, and I and others never +ceased trying to find out if we could who and where the unknown +hero was. Over and over we discussed in the <i>River Clyde</i> and in +dug-outs on the beach how those two had escaped."</p></div> + +<p>It was not till June 15, 1915, that the writer of the letter learned +who the hero was. He adds: "His very saving of the wounded and the +handling of them was in itself the work of an artist, and a very great +one." The end of this gallant officer is told by an A.B. of the Anson +Battalion, who, writing to Mrs. Tisdall, says: "On May 6 the Naval +Division got orders to make an advance, which we did, and advanced +about a mile. When we got nicely settled in the enemy trench your son +stood up on the parapet, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span>looking for the enemy, but was not there +long before he was shot through the chest, and he never said one +word." This was at the first battle of Achi Baba. Tisdall was buried +on the night of May 7, a few yards from where he fell. It was a +glorious death, but far from the kind of death he had dreamt of. In a +poem, "Love and Death," written in 1910, he says—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Be love for me no hoarse and headstrong tide,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Breaking upon a deep-rent, sea-filled coast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But a strong river on which sea-ships glide,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And the lush meadows are its peaceful boast.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Be death for me no parting red and raw<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of soul and body, even in glorious pain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But while my children's children wait in awe,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">May peaceful darkness still the toilsome brain."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Corporal William Richard Cotter, an Irishman serving in the East Kent +Regiment, got the V.C. for an act of unexampled courage and endurance. +It was a deed which showed to what heights the bravery of Irish +soldiers can soar. On the night of March 6, 1916, in the course of a +raid made by his company along an enemy trench, his own bombing party +was cut off owing to heavy casualties in the centre of the attack. The +situation was so serious that Cotter went back under heavy fire to +report and bring up more bombs. On the return journey his right leg +was blown off close below the knee, and he was wounded in both arms. +By a kind of miracle, the miracle of human courage, he did not drop +down and die in the mud of the trench—mud so deep that unwounded men +found it hard to walk in it—but made his way for fifty yards towards +the crater where his comrades were hard pressed. He came up to +Lance-Corporal Newman, who was bombing with his sector to the right of +the position. Cotter called to him and directed him to bomb six feet +towards where help was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span>most needed, and worked his way forward to the +crater against which the Germans were making a violent counter-attack. +Men fell rapidly under the enemy's bomb fire, but Cotter, with only +one leg, and bleeding from both arms, took charge. The enemy were +repulsed after two hours' fighting, and only then did Cotter allow his +wounds to be bandaged. From the dug-out where he lay while the +bombardment still continued he called out cheery words to the men, +until he was carried down, fourteen hours later. He died of his +wounds. A wonderful story of gallantry, endurance and fortitude, it +would seem almost incredible were it not established by official +record of the awarding of the V.C. to Corporal Cotter—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty. When his +right leg had been blown off at the knee, and he had also been +wounded in both arms, he made his way unaided for fifty yards to +a crater, steadied the men who were holding it, controlled their +fire, issued orders, and altered the dispositions of his men to +meet a fresh counter-attack by the enemy. For two hours he held +his position, and only allowed his wounds to be roughly dressed +when the attack had quieted down. He could not be moved back for +fourteen hours, and during all this time had a cheery word for +all who passed him. There is no doubt that his magnificent +courage helped greatly to save a critical situation."</p></div> + +<p>Cotter was born at Sandgate, near Folkestone, of Irish parents who +came from Limerick, and was thirty-four years of age. He was educated +at the Catholic School, Folkestone. Always fond of adventure, he ran +away to sea as a boy. He then enlisted in the Army, and, after twelve +years in the Buffs, came out on the Reserve in 1914, and was employed +by the Sandgate Council. He was called up at the outbreak of war. He +had lost an eye as the result of an accident, but nevertheless was +sent on active service, and this disability enhances the extraordinary +heroism of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span>his deed. He was the eldest of six sons, one of whom was +killed in France, one was in the Navy, one in Salonika, and another +died after serving in the South African War. The chaplain of his +regiment wrote to his parents informing them of his death, and said +his last words were "Good-bye, God bless them all." Cotter was +previously recommended for the Distinguished Conduct Medal in December +1915.</p> + +<p>Thomas Hughes, of the Connaught Rangers, got the V.C. for most +conspicuous bravery and determination. The official record adds: "He +was wounded in an attack, but returned at once to the firing line +after having his wounds dressed. Later, seeing a hostile machine-gun, +he dashed out in front of his company, shot the gunner, and +single-handed captured the gun. Though again wounded, he brought back +three or four prisoners." He was born at Corravoo, near Castleblayney, +co. Monaghan, his father being a farmer, and was at the Curragh, +employed as a jockey in a racing stable, until, on the outbreak of +war, he joined the Connaught Rangers.</p> + +<p>"Come on, the Dubs." This slogan was heard at a critical moment during +one of the pushes on the Somme in the summer of 1916. It was shouted +by Sergeant Robert Downie of the Dublin Fusiliers, and his coolness +and resource in danger saved the situation and got him the Victoria +Cross. The Dublins have been through many memorable campaigns and +battles and have won many honours, but Sergeant Downie is the first of +his regiment to win the most prized of all distinctions. The following +is the official record of the award—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty in attack. +When most of the officers had become casualties, this +non-commissioned officer, utterly regardless of personal danger, +moved about under heavy fire and reorganised the attack, which +had been temporarily checked. At the critical <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span>moment he rushed +forward alone, shouting, 'Come on, the Dubs.' This stirring +appeal met with immediate response, and the line rushed forward +at his call. Sergeant Downie accounted for several of the enemy, +and in addition captured a machine-gun, killing the team. Though +wounded early in the fight, he remained with his company, and +gave valuable assistance, whilst the position was being +consolidated. It was owing to Sergeant Downie's courage and +initiative that this important position, which had resisted four +or five previous attacks, was won."</p></div> + +<p>Sergeant Downie is twenty-three years of age. He was born in Glasgow +of Irish parents, both his father and mother being natives of +Laurencetown, co. Down, and received his education at St. Aloysius' +Catholic Schools, Springburn, Glasgow. He is one of a family of +sixteen, of whom thirteen are alive. His father was employed for +thirty years in the Hydepark Locomotive Works, Glasgow, as an oiler +and beltman. After leaving school young Downie served for some time in +the same works as his father, and at the age of eighteen he enlisted +in the Dublin Fusiliers. He went to France with the Expeditionary +Force. He is married, and his wife lives with her two children at +Springburn.</p> + +<p>A wounded officer of the Dublins thus describes how Downie won the +V.C.—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"For coolness and resource under danger, it would be impossible +to beat Downie. The ordeal we had to go through that day was one +of the most severe we have struck since the present war, and, as +you know, the 'Dubs' have been in many tight corners. We had +orders to advance against a position that had so far resisted +all efforts of our men to take. We knew it had to be taken this +time, be the cost what it might. We went over with a good heart. +The men were magnificent. They faced their ordeal without the +slightest sign of wavering. The enemy's fire was ploughing +through our ranks. We lost heavily. In a short time there was +not an officer left capable of giving directions. It was only +then that the attack began to falter. At that moment the enemy +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span>fire increased its intensity. It was many times worse than any +hell I have ever heard of. The machine-gun fire of the enemy +swept across the ground like great gusts of wind, and the finest +troops in the world might have been pardoned for a momentary +hesitation in face of such fire. Downie took the situation in. +He ran along the line of shell holes in which the men were +sheltering and cried out, 'Come on, the Dubs.'</p> + +<p>"The effect was electrical. The men sprang from their cover, and +under his leadership dashed to the attack on the enemy position. +Their blood was now up, and there was no stopping them until the +goal was reached. The immediate approach to the part of the +trench they were attacking was swept by the fire of one +machine-gun that galled the attacking party a lot. Downie made +straight for that. Using alternately bomb, bayonet, and rifle, +he wiped out the entire crew, and captured the gun, which he +quickly turned on the enemy. The effect of this daring exploit +was soon felt. The enemy resistance weakened, and the Dublin +lads were soon in possession of the trench. It was later on, +when the attack was being pressed home, that Downie was wounded. +It was severe enough to justify any man in dropping out, but +Downie was made of better stuff. He stuck to his men, and for +the rest of the day he directed their operations with a skill +and energy that defeated repeated attempts of the enemy to win +back the lost ground. Throughout the very difficult operations +his cheery disposition and his eye for discerning the best thing +to do in given circumstances, were as good as a reinforcement to +the hard-pressed Irishmen."</p></div> + +<p>Captain John A. Sinton, Indian Medical Service, was awarded the +Victoria Cross, after the action at Shaikh Saad in Mesopotamia. The +official record is as follows—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty. Although +shot through both arms and through the side he refused to go to +hospital, and remained as long as daylight lasted attending to +his duties under very heavy fire. In three previous actions +Captain Sinton displayed the utmost bravery."</p></div> + +<p>Captain Sinton was born in Lisburn, co. Antrim, and is thirty-one +years of age. He is a member of a well-known Quaker family. As a boy +he went to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span>Memorial School in Lisburn, named after the heroic +Brigadier-General, John Nicholson, of the Indian Mutiny, and +afterwards attended the Royal Belfast Academical Institution. He had a +brilliant career in the Medical School at Queen's University, Belfast. +He took first place at the examination for the Indian Medical Service +at the School of Tropical Medicine in Liverpool. He went to India in +1912, and was attached to the 31st Duke of Connaught's Own Lancers at +Kohat. At the outbreak of war he transferred to the Dogras, in order +to take part in the operations of the Indian Expeditionary Force in +the Persian Gulf.</p> + +<p>Private Henry Kenny of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment is another +London Irishman, and the third of the name of Kenny who have gained +the coveted V.C. The stories of the other two Kennys are told in the +first series of <i>The Irish at the Front</i>. Private Kenny's father is a +native of Limerick, where all his people belonged to, and from where +he moved to England with his parents. Private Kenny himself was born +in Hackney, London, and enlisted, at the age of eighteen, in 1906. On +the outbreak of war he was recalled to the Colours as a reservist, and +took part in many famous engagements. The official record of his +gallantry is as follows—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"For most conspicuous bravery. Private Kenny went out on six +different occasions on one day under a very heavy shell, rifle +and machine-gun fire, and each time succeeded in carrying to a +place of safety a wounded man who had been lying in the open. He +was himself wounded in the neck whilst handing the last man over +the parapet."</p></div> + +<p>When Kenny was invalided home on account of the wounds he received in +performing the noble action for which he won the Victoria Cross, he +made no reference to his achievement. The sixth man whom he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span>rescued +was his own Colonel, and it was while he was bearing his commanding +officer into safety that he was himself wounded. On his return home +for a holiday after the announcement of the award he visited the House +of Commons, and was introduced to Sir E. Carson, Lord and Lady Pirrie, +Mr. and Mrs. Redmond, Lord Wimborne and Colonel Churchill, and had tea +on the terrace.</p> + +<p>There was much rejoicing amongst the pupils and staff of the Royal +Hibernian Military School, Phœnix Park, Dublin, when it became +known that the greatest honour that can be bestowed upon a +soldier—the Victoria Cross—had been won by a former pupil of the +school in the person of Private Frederick Jeremiah Edwards, of the +Middlesex Regiment. There are three Royal Military Schools in the +United Kingdom (the Duke of York's School, near London, the Queen +Victoria School in Scotland, and the Royal Hibernian School), and +naturally there was keen anxiety amongst them as to which would be the +first to place a V.C. to its credit in the present war. The Irish +school has won, thanks to Private "Jerry" Edwards. He is the second +"old boy" of the Hibernian School to win the V.C., the previous +occasion on which the distinction was gained being during the Crimean +War. Private Edwards was born at Queenstown, co. Cork, the son of a +soldier. He entered the Hibernian School at seven years of age. He is +spoken of as a bright, intelligent and plucky lad by the +schoolmasters, to whom his lively spirits were oftentimes a source of +worry—and, perhaps, of trouble for "Jerry." When he was fourteen he +left the school to join the Army. The circumstances under which he won +the V.C. in his twenty-first year are thus officially described—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"For most conspicuous bravery and resource. His part of the line +was held up by machine-gun fire, and all officers <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span>had become +casualties. There was confusion and indication of retirement. +Private Edwards, grasping the situation, on his own initiative +dashed out towards the gun, which he knocked out with his bombs. +This very gallant act, coupled with great presence of mind and a +total disregard of personal danger, made further advance +possible and cleared up a dangerous situation."</p></div> + +<p>A former schoolmate of Private Edwards, and a comrade in the Middlesex +Regiment, gives the following more specific particulars of the hero's +courage and determination in carrying along the wavering men by the +force of his example—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"The day our regiment went over there was some wild work. The +enemy concentrated on our part of the line a furious fire. There +was absolutely no cover for a great part of the way. One by one +our officers were picked off. Young Lieutenant —— was the last +to go. As he fell he called to the men to go right on. They did +so for a time, but things got worse, and finally the men seemed +to lose heart. 'Jerry' Edwards declared that he wasn't going +back. He sprang forward into the thick hail of machine-gun +bullets, in full view of the taunting Huns on their parapet. +'This way, Die-hards,' he cried, and at the sound of the +glorious old nickname the men recovered from their panic. +Gradually order was restored, and the men followed Edwards up to +the enemy parapet. This was stormed in a few minutes. Edwards +himself bowled over a machine-gun and its crew. He picked up a +couple of bombs and threw them. Privates behind him handed up +more, and from an exposed position on the enemy parapet he kept +raining bombs on the foe. The gun and crew were blown to bits, +and the rest of the enemy bolted to their next position. Edwards +saw what they were up to, and, leading some of the men by the +near cut, he intercepted the flying enemy. Then a great bombing +match began. Our lads won, thanks to the way the team was +handled by Edwards. Though the position was dangerous for some +time afterwards, we held on, and finally consolidated the +ground."</p></div> + +<p>The finest quality in gallantry is that which impels a soldier to +leave a place of safety voluntarily, and, though he is not under the +excitement of battle, to plunge with cool calculation into some danger +which he knows and has estimated to its full extent. For a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span>deed of +valour of that character the Victoria Cross was given to Private +William Young, East Lancashire Regiment. The official record says—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"On seeing that his sergeant had been wounded he left his trench +to attend to him under very heavy fire. The wounded +non-commissioned officer requested Private Young to get under +cover, but he refused, and was almost immediately very seriously +wounded by having both jaws shattered. Notwithstanding his +terrible injuries, Private Young continued endeavouring to +effect the rescue upon which he had set his mind, and eventually +succeeded with the aid of another soldier. He then went unaided +to the dressing-station, where it was discovered that he had +also been wounded by a rifle bullet in the chest. The great +fortitude, determination, courage, and devotion to duty +displayed by this soldier could hardly be surpassed."</p></div> + +<p>Private Young was born in Glasgow of Irish parents, and joined the +East Lancashire Regiment in May 1899, when about twenty-one years of +age. He was transferred to the Army Reserve in August 1902, and joined +Section D, Army Reserve, in May 1911. He responded to the mobilisation +call on August 5, 1914, and went to France on September 14, going all +through the fighting until wounded at the battle of Ypres in November +1914, by a bullet in the thigh. Returning to the Front, he was +"gassed," and the resulting injuries to his eyes laid him up for three +weeks in hospital. On going back to the trenches the second time he +performed his heroic deed on December 22, 1915.</p> + +<p>Young's home was at Preston, where he had a wife and nine children, +the youngest of whom was born while the father was at the war. In the +following letter to his wife Private Young told how the news of his +distinction was received by him in a military hospital in England, +where he underwent an operation for the complete removal of his lower +jaw and the fitting of an artificial one in its place.</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"Of course, long enough before you get this letter you will see<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> +by the papers that I have received the greatest honour that any +Britisher can get, namely, the V.C., and, of course, I am +naturally very proud of the great honour, both for my sake and +the sake of you and the kiddies and the good old regiment I have +the honour to belong to, and the old proud town of Preston. I +was shaving when the news came through, and the matron and +sisters, nurses and patients have the hands wrung off me, and I +can see I could do with another pair of hands. There are +telegrams coming every two or three minutes, so I have a busy +time in front of me. I have another soldier from Lancashire +helping me to answer them."</p></div> + +<p>Young's indomitable spirit was finely evidenced in a second letter to +his wife—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"I feel all right, seeing what I have gone through; in fact it +was the grace of God, careful nursing, and a grand constitution +that pulled me through.... You know the old saying, 'Fools rush +in where Angels dare not tread,' and if I was in the same place +to-morrow I would do exactly the same thing. I knew that if I +went over the wife and the kiddies would be well looked after. I +am very glad to say that the sergeant I carried out is all +right, and I expect in about a fortnight's time he will be at +home on sick leave with his young wife, as he only got married +just after the war broke out, so you see it's an ill wind that +blows nobody good."</p></div> + +<p>Young was able in April 1916 to visit Preston, where he was given a +public welcome. But he had to return to hospital again, and died in +August 1916. A local fund was raised, and so generously responded to +that it was possible to invest a sum of over £500 for the family.</p> + +<p>Captain Henry Kelly of the Duke of Wellington's West Riding Regiment +got the V.C. for deeds which are thus officially described—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"For most conspicuous bravery in attack. He twice rallied his +company under the heaviest fire, and finally led the only three +available men into the enemy trench, and there remained bombing +until two of them had become casualties and enemy reinforcements +had arrived. He then carried his company <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span>sergeant-major, who +had been wounded, back to our trenches, a distance of seventy +yards, and subsequently three other soldiers. He set a fine +example of gallantry and endurance."</p></div> + +<p>Captain Kelly was born in Manchester of Irish parentage. His father +was from Wicklow and his mother from Limerick. He is twenty-eight +years of age, and joined the Manchester "Pals" with his younger +brother on September 4, 1914. He was promoted to the rank of +Sergeant-Major two months later, and in the following May was gazetted +Second Lieutenant to the West Riding Regiment. Prior to joining the +Army he was employed at the General Post Office in Manchester as a +sorting clerk and telegraphist. He was a prominent member of the +Ancient Order of Hibernians, and also of the city branch of the United +Irish League. He could speak the Irish language before he ever spent a +holiday in Ireland. A detailed account of the circumstances in which +Captain Kelly won the V.C. is given by a soldier in his company—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"The enemy had pounded us unmercifully with their big guns, and +the strain put on our men was so great that they began to waver. +Captain Kelly sprang forward and urged his men to the attack +under a blistering hot fire. They responded with cheers, and +under his direction they held a very exposed position for hours. +Later, things looked black once more. So he up again and called +on his lads to hold fast for all they were worth. To show his +contempt for the danger to which we were exposed he led the way +towards another position. He decided to have a cut in at the +enemy's trench. He got hold of a non-com, and two privates +belonging to the bombing section. With these he entered the +enemy trench and started to bomb the Boches out. They got a good +way along, driving before them an enemy more than big enough to +eat up the whole company. Then Fritz was reinforced, and under +the direction of a very brave officer the enemy began to push +our party back. The two privates were knocked out, and Captain +Kelly had to make for home. He picked up the sergeant-major and +carried him out of the German trench. The enemy had many a pot +shot at him, and the shell fire <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span>continued as well. It is a +miracle how he escaped. The Boches were close on his heels. The +captain just laid down his burden for a few minutes and threw a +bomb or two at them. They skulked back. Then he picked up his +burden and came marching back to us. All the way he was under +heavy fire. After taking a look round to see how things were +shaping he found that three of our chaps were out in the open, +wounded. Immediately he set off to find them. One by one he +carried them into safety, in spite of the furious fire kept up +by the enemy."</p></div> + +<p>Australia is proud of Private Martin O'Meara, V.C., of the Australian +Infantry. So also is Tipperary. He comes of an old Tipperary family, +and has well sustained the splendid traditions of the fighting race. +The official record of the award of the V.C. is as follows—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"For most conspicuous bravery. During four days of very heavy +fighting he repeatedly went out and brought in wounded officers +and men from 'No Man's Land' under intense artillery and +machine-gun fire. He also volunteered and carried up ammunition +and bombs through a heavy barrage to a portion of the trenches +which was being heavily shelled at the time. He showed +throughout an utter contempt of danger and undoubtedly saved +many lives."</p></div> + +<p>Private O'Meara, V.C., is thirty-two years of age. He is the youngest +son of Mr. Thomas O'Meara, Rathcabbin, Birr, and is one of a family of +nine children. Before he left Ireland, in 1911, Private O'Meara worked +as a tree-feller, and in Australia he continued to labour in the +woods, being engaged in making railway sleepers at Collie in West +Australia. In the August of 1915 he answered the call to arms, and +entered the Blackboy Training Camp as a member of the 12th +reinforcements of the Australian Infantry. Before embarking from +Australia a friend vouches that O'Meara said: "As I am going I will do +the best I can to bring back the Victoria Cross." To achieve the +highest award in the British Army was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span>evidently strongly before his +mind. He was two months in France before going up to the trenches, +where he remained five days in all, covering himself with glory and +winning the V.C. in this short period.</p> + +<p>Private O'Meara got a fortnight's leave in October 1916—two months +after he had won the V.C.—and availed himself of it to visit his +native place. The modesty of the man is to be seen in the mode of his +home-coming. His family expected him, but did not know the exact date +of his arrival. He got off the train at Birr Station and walked +home—about five miles—in the darkness, along the disused Birr and +Portumna railway line, which passes close to his home. No one +recognised him at the station or along the way. He opened the door and +walked in, surprising his brother and sister inside. At the end of his +leave he returned almost as quietly as he had come. A fund to make him +a presentation was raised locally, and a considerable sum was invested +in War stock, and a gold watch was bought. Advantage was taken of the +presence of General Hickie, commanding an Irish Division, on a short +visit from France to his home at Selvoir, North Tipperary, to have him +present the gold watch to O'Meara. But O'Meara, like the genuine +fighting man that he is, had immediately volunteered for active +service on his return to London from home, after recovering from his +wounds, and it was found exceedingly difficult to get into touch with +him. In fact, but for the interest taken by General Hickie it would +have been impossible. Ultimately his exact whereabouts were learned +through the War Office, and arrangements were made for his return. +Even so, O'Meara could not get home in time for the presentation, and +it was made to his brothers and sisters. Physically, he is a fine type +of manhood, and in disposition is most lovable.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XVI</h3> + +<h3>RELATIONS BETWEEN ENEMY TRENCHES<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>IRISH KINDLINESS AND GERMAN GUILE</h4> +<br /> + +<p>In the trenches one evening a battalion of the Leinster Regiment held +a "kailee" (<i>ceilidh</i>), or Irish sing-song, at which there was a +spirited rendering of the humorous old ballad, "Bryan O'Lynn," sung to +an infectiously rollicking tune. The opening verse runs—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Bryan O'Lynn had no breeches to wear,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So he bought a sheep-skin to make him a pair,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With the woolly side out, and the skinny side in,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Faix, 'tis pleasant and cool, says Brian O'Lynn."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The swing of the tune took the fancy of the Germans in their trenches, +less than fifty yards away. With a "rumpty-tum-tumty-tum-tumty-tum-tum," +they loudly hummed the air of the end of each verse, all unknowing +that the Leinsters, singing at the top of their voices, gave the words +a topical application—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"With the woolly side out and the skinny side in,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sure, We'll wallop the Gerrys, said Brian O'Lynn."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Hearty bursts of laughter and cheers arose from both trenches at the +conclusion of the song. It seemed as if the combatants gladly availed +themselves of the chance opportunity of becoming united again in the +common brotherhood of man, even for but a fleeting moment, by the +spirit of good-humour and hilarity.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span>Lieutenant Denis Oliver Barnett, a young English officer of a +different battalion of the same Leinster Regiment (whose letters from +the Front have been published as a memorial by his parents), tells of +a more curious incident still, which likewise led to a brief cessation +of hostilities. Two privates in his company had a quarrel in the +trenches, and nothing would do them but to fight it out on No Man's +Land. The Germans were most appreciative and accommodating. Not only +did they not molest the pugilists, but they cheered them, and actually +fired the contents of their rifles in the air by way of a salute. The +European War was, in fact, suspended in this particular section of the +lines while two Irishmen settled their own little differences by a +contest of fists.</p> + +<p>"Who will now say that the Germans are not sportsmen?" was the comment +of the young English officer. There is, however, another and perhaps a +shrewder view of the episode. It was taken, I have been told, by a +sergeant of the company. "Yerra, come down out of that, ye pair of +born fools," he called out to the fighters. "If ye had only a glimmer +of sense ye'd see, so ye would, that 'tis playing the Gerrys' game ye +are. Sure, there's nothing they'd like better than to see us all +knocking blazes out of each other." But as regards the moral pointed +by the officer, there must be, of course, many "sportsmen" among the +millions of German soldiers; though the opinion widely prevailing in +the British Army is that they are more often treacherous fighters. +Indeed, to their dirty practices is mainly to be ascribed the bitter +personal animosity that occasionally mark the relations between the +combatants, when the fighting becomes most bloody and desperate, +and—as happens at times in all wars—no quarter is given to those who +allow none.</p> + +<p>In the wars of old between England and France, both sides were +animated by a very fine sense of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span>chivalry. Barère, one of the chief +popular orators during the worst excesses of the French Revolution, +induced the Convention to declare that no quarter was to be given to +the English. "Soldiers of Liberty," he cried, "when victory places +Englishmen at your mercy, strike!" But the French troops absolutely +refused to act upon the savage decree. The principle upon which both +French and English acted during the Peninsular War was that of doing +as little harm to one another as possible consistently with the +winning of victory. Between the rank and file friendly feelings may be +said, without any incongruity, to have existed. They were able, of +their own accord, to come to certain understandings that tended to +mitigate, to some extent, the hardships and even the dangers to which +they were both alike exposed. One was that sentries at the outposts +must not be fired on or surprised. Often no more than a space of +twenty yards separated them, and when the order to advance was given +to either Army the sentries of the other were warned to retire. Once a +French sentry helped a British sentry to replace his knapsack so that +he might more quickly fall back before the firing began. A remarkable +instance of signalling between the opposing forces is mentioned by +General Sir Charles Napier in his <i>History of the Peninsular War</i>. +Wellington sent a detachment of riflemen to drive away some French +troops occupying the top of a hill near Bayonne, and as they +approached the enemy he ordered them to fire. "But," says Napier, +"with a loud voice one of those soldiers replied, 'No firing,' and +holding up the butt of his rifle tapped it in a peculiar way." This +was a signal to the French and was understood by them—probably as a +result of a mutual arrangement—to mean, "We must have the hill for a +short time." "The French, who, though they could not maintain, would +not relinquish the post without a fight if they <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span>had been fired upon, +quietly retired," Napier writes; "and this signal would never have +been made if the post had been one capable of a permanent defence, so +well do veterans understand war and its proprieties."</p> + +<p>Throughout that long campaign the British and French recognised each +other as worthy foemen, and they were both solicitous to maintain +unstained the honour and dignity of arms. As the opposing forces lay +resting before Lisbon for months, the advanced posts got so closely +into touch that much friendly intercourse took place between them. +French officers frequently asked for such little luxuries as cigars, +coffee and stationery to be brought to them from Lisbon, which was +held by the British, and their requests were always readily complied +with. At the battle of Talavera, on July 28, 1809, the possession of a +hill was fiercely contested all day. The weather was so intensely hot +that the combatants were parched with thirst. At noon there was an +almost entire cessation of artillery and rifle fire, as if an informal +truce had been suddenly come to, by a flash of intuition, and with one +accord French and British rushed down to the rivulet at the foot of +the hill to moisten their burning throats. "The men crowded on each +side of the water's edge," says Napier. "They threw aside their caps +and muskets, and chatted to each other in broken French and still more +fragmentary English across the stream. Flasks were exchanged; hands +shaken. Then the bugle and the rolling drum called the men back to +their colours, and the fight awoke once more."</p> + +<p>Such amenities between combatants are very ancient—the Greeks and +Trojans used to exchange presents and courtesies, in the intervals of +fighting—and the early stages of this war seemed to afford a promise +that they would be revived. The fraternising of the British and +Germans at their first Christmas under <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span>arms, in 1914, will, perhaps, +always be accounted as the most curious episode of the war. It was +quite unauthorised by the higher command. The men themselves, under +the influence of the great Christian festival, brought about a +suspension of hostilities at several points of the lines, and they +availed themselves of the opportunity to satisfy their natural +curiosity to see something more of each other than they could see +through the smoke of battle with deadly weapons in their hands and +hatred in their eyes. Each side had taken prisoners; but prisoners are +"out of it," and therefore reduced to the level of non-combatants. The +foeman in being appears in a very different light. He has the power to +strike. You may have to kill him or you may be killed by him. So the +British and the Germans, impelled in the main by a common feeling of +inquisitiveness, met together, unarmed, in No Man's Land. There was +some amicable conversation where they could make themselves understood +to each other, which happened when a German was found who could speak +a little English. Cigarettes and tunic-buttons were freely exchanged. +But, for the most part, British and Germans stood, with arms folded +across their breasts, and stared at each other with a kind of dread +fascination.</p> + +<p>It never happened again. How could it possibly be repeated? The +introduction of the barbaric elements of "frightfulness," hitherto +confined to savage tribes at war, the use of such devilish inventions +as poison gas and liquid fire, are due to the malignant minds of the +German high command, and for them the German soldiers cannot be held +accountable. But the native lowness of morality shown by so many of +the German rank and file, their apparent insensitiveness to ordinary +humane instincts, the well-authenticated stories of their filthy and +cruel conduct in the occupied districts, inevitably tended to harden +and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span>embitter their adversaries against them too. Of the instances of +their treachery to Irish soldiers which have been brought to my +notice, I will mention only two. One arose out of the "truce" of +Christmas Day, 1914, despite the goodwill of the occasion. The victim, +Sergeant Timothy O'Toole, Leinster Regiment, first mentions that he +took part in a game of football with the Germans, and then proceeds—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"I was returning to my own trench unaccompanied about 12.15 p.m. +When I reached within fifteen paces I was sniped by a Hunnish +swine, the bullet entering my back, penetrating my intestines. +Following the example of Our Lord, I instantly forgave him, +concluding he was only a black sheep, characteristic of any army +or community, but I was labouring under a delusion. Within five +minutes of being hit, I had quite a number around me, including +officers and clergymen. I was so mortally wounded that the +'Padre' administered the last rite of the Church on the spot. +Four stretcher bearers came out for me. I noticed the white band +and Red Cross on their arms. Immediately I was lifted up on the +stretcher. Though I was semi-unconscious I remember the bullets +beating the ground like hailstone on a March day. I was wounded +again, this time the bullet going through the lower part of my +back. Here two of my bearers got hit, Privates Melia and Peters. +The former died in hospital immediately after. Naturally the two +bearers instantly dropped the stretcher. I fell violently to the +ground—nice medicine for a man wounded in the abdomen."</p></div> + +<p class="noin">"Thank Providence, I am still living," Sergeant O'Toole adds, "but a +living victim of German atrocity and barbarism." In the other case a +very gallant young officer of the Dublin Fusiliers, Lieutenant Louis +G. Doran, lost his life on the Somme, October 23, 1916, through the +guile and falsehood of German soldiers. The circumstances are told in +a letter written by Captain Louis C. Byrne to the father of Lieutenant +Doran, Mr. Charles J. Doran of Blackrock, co. Dublin—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"Believe me, Mr. Doran, I sympathise fully with you in your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> +loss because I was your son's company commander and by his death +I have lost one of the best officers in my company. We attacked +a certain position and we had just got to it when some Germans +put up their hands to surrender. Your son went out to take their +surrender and they shot him through the heart and he died at +once. My other three officers were also knocked out, and only +myself and thirty-six men returned to headquarters after the +battle. Still, we took the position owing to gallantry of men +like your son. He died a noble and heroic death—no man could +possibly wish for a better one. He told me he had just had a +brother wounded, so your loss is double and words cannot express +my sympathy with you. Your son was buried with the men in the +position we took. It was impossible to bring his body down owing +to heavy fire. I think it is what he would have liked best."</p></div> + +<p>The lady to whom Lieutenant Doran was engaged to be married kindly +sent me a few extracts from his letters which convey something of his +care and thought for his men. "Those I have seen from the men," she +says, "amplify this from their own experience in ways which he would +never dream of mentioning, he was always so modest about all he did." +"I'm going to tell you what I would really love to get now and again," +Lieutenant Doran wrote in one letter. "You see, we officers are never +very hard up for grub, and I would much prefer to receive something +for my men, who get very little in the way of luxuries or dainties. As +you know, a platoon is split into four sections, and anything that I +could divide into four parts amongst them would be most acceptable. +For instance, four small tins of butter would be a great luxury, or a +big cake—anything that gives them a change." In another he said: "As +you say, there are always hungry soldiers to be found, and I often +wish some of the presents I receive would only come together, as one +cake is a useless thing among forty hungry men. The poor fellows have +fairly rough fare as a rule, and sometimes not even much of that. One +wonders how it is they keep so cheerful." The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span>men, in turn, were most +devoted to Lieutenant Doran. They would do anything to prevent a hair +of his head being hurt.</p> + +<p>Generally speaking, feeling in the British Army is, however, +extraordinarily devoid of that vindictiveness which springs from a +deep sense of personal injury, and evokes, in turn, a desire for +revenge which, were it shown, would, however lamentable, be not +unnatural in many circumstances of this war. The Germans, in the mass, +are regarded as having been dehumanised and transformed into a process +of ruthless destruction. In any case, they are the enemy. As such, +there is a satisfaction—nay, a positive delight—in sweeping them out +of existence. That is war. But the rage for killing them is +impersonal. Against the German soldier individually it may be said +that, on the whole, there is no rancour. In fact, the British soldiers +have a curiously detached and generous way of regarding their +country's enemies. When the German soldier is taken prisoner, or +picked up wounded, the British soldier is disposed, as a hundred +thousand instances show, to treat him as a "pal"—to divide his food +and share his cigarettes with him as he passes to the base.</p> + +<p>It is very noticeable how all the war correspondents, in their +accounts of the taking of the village of Guinchy on the Somme by the +Irish Division, dwelt on the chivalrous way in which the Irish treated +their vanquished foes. Once the spirit of combativeness is aroused in +the Irish soldiers they hate the enemy like the black death to which +they strive to consign them. But when the fury of battle has died down +in victory there are none so soft and kindly to the beaten enemy. +Surrender should always, of course, disarm hostility. No true soldier +would decline to lower his bayonet when a foeman acknowledges defeat +and places his life in his keeping. That is, after a fair and gallant +fight on the part of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span>foeman. It was because the Germans at +Guinchy were vindictive in combat, and despicable when overthrown, +that the Irish acted with rare magnanimity in accepting their +submission and sparing their lives.</p> + +<p>In that engagement the Irish made a characteristically headlong dash +for the enemy positions. Rifle and machine-gun fire was poured into +them by the Germans up to the very last moment—until, in fact, they +had reached the trenches; and then, as they were about to jump in and +bayonet and club their bloodthirsty foemen, they found them on their +knees, with hands uplifted. The Irish were enraged at the sight. To +think that men who had been so merciless should beg for mercy when +their opponents were on top of them! Were their comrades slain only a +moment since to go unavenged? These thoughts passed rapidly through +the minds of the Irish. As swiftly came the decision, worthy of +high-souled men. An enemy on his knees is to them inviolable, not to +be hurt or injured, however mean and low he may have proved himself to +be. So the Irish bayonet, at the very breasts of the Germans, was +turned aside; that was the right and proper thing to do, and it would +not call for notice but that it shines with the light of chivalry in +comparison with the black meanness and treachery of the Germans.</p> + +<p>In the gladiatorial fights for the entertainment of the people in +ancient Rome the defeated combatant was expected to expose his throat +to the sword of the victor, and any shrinking on his part caused the +arena to ring with the angry shouts of the thousands of spectators: +"Receive the steel." The way of the Irish at Guinchy was different, +and perhaps the renunciation of their revenge was not the least +magnificent act of a glorious day.</p> + +<p>"If we brained them on the spot, who could blame us? 'Tis ourselves +that would think it no sin if it <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span>was done by any one else," said a +private of the Dublin Fusiliers. "Let me tell you," he went on, "what +happened to myself. As I raced across the open with my comrades, +jumping in and out of shell holes, and the bullets flying thick around +us, laying many the fine boy low, I said to myself, this is going to +be a fight to the last gasp for those of us that get to the Germans. +As I came near to the trenches I picked a man out for myself. Straight +in front of me he was, leaning out of the trench, and he with a rifle +firing away at us as if we were rabbits. I made for him with my +bayonet ready, determined to give him what he deserved, when—what do +you think?—didn't he notice me and what I was up to. Dropping his +rifle, he raised himself up in the trench and stretched out his hands +towards me. What could you do in that case, but what I did? Sure you +wouldn't have the heart to strike him down, even if he were to kill +you. I caught sight of his eyes, and there was such a frightened and +pleading look in them that I at once lowered my rifle. I could no more +prod him with my bayonet than I could a toddling child. I declare to +the Lord the state of the poor devil almost made me cry. I took him by +the hand, saying, 'You're my prisoner.' I don't suppose he understood +a word of what I said, but he clung to me, crying, 'Kamerad! kamerad!' +I was more glad than ever then that I hadn't the blood of him on my +soul. 'Tis a queer thing to say, maybe, of a man who acted like that; +but, all the same, he looked a decent boy every bit of him. I suppose +the truth of it is this: we soldiers, on both sides, have to go +through such terrible experiences that there is no accounting for how +we may behave. We might be devils, all out, in the morning, and +saints, no less, in the evening."</p> + +<p>The relations between the trenches include even attempts at an +exchange of repartee. The wit, as may <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span>be supposed, in such +circumstances, is invariably ironic and sarcastic. My examples are +Irish, for the reason that I have had most to do with Irish soldiers, +but they may be taken as fairly representative of the taunts and +pleasantries which are often bandied across No Man's Land. The Germans +holding part of their line in Belgium got to know that the British +trenches opposite them were being held by an Irish battalion. "Hello, +Irish," they cried; "how is King Carson getting on? and have you got +Home Rule yet?" The company sergeant-major, a big Tipperary man, was +selected to make the proper reply, and in order that it might be fully +effective he sent it through a megaphone which the colonel was +accustomed to use in addressing the battalion on parade. "Hello, +Gerrys," he called out. "I'm thinking it isn't information ye want, +but divarshion; but 'tis information I'll be after giving ye, all the +same. Later on we'll be sending ye some fun that'll make ye laugh at +the other side of ye'r mouths. The last we heard of Carson he was +prodding the Government like the very devil to put venim into their +blows at ye, and more power to his elbow while he's at that work, say +we. As for Home Rule, we mean to have it, and we'll get it, please +God, when ye're licked. Put that in ye're pipes and smoke it."</p> + +<p>Of all the horrible features of the war, surely the most heartrending +is the fate of the wounded lying without succour in the open between +the opposing lines, owing to the inability of the higher command on +both sides to agree to an arrangement for a short suspension of +hostilities after an engagement so that the stricken might be brought +in. Prone in the mud and slush they lie, during the cruel winter +weather, with the rain pouring down upon them, their moans of agony in +the darkness of the night mingling with the cold blasts that howl +around them. But, thanks <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span>to the loving kindness of man for his +fellow, even in war, these unfortunate creatures are not deserted. +British soldiers without number have voluntarily crept out into No +Man's Land to rescue them, often under murderous fire from the enemy. +Many of the Victoria Crosses won in this war have been awarded for +conspicuous gallantry displayed in these most humane and chivalrous +enterprises.</p> + +<p>One of the most uplifting stories I have heard was told me by a +captain of the Royal Irish Fusiliers. Out there in front of the trench +held by his company lay a figure in khaki writhing in pain and wailing +for help. "Will no one come to me?" he cried in a voice broken with +anguish. He had been disabled in the course of a raid on the German +trenches the night before by a battalion which was relieved in the +morning. These appeals of his were like stabs to the compassionate +hearts of the Irish Fusiliers. Several of them told the captain they +could stand it no longer, and must go out to the wounded man. If they +were shot in the attempt, what matter? It happened that a little dog +was then making himself quite at home in both the British and German +trenches at this part of the lines. He was a neutral; he took no +sides; he regularly crossed from one to the other, and found in both +friends to give him food and a kind word, with a pat on the head. The +happy thought came to the captain to make a messenger of the dog. So +he wrote, "May we take our wounded man in?", tied the note to the +dog's tail, and sent him to the German trenches. The message was in +English, for the captain did not know German, and had to trust to the +chance of the enemy being able to read it. In a short time the dog +returned with the answer. It was in English, and it ran: "Yes; you can +have five minutes." So the captain and a man went out with a stretcher +and brought the poor fellow back to our lines.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span>Some of these understandings are come to by a sort of telepathic +suggestion inspired by the principle of "live and let live," however +incongruous that may seem in warfare. As an instance, recuperative +work, such as the bringing up of food to the firing lines is often +allowed to go on in comparative quietude. Neither side cares to stand +on guard in the trenches with an empty stomach. Often, therefore, +firing is almost entirely suspended in the early hours of the night, +when it is known that rations are being distributed. That is not the +way everywhere and always. A private of the Royal Irish Regiment told +me that what he found most aggravating in the trenches was the +fusillading by the Germans when the men were getting ready a bit to +eat. "I suppose," he remarked, "'twas the smell of the frying bacon +that put their dandher up." But even defensive work has been allowed +to proceed without interference, when carried on simultaneously by +both sides. Heavy rain, following a hard frost, turned the trenches in +the Ypres district into a chaos of ooze and slime. "How deep is it +with you?" a German soldier shouted across to the British. "Up to our +knees, bedad," was the reply. "You are lucky fellows. We're up to our +belts in it," said the German. Driven to desperation by their hideous +discomfort, the Germans soon after crawled up on to their parapets and +sat there to dry and stretch their legs, calling out, "Kamerads, don't +shoot; don't shoot, kamerads!" The reply of the Irish was to get out +of their trenches and do likewise. On another occasion, in the broad +daylight, unarmed parties of men on both sides, by a tacit agreement, +set about repairing their respective barbed-wire entanglements. They +were no more than fifteen or twenty yards apart. The wiring-party on +the British side belonged to the Munster Fusiliers. Being short of +mallets, one of the Munsters coolly walked across to the enemy and +said, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span>"Good-morrow, Gerrys. Would any of ye be so kind as to lend me +the loan of a hammer?" The Germans received him with smiles, but as +they did not know English they were unable to understand what he +wanted until he made it clear by pantomimic action, when he was given +the hammer "with a heart and a half," as he put it himself. Having +repaired the defences of his own trench, he brought back the hammer to +the Germans, and thought he might give them "a bit of his mind," +without offence, as they did not know what he was saying. "Here's your +hammer, and thanks," said he. "High hanging to the man that caused +this war—ye know who I mean—and may we be all soon busily at work +hammering nails into his coffin."</p> + +<p>Many touching stories might be told of the sympathy which unites the +combatants when they find themselves lying side by side, wounded and +helpless, in shell holes and copses, or on the open plain after an +engagement. The ruling spirit which animates the soldier in the fury +of the fight is, as it seems to me, that of self-preservation. He +kills or disables so that he may not be killed or disabled himself. +Besides that, each side are convinced they are waging a purely +defensive war. So it is that hostility subsides, once the sense of +danger is removed, and each side sees in its captives not devils or +barbarians, but fellow-men. Especially among the wounded, British and +German, do these sentiments prevail, as they lie together on the field +of battle. In a dim way they pitifully regard each other as hapless +victims caught in the vortex of the greatest of human tragedies, or +set against each other by the ambitions of rulers and statesmen in +which they have no part. They try to help each other, to ease each +other's sufferings, to stanch each other's wounds, to give each other +comfort in their sore distress.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span>"Poor devil, unnerved by shell shock," was the comment passed as a +wounded German was being carried by on a stretcher sobbing as if his +heart would break. It was not the roar of the artillery and the +bursting of high explosives that had unnerved him, but the +self-sacrifice of a Dublin Fusilier, who, in succouring him, lost his +own life. At the hospital the German related that, on recovering his +senses after being shot, he found the Dublin Fusilier trying to stanch +the wound in his shattered leg, from which blood was flowing +profusely. The Irishman undid the field-dressing, consisting of +bandage and antiseptic preparation, which he had wrapped round his own +wound, and applied it to the German, as he appeared to be in danger of +bleeding to death. Before the two men were discovered by a British +stretcher party, the Dublin Fusilier had passed away. He developed +blood-poisoning through his exposed wound. The German, on hearing the +news, broke down and wept bitterly.</p> + +<p>Reconciliation between wounded foemen is happily a common occurrence +on the stricken plain. The malignant roar of the guns may still be in +their ears, and they may see around them bodies battered and twisted +out of all human shape. All the more are they anxious to testify that +there is no fury in their hearts with each other, and that their one +wish is to make the supreme parting with words of reconciliation and +prayers on their lips. I have had from a French officer, who was +wounded in a cavalry charge early in the war, an account of a pathetic +incident which took place close to where he lay. Among his companions +in affliction were two who were far gone on the way to death. One was +a private in the Uhlans, and the other a private in the Royal Irish +Dragoons. The Irishman got, with a painful effort, from an inside +pocket of his tunic a rosary beads which had a crucifix <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span>attached to +it. Then he commenced to mutter to himself the invocations to the +Blessed Virgin of which the Rosary is composed. "Hail, Mary! full of +grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and +blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus." The German, lying huddled +close by, stirred with the uneasy movements of a man weak from pain +and loss of blood on hearing the murmur of prayer, and, looking round +in a dazed condition, the sight of the beads in the hands of his +fellow in distress seemed to recall to his mind other times and +different circumstances—family prayers at home somewhere in Bavaria, +and Sunday evening devotions in church, for he made, in his own +tongue, the response to the invocation: "Holy Mary, Mother of God, +pray for us sinners now at the hour of our death. Amen." So the voices +intermingled in address and prayer—the rapt ejaculations of the +Irishman, the deep guttural of the German—getting weaker and weaker, +in the process of dissolution, until they were hushed on earth for +evermore.</p> + +<p>War has outwardly lost its romance, with its colour and pageantry. It +is bloody, ugly and horrible. Yet romance is not dead. It still +survives, radiant and glowing, in the heroic achievements of our +soldiers, and in the tender impulses of their hearts.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h4>THE END</h4> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<h4><span class="sc">Printed in Great Britain by Richard Clay & Sons, Limited,</span><br /> +<span class="fakesc">BRUNSWICK ST., STAMFORD ST., S.E., AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.</span></h4> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h1>THE IRISH AT THE FRONT</h1> + +<h3>By MICHAEL MacDONAGH</h3> +<br /> + +<h4>FROM THE REVIEWS OF THE FIRST SERIES</h4> + +<div class="block"><p><i>Westminster Gazette.</i>—"Mr. MacDonagh has crammed into a small +volume an almost incredible number of thrilling stories of great +deeds, whether of collective dash and daring and endurance or of +individual heroism. He has found his material in the letters of +officers and men and the conversation of those who have come +home, as well as from the records compiled at regimental depots; +and he has utilised it skilfully, avoiding too frequent +quotation and giving his reader a connected and fluent narrative +that is of absorbing interest. He gives us vivid pictures of the +retreat from Mons—of the Irish Guards receiving their baptism +of fire; of the Connaught Rangers' part in the first stand that +was made ('It was a grand time we had,' one of them said, 'and I +wouldn't have missed it for lashin's of money!'); of the Dublins +at Cambrai, where they went into the fray in a way that is well +described as 'uproariously and outrageously Irish,' after +singing all the Fenian songs for which they had time; and of the +Munsters who harnessed themselves cheerfully, for lack of +horses, to the guns they had captured from the Germans. He tells +us of the green flag that Corporal Cunningham bought from a +pedlar in London, and that the Irish Guards have since followed +to the gates of death on a score of fields; of the Irish Rifles +rallying to the 'view-hallo' that Lieutenant Graham gave them on +a French newsboy's horn; of the glorious sacrifices of the +Dublins and the Munsters at the Gallipoli landings; and of the +desperate resistance at Loos, where, as the Brigadier said to +his men when it was over, 'It was the London Irish who helped to +save a whole British Army Corps.' From first to last it is a +glorious story of almost incredible deeds."</p> + +<p><i>Star.</i>—"It is an amazing story of incredible gallantry and +fantastic daring, gay with humour and poignant with pathos. I +defy anybody except a tapeworm to read it without a lump in the +throat and tears in the eyes."—<span class="sc">James Douglas.</span></p></div> + +<p class="cen">Bound in cloth, 1s. 3d. net. Postage 4d. extra.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h3>THE IRISH AT THE FRONT</h3> + +<h4>SOME FURTHER REVIEWS</h4> + +<div class="block"><p><i>The Times.</i>—"'It is heroic deeds entering into their +traditions that give life to nations,' writes Mr. John Redmond +in his preface to Mr. Michael MacDonagh's <i>The Irish at the +Front</i>. The phrase sums up the aim and temper of the book, which +is designed to bring home to English, and especially to Irish, +readers the magnificent service of Irish soldiers in the war and +the sanctity of the cause for which they fight. It is an appeal +to Irishmen not to let the national effort flag, for the sake of +the highest interests both of humanity and of Ireland. In a +vivid and earnest popular style Mr. MacDonagh puts flesh and +blood on the dry bones of the official dispatches by drawing on +regimental records and the narratives of officers and men. The +letters of Irish soldiers give a lively impression of battle +scenes, and add greatly to the spirit of the volume; but many of +the most striking testimonies to the achievements of the Irish +regiments come from comrades who are not Irish. It is +indisputable that the traditional military valour of the Irish +race has been brilliantly sustained in this war, not only by the +old Regular battalions, but by the Irishmen of the New Army."</p> + +<p><i>Irish Times.</i>—"Page after page uncovers the story of a heroism +such as few of us had dreamt of—a story told with the +understanding of one who is an Irishman of Nationalist +sympathies, intensely proud of his country, and of the form of +faith which is predominant in Ireland. We do not regard +ourselves as easily giving visible expression to our feelings, +but we must confess that we found the tears coming to our eyes +again and again as we read the magnificent, yet sad, story. +Whether it was the valour of the Munsters in their retreat from +Mons, or the headlong impetuosity of the Irish Guards at the +Battle of the Rivers, or the football charge of the London Irish +at Loos, or the glorious but ghastly tale of the 29th Division +at Beach V, or the hardly less awful landing of the 10th +Division at Suvla Bay, it was the same. We were overcome, yet +filled with pride, at the glory and the sorrow of it all. The +old spirit is still in the soldiers of Ireland. The shifting +scenes of the narrative tell us that the imperturbability and +daring which belonged to the Irish of past battles are seen as +strongly marked as ever in the hurriedly trained units of the +New Armies."</p> + +<p><i>Freeman's Journal.</i>—"A vivid human narrative of the war, at +once a fine contribution to the history of the great deeds of +our day and a tribute to the heroism and sacrifices of the +Irish."</p></div> + +<h4>HODDER & STOUGHTON: London, New York and Toronto.</h4> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h2>SOME RECENT WAR BOOKS</h2> + +<br /> + +<h4>WITH A PREFACE BY RUDYARD KIPLING</h4> + +<div class="block4"><p class="hang">BRITAIN AND THE WAR. By <span class="sc">André Chevrillon</span>. With a Preface +by <span class="sc">Rudyard Kipling</span>. Cloth, 5/-net.</p> + +<br /> + +<h4>J.P. BANG</h4> + +<p class="hang">HURRAH AND HALLELUJAH: The Spirit of New Germanism. A +Documentation. By <span class="sc">J.P. Bang</span>, Professor of Theology in +the University of Copenhagen. Second Edition. Cloth, 5/-net.</p> + +<br /> + +<h4>CAPTAIN PHILIPPE MILLET</h4> + +<p class="hang">COMRADES IN ARMS: Vignettes from the Trenches, the Artillery Zone, +or Behind the Lines. By Captain <span class="sc">Philippe Millet</span>. +Translated by Lady <span class="sc">Frazer</span>. Cloth, 3/6 net.</p> + +<br /> + +<h4>JOHANNES JORGENSEN</h4> + +<p class="hang">FALSE WITNESS: The Authorised Translation of "Klokke Roland." By +<span class="sc">Johannes Jorgensen</span>. With Illustrations. Cloth, 3/6 net.</p> + +<br /> + +<h4>L. MOKVELD</h4> + +<p class="hang">THE GERMAN FURY IN BELGIUM: The Personal Experiences of a +Netherlands Journalist during Four Months with the German +Armies. By <span class="sc">L. Mokveld</span>, War Correspondent of <i>De Tyd</i>. +Cloth, 3/6 net.</p> + +<br /> + +<h4>JACQUES BAINVILLE</h4> + +<p class="hang">ITALY AND THE WAR. By <span class="sc">Jacques Bainville</span>. Cloth, 3/6 net.</p> + +<br /> + +<h4>Ch. DE VISSCHER</h4> + +<p class="hang">BELGIUM'S CASE: A Juridical Enquiry. By <span class="sc">Ch. de Visscher</span>, +Professor of Law at the University of Ghent. Cloth, 3/6 net.</p></div> + +<br /> + +<h4>HODDER & STOUGHTON, Publishers, Warwick Sq., London, E.C.</h4> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<div class="tr"> +<p class="cen"><a name="TN" id="TN"></a>Typographical errors corrected in text:</p> +<br /> +Page 78: ojects replaced with objects<br /> +Page 93: chose replaced with choose<br /> +Page 157: Leiutenant replaced with Lieutenant<br /> +</div> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Irish on the Somme, by Michael MacDonagh + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE IRISH ON THE SOMME *** + +***** This file should be named 34907-h.htm or 34907-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/9/0/34907/ + +Produced by Jeannie Howse, David Clarke and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Irish on the Somme + Being a Second Series of 'The Irish at the Front' + +Author: Michael MacDonagh + +Release Date: January 10, 2011 [EBook #34907] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE IRISH ON THE SOMME *** + + + + +Produced by Jeannie Howse, David Clarke and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + + + + + + * * * * * + + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Note: | + | | + | Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has | + | been preserved. | + | | + | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. For | + | a complete list, please see the end of this document. | + | | + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + + * * * * * + + + + +THE IRISH ON THE SOMME + + + + +THE IRISH +ON THE SOMME + + +_BEING THE SECOND SERIES OF +"THE IRISH AT THE FRONT"_ + + +By MICHAEL MACDONAGH +_Author of "Irish Life and Character"_ + + +_WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY_ +JOHN REDMOND, M.P. + + +HODDER AND STOUGHTON +LONDON NEW YORK TORONTO +MCMXVII + + + + +TO + +THE MEMORY OF + +MAJOR WILLIAM REDMOND, M.P. + +ROYAL IRISH REGIMENT (IRISH BRIGADE) + +WHO DIED OF WOUNDS RECEIVED IN ACTION + +JUNE 7, 1917 + +LEADING HIS MEN IN THE ATTACK + +ON WYTSCHAETE WOOD + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +BY JOHN REDMOND, M.P. + + +THE RESPONSE OF THE IRISH RACE + +This war is a war of liberation, and its battle-cry is the rights and +liberties of humanity. From the very beginning of the conflict my +colleagues of the Irish Party, and I myself, have availed of every +opportunity in Parliament, on the platform, and in the Press, to +present this view of it to the Irish race at home and abroad; and +despite the tragic mistakes made in regard to Ireland by the +successive Governments which have held office since war broke out, we +are still unshaken in our opinion that Ireland's highest interests lie +in the speedy and overwhelming victory of England and the Allies. + +The response of the Irish race the world over to our appeal to rise in +defence of civilisation and freedom has been really wonderful. The +example was set by Ireland herself. + +At the outbreak of the war I asked the Irish people, and especially +the young men of Ireland, to mark the profound change which has been +brought about in the relations of Ireland to the Empire by +wholeheartedly supporting the Allies in the field. I pointed out that +at long last, after centuries of misunderstanding, the democracy of +Great Britain had finally and irrevocably decided to trust Ireland +with self-government; and I called upon Ireland to prove that this +concession of liberty would have the same effect in our country as it +has had in every other portion of the Empire, and that henceforth +Ireland would be a strength instead of a weakness. I further pointed +out that the war was provoked by the intolerable military despotism of +Germany, that it was a war in defence of small nationalities, and that +Ireland would be false to her own history and traditions, as well as +to honour, good faith and self-interest, if she did not respond to my +appeal. + +The answer to that appeal is one of the most astonishing facts in +history. At the moment, fraught with the most terrible consequences to +the whole Empire, this Kingdom found for the first time in the history +of the relations between Great Britain and Ireland that the Irish +Nationalist members, representing the overwhelming mass of the people +of Ireland, were enabled to declare themselves upon the side of +England. They did that with their eyes open. They knew the +difficulties in the way. They knew--none so well--the distrust and +suspicion of British good faith which had been, in the past, universal +almost in Ireland. They recognised that the boon of self-government +had not been finally granted to their country. They knew the +traditional hostility which existed in many parts of Ireland to +recruiting for the British Army. Facing all these things, and all the +risks that they entailed, they told Ireland and her sons abroad that +it was their duty to rally to the support of the Allies in a war which +was in defence of the principles of freedom and civilisation. We +succeeded far better than we had anticipated, or hoped at the +commencement. This is a notorious fact. There is genuine enthusiasm in +Ireland on the side of the Allies. Addressing great popular gatherings +in every province in Ireland in support of the Allies, I called for a +distinctively Irish army, composed of Irishmen, led by Irishmen and +trained at home in Ireland. With profound gratitude I acknowledge the +magnificent response the country has made. For the first time in the +history of the Wars of England there is a huge Irish army in the +field. The achievements of that Irish army have covered Ireland with +glory before the world, and have thrilled our hearts with pride. North +and South have vied with each other in springing to arms, and, please +God, the sacrifices they have made side by side on the field of battle +will form the surest bond of a united Irish nation in the future. + +From Ireland, according to the latest official figures, 173,772 +Irishmen are serving in the Navy and Army, representing all classes +and creeds amongst our people. Careful inquiries made through the +churches in the north of England and Scotland and from other sources, +show that, in addition, at least 150,000 sons of the Irish race, most +of them born in Ireland, have joined the Colours in Great Britain. It +is a pathetic circumstance that these Irishmen in non-Irish regiments +are almost forgotten, except when their names appear in the casualty +lists. Some of the Irish papers have, for a considerable time past, +been publishing special lists of killed and wounded under the heading, +"Irish Casualties in British Regiments." One of these daily lists, +taken quite haphazard, and published on November 1, 1916, contains 225 +names, all distinctively Irish--O'Briens, O'Hanlons, Donovans, etc. +These men were scattered amongst the following non-Irish regiments-- + + Grenadier Guards. + Coldstream Guards. + Scots Guards. + Welsh Guards. + Royal Field Artillery. + Royal Engineers. + Royal Scots Fusiliers. + The Black Watch. + Northumberland Fusiliers. + Yorkshire Regiment. + East Yorks Regiment. + Dorsetshire Regiment. + Cheshire Regiment. + York and Lancaster Regiment. + Lancashire Fusiliers. + King's Royal Rifles. + London Regiment. + Manchester Regiment. + King's Liverpool Regiment. + Loyal North Lancashire Regiment. + Royal Warwickshire Regiment. + Highland Light Infantry. + Leicestershire Regiment. + Worcestershire Regiment. + Sherwood Foresters. + King's Own Yorks Light Infantry. + Border Regiment. + Durham Light Infantry. + Notts. & Derby Regiment. + Machine Gun Corps. + Army Service Corps. + Army Cyclist Corps. + +As showing the extent to which Scottish regiments at the Front are +made up of Irishmen, one newspaper quotes four hundred names from the +casualty lists issued on four successive days one week. All the names +are Irish, all the addresses are Scotch, and in only about twenty +cases were the men enrolled in Irish regiments, all the others being +attached to Scottish regiments. These sad records show the many +thousands of Irishmen serving in non-Irish regiments who are never +taken into account to the credit of Ireland, in estimating the part +she is playing in this war, until they come to light in the casualty +lists. + +In addition to these voluntary contributions of Ireland and her sons +in Great Britain to the British Army, I am informed on the highest +authority that from twenty to twenty-five per cent of all the troops +from the oversea Dominions are men of Irish blood. General Botha sent +me this cablegram from South Africa: "I entirely endorse your view +that this victory"--he is referring to his great defeat of the Germans +in their colonies--"is the fruit of the policy of liberty and the +recognition of national rights in this part of the Empire." General +Botha had enormous difficulties to face, serious racial animosity, and +bitter national memories. Does any fair-minded man think that General +Botha could have overcome those difficulties as he did if the war had +broken out just after the recognition of those national rights to +which he referred and before they had come into operation? The +national rights of Ireland are recognised, but they have not yet come +into operation. Yet it is true to say that the overwhelming sentiment +of the Irish people is with the Empire for the first time. That fact +is of incalculable value. Its influence has spread to every corner of +the Empire. If the sentiment of the Irish people at home had not been +with England in this war, the depressing and benumbing effect would +have been felt everywhere in the self-governing Dominions. Ireland +herself has made a splendid response, and the result has been that a +wave of enthusiasm has stirred the hearts of men of Irish blood +throughout the Empire. I received a New Year's card from the +commanding officer and the other officers of a regiment raised in +Vancouver, commanded by Irishmen and composed of Irishmen. They call +themselves "The Vancouver Irish Fusiliers." Then, not long since, in +Cape Town, green flags were presented by General Botha's wife--a +member of the historic Emmet family--to an Irish regiment raised +there. These facts constitute a striking result of the action we felt +it our duty to take to bring feeling in Ireland in regard to the war +into line with that of the rest of the Empire. Then there is that +remarkable Irish battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, the +Irish Canadian Rangers, which is composed of Irish Catholics and Irish +Protestants in equal numbers, commanded by officers more than half of +whom are Catholics and having a Catholic chaplain and a Protestant +chaplain. This battalion, unique among the fighting units raised at +home or abroad during the war, and a magnificent body of men, made a +tour through the ancient motherland of their race in January 1917 (on +their way to the Front), and received in Dublin, Belfast, Cork and +Limerick the most enthusiastic popular welcomes. + +Ireland is very proud of these sons of the Irish race who, in every +part of the Empire, have followed the lead which she herself has given +in rallying to the cause with which she has always sympathised and has +always supported--the cause of right against might. The Irish race is +represented in this war by at least half a million of men who have +voluntarily joined the Colours. How gallantly they have fought this +book, in part, relates. In his first series of _The Irish at the +Front_ Mr. MacDonagh deals with the achievements of the Irish Guards +and the Regular Irish regiments of the Line in Flanders and France in +the earlier years of the war; the landing of the Munsters and Dublins +of the immortal 29th Division at Beach V, Gallipoli; and the fighting +of the 10th (Irish) Division of the New Armies at Suvla Bay. The +story of these glorious deeds sent a wave of emotion through the land. +The King, addressing a battalion of the Irish Guards on St. Patrick's +Day, 1916, said-- + + "On St. Patrick's Day, when Irishmen the world over unite to + celebrate the memory of their Patron Saint, it gives me great + pleasure to inspect the reserve battalion of my Irish Guards, + and to testify my appreciation of the services rendered by the + regiment in this war.... I gratefully remember the heroic + endurance of the 1st Battalion in the arduous retreat from Mons, + again at Ypres on the critical November 1st, when, as Lord + Cavan, your Brigadier, wrote, those who were left showed the + enemy that Irish Guards must be reckoned with, however hard hit. + After twenty-eight days of incessant fighting against heavy + odds, the battalion came out of the line less than a company + strong, with only four officers--a glorious tribute to Irish + loyalty and endurance.... In conferring the Victoria Cross on + Lance-Corporal, now Lieutenant, Michael O'Leary, the first Irish + Guardsman to win this coveted distinction, I was proud to honour + a deed that, in its fearless contempt of death, illustrates the + spirit of my Irish Guards. At Loos the 2nd Battalion received + its baptism of fire and confirmed the high reputation already + won by the 1st Battalion." + +_The Daily Telegraph_ (London), writing on March 18, 1916, said-- + + "There is one key to the soul of Ireland--the word 'freedom.' It + was realised instantly that this was no dynastic war on the part + of the Allies, no struggle for material ends, but a life and + death conflict for liberty of thought and action. Once the issue + was exposed, Irishmen, with all the white heat which injustice + inspires in their breasts, threw themselves into the battle. The + enemy has since felt Irish steel and fallen under Irish bullets. + Whatever the future may have in store, the British people will + never forget the generous blood of the sister nation, which has + been shed on so many hard-fought battlefields since the + world-war began." + +In this, the second series of _The Irish at the Front_, the thrilling +story is continued. The Irish troops dealt with are all of the New +Armies--the Ulster Division, the Irish Division and the Tyneside Irish +Brigade. I am as proud of the Ulster regiments as I am of the +Nationalist regiments. I do not want to boast of their valour. We +Irishmen are inclined to take it as a matter of course. These Irish +regiments, Unionist and Nationalist, merely keep up the tradition of +our race. But I say that Lord Kitchener's words remain true--the words +that he wrote to the Viceregal Recruiting Conference in Dublin in +1915, when he said that in the matter of recruiting, "Ireland's +performance has been magnificent." Let me ask any fair-minded man this +question: If five years ago any one had predicted that in a great war +in which the Empire was engaged 173,772 men would have been raised +from Ireland, and that there would be more than half a million +Irishmen with the Colours, would he not have been looked upon as a +lunatic? It is the free offering of Ireland. Surely it must be +regarded as a proud and astonishing record! + + J.E. REDMOND. + + + + +PREFACE + + +This narrative is concerned chiefly with the three distinctively Irish +units of the New Armies engaged on the Western Front--the Ulster +Division, the Irish Division (representative of the south and west), +and the "Tyneside Irish," in which Irishmen living in the north of +England enlisted. It also deals incidentally with the Irish Regular +regiments of the Line, and with that numerous body of Irishmen serving +in English, Scottish and Welsh battalions and in the Anzacs and +Canadians. + +The first series of _The Irish at the Front_ covers, first, the +fighting of the Irish regiments of the Regular Army in France, +Flanders and the Dardanelles during the early stages of the war; and, +secondly, the operations of the 10th (Irish) Division--composed +entirely of "Kitchener's men"--against the Turks at Gallipoli. The +latter, an exceptionally fine body of young Irishmen, gallantly fought +and fell--as the story discloses--in that expedition, so ill-fated and +yet so romantic, though they had never handled a rifle or done a day's +drill before the war. In this series we see Irishmen of the same type +matched against the Germans in France. As we know, Germany confidently +expected that such levies, hastily raised and insufficiently trained, +would break in pieces at the first encounter with her seasoned +troops. But it was the formidable German lines that were broken, and +they were broken by these very raw levies at the bayonet's point. + +For the telling of the Irish part in the story of the Somme I am much +indebted to the assistance given by officers and men of the Irish +battalions engaged in that mighty battle. But the Irish soldiers are +not only "splendid fighting material"--a rather non-human phrase now +much in vogue, as if the only thing that matters in warfare is the +physical capacity of man--they have souls and minds and hearts, as +well as strong right hands, and of these also something is said in +this book. + + MICHAEL MACDONAGH. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + +INTRODUCTION BY JOHN REDMOND, M.P. + + PREFACE 7 + + CHAP. + I.--IN THE TRENCHES WITH THE CONNAUGHT RANGERS 11 + Scenes Comic and Tragic + + II.--EXPLOITS OF THE ULSTER DIVISION 24 + Belfast's Tribute to the Dead + + III.--ULSTERS' ATTACK ON THE SLOPES OF THIEPVAL. 32 + "Not a man turned to come back, not one" + + IV.--FOUR VICTORIA CROSSES TO THE ULSTER DIVISION 47 + Brilliant Additions to the Record of Irish Valour + and Romance + + V.--COMBATIVENESS OF THE IRISH SOLDIER 56 + The British Blends of Courage + + VI.--WITH THE TYNESIDE IRISH 67 + Over the Heights of La Boiselle, through Bailiff's + Wood to Contalmaison + + VII.--THE WEARING OF RELIGIOUS EMBLEMS AT THE FRONT 84 + + VIII.--THE IRISH SOLDIER'S HUMOUR AND SERIOUSNESS 104 + Stories from the Front, Funny and Otherwise + + IX.--THE IRISH BRIGADE 118 + "Everywhere and Always Faithful" + + X.--IRISH REPLIES TO GERMAN WILES AND POISON GAS 128 + How the Munsters captured the Enemy's wheedling + Placards + + XI.--STORMING OF GUILLAMONT BY THE IRISH BRIGADE 138 + Raising the Green Flag in the Centre of the Village + + XII.--THE BRIGADE'S POUNCE ON GUINCHY 146 + Gallant Boy Officers of the Dublin Fusiliers + + XIII.--HONOURS AND DISTINCTIONS FOR THE IRISH BRIGADE 152 + How Lieut. Holland of the Leinsters won the V.C. + + XIV.--THE WOODEN CROSS 158 + Death of Lieut. T.M. Kettle of the Dublins + + XV.--MORE IRISH HEROES OF THE VICTORIA CROSS 165 + Deeds of the Highest Merit and Lustre + + XVI.--RELATIONS BETWEEN ENEMY TRENCHES 182 + Irish Kindliness and German Guile + + + + +CHAPTER I + +IN THE TRENCHES WITH THE CONNAUGHT RANGERS + +SCENES COMIC AND TRAGIC + + +"The men are as anxious for the road, sir, as if 'twere to Galway +races they were going, no less, or to Ballinasloe Fair," said the +company sergeant-major to the captain. Those referred to belonged to a +battalion of the Connaught Rangers ordered to the firing-trenches for +the first time. "The real thing at last;" "The genuine McCoy, and no +mistake," they said to one another as, in preparation for the march, +they hurriedly packed their things in the barns and cow-sheds that +served as billets, and, to provide further vent for their jubilation, +danced Irish jigs and reels and sang national songs. + +These Irishmen had read a lot about the fighting, and had heard a +great deal more, but they felt that print and talk, however graphic +and copious, left many strange things to be disclosed by the actual +experience. Some of them would "get the beck"--the call from +Death--but what matter? Were not soldiers who died in action to be +envied, rather than pitied, by those who found themselves alive when +the war was over, and had not been to the mysterious Front at all? So +they thought and said, and now that they were on the road there was a +look of proud elation on their faces, as though they had been singled +out by special favour for a grand adventure. They did not regard +themselves in the least as heroes, these entirely unsophisticated men, +without a trace of self-consciousness. They had volunteered for +service in the belief that Ireland would be false to her historical +self if she did not take part in this war for freedom, democracy and +humanity. But now there was nothing in their minds about revenging the +wrongs of Belgium, or driving the invader from the soil of France, or +even of saving the British Empire. It was the fight that was the +thing. It was the chance of having a smack at "the Gerrys"--as the +enemy is called by the Irish soldiers--that they prized. More exalted +feelings would come again when the battle was over and won. Then, and +not till then, as they return with many gaps in their ranks, do Irish +troops see themselves as an army of redemption and deliverance; and +the only land they think of having saved is Ireland. To them Ireland +personifies all the great causes of the war, and a blow struck for +these causes, no matter where, is a blow struck for her. + +By the light of many stars sparkling in the sky that dark October +night the men could see signs that battles had been fought in the +country they were traversing. It was a devastated bare expanse, +stretching for miles and miles, very muddy and broken up with shell +holes. Roads had been made across it, and along one of these the +battalion went in the wake of the guides with swinging lanterns. The +men were fully loaded. In addition to his fighting equipment, almost +every one carried something extra, such as a pick or shovel, a bag of +rations, or a bundle of fire-wood. The company officers also had heavy +packs strapped on their shoulders. Great good-humour prevailed. +Whenever, at awkward turns of the road, or at very dark points, +progress was interrupted, those in front would shout some preposterous +explanation of the delay to their comrades behind. "Begonnies, boys, +we're taking tickets here for Galway. Word has come down that the war +is over," cried one joker. Deep groans of pretended dismay and +disappointment rose from the rear ranks. "And poor me, without a +German helmet, or even a black eye, to show that I was in it," was one +of the responses. + +When the open plain was quitted the battalion disappeared into a +trench like a narrow country lane winding between high banks. It was +much darker in these deeps than it had been outside. The gloom was +broken occasionally by the light of lanterns carried by sentinels, or +electric torches at junctions where several trenches crossed. Soon the +trench became narrower and more tortuous. It also became more soaked +with rain. Pools of water were frequently encountered. The battalion +was now a floundering, staggering, overloaded and perspiring closely +packed mass of men, walking in couples or in single file and treading +on each other's heels. + +The mishaps arising from this crowded scramble in the dark through mud +and mire, between banks of unsupported crumbling earth, did not +exhaust the Irish cheerfulness of the battalion. There was laughter +when a man got a crack on the skull from a rifle which a comrade +carried swung across his shoulder. There was louder laughter still +when another, stooping to pick up something he had dropped, was bumped +into from behind and sent sprawling. So sucking and tenacious was the +mud that frequently each dragging footstep called for quite a physical +effort, and a man was thankful that he did not have to leave a boot +behind. "Ah, sure this is nothin' to the bog away in Connemara, where +I often sunk up to me neck when crossing it to cut turf," was the +comfort imparted in a soft brogue. "True for you, Tim," remarked +another. "It's an ould sayin' and a true one that there's nothin' so +bad but it could be worse." + +The trench certainly proved the truth of the saying. Bad as it had +been, it sank to a still lower degree of slush. There were deep holes +filled with water into which the men went with an abrupt plunge and +passed through with much splashing. Just ahead of one of these +particularly treacherous points singing was heard. The chorus was +taken up by many voices, and its last line was rapped out with hearty +boisterousness-- + + "Out and make way for the bould Fenian Men." + +This joyous noise heralded the appearance of a party of the Dublin +Fusiliers, belonging to the same Division, who were coming down the +trench. By the light of lanterns and lamps it was seen that they had +taken off their trousers and socks and, holding up their shirts, were +wading in their boots blithely through the pools, like girls in bare +legs and lifted petticoats paddling at the seaside. + +The Connaught men laughed hilariously. "Sure the Dublin jackeens have +never been beaten yet for cuteness," they cried. "They stripped to +their pelts so as they wouldn't get the 'fluensy by means of their wet +clothes. And, faix, 'twould be the greatest pity in the world anything +would ail stout and hearty boys like them." As they spoke, the men of +the west lay close against the embankments to let the men of the east +go by. But weren't the Dublins in the divil of a hurry back to +billets? the Rangers went on to remark. And why not? answered the +Dublins. Sure if they'd only sniff with their noses they would smell +the roast beef and the steaming punch that were being got ready for +them by special orders of Field-Marshal Haig for the great things they +did away up in the firing-line. "Lucky boys!" shouted the Rangers, +responding to the joke. "And tell us now, have ye left us a Gerry at +all alive to get a pelt at, and we new at the game?" A Dublin man gave +the reply as he went past. "To tell ye the truth, except there's a +raid, there isn't much divarshion in the way of fighting; but every +man of ye will have his full and plenty of mud and water before he's +much oulder." "Well, there's nothing in that to yowl about." "Maybe +not, if you can swim." The trench resounded with laughter at the +exchange of banter. But for fear any of the Rangers might take some of +the talk as half a joke and whole earnest, a kind-hearted sergeant of +the Dublins, wishful to say the cheery word, called out, "Don't mind +them playboys; there's no more water and mud in it than is natural in +such wet weather as we're getting." + +The Rangers reached their destination just as the day was dawning in a +cold drizzle from a grey, lowering sky. They were all plastered with +yellowish mud. Mud was on their hands, on their faces, in their hair, +down their backs; and the barrels of their rifles were choked with +mud. For the next four days and nights of duty in the trenches they +were to be lapped about with mud. War was to be for them a mixture of +mud and high explosives. Of the two mud was the ugliest and most +hateful. Soon they would come to think that there was hardly anything +left in the world but mud; and from that they would advance to a state +of mind in which they doubted whether there ever had been a time in +their existence when they were free from mud. But through it all this +battalion, like the others in the Division, preserved their +good-humour. They are known, in fact, as "The Light-Hearted Brigade." +Every difficulty was met with a will to overcome it, tempered with a +joke and a laugh. No matter how encrusted with filth their bodies +might be, their souls were always above contamination. + +Men off duty at night slept in shelter pits dug deep into the soil by +the side of the trenches. It was overcrowded in stark violation of all +the sanitary by-laws relating to ventilation in civil life. No time +was wasted in undressing. The men lay down fully clad in their +mud-crusted clothes, even to their boots, wrapped round in blankets. +During the night they were awakened by a loud explosion. "All right, +boys; don't stir," cried the sergeant. "It's only one of those chape +German alarum clocks going off at the wrong time. Get off to sleep +again, me heroes." In the morning more time was saved by getting up +fully dressed, and not having to wash or to shave, so as to spare the +water. A private, looking round the dug-out and noticing the absence +of windows, remarked, "Faix, those of us who are glaziers and +window-cleaners will find it hard to make a living in this country." + +As the battalion was new to the trenches, another Irish battalion of +more experience shared with them the holding of this particular line. +To a group of lads gathered about a brazier of glowing coke in a +sheltered traverse an old sergeant that had seen service in the +Regular Army was giving what, no doubt, he thought was sound and +valuable advice, but which was at times of a quality calculated more +to disturb, perhaps, than to reassure. + +"Bullets are nothin' at all," said he. "I wouldn't give you a snap of +me fingers for them. Listen to them now, flyin' about and whinin' and +whimperin' as if they wor lost, stolen or strayed, and wor lookin' for +a billet to rest in. They differ greatly, do these bullets; but sure +in time you'll larn them all by sound and be able to tell the humour +each one of them is in. There's only one kind of bullet, boys, that +you'll never hear; and that is the one which gives you such a pelt as +to send you home to Ireland or to kingdom come. But," he continued, +"what'll put the fear of God into your sowls, if it isn't there +already, is the heavy metal which the Gerrys pitch across to us in +exchange for ours. The first time I was up here I was beside a man +whose teeth went chatterin' in a way that put me in fear of me life. +Sure, didn't I think for a minute it was a Gerry machine-gun--may the +divil cripple them!--startin' its bloody work at me ear. Now, there +must be none of that in this trench. If you're afraid, don't show it; +remimber always that the Gerrys are in just as great a fright, if not +more so. Show your spunk. Stand fast or sit tight, and hope for the +best. Above all, clinch your teeth." + +The bombardment of a trench by shells from guns in the rear of the +enemy's lines, or by bombs thrown from mortars close at hand, is +probably the greatest test of endurance that has ever been set to +humanity. The devastating effect is terrific. At each explosion men +may be blown to pieces or buried alive. Even the concussion often +kills. A man might escape being hit by the flying projectiles and yet +be blinded or made deaf or deprived of his speech by the shock. All +feel as if their insides had collapsed. The suspense of waiting for +the next shell or bomb, the uncertainty as to where it is going to +fall, followed by the shake which the detonation gives the nervous +system, are enough to wear out the most stout-hearted of soldiers. It +is then that companionship and discipline tell. The men catch from one +another the won't-appear-frightened determination, and the spirit of +won't-give-in. + +Crash! A fierce gust of wind sweeps through the trench. Men are lifted +from their feet and flung violently to the ground amid showers of +earth and stones. There is a brief pause; and then is heard the most +unexpected of sounds--not the moaning of pain, but a burst of +laughter! Four men of the battalion were playing "Forty-five," a card +game beloved of Hibernians, seated under a piece of tarpaulin propped +up on poles, as much at their ease as if they lay under a hedge on a +Sunday evening in summer at home in Ireland, with only the priest to +fear, and he known to be on a sick call at the other side of the +parish. The bomb came at the most inopportune moment, just as the fall +of the trick was about to be decided. When the card party recovered +their senses, the man who held the winning card was found to be +wounded. "'Twas the Gerrys--sweet bad luck to them!--that jinked the +game that time, boys," he exclaimed. His companions, standing round +him, burst into laughter at the remark. + +Merriment is not uncommon as the shells are bursting. The spectacle of +four or five men hurriedly tumbling for shelter into the same "funk +hole," a wild whirl of arms and legs, has its absurd side and never +fails to excite amusement. The way in which men disentangle themselves +from the ruins caused by the explosion is often also grotesque. Racy +oddities of character are revealed. One man was buried in the loose +earth. His comrades hastened to rescue him, and to cheer him up told +him he would be got out next to no time, for Tim Maloney, the biggest +as well as the fastest digger in the company was engaged on the job. +"I feel that right well," cried the victim, as he spluttered the mud +from his mouth. "But I've enough on top of me without him! Pull me out +of this from under his feet." There was an explosion close to a man at +work repairing the trench. The man was overheard saying to himself, as +he turned his back disdainfully to the shell, "Oh, go to blazes, with +yez." + +But it is not all comedy and farce. How could it be with stern, +black-visaged Death always watching with wolfish eyes to see men die? +Fate plays unimaginable tricks with its victims. A bullet stops many a +casual conversation for ever. "Look at this!" cries a man, holding up +his cap for a comrade to see the bullet-hole that had just been made +through it. "A close shave," he adds; "but what matter? Isn't a miss +as good as a mile?" And, as he was putting the cap on again, he fell a +corpse to a surer bullet. There he lay, just a bundle of muddy khaki; +and a dozing comrade, upon whom he dropped, elbowed him aside, saying +impatiently, "Get out of that, with yer andrew-martins" (jokes and +tricks); "can't you let a poor divil get a wink of sleep?" Tragedy +takes on, at times, queer, fantastic shapes. A man has his right arm +blown off close to the shoulder. He picks the limb up with his left +hand, shouting, "My arm! my arm! Oh, holy mother of God, where's my +arm?" In raging agony he rushes shrieking down the trench carrying the +limb with him until he encounters his company officer. "Oh, captain, +darlin'," he cries. "Look what the Gerrys have done to me! May God's +curse light upon them and theirs for ever! An' now I'll never shoulder +a rifle for poor ould Ireland any more." + +The night, and only the night, has terrors for the Irish soldiers, +especially those from the misty mountains and remote seaboard of the +west and south. In the daylight they are merry and prolific of jest. +Strongly gregarious by instinct, they delight in companionship. They +are sustained and upheld by the excitement of battle's uproar. They +will face any danger in the broad daylight. But they hate to be alone +in the dark anywhere, and are afraid to pass at night even a graveyard +in which their own beloved kith and kin lie peacefully at rest for +ever. They feel "lonesome and queer" as they would say themselves. + +So it is that when by himself at a listening post in a shell hole in +No Man's Land, lapped about with intense blackness, peering and +hearkening, the superstitious soul of the Irish soldier seems to +conjure up all the departed spectral bogies and terrors of the Dark +Ages. He is ready to cry out like Ajax, the Greek warrior, in "Homer," +"Give us but light, O Jove; and in the light, if thou seest fit, +destroy us." + +Even a Cockney soldier, lacking as he is in any subtle sympathy with +the emotional and immaterial sides of life, confesses that it gives +him the creeps proper to be out there in the open jaws of darkness, +away from his mates and almost right under the nose of old Boche. An +Irish soldier will admit that on this duty he does have a genuine +feeling of terror. Crouching in the soft, yielding earth, he imagines +he is in the grave, watching and waiting he knows not for what. +Everything is indefinite and uncertain. There is a vague presentiment +that some unknown but awful evil is impending. Perhaps a thousand +hostile German eyes are staring at him through the darkness along +rifle barrels; or, more horrible still, perhaps a thousand invisible +devils are on the prowl to drag his soul to hell. The supernatural +powers are the only forces the Irish soldier fears. + +The senses of the sentry are so abnormally alert that if grass were +growing near him he had only to put his ear to the ground to hear the +stirring of the sap. But though he listens intently, not a sound comes +out of the blackness. He regards the profound stillness as +confirmation of his worst fears. All is silence in the trench behind +him, where his comrades ought to be. He would welcome the relief of +voices and the sound of feet in the enemy's lines. But the Gerrys give +no sign of life. Is he alone in the whole wide world, the solitary +survivor of this terrible war? What would he not part with to be able +to get up and run! But he is fixed to his post by a sense of duty, +just as strong as if he were chained there by iron bands. To cry out +would afford immense relief to his overwrought feelings. But his +tongue seems paralysed in his mouth. Then he bethinks him of his +prayers. From his inside tunic pocket he takes out his beads--which +his mother gave him at parting and made him promise faithfully always +to carry about his person--and, making the sign of the cross, he is +soon absorbed in the saying of the Rosary. Resignation and fortitude +came to his aid. The invisible evil agencies by which he had really +been encompassed--loneliness, anxiety, melancholy--are dispelled. + +Scouting is the night work that appeals most to the Irish soldiers. +There is in it the excitement of movement, the element of adventure +and the support of companionship, too, for four, five or six go out +together. Oh, the fearful joy of crawling on one's stomach across the +intervening ground, seeking for a passage through the enemy's wire +entanglements or wriggling under it, taking a peep over their +parapets, dropping down into a sparsely occupied part of the trench, +braining the sentry and returning with rifle and cap as trophies! This +is one of the most perilous forms of the harassing tactics of war, and +for its success uncommon pluck and resource are required. Yet, like +everything else at the Front, it often has an absurd side. A Connaught +Ranger, back from such an expedition, related that, hearing the Gerrys +talking, he called out, "How many of ye are there?" To his surprise he +got an answer in English: "Four." Then, throwing in a bomb, he said, +"Divide that between ye, an' be damned to ye." "Faix, 'twas the bomb +that divided them," he added, "for didn't they come out of the trench +after me in smithereens." Another party returned from a raid with +tears streaming down their cheeks. "Is it bad news ye bring, crying +in that way?" they were asked. No! they hadn't bad news; nor were they +crying. If it was crying they were, wouldn't they be roaring and +bawling? and there wasn't a sound out of them for any one to hear. +Only asses could say such a thing as that. 'Twas they that looked like +silly asses, they were told, with the tears pouring out of their eyes +like the Powerscourt waterfall. What the mischief was the matter with +them, anyway? Well, then, if any one cared to know, was the reply, +'twas the Gerrys that treated them to a whiff of lachrymose gas! + +The fatigue, the disgust, and the danger of life in the trenches are, +at times, stronger than any other impulse, whether of the flesh or of +the soul. "'Tis enough to drive one to the drink: a grand complaint +when there's plenty of porter about," said a private; "but a terrible +fate when there's only the water we're wading in, and that same full +up--the Lord save us!--of creeping and wriggling things." "True for +you; it's the quare life, and no mistake," remarked another. "You do +things and get praise for them, such as smashing a fellow's skull, or +putting a bullet through him, which if you were to do at home you'd be +soon on the run, with a hue and cry and all the police of the country +at your heels." + +Back in billets again, for a wash and a shave and a brush up, and +lying in their straw beds in the barns, the Rangers would thus +philosophise on their life. The bestial side of it--the terrible +overcrowding of the men, the muck, the vermin, the gobbling of food +with filthy hands, the stench of corrupting bodies lying in the open, +or insufficiently buried, and, along with all that, its terror, agony +and tragedy are, indeed, utterly repellent to human nature. Still, +there was general agreement that they had never spent a week of such +strange and exquisite experiences. Fear there was at times, but it +seemed rather to keep up a state of pleasurable emotion than to +generate anguish and distress. Certainly most Connaught Rangers will +swear that life in the trenches has at least three thrilling and +exalting moments. One is when the tot of rum is served round. Another +is the first faint appearance of light in the sky behind the enemy's +lines, proclaiming that the night is far spent and the day is at hand. +The third is the call to "stand to," telling that a visit from the +Gerrys is expected, when the men cease to be navvies and become +soldiers again--throwing aside the hateful pick and shovel and taking +up the beloved rifle and bayonet. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +EXPLOITS OF THE ULSTER DIVISION + +BELFAST'S TRIBUTE TO THE DEAD + + "I am not an Ulsterman, but as I followed the amazing + attack of the Ulster Division on July 1, I felt that I + would rather be an Ulsterman than anything else in the + world. With shouts of 'Remember the Boyne' and 'No + Surrender, boys,' they threw themselves at the Germans, + and before they could be restrained had penetrated to the + enemy fifth line. The attack was one of the greatest + revelations of human courage and endurance known in + history."--A British officer on the exploits of the + Ulster Division, July 1, 1916. + + +One of the most striking and impressive tributes ever paid to the +heroic dead was that of Belfast on the 12th of July, 1916, in memory +of the men of the Ulster Division who fell on the opening day of that +month in the great British offensive on the Somme. For five minutes +following the hour of noon all work and movement, business and +household, were entirely suspended. In the flax mills, the linen +factories, the ship yards, the munition workshops, men and women +paused in their labours. All machinery was stopped, and the huge +hammers became silent. In shop and office business ceased; at home the +housewife interrupted her round of duties; in the streets traffic was +brought to a halt, on the local railways the running trains pulled up. +The whole population stood still, and in deep silence, with bowed +heads but with uplifted hearts, turned their thoughts to the valleys +and slopes of Picardy, where on July 1 the young men of Ulster, the +pride and flower of the province, gave their lives for the +preservation of the British Empire, the existence of separate and +independent States, and the rule of law and justice in their +international relations. + +"The Twelfth" is the great festival of Belfast. On that day is +celebrated the Williamite victories of the Boyne, July 1, and Aughrim, +July 12, 1690, in which the cause of the Stuarts went down for ever. +It is kept as a general holiday of rejoicing and merrymaking. The +members of the Orange lodges turn out with their dazzling banners and +their no less gorgeous yellow, crimson and blue regalia; and the +streets resound with the lilt of fifes, the piercing notes of cornets, +the boom and rattle of many drums, the tramp of marching feet and the +cheers of innumerable spectators. There was no such demonstration on +July 12, 1916. For the first time in the history of the Orange +Institution the observance of the anniversary was voluntarily +abandoned, so that there might be no stoppage of war work in the ship +yards and munition factories. But at the happy suggestion of the Lord +Mayor (Sir Crawford McCullagh), five minutes of the day were given +reverently to lofty sorrow for the dead, who, by adding "The Ancre," +"Beaumont Hamel" and "Thiepval Wood" to "Derry," "Enniskillen," "The +Boyne" and "Aughrim" on the banners of Ulster, have given a new +meaning and glory to the celebration of "The Twelfth" in which all +Ireland can share. Major-General O.S.W. Nugent, D.S.O., commanding the +Ulster Division, in a special Order of the Day, issued after the +advance, wrote-- + + "Nothing finer has been done in the War. + + "The Division has been highly tried and has emerged from the + ordeal with unstained honour, having fulfilled in every part the + great expectations formed of it. + + "None but troops of the best quality could have faced the fire + which was brought to bear on them, and the losses suffered + during the advance. + + "A magnificent example of sublime courage and discipline." + +This glory was gained at a heavy cost. There was cause for bitter +grief as well as the thrill of pride in Ulster. Nothing has brought +home more poignantly to the inhabitants of a small area of the kingdom +the grim sacrifices and the unutterable pathos of the war than the +many pages of names and addresses of the dead and wounded--relatives, +friends and acquaintances--which appeared in the Belfast newspapers +for days before "The Twelfth" and after. So blinds were drawn in +business and private houses; flags were flown at half-mast; and bells +were mournfully tolling for Ulster's irremediable losses when, at the +stroke of twelve o'clock, traffic came instantaneously to a +standstill, and for five minutes the citizens solemnly stood with +bared heads in the teeming rain thinking of the gallant dead, the +darkened homes and the inconsolable mothers and wives. + +The Ulster Division possesses an individuality all its own. It has no +like or equal among the units of the British Army on account of its +family character; the close and intimate blood relationship of its +members; its singleness of purpose; the common appeal of racial, +political and religious ideals that binds it together by stronger +links than steel. The United Kingdom, as a whole, may be said to have +been totally unready when war broke out. But it happened that one +small section of this industrial and peace-loving community was +prepared, to some extent, for the mighty emergency. That was Ulster. +It was immersed in business at the time, just as much as Manchester or +Sheffield, and in making money out of its flourishing prosperity. But, +unlike those English industrial centres, Ulster had in its history and +traditions an influence which bred a combative disposition, and ever +kept burning a martial flame, even in its marts and workshops. The +community was convinced that in defence of all they hold dearest in +religious beliefs and political principles they might have some day, +not, as in England when opinions are at stake, to flock to the polling +stations at a General Election, but take to the field and fight. The +very pick of the manhood of the province joined the Ulster Volunteer +Force, and armed and trained themselves as soldiers. So it was that in +the years immediately preceding the war it seemed almost certain they +would have to follow the example of their forefathers centuries before +and raise the Orange flag at Enniskillen and Derry. Then came the +challenge of Germany to British ideals. The aim and purpose of the +Ulster Volunteer Force remained the same, as the members conceived it, +but it was turned into a wholly unexpected channel. By an astounding +transformation of events they were to bleed and give their lives for +all they revere and cherish, not in Ulster but on the hills and in the +woods of Picardy. + +The Ulster Division is entirely Protestant and Unionist; or was, until +it was decimated on the Somme. It was formed out of the men who had +previously bound themselves together by a solemn covenant, signed on +"Ulster Day," Saturday, September 28, 1912, to stand by one another in +defending, for themselves and their children, their cherished civil +and religious heritage, should Home Rule be established. Thus the +Division is unparalleled for its kind since Cromwell's "Ironsides" in +enlisting stern religious fervour and political enthusiasm in a +fighting phalanx. It consists of twelve battalions forming three +brigades. It is wholly Irish. Nine of the battalions have the +regimental title of Royal Irish Rifles. The other battalions have the +titles of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and the Royal Irish +Fusiliers, the two other regiments of the Line associated with +Ulster. The battalions have also territorial classifications denoting +their origin from the Ulster Volunteer Force, such as "North Belfast +Volunteers"; "East Belfast Volunteers"; "Young Citizen Volunteers"; +"South Belfast Volunteers"; "West Belfast Volunteers"; "South Antrim +Volunteers"; "Down Volunteers"; "County Armagh Volunteers"; "Central +Antrim Volunteers"; "Tyrone Volunteers"; "Donegal and Fermanagh +Volunteers"; "Derry Volunteers." It has its own Engineers, Army +Service Corps, Army Medical Corps and a complete Ambulance equipment. +There are also reserve battalions. In the pleasant surroundings of the +Botanic Gardens, Belfast, a splendid hospital was established for the +care of the wounded, and the provision of artificial limbs to those +who might need them; and as evidence of the characteristic +thoroughness with which everything was attended to, a fund has been +raised to assist members of the Division who may be left maimed and +broken in health, and to support the dependents of the fallen, outside +any aid that may be derived from the State. The Commander, +Major-General Nugent, is a county Cavan man, a Deputy Lieutenant for +the county, and a kinsman of the Earl of Westmeath. He served in the +King's Royal Rifles for seventeen years, and was wounded in both the +Chitral and South African campaigns. + +The Division completed its training at Seaford, in Sussex. On visiting +the district I was amused to find that the advent of "the wild Irish" +had been anticipated by the inhabitants with much misgiving. They were +apprehensive of their ancient peace being disturbed by the hilarity +and commotion that spring from high and undisciplined spirits. What +did happen agreeably surprised the Sussex folk. The Ulstermen quickly +earned the esteem of every one for their affable qualities and +good-humour. What was particularly remarkable was that they were found +to be most pliant and tractable--qualities which, by common tradition, +are supposed not to be looked for in any body of Irishmen; and as for +their moral behaviour, what was more astonishing still was that the +church or the chapel was to them infinitely more attractive than the +inn. + +So the Division prepared themselves for taking the field against the +enemy. They were reviewed by the King shortly before leaving for the +Front. "Your prompt patriotic answer to the nation's call to arms will +never be forgotten," said his Majesty. "The keen exertions of all +ranks during the period of training have brought you to a state of +efficiency not unworthy of any Regular Army. I am confident that in +the field you will nobly uphold the traditions of the fine regiments +whose names you bear. Ever since your enrolment I have closely watched +the growth and steady progress of all units. I shall continue to +follow with interest the fortunes of your Division. In bidding you +farewell I pray God may bless you in all your undertakings." In the +autumn of 1915 they went to France, determined to uphold the highest +traditions of the fighting qualities of the Irish race, and burning +for a chance of distinction. + +During the winter months of 1915-16 the Division took its turns in the +firing-line. Every battalion experienced the hardships and dangers of +the front trenches, when the weather was at its worst for chills, +bronchitis, pneumonia and frost-bite, and when the Germans were most +active at sniping and bombarding. Names of men in the Division began +to appear in the lists of casualties within ten days of the landing in +France. The battalions passed through these preliminary stages with +courage, endurance and splendid determination. They quickly earned a +fine reputation among the highest military commanders for such +soldierly qualities as willingness and cheerfulness in doing any sort +of work, however unpleasant, that fell to them in the trenches, and +their coolness and alertness on such dangerous missions as going out +at night to the listening posts in No Man's Land and repairing the +wire entanglements. Eager to snatch their share of peril and glory, +they were also among the foremost in volunteering for such wild +adventures as bombing raids on the German trenches under cover of +darkness. One such daring exploit by the Tyrone Volunteers was the +subject of a special order of the day issued by Major-General Nugent, +commanding the Division. It was as follows-- + + "A raid on the German trenches was carried out at midnight on + ---- by the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. The raiding party + consisted of Major W.J. Peacocke, Captain J. Weir, Lieutenant + W.S. Furness, Second-lieutenant L.W.H. Stevenson, + Second-Lieutenant R.W. M'Kinley, Second-Lieutenant J. Taylor, + and eighty-four other ranks. The raid was completely successful, + and was carried out exactly as planned. Six German dugouts, in + which it is certain there were a considerable number of men, + were thoroughly bombed, and a machine-gun was blown up, while a + lively bombing fight took place between the blocking detachments + of the raiding party and the Germans. Having accomplished the + purpose of the raid, the party was withdrawn, with the loss of + one man killed and two wounded. The raid was ably organised by + Major Peacocke, and was carried out by the officers and men of + the party exactly in accordance with the plan, and the + discipline and determination of the party was all that could be + desired. The Divisional Commander desires that his + congratulations should be extended to all who took part in it. + + "Brigadier-General Hickman, in a special brigade order, says the + arrangements and plans reflect the greatest credit on Colonel A. + St. Q. Ricardo, D.S.O., commanding the battalion, Major + Peacocke, and the other officers concerned. The whole scheme was + executed with great dash and determination, cool judgment and + nerve." + +Such was the fame of the raid and its success that the +Commander-in-Chief, Sir Douglas Haig, visited the battalion and +personally congratulated them. + +Dr. Crozier, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ireland, visited +the Division in January 1916; and after a week spent with the +battalions, brought home a deep impression of their spirit and +devotion. "A more capable, energetic and cheerful body of men I have +never come across," he writes. "I have seen them at rifle practice, +bomb-throwing, route marching, road-mending, and in the trenches, and +everywhere my experience was the same--officers and men working in +splendid harmony, and taking the keenest interest in any and every job +they were given to do. One night I met a couple of hundred men coming +back from eight days' weary work in water-logged trenches, and they +were singing so lustily that I really thought at first they were +coming from a concert. And yet the war is to them a terrible reality, +and they have already experienced some of its horror. I could not help +noticing that this has produced a deep sense of responsibility, and +has intensified their belief in the reality of duty; and whether at +Sunday services or at weekday informal addresses, there were no +restless or inattentive men, but they seemed to welcome every word +that spoke of God's presence and guidance in all life's difficulties +and dangers." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +ULSTERS' ATTACK ON THE SLOPES OF THIEPVAL + +"NOT A MAN TURNED TO COME BACK, NOT ONE" + + +The Division was put to the great test on July 1, 1916, the memorable +day of the opening of the Battle of the Somme and the British attack +in force to break through the German trenches in Picardy. It was a +formidable task. The strength of the enemy positions was that they +stood on high ground. That, also, was the reason of their importance. +The table-land must be taken and held to permit of an advance in the +stretch of open country spreading on the other side to the north. It +was to be uphill work. So the battle became the greatest the world has +ever known, so far, for its dimensions, the numbers engaged and the +duration. The Ulstermen were in the left wing of the British lines, +and the scene of their operations was, roughly, three miles of broken +country, dips and swells, on each side of the river Ancre, between the +village of Beaumont Hamel, nestling in a nook of the hill above the +river, eastwards to the slopes of Thiepval, perched on a height about +500 feet, below the river, all within the German lines. The main body +of the Division assembled in the shelter of a Thiepval wood. +"Porcupine Wood" it was called by the men. The trees were so stripped +of foliage and lopped into distorted shapes by enemy gun-fire that +their bare limbs stood up like quills of the fretful porcupine. At +half-past seven in the morning the advance commenced. For ten days the +British batteries had been continuously bombarding the whole German +front. There was no sudden hush of the cannonade at the moment of the +attack. For a minute there was a dramatic pause while the guns were +being lifted a point higher so that they might drop their shells +behind the enemy's first lines. Then the British infantry emerged from +their trenches and advanced behind this furious and devastating +curtain of fire and projectiles. + +The morning was glorious and the prospect fine. The sun shone brightly +in the most beautiful of skies, clear blue flecked with pure white +clouds; and as the Ulstermen came out of the wood and ranged up in +lines for the push forward, they saw, in the distant view, a sweet and +pleasant upland country, the capture of which was the object of the +attack. In the hollows the meadows were lush with grass, thick and +glossy. There was tillage even, green crops of beetroot growing close +to the ground, and tall yellowing corn, far behind the main German +trenches. It was like a haunt of husbandry and peace. The only sound +one would expect to hear from those harvest fields was that of the +soothing reaping-machine garnering the wheat to make bread for the +family board of a mother and a brood of young children. But no tiller +of the soil was to be seen, near or far. The countryside to the +horizon ridge was tenantless, until these tens of thousands of British +soldiers suddenly came up out of the ground. Even in the +Franco-Prussian War of 1870 the agriculturists of northern +France--then, as now, the zone of conflict--remained in the homes and +pursued their avocations. During the battle of Sedan, which sealed the +fate of France, an extraordinary incident occurred--a peasant was +observed in one of the valleys within the area of the fight calmly +guiding the plough drawn by a big white horse. "Why should the man +lose a day?" says Zola in _The Downfall_. "Corn would not cease +growing, the human race would not cease living, because a few thousand +men happened to be fighting." But war is waged differently now. It is +spread along fronts hundreds of miles in extent and depth. Millions of +men are engaged. They burrow underground and are armed with terrific +engines of destruction. So it was that behind that green and pleasant +land, bathed in sunshine, ferocity and death are skulking underground. +Those elaborately interlacing white chalky lines over the face of the +landscape mark the run of the German trenches. Each dip is a +death-trap. The copses are barricaded with fallen timber and wired; +the villages are citadels, the farmsteads are forts, the ridges of the +two plateaux are each one succession of batteries. Swallows were +darting to and fro hawking for flies for their young, and in the clear +air soaring larks were singing to their mates brooding on their eggs +in the grass, showing that Nature was still carrying on her eternal +processes, but the husbandman had fled the deceiving scene, and the +after-crops from his old sowings of corn and mustard were mixed with +weeds in No Man's Land. + +Things befell the Ulstermen, when they appeared in the open, which +were things indeed. The fortunes of war varied along the British +advance. A group of war correspondents on a height near the town of +Albert, about midway in the line, noticed that while some of the +British battalions were comparatively unmolested, the resistance of +the enemy to the left or west was of the fiercest and most desperate +character. The Germans seem to have expected the main assault at this +part of the field of operations. Their guns and men were here most +heavily massed. On the left of the valley made by a curve of the +river Ancre is a crest, in a crease of which lay on that July morning +the village of Beaumont Hamel, or rather its site, for it had been +blown almost out of existence by the British artillery fire. Under the +village--as shown by explorations made after it fell--were a vast +system of passages and cellars, in which whole battalions of Germans +found shelter from the bombardment. On the right of the valley is the +plateau of Thiepval. It was as strong a position as the consummate +skill of German engineers and gunners could make it. On the sky line +at the top of a ridge of the plateau were the ruins of the village of +Thiepval--heaps of bricks and slates and timber that once were walls +and roofs of houses--encircled by blackened stumps of trees that once +in the spring were all pink and white of the apple blossom. The ground +sloping down to the valley, and the valley itself was a network of +German trenches--mostly turned into a maze of upheaved earth-mounds by +shell-fire--studded with many machine-gun posts. The main part of the +Ulster Division advanced across the valley that rose gently, with many +undulations upwards, to the slopes on the western or left side of +Thiepval. They had to take what were called the A, B and C lines of +trenches. As will be seen, they pushed far beyond their objective. + +Clouds of smoke had been liberated from the British lines to form a +screen for the attackers. Into it the men disappeared as they marched, +line after line, in extended order, over the intervening stretch of +ground. But almost immediately they were all scourged--especially the +Ulster battalions on the extreme left moving towards Beaumont +Hamel--with machine-gun fire poured at them from various points, to +the continuous accompaniment of short, sharp, annihilating knocks. The +bullets literally came like water from an immense hose with a +perforated top. The streams of lead crossed and re-crossed, sweeping +the ranks about the ankles, at the waist; breast high, around their +heads. Comrades were to be seen falling on all sides, right, left, +front and rear. So searching was the fire that it was useless to seek +cover, and advance in short rushes in between. So the lines kept +undauntedly on their way, apparently not minding the bullets any more +than if they were a driving and splashing shower of hail. + +"Let her rip, ye divils!" shouted some of the Ulstermen in jocular +defiance at the enemy and his machine-gun; "and," said an officer +relating the story, "the Bosche let her rip all right." One of the +wounded rank and file told me that in the advance he lost entire +perception of the roar of the British guns which was so impressive as +he lay with his comrades in the wood, though they still continued +their thundering. Their terrible diapason of sound seemed to be lulled +into absolute silence, so far as he was concerned, by the hollow, +crepitating "tap-t-t-tap" of the German machine-guns; and the swish, +swish, swish of the bullets, of all the noises of battle the most +unnerving to soldiers assailing a position. But the Ulstermen were in +a mood of the highest exaltation, a mood in which troops may be +destroyed but will not easily be subjugated. The day had thrilling +historic memories for them. + + "July the First on the banks of the Boyne, + There was a famous battle." + +The opening lines of their song, "The Boyne Water," recounting the +deeds of their forefathers, came inevitably to their minds. "Just as +we were about to attack," writes Rifleman Edward Taylor of the West +Belfast Volunteers, "Captain Gaffikin took out an orange handkerchief +and, waving it around his head, shouted, 'Come on, boys, this is the +first of July!'" "No surrender!" roared the men. It was the answer +given by the gallant defenders of Derry from their walls to King James +and the besieging Jacobites. On the fields of Picardy new and noble +meanings were put into these old, out-worn Irish battle-cries. One +sergeant of the Inniskillings went into the fray with his Orange sash +on him. Some of the men provided themselves with orange lilies before +they went up to the assembly trenches, and these they now wore in +their breasts. But, indeed, their colours were growing in profusion at +their feet when they came out of the trenches--yellow charlock, +crimson poppies and blue cornflowers, and many put bunches of these +wild flowers in their tunics. So the Ulstermen were keen to prove +their metal. They divided their forces and advanced to German +positions on the right and left. Through it all their battle-shout was +"No surrender." But there was one surrender which they were prepared +to make, and did make--the surrender, for the cause, of their young +lives and all the bright hopes of youth. + +When the battalions on the right reached the first German line they +found shapeless mounds and cavities of soil and stones and timber, +shattered strands and coils of barbed wire, where the trenches had +been, and the dead bodies of the men who were in occupation of them at +the bombardment. The Ulstermen then pushed on to the second line, +which still held living men of courage and tenacity who had to be +disposed of by bayonet and bomb. On to the third line the Ulstermen +went at a steady pace. They were still being whipped by machine-gun +fire. Their ranks were getting woefully thinner. In their tracks they +left dead and wounded. At the sight of a familiar face among the +curiously awkward attitudes and shapes of those instantaneously killed +there was many a cold tug at the heart-strings of the advancing men, +and many a groan of sorrow was suppressed on their lips. + +The moaning of the wounded was also terrible to hear, but their spirit +was magnificent. "Lying on the ground there under fire, they had no +thought of their own danger, but only of the comrades who were going +forward, and they kept shouting words of encouragement after the +attacking column until it was well out of sight," said an Inniskilling +Fusilier. "One company, recruited mainly from the notorious Shankill +road district of Belfast, was going forward, when a wounded man +recognised some of his chums in it. 'Give them it hot for the Shankill +road,' he cried, and his comrades answered with a cheer." The same +man, giving a general account of the fiercely contested attack on the +enemy positions, said, "It was a case of playing leapfrog with death, +but all obstacles were overcome, and the Fusiliers carried the enemy +trenches with a magnificent rush. The Huns turned on them like baffled +tigers and tried to hurl the Irishmen out again, but they might as +well have tried to batter down the walls of Derry with toothpicks. The +Inniskillings held their ground, and gradually forced the enemy still +further back." + +The German trenches, with their first, second, third, fourth and fifth +lines, formed a system of defences of considerable depth, into which +the Ulstermen had now penetrated for distances varying from two to +three miles in depth. It was a land of horrible desolation. The ground +at this point was almost bare of vegetation. It was torn and lacerated +with shell holes. The few trees that remained standing were reduced to +splintered and jagged stumps. All was smoke, flashes, uproar and +nauseating smells. In this stricken battle area the defence was as +stubborn and desperate as the attack. It seemed impossible for men +with a nervous system and imagination to retain their reason and +resolution in the terrific, intensive and searching preliminary +bombardment. Nevertheless, the Germans did it. The British guns had, +indeed, wrought widespread havoc. Not only lines of trenches were +pounded to bits, but spots outside, affording concealment for guns and +troops, were discovered and blown to atoms. There were, however, deep +dug-outs going as many as thirty feet below ground, and in some cases, +even at that depth, there were trapdoors and stairs leading to still +lower chambers, and up from these underground fortifications the +Germans came when the cannonade lifted. There were also hidden +machine-gun shelters in the hollows and on the slopes which the +British artillery failed to find. The resistance offered to the +advance of the Ulstermen was accordingly of the most obstinate and +persistent nature. The hand-to-hand fight with bayonet and bomb at the +third line of trenches was described by a man of the Irish Rifles as +"a Belfast riot on the top of Mount Vesuvius." No more need be said. +The phrase conveys a picture of men madly struggling and yelling amid +fire and smoke and the abominable stench of battle. Yet the enemy's +fourth line fell before these men who would not be stopped. There +remained the fifth line, and the Ulstermen were preparing to move +forward to it when the order came to fall back. The state of affairs +at this time of the evening is well explained by one of the men-- + + "We had been so eager that we had pressed too far forward, and + were well in advance of our supporting troops, thus laying + ourselves open to flank attacks. The position became more + serious as the day advanced, and the supporting troops were + unable to make further progress, while the Huns kept hurrying up + fresh men. We kept shouting the watchword of 'No Surrender,' + with which our fathers had cheered themselves in the siege of + Derry, and every time the Huns attacked we sent them reeling + back with something to remind them that they were fighting + Irishmen. We couldn't help taunting them a lot. 'Would you like + some Irish rebellion?' we called out to them, and they didn't + like it. They kept throwing in fresh reinforcements all day, + and gradually the pressure became almost unbearable. Still we + held our ground, and would have continued to hold it if + necessary." + +"Retirement," he adds, "is never a pleasant task, especially after you +have fought your corner as we fought ours. We felt that the ground won +was part of ourselves, but orders had to be obeyed, and so we went +back." The retirement was to the third line of trenches, at the point +known as "the Crucifix," just north-west of Thiepval. It was carried +out at nightfall, after fourteen hours' continuous fighting. This +section of the Division, in the words of Major-General Nugent, +"captured nearly 600 prisoners, and carried its advance triumphantly +to the limits of the objective laid down." + +The battalions, two in number, operating on the left at Beaumont +Hamel, were not so fortunate. They were broken to pieces by the +devastating machine-gun fire. The remnants, by a magnificent effort, +succeeded in getting into the German trenches. They were held up there +by an utterly impassable curtain of shells and bullets. It was not +their fault that they could not advance any further. They had to face +a more terrific ordeal than any body of men have had to encounter in +battle before. "They did all that men could do," says Major Nugent, +"and, in common with every battalion in the Division, showed the most +conspicuous courage and devotion." + +Lieut.-Colonel Ambrose Ricardo, D.S.O., of Lion House, Strahane, +commander of the Tyrone battalion of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, +gives an account of the experience of the Ulster Division which is of +the greatest value for the reasons it supplies why the Division lost +so heavily and thus were unable to hold the advanced positions they +had taken. He first describes how his men set out for their plunge +into the terrible unknown. "Every gun on both sides fired as fast as +it could, and during the din our dear boys just walked out of the wood +and up rumps we had cut through our parapet and out through lanes in +our wire," he says. "I shall never forget for one minute the +extraordinary sight. The Derrys on our left were so eager they started +a few minutes before the ordered time, and the Tyrones were not going +to be left behind, and they got going without delay. No fuss, no +shouting, no running; everything orderly, solid and thorough, just +like the men themselves. Here and there a boy would wave his hand to +me as I shouted good luck to them through my megaphone, and all had a +happy face. Most were carrying loads. Fancy advancing against heavy +fire carrying a heavy roll of barbed wire on your shoulder!" + +Then dealing with the Division generally, Colonel Ricardo states that +the leading battalions suffered comparatively little until they almost +reached the German front line, when they came under appalling +machine-gun fire which obliterated whole platoons. "And, alas for us," +he cries, "the Division on our right could not get on, and the same +happened to the Division on our left, so we came in for the +concentrated fire of what would have been spread over three Divisions. +But every man who remained standing pressed on, and, without officers +or non-commissioned officers, they carried on, faithful to their job. +Not a man turned to come back, not one." + +Eventually small parties of all the battalions of the Division--except +the two operating towards Beaumont Hamel--gathered together in the +section of the German third line, which was their part in the general +British advance. They had captured, in fact, a portion of the famous +Schwabon Redoubt on the summit of the ridge facing them, and set to +work to consolidate it. "The situation after the first two hours was +indeed a cruel one for the Ulster Division," continues Colonel +Ricardo. "There they were, a wedge driven into the German lines, only +a few hundred yards wide, and for fourteen hours they bore the brunt +of the German machine-gun fire and shell-fire from three sides, and +even from behind they were not safe. The parties told off to deal with +the German first and second lines had in many cases been wiped out, +and the Germans sent parties from the flanks in behind our boys. Yet +the Division took 800 prisoners, and could have taken hundreds more, +had they been able to handle them." + +Major John Peacocke, "a most gallant and dashing officer" (as Colonel +Ricardo describes him), was sent forward to see how matters stood. He +crossed "No Man's Land" at a time when the fire sweeping it was most +intense. Taking charge of the defence of the captured position, he +gave to each unit a certain task to do in furtherance of the common +aim. Then he sent runners back with messages asking for +reinforcements, for water and for bombs. "But," says Colonel Ricardo, +"no one had any men in reserve, and no men were left to send across. +We were told reinforcements were at hand, and to hold on, but it was +difficult, I suppose, to get fresh troops up in time. At any rate the +help did not come. In the end, at 10.30 p.m. (they had got to the +third line at 8.30 a.m.), the glorious band in front had to come back. +They fought to the last and threw their last bomb, and were so +exhausted that most of them could not speak. Shortly after they came +back help came, and the line they had taken and held was reoccupied +without opposition, the Germans, I suppose, being as exhausted as we +were. Our side eventually lost the wedge-like bit after some days. It +was valueless, and could only be held at very heavy cost. We were +withdrawn late on Sunday evening, very tired and weary." + +A private in one of the battalions sent to his parents in Ulster a +very vivid account of the advance. As he was crossing "No Man's Land" +two aspects of it, in striking contrast, arose in his mind. "How often +had I, while on sentry duty in our own trenches, looked out over that +same piece of ground," he says. "How calm and peaceful it looked then; +how fresh, green, and invitingly cool looked that long, blowing grass! +Now, what a ghastly change! Not a level or green spot remained. Great, +jagged, gaping craters covered the blackish, smoking ground, furrowed +and ploughed by every description of projectile and explosive. In the +blue sky above white, puffy clouds of shrapnel burst, bespattering the +earth below with a rain of bullets and jagged shrapnel missiles." + +Tripping and stumbling went the men over the broken and ragged ground. +"Fellows in front, beside, and behind me would fall; some, with a +lurch forward, wounded; others, with a sudden, abrupt halt, a sickly +wheel, would drop, give one eerie twist, and lie still--dead!" They +find the first line in the possession of comrades; and moving on to +the second, came to blows there with the enemy. "An Inniskilling, +scarcely more than a boy, standing on the parapet, yells madly 'No +surrender,' and fires several shots into the German mob. From every +part of the trench we closed forward, bayonet poised, on the crowd of +grey figures. A short scuffle; then we swayed back again, leaving a +heap of blood-stained greyishness on the ground. 'Come on, boys!' +yells the lieutenant, springing up on to the parapet. 'Come on, the +Ulsters.' Up we scramble after him and rush ahead towards the far-off +third line. Vaguely I recollect that mad charge. A few swirlings here +and there of grey-clad figures with upraised hands yelling 'Kamerad.' +Heaps of wounded and dead. Showers of dust and earth and lead. +Deafening explosions and blinding smoke. But what concerned me most +and what I saw clearest were the few jagged stumps of the remnants of +the wire entanglements and the ragged parapet of the third line--our +goal!" + +From this enemy trench the Ulsterman looked back over the ground he +had covered, and this is what he saw: "Through the dense smoke pour +hundreds and hundreds of Tommies, with flashing bayonets and distorted +visages, apparently cheering and yelling. You couldn't hear them for +the noise of the guns and the exploding shells. Everywhere among those +fearless Ulstermen burst high-explosive shells, hurling dozens of them +up in the air, while above them and among them shrapnel bursts with +sharp, ear-splitting explosions. But worst of all these was the silent +swish, swish, swishing of the machine-gun bullets, claiming their +victims by the score, cutting down living sheaves, and leaving bunches +of writhing, tortured flesh on the ground." He, too, noticed that +their co-operating Divisions had failed, for some reason, to advance. +"Look there, something _must_ be wrong!" he called out to his +comrades. "Why, they're not advancing on _that_ side at all," pointing +towards the left flank. "Not a sign of life could be seen," he says. +"The Ulster Division were out to the Huns' first, second, third, +fourth, and even fifth lines, with all the German guns pelting us from +every side and at every angle." + +Many a brave and self-sacrificing deed was done in these affrighting +scenes. Here are a few instances taken haphazard from the records of +one battalion alone, the 9th Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. They were +repeated a hundredfold throughout the Division. + +Corporal Thomas M'Clay, Laghey, county Donegal, assisted +Second-Lieutenant Lawrence to take twenty prisoners. He conveyed them +single-handed over "No Man's Land," and then returned to the German +third line, all the time having been under very heavy fire. When he +got back he had been fighting hard for ten hours. Private Thomas +Gibson, of Coalisland, saw three Germans working a machine-gun. He +attacked them alone, and killed them all with his clubbed rifle. +Corporal John Conn, Caledon, came across two of our machine-guns out +of action. He repaired them under fire, and with them destroyed a +German flanking party. He carried both guns himself part of the way +back, but had to abandon one, he was so utterly exhausted. +Lance-Corporal Daniel Lyttle, Leckpatrick, Strabane, was trying to +save two machine-guns from the enemy when he found himself cut off. He +fired one gun until the ammunition was spent, then destroyed both guns +and bombed his way back to the rest of his party at the Crucifix line. +Sergeant Samuel Kelly, Belfast, volunteered to take a patrol from the +Crucifix line to ascertain how things were going on our right. +Corporal Daniel Griffiths, Dublin; Lance-Corporal Lewis Pratt, Cavan; +and Private William Abraham, Ballinamallard, went with him. The latter +was killed, but the remainder got back with valuable information. +Sergeant Kelly did great work to the last in organising and +encouraging his men when all the officers of his company had fallen. +Corporal Daniel Griffith, Lance-Corporal Lewis Pratt, with Private +Fred Carter, Kingstown, bombed and shot nine Germans who were trying +to mount a machine-gun. Private Samuel Turner, Dundrun, and Private +Clarence Rooney, Clogher, forced a barricaded dug-out, captured +fifteen Germans and destroyed an elaborate signalling apparatus, +thereby preventing information getting back. Lance-Corporal William +Neely, Clogher; Private Samuel Spence, Randalstown; Private James +Sproule, Castlederg; and Private William R. Reid, Aughnacloy, were +members of a party blocking the return of Germans along a captured +trench. Their officer and more than half their comrades were killed, +but they held on and covered the retirement of the main party, +eventually getting back in good order themselves and fighting every +inch of the way. Private Fred Gibson, Caledon, pushed forward alone +with his machine-gun, and fought until all his ammunition was used. +Private James Mahaffy, Caledon, was badly wounded in the leg early in +the day, and was ordered back. He refused to go, and continued to +carry ammunition for his machine-gun. Lance-Corporal John Hunter, +Coleraine, succeeded in picking off several German gunners. His cool +and accurate shooting at such a time was remarkable. Private Robert +Monteith, Lislap, Omagh, had his leg taken off above the knee. He used +his rifle and bayonet as a crutch, and continued to advance. Private +Wallie Scott, Belfast, met five Germans. He captured them +single-handed, and marched them back to the enemy second line, where a +sergeant had a larger party of prisoners gathered. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +FOUR VICTORIA CROSSES TO THE ULSTER DIVISION + +BRILLIANT ADDITIONS TO THE RECORD OF IRISH +VALOUR AND ROMANCE + + +The most signal proof of the exceptional gallantry of the Ulstermen is +afforded by the awarding of four Victoria Crosses to two officers and +two privates of the Division. There is many a Division that has not +won a single V.C. They must not be belittled on that score; their +ill-fortune and not their service is to blame. But the rarity of the +distinction, and the exceptional deed of bravery and self-sacrifice +needed to win it, reflects all the more glory on the achievements of +the Ulstermen. By the winning of four Victoria Crosses the Ulster +Division have made a name which will shine gloriously for all time in +the imperishable record of British gallantry on the battlefield. + +Private William Frederick McFadzean of the Royal Irish Rifles was +posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for sacrificing himself +deliberately to save his comrades. The men of the battalion were +packed together in a concentration trench on the morning of July 1. +Just prior to the advance bombs were being distributed for use when +the German lines were reached. One of the boxes of these missiles +slipped down the trench and emptied its contents on the floor. Two of +the safety pins fell out. Shouts of alarm were raised. Men who would +face the German bombs undaunted shrank with a purely physical reaction +from the peril which thus accidentally threatened them. They knew that +in a moment these bombs would explode with a terrific detonation and +scatter death and mutilation among them. In that instant McFadzean +flung himself bodily on the top of the bombs. He was a bomber himself, +and he well knew the danger, but he did not hesitate. The bombs +exploded. All their tremendous powers of destruction were concentrated +upon the body which enveloped them in an embrace. McFadzean was blown +literally to bits. One only of his comrades was injured. + +McFadzean was only twenty-one years of age. He was born at Lurgan, +County Armagh, and was a Presbyterian. A member of the Ulster +Volunteer Force, he joined the Young Citizens' Battalion (Belfast) of +the Royal Irish Rifles in September 1914. + +The other private who won the Victoria Cross is Robert Quigg, also of +the Royal Irish Rifles. On the morning after the advance he went out +seven times, alone and in the face of danger, to try to find his +wounded officer, Sir Harry Macnaghten of Dundaraye, Antrim, and +returned on each occasion with a disabled man. Private Quigg is +thirty-one, the son of Robert Quigg, a guide and boatman at the +Giant's Causeway, Antrim. He was a member of the Ulster Volunteer +Force, and enlisted in the Royal Irish Rifles (Central Antrim +Volunteers) in September, 1914. He is an Episcopalian, an Orangeman +and a member of the flute band of his lodge. + +The official account of Private Quigg's exploit is as follows-- + + "For most conspicuous bravery. He advanced to the assault with + his platoon three times. Early next morning, hearing a rumour + that his platoon officer was lying out wounded, he went out + seven times to look for him under heavy shell and machine-gun + fire, each time bringing back a wounded man. The last man he + dragged in on a waterproof sheet from within a few yards of the + enemy's wire. He was seven hours engaged in this most gallant + work, and finally was so exhausted that he had to give it up." + +It was also "for most conspicuous bravery" in searching for wounded +men under continuous and heavy fire that Lieutenant Geoffrey +Shillington Cather of the Royal Irish Fusiliers got the Victoria +Cross. He lost his life in thus trying to succour others on the night +and morning after the advance of the Ulster Division. "From 7 p.m. +till midnight he searched 'No Man's Land,' and brought in three +wounded men," says the official account. "Next morning, at 8 a.m., he +continued his search, brought in another wounded man, and gave water +to others, arranging for their rescue later. Finally, at 10.30 a.m., +he took out water to another man, and was proceeding further on when +he was himself killed. All this was carried out in full view of the +enemy, and under direct machine-gun fire, and intermittent artillery +fire. He set a splendid example of courage and self-sacrifice." + +Lieutenant Cather was twenty-five years of age, a son of Mrs. Cather, +Priory Road, West Hampstead, London. His father, who was dead, had +been a tea merchant in the City. On his mother's side, Lieutenant +Cather was a grandson of the late Mr. Thomas Shillington, of Tavanagh +House, Portadown; and on his father's side, of the late Rev. Robert +Cather, a distinguished minister of the Irish Methodist Church. He was +a nephew of Captain D. Graham Shillington, of Ardeevin, Portadown, +who, with his son, Lieutenant T.G. Shillington, was serving in the +same battalion of the Royal Irish Fusiliers. Lieutenant Cather was +educated at Rugby. He first joined the Public Schools' Battalion of +the Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment), and obtained his +commission in the County Armagh Volunteers in May, 1915. + +The second officer of the Ulster Division to win the Victoria Cross +was Captain Eric N.F. Bell of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, whose +gallantry on July 1 also cost him his life. He was about twenty-two +years old, one of three soldier sons of Captain E.H. Bell, formerly of +the Inniskillings (serving in Egypt in a garrison battalion of the +Royal Irish Regiment), and Mrs. Bell, an Enniskillen lady living in +Bootle. The two brothers of the late Captain Bell hold commissions in +the Ulster Division. The deeds for which he was awarded the Victoria +Cross are thus set out in the official account-- + + "For most conspicuous bravery. He was in command of a trench + mortar battery, and advanced with the infantry in the attack. + When our front line was hung up by enfilading machine-gun fire + Captain Bell crept forward and shot the machine gunner. Later, + on no less than three occasions, when our bombing parties, which + were clearing the enemy's trenches, were unable to advance, he + went forward and threw trench mortar bombs among the enemy. When + he had no more bombs available he stood on the parapet, under + intense fire, and used a rifle with great coolness and effect on + the enemy advancing to counter-attack. Finally he was killed + rallying and reorganising infantry parties which had lost their + officers. All this was outside the scope of his normal duties + with his battery. He gave his life in his supreme devotion to + duty." + +Colonel Ricardo, in a very fine and sympathetic letter to the bereaved +mother, gives additional particulars of Captain Bell's gallantry-- + + "The General, hearing that his parents were old friends of mine, + has asked me to write on his behalf, sending his sympathy and + telling of the gallantry of Eric, which was outstanding on a day + when supreme courage and gallantry was the order of the day. + Eric was in command on July 1 of his trench mortar battery, + which had very important duties to perform, and which very + materially helped the advance. We know from his servant, + Private Stevenson, a great deal of Eric's share in the day's + work. He went forward with the advance, and, coming under heavy + machine-gun fire, and seeing where it came from, he took a rifle + and crawled towards the machine-gun and then shot the gunner in + charge, thus enabling a party on his flank to capture the gun. + This gallant action saved many lives. + + "When in the German lines Eric worked splendidly, collecting + scattered units and helping to organise the defence. He was most + energetic, and never ceased to encourage the men and set all a + very fine example. Having exhausted all his mortar ammunition, + he organised a carrying party and started back to fetch up more + shells; it was whilst crossing back to our own line that Eric + was hit. He was shot through the body, and died in a few moments + without suffering. His servant stayed with him to the end and + arrived back quite exhausted, and has now been admitted into + hospital. Nothing could have exceeded the courage and resource + displayed by Eric. The Brigade are proud that he belonged to it. + It is only what I should have expected from him. It must be a + solace to his father and mother that he died such a gallant + death. He was a born soldier and a credit to his regiment. May I + add my heartfelt sympathy to my dear old friends." + +Among the many other distinctions gained by the Division were Military +Crosses to two of the chaplains: Captain Rev. J. Jackson Wright and +Captain Rev. Joseph Henry McKew. Captain Wright was the Presbyterian +minister of Ballyshannon, County Donegal. He gave up that position +temporarily to accept an Army chaplaincy, and was posted to the Ulster +Division in November, 1914, being attached to the Inniskilling +Brigade. He was ordained in 1893. Captain McKew was curate of the +parish of Clones prior to being appointed Church of Ireland chaplain +to the troops in August, 1915. He is a Trinity man, and during his +university career won a moderatorship in history. Ordained in 1914, he +has spent his entire ministry under Canon Ruddell in Clones. Before +going to the Front he was a chaplain at the Curragh. + +The company officers led their men with conspicuous gallantry and +steadfastness. "Come on, Ulsters;" "Remember July the First," they +cried. They were severely thinned out before the day was far advanced. +It was the same with the non-commissioned ranks. At the end several +parties of men desperately fighting had not an officer or a +non-commissioned officer left. Among the officers lost were two +brothers, Lieutenant Holt Montgomery Hewitt, Machine-gun Corps (Ulster +Division), and Second-Lieutenant William Arthur Hewitt, Royal +Inniskilling Fusiliers (Tyrone Volunteers). They were the sons of Mr. +J.H. Hewitt, manager of the workshops for the blind, Royal Avenue, +Belfast. A third son, Lieutenant Ernest Henry Hewitt, Royal Lancaster +Regiment, was killed in action on June 15, 1915. The three brothers +were members of the Ulster Volunteer Force before the War. They were +prominent athletes, and played Rugby football for the North of Ireland +club. In that respect they were typical of the officers of the Ulster +Division. They were also typical of them for high-mindedness and +cheerful devotion to duty. "Poor Holt, the most genial and lovable of +souls!" exclaims Lieutenant E.W. Crawford, the adjutant of his +battalion of the Inniskillings. "Willie led his platoon fearlessly +over the top." The commanding officer of the battalion, Colonel +Ricardo, in a letter to Mr. Hewitt, pays a remarkable tribute to +Second-Lieutenant William Holt. He says: "It was a sad day for us, and +I feel quite stunned and heartbroken. Your Willie was one of the +nicest-minded boys I ever knew. My wife saw a letter he wrote to the +widow of a man in his company, and she told me it was the most +beautiful letter of sympathy she had ever read. No one but a +spiritually-minded boy could have written such a letter. I made him my +assistant-adjutant, and of all my young lads I could spare him the +least. No words can express the sympathy we all feel for yourself and +Mrs. Hewitt and your family in this grievous double blow." + +Captain C.C. Craig, Royal Irish Rifles (South Antrim Volunteers), M.P. +for South Antrim and brother of Colonel James Craig, M.P. for East +Down, was taken prisoner. When last seen he was lying wounded in a +shell hole at the most advanced point of the narrow and dangerous +salient carved by the Ulstermen in the enemy lines, shouting +encouragement to his company. In a letter to his wife, written from a +hospital at Gutersloh, Westphalia, Germany, and dated July 13, Captain +Craig states it was while he was directing his men to convert the C +line of trenches into defences against the Germans by making them face +the opposite way, that he was hit by a piece of shrapnel in the back +of the leg below the knee. "This put me out of action," he says. "I +was bandaged up, and, as I could not get about, I sent a message to R. +Neill to take command, and I crawled to a shell-hole, where I lay for +six hours. This was at about 10 a.m. on the 1st July. During this six +hours the shelling and machine-gun fire was very heavy, but my +shell-hole protected me so well that I was not hit again, except for a +very small piece of shrapnel on the arm, which only made a small cut." +At about four o'clock in the afternoon the enemy made a counter +attack, during which Captain Craig was found and taken prisoner. +Describing his treatment as a prisoner, Captain Craig says-- + + "I had to hobble into a trench close at hand, where I stayed + till ten o'clock, till two Germans took me to another line of + trenches about 400 or 500 yards further back. This was the worst + experience I had, as my leg was stiff and painful. The space + between the lines was being heavily shelled by our guns, and my + two supporters were naturally anxious to get over the ground as + quickly as possible, and did not give me much rest, so I was + very glad when, after what seemed an age, though it was not more + than fifteen minutes or so, we got to the trench. I was put in a + deep dug-out, where there were a lot of officers and men, and + they were all very kind to me and gave me food and water, and + here I spent the night. My leg was by now much swollen, but not + painful except when I tried to walk. There were no stretchers, + so in the morning I had to hobble as best I could out of the + trenches till we came to a wood. Soon after I passed a dug-out + where some artillery officers lived, and the captain seeing my + condition refused to allow me to go any further on foot, and + took me in and gave me food and wine, and set his men to make a + kind of sling to carry me in. This proved a failure; as I was so + heavy, I nearly broke the men's shoulders. He then got a + wheelbarrow, and in this I was wheeled a mile or more to a + dressing station, where my wound was dressed, and I was + inoculated for tetanus. That night I was taken to a village, and + had a comfortable bed and a good sleep." + +Another officer of the Division who was "pipped," as he calls it, +tells in an interesting story how he worked himself along the ground +towards the British lines, and his experiences on the way. "By and +by," he says, "a Boche corporal came crawling along after me. He +shouted some gibberish, and I waved him on towards our lines with my +revolver. He wasn't wounded, but he was devilish anxious to make sure +of being a prisoner--begad, you don't get our chaps paying them the +same compliment. They'll take any risks sooner than let the Boche get +them as prisoners. So this chap lay down close beside me. I told him +to be off out o' that, but he lay close, and I'd no breath to spare. +That crawling is tiresome work. Presently I saw a man of ours coming +along, poking round with his rifle and bayonet. He'd been detailed to +shepherd in prisoners. He was surprised to see me. Then he saw my +Boche. 'Hell to yer sowl!' says he; 'what the divil are ye doin' there +beside my officer? Get up,' says he, 'an' be off with ye out a' that!' +And he poked at him with his bayonet; so the fellow squealed and +plucked up enough courage to get up on his feet and run for our lines. +Our own man wanted to help me back--a good fellow, you know--but I'd +time enough before me, so told him to carry on. I wriggled all the way +back to our line, and a stretcher-bearer got me there, so I was all +right." + +When they were relieved, the survivors of the Division came back very +tired and bedraggled, their faces black with battle smoke and their +uniforms white from the chalky soil. But they were in a joyous mood; +and well they might be, for they had battered in one of the doors of +the supposed impregnable German trenches and left it ajar. Their +exploits add a brilliant chapter to the record of Irish valour and +romance. Grief for the dead will soon subside into a sad memory, but +the glory of what they accomplished will endure for ever. Because of +it, the First of July is certain to be as great a day for Ulster in +the future as the Twelfth has been in the past. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +COMBATIVENESS OF THE IRISH SOLDIER + +THE BRITISH BLENDS OF COURAGE + + +There is a story of Wellington and his army in the Peninsular campaign +which embodies, in a humorous fashion, the still popular idea of the +chief national characteristics of the races within the United Kingdom. + +It says that if Wellington wanted a body of troops to get to a +particular place quickly by forced marches he gave an assurance that +on their arrival Scottish regiments would be given their arrears of +pay; English regiments would have a good dinner of roast beef, and the +bait held out to Irish regiments to give speed to their feet, however +weary, was an all-round tot of grog. The Welsh, it will be noticed, +are not in the story. This cannot be explained by saying they had yet +to achieve separate national distinction on the field of battle. The +23rd Regiment of Foot (Royal Welsh Fusiliers) served under Wellington +and contributed more than their fair share to the martial renown of +the British Army. It is solely due, I think, to the fact that they had +not yet emerged from their absorption in the English generally. But, +to round off the story, what motive of a material kind would impel the +Welsh Regiments to greater military exertions? Shall we say any one of +the three inducements mentioned--pay, grub or grog, or, better still, +all of them together? + +The present war has provided the most searching tests of the qualities +of the races involved in it. They have all been profoundly moved to +the uttermost deeps of their being, both in the mass and as +individuals. The superficial trappings of society and even of +civilisation have fallen from them, and they appear as they really +are--brave or cowardly, noble or base, unselfish or egotistical. We +see our own soldiers, English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish, not perhaps +quite as each came from the hands of Nature, but certainly as the +original minting of each has been modified only by the influence of +racial environment. All the races within the United Kingdom are alike +in this, that each is a medley of many kinds of dissimilar individuals +with very varied faculties and attributes. But there are certain +broad, main characteristics which distinguish in the mass each racial +aggregate of dissimilar units; and it is these instincts, ideas, +habits, customs, held in common, that fundamentally separate each +nationality from the other. That is what I mean by racial environment. + +The soldiers of the United Kingdom possess in general certain fine +qualities of character and conduct which may be ascribed to the +traditions and training of the British Army. But when we come to +consider them racially we find that their points of difference are +more striking even than their points of similarity. Each nationality +evolves its own type of soldier, and every type has its distinctly +marked attributes. As troops, taken in the mass, are the counterpart +of the nations from which they spring, and, indeed, cannot be anything +else, so they must, for one thing, reveal in fighting the particular +sort of martial spirit possessed by their race. Though I am an +Irishman, I would not be so boastful as to say that the Irish soldiers +have a superior kind of courage to which neither the English, the +Scottish nor the Welsh can lay claim. They are all equally brave, but +the manifestation of their bravery is undoubtedly different--that is, +different not so much in degree as in kind. In a word, courage, like +humour, is not racial or geographical, but, like humour also, it takes +on a racial or geographical flavour. + +General Sir Ian Hamilton has written: "When, once upon a time, a Queen +of Spain saw the Grenadier Guards she remarked they were strapping +fellows; as the 92nd Highlanders went by she said, 'The battalion +marches well'; but, at the aspect of the Royal Irish, the words +'Bloody War!' were wrung from her reluctant lips." After a good deal +of reading on the subject, and some thought, I venture to suggest the +following generalisations as to the qualities which distinguish the +English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish, in valour, one from another. + + English--the courage of an exalted sense of honour and devotion + to duty, and of the national standard of conduct which requires + them to show, at all costs, that they are better men than their + opponents, whoever they may be. + + Scottish--the courage of mental as well as physical tenacity, + coolly set upon achieving the purpose in view. + + Welsh--the courage of perfervid emotion, religious in its + intensity. + + Irish--the courage of dare-devilry, and the rapture of battle. + +All these varieties of courage are to be found, to some extent, in +each distinct national unit, and thus they cross and recross the +racial boundary lines within our Army. Still, I think they represent +broadly the dominant distinguishing characteristics of the English, +Scottish, Welsh and Irish as fighting men. The qualities lacking in +one race are supplied by the others; and the harmonious whole into +which all are fused provide that fire and dash, cool discipline, +doggedness and high spirits for which our troops have always been +noted. The Commander-in-Chief, Sir Douglas Haig, is said to have made +a most interesting estimate of the qualities of the soldiers of the +three home races under his command. The Irish are best for brilliant +and rapid attack, and the English are best for holding a position +against heavy onslaughts. The Scottish, he thinks, are not quite so +fiery and dashing in assault as the Irish, but they are more so than +the English, and not quite so tenacious in holding on under tremendous +fire as the English, but they are more so than the Irish. + +It is this combination of attributes which enables the British Army, +more perhaps than any other army, to get out of a desperate situation +with superb serenity and honour. There is an old saying that it never +knows when it is beaten. Soult, Marshal of France, whose brilliant +tactics in the Peninsular War so often countered the consummate +strategy of Wellington and the furious dash of the Irish infantry, +bore testimony in a novel and vivid way to this trait of the British. +"They could not be persuaded they were beaten," he said. "I always +thought them bad soldiers," he also said. "I turned their right, +pierced their centre, they were everywhere broken; the day was mine; +and yet they did not know it and would not run." + +Any other troops, in a hopeless pass, would retreat or surrender, and +would do so without disgrace. There are numberless instances in +British military history where our troops, faced with fearful odds, +stood, magnificently stubborn, with their backs to the wall, as it +were, willing to be fired at and annihilated rather than give in. Mr. +John Redmond tells a story of a reply given by an English General when +asked his opinion of the Irish troops. "Oh," he said, "they are +magnificent fighters, but rotten soldiers. When they receive an order +to retire their answer is, 'Be damned if we will.'" I may add, in +confirmation of this story, that one of the incidents of the retreat +from Mons, which was the subject afterwards of an inquiry by the +military authorities, was the refusal of a few hundred men of a famous +Irish regiment to retire from what appeared to be an untenable +position, much less to surrender, one or other of which courses was +suggested by their superior officer. The answer of the men was as +stunning as a blow of a shillelagh, or as sharp as a bayonet thrust. +"If we had thrown down our arms," one of them said to me, "we could +never have shown our faces in Ireland again." + +Racial distinctions are to be seen on the weak side as well as on the +strong side of character. Each nationality, regarded as fighters, has +therefore its own particular failing. The Irish are disposed to be +foolhardy, or heedless of consequences. It is the fault of their +special kind of courage. "The British soldier's indifference to +danger, while it is one of his finest qualities, is often the despair +of his officers," says Mr. Valentine Williams, one of the most +brilliant and experienced of war correspondents, in his book, _With +our Army in Flanders_, and he adds, "The Irish regiments are the +worst. Their recklessness is proverbial." They are either insensible +to the perils they run, or, what is more likely, contemptuous of them. + +I have been given several examples of the ways they will needlessly +expose themselves. Though they can get to the rear through the safe, +if wayward, windings of the communication trenches, it is a common +thing for them to climb the parapets and go straight across the open +fields under fire so as to save half an hour. To go by the trenches, +they will argue, doubles the time taken in getting back without +halving the risk. In like manner, they prefer to go down a road swept +by the enemy's artillery, which leads direct to their destination, +rather than waste time by following a secure but circuitous way round. +There is an Irish proverb against foolhardy risks which says it is +better to be late for five minutes than dead all your lifetime, but +evidently it is disregarded by Irish soldiers at the Front. + +An English officer in the Royal Irish Regiment writes: "Really the +courage and cheerfulness of our grand Irish boys are wonderful. They +make light of their wounds, and, owing to their stamina, make rapid +recoveries. The worst of them is they get very careless of the German +bullets after a while and go wandering about as if they were at home." +Another English officer begins an amusing story of an Irish orderly in +an English regiment with the comment: "I shall never now believe that +there is on this earth any man to beat the Irish for coolness and +pluck." The officer was in his dug-out, and first noticed the Irishman +chopping wood to make a fire for cooking purposes on a road which was +made dangerous during the day by German snipers. He remarked to +another officer, "By Jove! that man will get shot if he isn't +careful." "No sooner had I said the word," he writes, "when a bullet +splattered near his head. Then another between his legs. I saw the mud +fly where the bullet struck. The man, who is the Captain's servant, +turned round in the direction of the sniper and roared, 'Good shot, +Kaiser. Only you might have hit me, though, for then I could have gone +home.' After this the orderly proceeded to roast a fowl, singing quite +unconcernedly, 'I often sigh for the silvery moon.' Another bullet +came and hit him in the arm. He roared with delight; and, as he basted +the fowl, exclaimed, 'Oh, I'm not going to lave you, me poor bird.' +The officer shouted to him to come into the dug-out. He did so, but +when he had licked the wound in his arm, and bound it up, he said he +must get the fowl, or it would be overdone; and before the officer +could utter a word of protest, he ran across the road to the fire, +started singing again, though the bullets, once more, came whistling +past his ear. When he returned to the dug-out with the fowl nicely +roasted he remarked cheerily, 'People may say what they like, but them +Germans are some marksmen, after all.'" + +The whimsical side of Irish daring is further illustrated by a story +of some men of the Royal Munster Fusiliers. To while away the time in +the trenches one night they made bets on doing this or that. One +fellow wagered a day's pay that he would go over to the German lines +and come back with a maxim gun, which was known to be stationed at a +particular point. In the darkness he wriggled across the intervening +space on his stomach, and, coming stealthily upon the guard, stabbed +him with a dagger. Then slinging the maxim across his shoulder, he +crawled safely back to the trenches. "Double pay to-day!" he cried to +the comrade he made the bet with. "But you haven't won," said the +other. "Where's the machine's belt and ammunition?" The next night he +sallied forth on his belly again, and returned with the complete +outfit. The spirit of the anecdote is true to the Irish temperament, +though the episode it records may be fanciful. There is no doubt that +things of the kind are done very frequently by Irish soldiers. They +call it "gallivanting"; and the mood takes on an air of, say, +recklessness which, at times, seems very incongruous against the +frightful background of the war. + +The very root of courage is forgetfulness of self. Self-consciousness +is, in no great degree, an Irish failing, or virtue, either, if it is +to be regarded as such. Especially when he is absorbed in a martial +adventure, the Irishman has no room in his mind left for a thought of +being afraid, or even nervous. He likes the thrill of movement, the +fierce excitement of advancing under fire for a frontal attack on the +enemy, the ferocity of a contest at close grips. This is the +temperament that responds blithely to the whistle--"Over the +parapets!" His blood is stirred when the actual fighting begins, and +as it progresses he is carried more and more out of himself. The part +of warfare repugnant to him, most trying to his temper, is that of +long watching and waiting. For the work of lining the trenches a +different kind of courage is required. The slush, the miseries, the +herding together, the cramped movements, are enough to drive all the +heat out of the blood. The qualities needed for the severe and +incessant strain of this duty are an immovable calm, a tireless +patience, an endurance which no hardships can break down. Here the +English and the Scottish shine, for by nature they are more +disciplined, more submissive to authority, and they hold on to the end +with an admirable blend of good-humour and doggedness. On the other +hand, I am told, on the authority of an officer of the Welsh Guards, +that when the Irish Guards are in the trenches they find the long +dreary vigil and the boredom of inaction so insupportable that it is a +common thing for parties of them to go to the officer in command and +say, "Please, sir, may we go out and bomb the Germans?" + +As Lord Wolseley had "the Irish drop in him," perhaps it is not to be +wondered at that he discounts the old proverb that the better part of +valour is discretion. "There are a great many men," he writes, "who +pride themselves upon simply doing their duty and restricting +themselves exclusively to its simple performance. If such a spirit +took possession of an army no great deeds can ever be expected from +it." What more can one do, it may be asked, than one's duty? Evidently +Lord Wolseley would have duty on the battlefield spiced or gingered +with audacity. The way the Irish look at it is well illustrated, I +think, in a letter which I have seen from a private in a Devon +regiment. He states that while he and some comrades were at an +observation post in a trench near the enemy's line six Germans +advanced close to them, and though they kept firing at them they could +not drive them back. "Two fellows of the Royal Irish Rifles came up," +continues the Devon man, "and asked us what was on. We told them. Then +one turned round to the other and said, 'Come on, Jim, sure we'll +shift them.' Then the two of them fixed their bayonets and rushed at +the Germans. You would have laughed to see the six Germans running +away from the two Irishmen." We have here an exhibition of the spirit +of the born fighter who does not stop to count the odds or risks too +cautiously. The incident recalls, in a sense, the scene depicted by +Shakespeare in _King Henry V_ at the camp before Harfleur, France, +when Fluellen the Welshman--all shilly-shallying and dilly-dallying in +enterprise--wants to argue with Captain Macmorris, the Irishman, +concerning the disciplines of war. But the Irishman wants not words +but work. Away with procrastination! So he bursts out, in +Shakespeare's most uncouth imitation of the brogue-- + + "It is no time to discourse, so Chrish save me: the day is hot, + and the weather, and the wars and the King, and the dukes: it is + no time to discourse. The town is beseeched, and the trumpet + call us to the breach, and we talk, and, be Chrish, do nothing; + 'tis shame for us all: so God sa' me 'tis shame to stand still; + it is shame by my hand; and there is throats to be cut, and + works to be done; and there isn't nothing done, so Chrish sa' + me, la!" + +Lord Wolseley also lays greater store on the spontaneous courage of +the blood, the intuitive or unconscious form of courage, which is +peculiarly Irish, than on moral courage, the courage of the mind, the +courage of the man who by sheer will-power masters his nervous system +and the shrinking from danger which it usually excites. In Lord +Wolseley's opinion the man who is physically brave--the man of whom it +may often be said that he has no sense of fear because he has no +perception of danger--is the true military leader who draws his men +after him to the achievement of deeds at which the world wonders. + +That is the kind of courage which of old led the mailed knight, bent +on a deed of derring-do, to cleave his way with sword or battle-axe to +the very heart of the enemy's phalanx for the purpose of bringing +their banner to the ground, or dealing them a more vital blow by +slaying their commander. There may be little opportunity in trench +warfare and in duels between heavy guns, both sides concealed behind +the veils of distance, for such a show of spectacular bravery. War is +no longer an adventure, a game or a sport. It is a state of existence, +and what is needed most for its successful prosecution, so far as the +individual fighter is concerned, is a devotion to duty which, however +undramatic, never quails before any task to which it is set. + +But the Irish soldier still longs for the struggle to the death +between man and man, or, better still, of one man against a host of +men. At dawn one day a young Irish soldier, inexperienced and of a +romantic disposition, took his first turn in the trenches. He had come +up filled with an uplifting resolve to do great things. The Germans +immediately began a bombardment. The lad at first was filled with +vague wonderments. He was puzzled especially by the emptiness of the +battlefield. He had in mind the opposing armies moving in sight of +each other, as he had seen them in manoeuvres. Where was the enemy? +Whence came these shells? Then the invisibility of the foe, and this +mechanical, impersonal form of fighting appalled him. One of his +comrades was blown to pieces by his side. A dozen others disappeared +from view in an upheaval of the ground. This was a dastardly massacre +and not manly warfare, thought the youth. + +He could stand the ordeal no longer. He ran, bewildered, up the +trench, shouting "Police! police!" "Hello, there; what are you up to?" +said an officer, barring the way. "Oh, sir," cried the young soldier, +"there's bloody murder going on down there below, and I am looking for +the police to put an end to it." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +WITH THE TYNESIDE IRISH + +OVER THE HEIGHTS OF LA BOISELLE, THROUGH +BAILIFF'S WOOD TO CONTALMAISON + + +The men of the Tyneside Irish battalions stood to arms in the assembly +trenches by the Somme on the morning of July 1, 1916. Suddenly the +face of the country was altered, in their sight, as if by a frightful +convulsion of Nature. Their ears were stunned by shattering +explosions, and looking ahead, they saw the earth in two places +upheaving, hundreds of feet high, in black masses of smoke. The ground +rumbled under their feet, so that many feared it would break apart and +bring the parapets down on top of them. Two mines had been sprung +beneath the first line of the German trenches to the south-west and +north-east of the heap of masonry and timber that once had been the +pretty little hamlet of La Boiselle. It was the signal to the +Division, which included the Tyneside Irish, that the hour of battle +had come. + +The part in the general British advance allotted to the Division was +first to seize the heights on which La Boiselle stood. This was a few +miles beyond the town of Albert, held by the Allies, on the main road +to the town of Bapaume, in the possession of the Germans. Thence they +were to move forward to Bailiff's Wood, to the north-west of +Contalmaison, and to a position on the cross-roads to the north-east +of that village. Contalmaison lay about four miles distant, almost in +ruins amid its devastated orchards, and with the broken towers of its +chateau standing out conspicuously at the back. One brigade had to +take the first line of German trenches, other battalions of the +Division had to take the second and third lines, after which the +Tyneside Irish were to push on over all these lines to the farthest +point of the Brigade's objective, the second ridge on which +Contalmaison stood, where they were to dig themselves in and remain. + +The Tyneside Irish had already had their baptism of fire, and had +proved themselves not unworthy of the race from which they have +sprung. Captain Davey--formerly editor of the _Ulster Guardian_ (a +Radical and Home Rule journal)--records a stirring incident of St. +Patrick's Day, 1916. On the night of March 15-16 a German patrol +planted a German flag in front of the Tyneside Irish, half-way across +"No Man's Land." It was determined to wipe out the insult. During the +day snipers were allowed to amuse themselves firing at the flag, and +it was not long before a lucky shot smashed the staff in two, and left +the German ensign trailing in the dust. But the real work was reserved +for the night. There were abundance of volunteers, but Captain Davey, +with pride in his own province, selected an Ulsterman for the +adventure. The man chosen was Second-Lieutenant C.J. Ervine, of +Belfast. Mr. Ervine, supported by two Tyneside Irishmen, set out on +the eve of St. Patrick's Day, and entered the gloomy depths of "No +Man's Land." An hour passed and they returned--but without the flag. +The enemy was too keenly on the alert. But in the early hours of St. +Patrick's Day Lieutenant Ervine set off again--this time by himself. +What happened is thus described by Captain Davey-- + + "For an hour and a half we waited for his return, expecting each + minute to hear the confounded patrol and machine-gun making the + familiar declaration that 'We will not have it.' So keen were + the sentries that even when relieved they would not leave their + posts. After an hour had passed, Mr. Ervine's sergeant, getting + impatient, went over the parapet and crawled to our wire so as + to see better. Punctually at a quarter to three a German + star-light went up, and by it we could see a dark form making in + our direction. In five minutes it reached our wire, and in ten + it was over the parapet. The Germans had been caught napping. In + less than half an hour, while the spoiler of the Huns stood by + in the crude garb of a Highlander in trench boots--for he had + fallen into a ditch full of water on the way and we bring no + change of clothing to the trenches--another officer and myself + had erected a flagstaff in a firing-bay and nailed to it was the + German ensign, while ABOVE it floated a green flag with the harp + which had been presented to our company before we left home. And + so we ushered in St. Patrick's Day!" + +Captain Davey proceeds-- + + "Proudly the green banner floated out, while, of course, we + flattered ourselves that the black, white and red of Prussia + hung its head in shame below. It was not long before the Germans + showed that they were wide awake at last, and the bullets began + to sing about our newly-erected monument to Ireland and + Ireland's patron saint. But it was a stout flagstaff, and though + dozens of bullets struck it, nothing short of a shell could have + shifted it. And there it stood all day with the Green above the + Black, White and Red. It was no longer a case of 'Deutschland' + but of 'Ireland Uber Alles.' I don't know if any similar sight + has been seen in a British trench. I know the green flag has led + Irish troops to victory in this war, but I think this is the + first time the spectacle has been seen of the Irish ensign + hoisted above a captured German flag. At any rate the spectacle + was sufficiently novel to cause us to have admiring visitors all + day long from other parts of the line." + +Unfortunately there is a sad pendant to this story of St. Patrick's +Day at the Front. Lieutenant Ervine, the gallant hero of the exploit, +died from wounds. + +The country which faced the Tyneside Irish on July 1, 1916, had been +an agricultural country, inhabited by peasant cultivators before the +war. The ravages of war had turned it into a barren waste. The +productive soil was completely swept away. Nothing remained but the +raw, elemental chalk. It was bare of vegetation, save where, in +isolated spots, the hemlock, the thistle, and other gross weeds, +proclaimed the rankness of the ground, and also that the processes of +Nature ever go on unchecked, even in a world convulsed by human hate. +Not only were the villages pounded into rubbish by gun-fire, but the +woods--also numerous in these parts--appeared, as seen from a +distance, to be but mere clusters of gaunt and splintered tree stumps +devoid of foliage. Not a human being was to be seen. Yet that +apparently empty waste was infested with men--men turned into +burrowing animals like the badger, or, still more, like the weasel, so +noted for its ferocious and bloodthirsty disposition. In every +shattered wood, in every battered hamlet, in all the slopes and dips +by which the face of the country was diversified, they lie concealed, +tens of thousands of them, in an elaborately and cunningly contrived +system of underground defences, armed with rifles, bombs, +machine-guns, trench-mortars, and ready to spring out, with all their +claws and teeth displayed, on the approach of their prey, the man in +khaki. But, as things turned out, the man in khaki pared the nails of +Fritz, and broke his jawbone. + +"Before starting, and when our guns were at their heaviest, there was +a good deal of movement, up and down, and talking in the trenches. A +running fire of chaff was kept up, and there was many a smart reply, +for Irish wit will out even in the face of death," said Lieutenant +James Hately, who was wounded in that battle. "Some of the fellows +were very quiet, but none the less determined. Most of us were +laughing. At the same time I felt sorry, for the thought would +obtrude itself on my mind that many of the poor chaps I saw around me +would never see home again. As for myself, curiously enough, it never +occurred to me that I would even be hit. Perhaps that was because I am +of a sanguine or optimistic disposition. I started off, like many +another officer, with a cigarette well alight. Many of the men were +puffing at their pipes. Officers and men exchanged 'good-lucks,' +'cheer-ohs' and other expressions of comradeship and encouragement." + +Many were, naturally, in a serious mood. They felt too near to death +for the chaff of the billets or trenches to be seemly. They thought of +home, of dear ones, of life in the workshops and offices of Newcastle +and Sunderland, and the gay companions of favourite sports and +amusements, and, more poignant still, some recalled the last sight of +the cabin in Donegal, before turning down the lane to the valley and +the distant station, on their way to try their fortune in England. +Thus there was some restlessness and anxiety, but the company officers +in closest touch with the men agree that the general mood was +eagerness to get into grips with the enemy, and relish for the +adventure, without any great concern as to its results to themselves +individually. When the command was given, "up and over," the Brigade, +in fact, was like a huge electric battery fresh from a generating +station, for its immense driving force and not less for the lively +agitation of its varied emotions. Up and over the battalions went, and +moved forward in successive waves, the men in single file abreast, the +lines about fifty yards apart. For about two hundred yards or so +nothing of moment happened. Then they came under heavy fire. Shells +burst about them, shrapnel fell from above, bullets from rifle and +machine-gun tore through the air, or caused hundreds of little spurts +of earth to leap and dance about their feet. One of the men told me +that the shrieking and hissing of these deadly missiles reminded him +of banshees and serpents, a confused and grotesque association +appropriate to a battlefield as to a nightmare. + +It must not be supposed that everything was carried with a rush and a +shout, at point of the bayonet. An impetuous advance is what the men +would have liked best. It would be most in tune with the ardour of +their feelings, and less a strain on their nerves. But there were many +reasons why that was impossible. The country, in its natural +formation, was upward sloping, and all dips and swells. It was broken +up into enormous shell-holes and mine-craters, seamed with zigzag +lines of white chalky rubble marking the German trenches, and strewn +with the wire of demolished entanglements, fallen trees and the +wreckage of houses. The men were heavily equipped in what is called +fighting order. They carried haversacks, water-bottles, gas-helmets, +bandoliers filled with cartridges, as well as rifles and bayonets. +Some were additionally burdened with bombs and hand grenades. Behind +them came the working parties with entrenching tools, such as picks +and shovels. Accordingly, the physical labour of the advance alone was +tremendous. It would have been stiff and toilsome work for the +strongest and most active, even if there had been no storm of shot and +shell to face besides. There was, furthermore, the danger in a too +hasty progress of plunging headlong into the curtain of high +explosives which the artillery, firing from miles behind, hung along +the front of the infantry, lifting it and moving it forward as the +lines were seen to advance. + +Nevertheless the men went on steadily, undaunted by the fire and +tumult; and the shuddering earth; undaunted even by the spectacle of +the dead and dying of the battalions which preceded them in the +attack; shaken only by one horror--a horror unspeakable--that of +seeing fond comrades of their own falling bereft of life, as in a +flash, by a bullet through the brain or heart; or, worse still, just +as suddenly disappearing into bloody fragments amid the roar and smoke +of a bursting shell. Now and then men stopped awhile, trembling at the +sight and aghast; and, under the sway of impulses that were +irresistible, put their right hands over their faces as a protection +to their eyes--an appeal, expressed in action rather than in words, +that they might be mercifully spared their sight--or else made a +sweeping gesture of the arm, as if to brush aside the bullets which +buzzed about them like venomous insects. + +The pace, therefore, was necessarily slow. It was rather a succession +of short rushes, a few yards at a time, with intervening pauses behind +such shelter as was available in order to recover breath. The right +soldierly quality is not to be over rash, but to adapt oneself to the +nature of the fighting and its scene; the circumstances of the moment, +the ever-varying requirements of the action. Such an advance, whatever +precautions be taken, entails great sacrifices. Every life that is +lost should be made to go as far as possible in the gaining of the +victory. Foolhardy movements, due to unreflecting bravery, were +accordingly discouraged. Advantage was to be taken of any cover +afforded by the natural features of the country or the state into +which it had been transformed by the pounding of high explosives. The +influence of the officers, so cool and alert were they, so suggestive +of capability in direction, was most reassuring and stimulating to the +men. On the other hand, the officers were relieved by the +intelligence, the amenable character of the men and their fine +discipline, from the worry and annoyance which company commanders have +so often to endure in the course of an action by the casual doings, +and the lack of initiative on the part of those under their charge. +Simple, biddable, gallant and faithful unto death, it was the wish of +the Tyneside Irish that, if they were to fall, their bodies might be +found, not in the line of the advance, but at the German positions to +the north-west of Contalmaison, out of both of which they had helped +to drive the enemy. + +But now the lines or waves of men which had left the trenches in +extended formation were broken up into separate little bodies, all +independently engaged in various grim tasks. They had mounted La +Boiselle hill, and moved down into the valley which still intervened +between them and Bailiff's Wood and Contalmaison. Thus they were in +the very centre of the labyrinth of the enemy's system of defences. An +air of intolerable mystery and sinister hidden danger hung over it. +Was it not possible that those brutes, those dirty fighters, the +inventors of poisonous gas, liquid fire and flame jets, who had +established themselves in the very vitals of the place, might not have +other devilish inventions prepared for the wholesale massacre of their +adversaries? The thought arose in the minds of many, and caused a +vague sense of apprehension. The Germans, however, had no further +hellish surprises. Even so, the place was baneful and noxious enough. +The Germans had suffered terrible losses and were morally shaken by +the artillery bombardment--gigantic, devastating, thunderous--which +preceded the British advance. It is the fact, nevertheless, that most +of the survivors had enough courage and tenacity left doggedly to +contest every inch of the way. They lay concealed in all sorts of +cunning traps and contrivances, apart from their demolished trenches. +Machinery on the side of the British--in the form of big guns--had +done its part. The time had come for the play of human qualities, the +pluck, the endurance and the stout arm of the British infantry man. +Snipers had to be dislodged from their burrows; hidden machine-gun +posts had likewise to be found out and silenced. So the men of the +Tyneside Irish were rushing about in small parties, shooting, +bayoneting, clubbing, bombing; and the triumphant yells which arose +here and there proclaimed the discovery of yet another lair of the +foe. + +Many a stirring story of personal adventure could be told. Sergeant +Knapp of Sunderland, who won his stripes in the advance, gives this +account of his experiences-- + + "I had just taken the machine-gun off my mate to give him a rest + when 'Fritz' opened fire on us from the left with a machine-gun, + which played havoc with the Irish. Then I heard my mate shout, + 'Bill, I've been hit,' and when I looked round I saw I was by + myself; he, poor chap, had fallen like the rest. Now I had to do + the best I could, so I picked up a bag of ammunition for the gun + and started across 'No Man's Land.' Once I had to drop into a + shell-hole to take cover from machine-gun fire. + + "After a short rest I pushed on again and got into the German + second line. By this time I was exhausted, for I was carrying a + machine-gun and 300 rounds of ammunition, besides a rifle and + 120 rounds in my pouches, equipment, haversack and waterproof + cape, so I had a fair load. I stopped there for a few minutes + picking off stray Boches that were kicking about. Then along + came a chap, whom I asked to give me a help with the gun, which + he did. We had scarcely gone ten yards when a shell burst on top + of us. I stood still, I don't think I could have moved had I + wanted to. Then I looked around for my chum, but alas! man and + gun were missing. Where he went to I don't know, for I have not + seen him or my precious weapon since." + +Who that has talked with many wounded soldiers has not found that +often they are unable to give any coherent account of their own +actions and feelings during a battle. In some cases it is due to an +unwillingness to revive haunting memories, a wish to banish out of +mind for ever the morbid, terrible and grotesque, the ugly aspects in +which many experiences in battle present themselves, surpassing the +nightmares of any opium eater. In other cases there is an obvious +distaste for posing. All one gallant Irish Tynesider would say to me +was, "Sure I only went on because I had to. Didn't the officers tell +us before we left the trenches that there was to be no going back?" He +brushed aside everything he had done that terrible day which got him +the Distinguished Conduct Medal, with the jocose assumption that he +was but the most unheroic of mortals, that he went to a place where he +would not have gone if he had had any choice in the matter. The +incommunicativeness of the soldier is also due to the fact that he +cannot recall his sensations. During an engagement his mind is in a +whirl. He has no disposition to note his thoughts and feelings in the +midst of the fighting. In fact, few men can analyse the processes of +their emotions in such a situation, either at the time or afterwards. +As a rule, an overmastering passion possesses the soldier to stab, +hack and annihilate the foe who want to take that life which he so +greatly desires to preserve. All else is confused and blurred--a vague +sense of desperate happenings shrouded in fire and smoke, out of which +there emerges, now and then, with sharp distinctness, some specially +horrible incident, such as the shattering of a comrade into bits. + +But I have met with cases still more strange, where the mind was a +blank during the advance through the showering bullets and shrapnel +and the exploding shells. Even the simplest process of the +brain--memory, or self-consciousness--was dormant. The soldiers in +this mental condition appear to have been like the somnambulist who +does things mechanically as he walks in his sleep, and when aroused +has an impression of having passed through some unusual experience, +but what he cannot tell, so vague and formless is it all. Suddenly +all the senses of these hypnotised soldiers became wide awake and +alert. This happened when they caught sight of figures in skirted grey +tunics and flat grey caps with narrow red bands, emerging from +cavernous depths into the light of day, or unexpectedly came upon them +crouching in holes or behind mounds of earth away from the trenches. +Germans! Face to face with the Bosche at last! The effect was like +that of a sudden and peremptory blast of a bugle in a deep stillness. +Each Irish Tynesider braced up his nerves for bloody deeds. "My life, +or theirs," was the thought that sprang to his mind. Thus it was a +scene of appalling violence. It resounded with the clash of bayonets; +the crackle of musketry; the explosion of bombs; the rattle of +machine-guns; and in that confusion of hideous mechanical noises were +also heard the shriek of human anguish and the cry of victory. + +It was in a wood not far off Contalmaison that the fighting was most +desperate and sanguinary of all. The place was full of Germans. The +paths and glades were blocked or barricaded with fallen trees. Beneath +the splintered and blackened trunks that were still standing, the +undergrowth, freed from the attentions of the woodman in the two years +of the war, was dense and tangled. Right through the wood were +trenches with barbed wire obstructions. At its upper end were +peculiarly strong outposts, which poured machine-gun fire through the +trees and bushes. It was commanded by batteries on two sides--from +Contalmaison on the right and Oviliers on the left. The attackers had +to penetrate this dreadful wood, scrambling, tearing, jumping, +creeping in the sultry and stifling heat of the day. There were +ferocious personal encounters. The form of fighting was one of the +most terrible to which this most hideous of wars has given rise. +Probably there has been nothing like it since early man fought those +horrid and extinct mammoth animals, the skeletons of which are now to +be seen in museums, what time they were alive and savage and ruthless +in their haunts in the primeval forest. + +The battle was marked by ever-varying vicissitudes of advance and +repulse. "The German Guardsmen fought like tigers to hold it," is a +phrase in one letter of an Irish Tynesider. Our own official +despatches relating to the Somme battle also show that this part of +the German front--Oviliers, La Boiselle, Bailiff's Wood, Contalmaison, +Mametz Wood--was held by battalions of the Guards, composed of the +flower of the youth of Prussia, and standing highest in the mightiest +army in the world. These were not the kind of men to put up their +hands and cry "Kamerad, mercy!" at the sight even of that pitiless and +unnerving thing--a bayonet at the end of a rifle in the hands of a +brawny Irishman, with the fury of battle flaming in his eyes. They +held on tenaciously, and gave blow for blow. A long bombardment, night +and day, by modern heavy guns, is a frightful ordeal. Its objects are, +first, to kill wholesale; and, next, to paralyse the survivors with +the fear of death, so that they could but offer only a feeble +resistance to the advancing troops. Shaken and despairing men were, +therefore, encountered--filthy, unshaven, vile-looking, and so +mentally dazed as to act and talk like idiots. But they were not all +like that. So well-designed and powerful were their subterranean +defences that large numbers were unaffected by the visitations of the +high explosives, and through it preserved their courage and their +rage. Conspicuous among these were the Prussian Guards. They made +furious efforts to stop the advancing lines of the Tyneside Irish, and +that they were overpowered is a splendid testimony to the martial +qualities of our men. Think of it! Two years ago, or so, these young +lads of various industrial callings--farm hands, railway porters, +clerks, drapers' assistants, policemen, carters, messenger boys, +miners--would have regarded as preposterous the idea that at any time +of what seemed to them to be their predestined humdrum existence, or +in any period even of a conceivably mad and topsy-turvy world, they +would not only be soldiers but would encounter the Germans on the +fields of France; and--most incredible phantasy of all--defeat the +renowned Prussian Guards--men whose hearts from their earliest years +throbbed high at the thought that they were to be soldiers; men highly +disciplined and trained, belonging to the proudest regiments in the +German Army, and always ready and eager for the call of battle. + +Bailiff's Wood and Contalmaison appear to have been the furthest +points reached on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. If they +did not then fall, the superb action of the Tyneside Irish made +breaches in these strongholds which, when widened and deepened by +subsequent assaults, led to their complete capture on July 10. As +Captain Downey, an officer of the Tyneside Irish says: "Our men paved +the way for various other British regiments who swept through some +days later." A few companies of one of these battalions which got into +Contalmaison on July 7, and were driven out, brought back some +Tyneside Irish and Scottish that were imprisoned in a German dug-out +in the village. They also found outside the village the bodies of +several Tyneside Irish, gallant fellows who died in the attempt to +push on to the point they had orders to reach. + +The effectiveness of the attack by the Brigade on July 1 depended a +good deal upon the progress made by troops of other Divisions who were +co-operating on both sides. "On our left flank the parallel Division +was held up; on our right the Division moved slowly," says an officer +of the Irish Brigade. The difficulties of the advance would probably +have held up indefinitely any other troops in the world. But there is +never any danger of the momentum of an attack by Irish troops being +weakened through excessive caution against what is called "over +running." Indeed, it is a fault of their courage that they are +sometimes prone to act with too much precipitation, and, in fact, on +this occasion it was not so much that the Divisions to the right and +left were behind time as that the Irish Brigade were somewhat ahead of +it. The result, however, was that the Irish Tynesiders were exposed on +their right to a deadly enfilading fire that swept across from +Oviliers, which was not yet in British possession. Nevertheless, they +did not stop. "No matter who cannot get on, we must." That was the +order of the officers in command, and so dauntless was the response to +it that by one o'clock the men got to a point in front of +Contalmaison. Here what remained of the Brigade held on for some days +and nights, until the reserves came to their relief on July 4. + +The casualties among all ranks were heavy. The officers, sharing every +hardship and being foremost in every danger, suffered most grievously. +"Our Brigadier, our colonels, our company commanders, were badly +wounded. Every officer, with the exception of two subalterns, was hit. +Some were hit in no less than three places. Yet they carried on. Those +too weak to walk crawled until they eventually gave up through loss of +blood. The losses among the N.C.O.s were just as large." This is the +testimony of Captain Downey. Lieut.-Colonel L. Meredith Howard of the +Tyneside Irish was severely wounded, and died two days afterwards. +Among the officers of the Brigade who fell in action was +Second-Lieutenant Gerald FitzGerald. A brother officer says, "He died +shouting to his men: 'Come on.'" His father was Lord Mayor of +Newcastle the year in which the Brigade was raised. Other officers +killed were Captain Kenneth Mackenzie of Kinsale, co. Cork, whose +father was formerly an Irish Land Commissioner; Lieutenant Louis +Francis Byrne of Newcastle, who was serving his articles as a +solicitor when war broke out; and Lieutenant J.R.C. Burlureaux, a +journalist. + +The disappearance of so many of the officers was enough to have +dispirited and confused any body of men. Would it be possible for them +to extricate themselves from the fearful labyrinth in which they were +involved? Would there be any of them left for the final dash at their +objective? The non-commissioned officers rose splendidly to the +emergency. One battalion had not far advanced when all the officers +were shot down. Quartermaster-Sergeant Joseph Coleman took command and +continued onward. Soon he found himself with only three men left. +Everything seemed lost in his part of that scene of tumult and death +but for his coolness and gallantry. He went back, gathered up the +remnants of other scattered companies, and led a willing and eager +band to the capture of the position put down to the battalion in the +scheme of operations. For this Coleman got the Distinguished Conduct +Medal, and had it pinned on his breast by General Munro, the +Brigadier. + +When the Brigade was relieved, their return to the haven behind the +lines was attended with almost as much danger as their advance to the +hell beyond the ridge had been. As the men ascended the slope of La +Boiselle, down which they had charged a few days before, the German +machine-guns were still rattling from the opposite hill, and snipers +were picking off the stragglers. The hideousness of the field of +action had also increased. The devastated ground, with its +shell-holes, its great gaping craters and its trenches, was now strewn +with the unsavoury litter of the wake of battle--discarded rifles, +helmets, packs, burst and unburst shells; boots, rags, meat-tins, +bottles and newspapers. Such of the wounded as could walk at all +limped along on the arms of comrades. Every one was inconceivably +dirty. Down their blackened faces were white furrows made by their +sweat. Thus they came back, the Irish Tynesiders, with bloody but +unbowed heads. "I saw our battalions file out from their bivouac under +cover of night, and, though each man knew of the deadly work before +him, the ready jest and witty retort were as abundant as ever," writes +Lieutenant F. Treanor, Quartermaster of one of the battalions of the +Tyneside Irish, and a native of Monaghan. "In the dressing-stations +afterwards I saw many of them, and there were still the same heroic +fortitude and the exchange of comments, many grimly humorous, as that +of one poor fellow who remarked, when asked if he had any souvenirs. +'Be danged, 'twas no place for picking up jewellery.'" + +The Brigade received the highest praises from the Commander of the +Army Corps and the Commander of the Division, as well as from their +own General. The corps commander wrote: "The gallantry, steadiness and +resource of the Brigade were such as to uphold the very highest and +best traditions of the British Army." Major-General Ingouville-Williams, +who commanded the Division, wrote to the Tyneside committee-- + +"It is with the greatest pride and deepest regret that I wish to +inform you that the Division which included the Tyneside Irish covered +itself with glory on July 1, but its losses were very heavy. Every one +testifies to the magnificent work they did that day, and it is the +admiration of all. I, their commander, will never forget their +splendid advance through the German curtain of fire. It was simply +wonderful, and they behaved like veterans. Tyneside can well be proud +of them; and although they will sorrow for all my brave and faithful +comrades, it is some consolation to know they died not in vain, and +that their attack was of the greatest service to the Army on that +day." + +Writing to his wife on July 3, 1916, Major-General Ingouville-Williams +said: "My Division did glorious deeds. Never have I seen men go +through such a hell of a barrage of artillery. They advanced as on +parade and never flinched. I cannot speak too highly of them. The +Division earned a great record, but, alas! at a great cost." On July +20 he also wrote to his wife: "Never shall I cease singing the praises +of my old Division, and I never shall have the same grand men to deal +with again." A few days later Major-General Ingouville-Williams died +for his country. + +Seventy-three officers and men of the Tyneside Irish received +decorations. Four Distinguished Service Orders and twenty Military +Crosses went to the officers, eight Distinguished Conduct Medals and +forty Military Medals were received by the men, and a sergeant was +awarded the high Russian decoration of the Order of St. George. Among +the officers who received the Military Cross was Lieutenant T.M. +Scanlan, whose father, Mr. John E. Scanlan, Newcastle-on-Tyne, took a +prominent part in the raising of the Brigade. Lieutenant Scanlan +states that only eight men were left out of his platoon after July 1, +and six of them were awarded honours. All honour to the Brigade! Those +who helped to raise the battalions--Mr. Peter Bradley and Mr. N. +Grattan Doyle, the chairmen of the committee; Mr. Gerald Stoney and +Mr. John Mulcahy, the joint secretaries--have reason to be proud of +the magnificent quality of the men who responded to their call. Let it +stand as the last word of the story of their achievement that they +overthrew and trampled down the proud Prussian Guards, and relaxed the +grip which Germany had held for two years on a part of France. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE WEARING OF RELIGIOUS EMBLEMS AT THE FRONT + +SPREAD OF THE EXAMPLE SET BY IRISH SOLDIERS + + "Nearly every man out here is wearing some sort of + Catholic medallion or a rosary that has been given him, + and he would rather part with his day's rations or his + last cigarette than part with his sacred + talisman."--Extract from a letter written from the Front + by a non-Catholic private in the Hussars. + + +The wearing of religious emblems by soldiers of the British Army is +much talked of by doctors and nurses in military hospitals in France +and at home. When wounded soldiers are undressed--be they non-Catholic +or Catholic--the discovery is frequently made of medals or scapulars +worn around their necks, or sacred badges stitched inside their +tunics. It is a psychological phenomenon of much interest for the +light it throws upon human nature in the ordeal of war. It shows, too, +how war is a time when supernatural signs and wonders are multiplied. + +Testimony to the value of these religious favours as safeguards +against danger and stimulants to endurance and heroism was given in a +most dramatic manner by Corporal Holmes, V.C., of the King's Own +Yorkshire Light Infantry, who also holds the highest French +decoration, the Medaille Militaire. He visited the Catholic schools at +Leeds. All the girls and boys were assembled to see him. One of the +nuns told the children how Corporal Holmes won his honours during the +retreat from Mons. He carried a disabled comrade out of danger, +struggling on with his helpless human burden for three miles under +heavy fire. Then taking the place of the driver, who was wounded, he +brought a big gun, with terror-stricken horses, out of action, through +lines of German infantry and barbed wire entanglements. At the +crossing of the Aisne a machine-gun was left behind, as the bridge +over which it was hoped to carry it was shelled by the enemy. Corporal +Holmes plunged into the river with it, some distance below the bridge, +and, amid shot and shell, brought it safely to the other bank. When +the nun had finished recounting his deeds, Corporal Holmes +unexpectedly turned back his tunic, and saying, "This is what saved +me," pointed to his rosary and medal of the Blessed Virgin. + +There is the equally frank and positive declaration made by +Lance-Corporal Cuddy of the Liverpool Irish (the King's Liverpool +Regiment), who was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for +gallantry in saving life after the great battle of Festubert. He was +in the trenches with his regiment. Cries for help came from some +wounded British soldiers lying about fifteen yards from the German +trenches. The appeal smote the pitying heart of Cuddy. He climbed the +parapet of his trench, and, crawling forward on his stomach, +discovered two disabled men of the Scottish Rifles. One of them had a +broken thigh. Cuddy coolly bound up the limb, under incessant fire +from the German trenches, and crawled back to his trench, dragging the +man with him. Then, setting out to bring in the second man, he was +followed by Corporal Dodd of the same battalion, who volunteered to +assist him. On the way a bullet struck Dodd on the shoulder and passed +out through his leg. Cuddy bandaged him and carried him safely back. +Once more he crawled over the fire-swept ground between the trenches +to the second Scottish rifleman. This time he took an oil-sheet with +him. He wrapped it round the wounded man and brought him in also. All +this was the work of hours. Not for a moment did this brave and simple +soul flinch or pause in his humane endeavours. He seemed to be +indifferent, or absolutely assured, as to his own fate. And he had the +amazing good luck of going through the ordeal scathless, save for a +slight wound in the leg. As is the way with soldiers, the comrades of +Cuddy joked with him on his success in dodging the bullets of the +bloody German snipers. "They were powerless to hit me. I carry the +Pope's prayer about me, and I put my faith in that," he answered, in +accordance with his simple theology. This prayer of Pope Benedict XV +is one "to obtain from the mercy of Almighty God the blessings of +Peace." + +Both soldiers were convinced, as Catholics, that, being under the +special protection of the Heavenly Powers whose symbols they wore, +they were safe and invincible until their good work was done. Psalm +civ. speaks of God, "who maketh the sweeping winds his angels, and a +flaming sword His ministers." Why should He not work also through the +agency of the religious emblems of His angels and saints? With this +belief strong within them, Holmes and Cuddy leaped at the chance of +bringing comfort to comrades in anguish, and help to those sorely +pressed by the enemy. + +There is another aspect of this question of the psychology of war. It +is a boast of the age that we have freed ourselves from what is called +the deadening influence of superstition. Nevertheless, since the +outbreak of the war there has been an extraordinary revival of the +secular belief in omens, witchcraft, incantations and all that they +imply--the direct influence of supernatural powers, of some sort or +other, on the fortunes of individuals in certain events. One amiable +form of it is the enormously increased demand for those jewellers' +trinkets called charms and amulets, consisting of figures or symbols +in stone and metal which are popularly supposed to possess powers of +bringing good fortune or averting evil, and which formerly lovers used +to present to each other, and wear attached to bracelets and chains, +to ensure mutual constancy, prosperity and happiness. Even the +eighteenth-century veneration of a child's caul--the membrane +occasionally found round the head of an infant at birth--as a sure +preservative against drowning is again rife among those who go down to +the sea in ships. The menace of the German submarine has revivified +the ancient desire of seafaring folk to possess a caul, which was laid +dormant by the sense of security bred by years of freedom from piracy, +and the article has gone up greatly in price in shops that sell +sailors' requirements at the chief ports. Fortune-tellers, +crystal-gazers, and other twentieth-century witches and dealers in +incantations, who pretend to be able to look into the future and +provide safeguards against misfortune, are being consulted by mothers, +wives and sweethearts, anxiously seeking for some safe guidance for +their nearest and dearest through the perils of the war. + +So far as the Army is concerned, the belief that certain things bring +good luck or misfortune has always been widely held by the rank and +file. Formerly there were two talismans which were regarded as +especially efficacious in warding off evil, and particularly death and +disablement in battle. These were, in the infantry, a button off the +tunic of a man, and, in the cavalry, the tooth of a horse, in cases +where the man and the horse had come scathless through a campaign. A +good many years ago the old words "charm," "talisman," "amulet," +dropped out of use in the Army. The French slang word "mascot," which +originated with gamblers and is applied to any person, animal or thing +which is supposed to be lucky, came into fashion; and some animal or +bird--monkey, parrot, or goat, or even the domestic dog or cat--was +appointed "the mascot of the regiment." But since the outbreak of the +war the Army has returned to its old faith in the old talisman. A +special charm designed for soldiers, called "Touchwood," and described +as "the wonderful Eastern charm," has had an enormous sale. It was +suggested by the custom, when hopes are expressed, of touching wood, +so as to placate the fates and avert disappointment, a custom which is +supposed to have arisen from the ancient Catholic veneration of the +true Cross. + +"Touchwood" is a tiny imp, mainly head, made of oak, surmounted by a +khaki service cap, and with odd, sparkling eyes, as if always on the +alert to see and avert danger. The legs, either in silver or gold, are +crossed, and the arms, of the same metal, are lifted to touch the +head. The designer, Mr. H. Brandon, states that he has sold 1,250,000 +of this charm since the war broke out. Not long ago there was a +curious scene in Regent's Park. This was the presentation of +"Touchwood" to each of the 1200 officers and men of a battalion of the +City of London Regiments (known as "The Cast-Irons") by Mdlle. +Delysia, a French music-hall dancer, before they went off for the +Front. Never has there been such a public exhibition--uncontrolled and +unashamed--of the belief in charms. Mr. Brandon has received numerous +letters from soldiers on active service, ascribing their escape from +perilous situations to the wearing of the charm. One letter, which has +five signatures, says-- + + "We have been out here for five months fighting in the trenches, + and have not had a scratch. We put our great good fortune down + to your lucky charm, which we treasure highly." + +Thus we see that mankind has not outgrown old superstitions, as so +many of us thought, but, on the contrary, is still ready to fly to +them for comfort and protection in danger. The truth is that the human +mind remains at bottom essentially the same amid all the changes made +by time in the superficial crust of things. Man is still the heir of +all the ages. Some taint of "the old Popish idolatries" survives in +the blood of most of us, no matter how Protestant and rationalistic we +may suppose ourselves to be. And now that the foundations of +civilisation are disrupted, and humanity is involved in the coils of +the most awful calamity that has ever befallen it, is it to be +wondered at that hands should be piteously stretched out on all sides, +and in all sorts of ways--unorthodox as well as orthodox--groping in +the dark for protective touch with the unseen Powers who rule our +destinies. + +It is in these circumstances that non-Catholic soldiers of the new +Armies are turning from materialistic charms to holy emblems. It may +be thought that this new cult is but a manifestation, in a slightly +different form, of the same primal superstitious instinct of mankind +as inspired the old, but as it has a religious origin and sanction and +is really touched by spiritual emotion, it seems to me to be far +removed from the other in spirit and intention. Non-Catholic soldiers +appear to have been led into the new practice by the example of +Catholic soldiers. These religious objects, commemorative of the +Blessed Virgin and other saints, have always been carried about their +persons by Irish Catholic soldiers, to some extent, as well as by +Catholics generally in civil life. The custom is now almost universal +among Catholic officers and men at the Front. It resembles, in a way, +the still more popular practice of carrying photographs of mother, +wife and child. Will it be denied that the soldier, as he looks upon +the likenesses of those who cherish him, and hold him ever in their +thoughts, does not derive hope and consolation from his consciousness +of their watchful and prayerful love? + +There are several little breastplates thus worn by Catholics to shield +them from spiritual evil and bodily calamity. The chaplet of beads, +known as the rosary, is well known. The brown scapular of St. Mary of +Mount Carmel is made of small pieces of cloth connected by long +strings, and is worn over the shoulders in imitation of the brown +habit of the Carmelite friars. Then there are the Medal of Our Lady of +Perpetual Succour, a reproduction of the wonderful picture discovered +by the Redemptorist Order in Rome; and the Miraculous Medal of Our +Lady, revealed by the Immaculate Virgin to Catherine Laboure, Sister +of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, in Paris. Another is the "Agnus +Dei" ("Lamb of God"), a small disc of wax, impressed with the figure +of a lamb supporting a cross, and blessed by the Pope, which is the +most ancient of the sacramentals, or holy objects worn, used or +preserved by Catholics for devotional purposes. But what is now +perhaps the most esteemed of all is the Badge of the Sacred Heart. On +an oval piece of red cloth is printed a picture of Jesus, standing +before a cross, with His bleeding heart, encircled by thorns and +flames, exposed on His breast. The badge is emblematical of the +sufferings of Jesus for the love of and redemption of mankind. It is +the cognisance of a world-wide league, known as the Apostleship of +Prayer, conducted by the Society of Jesus, and having, it is said, a +membership of 25,000,000 of all nations. The promotion of these +special devotions in the Catholic Church has been assigned to +different Orders: such as the rosary to the Dominicans; the scapular +to the Carmelites; the Way of the Cross to the Franciscans. So the +spread of the devotion of the Sacred Heart is the work of the Jesuits. +The headquarters of the Apostleship of Prayer in this country is the +house of the Jesuits in Dublin, who publish as its organ a little +monthly magazine called _The Messenger_. There has been so enormous a +demand for the badge since the war broke out that the Jesuits have +circulated a statement emphasising that it is not to be regarded as "a +charm or talisman to preserve the wearer from bullets and shrapnel." +To wear it in this spirit would, they say, be "mere superstition." +"What it stands for and signifies is something far nobler and +greater," they also say. "It is, in a sense, the exterior livery or +uniform of the soldiers and clients of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, King +of heaven and earth, just as the brown scapular is the livery of the +servants and soldiers of Mary, heaven's glorious Queen. As such it +procures for those who wear it in the proper spirit the grace and +protection of God; and the scapulars the special protection of Mary, +much more than the livery or uniform of a country procures for those +who fight under its flag the help and protection of the nation to +which they belong." + +What is the attitude of the Irish Catholic soldier towards this +religious movement as a means of preservation and grace in the trials +and perils of war? I have read many letters from Irish Catholics on +service in France, Flanders and the East in which the matter is +referred to, and have discussed it with some of those who have been +invalided home. All this testimony establishes beyond question that +the mystical sense of the Irish nature, which has been developed to a +high degree by the two tremendous influences of race and religion, +leads the Irish Catholic soldier profoundly to believe that there is +a supernatural interference often with the chances and fortunes of the +battlefield in answer to prayers. Michael O'Leary, V.C., a splendid +type of the Irish soldier in body and mind, gave a brief but pointed +statement of his views on the matter. "A shell has grazed my cheek and +blown a comrade by my side to pieces," he said, "though there was no +reason, so far as I could see, but the act of God, why the shell +should not have knocked my head off and grazed my comrade's cheek." + +The average Irish soldier probably knows nothing of the materialistic +theory that Nature is a closed system; that the laws of the universe +are fixed and immutable; that no wearing of holy objects, and no +amount of praying even, will ever disturb their uniform mechanical +working; and that the sole reason why any soldier on the battlefield +escapes being hit by a bullet or piece of explosive shell is that he +was not directly in its line of flight. Such a doctrine would be +regarded, at least by the simple and instinctive natures in the Irish +ranks, as the limit of blasphemy. Their belief in the reality and +power of God is most profound. God is to them still the lord and +master of all the forces of Nature; and the turning aside of a bullet +or piece of explosive shell would be but the slightest manifestation +of His almighty omnipotence. Mystery surrounds the Irish Catholic +soldier at all times. His realisation of the unseen is very vivid. The +saints and angels are his companions, not the less real and potent +because they are not visible to his eyes. But it is on the field of +battle that he is most closely enveloped by these spiritual presences. +He is convinced that he has but to call upon them, and that, if he be +in a state of grace, they will come to his aid as the ministers of +God. So he prays that God may protect and save him, and he wears next +his heart the emblems of God's angels and saints. Thus he feels +invincible against the powers of darkness in both the spiritual and +material worlds. For these devotions have also the effect of putting +him in train to receive submissively whatever fate God may will him. +He knows that God can safeguard him in the fight if He chooses; and he +believes that if God does not choose so to do it is because in His +wisdom He does not deem it right. "Blessed be the holy will of God!" +The old, familiar Irish ejaculation springs to his lips, that variant +of Job's unshakable trust in the Almighty: "Though He slay me, yet +will I trust Him." Thus it is that the sight of his comrades lying +around him, dead and wounded, who prayed like him and, like him, +carried rosary beads or wore the badge of the Sacred Heart, has no +effect in shaking his belief in his devotions and his holy emblems. So +when the hour of direst peril is at hand he is found not unnerved and +incapable of standing the awful test. There is an ancient Gaelic +proverb which says: "What is there that seems worse to a man than his +death? and yet he does not know but it may be the height of his good +luck." Even if death should come, what is it but the shadowy gate +which opens into life everlasting and blissful? + +There are on record numerous cases of protection and deliverance +ascribed by non-Catholics as well as Catholics to the wearing of +religious emblems. The Sisters of Mercy, Dungarvon, Waterford, tell +the story of the marvellous escape from death of Private Thomas Kelly, +Royal Munster Fusiliers, at the first landing on the Gallipoli +peninsula on April 25, 1915. Kelly had emerged with his comrades from +the _River Clyde_--the steamer which had brought his regiment to the +landing-place, Beach V--and was in the water wading towards the shore +when this happened to him-- + + "A bullet struck him, passing through his left hand, which at + the moment was placed over his heart. The bullet hit and + shattered a shield badge of the Sacred Heart, which was sewn + inside his tunic, then glanced aside and passed over his chest, + tearing the skin. The mark of its passage across the chest can + still be plainly seen. The bullet then passed through the pocket + of his tunic at the right-hand side, completely destroying his + pay-book. When wounded he fell into the water, where he lay for + about two hours under a perfect hurricane of bullets and + shrapnel. In all that time, while his companions were falling on + every side, he received only one slight flesh wound. He is now + in Ireland, loudly proclaiming, to all whom he comes in contact + with, his profound gratitude to the Sacred Heart. He is quite + recovered from his wounds, and expects soon to be sent to the + Front. His trust in the Sacred Heart is unbounded, and he is + fully convinced that the Sacred Heart will even work miracles + for him, if they are necessary, to bring him safely home again." + +Private Edward Sheeran, Royal Irish Rifles, relating his experiences +in France, says-- + + "We were waiting in reserve, and were shelled heavily before the + advance. Four of us were lying low in the traverse of a trench. + Every time I heard a shell approaching I said, 'O Sacred Heart + of Jesus, have mercy on us!' Just as I was reciting this + ejaculation a shell burst in our midst. For a minute I was + dazed, and when I surveyed the damage, imagine my surprise to + find the man next to me blown to pieces, parts of him over me. + Another never moved again to my knowledge, while the remaining + one had his arms shattered. As regards myself, my pack was blown + off my back, but all the injury I received was a very slight + wound in the left shoulder. Thanks to the mercy of the Sacred + Heart I was able to rejoin my battalion two days afterwards." + +"A very grateful sister," writing to the _Irish Messenger_, in +thanksgiving for "a great favour obtained through Our Blessed Lady of +Perpetual Succour," states-- + + "My brother was ordered out to the war and was in the fighting + line from the first. I sent him a miraculous medal of Our + Blessed Lady and promised publication if he came back safe. He + has been in twelve battles and got nine wounds, none dangerous, + only on his hands and one leg badly broken. He was being carried + off the field by his comrades and the shells were falling so + fast that they had to leave him and fly for their lives. He lay + there three hours, bleeding and faint, until he was picked up + again, and, thanks to Our Blessed Lady's protection, he is now + safe in a London hospital and making a speedy recovery." + +The brother of an Irish Catholic nurse in a British military hospital +in France writes to the _Irish Messenger_-- + + "I was speaking lately to my sister, the nurse to whom you sent + the parcel of badges, beads, etc. She says if every parcel of + badges did as much good as hers has done and is doing, you will + have a big reward in eternity. The poor Irish and English + Catholic lads in their torments find the greatest comfort in + their beads and badges, and put more trust in the Sacred Heart + than in surgeons and nurses. One poor man said: 'I know I am + dying, but, nurse, write to my poor wife and tell her that my + beads and a sip of Holy Water was my consolation. Tell her I put + my trust in the Sacred Heart and die confident. Send her this + old badge which I wore all through the war.'" + +In Ireland there are tens of thousands of Catholic mothers, wives and +sisters, ever praying for the safe return of their men from the Front, +or else that they be given the grace of a happy death, and there is +nothing that tends more to prevent them brooding when the day, the +hour, the moment may come with a dread announcement from the War +Office, than the consoling thought that these dear ones are faithful +in all the dangers and emergencies of their life to the practices of +their religion. That is why Private Michael O'Reilly, of the Connaught +Rangers in France, writes to his mother: "I have the Sacred Heart +badge on my coat and three medals, a pair of rosary beads and father's +Agnus Dei around my neck, so you see I am well guarded, and you have +nothing at all to fear so far as I am concerned." Even for the +mother, death loses its sting when she gets news of her son which +leaves her in no doubt as to his soul's eternal welfare. Here is a +characteristic specimen of many letters from bereaved but comforted +mothers which have been printed in _The Messenger_-- + + "DEAR REV. FATHER,--I beg to appeal to you for my dear good son + who was killed in action on the 25th of March, and who died a + most holy death. I have heard from Father Gleeson that he died + with his rosary beads round his neck and reciting his rosary. He + got a gunshot wound in the head and lived several hours after + receiving the wound. I know perfectly well that it was owing to + his having St. Joseph's Cord about him that he got such a happy + death, and had the happiness of receiving his Easter duty on + Sunday the 21st. He also had the Sacred Heart Badge, a crucifix, + and his Blue and Brown Scapulars on him, so that I am content + about the way he died. He is buried in Bethune cemetery. I am a + subscriber to _The Messenger_, and my son was in the Apostleship + of Prayer and used to get the leaflets in his young days at the + school he was going to, taught by the Christian Brothers. He was + twenty-one years and seven months the day of his sad death. He + belonged to the Royal Munster Fusiliers." + +Some people, no doubt, will smile indulgently or mockingly--according +to their natures--at what appears to them to be curious instances of +human credulity. Others will cry out in angry protest against "Popish +trumperies"; "idolatrous practices"; "fetishism." No religion can be +truly understood from the outside. It must be lived in, within, to be +apprehended. But surely those who are not altogether cursed with +imperfect sympathies--those, at least, who take pleasure in the happy +state of others, will shout aloud in joy to know that there is +something left--no matter what--to sustain and console in this most +terrible time of youth's agony and motherhood's lacerated heart. + +It must not be supposed that the religious practices of the Irish +Catholic troops are confined to the wearing of scapulars, medals and +Agnus Deis. There are among them, of course, many who attribute all +kinds of phenomena to natural rather than to miraculous causes. By +them, also, beads, medals and scapulars are venerated, and proudly +displayed over their tunics--often, too, rosary beads are to be seen +twisted round rifle barrels--as outward symbols of the spirit of their +religion, as aids to worship, as bringing more vividly before them the +God they adore and the saints whose aid they invoke. But their faith +gives, in addition, to the Catholic troops the Mass, which is +celebrated by the Army chaplains up at the Front in wrecked houses or +on the open, desolate fields, and attended by many hundreds of men in +silent and intent worship, the sacraments of Confession and Communion, +and makes possible that solemn spectacle of the priest administering +the General Absolution, or forgiveness of sin, to a whole battalion, +standing before him with bared and bowed heads, before going into +action. All these religious scenes have greatly impressed non-Catholic +soldiers. They wonder at the consolation and inspiration which +Catholic comrades derive from their services and their symbols. They +feel the loneliness and the dread of things. They are impressed by the +number of wayside shrines, with Crucifixes and Madonnas, which have +survived the ravages of war. In their hearts they crave for spiritual +companionship and help which the guns thundering behind them cannot +give any more than the guns thundering in front; and they, too, put +out their hands to grasp the supernatural presences, unseen but so +acutely felt in the shadowy arena of war. If there was scoffing at a +praying soldier in barracks, there is respect for him in the trenches. +Non-Catholics join in the prayers that are said by Catholics. "Plenty +of shells were fired at our trenches, but, thank God, no harm was +done," writes an Irish soldier. "When the shells came near us we used +to pray. Prayers are like a double parapet to them, I think. Yesterday +we were reciting the Litany of the Sacred Heart while the shells were +annoying us. I was reading the beautiful praises and titles of the +Litany, and both my Protestant and Catholic mates were answering me +with great fervour. I was just saying 'Heart of Jesus, delight of all +the Saints, succour us,' when one shell hit our trench and never +burst, and, furthermore, no shell came near us after that, for our +opponents directed their attention elsewhere for the rest of the day." +He adds that every night in the trenches the Rosary of the Blessed +Virgin was recited; and the responses were given by non-Catholics as +well as by Catholics. + +In like manner, non-Catholic soldiers are being weaned from the use of +pagan charms and talismans, and are taking instead to the Catholic +substitutes which have been blessed by the priest making over them the +sign of the cross. Father Plater stated at a meeting of the +Westminster Catholic Federation that, travelling in the south of +England, he met in the train some soldiers of the Ulster Division, all +Orangemen, and instead of consigning the holy father to other realms, +as they probably would have done in other times and other +circumstances, they actually asked him to bless their miraculous +medals. There is an ever-increasing desire among them for medals, +rosaries, and for holy pictures, such as the little prints of saints +and angels which Catholics carry in their prayer-books. At the +convents in London where the Badge of the Sacred Heart is to be had, +Protestant soldiers are constantly calling to get it, and they tell +stories which they had heard of wonderful escapes by those who wore +it. One nun told me they cannot keep the supply abreast of the demand. +For instance, she said that on the day I saw her a private of the +Royal Welsh Fusiliers got fifty badges for distribution in the +regiment. + +Religious emblems have a warmth and intimacy about them which secular +charms lack. They are regarded as representing real spiritual beings, +saints and angels. Secular charms, on the other hand, are devoid of +association with any potentate or power known or believed to exist in +the other world, and seem still to possess something of the mingled +simplicity and grossness of the first dawning of superstition on the +mind of the savage. The curiosity and interest of the non-Catholic +soldier in these religious symbols being thus excited, the moment he +handles one and examines its design, he feels a pleasant sensation of +help and comfort, and a consequent increase in his vitality. He highly +treasures his holy talisman. Should he pass unscathed through the +constant yet capricious menace of an engagement, he ascribes his luck +to supernatural protection. As the English troops were passing through +Hornu, near Mons, a young Belgian lady took a rosary from her neck and +gave it to Private Eves of the West Riding Regiment, telling him to +wear it as a protection against the bullets of the Germans. Eves, a +non-Catholic Northumbrian, wore the rosary during the battle of Mons. +"The air was thick with shells and machine-gun bullets," he says, "and +how I escaped I don't know. A shell burst close to me. A piece of it +struck my ammunition band and bent five cartridges out of shape; but I +escaped with only a bruise on the chest. I always say this rosary had +something to do with it." + +Many stories of the like might be told. A driver of the Royal Field +Artillery says: "I think I owe all my luck to a mascot which I carry +in my knapsack. It is a beautiful crucifix, given me by a Frenchwoman +for helping her out of danger. It is silver, enamel and marble, and +she made me take it." Private David Bulmer of the Royal Engineers, an +Ulster Presbyterian, returned home on furlough to his parents at +Killeshandra, wearing a rosary. He declared it was the beads that +saved his life on the battlefield, as he was the only man left in his +company. Sapper Clifford Perry has written to a Cardiff friend: +"Rosaries are very popular here. I think I can safely say that four +out of every ten men one meets wear them around their necks. Strange +to say, they are not all Catholics. Those who are not Catholics do not +wear them as curios or ornaments either, as upon cases of inquiry they +attach some religious value to them even though they cannot explain +what it is. Still, no one could convince them to part with them." +Often the emblems and badges worn by non-Catholic soldiers are gifts +from Catholic wives and children concerned for their spiritual and +temporal well-being. "An Irish mother who trusts in the Sacred Heart" +writes from Kensington in acknowledgment of the "wonderful escape" of +her husband. "He had only gone out from a stable when a German shell +knocked the roof in, killing his two horses, and also killing one man +and wounding five others. My husband, who is a Protestant, is wearing +a Sacred Heart Badge and the Cross belonging to my rosary. He has been +saved during many battles from the most awful dangers, having been +fighting regularly since September 1914." Father Peal, S.J., of the +Connaught Rangers serving in France, relating some of his experiences +as a chaplain after a battle, says: "It was very solemn, creeping in +and out among the wounded, finding who were Catholics. Some could not +speak, others just able to whisper. One poor man lay on his face, with +a hole in his back. He was actually breathing through this hole. I +felt round his neck for his identification disc and found he had a +medal and Agnus Dei. I naturally thought he was a Catholic, but he +whispered to me, 'Missus and the children did that.' We repeated an +act of contrition, and I gave him conditional absolution." So it has +come to pass that rosaries, which were formerly a monopoly of the +religious repositories in French towns and villages, may now be seen +displayed in every shop window, so great is the demand for them, and +that "The League of the Standard of the Cross"--an Anglican +society--has, up to the end of 1916, sent out over 10,000 crucifixes +to Protestant soldiers. + +The wearing of Catholic emblems by the rank and file is encouraged by +many officers who understand human nature, and make allowance for what +some of them, no doubt, would call its inherent weaknesses. The +practice has been proved to have on conduct a profound influence for +good. It seems to incite and fortify the soldiers' courage. Man's will +and resolution often prove to be weak and fickle things, especially on +the field of battle, where they are put to the sternest and most +searching of tests. Fear of death, which, after all, is but a +manifestation of the primal instinct of self-preservation, often +militates against the efficiency of the soldier. It disorganises his +understanding; it paralyses his power to carry out orders. The +elimination of fear, or its control, is therefore part of the training +of the soldier. How fortunate, then, is the soldier who can find such +tranquillity in battle that he has passed beyond the fear of death. +Psychologists tell us, such is the influence of the body upon the +mind, that whether a man shall act the hero or the coward in an +emergency depends largely on his physical condition at the time. The +body of the soldier must, as far as possible, be made subordinate to +his mind. Religious sensibility and emotion, in whatever form it may +manifest itself, tends to the exaltation of the mental mood; and as +good officers know they cannot afford to neglect any means which +promises to steady their men, calm them and give them confidence in +action or under fire, they have enlisted this tremendous force on +their side by favouring and promoting the Catholic custom of wearing +holy objects. + +A nun writing from a convent in South London says: "The colonel at +---- sent twenty-two medals to Father X---- to be blessed. The Father +took the medals to the barracks himself, where the colonel informed +him that he wanted them for Protestant officers who were going to +France." The girls of the Notre Dame Convent School, Glasgow, sent a +parcel of 1200 medals to a Scottish regiment. They received a letter +of thanks from one of the officers, in which he says: "You will be +glad to know that most, if not all the men, Protestants though they +be, have put your medals on the cord to which their identity discs are +tied, so that Our Lady may help them." + +Thus is the wearing of scapulars and medals in the Army welcomed as an +aid to our arms, a reinforcement of our military power. In it may be +found the secret of much of the dash and gallantry of the Irish +troops. Up to the end of 1916, 221 Victoria Crosses have been awarded +for great deeds done in the war. As many as twenty-four have been won +by Catholics, of whom eighteen are Irish, a share out of all +proportion to their numbers, but not--may I say?--to their valour. In +order to appreciate adequately the significance of these figures it is +necessary to remember the nature of the deed for which the Victoria +Cross is given. It must be exceptionally daring, involving the +greatest risk to life. It must be of special military value, or must +lead to the saving of comrades otherwise hopelessly doomed. Above all, +it must be done not under orders but as a spontaneous act on the +soldier's own motion. It is largely due to their religion and the +emblems of their religion, and their views of fate and destiny, that +Irish Catholic soldiers are so pre-eminently distinguished in the +record of the highest and most noble acts of valour and self-sacrifice +in war. There is the significant saying of Sergeant Dwyer, V.C., an +Irishman and a Catholic, at a recruiting meeting in Trafalgar Square. +"I don't know what the young men are afraid of," said he. "If your +name is not on a bullet or a bit of shrapnel it won't reach you, any +more than a letter that isn't addressed to you." He, poor fellow, got +a bullet addressed to him on the Somme. "'Twas the will of God," was +the lesson taught him by his creed. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE IRISH SOLDIER'S HUMOUR AND SERIOUSNESS + +STORIES FROM THE FRONT, FUNNY AND OTHERWISE + + +The memorable words of an Irish member, speaking in the House of +Commons during the South African War, on the gallantry of the Irish +regiments, come to my mind. "This war has shown," said he, "that as +brave a heart beats under the tunic of a Dublin Fusilier as under the +kilt of a Gordon Highlander." + +The saying may be curiously astray as to the anatomy of the Scotch, +but the truth of it in regard to Irish courage has been emphasised by +the victories and disasters alike of the great world war. On all the +fields of conflict east and west the Irish soldiers have earned the +highest repute for valour. "They are magnificent fighters," says +Lieutenant Denis Oliver Barnett, an English officer of a battalion of +the Leinster Regiment, in letters which he wrote home to his own +people. A public school boy, with a high reputation for scholarship, +he became a soldier at the outbreak of war instead of going to Oxford. +Courageous and high-minded himself--as his death on the parapet of the +trenches, directing and heartening his men in bombing the enemy, +testifies--his gay and sympathetic letters show that he was a good +judge of character. He also says of his men, "They are cheerier than +the English Tommies, and will stand anything." Cheeriness in this +awful war is indeed a most precious possession. It enhances the +fighting capacity of the men. Where it does not exist spontaneously +the officers take measures to cultivate it. As far as possible they +try to remove all depressing influences, and make things bright and +cheerful. I have got many such glimpses of the Irish soldier at the +Front, and their total effect is the impersonation or bodying forth of +an individual who provides his own gaiety, and has some over to give +to others--whimsical, wayward, with a childlike petulance and +simplicity; and yet very fierce withal. + +I met at a London military hospital an Irish Catholic chaplain and an +Irish officer of the Army Medical Corps back from French Flanders. +They told Irish stories, to the great enjoyment and comfort of the +wounded soldiers in the ward. "Be careful to boil that water before +drinking it," said the doctor to men of an Irish battalion whom he +found drawing supplies from a canal near Ypres. "Why so, sir?" asked +one of the men. "Because it's full of microbes and boiling will kill +them," answered the doctor. "And where's the good, sir?" said the +soldier. "I'd as soon swallow a menagerie as a graveyard any day." +Another example of a quick-witted Hibernian reply was given by the +chaplain. He came upon a man of the transport service of his battalion +belabouring a donkey which was slowly dragging a heavy load. "Why do +you beat the poor animal so much?" remonstrated the priest; and he +recalled a legend popular in Ireland by saying, "Don't you know from +the cross on the ass's back that it was on an ass Our Lord went into +Jerusalem?" "But, Father," said the soldier, "if Our Lord had this +lazy ould ass He wouldn't be there yet." One of the inmates of the +ward kept the laughter going by giving an example of Irish traditional +blundering humour from the trenches--a humour due to an excited and +over-active mind. "Don't let the Germans know we're short of powder +and shot," cried an Irish sergeant to his men, awaiting the bringing +up of ammunition; "keep on firing away like blazes." + +Some of the flowers of speech that have blossomed from the Irish +regiments at the Front are also worth culling. Speaking of the +Catholic chaplain of his battalion, a soldier said, "He'd lead us to +heaven; an' we'd follow him to hell." As a loaf of bread stuck on a +bayonet was passed on to him in the trenches another exclaimed, "Here +comes the staff of life on the point of death." The irregularity of +the food supply in the trenches was thus described: "It's either a +feast or a famine. Sometimes you drink out of the overflowing cup of +fulness, and other times you ate off the empty plate." "What have you +there?" asked a nurse of an Irish private of the Army Medical Corps, +at a base hospital, as he was rummaging among the contents of a +packing-case. Taking out a wooden leg, he answered: "A stump speech +agin the war." + +Good-humour at the Front is by no means an exclusively Irish +possession. Happily the soldiers of all the nationalities within the +United Kingdom are so light-hearted as to find even in the most dismal +situation cause for raillery, pleasantry and laughter, and to derive +from their mirth a more enduring patience of discomfort and trouble. +The Irish form of humour, however, differs entirely from the English, +Scottish or Welsh variety not only in quality but in the type of mind +and character it expresses. In most things that the Irish soldier says +or does there is something racially individual. Perhaps its chief +peculiarity, apart from its quaintness, is that usually there is an +absence of any conscious aim or end behind it. The English soldier, +and the Cockney especially, is a wag and a jester. He is very prone to +satire and irony, deliberate and purposeful. Even his "grousing"--a +word, by the way, unheard in the Irish regiments, unless it is +somewhat incomprehensibly used by an English non-commissioned +officer--is a form of caustic wit. Irish humour has neither subtlety +nor seriousness. It is just the light and spontaneous whim, caprice or +fancy of the moment. It is humour in the original sense of the word, +that is the expression of character, habit and disposition. + +The Munstermen have contributed to the vocabulary at the Front the +expressive phrase, "Gone west," for death; the bourne whence no +traveller returns. In Kerry and Cork the word "west" or "wesht," as it +is locally pronounced, expresses not only the mysterious and unknown, +but is used colloquially for "behind," "at the back," or "out of the +way." So it is also at the Front. A lost article is gone west as well +as a dead comrade. "When I tould the Colonel," said an Irish orderly, +"that the bottle of brandy was gone wesht, he was that mad that I +thought he would have me ate." As food and drink are sent west, +perhaps the Colonel had his suspicions. The saying, "Put it wesht, +Larry, an' come along on with you," may be heard in French estaminets +as well as in Kerry public-houses. + +At parade a subaltern noticed that one of his men had anything but a +clean shave on the left side of his jaw. "'Twas too far wesht for me +to get at, sir," was the excuse. "Well," said the dentist to a Munster +Fusilier, "where's this bad tooth that's troubling you?" "'Tis here, +sir," said the soldier, "in the wesht of me jaw." Another Irish +soldier told his Quartermaster that he was in a very unpleasant +predicament for want of a new pair of trousers. "The one I've on me is +all broken wesht," said he. It is fairly obvious what part of the +trousers the west of it was. + +It would seem from the stories I have heard that odd escapes from +death are an unfailing source of playfulness and laughter. A shell +exploded in a trench held by an Irish battalion. One man was hurled +quite twelve feet in the air, and, turning two somersaults in his +descent, alighted on his back, and but little hurt, just outside the +trench. He quickly picked himself up and rejoined his astonished +comrades. "He came down with that force," said an invalided Irish +soldier who told me of the incident, "that it was the greatest wonder +in the world he didn't knock a groan out of the ground." No groan came +from the man himself. "That was a toss and a half, and no mistake," he +remarked cheerily when he got back to the trench; and in answer to an +inquiry whether he was much hurt he said, "I only feel a bit moidhered +in me head." More comical still in its unexpectedness was the reply of +another Irishman who met with a different misadventure from the same +cause. A German 17-in. shell exploded on the parapet of a trench, and +this Irishman was buried in the ruins. However, he was dug out alive, +and his rescuers jokingly asked him what all the trouble was about. +"Just those blessed snipers again," he spluttered through his mouth +full of mud, "and may the divil fly away with the one that fired that +bullet." + +It is readily acknowledged at the Front that the Irish soldiers have a +rich gift of natural humour. But, what is more--as some of my stories +may show--they are never so exceedingly comic as when they do not +intend to be comic at all. Is it not better to be funny without +knowing it than to suffer the rather common lot of attempting to be +funny and fail? It arises from an odd and unexpected way of putting +things. How infinitely better it is than to be of so humdrum a quality +as to be incapable of being comical even unconsciously in saying or in +deed! Yet in this essentially Irish form of fun there is often a +snare for the unwary. How can you tell that these laughable things are +said and done by Irish soldiers without any perception of humour or +absurdity? If you could look behind the face of that apparently +simple-minded Irish soldier you might find that in reality he was +"pulling your leg"--or "humbugging," as he would say himself--in a way +that you would regard as most uncalled for and aggravating. + +For instance, an Irish sentry in a camp in France was asked by a +colonel of the Army Service Corps whether he had seen any of his +officers about that morning. "Indeed, and I did, sir," was the reply. +"'Twas only a while ago that two of the gintlemen came out of the +office down there below, and passed by this way." "And how did you +know they were Army Service officers?" "Aisy enough, sir. Didn't I see +their swords stuck behind their ears?" And in which category must be +placed the equally amusing retort of another Irish sentry to his +officer--the naively simple, or the slyly jocular? The sentry looked +so shy and inexperienced that the officer put to him the question, +"What are you here for?" and got the stereotyped answer, "To look out +for anything unusual." "What would you call unusual?" asked the +officer. "I don't know exactly, sir, until I saw it," was the reply. +The officer became sarcastically facetious. "What would you do if you +saw five battleships steaming across the field?" he said. "Take the +pledge, sir," was the sentry's answer. + +These officers are, by all accounts, but two of many who have got +unlooked-for but diverting answers from Irish soldiers. A sergeant who +was sent out with a party to make observations felt into an ambuscade +and returned with only a couple of men. "Tell me what happened," said +the commanding officer, when the sergeant came to make his report; +"were you surprised?" "Surprised isn't the word for it, sir," +exclaimed the sergeant. "It was flabbergasted entirely I was when, +creeping round the end of a thick hedge, we came plump into the divil +of a lot of Germans lying on their stomachs." Then, seeing the officer +smiling, as if in doubt, as he thought, he hastened thus to emphasise +his wonder and astonishment at this sudden encounter. "I declare to +you, sir, it nearly jumped the heart up out of me throat with the +start it gave me." Of a like kind for ingenuousness was the report +made by another Irish non-com. who found himself all alone in a +trench, with only a barrier of sandbags between him and the Germans. +"I had nayther men, machine-gun or grenade," he wrote, expressing not +only his temporal but his spiritual condition, for he added, "nothing, +save the help of the Mother of God." + +In Ireland domestic servants are noted for their forward manners and +liberty of speech with the family, and the same trait is rather +general in the relations between different social grades. An +illustration of what it leads to in the Army was afforded at a camp +concert attended by a large assembly of officers and men of a certain +Division, into which, at a solemn moment, an unsophisticated Irish +soldier made a wild incursion. Lord Kitchener had been there that day +and had inspected the Division, and the General in command announced +from the platform how greatly pleased the Secretary for War was with +the soldierly fitness of the men. "I told Lord Kitchener," continued +the General, speaking in grave and impressive tones, "that the +Division would see the thing through to the bitter end." In the midst +of a loud burst of cheering an Irish private rushed forward, and +sweeping aside the attempt of a subaltern to stop him, jumped on to +the platform, and seizing the aged General by the hand, exclaimed, +"Glory to you, me vinerable friend! The ould Division will stick to +it to the last, and it's you that's the gran' man to lade us to +victory and everlasting fame." The General, greatly embarrassed, could +only say, "Yes, yes, to be sure, my good fellow; yes, yes"; and the +staff turned aside to hide their grins at this comic encounter between +incongruities. + +The Colonel of an Irish battalion, after a harassing day in the +trenches, got a pleasant surprise in the shape of a roast fowl served +for dinner by his orderly. After he had eaten it and found it tender +he recalled that complaints were rather rife among the inhabitants +about the plundering of hen-roosts, and his conscience smote him. "I +hope you got that fowl honestly," he said. "Don't you be troubling +your head about that, sir," replied the orderly, in a fine burst of +evasion and equivocation. "Faith, 'twas quite ready for the killing, +so it was, and that's the main thing." Then, as if to improve the +occasion by a homily, he added, in a tone of religious fervour, "Ah, +sure, if we wor all as ready to die as that hin, sir, we needn't mind +a bit when the bullet came." The Colonel was almost "fit to die" with +quiet laughter. + +It may well be that sometimes the English officers of Irish battalions +are puzzled by the nature of their men--its impulsiveness, its glow, +its wild imagery and over-brimming expression. It is easy to believe, +too, that the changeful moods of the men, childlike and petulant, now +jovial, now fierce, and occasionally unaccountable, may be a sore +annoyance to officers who are very formal and precise in matters of +discipline. I have heard from an Irish Colonel of an Irish battalion +that the English commander of the Brigade of which the battalion was a +unit came to him one day in a rage and asked him where his damned +fools had been picked up. It appears the Brigadier-General, going the +rounds alone, came suddenly upon one of the sentries of the battalion +at a remote post. The sentry happened to be a wild slip of an Irish +boy, not long joined and quite fresh from Mayo, and, taken by +surprise, he challenged the Brigadier-General by calling out, "In the +name of God, who the divil are you?" The Colonel told me his reply to +the Brigadier-General was this: "Certainly, the challenge and the +salute were not quite proper. But you can imagine what kind of a +reception that simple but fearless lad would give to a German; and, +after all, is not that the main thing just now?" Yes, the capacity of +fighting well should, in war time, cover a multitude of imperfections +in a soldier. + +In order to get the best out of the Irish soldiers it is necessary to +have a knowledge of their national habits and peculiarities, and a +sympathetic understanding of their qualities and limitations. I am +glad to be able to say that the most glowing tributes to the sterling +character of the Irish soldiers that I have heard have come from their +English or Scottish officers. These are true leaders, because they +possess imagination and sympathy by which they can look into the +hearts of men that are diverse from them in blood and temperament and +nature. + +I suppose there is nothing on earth, no matter how solemn or terrible, +which may not be turned into a subject of irreverent humour in one or +other of its aspects. English soldiers appear to have found that out +even in regard to the war. An officer told me of a remarkable +encounter on a Flanders high road between an Irish battalion coming +back from the trenches and an English battalion going up for a turn at +holding a section of the lines, which he thought presented a striking +contrast in racial moods. The uniforms of the Irishmen were plastered +with mud, and they had a week's grime on their unshaven faces. They +had also suffered heavily in repelling a German attack. Yet they +looked as proud as if they had saved Ireland by their exertions, and +hoped to save the Empire by their example, and they sang from the +bottom of their hearts, and at the top of their voices, the anthem of +their national yearnings and aspirations, with its refrain-- + + "Whether on the scaffold high, or the battlefield we die, + What matter when for Erin dear we fall." + +The English battalion, spick and span, swung by to horrible +discomforts, to wounds and death, as blithely as if they were on a +route march at home. They also were singing, and if they were in the +same mood as the Irishmen they would be rendering the chorus-- + + "Land of Hope and Glory, + Mother of the Free, + How shall we extol thee + Who are born of thee? + Wider still and wider + Shall thy bounds be set; + God, who made thee mighty, + Make thee mightier yet." + +But instead of that the chorus of their song, set to a hymn tune, was +this-- + + "Will you fight for England? + Will you face the foe? + And every gallant soldier + Boldly answered--NO!" + +It has been said, with general acceptance, that the spirit of a nation +can best be studied in its songs. But can it really? How wrong would +be the moral drawn from its application in this case! High patriotism +is a solemn thing; but the average British soldier's attitude towards +it is like that of Dr. Johnson when he took up philosophy--"somehow +cheerfulness was always breaking in." The English soldier will not +sing songs of a lofty type and deep purpose--songs which express +either intimate personal feeling or deeply felt national convictions. +These emotions he hides or suppresses, for he cannot give vent to them +without feeling shamefaced or fearing that he may be regarded as +insincere. Yet he is by no means so inconsequential or cynical as he +affects to be. He is animated--none more so--by the spirit of duty and +sacrifice. When it comes to fighting he is in earnest, desperately and +ferociously in earnest, as the Germans know to their cost. It seems to +me that he has been misled by Kipling into supposing that the true +pose of the British soldier is to be more concerned with the temporal +than with the spiritual, to grumble about the petty inconveniences of +his calling, to pretend to an indifference to its romantic side and +its ideals, to die without thinking that the spirits of his national +heroes are looking down upon him. + +The Irish have the reputation of having a delight in fighting. It is +supposed that "ructions" are the commonplace of their civic life. +Undoubtedly they have "a strong weakness"--as they would phrase it +themselves--for distributing bloody noses and cracked crowns even +among friends. It is true, also, that they find the grandest scope for +their natural disposition in warfare. A war correspondent relates that +he met a wounded Dublin Fusilier hobbling painfully back to the field +dressing-station after a battle, and giving the man his arm to help +him on, he was prompted to make the pitying remark: "It's a dreadful +war." "'Tis indeed, sir; a dreadful war enough," said the soldier; and +then came the characteristic comment: "but, sure, 'tis far better than +no war at all." + +Still, individuals are to be found among the Irish soldiers who take +quite a materialistic view of the Army, and fail to rise to the +anticipation of glory in a pending action. An agricultural labourer +who had become one of Kitchener's men was asked how he liked +soldiering. "It's the finest life in the whole wide world," he +exclaimed. "It's mate, drink, lodgin' and washin' all in one. Wasn't I +working hard for ten long years for a farmer there beyant in Kerry, +and never once in all that time did the ould boy say to me, 'Stand at +aise.'" It will be noticed that in this enthusiastic outburst there is +nothing about the divarshion of fighting. Another story that I heard +records the grim foreboding of an Irish soldier who was lagging behind +on the march to the trenches for the first time. "Keep up, keep up," +cried the officer; and, by way of encouragement, he added: "You know, +we'll soon make a Field Marshal of you." "You're welcome to your joke, +sir," said the soldier; "but I know well what you'll make of me--a +casualty, sure enough." Another Irish soldier thought he saw a way of +making money out of the fighting. The Colonel of the battalion told +his men, according to the story, that for every German they would kill +he would give a sovereign. The next morning the men were told the +Germans were coming. "How many?" "Thirty thousand at least." "Wake up, +Mike," said one to a sleeping comrade; "our fortune is made." + +There is also a story told of a remark made by an Irish soldier +regardless of the glory and romance of the highest distinction in the +Army. The award of the Victoria Cross to Michael O'Leary was held up +to a battalion for emulation. "Yerra," cried a voice, "I'd a great +deal rather get the Victoria 'bus." It may be that in this we have +nothing more than an instance of the impish tendency in the Irish +nature displaying itself at the spur of the moment, rather than the +yearning for home, its ease, repose and comforts. It recalls an +anecdote of the American Civil War. General Thomas Francis Meagher of +the Irish Brigade was informed by an aide-de-camp in the course of a +battle that the Federalists had carried an important strategic point +and several colours belonging to Confederate battalions. "Here's good +news for ye, boys," shouted Meagher. "Our troops have won the day and +captured the enemy's colours." "Yerra, Gineral," cried a private, +looking up at Meagher, who was on horseback, "I'd rather have, this +blessed minute, half a pint of Dinnis McGure's whisky than all the +colours of the rainbow." Then there is the story told by the Colonel +of an Irish regiment of an incident in the Battle of the Somme. He +noticed that a private followed everywhere at his heels, and +especially where the fighting was hottest. The Colonel thought that +perhaps the private was anxious to come to his aid should any harm +befall him. At the end of the day, however, the private thus explained +his conduct to the Colonel: "My mother says to me, sir, 'Stick to the +Colonel, and you'll be all right. Them Colonels never get hurt.'" + +But, with all their playfulness and jocularity, there are no soldiers +to whom the serious aspects of the war make a more direct appeal than +to the Irish. This is seen in various ways. It is seen in their +devotional exercises. The Irish Guards and other Irish regiments have +been known frequently to recite the Rosary and sing hymns even in the +trenches. It is seen also in their national fervour. They go into +action singing their patriotic songs. From these qualities they derive +support for their martial spirit, their endurance and their +unconquerable courage. They never quail in the face of danger. No +soldiers have risen to loftier heights of moral heroism, as the +numerous records of their deeds on the roll of the Victoria Cross bear +inspiring witness. + +But their humour always remains. One of the injunctions to men at the +Front is "Don't put your head above the parapet." The Irish soldiers +are more apt than others to disregard it, however frequently its +wisdom is brought home to them. I have heard only one that was +convinced. "Faix," he remarked, as the bullets of the snipers soon +stopped his survey of the prospect outside the trench, "it's aisy to +understand that the more a man looks round in this war the less he's +likely to see." They have a comforting philosophy that it takes many a +ton of lead to kill a man. An Irish soldier invalided home from France +was asked what struck him most about the battles he took part in. +"What struck me most?" said he. "Sure it was the crowd of bullets +flying about that didn't hit me!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE IRISH BRIGADE + +"EVERYWHERE AND ALWAYS FAITHFUL" + + +Pride and sorrow struggle for mastery at the spectacle of troops +returning to camp from the battle, their appearance telling of the +intolerable strain which this war imposes, even in the case of +victory, upon the human faculties. The thought of it alone is painful +to the feelings of any one who has the least imagination. They are all +begrimed and careworn, and many have the distraught look of those who +have seen and suffered terrible things. So the Irish Brigade came back +from Guillamont and Guinchy, on the Somme, in the early days of +September 1916, what time the Empire was resounding with the fame of +their exploits. On a Sunday they carried Guillamont with a rush; on +the following Saturday they literally pounced upon Guinchy, and in +between they lay in open trenches under continuous shell fire. + +I saw the Irish Brigade before they left for the Front, and noted in +the ranks the many finely shaped heads and thoughtful faces of poets +and leaders of men, interspersed with the lithe frames of athletes and +the resolute, hard-bitten countenances of born fighters. At first I +was moved to sorrow at the thought of the pass to which civilisation +has come that the best use which could be made of all this superb +youth and manhood in its valiancy was to send it forth into the +devouring jaws of war. Then I perceived that something like a +radiance shimmered about the marching ranks. It came, I noticed, both +from their muscular strength and their martial ardour, for the flush +of battle already mantled their cheeks, and its light was in their +dancing eyes; and at once I understood that if I saw but the mound +surmounted by the little wooden cross in France, and in Ireland the +desolate hearthstone, they, with the wider and more aspiring +imagination of youth, rejoiced that they were going out to fight in +liberty's defence, and saw only their bayonets triumphantly agleam in +the fury of the engagement. Careless and gay, they captured the two +villages on the Somme in a ding-dong, helter-skelter fashion. They +maintained the reputation of the Irish infantry as "the finest missile +troops in the British Army" (so they are described by Colonel +Repington, the renowned military correspondent of _The Times_), by the +spirit and dash of their charge, their eagerness to get quickly into +touch with the foe, and the energy and dexterity with which they wield +that weapon which finally decides the issue of battles--the bayonet. + +As they emerged out of the cloud of smoke on the Somme, and marched +back to camp in much diminished numbers--caked with mud, powdered with +grey dust, very tired--across the ground their valour had won and +their grit maintained against fierce counter attacks, they displayed +quite another phase of the Irish nature--its melancholy and its +mysticism. The piper that led them back began to play some old Irish +rhapsodies having that wonderful blending of joy and grief which makes +these airs so haunting. That was well. For the men were in so extreme +a stage of exhaustion, physical and mental, that they lurched and +reeled, and were overwhelmed with distress at missing many beloved +comrades that fought with them, and officers that led them only a few +days before. Then they heard the pipes, and their hearts were +uplifted by the strains, plaintive and yearning, defiant and +challenging, which expresses in music the history of their race. They +seemed, indeed, to have caught even some of the jaunty, boastful +swagger of the piper, as he strode before them, blowing into his reeds +and working the bag with his left elbow. + +The General of the Brigade watched his troops go by, and in his eyes +they were all the grander for the horrid disarray of their torn, muddy +and bloody uniforms, and their haggard faces blackened with sweat and +smoke and soil. "I am proud of you," he called out in a voice surging +with emotion. "Ye did damned well, boys." A handful of men, once a +company, was led by a sergeant. Every officer was gone. "Bravo, +Dublins!" exclaimed the General; but for the moment his heart was +heavy within him as he recalled to mind the dashing, gallant young +lads, so hearty and joyous, buried now round about the ruins of the +villages from which the Germans had been driven at the bayonet-point +by the splendid rank and file at whose head they fell. Quickly the +thoughts of the General came back to the survivors. "Ireland is proud +of you, boys," he cried in exultant tones. He knew that would stir +them. Ireland is their glory; and they lifted up their heads a little +more as they caught the import of their Commander's words. + +This Irish Brigade, officially known as the Irish Division, was the +outcome of the meeting in Dublin addressed by Mr. Asquith, shortly +after the outbreak of the war, in the course of his tour of the +country as Prime Minister to explain the origins and aims of the +conflict. Lord Wimborne, the Viceroy, presided. The Lord Mayor of +Dublin and mayors of most of the chief towns of Ireland, the chairmen +of county councils and representatives of all shades of political and +religious opinions were present. Mr. John Redmond proposed, at the +meeting, the formation of an Irish Brigade. While "Irish Division" +sounds meaningless to young Irishmen, "Irish Brigade" at once arouses +thrilling memories of the battlefields of Europe during the eighteenth +century. For a hundred years, from the fall of the Stuarts to the +French Revolution, there was an Irish Brigade in the service of +France. It was regularly recruited from Ireland through that long span +of time, though to join it was a penal offence. As the young men stole +secretly away to France in smuggling crafts from the west of Ireland, +they were popularly known as "the wild geese." "Everywhere and always +Faithful" was the motto bestowed on the Brigade by the King of France. +That being so, there was a hearty response to the call for a new Irish +Brigade to serve again in France, and for causes more worthy than the +old. + +Just as the Ulster Division was composed of Unionists and Protestants, +the Irish Division was recruited mainly from the Nationalist and +Catholic sections of the population. The Nationalist Volunteers, +supporters of the policy and aims of the Irish Parliamentary Party, +provided most of the rank and file. Like another Irish Division, the +first of Ireland's distinctive contributions to the New Armies, which +perished in the ill-starred expedition to Gallipoli, the Irish +Division was composed of the youth of Ireland at its highest and +best--clean of soul and strong of body, possessing in the fullest +measure all the brightest qualities of the race, the intellectual and +spiritual, not less than the political and humorous. + +One of the first to join was Mr. William Redmond, M.P. for East Clare, +younger brother of the Irish Leader, though he was well over the +military age. He was appointed Captain in the Royal Irish +Regiment--the premier Irish regiment--in which he had served +thirty-three years previously, before his election to the House of +Commons. Speaking at an early recruiting meeting, he said that, should +circumstances so demand, he would say to his countrymen "Come" instead +of "Go." He was as good as his word. For his services at the Front he +was promoted to the rank of Major, and has been mentioned by +Field-Marshal Haig in despatches. Other nationalist Members of +Parliament who were officers of the Brigade were Captain W. Archer +Redmond, Dublin Fusiliers, son of Mr. John Redmond, Captain Stephen +Gwynn, well known as a man of letters, who joined the Connaught +Rangers as a private and was promoted to the rank of Captain in the +battalion; Captain J.L. Esmonde, Dublin Fusiliers, and Captain D.D. +Sheehan, Munster Fusiliers, who also gave his two boys to the Brigade. +General Sir Lawrence Parsons, son of the Earl of Rosse--scion of a +distinguished Irish family resident for centuries at Birr, King's +Co.--was appointed to the command of the Division. + +Sir Francis Vane, an eminent Irish soldier of Nationalist sympathies, +who was appointed by the War Office to supervise the recruiting for +the Division, says that never in his life did he witness so +extraordinary a scene as that presented at Buttevant and Fermoy, co. +Cork, where the men first assembled in September and October 1914. "It +reminded me," he says, "of the pages of Charles Lever in the variety +of Irish types answering to the call. There were old men and young +sportsmen, students, car drivers, farm labourers, Members of +Parliament, poets, _litterateurs_, all crowding into barracks which +were totally incapable of housing decently the half of them." They +were dressed in all sorts of clothes, from the khaki, red and blue of +the Services, to "the latest emanation of the old clo' merchants." +That curious assortment of all types and classes was the rough +material out of which was fashioned, by training and discipline, a +superb military instrument. The soldierly essentials were there in +abundance. Within two years they came successfully through ordeals +that would have tried the nerves of the toughest veterans of the Old +Guard of Napoleon. + +In the course of 1915 the Division was removed to camps at Aldershot +to complete their training. The men were visited there, in November, +by Cardinal Bourne, Archbishop of Westminster, who gave them his +benediction, and said he was sure they would do their duty at the +Front "as good children of Ireland and good sons of the Catholic +Church." Early in December they were reviewed by the Queen. It was +originally arranged that the review should be held by the King, but +his Majesty, on a visit to the Front, had been flung from his horse, +and was not sufficiently recovered from the accident to be able to be +present. Among those in the reserved enclosure surrounding the +saluting-base that day were Mr. John Dillon, M.P., and Mr. T.P. +O'Connor, M.P. In the march past the Queen they were led off by the +South Irish Horse, a body of Yeomanry. Each of the three infantry +brigades was headed by one of the Irish wolfhounds which Mr. John +Redmond presented to the Division as mascots. At the conclusion of the +review her Majesty sent for General Parsons and the three +Brigadier-Generals, and congratulated them upon the appearance and +efficiency of the troops. + +Shortly afterwards the Division left for the Front, under the command +of Major-General William Bernard Hickie, C.B., an Irishman and a +Catholic, who has had a very brilliant military career. Born on May +21, 1865, the eldest son of the late Colonel J.F. Hickie of Slevoyre, +Borrisokane, co. Tipperary, he was educated at Oscott and Sandhurst. +At the age of nineteen he joined his father's old regiment, the 1st +battalion of the Royal Fusiliers, of which in due course he became +Colonel. In the South African War he served on the Staff, in command +of a mounted infantry corps and of a mobile column. On his return home +he became Deputy Assistant Quartermaster-General to the 8th Division. +In 1912 he was appointed Assistant Quartermaster-General of the Irish +Command. On the outbreak of the war General Hickie became Deputy +Assistant Quartermaster-General of the Second Army, and is stated to +have particularly distinguished himself maintaining good order during +the retreat from Mons. The Irish Brigade was most fortunate in having +such a man as Commander. Thoroughly understanding the Irish character, +its weak points as well as its strong ones--its good-humoured and +careless disposition; its impatience often of the restraints and +servitude of military life; its eagerness always for a fight or any +sort of enterprise with a spice of danger in it--he was able to get +the most out of his men. One of his happy thoughts was the institution +of a system of rewards in the Division apart from but supplementary to +the usual military honours. Any company officer or man who, in the +opinion of the commander of his regiment, has given proof of +exceptional good conduct and devotion to duty in the field, is +presented by General Hickie with a Parchment Certificate at a parade. +The certificate has been specially prepared in Ireland, having the +words "The Irish Brigade" in Gaelic letters enwreathed with shamrocks +at the top, setting out the name of the recipient, the nature and date +of his achievement, and the signature of the General. The men send +these certificates home, where they are preserved as precious +mementoes. An Honours Book of the Irish Brigade is also kept in which +these presentations and the military honours won are recorded. + +The first experience which the Irish Brigade had of the trenches was +in the Loos-Hullock line. It is the most desolate of the war-stricken +regions, one bare, black, open plain, where everything has been blown +to pieces and levelled to the ground, save here and there some wire +entanglements; where there is no sign of human life, except when +parties of the thousands upon thousands of combatants who burrow +beneath its surface, emerge in the darkness of the night for stealthy +raids on each other's positions. The front line trenches of both sides +run close together. At one point they are no more than sixteen yards +apart. They are notoriously of the worst type, nothing more, indeed, +than shallow and slimy drains, badly provided with dug-outs, and much +exposed to fire. Under such conditions the craving of the body for +food and rest could be satisfied only at the bare point of existence. + +Major William Redmond, in a letter to Dr. Fogarty, Bishop of Killaloe, +dated February 3, 1916, says: "Our first spell in the trenches was for +twelve days, and in that time we had no change of clothing, just +stayed as we were all the time. The shelling was terrific, and the +Division suffered some losses. The day before we came out the enemy +began to celebrate the Kaiser's birthday, January 27, and we were +shelled without ceasing for twenty-four hours. The men of our Division +behaved very well, and received good reports; so the General said." +Testimony to the excellent way in which the Irishmen passed through +the ordeal comes from quite independent and impartial sources. Here, +for example, is an extract from a letter written by the Rev. H.J. +Collins, chaplain to a battalion of the Black Watch-- + + "Our Division had the privilege of introducing the Irish + battalions to the trenches, when they arrived out here; and they + were our guests for a week or so before taking over on their own + account. They made a great impression on our lads by their + cheerfulness and their eagerness to be 'up and at' the Hun. The + Connaughts arrived one evening just as our line was being + heavily shelled, and although they were our visitors they at + once took charge of the situation. They had never been in the + trenches in their lives before; they were experiencing shell + fire for the first time; and before they had had time to get + their packs off and settle down, one impatient sergeant was over + the parapet, crying out in a rich and musical brogue: 'Come on, + the Connaughts!'" + +As is well known, the men of one regiment are not greatly disposed to +praise those of another. In fact, some bitter regimental feuds exist +in the British Army, or used to among the old Regulars. It is, +therefore, all the more remarkable to find in the _Glasgow Herald_ of +February 24, 1916, a letter signed "Jock," proclaiming in the warmest +terms the fine qualities of the new Irish soldiers. "Your readers may +like to hear that we Scotsmen, who have been tried and not found +wanting, have a great admiration for the new Irish Division that came +out some time ago," says "Jock." "We have lived in the trenches side +by side with them, and find them as keen as a hollow-ground and as +ardent as a young lover. At a recent attack when the Germans were +advancing the excitement became unbearable, and one sergeant got up on +the parapet with the shout of: 'Come on, bhoys, get at them.' One of +them, too, was heard to grumble, 'Here we've been in th' trinches fur +two weeks an' niver wance over th' paradise.' It is to be feared they +will outvie even the kilts." + +Yet during this instructional period, when the various battalions of +the Brigade were attached to other regiments for preliminary practice +in the trenches, some high military honours were won. Sergeant J. +Tierney, of the Leinster Regiment; Lance-Corporal A. Donagh, and +Private P.F. Duffy, of the Connaught Rangers, gained the Distinguished +Conduct Medal. Donagh and Duffy, in response to a call for volunteers, +undertook to carry messages forward under heavy fire, as all +telephone communication had been cut. The task was one of extreme +danger, but the men succeeded in accomplishing it unhurt, and were +awarded the D.C.M. for their coolness and bravery. Corporal Timoney, +of the Munster Fusiliers, was especially mentioned in Army Orders for +an act of courage in picking up and throwing away a live Mills-grenade +which had fallen among some men under instruction. By this act he +undoubtedly saved the lives of several men, and if it had happened in +the field instead of at practice he would have been eligible for +recommendation for a higher honour. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +IRISH REPLIES TO GERMAN WILES AND POISON GAS + +HOW THE MUNSTERS CAPTURED THE ENEMY'S +WHEEDLING PLACARDS + + +It was from the Germans that the Irish Brigade got the first +intimation of the troubles in Dublin at Easter, 1916. The Germans, +heedless of their failure to induce the Irish soldiers in their +captivity to forswear allegiance and honour, availed themselves of the +Rebellion to try their wiles on the Irish soldiers in the field. Both +sides in the trenches often become acquainted, in curious ways, with +the names and nationality of the regiments opposed to them. But in +regard to a particular section of the British line, between Hulluch +and Loos, in April 1916, the Germans might easily know it was held by +Irish troops. The fact was proclaimed by the green banner with the +golden harp which the boys of the Brigade hoisted over the +breastworks--the flag which, in their eyes, has been consecrated in +the great cause of liberty by the deeds and sacrifices of their +forefathers, the flag for whose glorified legend they were proud to +die. So it happened that one morning these Irish troops were surprised +to see two placards nailed to boards on the top of poles, displayed by +the Germans, on which the following was written in English-- + + "Irishmen! In Ireland's revolution English guns are firing on + your wives and children. The English Military Bill has been + refused. Sir Roger Casement is being persecuted. Throw away your + arms; we give you a hearty welcome. + + "We are Saxons. If you don't fire, we won't." + +The Irish Brigade and the Irish Volunteers who rose in rebellion in +Dublin were alike recruited from the same class. Such are the +unhappily wayward circumstances of Irish life that the tremendous fact +whether this lad or that was to fight for England in Flanders or +against her in Dublin was in many cases decided by mere chance or +accident. At any rate, the kith and kin of numbers of men of the Irish +Brigade were among the Sinn Feiners. A widowed mother in Dublin had, +in consequence, a most tragic experience. The post on Easter Monday +morning brought her a letter from a company officer of a battalion in +the Irish Brigade announcing that her son had been killed in action. +"He died for Ireland," said the officer, knowing that it was true and +that it would help to soften her maternal grief. Before the day was +out her other son, wearing the green uniform of the Irish Volunteers, +staggered home mortally wounded, and as he lay gasping out his life on +the floor he, too, used the same phrase of uplifting memories: +"Mother, don't fret. Sure, I'm dying for Ireland." + +The effect of the German placards on the battalion of Munster +Fusiliers, then holding the British line, was very far astray from +that which their authors hoped for and intended. A fusillade of +bullets at once bespattered the wheedling phrases. What fun to make a +midnight foray on the German trenches and carry off the placards as +trophies! No sooner was the adventure suggested than it was agreed to. +In the darkness of night a body of twenty-five men and two officers of +the Munsters crawled out into No Man's Land. They were discovered when +about half-way across by a German searchlight, and then the flying +bullets of two machine-guns commenced to splutter about them. Some of +the men were killed; some were wounded. The others lay still for hours +in the rank grass before they resumed their stealthy crawl, like the +Indians they used to read of in boyhood stories, and, having +noiselessly cut their way under the enemy entanglements, they sprang, +with fixed bayonets and terrifying yells, into the trench. The +Germans, startled out of their senses by this most unexpected visit, +scurried like rabbits into the nearest dug-outs. The notice-boards +were then seized and borne in triumph to the Irish trenches, to the +unbounded delight and pride of the battalion; and they are now +treasured among the regiment's most precious spoils of vanquished +enemies. + +A few days later, on the morning of April 27, the Germans tried what +blows could do where lying blandishments had failed; and the Irish +Brigade had to face, for the first time, an infantry attack in force. +The enemy began their operations by concentrating a bombardment of +great intensity upon trenches held by Dublin Fusiliers. Then, shortly +after five o'clock, there came on the light breeze that blew from the +German lines a thick and sluggish volume of greenish smoke. "Poison +gas! On with your helmets!" Surely, the hearts of the most indomitable +might well have quailed at the thought of the writhing agony endured +by those who fall victims to this new and most terrible agency of war. +Instead of that, the flurry and excitement of putting on the masks was +followed by roars of laughter as the men looked at one another and saw +the fantastic and absurd beings, with grotesque goggle-eyes, into +which they had transformed themselves. But they were not the only +monsters in the uncanny scene. Like grey spectres, sinister and +venomous, the Germans appeared as they came on, partly screened by the +foul vapour which rolled before them. Not one of them reached the +Irish trenches. The Dublins, standing scathless in the poison clouds +which enveloped them, poured out round after round of rifle fire, +until the Germans broke and fled, leaving piles of their dead and +wounded at the wire entanglements, and the body of the officer who had +led them caught in the broken strands. + +Two hours later, that same morning, there was another sally from the +German trenches, under cover of gas, against a different section of +the Irish. The parapets here had been so demolished by shell fire that +the Germans gained a footing in the trenches. But they were hardly in +before they were out again. "The time during which the Germans were in +occupation of our trenches was a matter of minutes only," says the war +correspondent of _The Times_. They were put to rout by the +Inniskillings, who came up from the reserve trenches at the double. +"Never was a job more cleanly and quickly done," adds _The Times_ +correspondent. On the next occasion that the Germans launched an +attack with gas, they had themselves to drink, so to speak, the poison +cup they had prepared for the Irish. That was two days subsequently, +on April 29. "Providence was on our side," writes Major William +Redmond, "for the wind suddenly changing, the gas blew back over the +German trenches where the Bavarians had already massed for attack. +Taken by surprise, they left their front line and ran back across the +open under the heavy and well-directed fire of our artillery. In one +battalion of that Bavarian Infantry Regiment the losses from their own +gas and from our fire on that day were stated to be, by a deserter, +over eight hundred; and the diary of a prisoner of another battalion +captured on the Somme in September states that his regiment also had +about five hundred gassed cases, a large number of whom died." + +The Irish Division continued to hold the Hulluch-Loos sector of the +line until the end of August 1916. They were subjected to severe +bombardments. It was a common occurrence for the enemy to send from +two to five thousand 5.9 shells a day into their trenches. What +fortitude and grim determination must they not have had at their +command to enable them to pass unshaken through these terrible +ordeals. They retaliated in the way they love best, with many a +dashing raid on the German positions. + +For conspicuous gallantry in these operations the Military Cross was +awarded to several of the officers. In the cases of Captain Victor +Louis Manning and Lieutenant Nicholas Joseph Egan of the Dublin +Fusiliers, the official record says that "by skilful and determined +handling of their bombing parties they drove off three determined bomb +attacks by the enemy in greatly superior numbers," and that "they +continued to command their parties after they had both been wounded," +gives but a faint idea of the faring nature of their deed. A small +counter-mine was exploded under a German mine at a point between the +opposing lines, but nearer to those of the Germans. The Germans were +able to occupy the mound first and establish a machine-gun on it, with +which they dominated the Dublin trenches. Volunteers being called for +to clear them out, Lieutenant Egan and a small party of privates, +armed with bombs, rushed out and carried the position. Then they had +to hold it against German counter-attacks which were launched during +the next three days. Lieutenant Egan was wounded in the wrist early in +the fight, but he and six men, being plentifully supplied with bombs, +held their ground doggedly. Instead of waiting for the Germans to +reach the mound, in what threatened to be the worst of the +counter-attacks, the party of Dublins advanced to meet them and drove +them back, thus conveying the impression that they were in greater +strength than was really the case. On the night of the third day +another party, under Captain Manning, came to their support. After a +further series of encounters had ended in favour of the Dublins, the +Germans abandoned the hope of recapturing the post, which was +subsequently strongly consolidated by the victors. On the fourth day, +when the struggle had definitely ended in favour of the Dublins, and +Lieutenant Egan was about to return to the lines, a bomb fell at his +feet. He was blown a distance of fifteen yards, and was picked up +seriously wounded in the thigh. Lieutenant Egan is a grandson of Mr. +Patrick Egan of New York, well known in the stormy agrarian agitation +in Ireland under Parnell and Davitt as the treasurer of the Land +League. Previous to the war Lieutenant Egan was in business in Canada. + +Another fine exploit standing to the credit of the Irish Brigade was +that of Lieutenant Patrick Stephen Lynch of the Leinsters, who got the +Military Cross "for conspicuous gallantry when successfully laying and +firing a torpedo under the enemy's wire." It was an uncommon deed, and +just as uncommon is the very remarkable tribute with which the +official record ends: "His cool bravery is very marked and his +influence over his men very great." The Brigadier-General, George +Pereira, D.S.O., in a letter of congratulation to Lieutenant Lynch, +dated July 1, 1916, says: "Your leading the attack along the parapet +was splendid, but you must be more careful another time." Before the +month was out Lieutenant Lynch got a bar to his Military Cross--in +other words, he had won the distinction twice over--an honour which, +as General Hickie wrote to him, was well deserved, and likely to be +very rare. This young Waterford man--a fine type of the fearless and +dashing Irish officer, made out of a civilian in two years--was +promoted Captain in the Leinsters, and was killed on his birthday and +the completion of his twenty-fifth year, December 27, 1916. The +battalion was plunged into grief by the loss of Captain Lynch. +"'Paddy'--the name we all knew him by from the C.O. down to the +youngest sub.--was considered the most efficient officer in this +battalion, and he was certainly the most popular," writes Lieutenant +H.W. Norman, an officer of the Captain's company. "Everybody mourns +his death, and when the news got to his men they could not believe +that such a brave and daring officer could be killed, but the news was +only too true; and when it was confirmed I saw many's the officer and +man crying like children. He lost his life to save his men, who were +in a trench that was being heavily shelled. He went up with a +sergeant, in spite of danger and certain death, to get them out, and +on the way up a shell landed in the trench where they were, killing +both instantaneously." Another noble deed was that for which +Lieutenant John Francis Gleeson, Munster Fusiliers, won the Military +Cross. "Under heavy rifle fire and machine-gun fire, he left his +trench to bring in a wounded man lying within ten yards of the enemy +entanglements." + +It was also in connection with these raids on the German trenches that +the Irish Division gained the first of its Victoria Crosses. The hero +is Captain Arthur Hugh Batten-Pooll of the Munster Fusiliers--a +Somerset man, and he got the V.C. "for most conspicuous bravery whilst +in command of a raiding party." "At the moment of entry into the +enemy's lines," the official record continues, "he was severely +wounded by a bomb, which broke and mutilated all the fingers of his +right hand. In spite of this he continued to direct operations with +unflinching courage, his voice being clearly heard cheering on and +directing his men. He was urged, but refused, to retire. Half an hour +later, during the withdrawal, whilst personally assisting in the +rescue of other wounded men, he received two further wounds. Still +refusing assistance, he walked unaided to within a hundred yards of +our lines, when he fainted, and was carried in by the covering party." +Captain D.D. Sheehan of the Munster Fusiliers supplies the following +spirited account of the raid-- + + "Our men got into the enemy's trenches with irresistible dash. + They met with a stout resistance. There was no stopping or + stemming the sweep of the men of Munster. They rushed the + Germans off their feet. They bombed and they bludgeoned them. + Indeed, the most deadly instrument of destruction in this + encounter was the short heavy stick, in the shape of a + shillelagh, the use of which, we are led to believe, is the + prescriptive and hereditary right of all Irishmen. The Munster + Fusiliers gave the Huns such a dressing and drubbing on that + night as they are not likely to have since forgotten. Half an + hour in the trenches and all was over. Dug-outs and all were + done for. Of the eight officers, four were casualties, two, + unhappily, killed, and two severely wounded, of whom one was + Batten-Pooll." + +For months the Irish Brigade had on their right the renowned Ulster +Division. Thus the descendants of the two races in Ireland who for +more than two centuries were opposed politically and religiously, and +often came to blows under their rival colours of "Orange" and "Green," +were now happily fighting side by side in France for the common rights +of man. Though born and bred in the same tight little island, the men +themselves had been severed by antagonisms arising out of those +hereditary feuds, and thus but imperfectly understood each other. +"When they met from time to time," says Major William Redmond, M.P., +"the best of good feeling and comradeship was shown as between brother +Irishmen." Evidence of these amicable relations is afforded by a +letter written by Private J. Cooney of the Royal Irish Regiment. "The +Ulster Division are supporting us on our right," he says. "The other +morning I was out by myself and met one of them. He asked me what part +of Ireland I belonged to. I said a place called Athlone, in the county +Westmeath. He said he was a Belfast man and a member of the Ulster +Volunteers. I said I was a National Volunteer, and that the National +Volunteers were started in my native town. 'Well,' said he, 'that is +all over now. We are Irishmen fighting together, and we will forget +all these things.' 'I don't mind if we do,' said I; 'but I'm not +particularly interested. We must all do our bit out here, no matter +where we come from, north or south, and that is enough for the time.'" +Private Cooney adds: "This young Belfast man was very anxious to +impress me with the fact that we Irish were all one; that there should +be no bad blood between us, and we became quite friendly in the course +of a few minutes." Meeting thus in the valley of darkness, blood and +tears, the fraternity born of the dangers they were incurring for the +same great ends, united them far more closely than years of ordinary +friendship could have done. To many on both sides the cause of their +traditional hostility appeared very trivial; and there were revealed +to them reasons, hitherto obscured by prejudice and convention, for +mutual loving-kindness and even for national unification. + +But it was not the first time that north and south fought together in +the Empire's battle. There is an eloquent passage on the subject in +Conan Doyle's _Great Boer War_. It refers to the advance of Hart's +"Irish Brigade"--consisting of the 1st Inniskillings, 1st Connaughts +and 1st Dublins--over an open plain to the Tugela river, at the Battle +of Colenso, under heavy fire from front and flank, and even from the +rear, for a regiment in support fired at them, not knowing that any of +the line was so far advanced-- + + "Rolling on in a broad wave of shouting, angry men, they never + winced from the fire until they swept up to the bank of the + river. Northern Inniskillings and Southern men of Connaught, + orange and green, Protestant and Catholic, Celt and Saxon, their + only rivalry now was who could shed his blood most freely for + the common cause. How hateful those provincial politics and + narrow sectarian creeds which can hold such men apart!" + +On July 1 the Ulster Division won immortal renown on the Somme. It was +now the turn of the Irish Brigade to uphold the martial fame of the +race on the same stricken field. They were done with trench raids for +a while, and in for very big fighting. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +STORMING OF GUILLAMONT BY THE IRISH BRIGADE + +RAISING THE GREEN FLAG IN THE CENTRE OF THE VILLAGE + + +At the end of August the Irish Brigade was ordered to the Somme. The +civil authorities of the district, headed by the mayor and cure, +called upon General Hickie to express their appreciation of the good +conduct and religious devotion of his troops. The General was a proud +man that day. Nothing pleased him more than praise of his soldiers. In +return, they gloried in him. As an example of his fatherly solicitude +for them, he had established a divisional laundry under the care of +the nuns, in which 25,000 shirts a week and 5000 pairs of socks per +day are washed for them, and every day's rations sent to the men in +the trenches was accompanied by a dry pair of socks. The result was +that "trench feet"--feet benumbed with the cold and the wet--were +almost unknown in the Division. He also provided for a thousand baths +a day being given to his men in a specially constructed bath-house. + +The marches of the Brigade to their new station was done to the +accompaniment of patter, drip, trickle, ripple, splash--all the creepy +sounds of continuous rain, and across the sodden and foul desolation +that was once the fair fields of France. Up to the firing line swung +a battalion of the Munster Fusiliers, gaily whistling and singing in +the rain. They carried a beautiful banner of the Sacred Heart, the +gift of the people of the city of Limerick, from which many of the men +came. Miss Lily Doyle of Limerick, who made the presentation to Major +Lawrence Roche of the battalion, tells me that the idea of the banner +originated with the Reverend Mother of the Good Shepherd's Convent, +Limerick, who had read, in what are termed the "Extended Revelations," +that a promise was given by Jesus to Blessed Margaret Mary that, +inasmuch as soldiers derided His Sacred Heart when He hung upon the +Cross, any soldiers who made reparation by carrying His standard would +have victory with them. The cost of the banner (L10) was mainly raised +by penny subscriptions. It was worked by the Good Shepherd nuns on +crimson poplin. On one side is a beautiful piece of embroidery +representing Our Lord with His Heart exposed on His breast to Blessed +Margaret Mary, with the inscriptions, "Tu Rex Gloria Christi" and +"Parce Domine, parce populo tuo." On the other side are the words of +the Archangel Michael: "Quis ut Deus," surrounded with monograms of +"Royal Munster Fusiliers" and "God save Ireland." "You could not have +sent us a more suitable gift," the Rev. J. Wrafter, S.J., chaplain of +the battalion, wrote to Miss Doyle, "or one which would give more +pleasure to the men. I believe they prefer it to any material comforts +that are sent to them." This is the third religious banner borne by +soldiers since the Crusades. The first was the standard of Joan of +Arc, and the second that of the Pontifical Zouaves, when Rome was an +independent state. As the Munsters thus marched to battle a cry of +"Look!" was suddenly raised in the ranks, and as all eyes turned in +the direction indicated a wonderful sight was seen. The great tower of +Albert Cathedral appeared through the mist of rain, and the sun shone +on the great copper statue of the Blessed Virgin and the Child, which +dominated the countryside for miles around, and, laid prostrate by +German gunners, was now lying out level with the top of the tower. +Thus that symbol of faith, though fallen, was not overthrown. Its +roots in the pedestal were firm and strong. The Virgin Mother, facing +downwards, still held the Infant Jesus scathless in her outstretched +hands, as if showing Him the devastation below, ready to be uplifted +again on the day of Christianity's victory. The piety of the battalion +was kindled by that strange and moving spectacle. Quickly responsive +always to things that appeal to the imagination, the men felt as if +they were witnesses of a miracle, and with one accord they took off +their helmets and cheered and cheered again. + +Though it is an unusual thing for the Commander-in-Chief to give in +his dispatches the names of the troops who took part in a particular +engagement, Sir Douglas Haig makes special mention of the Irish +Brigade in his message announcing that Guillamont had fallen. "The +Irish regiments which took part in the capture of Guillamont on +September 3 behaved," he says, "with the greatest dash and gallantry, +and took no small share in the success gained that day." + +September 3 was a Sunday. On the night before the battle the Irish +troops selected for the attack on Guillamont bivouacked on the bare +side of a hill. They were the Connaughts, the Royal Irish, the +Munsters and the Leinsters. The rain had ceased, but the ground was +everywhere deep in mud, the trenches were generally flooded and the +shell holes full of water. It was a bleak and desolate scene, relieved +only here and there by the sparkle of the little fires around which +the platoons clustered. Just as the men of one of the battalions were +preparing to wrap themselves in their greatcoats and lie down for the +rest which they might be able to snatch in such a situation, the +Catholic chaplain came over the side of the hill and right to the +centre of the camp. "In a moment he was surrounded by the men," writes +Major Redmond. "They came to him without orders--they came gladly and +willingly, and they hailed his visit with plain delight. He spoke to +them in the simple, homely language which they liked. He spoke of the +sacrifice which they had made in freely and promptly leaving their +homes to fight for a cause which was the cause of religion, freedom +and civilisation. He reminded them that in this struggle they were +most certainly defending the homes and the relations and friends they +had left behind them in Ireland. It was a simple, yet most moving +address, and deeply affected the soldiers." Major Redmond goes on to +say: "When the chaplain had finished his address he signed to the men +to kneel, and administered to them the General Absolution given in +times of emergency. The vast majority of the men present knelt, and +those of other faith stood by in attitudes of reverent respect. The +chaplain then asked the men to recite with him the Rosary. It was most +wonderful the effect produced as hundreds and hundreds of voices +repeated the prayers and recited the words, 'Pray for us now and at +the hour of our death. Amen.' At the dawn Masses were said by the +chaplains of all the battalions in the open, and most of the officers +and men received Holy Communion." + +The attack was timed to begin at noon. All the morning the war-pipes +of these Leinsters, Munsters and Connaughts gave out inspiring Irish +tunes--"Brian Boru's March," that was played at the Battle of Clontarf +in the eleventh century when the Danish invaders were driven from +Ireland; "The White Cockade," the Jacobite marching tune of the first +Irish Brigade in the service of France; "The Wearin' o' the Green," +one of the finest expressions of a country's devotion to an ideal; and +"A Nation Once Again," thrilling with the hopes of the future. The +pipers strode up and down, green ribbons streaming from their pipes, +sending forth these piercing invocations to ancient Irish heroes, to +venerable saints of the land, to the glories and sorrows of Ireland, +to the love of home, to the faith and aspirations of the race, to come +to the support of the men in the fight. And what of the men as they +waited in the assembly trenches for the word? The passage from +Shakespeare's _Henry V_ best conveys their mood: "I see ye stand like +grey-hounds in the leash straining upon the start." + +At twelve o'clock the battalions emerged from the trenches. Numbers of +the men had tied to their rifles little green flags with the yellow +harp. Like the English infantry associated with them, the Irish +advanced in the open snaky lines in which such attacks are always +delivered. But there was a striking difference--noted by the war +correspondents--in the pace and impetus of the Irish and the English. +Mr. Beach Thomas of the _Daily Mail_ says: "It gives, I think, a +satisfying sense of the variety and association of talent in the new +Army to picture these dashing Irish troops careering across the open +while the ground was being methodically cleared and settled behind +them by English riflemen." "The English riflemen who fought on their +right had more solidity in their way of going about the business," +says Mr. Philip Gibbs of the _Daily Chronicle_, "but they were so +inspired by the sight of the Irish dash and by the sound of the Irish +pipes that those who were in support, under orders to stand and hold +the first German line, could hardly be restrained from following on." +The English advance was calm, restrained, deliberate, infused by a +spirit of determination that glowed rather than flamed. A breath of +fire seemed to sweep through the Irish. From first to last they kept +up a boisterous jog-trot charge. "It was like a human avalanche," was +the description given by the English troops who fought with them. + +The country across which this dash was made was pitted with +innumerable shell holes, most of them of great width and depth and all +full of water and mud. A Munster Fusilier graphically likened the +place to a net, in his Irish way--"all holes tied together." So the +men, as they advanced, stumbled over the inequalities of the ground, +or slipped and tripped in the soft, sticky earth. It was a scene, too, +of the most clamorous and frightful violence. The shells were like +fiends of the air, flying with horrid shrieks or moans on the wings of +the wind, ignoring one another and intent only on dropping down to +earth and striking the life out of their human prey. Blasts of fire +and flying bits of metal also swept the plain. + +There is a loud detonation, and when the smoke clears away not a trace +is seen of the ten or dozen comrades that a moment before were rushing +forward like a Rugby pack after the ball. They have all been blown to +the four winds of heaven. "Jim, I'm hit," cries a lad, as if +boastingly, on feeling a blow on his chest. He twirls round about like +a spinning top and then topples face downward. His body has been +perforated by a rifle bullet. A shell explodes and a man falls. He +laughs, thinking he has been tripped up by a tree root or piece of +wire. Both his legs are broken. Another shell bursts. A Leinsterman +sees a companion lifted violently off his feet, stripped of his +clothes, and swept several yards before he is dashed violently to the +ground. He goes over to his friend and can see no sign of a wound on +the quite naked body. But his friend will never lift up his head +again. The blasting force of the high explosive, the tremendous +concussion of the air, has knocked the life out of him. "Good-bye, +Joe, and may God have mercy on your soul," the Leinsterman says to +himself, and, as he dashes on again he thinks, "Sure, it may be my own +turn next." It is that which assuages the grief of a soldier for a +dead comrade, or soon ousts it altogether from his mind. + +Khaki and grey-clad forms were lying everywhere in the frightfully +distorted postures assumed by the killed in action--arms twisted, legs +doubled together, heads askew. Some had their lips turned outward, +showing their teeth in a horrible sneer. Their mouths had been +distended in agony. Others had a fixed expression of infinite sadness, +as if in a lucid moment before death there came a thought of home. +More horrifying still was the foul human wreckage of former +battles--heads and trunks and limbs trodden under foot in the mud, and +emitting a fearful stench. + +The priests followed in the wake of the troops to give the +consolations of religion to the dying. They saw heartrending sights. +One of them, describing his experiences, says: "I was standing about a +hundred yards away, watching a party of my men crossing the valley, +when I saw the earth under their feet open, and twenty men disappear +in a cloud of smoke, while a column of stones and clay was shot a +couple of hundred feet into the air. A big German shell, by the merest +chance, had landed in the middle of the party. I rushed down the +slope, getting a most unmerciful whack between the shoulders. I gave +them all a General Absolution, scraped the clay from the faces of a +couple of buried men who were not wounded, and then anointed as many +of the poor lads as I could reach. Two of them had no faces to anoint, +and others were ten feet under the clay, but a few were living still. +By this time half a dozen volunteers had run up, and were digging the +buried men out. We dug like demons for our lads' lives, and our own, +to tell the truth, for every few minutes another 'iron pill' from a +Krupp gun would come tearing down the valley." Another priest says: +"Many of the wounded were just boys, and it was extraordinary how they +bore pain, which must have been intense. Very few murmurings were +heard. One young man said to me, 'Oh, father, it is hard to die so far +from home in the wilds of France.' Certainly the fair land of France +just here did seem wild, with the trees all torn and riven with shot, +and the earth on every side ploughed with huge shell holes." + +But the Irish troops swept on. Nothing could stop them--neither their +fallen comrades, nor the groans of the wounded, nor the abominably +mangled dead; and the blasts of fire and iron and steel which the +enemy let loose beat in vain against their valour and resolution. +"'Tis God's truth I'm telling you," a Leinsterman remarked to me, +"when I say we couldn't stop ourselves in the height of our hurry, we +were that mad." In fact, they had captured Guillamont before they were +aware of it. "Where's that blessed village we've got to take?" they +shouted, as they looked round and saw not a stick or a stone. "We're +in it, boys," replied a captain of the Munsters as he planted a green +flag with a yellow harp on the dust heap which his map indicated was +once the centre of Guillamont, and the Irishmen, mightily pleased with +themselves, raised a wild shout. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE BRIGADE'S POUNCE ON GUINCHY + +GALLANT BOY OFFICERS OF THE DUBLIN FUSILIERS + + +Guinchy fell within the same week as Guillamont. It was stormed on the +following Saturday, September 9. The village had been taken two or +three times previously--some accounts say four--by the British and +recaptured each time by the Germans. But the grip of the Irish Brigade +could not be relaxed. Standing on a hill 500 feet high, Guinchy was +one of the most important enemy strongholds on the Somme, particularly +for artillery. It had been fortified with the accumulated skill of +eighteen months' labour by the German engineers. It was well protected +by guns. Picked troops--the Bavarians--defended it. The Germans, +according to a captured officer, believed that Guinchy could not be +taken. "But," he added, "you attacked us with devils, not men. No one +could withstand them." The capture of the place was therefore a good +day's work. It stands solely to the credit of the Irish Brigade. They +did it all by themselves. + +The attack was mainly delivered from the direction of Guillamont. All +through the week, for five days and nights, most of the Irish +battalions had lain in the trenches--connected shell craters for the +most part--under heavy artillery fire. In these circumstances they +could get nothing hot to eat. They subsisted mainly on the iron +rations of bully beef and biscuit, which formed part of each man's +fighting equipment, and a little water. As for sleep, they were +unable to get more than disturbed and unrefreshing snatches. Yet they +were as full of spirit and had nerves as unshaken as if they had come +fresh from billets, and they were as eager for a fight as ever. + +In preparation for the advance, a thunderstorm of British fire and +steel broke over the German trenches. The splitting, tearing crashes +of the mighty "heavies" lying miles back; their firing accuracy, the +penetrating power of their shells, had a heartening influence on the +men. "Ah, those guns," said an officer of the Royal Irish +Regiment--"their effect, spiritual and temporal, is wonderful. Your +own makes you defiant of the very devil; the enemy's put the fear of +God into you." The German lines were blotted out by smoke and flying +soil. The ground rocked and swayed. It was like a heavy sea, only the +waves were of earth. + +The whistle sounded at four o'clock, and up and over went the men in a +mass. Like the country before Guillamont, the country before Guinchy +was slashed and gouged and seared, and the air had the sickening taste +of gunpowder, poison gas and the corruption of the body. The men +walked or ran, in broken array, in and out of the shell holes or over +the narrow ledges that separated them. Soon the enemy got the range. +Severed limbs, heads, arms and legs, and often the whole body, were +flung high into the air. It was a dreadful scene. The noise, too, was +appalling, what with the roaring of the guns, the bursting of the +shells, and, not less, the frenzied yells of the charging masses. +There is no shout in the melee of battle so fierce as the Irish shout. +Every man is like "Stentor of the brazen voice," whose shout, as Homer +says in the _Iliad_, "was as the shout of fifty men." So the Irish +shouted as they dashed forward, partly in relief of their feelings, +and partly in the hope of confusing and dismaying their adversaries. +It was an amazing martial feat, that charge of the Irish Brigade at +Guinchy. Within just eight minutes they had overrun the intervening +ground and captured the village. Nothing stopped nor stayed them. They +did not pause to lie down for a while and let the bullets and shrapnel +fly over them. Many were seen, as the advance proceeded, lying huddled +on the ground as if taking shelter. They had taken shelter, indeed, +but it was behind a stronger thing than a mound of earth--and that is +death. + +The most graphic and thrilling narrative of the engagement is given in +a letter written home by a second lieutenant of one of the Irish +battalions. They were in reserve, five or six hundred yards behind the +first line, who were in occupation of the rising slope nearer to +Guinchy. It was about four o'clock when they were ordered to move up +so as to reinforce the first line. They got up in the nick of time, +just as the great charge had begun, and they saw a sight which the +officer says stirred and thrilled them to the depths of their souls. +"Mere words," he says, "must fail to convey anything like a true +picture of the scene, but it is burned into the memory of all those +who were there and saw it. Between the outer fringe of Guinchy and the +front line of our own trenches is No Man's Land, a wilderness of pits +so close together that you could ride astraddle the partitions between +any two of them. As you look half right, obliquely down along No Man's +Land, you behold a great host of yellow-coated men rise out of the +earth and surge forward and upward in a torrent--not in extended +order, as you might expect, but in one mass. There seems to be no end +to them. Just when you think the flood is subsiding, another wave +comes surging up the bend towards Guinchy. We joined in on the left. +There was no time for us any more than the others to get into extended +order. We formed another stream converging on the others at the +summit." He goes on to give a wonderful impression of the spirit of +the men--their fearlessness and exuberance which nothing could daunt. +"By this time we were all wildly excited. Our shouts and yells alone +must have struck terror into the Huns. They were firing their +machine-guns down the slope. Their shells were falling here, there and +everywhere. But there was no wavering in the Irish host. We couldn't +run. We advanced at a steady walking pace, stumbling here and there, +but going ever onward and upward. That numbing dread had now left me +completely. Like the others, I was intoxicated with the glory of it +all. I can remember shouting and bawling to the men of my platoon, who +were only too eager to go on." + +The officer mentions a curious circumstance which throws more light on +that most interesting subject--the state of the mind in battle. He +says the din must have been deafening--he learned afterwards that it +could be heard miles away--and yet he had a confused remembrance only +of anything in the way of noise. How Guinchy was reached and what it +was like is thus described: "How long we were in crossing No Man's +Land I don't know. It could not have been more than five minutes, yet +it seemed much longer. We were now well up to the Boche. We had to +clamber over all manner of obstacles--fallen trees, beams, great +mounds of brick and rubble--in fact, over the ruins of Guinchy. It +seems like a nightmare to me now. I remember seeing comrades falling +round me. My sense of hearing returned to me, for I became conscious +of a new sound--namely, the pop, pop, pop, pop of machine-guns, and +the continuous crackling of rifle fire. By this time all units were +mixed up, but they were all Irishmen. They were cheering and cheering +like mad. There was a machine-gun playing on us near by, and we all +made for it." + +Through the centre of the smashed and battered village ran a deep +trench. It was occupied by about two hundred Germans, who continued to +fire rifle and machine-gun even after the Irish had appeared on all +sides, scrambling over the piles of masonry, bent and twisted wood and +metal and broken furniture. "At this moment we caught our first sight +of the Huns," the officer continues. "They were in a trench of sorts, +which ran in and out among the ruins. Some of them had their hands up. +Others were kneeling and holding their arms out to us. Still others +were running up and down the trench, distracted, as if they didn't +know which way to go, but as we got closer they went down on their +knees, too." In battle the Irish are fierce and terrible to the enemy, +and in victory most magnanimous. "To the everlasting good name of the +Irish soldiery," the officer says, "not one of these Huns, some of +whom had been engaged in slaughtering our men up to the very last +moment, was killed. I did not see a single instance of a prisoner +being shot or bayoneted. When you remember that our men were worked up +to a frenzy of excitement, this crowning act of mercy to their foes is +surely to their eternal credit. They could feel pity even in their +rage." He adds: "It is with a sense of pride that I can write this of +our soldiers." + +Many incidents in which smiles and tears were commingled took place in +the nests of dug-outs and cellars among the ruins of the village. The +Dublin Fusiliers lost most of their officers in the advance. Many of +them were the victims of snipers. In the village the direction of +affairs was in the hands of young subalterns. The manliness and +decision of these boys were wonderful. One of them captured, with the +help of a single sergeant, a German officer and twenty men whom they +had come upon on rounding the corner of a trench. The German officer +surrendered in great style. He stood to attention, gave a clinking +salute, and said in perfect English, "Sir, myself, this other officer +and twenty men are your prisoners." The subaltern said, "Right you +are, old chap!" and they shook hands. Hundreds of the defenders of +Guinchy had fled. "An' if they did itself, you couldn't blame them," +said a wounded Dublin Fusilier to me. "We came on jumping mad, all +roaring and bawling, an' our bayonets stretched out, terribly fierce, +in front of us, that maybe 'tis ourselves would get up and run like +blazes likewise if 'twere the other way about." + +Hot and impulsive in all things, the Irishmen were bent on advancing +into the open country beyond Guinchy in chase of the retreating +Germans. The officers had frantically to blow their whistles and shout +and gesticulate to arrest this onward rush of the men to destruction +in the labyrinth of the enemy supports which had escaped bombardment. +"Very frankly the men proclaimed their discontent," says the special +correspondent of _The Times_, "with what they called the 'diplomacy' +which forbade them to go where they wanted--namely, to hell and +beyond, if there are any Germans hiding on the other side." + +The only cases of desertion in the Irish Division occurred on the +night before the storming of Guinchy. It is a deliciously comic +incident. Three servants of the staff mess of one of the brigades +disappeared. They left a note saying that, as they had missed +Guillamont, they must have a hand in the taking of Guinchy. "If all +right, back to-morrow. Very sorry," they added. Sure enough they were +found in the fighting line. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +HONOURS AND DISTINCTIONS FOR THE IRISH BRIGADE + +HOW LIEUTENANT HOLLAND OF THE LEINSTERS WON THE V.C. + + +Many decorations and rewards were won by the Irish Brigade. The +Honours Book of the Brigade contained, at the end of 1916, about one +thousand names of officers and men, presented by Major-General Hickie +with the parchment certificate for gallant conduct and devotion to +duty in the field. Over three hundred military decorations were +gained. Two high Russian honours were also awarded--the Cross of St. +George, Second Class, to Lance-Corporal T. McMahon, Munster Fusiliers, +and the Cross of St. George, Fourth Class, to Lance-Sergeant L. +Courtenay, Dublin Fusiliers. The list of decorations is so long that +only a select few of those won by officers of the Brigade for gallant +conduct in the capture of Guillamont and Guinchy can be given. Father +Maurice O'Connell, the senior chaplain of the Brigade, got the +Distinguished Service Order. Father Wrafter, S.J., and Father Doyle, +S.J., got the Military Cross. All the Chaplains of the Division were +indeed splendid. The others are: Fathers Browne, S.J., Burke, Cotter, +O'Connor, and FitzMaurice, S.J. The official records show that the +D.S.O. was also awarded to the following-- + + "Temporary Captain (temporary Major) Robert James Abbot Tamplin, + Connaught Rangers.--He led his company with the greatest courage + and determination, and was instrumental in capturing the + position. He was wounded." + + "Second-Lieutenant Cyril Paxman Tiptaft, Connaught Rangers, + Special Reserve.--With his platoon he consolidated and held for + fourteen hours a strong point, thus preventing the enemy from + getting behind our advanced positions, which they tried to do + again and again. He set a fine example to his men, and kept up + their spirits in spite of heavy casualties." + + "Temporary lieutenant-Colonel George Alexander McLean Buckley, + Leinster Regiment.--He led his battalion with the greatest + courage and determination. He has on many occasions done very + fine work." + + "Temporary Lieutenant-Colonel Edwin Henry Charles Patrick + Bellingham, Royal Dublin Fusiliers.--He took command of the two + leading battalions when the situation was critical, and + displayed the greatest determination under shell and machine-gun + fire. The success of the operation was largely due to his quick + appreciation of the situation, and his rapid consolidation of + the position." + + "Temporary Captain John Patrick Hunt, Royal Dublin + Fusiliers.--He formed and held a defensive flank for ten hours, + until relieved, under heavy machine-gun and rifle fire, thus + frustrating the enemy's attempt to turn the flank." + + "Major Walter McClelland Crosbie, Royal Munster Fusiliers.--He + led two companies with the greatest courage and initiative. + Later, he organised the position with great skill, displaying + great coolness throughout. He was wounded." + +The Military Crosses won included the following-- + + "Captain William Joseph Rivers Reardon, Royal Irish Regiment, + Special Reserve.--He led his men with great dash, and during a + counter-attack, though wounded, stayed with a party of men in a + most exposed position, till he could carry on no longer." + + "Lieutenant Edward Alexander Stoker, Royal Irish Regiment, + Special Reserve.--With two or three men he went under heavy + shell fire, and captured some enemy snipers. During the enemy + counter-attack he brought a party of men across the open to the + threatened flank, under heavy fire." + + "Temporary Second-Lieutenant Thomas Adams, Royal Inniskilling + Fusiliers.--For conspicuous gallantry when leading a raid. He + entered the enemy's trenches, and it was largely due to his + skill and determination that the raid was successful." + + "Temporary Second-Lieutenant Hugh Abbot Green, Royal + Inniskilling Fusiliers.--When two senior company commanders had + become casualties, he took command and led the men forward, + capturing a portion of the final objective, which had been + missed by the first attacking troops. He then advanced eighty + yards, and, though himself wounded, consolidated his position." + + "Temporary Captain Victor Henry Parr, Royal Inniskilling + Fusiliers.--He rallied men of different units in a wood during + an enemy counter-attack, and, though wounded, led them forward + and beat off the attack." + + "Temporary Second-Lieutenant Charles Lovell Naylor, Royal Irish + Fusiliers.--He took command of his company when the other + officers had become casualties, and showed great pluck when + driving off a counter-attack. He then advanced and reoccupied + one of our advanced posts." + + "Temporary Captain Thomas Francis O'Donnell, Royal Irish + Fusiliers.--In the attack he dashed forward and led the + battalion the whole way. He was first into the enemy's position, + where he did fine work consolidating the defences." + + "Lieutenant Valentine Joseph Farrell, Leinster Regiment, Special + Reserve.--When the senior officers of two companies had become + casualties in the firing line he took command, and, by his fine + example, kept his men together under intense fire." + + "Captain Charles Carleton Barry, Leinster Regiment, Special + Reserve.--For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty when + returning with another officer from reconnaissance. The latter + officer was severely wounded. Although wounded in the arm, + Captain Barry succeeded in pulling his comrade into a shell + hole, and dressing his wound. He finally succeeded in getting + the officer back to our trench. These actions were carried out + under heavy machine-gun and snipers' fire." + + "Temporary Second-Lieutenant Nicholas Hurst, Royal Dublin + Fusiliers.--He organised a party to rush two machine-guns, which + were holding up the advance, and, when the first party failed, + he organised a second, which succeeded. The strong point was + captured and two officers and thirty men made prisoners." + + "Temporary Second-Lieutenant Harold Arthur Jowett, Royal Dublin + Fusiliers.--For conspicuous gallantry during an attack, moving + up and down his line under heavy fire, encouraging his men and + setting a fine example to all ranks. He displayed considerable + coolness and skill in maintaining his position until the line + was re-established." + + "Temporary Lieutenant William Kee, Royal Dublin + Fusiliers.--Although twice wounded, he continued to lead his men + during an attack until ordered back to the dressing station. He + has several times carried out reconnaissance work most + efficiently." + + "Temporary Lieutenant Eugene Patrick Quigley, Royal Dublin + Fusiliers.--Though wounded, he brought a machine-gun into action + against some enemy who were collecting to repel our attack. Not + finding a suitable rest for one of his guns, he had it placed on + his shoulder, where it opened fire." + + "Temporary Second-Lieutenant Dennis Joseph Baily, Royal Munster + Fusiliers.--When all the officers round him had become + casualties he took command and led the men forward with great + dash and ability." + + "Temporary Lieutenant Labouchere Hillyer Bainbridge-Bell, Royal + Munster Fusiliers. He continually repaired breaks in the line + during several days of heavy shelling, never hesitating to go + out when the wires were cut. He was several times smothered in + debris, and was much bruised." + + "Temporary Captain Cecil William Chandler, Royal Munster + Fusiliers.--Although wounded, he led his men and beat off + repeated enemy attacks, displaying great courage and initiative + throughout." + + "Temporary Captain Maurice Fletcher, Royal Munster + Fusiliers.--He directed a working party, close to the enemy's + line, and completed his task under continuous shelling and rifle + fire. He has done other fine work." + + "Temporary Lieutenant Fabian Strachan Woodley, Royal Munster + Fusiliers.--By his skill and determination he beat off three + counter-attacks of the enemy, who were endeavouring to reach his + trench. Four days later he led his men in two attacks with great + pluck." + + Captain Place, Royal Irish Regiment, was awarded bar to Cross he + had already won. + +These official records, brief and coldly phrased though they be, +cannot be read without a thrill of pride in the race which produced +the men. There is one other account of the winning of a Military Cross +that must be specially given, for it describes the feats of "the boy +hero of Guinchy," Second-Lieutenant James Emmet Dalton, of the Dublin +Fusiliers. He joined the Army in January 1916, and was only eighteen +years of age when he took command and proved himself a born leader of +men at Guinchy. The following is the official record, which, happily, +is more extended than usual-- + + "At the capture of Guinchy, on the 9th of September, 1916, he + displayed great bravery and leadership in action. When, owing to + the loss of officers, the men of two companies were left without + leaders, he took command and led these companies to their final + objective. After the withdrawal of another brigade and the right + flank of his battalion was in the rear, he carried out the + protection of the flank, under intense fire, by the employment + of machine-guns in selected commanding and successive positions. + After dark, whilst going about supervising the consolidation of + the position, he, with only one sergeant escorting, found + himself confronted by a party of the enemy, consisting of one + officer and twenty men. By his prompt determination the party + were overawed and, after a few shots, threw up their arms and + surrendered." + +The Irish Brigade also got a second Victoria Cross at the Battle of +the Somme. It was won by Lieutenant John Vincent Holland of the +Leinster Regiment for most conspicuous bravery. He was born at Athy, +co. Kildare, the son of John Holland, a past President of the Royal +College of Veterinary Surgeons of Ireland, was educated at the +Christian Brothers' Schools, and Clongowies Wood College. At the +outbreak of war he was employed in the chief mechanical engineers' +department of the Central Argentine Railway at Rosario, and, hastening +home, got his commission in the Leinster Regiment. For his services at +the Front he received the Certificate of the Irish Brigade. It was at +Guillamont that Lieutenant Holland won the Victoria Cross. The +official account of his exploits is as follows-- + + "For most conspicuous bravery during a heavy engagement, when, + not content with bombing hostile dug-outs within the objective, + he fearlessly led his bombers through our own artillery barrage + and cleared a great part of the village in front. He started out + with twenty-six bombers and finished up with only five, after + capturing some fifty prisoners. By this very gallant action he + undoubtedly broke the spirit of the enemy, and thus saved us + many casualties when the battalion made a further advance. He + was far from well at the time, and later had to go to hospital." + +As proof of Lieutenant Holland's dash it is related that the night +before the engagement he made a bet of five pounds with a brother +officer that he would be first over the parapet when the order came. +He won the bet, the V.C., and, in addition, he was made a Chevalier of +the Legion of Honour and of St. George of Russia. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE WOODEN CROSS + +DEATH OF LIEUTENANT T.M. KETTLE OF THE DUBLINS + + +For all this glory and renown the Irish Brigade had to pay a bitter +price. Many a home in Ireland was made forlorn and desolate. The roads +of the countryside by which the men went off to the war will be lonely +and drear for ever to womenfolk, for never again will they be +brightened by the returning foot-steps of son or husband. + +One of the most grievous losses which the Brigade sustained was the +death of Lieutenant-Colonel Lenox-Conyngham of the Connaught Rangers. +He came of an Ulster soldier family. He was the son of Colonel Sir W. +Fitzwilliam Lenox-Conyngham of Springhill, co. Derry, was born in +1861, and three of his brothers were also serving in the Army with the +rank of Colonel. He fell at the head of his battalion, which was +foremost in the rush for Guillamont. "I cannot imagine a more fitting +death for him," writes Captain Stephen Gwynn, M.P., who served under +Colonel Lenox-Conyngham since the days the battalion was formed at +Fermoy. "He was never in doubt as to how his men would acquit +themselves. To us officers he said things in private which would sound +a little arrogant if I quoted them--and yet they have been made good." +The welfare of the men was always his first concern. Captain Gwynn +relates that on the return of the battalion one night, after a dreary +day of field operations at home, the company officers, feeling very +miserable, were gathered about the door of their mess-room, waiting +for dinner, when the Colonel called out that their proper place was in +the cook-house, seeing that the men were first served. The incident +greatly rejoiced the heart of Captain Gwynn, for, having served in the +ranks, he knew that the officer who is best served by the men is he +who places their comfort and well-being before his own. In France, +whenever any compliment was paid to Colonel Lenox-Conyngham, he could +not be content until, with frank generosity, he passed it on to the +company officers. "It is you who have done it," he would say. "He was +right too," says Captain Gwynn. "We did the work, and no men were ever +less interfered with; but we did it as we had been taught to do it, +and because we were kept up to it at every point." + +I can only mention a few typical cases of the officers of the Irish +Brigade killed at Guillamont and Guinchy. Lieutenant E.R.F. Becher, of +the Munster Fusiliers, was but nineteen, and the only child of E.W. +Becher, Lismore, co. Waterford. He was descended in direct line from +Colonel Thomas Becher, who was aide-de-camp to King William at the +Battle of the Boyne, and was on that occasion presented by the King +with his watch, which is still an heirloom in the family. Captain H.R. +Lloyd of the Royal Irish Regiment was descended from the ensign who +carried the colours of the Coldstream Guards at Waterloo. He was +educated at Drogheda Grammar School, and was at business in Brazil +when the war broke out. Lieutenant J.T. Kennedy of the Inniskillings +was editor of the _Northern Standard_, Monaghan. Lieutenant Charles P. +Close of the Dublin Fusiliers was a native of Limerick, and conducted +a teaching academy in that city. At the time he volunteered he was +the commanding officer of the City Regiment of National Volunteers. +Another officer of the National Volunteers was Lieutenant Hugh +Maguire, son of Dr. Conor Maguire of Claremorris. He was a university +student when he volunteered for service in response to the national +call, and got a commission in the Connaught Rangers, but was +temporarily attached to the Inniskillings when he was killed. Another +gallant youth was Lieutenant Thomas Maxwell, Dublin Fusiliers, son of +Surgeon Patrick W. Maxwell of Dublin, who was in his twenty-first year +when he fell while in temporary command of the leading company of his +battalion in the taking of Guinchy. Then there is Second-Lieutenant +Bevan Nolan. He was the third son of Walter Nolan, Clerk of the Crown +for South Tipperary. When the war broke out he was in Canada, and, +returning at once, obtained a commission in the Royal Irish Regiment. +He was a very gallant young officer, and most popular with his +comrades. In the camp the general verdict was: "Nolan is destined for +the V.C., or to die at the head of his platoon." He was only +twenty-one years of age, and a splendid type of young Tipperary. + +The greatest loss in individual brain-power which Ireland suffered was +through the death of that brilliant man of letters and economist, +Lieutenant T.M. Kettle of the Dublin Fusiliers. He was a son of Andrew +J. Kettle, a Dublin farmer, one of the founders of the Land League, +and a member of the executive who in 1881, on the arrest of the +leaders, Parnell, Davitt and Dillon, signed the No-Rent Manifesto +addressed to the tenants. In the House of Commons, where he sat as a +Nationalist from 1906 to 1910, young Kettle made a reputation for +eloquence and humour of quite a fresh vein. He resigned on his +appointment as Professor of National Economics in the National +University of Ireland. He was married to Margaret, daughter of David +Sheehy, M.P., whose sister is the widow of Sheehy Skeffington, shot +by the military in the Dublin Rebellion. + +In public life Kettle was a vivid figure, and very Irish. At first he +belonged to the extreme, or irreconcilable section of Nationalists, +noted for a cast of thought or bias of reasoning which finds that no +good for Ireland can come out of England. When England was fighting +the Boers he distributed anti-recruiting leaflets in the streets of +Dublin. To his constituents in East Tyrone he once declared that +Ireland had no national independence to protect against foreign +invasion. "I confess," he added, referring to the over-taxation of +Ireland, "I see many reasons for preferring German invasion to British +methods of finance in Ireland." But increased knowledge brought wider +views. As a result of his experiences in Parliament, where he found in +all parties a genuine desire to do what was best for Ireland according +to their lights, he approached the consideration of Irish questions +with a remarkably tolerant, broad-minded and practical spirit. When +the war broke out there was no more powerful champion of the Allies. +The invasion of Belgium, which he had witnessed as a newspaper +correspondent, moved him to an intense hatred of Germany, and, +throwing himself with all his energy into the recruiting campaign in +Ireland, he addressed no fewer than two hundred meetings, bringing +thousands of his countrymen to the Colours. One of his epigrammatic +and pointed sayings--suggested by the ill-favour of absentee +landlordism of old in Ireland--was: "Nowadays the absentee is the man +who stays at home." + +In a letter written to a friend on the night his battalion was moving +up to the Somme, Kettle said he had had two chances of leaving--one on +account of sickness and the other to take a Staff appointment. "I have +chosen to stay with my comrades," he writes. "The bombardment, +destruction and bloodshed are beyond all imagination. Nor did I ever +think that valour of simple men could be quite as beautiful as that of +my Dublin Fusiliers." On the eve of his death he wrote to his wife +another fine tribute to his battalion. "I have never," he says, "seen +anything in my life so beautiful as the clean and, so to say, radiant +manner of my Dublin Fusiliers. There is something divine in men like +that." + +Kettle fell in the storming of Guinchy. His friend and comrade, +Lieutenant James Emmet Dalton, M.C., states that they were both in the +trenches in Trones Wood opposite Guillamont, on the morning of +September 8th, discussing the loss of two hundred men and seven +officers which the battalion had sustained the day before from German +shell fire, when an orderly arrived with a note for each of them, +saying, "Be in readiness. Battalion will take up A and B position in +front of Guinchy to-night at 12 midnight." Lieutenant Dalton +continues: "I was with Tom when he advanced to the position that +night, and the stench of the dead that covered our road was so awful +that we both used some foot-powder on our faces. When we reached our +objective we dug ourselves in, and then, at five o'clock p.m. on the +9th, we attacked Guinchy. I was just behind Tom when we went over the +top. He was in a bent position, and a bullet got over a steel +waistcoat that he wore and entered his heart. Well, he only lasted +about one minute, and he had my crucifix in his hands. Then Boyd took +all the papers and things out of Tom's pockets in order to keep them +for Mrs. Kettle, but poor Boyd was blown to atoms in a few minutes. +The Welsh Guards buried Mr. Kettle's remains. Tom's death has been a +big blow to the regiment, and I am afraid that I could not put in +words my feelings on the subject." In another letter Lieutenant Dalton +says: "Mr. Kettle died a grand and holy death--the death of a soldier +and a true Christian." + +Lieutenant Kettle left his political testament in a letter to his wife +and in verses addressed to his little daughter. The letter, written a +few days before his death, with directions that it was to be sent to +Mrs. Kettle if he were killed, says-- + + "Had I lived I had meant to call my next book on the relations + of Ireland and England _The Two Fools; A Tragedy of Errors_. It + has needed all the folly of England and all the folly of Ireland + to produce the situation in which our unhappy country is now + involved. I have mixed much with Englishmen and with Protestant + Ulstermen, and I know that there is no real or abiding reason + for the gulfs, salter than the sea, that now dismember the + natural alliance of both of them with us Irish Nationalists. It + needs only a Fiat Lux of a kind very easily compassed to replace + the unnatural by the natural. In the name, and by the seal, of + the blood given in the last two years I ask for Colonial Home + Rule for Ireland, a thing essential in itself, and essential as + a prologue to the reconstruction of the Empire. Ulster will + agree. And I ask for the immediate withdrawal of martial law in + Ireland, and an amnesty for all Sinn Fein prisoners. If this war + has taught us anything it is that great things can be done only + in a great way." + +The lines, "To my daughter Betty--The Gift of Love," were written "In +the field before Guillamont, Somme, September 4, 1916-- + + "In wiser days, my darling rosebud, blown + To beauty proud as was your mother's prime-- + In that desired, delayed, incredible time + You'll ask why I abandoned you, my own, + And the dear breast that was your baby's throne, + To dice with death, and, oh! they'll give you rhyme + And reason; one will call the thing sublime, + And one decry it in a knowing tone. + So here, while the mad guns curse overhead, + And tired men sigh, with mud for couch and floor, + Know that we fools, now with the foolish dead, + Died not for Flag, nor King, nor Emperor, + But for a dream, born in a herdsman shed + And for the secret Scripture of the poor." + +These young leaders have won the wooden cross--the symbol of the +supreme sacrifice they made that others might live; the symbol, also, +of eternal peace for themselves--the wooden cross which marks their +graves. From north, south, east and west of Ireland, of differing +creeds, of opposing political opinions--these men of the Irish Brigade +and the Ulster Division--they lie, as they fought, side by side, +comrades in a noble cause. It is sad to think of the many rare +intelligences, ardent and glowing spirits, which are quenched for ever +in the little cemeteries that have sprung up along the Allied Front. +The loss to Ireland is incalculable. But gain might come from it, +which, weighed in the balance, would not be found wanting, if only the +solemn lesson which it teaches were brought home to all: that one in +Irish name, as one in Irish fame, are the northerners and southerners +who died in France for the liberation of humanity. + +Major-General Hickie--as mindful of the memories of those of his men +who have fallen as of the well-being of those still in the fighting +ranks--erected as a memorial to the dead of the Irish Brigade a statue +in white marble of Our Lady of Victories in a town of the district. +Another striking proof of his esteem for the men is afforded by the +following Order which he issued on December 18, 1916-- + + "To-day is the anniversary of the landing of the Irish Division + in France; The Divisional Commander wishes to express his + appreciation of the spirit which has been shown by all ranks + during the past year. He feels that the Division has earned the + right to adopt the motto which was granted by the King of France + to the Irish Brigade, which served in this country for a hundred + years: 'Everywhere and always faithful.' With the record of the + past, with the memory of our gallant dead, with this motto to + live up to, and with our trust in God, we can face the future + with confidence." + + GOD SAVE THE KING. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +MORE IRISH HEROES OF THE VICTORIA CROSS + +DEEDS OF THE HIGHEST MERIT AND LUSTRE + + +In this war Victoria Crosses are being won in remarkably large +numbers, despite dangers and sufferings immeasurably greater than were +ever conceived of in any war of the past. It would seem, indeed, as if +human nature is capable of withstanding any test to which it can +conceivably be put. "Man," said Mr. Lloyd George, "is the bravest +animal that God has made; and, in comparison with him, the lion is an +arrant coward." + +Up to the end of 1916 the war has contributed 221 additional names to +that golden chronicle of valorous deeds--The Roll of the Victoria +Cross. Of these as many as thirty-five are Irishmen. That is a most +glorious achievement, having regard to the proportion of Irishmen in +the Army. The number, taking the Irish regiments, the Irishmen in +English and Scottish regiments and in the forces of the different +Dominions, is altogether about 500,000; and estimating the entire +strength of the Army to be 5,000,000, it will be seen that if the +other nationalities won Victoria Crosses in the same ratio to their +numbers as the Irish, the Roll of the present war would contain not +221, but 350 names. To put it in another way, the Irish on a basis of +numbers would be entitled only to twenty-two of the 221 Victoria +Crosses that have actually been awarded. + +But however that may be, the Irish part of the Roll, as it stands, +will be found to be a very thrilling record of the gallantry of Irish +officers and men in the various theatres of war. Twenty of the +thirty-five Irish heroes of the Victoria Cross are dealt with in the +first series of _The Irish at the Front_. Of the remaining fifteen, +the deeds of four are recounted in the exploits of the Ulster +Division; one, in the story of the Irish Brigade--the second Cross +that fell to the Brigade having been won by an English officer--and +the other ten are dealt with here. + +Sub-Lieutenant Arthur Walderne St. Clair Tisdall, V.C., of the Royal +Naval Volunteer Reserve, was another of the many gallant Irishmen who +distinguished themselves at the memorable first landing at Gallipoli +on April 25, 1915, when the Munsters and the Dublins won imperishable +renown. The announcement of the award of the Victoria Cross to +Sub-Lieutenant Tisdall was not made until March 31, 1916. The +following official statement explains the delay-- + + "During the landing from the ss. _River Clyde_ at V Beach, in + the Gallipoli Peninsula, on April 25, 1915, Sub-Lieutenant + Tisdall, hearing wounded men on the beach calling for + assistance, jumped into the water, and, pushing a boat in front + of him, went to their rescue. He was, however, obliged to obtain + help, and took with him on two trips Leading Seaman Malin, and + on other trips Chief Petty Officer Perring and Leading Seamen + Curtiss and Parkinson. In all Sub-Lieutenant Tisdall made four + or five trips between the ship and the shore, and was thus + responsible for rescuing many wounded men under heavy and + accurate fire. Owing to the fact that Sub-Lieutenant Tisdall and + the platoon under his orders were on detached service at the + time, and that this officer was killed in action on May 6, it + has now only been possible to obtain complete information as to + the individuals who took part in this gallant act." + +Sub-Lieutenant Tisdall came of a well-known Irish family, the Tisdalls +of Charlesfort, who have been established in co. Meath since the year +1668. The late head of the family, Major Tisdall of the Irish Guards, +fell guarding the retreat of the British Army in France in September +1914. The volume of _Memoirs and Poems of A.W. St. C. Tisdall, V.C._, +by Mrs. M.L. Tisdall, states that among his ancestors and relatives on +both sides were "Crusaders, Royalists, who lost everything--even their +family name--for King Charles I; Scotch Covenanters and French +Huguenots, who had been driven from their own countries for their +faith's sake; Irish patriots who fought at the Battle of the Boyne, a +Danish Diplomatist who had danced with Queen Marie-Antoinette; an +ancestress who is said to have fired the first cannon at the siege of +Gibraltar; a famous Attorney-General for Ireland; a brilliant and +versatile Cathedral Chancellor, a Bishop, three missionaries, and many +university, military and naval men." He was born at Bombay on July 21, +1890, his father--the Rev. Dr. St. Clair Tisdall (now of St. George's +Vicarage, Deal)--being then in charge of the Mohammedan mission of the +Church Missionary Society. He was educated at Bedford School from 1900 +to 1909, when he left as Scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge, where +he had a distinguished career, culminating in the winning of the +Chancellor's Gold Medal in the university in 1913, after which he +entered the Home Civil Service. On the outbreak of war he was called +to the Colours as an A.B. of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, of +which he had been a member for some time previously. He served in the +ranks in the Antwerp expedition, and was afterwards given a +commission. By this time, the memoirs tell us, "he had acquired great +self-control, and had practically conquered two of his Irish +handicaps--viz. a hot temper and a certain carelessness, or +casualness, in business. Latterly, the 'Tisdall temper,' as it is +called in the family, only flashed out in the presence of what he +considered wrong or unjust." + +The following extract from a letter by an officer of the Royal Navy +who took part in the landing in Gallipoli was published in _The Times_ +on December 6, 1916-- + + "It has been, unfortunately, my sad lot to write of the ending + on this earth of many heroes, for I have been through much since + August 1914; but I sincerely assure you that I have never seen + more daring and gallant deeds performed by any man, naval or + military, than those performed by the man I now know to have + been Sub-Lieutenant A.W. St. Clair Tisdall, Anson Battalion, + R.N.V.R., at the landing from the _River Clyde_ on that terrible + 'V' Beach. Throughout the afternoon of April 25 a boat + containing an officer (unknown to all) and three bluejackets, + one of them a petty officer, was very prominent. The officer and + the petty officer did the most daring of things, and were seen + by very many. Time after time they visited that awful beach and + brought back wounded officers and men. Darkness came on and that + officer was nowhere to be found. All the petty officer and + bluejackets could say was, 'He's one of those Naval Division + gents.' Days and weeks passed away, and I and others never + ceased trying to find out if we could who and where the unknown + hero was. Over and over we discussed in the _River Clyde_ and in + dug-outs on the beach how those two had escaped." + +It was not till June 15, 1915, that the writer of the letter learned +who the hero was. He adds: "His very saving of the wounded and the +handling of them was in itself the work of an artist, and a very great +one." The end of this gallant officer is told by an A.B. of the Anson +Battalion, who, writing to Mrs. Tisdall, says: "On May 6 the Naval +Division got orders to make an advance, which we did, and advanced +about a mile. When we got nicely settled in the enemy trench your son +stood up on the parapet, looking for the enemy, but was not there +long before he was shot through the chest, and he never said one +word." This was at the first battle of Achi Baba. Tisdall was buried +on the night of May 7, a few yards from where he fell. It was a +glorious death, but far from the kind of death he had dreamt of. In a +poem, "Love and Death," written in 1910, he says-- + + "Be love for me no hoarse and headstrong tide, + Breaking upon a deep-rent, sea-filled coast, + But a strong river on which sea-ships glide, + And the lush meadows are its peaceful boast. + + Be death for me no parting red and raw + Of soul and body, even in glorious pain, + But while my children's children wait in awe, + May peaceful darkness still the toilsome brain." + +Corporal William Richard Cotter, an Irishman serving in the East Kent +Regiment, got the V.C. for an act of unexampled courage and endurance. +It was a deed which showed to what heights the bravery of Irish +soldiers can soar. On the night of March 6, 1916, in the course of a +raid made by his company along an enemy trench, his own bombing party +was cut off owing to heavy casualties in the centre of the attack. The +situation was so serious that Cotter went back under heavy fire to +report and bring up more bombs. On the return journey his right leg +was blown off close below the knee, and he was wounded in both arms. +By a kind of miracle, the miracle of human courage, he did not drop +down and die in the mud of the trench--mud so deep that unwounded men +found it hard to walk in it--but made his way for fifty yards towards +the crater where his comrades were hard pressed. He came up to +Lance-Corporal Newman, who was bombing with his sector to the right of +the position. Cotter called to him and directed him to bomb six feet +towards where help was most needed, and worked his way forward to the +crater against which the Germans were making a violent counter-attack. +Men fell rapidly under the enemy's bomb fire, but Cotter, with only +one leg, and bleeding from both arms, took charge. The enemy were +repulsed after two hours' fighting, and only then did Cotter allow his +wounds to be bandaged. From the dug-out where he lay while the +bombardment still continued he called out cheery words to the men, +until he was carried down, fourteen hours later. He died of his +wounds. A wonderful story of gallantry, endurance and fortitude, it +would seem almost incredible were it not established by official +record of the awarding of the V.C. to Corporal Cotter-- + + "For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty. When his + right leg had been blown off at the knee, and he had also been + wounded in both arms, he made his way unaided for fifty yards to + a crater, steadied the men who were holding it, controlled their + fire, issued orders, and altered the dispositions of his men to + meet a fresh counter-attack by the enemy. For two hours he held + his position, and only allowed his wounds to be roughly dressed + when the attack had quieted down. He could not be moved back for + fourteen hours, and during all this time had a cheery word for + all who passed him. There is no doubt that his magnificent + courage helped greatly to save a critical situation." + +Cotter was born at Sandgate, near Folkestone, of Irish parents who +came from Limerick, and was thirty-four years of age. He was educated +at the Catholic School, Folkestone. Always fond of adventure, he ran +away to sea as a boy. He then enlisted in the Army, and, after twelve +years in the Buffs, came out on the Reserve in 1914, and was employed +by the Sandgate Council. He was called up at the outbreak of war. He +had lost an eye as the result of an accident, but nevertheless was +sent on active service, and this disability enhances the extraordinary +heroism of his deed. He was the eldest of six sons, one of whom was +killed in France, one was in the Navy, one in Salonika, and another +died after serving in the South African War. The chaplain of his +regiment wrote to his parents informing them of his death, and said +his last words were "Good-bye, God bless them all." Cotter was +previously recommended for the Distinguished Conduct Medal in December +1915. + +Thomas Hughes, of the Connaught Rangers, got the V.C. for most +conspicuous bravery and determination. The official record adds: "He +was wounded in an attack, but returned at once to the firing line +after having his wounds dressed. Later, seeing a hostile machine-gun, +he dashed out in front of his company, shot the gunner, and +single-handed captured the gun. Though again wounded, he brought back +three or four prisoners." He was born at Corravoo, near Castleblayney, +co. Monaghan, his father being a farmer, and was at the Curragh, +employed as a jockey in a racing stable, until, on the outbreak of +war, he joined the Connaught Rangers. + +"Come on, the Dubs." This slogan was heard at a critical moment during +one of the pushes on the Somme in the summer of 1916. It was shouted +by Sergeant Robert Downie of the Dublin Fusiliers, and his coolness +and resource in danger saved the situation and got him the Victoria +Cross. The Dublins have been through many memorable campaigns and +battles and have won many honours, but Sergeant Downie is the first of +his regiment to win the most prized of all distinctions. The following +is the official record of the award-- + + "For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty in attack. + When most of the officers had become casualties, this + non-commissioned officer, utterly regardless of personal danger, + moved about under heavy fire and reorganised the attack, which + had been temporarily checked. At the critical moment he rushed + forward alone, shouting, 'Come on, the Dubs.' This stirring + appeal met with immediate response, and the line rushed forward + at his call. Sergeant Downie accounted for several of the enemy, + and in addition captured a machine-gun, killing the team. Though + wounded early in the fight, he remained with his company, and + gave valuable assistance, whilst the position was being + consolidated. It was owing to Sergeant Downie's courage and + initiative that this important position, which had resisted four + or five previous attacks, was won." + +Sergeant Downie is twenty-three years of age. He was born in Glasgow +of Irish parents, both his father and mother being natives of +Laurencetown, co. Down, and received his education at St. Aloysius' +Catholic Schools, Springburn, Glasgow. He is one of a family of +sixteen, of whom thirteen are alive. His father was employed for +thirty years in the Hydepark Locomotive Works, Glasgow, as an oiler +and beltman. After leaving school young Downie served for some time in +the same works as his father, and at the age of eighteen he enlisted +in the Dublin Fusiliers. He went to France with the Expeditionary +Force. He is married, and his wife lives with her two children at +Springburn. + +A wounded officer of the Dublins thus describes how Downie won the +V.C.-- + + "For coolness and resource under danger, it would be impossible + to beat Downie. The ordeal we had to go through that day was one + of the most severe we have struck since the present war, and, as + you know, the 'Dubs' have been in many tight corners. We had + orders to advance against a position that had so far resisted + all efforts of our men to take. We knew it had to be taken this + time, be the cost what it might. We went over with a good heart. + The men were magnificent. They faced their ordeal without the + slightest sign of wavering. The enemy's fire was ploughing + through our ranks. We lost heavily. In a short time there was + not an officer left capable of giving directions. It was only + then that the attack began to falter. At that moment the enemy + fire increased its intensity. It was many times worse than any + hell I have ever heard of. The machine-gun fire of the enemy + swept across the ground like great gusts of wind, and the finest + troops in the world might have been pardoned for a momentary + hesitation in face of such fire. Downie took the situation in. + He ran along the line of shell holes in which the men were + sheltering and cried out, 'Come on, the Dubs.' + + "The effect was electrical. The men sprang from their cover, and + under his leadership dashed to the attack on the enemy position. + Their blood was now up, and there was no stopping them until the + goal was reached. The immediate approach to the part of the + trench they were attacking was swept by the fire of one + machine-gun that galled the attacking party a lot. Downie made + straight for that. Using alternately bomb, bayonet, and rifle, + he wiped out the entire crew, and captured the gun, which he + quickly turned on the enemy. The effect of this daring exploit + was soon felt. The enemy resistance weakened, and the Dublin + lads were soon in possession of the trench. It was later on, + when the attack was being pressed home, that Downie was wounded. + It was severe enough to justify any man in dropping out, but + Downie was made of better stuff. He stuck to his men, and for + the rest of the day he directed their operations with a skill + and energy that defeated repeated attempts of the enemy to win + back the lost ground. Throughout the very difficult operations + his cheery disposition and his eye for discerning the best thing + to do in given circumstances, were as good as a reinforcement to + the hard-pressed Irishmen." + +Captain John A. Sinton, Indian Medical Service, was awarded the +Victoria Cross, after the action at Shaikh Saad in Mesopotamia. The +official record is as follows-- + + "For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty. Although + shot through both arms and through the side he refused to go to + hospital, and remained as long as daylight lasted attending to + his duties under very heavy fire. In three previous actions + Captain Sinton displayed the utmost bravery." + +Captain Sinton was born in Lisburn, co. Antrim, and is thirty-one +years of age. He is a member of a well-known Quaker family. As a boy +he went to the Memorial School in Lisburn, named after the heroic +Brigadier-General, John Nicholson, of the Indian Mutiny, and +afterwards attended the Royal Belfast Academical Institution. He had a +brilliant career in the Medical School at Queen's University, Belfast. +He took first place at the examination for the Indian Medical Service +at the School of Tropical Medicine in Liverpool. He went to India in +1912, and was attached to the 31st Duke of Connaught's Own Lancers at +Kohat. At the outbreak of war he transferred to the Dogras, in order +to take part in the operations of the Indian Expeditionary Force in +the Persian Gulf. + +Private Henry Kenny of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment is another +London Irishman, and the third of the name of Kenny who have gained +the coveted V.C. The stories of the other two Kennys are told in the +first series of _The Irish at the Front_. Private Kenny's father is a +native of Limerick, where all his people belonged to, and from where +he moved to England with his parents. Private Kenny himself was born +in Hackney, London, and enlisted, at the age of eighteen, in 1906. On +the outbreak of war he was recalled to the Colours as a reservist, and +took part in many famous engagements. The official record of his +gallantry is as follows-- + + "For most conspicuous bravery. Private Kenny went out on six + different occasions on one day under a very heavy shell, rifle + and machine-gun fire, and each time succeeded in carrying to a + place of safety a wounded man who had been lying in the open. He + was himself wounded in the neck whilst handing the last man over + the parapet." + +When Kenny was invalided home on account of the wounds he received in +performing the noble action for which he won the Victoria Cross, he +made no reference to his achievement. The sixth man whom he rescued +was his own Colonel, and it was while he was bearing his commanding +officer into safety that he was himself wounded. On his return home +for a holiday after the announcement of the award he visited the House +of Commons, and was introduced to Sir E. Carson, Lord and Lady Pirrie, +Mr. and Mrs. Redmond, Lord Wimborne and Colonel Churchill, and had tea +on the terrace. + +There was much rejoicing amongst the pupils and staff of the Royal +Hibernian Military School, Phoenix Park, Dublin, when it became known +that the greatest honour that can be bestowed upon a soldier--the +Victoria Cross--had been won by a former pupil of the school in the +person of Private Frederick Jeremiah Edwards, of the Middlesex +Regiment. There are three Royal Military Schools in the United Kingdom +(the Duke of York's School, near London, the Queen Victoria School in +Scotland, and the Royal Hibernian School), and naturally there was +keen anxiety amongst them as to which would be the first to place a +V.C. to its credit in the present war. The Irish school has won, +thanks to Private "Jerry" Edwards. He is the second "old boy" of the +Hibernian School to win the V.C., the previous occasion on which the +distinction was gained being during the Crimean War. Private Edwards +was born at Queenstown, co. Cork, the son of a soldier. He entered the +Hibernian School at seven years of age. He is spoken of as a bright, +intelligent and plucky lad by the schoolmasters, to whom his lively +spirits were oftentimes a source of worry--and, perhaps, of trouble +for "Jerry." When he was fourteen he left the school to join the Army. +The circumstances under which he won the V.C. in his twenty-first year +are thus officially described-- + + "For most conspicuous bravery and resource. His part of the line + was held up by machine-gun fire, and all officers had become + casualties. There was confusion and indication of retirement. + Private Edwards, grasping the situation, on his own initiative + dashed out towards the gun, which he knocked out with his bombs. + This very gallant act, coupled with great presence of mind and a + total disregard of personal danger, made further advance + possible and cleared up a dangerous situation." + +A former schoolmate of Private Edwards, and a comrade in the Middlesex +Regiment, gives the following more specific particulars of the hero's +courage and determination in carrying along the wavering men by the +force of his example-- + + "The day our regiment went over there was some wild work. The + enemy concentrated on our part of the line a furious fire. There + was absolutely no cover for a great part of the way. One by one + our officers were picked off. Young Lieutenant ---- was the last + to go. As he fell he called to the men to go right on. They did + so for a time, but things got worse, and finally the men seemed + to lose heart. 'Jerry' Edwards declared that he wasn't going + back. He sprang forward into the thick hail of machine-gun + bullets, in full view of the taunting Huns on their parapet. + 'This way, Die-hards,' he cried, and at the sound of the + glorious old nickname the men recovered from their panic. + Gradually order was restored, and the men followed Edwards up to + the enemy parapet. This was stormed in a few minutes. Edwards + himself bowled over a machine-gun and its crew. He picked up a + couple of bombs and threw them. Privates behind him handed up + more, and from an exposed position on the enemy parapet he kept + raining bombs on the foe. The gun and crew were blown to bits, + and the rest of the enemy bolted to their next position. Edwards + saw what they were up to, and, leading some of the men by the + near cut, he intercepted the flying enemy. Then a great bombing + match began. Our lads won, thanks to the way the team was + handled by Edwards. Though the position was dangerous for some + time afterwards, we held on, and finally consolidated the + ground." + +The finest quality in gallantry is that which impels a soldier to +leave a place of safety voluntarily, and, though he is not under the +excitement of battle, to plunge with cool calculation into some danger +which he knows and has estimated to its full extent. For a deed of +valour of that character the Victoria Cross was given to Private +William Young, East Lancashire Regiment. The official record says-- + + "On seeing that his sergeant had been wounded he left his trench + to attend to him under very heavy fire. The wounded + non-commissioned officer requested Private Young to get under + cover, but he refused, and was almost immediately very seriously + wounded by having both jaws shattered. Notwithstanding his + terrible injuries, Private Young continued endeavouring to + effect the rescue upon which he had set his mind, and eventually + succeeded with the aid of another soldier. He then went unaided + to the dressing-station, where it was discovered that he had + also been wounded by a rifle bullet in the chest. The great + fortitude, determination, courage, and devotion to duty + displayed by this soldier could hardly be surpassed." + +Private Young was born in Glasgow of Irish parents, and joined the +East Lancashire Regiment in May 1899, when about twenty-one years of +age. He was transferred to the Army Reserve in August 1902, and joined +Section D, Army Reserve, in May 1911. He responded to the mobilisation +call on August 5, 1914, and went to France on September 14, going all +through the fighting until wounded at the battle of Ypres in November +1914, by a bullet in the thigh. Returning to the Front, he was +"gassed," and the resulting injuries to his eyes laid him up for three +weeks in hospital. On going back to the trenches the second time he +performed his heroic deed on December 22, 1915. + +Young's home was at Preston, where he had a wife and nine children, +the youngest of whom was born while the father was at the war. In the +following letter to his wife Private Young told how the news of his +distinction was received by him in a military hospital in England, +where he underwent an operation for the complete removal of his lower +jaw and the fitting of an artificial one in its place. + + "Of course, long enough before you get this letter you will see + by the papers that I have received the greatest honour that any + Britisher can get, namely, the V.C., and, of course, I am + naturally very proud of the great honour, both for my sake and + the sake of you and the kiddies and the good old regiment I have + the honour to belong to, and the old proud town of Preston. I + was shaving when the news came through, and the matron and + sisters, nurses and patients have the hands wrung off me, and I + can see I could do with another pair of hands. There are + telegrams coming every two or three minutes, so I have a busy + time in front of me. I have another soldier from Lancashire + helping me to answer them." + +Young's indomitable spirit was finely evidenced in a second letter to +his wife-- + + "I feel all right, seeing what I have gone through; in fact it + was the grace of God, careful nursing, and a grand constitution + that pulled me through.... You know the old saying, 'Fools rush + in where Angels dare not tread,' and if I was in the same place + to-morrow I would do exactly the same thing. I knew that if I + went over the wife and the kiddies would be well looked after. I + am very glad to say that the sergeant I carried out is all + right, and I expect in about a fortnight's time he will be at + home on sick leave with his young wife, as he only got married + just after the war broke out, so you see it's an ill wind that + blows nobody good." + +Young was able in April 1916 to visit Preston, where he was given a +public welcome. But he had to return to hospital again, and died in +August 1916. A local fund was raised, and so generously responded to +that it was possible to invest a sum of over L500 for the family. + +Captain Henry Kelly of the Duke of Wellington's West Riding Regiment +got the V.C. for deeds which are thus officially described-- + + "For most conspicuous bravery in attack. He twice rallied his + company under the heaviest fire, and finally led the only three + available men into the enemy trench, and there remained bombing + until two of them had become casualties and enemy reinforcements + had arrived. He then carried his company sergeant-major, who + had been wounded, back to our trenches, a distance of seventy + yards, and subsequently three other soldiers. He set a fine + example of gallantry and endurance." + +Captain Kelly was born in Manchester of Irish parentage. His father +was from Wicklow and his mother from Limerick. He is twenty-eight +years of age, and joined the Manchester "Pals" with his younger +brother on September 4, 1914. He was promoted to the rank of +Sergeant-Major two months later, and in the following May was gazetted +Second Lieutenant to the West Riding Regiment. Prior to joining the +Army he was employed at the General Post Office in Manchester as a +sorting clerk and telegraphist. He was a prominent member of the +Ancient Order of Hibernians, and also of the city branch of the United +Irish League. He could speak the Irish language before he ever spent a +holiday in Ireland. A detailed account of the circumstances in which +Captain Kelly won the V.C. is given by a soldier in his company-- + + "The enemy had pounded us unmercifully with their big guns, and + the strain put on our men was so great that they began to waver. + Captain Kelly sprang forward and urged his men to the attack + under a blistering hot fire. They responded with cheers, and + under his direction they held a very exposed position for hours. + Later, things looked black once more. So he up again and called + on his lads to hold fast for all they were worth. To show his + contempt for the danger to which we were exposed he led the way + towards another position. He decided to have a cut in at the + enemy's trench. He got hold of a non-com, and two privates + belonging to the bombing section. With these he entered the + enemy trench and started to bomb the Boches out. They got a good + way along, driving before them an enemy more than big enough to + eat up the whole company. Then Fritz was reinforced, and under + the direction of a very brave officer the enemy began to push + our party back. The two privates were knocked out, and Captain + Kelly had to make for home. He picked up the sergeant-major and + carried him out of the German trench. The enemy had many a pot + shot at him, and the shell fire continued as well. It is a + miracle how he escaped. The Boches were close on his heels. The + captain just laid down his burden for a few minutes and threw a + bomb or two at them. They skulked back. Then he picked up his + burden and came marching back to us. All the way he was under + heavy fire. After taking a look round to see how things were + shaping he found that three of our chaps were out in the open, + wounded. Immediately he set off to find them. One by one he + carried them into safety, in spite of the furious fire kept up + by the enemy." + +Australia is proud of Private Martin O'Meara, V.C., of the Australian +Infantry. So also is Tipperary. He comes of an old Tipperary family, +and has well sustained the splendid traditions of the fighting race. +The official record of the award of the V.C. is as follows-- + + "For most conspicuous bravery. During four days of very heavy + fighting he repeatedly went out and brought in wounded officers + and men from 'No Man's Land' under intense artillery and + machine-gun fire. He also volunteered and carried up ammunition + and bombs through a heavy barrage to a portion of the trenches + which was being heavily shelled at the time. He showed + throughout an utter contempt of danger and undoubtedly saved + many lives." + +Private O'Meara, V.C., is thirty-two years of age. He is the youngest +son of Mr. Thomas O'Meara, Rathcabbin, Birr, and is one of a family of +nine children. Before he left Ireland, in 1911, Private O'Meara worked +as a tree-feller, and in Australia he continued to labour in the +woods, being engaged in making railway sleepers at Collie in West +Australia. In the August of 1915 he answered the call to arms, and +entered the Blackboy Training Camp as a member of the 12th +reinforcements of the Australian Infantry. Before embarking from +Australia a friend vouches that O'Meara said: "As I am going I will do +the best I can to bring back the Victoria Cross." To achieve the +highest award in the British Army was evidently strongly before his +mind. He was two months in France before going up to the trenches, +where he remained five days in all, covering himself with glory and +winning the V.C. in this short period. + +Private O'Meara got a fortnight's leave in October 1916--two months +after he had won the V.C.--and availed himself of it to visit his +native place. The modesty of the man is to be seen in the mode of his +home-coming. His family expected him, but did not know the exact date +of his arrival. He got off the train at Birr Station and walked +home--about five miles--in the darkness, along the disused Birr and +Portumna railway line, which passes close to his home. No one +recognised him at the station or along the way. He opened the door and +walked in, surprising his brother and sister inside. At the end of his +leave he returned almost as quietly as he had come. A fund to make him +a presentation was raised locally, and a considerable sum was invested +in War stock, and a gold watch was bought. Advantage was taken of the +presence of General Hickie, commanding an Irish Division, on a short +visit from France to his home at Selvoir, North Tipperary, to have him +present the gold watch to O'Meara. But O'Meara, like the genuine +fighting man that he is, had immediately volunteered for active +service on his return to London from home, after recovering from his +wounds, and it was found exceedingly difficult to get into touch with +him. In fact, but for the interest taken by General Hickie it would +have been impossible. Ultimately his exact whereabouts were learned +through the War Office, and arrangements were made for his return. +Even so, O'Meara could not get home in time for the presentation, and +it was made to his brothers and sisters. Physically, he is a fine type +of manhood, and in disposition is most lovable. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +RELATIONS BETWEEN ENEMY TRENCHES + +IRISH KINDLINESS AND GERMAN GUILE + + +In the trenches one evening a battalion of the Leinster Regiment held +a "kailee" (_ceilidh_), or Irish sing-song, at which there was a +spirited rendering of the humorous old ballad, "Bryan O'Lynn," sung to +an infectiously rollicking tune. The opening verse runs-- + + "Bryan O'Lynn had no breeches to wear, + So he bought a sheep-skin to make him a pair, + With the woolly side out, and the skinny side in, + Faix, 'tis pleasant and cool, says Brian O'Lynn." + +The swing of the tune took the fancy of the Germans in their trenches, +less than fifty yards away. With a "rumpty-tum-tumty-tum-tumty-tum-tum," +they loudly hummed the air of the end of each verse, all unknowing +that the Leinsters, singing at the top of their voices, gave the words +a topical application-- + + "With the woolly side out and the skinny side in, + Sure, We'll wallop the Gerrys, said Brian O'Lynn." + +Hearty bursts of laughter and cheers arose from both trenches at the +conclusion of the song. It seemed as if the combatants gladly availed +themselves of the chance opportunity of becoming united again in the +common brotherhood of man, even for but a fleeting moment, by the +spirit of good-humour and hilarity. + +Lieutenant Denis Oliver Barnett, a young English officer of a +different battalion of the same Leinster Regiment (whose letters from +the Front have been published as a memorial by his parents), tells of +a more curious incident still, which likewise led to a brief cessation +of hostilities. Two privates in his company had a quarrel in the +trenches, and nothing would do them but to fight it out on No Man's +Land. The Germans were most appreciative and accommodating. Not only +did they not molest the pugilists, but they cheered them, and actually +fired the contents of their rifles in the air by way of a salute. The +European War was, in fact, suspended in this particular section of the +lines while two Irishmen settled their own little differences by a +contest of fists. + +"Who will now say that the Germans are not sportsmen?" was the comment +of the young English officer. There is, however, another and perhaps a +shrewder view of the episode. It was taken, I have been told, by a +sergeant of the company. "Yerra, come down out of that, ye pair of +born fools," he called out to the fighters. "If ye had only a glimmer +of sense ye'd see, so ye would, that 'tis playing the Gerrys' game ye +are. Sure, there's nothing they'd like better than to see us all +knocking blazes out of each other." But as regards the moral pointed +by the officer, there must be, of course, many "sportsmen" among the +millions of German soldiers; though the opinion widely prevailing in +the British Army is that they are more often treacherous fighters. +Indeed, to their dirty practices is mainly to be ascribed the bitter +personal animosity that occasionally mark the relations between the +combatants, when the fighting becomes most bloody and desperate, +and--as happens at times in all wars--no quarter is given to those who +allow none. + +In the wars of old between England and France, both sides were +animated by a very fine sense of chivalry. Barere, one of the chief +popular orators during the worst excesses of the French Revolution, +induced the Convention to declare that no quarter was to be given to +the English. "Soldiers of Liberty," he cried, "when victory places +Englishmen at your mercy, strike!" But the French troops absolutely +refused to act upon the savage decree. The principle upon which both +French and English acted during the Peninsular War was that of doing +as little harm to one another as possible consistently with the +winning of victory. Between the rank and file friendly feelings may be +said, without any incongruity, to have existed. They were able, of +their own accord, to come to certain understandings that tended to +mitigate, to some extent, the hardships and even the dangers to which +they were both alike exposed. One was that sentries at the outposts +must not be fired on or surprised. Often no more than a space of +twenty yards separated them, and when the order to advance was given +to either Army the sentries of the other were warned to retire. Once a +French sentry helped a British sentry to replace his knapsack so that +he might more quickly fall back before the firing began. A remarkable +instance of signalling between the opposing forces is mentioned by +General Sir Charles Napier in his _History of the Peninsular War_. +Wellington sent a detachment of riflemen to drive away some French +troops occupying the top of a hill near Bayonne, and as they +approached the enemy he ordered them to fire. "But," says Napier, +"with a loud voice one of those soldiers replied, 'No firing,' and +holding up the butt of his rifle tapped it in a peculiar way." This +was a signal to the French and was understood by them--probably as a +result of a mutual arrangement--to mean, "We must have the hill for a +short time." "The French, who, though they could not maintain, would +not relinquish the post without a fight if they had been fired upon, +quietly retired," Napier writes; "and this signal would never have +been made if the post had been one capable of a permanent defence, so +well do veterans understand war and its proprieties." + +Throughout that long campaign the British and French recognised each +other as worthy foemen, and they were both solicitous to maintain +unstained the honour and dignity of arms. As the opposing forces lay +resting before Lisbon for months, the advanced posts got so closely +into touch that much friendly intercourse took place between them. +French officers frequently asked for such little luxuries as cigars, +coffee and stationery to be brought to them from Lisbon, which was +held by the British, and their requests were always readily complied +with. At the battle of Talavera, on July 28, 1809, the possession of a +hill was fiercely contested all day. The weather was so intensely hot +that the combatants were parched with thirst. At noon there was an +almost entire cessation of artillery and rifle fire, as if an informal +truce had been suddenly come to, by a flash of intuition, and with one +accord French and British rushed down to the rivulet at the foot of +the hill to moisten their burning throats. "The men crowded on each +side of the water's edge," says Napier. "They threw aside their caps +and muskets, and chatted to each other in broken French and still more +fragmentary English across the stream. Flasks were exchanged; hands +shaken. Then the bugle and the rolling drum called the men back to +their colours, and the fight awoke once more." + +Such amenities between combatants are very ancient--the Greeks and +Trojans used to exchange presents and courtesies, in the intervals of +fighting--and the early stages of this war seemed to afford a promise +that they would be revived. The fraternising of the British and +Germans at their first Christmas under arms, in 1914, will, perhaps, +always be accounted as the most curious episode of the war. It was +quite unauthorised by the higher command. The men themselves, under +the influence of the great Christian festival, brought about a +suspension of hostilities at several points of the lines, and they +availed themselves of the opportunity to satisfy their natural +curiosity to see something more of each other than they could see +through the smoke of battle with deadly weapons in their hands and +hatred in their eyes. Each side had taken prisoners; but prisoners are +"out of it," and therefore reduced to the level of non-combatants. The +foeman in being appears in a very different light. He has the power to +strike. You may have to kill him or you may be killed by him. So the +British and the Germans, impelled in the main by a common feeling of +inquisitiveness, met together, unarmed, in No Man's Land. There was +some amicable conversation where they could make themselves understood +to each other, which happened when a German was found who could speak +a little English. Cigarettes and tunic-buttons were freely exchanged. +But, for the most part, British and Germans stood, with arms folded +across their breasts, and stared at each other with a kind of dread +fascination. + +It never happened again. How could it possibly be repeated? The +introduction of the barbaric elements of "frightfulness," hitherto +confined to savage tribes at war, the use of such devilish inventions +as poison gas and liquid fire, are due to the malignant minds of the +German high command, and for them the German soldiers cannot be held +accountable. But the native lowness of morality shown by so many of +the German rank and file, their apparent insensitiveness to ordinary +humane instincts, the well-authenticated stories of their filthy and +cruel conduct in the occupied districts, inevitably tended to harden +and embitter their adversaries against them too. Of the instances of +their treachery to Irish soldiers which have been brought to my +notice, I will mention only two. One arose out of the "truce" of +Christmas Day, 1914, despite the goodwill of the occasion. The victim, +Sergeant Timothy O'Toole, Leinster Regiment, first mentions that he +took part in a game of football with the Germans, and then proceeds-- + + "I was returning to my own trench unaccompanied about 12.15 p.m. + When I reached within fifteen paces I was sniped by a Hunnish + swine, the bullet entering my back, penetrating my intestines. + Following the example of Our Lord, I instantly forgave him, + concluding he was only a black sheep, characteristic of any army + or community, but I was labouring under a delusion. Within five + minutes of being hit, I had quite a number around me, including + officers and clergymen. I was so mortally wounded that the + 'Padre' administered the last rite of the Church on the spot. + Four stretcher bearers came out for me. I noticed the white band + and Red Cross on their arms. Immediately I was lifted up on the + stretcher. Though I was semi-unconscious I remember the bullets + beating the ground like hailstone on a March day. I was wounded + again, this time the bullet going through the lower part of my + back. Here two of my bearers got hit, Privates Melia and Peters. + The former died in hospital immediately after. Naturally the two + bearers instantly dropped the stretcher. I fell violently to the + ground--nice medicine for a man wounded in the abdomen." + +"Thank Providence, I am still living," Sergeant O'Toole adds, "but a +living victim of German atrocity and barbarism." In the other case a +very gallant young officer of the Dublin Fusiliers, Lieutenant Louis +G. Doran, lost his life on the Somme, October 23, 1916, through the +guile and falsehood of German soldiers. The circumstances are told in +a letter written by Captain Louis C. Byrne to the father of Lieutenant +Doran, Mr. Charles J. Doran of Blackrock, co. Dublin-- + + "Believe me, Mr. Doran, I sympathise fully with you in your + loss because I was your son's company commander and by his death + I have lost one of the best officers in my company. We attacked + a certain position and we had just got to it when some Germans + put up their hands to surrender. Your son went out to take their + surrender and they shot him through the heart and he died at + once. My other three officers were also knocked out, and only + myself and thirty-six men returned to headquarters after the + battle. Still, we took the position owing to gallantry of men + like your son. He died a noble and heroic death--no man could + possibly wish for a better one. He told me he had just had a + brother wounded, so your loss is double and words cannot express + my sympathy with you. Your son was buried with the men in the + position we took. It was impossible to bring his body down owing + to heavy fire. I think it is what he would have liked best." + +The lady to whom Lieutenant Doran was engaged to be married kindly +sent me a few extracts from his letters which convey something of his +care and thought for his men. "Those I have seen from the men," she +says, "amplify this from their own experience in ways which he would +never dream of mentioning, he was always so modest about all he did." +"I'm going to tell you what I would really love to get now and again," +Lieutenant Doran wrote in one letter. "You see, we officers are never +very hard up for grub, and I would much prefer to receive something +for my men, who get very little in the way of luxuries or dainties. As +you know, a platoon is split into four sections, and anything that I +could divide into four parts amongst them would be most acceptable. +For instance, four small tins of butter would be a great luxury, or a +big cake--anything that gives them a change." In another he said: "As +you say, there are always hungry soldiers to be found, and I often +wish some of the presents I receive would only come together, as one +cake is a useless thing among forty hungry men. The poor fellows have +fairly rough fare as a rule, and sometimes not even much of that. One +wonders how it is they keep so cheerful." The men, in turn, were most +devoted to Lieutenant Doran. They would do anything to prevent a hair +of his head being hurt. + +Generally speaking, feeling in the British Army is, however, +extraordinarily devoid of that vindictiveness which springs from a +deep sense of personal injury, and evokes, in turn, a desire for +revenge which, were it shown, would, however lamentable, be not +unnatural in many circumstances of this war. The Germans, in the mass, +are regarded as having been dehumanised and transformed into a process +of ruthless destruction. In any case, they are the enemy. As such, +there is a satisfaction--nay, a positive delight--in sweeping them out +of existence. That is war. But the rage for killing them is +impersonal. Against the German soldier individually it may be said +that, on the whole, there is no rancour. In fact, the British soldiers +have a curiously detached and generous way of regarding their +country's enemies. When the German soldier is taken prisoner, or +picked up wounded, the British soldier is disposed, as a hundred +thousand instances show, to treat him as a "pal"--to divide his food +and share his cigarettes with him as he passes to the base. + +It is very noticeable how all the war correspondents, in their +accounts of the taking of the village of Guinchy on the Somme by the +Irish Division, dwelt on the chivalrous way in which the Irish treated +their vanquished foes. Once the spirit of combativeness is aroused in +the Irish soldiers they hate the enemy like the black death to which +they strive to consign them. But when the fury of battle has died down +in victory there are none so soft and kindly to the beaten enemy. +Surrender should always, of course, disarm hostility. No true soldier +would decline to lower his bayonet when a foeman acknowledges defeat +and places his life in his keeping. That is, after a fair and gallant +fight on the part of the foeman. It was because the Germans at +Guinchy were vindictive in combat, and despicable when overthrown, +that the Irish acted with rare magnanimity in accepting their +submission and sparing their lives. + +In that engagement the Irish made a characteristically headlong dash +for the enemy positions. Rifle and machine-gun fire was poured into +them by the Germans up to the very last moment--until, in fact, they +had reached the trenches; and then, as they were about to jump in and +bayonet and club their bloodthirsty foemen, they found them on their +knees, with hands uplifted. The Irish were enraged at the sight. To +think that men who had been so merciless should beg for mercy when +their opponents were on top of them! Were their comrades slain only a +moment since to go unavenged? These thoughts passed rapidly through +the minds of the Irish. As swiftly came the decision, worthy of +high-souled men. An enemy on his knees is to them inviolable, not to +be hurt or injured, however mean and low he may have proved himself to +be. So the Irish bayonet, at the very breasts of the Germans, was +turned aside; that was the right and proper thing to do, and it would +not call for notice but that it shines with the light of chivalry in +comparison with the black meanness and treachery of the Germans. + +In the gladiatorial fights for the entertainment of the people in +ancient Rome the defeated combatant was expected to expose his throat +to the sword of the victor, and any shrinking on his part caused the +arena to ring with the angry shouts of the thousands of spectators: +"Receive the steel." The way of the Irish at Guinchy was different, +and perhaps the renunciation of their revenge was not the least +magnificent act of a glorious day. + +"If we brained them on the spot, who could blame us? 'Tis ourselves +that would think it no sin if it was done by any one else," said a +private of the Dublin Fusiliers. "Let me tell you," he went on, "what +happened to myself. As I raced across the open with my comrades, +jumping in and out of shell holes, and the bullets flying thick around +us, laying many the fine boy low, I said to myself, this is going to +be a fight to the last gasp for those of us that get to the Germans. +As I came near to the trenches I picked a man out for myself. Straight +in front of me he was, leaning out of the trench, and he with a rifle +firing away at us as if we were rabbits. I made for him with my +bayonet ready, determined to give him what he deserved, when--what do +you think?--didn't he notice me and what I was up to. Dropping his +rifle, he raised himself up in the trench and stretched out his hands +towards me. What could you do in that case, but what I did? Sure you +wouldn't have the heart to strike him down, even if he were to kill +you. I caught sight of his eyes, and there was such a frightened and +pleading look in them that I at once lowered my rifle. I could no more +prod him with my bayonet than I could a toddling child. I declare to +the Lord the state of the poor devil almost made me cry. I took him by +the hand, saying, 'You're my prisoner.' I don't suppose he understood +a word of what I said, but he clung to me, crying, 'Kamerad! kamerad!' +I was more glad than ever then that I hadn't the blood of him on my +soul. 'Tis a queer thing to say, maybe, of a man who acted like that; +but, all the same, he looked a decent boy every bit of him. I suppose +the truth of it is this: we soldiers, on both sides, have to go +through such terrible experiences that there is no accounting for how +we may behave. We might be devils, all out, in the morning, and +saints, no less, in the evening." + +The relations between the trenches include even attempts at an +exchange of repartee. The wit, as may be supposed, in such +circumstances, is invariably ironic and sarcastic. My examples are +Irish, for the reason that I have had most to do with Irish soldiers, +but they may be taken as fairly representative of the taunts and +pleasantries which are often bandied across No Man's Land. The Germans +holding part of their line in Belgium got to know that the British +trenches opposite them were being held by an Irish battalion. "Hello, +Irish," they cried; "how is King Carson getting on? and have you got +Home Rule yet?" The company sergeant-major, a big Tipperary man, was +selected to make the proper reply, and in order that it might be fully +effective he sent it through a megaphone which the colonel was +accustomed to use in addressing the battalion on parade. "Hello, +Gerrys," he called out. "I'm thinking it isn't information ye want, +but divarshion; but 'tis information I'll be after giving ye, all the +same. Later on we'll be sending ye some fun that'll make ye laugh at +the other side of ye'r mouths. The last we heard of Carson he was +prodding the Government like the very devil to put venim into their +blows at ye, and more power to his elbow while he's at that work, say +we. As for Home Rule, we mean to have it, and we'll get it, please +God, when ye're licked. Put that in ye're pipes and smoke it." + +Of all the horrible features of the war, surely the most heartrending +is the fate of the wounded lying without succour in the open between +the opposing lines, owing to the inability of the higher command on +both sides to agree to an arrangement for a short suspension of +hostilities after an engagement so that the stricken might be brought +in. Prone in the mud and slush they lie, during the cruel winter +weather, with the rain pouring down upon them, their moans of agony in +the darkness of the night mingling with the cold blasts that howl +around them. But, thanks to the loving kindness of man for his +fellow, even in war, these unfortunate creatures are not deserted. +British soldiers without number have voluntarily crept out into No +Man's Land to rescue them, often under murderous fire from the enemy. +Many of the Victoria Crosses won in this war have been awarded for +conspicuous gallantry displayed in these most humane and chivalrous +enterprises. + +One of the most uplifting stories I have heard was told me by a +captain of the Royal Irish Fusiliers. Out there in front of the trench +held by his company lay a figure in khaki writhing in pain and wailing +for help. "Will no one come to me?" he cried in a voice broken with +anguish. He had been disabled in the course of a raid on the German +trenches the night before by a battalion which was relieved in the +morning. These appeals of his were like stabs to the compassionate +hearts of the Irish Fusiliers. Several of them told the captain they +could stand it no longer, and must go out to the wounded man. If they +were shot in the attempt, what matter? It happened that a little dog +was then making himself quite at home in both the British and German +trenches at this part of the lines. He was a neutral; he took no +sides; he regularly crossed from one to the other, and found in both +friends to give him food and a kind word, with a pat on the head. The +happy thought came to the captain to make a messenger of the dog. So +he wrote, "May we take our wounded man in?", tied the note to the +dog's tail, and sent him to the German trenches. The message was in +English, for the captain did not know German, and had to trust to the +chance of the enemy being able to read it. In a short time the dog +returned with the answer. It was in English, and it ran: "Yes; you can +have five minutes." So the captain and a man went out with a stretcher +and brought the poor fellow back to our lines. + +Some of these understandings are come to by a sort of telepathic +suggestion inspired by the principle of "live and let live," however +incongruous that may seem in warfare. As an instance, recuperative +work, such as the bringing up of food to the firing lines is often +allowed to go on in comparative quietude. Neither side cares to stand +on guard in the trenches with an empty stomach. Often, therefore, +firing is almost entirely suspended in the early hours of the night, +when it is known that rations are being distributed. That is not the +way everywhere and always. A private of the Royal Irish Regiment told +me that what he found most aggravating in the trenches was the +fusillading by the Germans when the men were getting ready a bit to +eat. "I suppose," he remarked, "'twas the smell of the frying bacon +that put their dandher up." But even defensive work has been allowed +to proceed without interference, when carried on simultaneously by +both sides. Heavy rain, following a hard frost, turned the trenches in +the Ypres district into a chaos of ooze and slime. "How deep is it +with you?" a German soldier shouted across to the British. "Up to our +knees, bedad," was the reply. "You are lucky fellows. We're up to our +belts in it," said the German. Driven to desperation by their hideous +discomfort, the Germans soon after crawled up on to their parapets and +sat there to dry and stretch their legs, calling out, "Kamerads, don't +shoot; don't shoot, kamerads!" The reply of the Irish was to get out +of their trenches and do likewise. On another occasion, in the broad +daylight, unarmed parties of men on both sides, by a tacit agreement, +set about repairing their respective barbed-wire entanglements. They +were no more than fifteen or twenty yards apart. The wiring-party on +the British side belonged to the Munster Fusiliers. Being short of +mallets, one of the Munsters coolly walked across to the enemy and +said, "Good-morrow, Gerrys. Would any of ye be so kind as to lend me +the loan of a hammer?" The Germans received him with smiles, but as +they did not know English they were unable to understand what he +wanted until he made it clear by pantomimic action, when he was given +the hammer "with a heart and a half," as he put it himself. Having +repaired the defences of his own trench, he brought back the hammer to +the Germans, and thought he might give them "a bit of his mind," +without offence, as they did not know what he was saying. "Here's your +hammer, and thanks," said he. "High hanging to the man that caused +this war--ye know who I mean--and may we be all soon busily at work +hammering nails into his coffin." + +Many touching stories might be told of the sympathy which unites the +combatants when they find themselves lying side by side, wounded and +helpless, in shell holes and copses, or on the open plain after an +engagement. The ruling spirit which animates the soldier in the fury +of the fight is, as it seems to me, that of self-preservation. He +kills or disables so that he may not be killed or disabled himself. +Besides that, each side are convinced they are waging a purely +defensive war. So it is that hostility subsides, once the sense of +danger is removed, and each side sees in its captives not devils or +barbarians, but fellow-men. Especially among the wounded, British and +German, do these sentiments prevail, as they lie together on the field +of battle. In a dim way they pitifully regard each other as hapless +victims caught in the vortex of the greatest of human tragedies, or +set against each other by the ambitions of rulers and statesmen in +which they have no part. They try to help each other, to ease each +other's sufferings, to stanch each other's wounds, to give each other +comfort in their sore distress. + +"Poor devil, unnerved by shell shock," was the comment passed as a +wounded German was being carried by on a stretcher sobbing as if his +heart would break. It was not the roar of the artillery and the +bursting of high explosives that had unnerved him, but the +self-sacrifice of a Dublin Fusilier, who, in succouring him, lost his +own life. At the hospital the German related that, on recovering his +senses after being shot, he found the Dublin Fusilier trying to stanch +the wound in his shattered leg, from which blood was flowing +profusely. The Irishman undid the field-dressing, consisting of +bandage and antiseptic preparation, which he had wrapped round his own +wound, and applied it to the German, as he appeared to be in danger of +bleeding to death. Before the two men were discovered by a British +stretcher party, the Dublin Fusilier had passed away. He developed +blood-poisoning through his exposed wound. The German, on hearing the +news, broke down and wept bitterly. + +Reconciliation between wounded foemen is happily a common occurrence +on the stricken plain. The malignant roar of the guns may still be in +their ears, and they may see around them bodies battered and twisted +out of all human shape. All the more are they anxious to testify that +there is no fury in their hearts with each other, and that their one +wish is to make the supreme parting with words of reconciliation and +prayers on their lips. I have had from a French officer, who was +wounded in a cavalry charge early in the war, an account of a pathetic +incident which took place close to where he lay. Among his companions +in affliction were two who were far gone on the way to death. One was +a private in the Uhlans, and the other a private in the Royal Irish +Dragoons. The Irishman got, with a painful effort, from an inside +pocket of his tunic a rosary beads which had a crucifix attached to +it. Then he commenced to mutter to himself the invocations to the +Blessed Virgin of which the Rosary is composed. "Hail, Mary! full of +grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and +blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus." The German, lying huddled +close by, stirred with the uneasy movements of a man weak from pain +and loss of blood on hearing the murmur of prayer, and, looking round +in a dazed condition, the sight of the beads in the hands of his +fellow in distress seemed to recall to his mind other times and +different circumstances--family prayers at home somewhere in Bavaria, +and Sunday evening devotions in church, for he made, in his own +tongue, the response to the invocation: "Holy Mary, Mother of God, +pray for us sinners now at the hour of our death. Amen." So the voices +intermingled in address and prayer--the rapt ejaculations of the +Irishman, the deep guttural of the German--getting weaker and weaker, +in the process of dissolution, until they were hushed on earth for +evermore. + +War has outwardly lost its romance, with its colour and pageantry. It +is bloody, ugly and horrible. Yet romance is not dead. It still +survives, radiant and glowing, in the heroic achievements of our +soldiers, and in the tender impulses of their hearts. + + + + +THE END + + + + + PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED, + BRUNSWICK ST., STAMFORD ST., S.E., AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK. + + + + +THE IRISH AT THE FRONT + +By MICHAEL MacDONAGH + + +FROM THE REVIEWS OF THE FIRST SERIES + + _Westminster Gazette._--"Mr. MacDonagh has crammed into a small + volume an almost incredible number of thrilling stories of great + deeds, whether of collective dash and daring and endurance or of + individual heroism. He has found his material in the letters of + officers and men and the conversation of those who have come + home, as well as from the records compiled at regimental depots; + and he has utilised it skilfully, avoiding too frequent + quotation and giving his reader a connected and fluent narrative + that is of absorbing interest. He gives us vivid pictures of the + retreat from Mons--of the Irish Guards receiving their baptism + of fire; of the Connaught Rangers' part in the first stand that + was made ('It was a grand time we had,' one of them said, 'and I + wouldn't have missed it for lashin's of money!'); of the Dublins + at Cambrai, where they went into the fray in a way that is well + described as 'uproariously and outrageously Irish,' after + singing all the Fenian songs for which they had time; and of the + Munsters who harnessed themselves cheerfully, for lack of + horses, to the guns they had captured from the Germans. He tells + us of the green flag that Corporal Cunningham bought from a + pedlar in London, and that the Irish Guards have since followed + to the gates of death on a score of fields; of the Irish Rifles + rallying to the 'view-hallo' that Lieutenant Graham gave them on + a French newsboy's horn; of the glorious sacrifices of the + Dublins and the Munsters at the Gallipoli landings; and of the + desperate resistance at Loos, where, as the Brigadier said to + his men when it was over, 'It was the London Irish who helped to + save a whole British Army Corps.' From first to last it is a + glorious story of almost incredible deeds." + + _Star._--"It is an amazing story of incredible gallantry and + fantastic daring, gay with humour and poignant with pathos. I + defy anybody except a tapeworm to read it without a lump in the + throat and tears in the eyes."--JAMES DOUGLAS. + +Bound in cloth, 1s. 3d. net. Postage 4d. extra. + + +THE IRISH AT THE FRONT + +SOME FURTHER REVIEWS + + _The Times._--"'It is heroic deeds entering into their + traditions that give life to nations,' writes Mr. John Redmond + in his preface to Mr. Michael MacDonagh's _The Irish at the + Front_. The phrase sums up the aim and temper of the book, which + is designed to bring home to English, and especially to Irish, + readers the magnificent service of Irish soldiers in the war and + the sanctity of the cause for which they fight. It is an appeal + to Irishmen not to let the national effort flag, for the sake of + the highest interests both of humanity and of Ireland. In a + vivid and earnest popular style Mr. MacDonagh puts flesh and + blood on the dry bones of the official dispatches by drawing on + regimental records and the narratives of officers and men. The + letters of Irish soldiers give a lively impression of battle + scenes, and add greatly to the spirit of the volume; but many of + the most striking testimonies to the achievements of the Irish + regiments come from comrades who are not Irish. It is + indisputable that the traditional military valour of the Irish + race has been brilliantly sustained in this war, not only by the + old Regular battalions, but by the Irishmen of the New Army." + + _Irish Times._--"Page after page uncovers the story of a heroism + such as few of us had dreamt of--a story told with the + understanding of one who is an Irishman of Nationalist + sympathies, intensely proud of his country, and of the form of + faith which is predominant in Ireland. We do not regard + ourselves as easily giving visible expression to our feelings, + but we must confess that we found the tears coming to our eyes + again and again as we read the magnificent, yet sad, story. + Whether it was the valour of the Munsters in their retreat from + Mons, or the headlong impetuosity of the Irish Guards at the + Battle of the Rivers, or the football charge of the London Irish + at Loos, or the glorious but ghastly tale of the 29th Division + at Beach V, or the hardly less awful landing of the 10th + Division at Suvla Bay, it was the same. We were overcome, yet + filled with pride, at the glory and the sorrow of it all. The + old spirit is still in the soldiers of Ireland. The shifting + scenes of the narrative tell us that the imperturbability and + daring which belonged to the Irish of past battles are seen as + strongly marked as ever in the hurriedly trained units of the + New Armies." + + _Freeman's Journal._--"A vivid human narrative of the war, at + once a fine contribution to the history of the great deeds of + our day and a tribute to the heroism and sacrifices of the + Irish." + +HODDER & STOUGHTON: London, New York and Toronto. + + + + +SOME RECENT WAR BOOKS + + +WITH A PREFACE BY RUDYARD KIPLING + + BRITAIN AND THE WAR. By ANDRE CHEVRILLON. With a Preface by + RUDYARD KIPLING. Cloth, 5/-net. + + + J.P. BANG + + HURRAH AND HALLELUJAH: The Spirit of New Germanism. A + Documentation. By J.P. BANG, Professor of Theology in the + University of Copenhagen. Second Edition. Cloth, 5/-net. + + + CAPTAIN PHILIPPE MILLET + + COMRADES IN ARMS: Vignettes from the Trenches, the Artillery Zone, + or Behind the Lines. By Captain PHILIPPE MILLET. Translated by + Lady FRAZER. Cloth, 3/6 net. + + + JOHANNES JORGENSEN + + FALSE WITNESS: The Authorised Translation of "Klokke Roland." By + JOHANNES JORGENSEN. With Illustrations. Cloth, 3/6 net. + + + L. MOKVELD + + THE GERMAN FURY IN BELGIUM: The Personal Experiences of a + Netherlands Journalist during Four Months with the German + Armies. By L. MOKVELD, War Correspondent of _De Tyd_. Cloth, 3/6 + net. + + + JACQUES BAINVILLE + + ITALY AND THE WAR. By JACQUES BAINVILLE. Cloth, 3/6 net. + + + Ch. DE VISSCHER + + BELGIUM'S CASE: A Juridical Enquiry. By CH. DE VISSCHER, Professor + of Law at the University of Ghent. Cloth, 3/6 net. + +HODDER & STOUGHTON, Publishers, Warwick Sq., London, E.C. + + + * * * * * + + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + | Typographical errors corrected in text: | + | | + | Page 78: ojects replaced with objects | + | Page 93: chose replaced with choose | + | Page 157: Leiutenant replaced with Lieutenant | + | | + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + + * * * * * + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Irish on the Somme, by Michael MacDonagh + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE IRISH ON THE SOMME *** + +***** This file should be named 34907.txt or 34907.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/9/0/34907/ + +Produced by Jeannie Howse, David Clarke and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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