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PREFATORY NOTE
PREFATORY NOTE
This narrative of the more signal feats of the Irish Regiments in France, Flanders, and at the Dardanelles, is based on letters of regimental officers and men, interviews with wounded soldiers of the battalions, and those invalided home, and, also, in several cases, on the records compiled at the depôts. The war is the greatest armed struggle that the world has ever seen, and when we think of the heroism and resolution shown in it, the trials and the sufferings, the victories and the disasters,
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THE IRISH REGIMENTS AND THEIR WAR HONOURS
THE IRISH REGIMENTS AND THEIR WAR HONOURS
Ireland is represented in the fighting forces of the Empire by a regiment of Foot Guards, eight regiments of the Line, each of two Regular battalions, and with several linked battalions of the Special Reserve, or old Militia, and many Service battalions raised for "Kitchener's Army." Altogether, these various battalions of the Irish regiments number fifty-four. There are two Dragoon regiments and one regiment each of Hussars and Lancers. The Volunteer or Territorial system has not been extended
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Irish Guards.
Irish Guards.
In acknowledgment and commemoration of the brave and honourable part taken by the Irish troops in the Boer War an Irish regiment of Foot Guards was added to the Brigade of Guards in 1900 by command of Queen Victoria. Unlike the Scots Guards, which are largely English, the Irish Guards are almost exclusively Irish. Badges: the Cross of the Order of St. Patrick and the Shamrock. Recruiting area: all Ireland....
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Royal Irish Regiment.
Royal Irish Regiment.
The Harp of Ireland, with the motto Virtutis Namuriensis Præmium ("The Reward of Bravery at Namur"), surmounted by a Crown and enwreathed with Shamrocks. Recruiting area: the Munster Counties of Tipperary and Waterford, and the Leinster Counties of Kilkenny and Wexford. Depôt: Clonmel. The Sphinx, superscribed "Egypt." The Dragon, superscribed "China"; "Namur, 1695"; "Blenheim"; "Ramillies," "Oudenarde"; "Malplaquet"; "Pegu"; "Sevastopol"; "New Zealand"; "Afghanistan, 1879-80"; "Tel-el-Kebir"; "
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Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.
Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.
A grenade with the Castle of Inniskilling flying the flag of St. George inscribed on the ball. Motto: Nec aspera terrent ("The harshest trials do not affright us"). Recruiting area: the Ulster Counties of Donegal, Derry, Tyrone, and Fermanagh. Depôt: Omagh town. The Sphinx, superscribed "Egypt." "Martinique, 1762"; "Havannah"; "St. Lucia, 1778, 1796"; "Maida"; "Badajoz"; "Salamanca"; "Vittoria"; "Pyrenees"; "Nivelle"; "Orthes"; "Toulouse"; "Peninsula"; "Waterloo"; "South Africa, 1835, 1846-7"; "
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Royal Irish Rifles.
Royal Irish Rifles.
The Harp and Crown, with the motto Quis Separabit? ("Who shall divide us?") on a scroll beneath, and a bugle with strings, the symbol of a rifle regiment. Recruiting area: the Ulster Counties of Antrim and Down, including the City of Belfast. Depôt: Belfast. The Sphinx, superscribed "Egypt." "India"; "Cape of Good Hope, 1806"; "Talavera"; "Bourbon"; "Busaco"; "Fuentes d'Onor"; "Ciudad Rodrigo"; "Badajoz"; "Salamanca"; "Vittoria"; "Nivelle"; "Orthes"; "Toulouse"; "Peninsula"; "Central India"; "So
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Royal Irish Fusiliers.
Royal Irish Fusiliers.
A grenade with a French Imperial eagle and a wreath of laurel on the ball, surmounted by the Gaelic motto, Faugh-a-Ballagh ("Clear the Way"), the whole being set in a wreath of Shamrocks and surmounted by the Plume of the Prince of Wales. Recruiting area: the Ulster Counties of Armagh, Monaghan, and Cavan, and the Leinster County of Louth. Depôt: Armagh town. The Sphinx, superscribed "Egypt." "Monte Video"; "Talavera"; "Barrosa"; "Java"; "Tarifa"; "Vittoria"; "Nivelle "; "Niagara"; "Orthes"; "To
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Connaught Rangers.
Connaught Rangers.
The Harp and Crown, with the motto, Quis Separabit? Recruiting area: all the Counties of Connaught—Galway, Roscommon, Mayo, Sligo, and Leitrim. Depôt: Galway. The Elephant. The Sphinx, superscribed "Egypt." "Seringapatam"; "Talavera"; "Busaco"; "Fuentes d'Onor"; "Ciudad Rodrigo"; "Badajoz"; "Salamanca"; "Vittoria"; "Pyrenees"; "Nivelle"; "Orthes"; "Toulouse"; "Peninsula"; "Alma"; "Inkerman"; "Sevastopol"; "Central India"; "South Africa. 1877-8-9"; "Relief of Ladysmith"; "South Africa, 1899-1902.
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Leinster Regiment.
Leinster Regiment.
The Plume of the Prince of Wales, encircled by a wreath of maple leaves, and surmounted by a Crown. Recruiting area: the Leinster Counties of Longford, Meath, Westmeath, King's County, and Queen's County. Depôt: Birr. "Niagara"; "Central India"; "South Africa, 1900-02."...
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Royal Munster Fusiliers.
Royal Munster Fusiliers.
The Shamrock and a grenade with the Royal Tiger on the ball. Recruiting area: the Munster Counties of Cork, Kerry, Limerick, and Clare. Depôt: Tralee. "Plassey"; "Condore"; "Masulipatam"; "Budara"; "Buxar"; "Rohileund, 1774"; "Sholinghur"; "Carnatic"; "Rohileund, 1794"; "Guzerat"; "Deig"; "Bhurtpore"; "Ghunzee, 1839"; "Afghanistan, 1839"; "Ferozeshah"; "Sobraon"; "Chillianwallah"; "Goojerat"; "Punjaub"; "Pegu"; "Delhi, 1857"; "Lucknow"; "Burma, 1885-87"; "South Africa, 1899-1902."...
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Royal Dublin Fusiliers.
Royal Dublin Fusiliers.
A grenade with the motto, Spectamur Agendo ("We are known by our deeds"), surmounted by a Crown; also the Arms of the City of Dublin set in a wreath of Shamrocks. Recruiting area: the Leinster Counties of Dublin, Kildare, Wicklow, and Carlow. Depôt: Naas. The Royal Tiger, superscribed "Plassey"; "Buxar." The Elephant, superscribed "Carnatic"; "Mysore"; "Arcot"; "Condore"; "Wandiwash"; "Pondicherry"; "Guzerat"; "Sholingbur"; "Nundy Droog"; "Amboyna"; "Ternate"; "Banda"; "Seringapatam"; "Kirkee";
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4th (Royal Irish) Dragoon Guards.
4th (Royal Irish) Dragoon Guards.
The Harp and Crown, and the Star of the Order of St. Patrick. "Peninsula"; "Balaklava"; "Sevastopol"; "Tel-el-Kebir"; "Egypt, 1882."...
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6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons.
6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons.
The Castle of Inniskilling with the St. George's flag, and the word "Inniskilling" underneath. "Dettingen"; "Warburg"; "Willens"; "Waterloo"; "Balaklava"; "Sevastopol"; "South Africa, 1899-1902."...
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5th (Royal Irish) Lancers.
5th (Royal Irish) Lancers.
The Harp and Crown with the motto Quis Separabit? "Blenheim"; "Ramillies"; "Oudenarde"; "Malplaquet"; "Suakim, 1885"; "Defence of Ladysmith"; "South Africa, 1899-1902."...
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8th (King's Royal Irish) Hussars.
8th (King's Royal Irish) Hussars.
The Harp and Crown with the motto Pristinae virtutis memores ("We are mindful of our ancient glory"). "Leswarree"; "Hindoostan"; "Alma"; "Balaklava"; "Inkerman"; "Sevastopol"; "Central India"; "Afghanistan, 1879-80"; "South Africa, 1900-02."...
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INTRODUCTIONToC
INTRODUCTIONToC
"Though I am an Englishman, I must say the Irish soldiers have fought magnificently. They are the cream of the Army. Ireland may well be proud of her sons. Ireland has done her duty nobly. Irishmen are absolutely indispensable for our final triumph."—Letter from Brigadier-General W.B. Marshal, of the 29th Division, on service at the Dardanelles. "Your Irish soldiers are the talk of the whole Army.... Their landing at Suvla Bay was the greatest thing that you will ever read of in books. Those who
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CHAPTER I THE RETREAT FROM MONSToC
CHAPTER I THE RETREAT FROM MONSToC
Regular battalions of all the Irish regiments were included in the British Expeditionary Force which left for France, at the outbreak of war, in the early weeks of August, 1914. For its size it was the finest Army that the world has ever seen, in equipment, discipline, and martial ardour. It was commanded by Field-Marshal Sir John French, the scion of an Irish family long settled in Roscommon, of which Lord De Freyne is the head, and a soldier who made a brilliant reputation as a cavalry leader
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CHAPTER II BATTLE OF THE RIVERSToC
CHAPTER II BATTLE OF THE RIVERSToC
The British Expeditionary Force was driven through Northern France before a mighty and irresistible wind of steel and lead, but the tempest did not overtake and disperse them, as it might have done—such was its roaring fury—any less disciplined and stubborn troops. At the end of it all the British were weary from want of sleep and plenty of hard fighting, but not badly shaken, and certainly with spirits undaunted. So marvellously quick did they recover that on September 7th, within a few days of
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CHAPTER III CONTEST FOR THE CHANNEL COASTToC
CHAPTER III CONTEST FOR THE CHANNEL COASTToC
It had become evident that the design of the Germans, then hacking their way through Belgium, was to reach Calais and Boulogne so as to cut the direct communication of the British with the Channel coast of Belgium and France. With the view of frustrating these plans, Sir John French, early in October, withdrew his forces from the orchards and woodlands by the banks of the Aisne to French Flanders, on the north-west, a mingled industrial and agricultural country. The British Commander had also ho
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CHAPTER IV ASPHYXIATING GAS AND LIQUID FIREToC
CHAPTER IV ASPHYXIATING GAS AND LIQUID FIREToC
Many a desperate engagement has been fought from Ypres in the north to La Bassée in the south. Neuve Chapelle, St. Eloi, St. Julien, Festubert, Givenchy, Hooge—to mention a few of them—are places that will stand for all time in history as the scenes of most bloody and tragical battles. They do not all spell British victories; but every vowel of them represents British bravery, suffering, endurance, resolution; and linked with them in enduring fame are the Dublins, Munsters, Inniskillings, Leinst
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CHAPTER V THE IMMORTAL STORYToC
CHAPTER V THE IMMORTAL STORYToC
The most terrific thing in the bombardment of the southern end of Gallipoli by the British Fleet, from the Ægean Sea, on Sunday morning, April 25th, 1915, was the roar of the Queen Elizabeth —the mammoth vessel of the Navy and armed with the mightiest guns—sending forth at each bellow and flash a ton of high explosives. It inspired awe and dread to the uttermost, that concentration of fire from all the ships of the Fleet. What living being, or work of nature or man, could survive it? Those on th
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CHAPTER VI THE 10TH IRISH DIVISION IN GALLIPOLIToC
CHAPTER VI THE 10TH IRISH DIVISION IN GALLIPOLIToC
At the dawn of Saturday morning, August 7th, 1915, the Ægean Sea and the Gulf of Saros, to the north-west of Gallipoli, were swarming with the most variegated collection of shipping, of all sorts and conditions—transports, cruisers, torpedo-boat destroyers, trawlers, barges, ocean liners, steam pinnaces, rowing boats, and tramp steamers. A fresh landing, at Suvla Bay, had been in progress all through the night. The first great landing, on April 25th, at Sedd-el-Bahr, at the toe of the Peninsula—
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CHAPTER VII IN THE REST CAMPToC
CHAPTER VII IN THE REST CAMPToC
For five days and nights the Irish troops who took Chocolate Hill, or Dublin Hill, on Saturday, August 7th, lay in the captured Turkish entrenchments before they could be relieved. The men were in the highest spirits over their exploit. But they felt stiff and sore and very, very dirty. They had sand in their clothes, sand in their hair, sand in their eyes, sand in their mouths and nostrils, and their faces and hands were black with the grime of powder and the smoke of the bush fires. And now, u
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CHAPTER VIII FIGHT FOR KISLAH DAGHToC
CHAPTER VIII FIGHT FOR KISLAH DAGHToC
The objective of the new operations was the last crest of Kiretsh Tepe Sirt, or, as some call it, Kislah Dagh—a continuation of the Karakol Dagh, which the Munsters had taken—beyond which it dips and swings southward. Telegraphing from Alexandria, on August 19th, the special representative of the Press Association says, in the vague way then enjoined by the Censor, "The attacking troops were a Division which was almost wholly Irish, and which had already the capture of Chocolate Hill to its cred
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CHAPTER IX FOR CROSS AND CROWNToC
CHAPTER IX FOR CROSS AND CROWNToC
In which mood do soldiers generally go into battle—devotional or profane? An observer of authority, Mr. J.H. Morgan, professor of constitutional history at University College, London, who had a long stay at the Front, in France and Flanders on Government duty, commits himself to the curious statement that most men go into action, not ejaculating prayers, but swearing out aloud. However that may be as regards the non-religious soldier, it certainly is not true of the Catholic Irish soldier. By te
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CHAPTER X THE GREAT PUSH AT LOOSToC
CHAPTER X THE GREAT PUSH AT LOOSToC
What a stirring story of Irish gaiety and resolution is that of the charge of the London Irish Rifles in the great advance upon the mining village of Loos, on Saturday, September 25th, 1915! "Hurrah, the London Irish, hurrah!" The shout ran along the British Lines on Tuesday, September 28th, as the battalion, with many gaps in their ranks, returned after the splendid stand against the terrific German counter-attack which followed the charge, when, according to the General of their Brigade, they
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CHAPTER XI THE VICTORIA CROSSToC
CHAPTER XI THE VICTORIA CROSSToC
That plain Cross of bronze, with the simple motto, "For Valour," is the most honoured and coveted military decoration in the world. It has been won in the present war, down to the end of 1915, by as many as twenty-one Irishmen, who have splendidly sustained their country's inspiring heritage of bravery on the battlefield. Courage, bravery, valour, are, in a way, mysterious attributes. We all understand what they mean; we all regard them as noble and heroic; we all desire to be possessed of them.
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CHAPTER XII "FOR VALOUR"ToC
CHAPTER XII "FOR VALOUR"ToC
In order to be able rightly to appreciate the honour and glory of the Victoria Cross, it is necessary to know the conditions regulating its bestowal. A tradition has been established in the Services, though there is nothing in the institution of the Victoria Cross really to warrant it, that the decoration is to be given only for a deed not done under orders. The deed must be a signal one in every respect—exceptionally daring, and difficult, of the highest military value, particularly in the savi
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THE IRISH NUNS OF YPRES AN APPEAL
THE IRISH NUNS OF YPRES AN APPEAL
The story of the Irish Nuns of Ypres is bound up with the story of Ireland. They represent not only a religious Order, but the national ideal as well. They stand for Faith and Fatherland. More than two hundred years ago an Irish Benedictine Community of Nuns was established in Big Ship Street, Dublin. Then came the war of the "Revolution" and the renewal of the international struggle between England and Ireland.... The Dutchman whom the English made King offered security to the Irish Benedictine
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