TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE
Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
A superscript is denoted by ^{x}; for example, 36^{th}.
The original text has a dot under the 'th', which has been removed
in the etext.
The format of time in the original text (with a hyphen) has been
retained. For example, 11-45 a.m.
Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within
the text and consultation of external sources.
More detail can be found at the end of the book.
THE HISTORY
OF THE
36^{TH} (ULSTER) DIVISION
O socii, neque enim ignari sumus ante malorum,
O passi graviora, dabit deus his quoque finem.
VIRGIL: _Æneid_.
And he hadde been somtyme in chyvachie,
In Flaundrés, in Artoys and Pycardie,
And born hym weel.
CHAUCER: _Canterbury Tales_.
_Dawbeney_--
Wise princes, Oxford,
Fight not alone with forces. Providence
Directs and tutors strength; else elephants
And barbèd horses might as well prevail
As the most subtle stratagems of war.
FORD: _Perkin Warbeck_.
[Illustration: THE MEMORIAL TO THE 36TH (ULSTER) DIVISION AT
THIEPVAL]
THE HISTORY
OF THE
36^{TH} (ULSTER) DIVISION
BY
CYRIL FALLS
_Late Lieutenant, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers
and Captain, G.S., 36th Division_
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
FIELD MARSHAL THE LORD PLUMER
G.C.B., G.C.M.G., G.C.V.O.
[Illustration: (colophon)]
M'CAW, STEVENSON & ORR, LIMITED
THE LINENHALL PRESS, BELFAST
AND 329 HIGH HOLBORN, LONDON, W.C.
1922
_This History is dedicated to the men of the_
ULSTER DIVISION,
_returned from the War, and to those who have not
come back; of whom I name two friends_:
HARRY GALLAGHER, D.S.O.,
_Captain, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers,
killed at the Battle of Messines, 1917_;
_and_
GEORGE BRUCE, D.S.O., M.C.,
_Brigade Major, 109th Brigade,
killed near Dadizeele, 1918_;
_Patterns to men-in-arms_.
INTRODUCTION
The history of the 36th (Ulster) Division is the record of a great
effort and a great achievement. The effort which resulted in its
inception was the outcome of the determination, on the part of a
people brought up in great traditions and inspired with a fervent
spirit of loyalty, that they should be worthily represented in the
fierce and prolonged struggle which from the outset was clearly
foreshadowed. The achievement was the response made to the call by
their representatives, the gallant deeds accomplished, the courage
and determination displayed, and the sacrifices made.
The narrative gives a very clear picture of what the campaign in
France and Flanders involved for the troops engaged in it. There is
no reference to any great strategical movements or brilliant tactical
operations, because there were none such to describe. It brings out,
however, quite plainly that the victory was gained in the only way
in which it could have been gained, by sheer hard fighting, carried
out continuously, now on a small, now on a large, scale, but always
by troops who never admitted defeat.
This was the character of the struggle into which the Ulster Division
was plunged from its entrance into the campaign until its close, and
the book describes very fully the part it played in it. Each chapter
is a little history of itself, which frequently has sufficient
subject-matter for a volume, and which always contains a record of
events or incidents of absorbing interest. It is not a narrative of a
series of unbroken successes, and there is no pretence that all the
efforts made by the Division were successful. Readers of the History
will find stories of failures, but they were glorious failures, the
account of which no-one need feel ashamed to describe or peruse.
A tribute, no more than is due, is paid to Major-General Sir
Oliver Nugent, K.C.B., D.S.O., the General who was in command of
the Division for the greater part of the campaign, and who led it
throughout with a confidence in it only equalled by its confidence in
him. All who served under him will always hold him in affectionate
remembrance, and all Ulstermen should realize that they owe him a
debt of gratitude.
I hope this History will be read, not only by those who served in the
Division and their relatives and friends, but by all Irishmen.
Young men approaching manhood and young women approaching womanhood
should read it, and ponder over the example their predecessors have
set them. For all who read will realize that in the great struggle
which convulsed Europe for more than four years the men of Ulster did
not fail.
PLUMER, F.M.
MALTA,
_25th November, 1922._
PREFACE
The history of the 36th (Ulster) Division is published under the
patronage of the Right Hon. the Lord Carson of Duncairn, the Prime
Minister of Northern Ireland, and Major-General Sir O. S. W. Nugent,
K.C.B., D.S.O.
Its publication once decided upon, the first step taken was the
formation of an influential Committee; the second, that of a
Guarantee Fund to cover the whole cost of its production, which was,
within a few weeks, largely over-subscribed.
The materials upon which the History is chiefly based are the
official War Diaries in the possession of the Historical Section
(Military Branch) of the Committee of Imperial Defence. To the
officials at 2, Cavendish Square I am indebted for courtesy and
assistance in matters of difficulty. I have made use also of a very
large number of contributions sent to me by those who served with
the Division, from Sir James Craig and Sir Oliver Nugent to several
private soldiers. So long is the list that I cannot acknowledge my
debt to these contributors by name, but I desire to thank one and all
for material without which the record would have been bald and dry,
material which has, I hope, enabled me to give some tinge of humanity
to the History. In several cases these personal contributions have
been of greater value still than this. They have--and this is
true especially of the Retreat of March, 1918--furnished me with
a record of incidents upon which official Diaries throw no light.
Two such incidents, in particular, the defence of a company of the
12th Royal Irish Rifles at Le Pontchu Quarry, near St. Quentin, on
March the 21st, and the last stand of the 2nd Royal Irish Rifles at
Cugny, three days later, have hitherto gone unrecorded, because the
survivors of these heroic episodes fell into the hands of the enemy.
I have also to thank Sir Oliver Nugent, Colonel-Commandant W. M.
Withycombe, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O.; Brigadier-General C. J. Griffith,
C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O.; Brigadier-General A. St. Q. Ricardo, C.M.G.,
C.B.E., D.S.O.; Major H. F. Grant Suttie, D.S.O., M.C., and Major
J. C. Boyle for their trouble in reading the History in MS. and
for their many helpful suggestions. The Honours List, a very big
undertaking, is based almost entirely on the compilation of Mr.
Andrew Jardin, M.S.M., formerly Chief Clerk in the Administrative
Branch of Divisional Headquarters. In this and other matters
connected with the History I have had much assistance from my wife.
The most important acknowledgment, on behalf of the Committee and
all interested in the publication of the work as well as on my own,
is due to Captain Kenneth M. Moore, M.C., who acted as Honorary
Secretary. The whole of the business side of the undertaking has been
conducted by him. Into it he has thrown all his organizing ability
and his enthusiasm. No appeal has been made to him in vain.
I have only to add that it has been my endeavour to make this History
not a mere record of battles, but, so far as space has permitted,
a picture of life as it was lived in the days of war. Lacking the
second, the first is like dry bones without flesh to cover them. If I
have succeeded in combining the two, I have right to hope that I have
made a contribution, however small, to history in a general sense, as
apart from military history.
It is to-day a favourite pretension that the war was as uninteresting
as it was terrible: a vast error, based upon a temporary reaction,
when not upon a pose. I made recently the discovery that between
1906 and 1921 there were published over one hundred books on the
Napoleonic Wars. The number would have been far greater but for the
fall in the publication of all books between 1914 and 1919. So, a
hundred years hence, men will be delving into our records of the
late war. Soldiers will be studying the lessons of its battles. But
a yet greater number of seekers will be demanding with curiosity
how men lived in such circumstances, how they reacted to the strain
of war, what compensations they found. It behoves those who were
eye-witnesses to depict it in all its aspects, not to shrink from
discovering its horror, indeed, but also not to pretend that it had
not a better side. The picture now so often painted, representing
the war as a single scene in a torture chamber, whence men emerged
physical or mental wrecks, may be good anti-militarist propaganda,
but it is false, because incomplete. From those experiences many men
have emerged happy and strong. Many knew how to snatch some happiness
even from their midst. A far greater number can see, in retrospect,
that they played a part in one of the most dramatic, as well as one
of the most terrible, tragedies in history. That stands for something
of good, amid all its evil, in any man's life. The comradeship of
war's days is a memory not less happy.
It is not alone because the story of the Ulster Division is a record
of courage and fortitude, in which men who are my friends had part,
but because it represents in a microcosm man in one of the greatest
and most curious catastrophes the world has known, that I have had,
however unworthy of the task, a pleasure so intense in writing this
book.
C. F.
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I THE RAISING AND TRAINING OF THE DIVISION:
SEPTEMBER 1914 TO SEPTEMBER 1915 1
Lord Kitchener and Sir Edward Carson--Sir
Edward Carson's Appeal--Formation of the Division--A
Commander appointed--Training begins--The
Clan Spirit--Realities of War--The Move to England--Lord
Kitchener's Tribute--His Majesty's Review.
II THE DIVISION IN FRANCE: OCTOBER 1915 TO
JUNE 1916 22
First Experiences--Picardy--107th Brigade in
Line--The Division enters Line--Holding a Quiet
Front--Rations--The Brighter Side--Preparation for
Offensive--Reorganization of Artillery.
III THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME: JULY 1ST, 1916 41
New Aspect of Warfare--Plans for the Attack--Artillery
Programme--A Successful Raid--Anniversary
of the Boyne--Attack North of Ancre--Advance
of 107th Brigade--A Desperate Situation--July 2nd--Causes
of Failure--Move to Flanders.
IV FROM THE SOMME TO MESSINES: JULY 1916
TO JUNE 1917 64
In Line before Messines--Warfare Underground--Trench
Mortar Battles--The Policy of Raids--Lieutenant
Godson's Ambush--A Series of Raids--La
Plus Douve Farm--A Growth of Activity--Shelling
of Ulster Camp.
V MESSINES: JUNE 1917 82
Preparation for the Offensive--Plans for the
Attack--Second Army Methods--Medical Arrangements--Waiting
for Zero--First Objective reached--Wytschaete
captured--Artillery moves Forward--Pack
Transport--Death of Captain Gallagher--German
Commander's Problem--Von Richthofen.
VI THE BATTLE OF LANGEMARCK: AUGUST 1917 107
Plans of the Allies--107th Brigade enters Line--Wieltje
Dug-outs--Barrage Plans--Failure of 108th
Brigade--The Division's Losses--Causes of Failure--General
Nugent's Suggestions.
VII YPRES TO CAMBRAI: SEPTEMBER TO NOVEMBER
1917 125
The Hindenburg Line--Fighting at Yorkshire
Bank--Raiding Activity--The Livens Projector--Life
amidst Desolation--British Organization--Problem
of Man-power--Work in the Mist.
VIII CAMBRAI AND AFTER (I): NOVEMBER 20TH TO
22ND, 1917 143
Plans for Cambrai--Task of 109th Brigade--Tanks
move up--Capture of Spoil Heap--Defence
of Flesquières--Results of November 20th--Gains of
November 21st--Mœuvres: November 22nd--A New
Phase.
IX CAMBRAI AND AFTER (II): NOVEMBER 23RD TO
DECEMBER 31ST, 1917 162
Plans for Nov. 23rd--The Grapple at Bourlon--Relief
of 36th Division--The German Counter-offensive--British
Withdrawal--Defence of 9th Inniskillings--Attack
of 11th Inniskillings--Relief in a
Blizzard--Summary of the Battle.
X THE GERMAN OFFENSIVE ON THE SOMME (I):
JANUARY TO MARCH 22ND, 1918 181
The New Line--Reorganization of Division--System
of Defence--Dispositions--The Weeks of
Waiting--Morning of March 21st--The German
Assault launched--Defence of Le Pontchu--Break-through
to the South--Defence of Racecourse
Redoubt--Heroic Action of Lieutenant Knox--The
Second Withdrawal--Open Warfare begins.
XI THE GERMAN OFFENSIVE ON THE SOMME (II):
MARCH 23RD TO 30TH, 1918 208
Sights in Ham--Both Flanks turned--Dawn of
March 24th--2nd Rifles at Cugny--Relief of 36th
Division--Horrors of the Retreat--A Gap between
the Allies--Colonel Place captured--Counter-attack
at Erches--What the Division achieved--Action of
the Artillery--Defence of XVIII. Corps.
XII FLANDERS: THE 108TH BRIGADE IN THE MESSINES-KEMMEL
BATTLE: APRIL TO JUNE 1918 232
Back to Ypres--108th Brigade on Messines Ridge--Fighting
at Wulverghem--A Black Day--Withdrawal
from Poelcappelle--German Rebuff in
Flanders--Changes in Command--Back after a Rest.
XIII BACK TO THE MESSINES RIDGE: JULY TO SEPTEMBER,
1918 248
Successful Raids--The Enemy withdraws--A
Fighting Retreat--September 3rd and 4th--Attack
of September 6th--Move to Ypres--The Hope of
Victory.
XIV THE ADVANCE TO FINAL VICTORY (I):
SEPTEMBER 28TH TO OCTOBER 17TH, 1918 262
Attack of September 28th--Advance of September
29th--Menin-Roulers Road reached--Review of
Situation--Death of Captain Bruce--Attack of
October 14th--A Great Day--Courtrai entered--Difficulties
of Supply.
XV THE ADVANCE TO FINAL VICTORY (II):
OCTOBER 18TH TO NOVEMBER 11TH, 1918 280
Plan for Forcing the Lys--Success of the Crossing--Attack
of October 20th--The Advance continued--Kleineberg
Ridge occupied--General Jacob's
Tribute--Special Order of Marshal Foch.
XVI THE END: NOVEMBER 1918 TO JUNE 1919 294
Preparations for Christmas--The Divisional Fund--Characteristics
of 36th Division--The End.
APPENDIX I ORDER OF BATTLE 305
" II LIST OF HONOURS AND AWARDS 313
INDEX 347
MAPS
I THE BATTLE OF ALBERT, 1916 at page 62
II THE BATTLE OF MESSINES, 1917 " 106
III THE BATTLE OF LANGEMARCK, 1917 " 124
IV THE BATTLE OF CAMBRAI, 1917 " 180
V THE POSITION BEFORE GERMAN ATTACK,
MARCH 21ST, 1918 " 206
VI THE RETREAT OF MARCH 1918 " 230
VII THE FINAL ADVANCES, 1918 " 292
SKETCH IN TEXT page 284
ILLUSTRATIONS
THE MEMORIAL TO THE 36TH (ULSTER) DIVISION
AT THIEPVAL Frontispiece
MAJOR-GENERAL SIR C. H. POWELL, K.C.B. facing page 14
MAJOR-GENERAL SIR O. S. NUGENT, K.C.B., D.S.O. " " 36
WINNERS OF VICTORIA CROSS, 1916 " " 76
" " " " 1917 & 1918 " " 184
MAJOR-GENERAL C. C. COFFIN, V.C., C.B., D.S.O. " " 244
THE HISTORY OF
THE 36^{TH} (ULSTER) DIVISION
CHAPTER I
THE RAISING AND TRAINING OF THE DIVISION: SEPTEMBER 1914 TO SEPTEMBER
1915
It is no rightful part of the historian of a Division in the Great
War to embark upon preliminary sketches of the state of Europe
or of the movements in international politics that preceded the
catastrophe. If once he begin to seek for causes he must seek far.
Three pistol shots fired in the narrow streets of Serajevo may be
likened to an accidental spark that explodes a great charge. But the
charge was long laid. War had been determined upon in Berlin. Without
that accidental spark, there can be no doubt that it would shortly
have been deliberately exploded by a detonator from that quarter. If
the divisional historian cannot trace the laying of the charge, which
had been accumulating, it may be a hundred, and certainly fifty,
years, let him not begin by dealing with what were merely the final
accretions. Let him begin with the beginning of the war. War was
declared between this country and Germany on the 4th of August, 1914.
There are, however, certain local circumstances anterior to that
declaration, which have an intimate connection with the particular
Division that is the subject of this History, and so could not be
omitted without robbing the latter of much of its significance. The
Ulster Division was not created in a day. The roots from which it
sprang went back into the troubled period before the war. Its life
was a continuance of the life of an earlier legion, a legion of
civilians banded together to protect themselves from the consequences
of legislation which they believed would affect adversely their
rights and privileges as citizens of the United Kingdom--the Ulster
Volunteer Force.
The Ulster Volunteer Force, or U.V.F., as it soon came to be known
the world around, was the creation of Sir Edward Carson.[1] He
believed that if the Imperial Parliament were to persist in its
declared intention of forcing the Protestant population of Ulster
into an Irish Parliament, without its consent, the inevitable
consequence would be civil war in Ireland. Unorganized resistance
would be ineffective, and would beyond doubt lead to disorder and
unnecessary bloodshed. That the attempt would be made appeared
certain. The fate of the Government was bound up with its Home Rule
Bill. A failure to carry it through would have involved instant
defeat in the House of Commons, wherein the Irish Nationalist
Party held the balance of power. All the signs pointed to a clash.
It appeared to Sir Edward Carson that the surest defence of the
political ideals of his followers lay in convincing the people of
Great Britain that Protestant Ulster would fight for the preservation
of liberties and traditions which it held dear, which, in its eyes,
were now menaced. It was in this faith that he gave his approval to
the formation of the U.V.F.
It was on the advice of Lord Roberts, a warm advocate of Ulster's
cause, that Sir Edward Carson invited General Sir George Richardson
to take command of the U.V.F. Under his leadership the force was
organized on a territorial basis. At the outbreak of war it contained
over 80,000 men between the ages of seventeen and sixty-five, and a
number of women, enrolled not only as nurses but for many of those
supplementary services which were not allotted to women in the
European war until a comparatively late period. The people of Ulster
entered into their adventure in the same spirit that they entered
into that of the war when it came, a spirit of single-minded faith
in their leaders and in themselves. Admirably did Mr. Kipling sum up
their attitude in the lines:
Believe we dare not boast,
Believe we do not fear.
Probably their worst danger was over before the declaration of war.
The incident at the Curragh, as well as conferences at the War
Office, at Aldershot, and elsewhere, of which the general public
never knew, had made it clear that the Army could not be used to
enforce the legislation projected at the cost of civil war. General
John Gough, V.C., then Sir Douglas Haig's Chief of Staff, visited
Ulster in July, and stated that the idea of coercion was abandoned.
He is known to have formed the opinion that the Ulster Volunteers
could, with experienced leaders, be made a very formidable fighting
force. He, as well as the Government, knew that those leaders would
not have been lacking.
Lord Kitchener, once at the War Office, was not long in arriving at
the same opinion as General Gough. He was appointed Secretary of
State for War on Wednesday the 5th of August. On Friday the 7th he
sent for Colonel T. E. Hickman,[2] a Member of the House of Commons,
President of the British League for the Defence of Ulster, who had
acted as Inspector-General of the U.V.F., and said to him: "I want
the Ulster Volunteers."
Colonel Hickman replied: "You must see Carson and Craig."
Lord Kitchener saw them. Sir Edward Carson's position was not easy.
He was most eager to help by every means in his power. But he had a
heavy responsibility towards the people of Ulster. If the fighting
men of the Province were to go to the war, and in their absence
a Home Rule Act, such as they had banded themselves together to
resist, were to be forced upon those they had left behind, they
would have had cause to reproach him. The Prime Minister was asked
for an assurance with regard to the Home Rule Bill. No definite
assurance could be obtained from him. A political truce had come into
operation at the beginning of hostilities, but it was ill-defined,
and the Prime Minister evidently did not see his way clearly out of
the difficulties of his situation.[3] Sir Edward raised some minor
points, asking that the word "Ulster" might succeed the number of the
Division which it was proposed to raise. To this Lord Kitchener at
first demurred, but the appelation was subsequently granted.[4]
A short delay ensued. The news from France was bad. A meeting of the
Ulster Unionist Members of Parliament, attended by Lord Roberts,
was held at Sir Edward Carson's house in Eaton Place. The result of
the meeting was that, then and there, Colonel Hickman took a letter
to Lord Kitchener, offering the aid of Sir Edward and the Council
in raising as large a force as possible from the Ulster Volunteers,
without any conditions whatsoever. Later that day there was another
meeting between the Secretary for War and the Ulster representatives
at the War Office. At first Lord Kitchener was modest in his demands,
thinking that a Brigade from the U.V.F. would be ample, at least as
a start. Captain Craig[5] assured him they could recruit a Division.
Lord Kitchener at once appointed Colonel Hickman and Captain Craig as
Chief Recruiting Officers for the Ulster area.
Captain Craig, on leaving the War Office, jumped into a taxicab in
Whitehall and went straight to a firm of outfitters with which he
had had dealings in equipment for the U.V.F., and gave an order for
10,000 complete outfits. Returning to the House he was somewhat
exercised in his mind as to where the money was to come from to pay
for all this. He spoke to Mr. Oliver Locker-Lampson,[6] one of
Ulster's staunchest friends, who pulled out a cheque-book, and said:
"Don't say another word! There's a thousand pounds: to go on with,
and nine more will follow in a day or two. This is out of a special
fund just available for your purpose."
In the first days of September Colonel Hickman and Captain Craig
crossed to Ireland to begin their work. On the 3rd of the month
Sir Edward Carson made a great appeal, at a meeting of the Ulster
Unionist Council in Belfast, to the men of the U.V.F., urging them to
come forward for the defence of the Empire, the honour of Ulster and
of Ireland.
In Ireland much had happened meanwhile. A large number of Ulstermen,
the eager spirits who would not wait, had already enlisted. Of these
the greater number had gone to the 10th Division, then being formed.
Others had crossed the Channel and joined Manchester and Glasgow
battalions. At Omagh Captain A. St. Q. Ricardo, D.S.O.,[7] Reserve of
Officers, had been put in charge of the Depot, and in mid-August had,
anticipating the formation of an Ulster Division, begun to recruit
men from the Tyrone Volunteers for a battalion of Royal Inniskilling
Fusiliers. In a very short time he had two companies, which were,
as they had as yet no official status, attached to the 5th and 6th
Battalions of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. In these battalions
some of the officers subsequently elected to remain, and went with
the 10th Division to the Dardanelles. When the Ulster Division
was formed these two companies became the nucleus of the senior
battalion of the 109th Infantry Brigade, the 9th Royal Inniskilling
Fusiliers.[8] This was an exceptional incident, since Captain
Ricardo, before taking up his duties at the Omagh Depot, had been
Adjutant of the Tyrone Regiment, U.V.F. Throughout Ulster, however,
a preliminary recruiting campaign had been carried out, promises to
enlist on the official formation of an Ulster Division being obtained
from members of the U.V.F.
The short delay may have lost a few men to the Ulster Division, but
it had created an atmosphere of expectation and excitement. When
the recruiting officers arrived the men came forward with a rush,
above all in Belfast. A building near the Old Town Hall had been
taken over. As each man came out of the former after attestation,
he entered the latter, was passed from department to department,
emerging from another door a recruit in uniform, leaving his civilian
clothing to be packed up and sent home. In this respect the Ulster
Division was peculiarly fortunate. The men who enlisted in it had not
to endure those weeks of drilling in wet weather in their civilian
clothes, with inadequate boots, which were productive of moral as
well as physical discomfort. For this advantage they were indebted
to the foresight and powers of organization of Captain Craig and
his assistants, the generosity of their friends, and the aid of the
big business men of Belfast; the work being carried out without any
cost to the State. Captain Craig made further visits to the War
Office, on one of which he pointed out to Lord Kitchener that the
camp accommodation in Ulster was insufficient. Lord Kitchener replied
that such details must be arranged by others. Knowing him well from
South African days, when he had learned to regard him with the
highest admiration, Captain Craig answered that it was all very well
to talk in that autocratic manner, but that at present he himself
had not the weight behind him to carry the matter through. The
response was characteristic. Lord Kitchener summoned in succession
the Adjutant-General, the Director of Personal Services, the
Quartermaster-General, and the Director of Fortifications, and said
to them:
"Take Craig away and see that he gets what he requires."
Captain Craig was then able to return to Ireland, and set about the
building of hutted camps at Clandeboye, Ballykinlar, and Newtownards
in the east, and Finner on the Donegal coast.
The organization of the Division proceeded swiftly. A large house,
29, Wellington Place, Belfast, was taken over and equipped as
Headquarters. Three Infantry Brigades were formed: the 107th from the
City of Belfast itself; the 108th from the counties of Antrim, Down,
Armagh, Cavan, and Monaghan; the 109th from Tyrone, Londonderry,
Donegal, and Fermanagh, with one Belfast Battalion. The Pioneer
Battalion was also recruited in County Down, mainly from the Lurgan
area. The Royal Engineers, of which two Field Companies only were
raised at first, the 121st and 122nd, as well as the Divisional
Signal Company, came mainly from Belfast, above all from the great
shipyards. Royal Army Medical Corps personnel was recruited and sent
to Clandeboye, where, on the appointment of an A.D.M.S., Colonel
F. J. Greig, it was formed into three Field Ambulances, the 108th,
109th, and 110th, and moved to Newry. So successful was recruiting
for the R.A.M.C. that Colonel Greig was instructed by the War Office
to raise a Casualty Clearing Station, the 40th, which served both in
France and at Salonika. The Royal Army Service Corps personnel was
fine both in physique and intelligence. The horses were good, as was
natural, seeing how large was the proportion of horses bought for the
Army in Ireland, and among the officers were some excellent horsemen
and horsemasters. Indeed the horsemastership in the Division was
throughout the campaign of a very high order, the Infantry contriving
to keep their mules sleek and fat and the Artillery their gun-horses
fit and well-groomed amid conditions which none can realize who did
not witness them. A Cavalry Squadron and a Cyclist Company were also
formed, the former being unique in that it was a service Squadron of
the Inniskilling Dragoons.
One question which received much attention and gave rise to much
discussion was that of a Divisional Artillery. It was reluctantly
decided not to raise one in Ulster, though this meant losing many
an Ulsterman to other Divisions. The U.V.F. had no artillery and
consequently no partially trained force upon which to draw. It was
thought that the raising and training of artillery in Ulster would
take so long that it might delay the departure to the front of the
Division for several months. In those days, it will be remembered,
the one feverish anxiety of the men of the New Armies was lest the
war should be over ere they were able to play their part in it! In
the event, as will later be explained, the Division went to France
in advance of the Artillery that had been raised for it, with a
Territorial Artillery attached.
The 36th Divisional Artillery was raised, six months after the rest
of the Division, in the suburbs of London, though from quarters
stranger to one another than towns fifty miles apart in Ireland.
The 153rd and 154th Brigades R.F.A. were formed by the British
Empire League, of which one of the moving spirits was General Sir
Bindon Blood. They were recruited chiefly from Croydon, Norbury, and
Sydenham. The 172nd and 173rd Brigades, on the other hand, came from
North-east London. They were formed on the initiative of the Mayors
of East and West Ham and recruited from those districts.
The first date recorded in the Artillery annals is that of May the
5th, 1915, when sixty recruits of the 153rd Brigade assembled at
60, Victoria Street, the headquarters of the British Empire League,
and marched to Norbury, where they were billeted in private houses.
Londoners from South and North did not meet until July, when the
four Brigades and the 36th Divisional Ammunition Column were moved
to Lewes. It was within a few days of the arrival of the rest of the
Division, already at a high standard of efficiency, in England, that
serious training of the Divisional Artillery really began.
To the great regret of all Ulster, it was ruled that Sir George
Richardson, owing to the seniority of his rank, could not take
command of the Division. He remained in Belfast, working for the
good of the cause, and none can speak more highly of his efforts
and his loyalty than Sir James Craig and General Hickman, the chief
organizers of those early days. "Trusted by every class," writes an
officer who had long worked on his staff, "he was able to induce
employers to permit those of their workmen to enlist who were not
indispensable, and to perform the much more difficult task of making
the skilled craftsmen of the shipyards realize that their duty to
their country called them to remain at work, helping the Navy and
Merchant Service to hold command of the sea, on which our success
depended equally with our victory on land." How they and others,
notably the makers of linen for aircraft, who were, for the most
part, women, played their part, cannot be discussed here, though it
is a record worthy the pen of a eulogist. What is less generally
known to the people of Great Britain is that in Ulster not a strike
occurred throughout the course of the war.
Major-General C. H. Powell, C.B.,[9] an officer with a distinguished
record in the Indian Army, was appointed to the command of the
Division. Colonel Hickman, after remaining in Belfast till the three
Brigades had been formed, went to Finner to take command of the 109th.
The following is the formation of the Division as finally
constituted:--
COMMANDER:
Major-General C. H. POWELL, C.B.
ASSISTANT ADJUTANT AND QUARTER-MASTER GENERAL:
Lieut.-Colonel JAMES CRAIG.
GENERAL STAFF OFFICER, 2ND GRADE:[10]
Captain W. B. SPENDER.[11]
ROYAL ARTILLERY.[12]
(Brigadier-General H. J. BROCK.)
153rd Brigade, Royal Field Artillery.
154th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery.
172nd Brigade, Royal Field Artillery.
173rd Brigade, Royal Field Artillery.
Divisional Ammunition Column, Royal Field Artillery.
ROYAL ENGINEERS.
121st Field Company, Royal Engineers.
122nd Field Company, Royal Engineers.
150th Field Company, Royal Engineers.
107TH INFANTRY BRIGADE.
(Brigadier-General G. H. H. COUCHMAN, C.B.)
8th Battn. Royal Irish Rifles (East Belfast Volunteers).
9th Battn. Royal Irish Rifles (West Belfast Volunteers).
10th Battn. Royal Irish Rifles (South Belfast Volunteers).
15th Battn. Royal Irish Rifles (North Belfast Volunteers).
108TH INFANTRY BRIGADE.
(Brigadier-General G. HACKET PAIN, C.B.)[13]
11th Battn. Royal Irish Rifles (South Antrim Volunteers).
12th Battn. Royal Irish Rifles (Central Antrim Volunteers).
13th Battn. Royal Irish Rifles (1st Co. Down Volunteers).
9th Battn. Royal Irish Fusiliers (Armagh, Monaghan, and Cavan
Volunteers).
109TH INFANTRY BRIGADE.
(Brigadier-General T. E. HICKMAN, C.B., D.S.O.)
9th Battn. Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (Tyrone Volunteers).
10th Battn. Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (Derry Volunteers).
11th Battn. Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (Donegal and Fermanagh
Volunteers).
14th Battn. Royal Irish Rifles (Young Citizen Volunteers of
Belfast).
PIONEER BATTALION.
16th Battn. Royal Irish Rifles (2nd Co. Down Volunteers).
DIVISIONAL TROOPS.
Service Squadron, Royal Inniskilling Dragoons.
36th Divisional Signal Company, Royal Engineers.
Divisional Cyclist Company.
Royal Army Medical Corps.
108th Field Ambulance.
109th Field Ambulance.
110th Field Ambulance.
76th Sanitary Section, R.A.M.C.
Divisional Train, R.A.S.C.
48th Mobile Veterinary Section.
The present is perhaps the most suitable moment for mention of the
reserve battalions, of which six were formed in 1915: the 17th, 18th,
19th, and 20th Royal Irish Rifles, 12th Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers,
and 10th Royal Irish Fusiliers. The 36th was the sole Irish Division
to have its own reserve formations. In addition to the provision of
drafts, these battalions had important tasks in the disturbed period
following the rebellion of Easter Week, 1916. A detachment from the
18th Royal Irish Rifles, which battalion was commanded by Colonel R.
G. Sharman Crawford, C.B.E., took part in the capture of "Liberty
Hall."
Training was in full swing by the end of September, 1914, the
107th Brigade being at Ballykinlar, the 108th at Clandeboye and
Newtownards, and the 109th at Finner; where the accommodation
consisted at this early date almost entirely of tents. By good chance
the weather of the first three weeks of October was fine and mild,
but thereafter, and before the hutting was completed, a very wet and
severe winter set in. The U.V.F. training was a great advantage. It
was easy to handle bodies of men, the most ignorant of whom could
at least number, form fours, march in step, and keep alignment from
the first. And the old organization held till it could be replaced
by the new. As one Commanding Officer writes: "The U.V.F. officers
and N.C.O.'s kept the men in order till we straightened out into
the regular army formation." The enthusiasm of the men of those
days of 1914 is something that no officer who served with them can
ever forget; something perhaps, also, that none but those officers
who began their training in the first six months of the war ever
witnessed. There is a slow-burning flame in the Ulster blood that
keeps her sons, once raised to the passion of great endeavour, at
a high and steady pitch of resolution. They took their work with
extraordinary seriousness. They were all anxiety to learn. They
made their platoon commanders, beginners for the most part like
themselves, struggle to keep ahead of them in the art that both
were acquiring. How many of the junior officers must remember those
"conferences" of sergeants and section leaders after parade hours
and the circle of keen heads bent inward toward them; how many the
"parades" on the mess table, matches for sections, inked on one side
so that after many manœuvres the front rank might remain the front!
The Infantry of the 36th Division was formed on perhaps the most
strictly territorial basis of any Division of the New Armies; the
general rule being that battalions were drawn from the larger
regimental areas of the U.V.F., companies from the smaller, and
platoons from battalion areas. This had the great advantage that
it engendered a natural companionship and spirit of pride in the
units. The company, the platoon, was a close community, an enlarged
family. In after days, in the trenches and in billets behind the
lines, the talk, not only of men from Belfast and the larger towns,
but of those from the country villages, would be of streets and, in
the latter case, of farms and lanes of which those present had known
every detail from childhood. The old clan-names of the Northumbrian
and Scottish Borders were clustered thick together. A platoon would
have five Armstrongs or Wilsons or Elliots, a company half a dozen
Irvines or Johnstons, a battalion half a score of Morrows or Hannas.
To be set against that great accretion of moral force which springs
from such a survival of the clan was the minor disadvantage that
the non-commissioned officers for the most part, and certainly all
the juniors amongst them, were the brothers and cousins and close
companions of the men they commanded. It was not that their orders
were disobeyed; it was rather that there was at first a diffidence
about the orders, which sometimes appeared to be rather in the nature
of persuasive requests. In a few units the non-commissioned officers
were changed about, so that they came in contact with men with whom
they were less familiar. But the problem was never a serious one,
and it finally disappeared. The only other disciplinary problem was
that of week-end leave. The great bulk of the men of the 107th and
108th Brigades and most of the Divisional Troops were training near
their homes. They could not understand why they should be kept in
camp doing nothing on Sundays when they might have been visiting
them. Though leave was given generously enough, this remained a sore
point till the Division moved to England. Apart from "absence without
leave" there was no crime to speak of. Such occasional blackguards
as were found in the ranks were swiftly disposed of, a sentence of
"discharged as incorrigible and worthless," which was, as a fact,
quite illegal in time of war, being their fate.
The Divisional Commander was a firm believer in marching, not only
as a preparation for that feature of military life, but as a creator
of toughness and endurance to meet the varied strain of war. By
the early months of 1915 one brigade route march of from twenty
to twenty-five miles, and shorter battalion marches each week,
had become the general rule. Equipment being slow in making its
appearance, General Powell had rucksacks, of the Alpine pattern,
made in Belfast, to be carried, fully loaded, on the march instead
of the pack, and bolts from the shipyards to take the place of
small-arm ammunition in the pouches. There was, as might be expected,
some grumbling at what appeared to be a needless imposition, but
the troops benefited by the experience, and Sir Archibald Murray,
when they marched past him the following summer, remarked how
easily they carried their packs. Numerous recruiting marches were
also carried out, which provided further training in marching and
march-discipline, and at the same time exhibited detachments of the
units from the countryside to the remotest villages in their area.
Everywhere they were received with the greatest pride and enthusiasm.
For the rest, the training was that of all the New Armies. The
Infantry had "D.P." rifles, the R.E. for a long time no material
save what was bought for them. Little musketry could be carried out,
such as there was being done with a handful of short service rifles
allotted to each battalion, and in some cases with rifles borrowed
from the U.V.F.--upon which inspecting Generals turned a blind eye.
By Infantry and Sappers alike trenches were dug, as an officer of
the latter acidly remarks, about eighteen inches wide and with
perpendicular sides. But that, of course, was a universal experience.
Much discussion took place upon the relative merits of trenches
sited upon the forward and reverse slopes of undulating ground.
Not till 1918, and then to an extent but small, was any choice to
be left by the enemy in the siting of positions. The R.A.M.C. was
the first to be equipped. The people of Ulster showed its affection
for its Division by the presentation of very fine motor ambulances,
each of which bore inscribed upon the body the name of the town or
association from which it came. In some of these cars the gangway was
sufficiently wide to take two additional stretchers, which proved an
inestimable boon in the Battle of the Somme.
[Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL SIR C. H. POWELL, K.C.B.]
The winter, it has already been remarked, was a very wet one. The
health of the troops was generally good, a few cases of that dreadful
disease cerebro-spinal meningitis causing the medical staff its
greatest anxiety. In order, however, to spare the men as far as
possible from strain and discomfort, and to allow those that remained
to be accommodated in the huts as they were completed, some units
were moved out of the camps; the 9th Irish Fusiliers[14] of the 108th
Brigade, and the 11th Inniskillings[14] of the 109th, for example,
moving to barracks, the first to Holywood and Belfast, the second to
the town that gives the regiment its name, Enniskillen. In January
the 109th Brigade, less the 10th Inniskillings, moved to Randalstown.
The 10th Inniskillings remained on the West coast till the first days
of May, suffering the wildest weather in their exposed camp, but
probably no worse than was suffered by the rest of the Brigade in
the first days at Randalstown, which became such a quagmire that men
who slipped from the "duck-boards" between the huts sometimes sank
to their knees in the mud. As weather improved and the hutments were
completed, the full Brigades reassembled in their camps, the 10th
Inniskillings marching across Ireland, from west coast to east, to
rejoin. With the spring there began a new era of intensive training.
Meanwhile had been fought the Marne, the Aisne, the two Battles
of Ypres, Neuve Chapelle. The life in France was impossible to
imagine for those who had not seen it. Not all the marching and
countermarching, the attacks, the trench-digging, the bivouacks,
and cooking of meals in the open could print for the mind's eye an
adequate picture of that. But gradually, through letters, through
the recitals of wounded friends, men began to form some conception
of the realities of modern war, as fought against a race which, for
courage, endurance, and resource, ranked with the most formidable
warrior peoples of the world's history. The gas attack in the Salient
was evidence, if any were still needed, of the temper of the new
Germany. Men did not blanch, but it was inevitable that, to the more
seriously minded among them at least, another and a grimmer picture
than that which had been present with them at the beginning should
form itself. They had answered many calls, chief among them love of
country in various aspects. Mingled with this had been, however, the
spirit of adventure. The old rowel that had driven Ulstermen over
the seas, making them colonists and administrators, was sharpened
again by the war. It pricked on these young men, the flower of their
country. Now, perhaps, the spirit of happy adventure faded a little,
but it was replaced by that of hard resolution and duty. The training
had had its physical results. The troops were strong and supple in
their strength. But it had had a moral result also. The Division was
no longer a mass of men, even of drilled and disciplined men. It had
become, in the mysterious fashion that such things happen, welded
into a whole, a spiritual unit. Little by little the group-spirit had
grown, till before the troops quitted Ireland a sensitive observer
might fancy he could detect it whenever he came in contact with them.
One factor in this group-spirit and in the whole life of the
Division, which is here approached with diffidence, but which could
not be omitted from a faithful record, was the element of religion.
It is sometimes forgotten that the Covenant of the seventeenth
century was taken almost as widely in Ulster as in Scotland.
Undoubtedly something of the old covenanting spirit, the old sense of
the alliance of "Bible and Sword," was reborn in these men. It was
the easier recreated because of the strength of religious feeling
which had existed in times of peace in Protestant Ulster, one of the
few parts of the country wherein the reformed churches had not, by
their own admission, lost ground in the last thirty years. Religious
feeling inspired the men of Ulster in those days of training, and
remained with them in the days of war. The General commanding the
4th Division, to which the 36th was attached for instruction after
its arrival in France, spoke of his astonishment at finding so many
Ulstermen reading their Bibles. The writer of this book can bear
witness from personal observation that it was not uncommon to find a
man sitting on the fire-step of a front-line trench, reading one of
the small copies of the New Testament which were issued to the troops
by the people at home. The explanation was that, on the one hand,
religion was near and real to them; on the other, that they were
simple men. They saw no reason to hide or disguise that which was a
part of their daily lives.
The people of Ulster were given an opportunity to see their Division
as a whole. On May the 8th it was inspected by Major-General Sir Hugh
McCalmont at Malone, afterwards marching through Belfast, the salute
being taken by the General at the City Hall. It was a fine day; the
City was dressed in bunting, and the main streets rocked with a mass
of enthusiastic spectators, who had crowded in by special train from
all about the Province. The troops were to remain two months longer
in Ireland, always on the tiptoe of expectation of a move, but that
was the real farewell of Ulster to the Division she had given to the
nation.
Early in July the Division moved to Seaford, on the Sussex coast,
leaving the 9th Inniskillings to recruit at Ballycastle from the
shameful disease of German measles! But a small proportion of those
15,000 men had ever previously crossed the Irish Sea. The English
were new to them, as they were to the English. The impressions
made on either side were favourable. The men were treated with
the greatest kindliness, and, for their part, their behaviour was
excellent; reassuring, indeed, to some of those residents who had
been perturbed at the idea of this incursion of "wild Irishmen." Not
a few of the people of Seaford, on seeing the announcement of this
History in the press, wrote to the author and spoke of their pleasant
memories of the Ulstermen's sojourn in the district. Seaford made a
fine training area. It was a healthy place, and the splendid downs
behind the town were ideal for tactical exercises. Soon they were
scored with white chalk trenches. On one occasion, when the whole
Division, with the exception of the Artillery--Infantry, Cavalry,
Cyclists, Engineers, R.A.S.C., and R.A.M.C.--had been engaged in
night manœuvres, it was discovered when dawn broke that a deep trench
had been cut across a very valuable gallop belonging to an Alfriston
training stable. An apologetic letter was sent to the owner, who
wrote back expressing his pleasure that his ground had been put to a
purpose so useful, offered half his jumps to the mounted units and
young officers for practice, and scarcely hinted that he hoped the
occurrence would not be repeated.
In the last week of July, when the troops were carrying out
their usual routine of training, a message was received that
Lieutenant-General Sir Archibald Murray, Deputy Chief of the General
Staff, would hold an immediate inspection. The result was of great
importance. Sir Archibald Murray informed Lord Kitchener on his
return that the Ulster Division was worthy of a higher place than it
occupied on the latter's private list of troops for the front. It was
not Lord Kitchener's fashion to ponder such questions.
"I'll go and see them to-morrow!" was his reply.
At half-past four on the 26th of July came a telephone message
that the Division was to parade for Lord Kitchener at 11 a.m. the
following day.
July the 27th was a bright, sunny day. Lord Kitchener came, dashed
at the waiting horses with such speed that before anyone could
speak he was on the back of one with a doubtful reputation, by no
means intended for his riding, and rode off. Colonel FitzGerald,
his Military Secretary, said he had never seen him better pleased,
and was quite unable to persuade him to leave the field for another
engagement. To General Powell he remarked that he was relieved to
find he had under his hand a Division ready for the front at a
moment's notice.
One incident of this inspection, related by the A.D.M.S. of the
Division, must be recorded, as it throws an interesting light on
Lord Kitchener's quickness of eye for and memory of details. The
personnel of the Field Ambulances was of fine physique, the mounted
men including many farmers' sons. As the Field Ambulances passed
the saluting point, Lord Kitchener turned to the A.D.M.S. with the
remark: "Those men are too fine for the R.A.M.C. You will have to
give me two hundred for the Artillery." The A.D.M.S. replied that
he hoped they would not be taken, as they had undergone a very
thorough training; to which Lord Kitchener, raising his voice,
simply repeated: "You will have to give me some of those men for the
Artillery."
A few days later an officer from the Adjutant-General's department
came down. He said that, at the moment, men were in fact not
particularly wanted for the Artillery, but that as "K." had ordered
it, they must be taken. The upshot was that, from a large number
who volunteered and some reinforcements from Newry, one hundred and
fifty were transferred to the Artillery, with the promise that they
should be used to reinforce that of their own Division--a promise
that, it is to be feared, was not in the majority of their cases
fulfilled. The sequel came two months later, when Lord Kitchener was
present at the King's Review. On reaching the 108th Field Ambulance,
the A.D.M.S. rode out to take up his position behind Lord Kitchener,
who turned to him and asked: "How many men did you send to the
Artillery?" "A hundred and fifty, sir." Lord Kitchener, somewhat
gruffly: "I thought I told you to send two hundred." The A.D.M.S.
thought it best to leave it at that.
Returning from the Seaford review, Sir Archibald Murray pointed
out to the Secretary for War that the 36th Division was not quite
so ready for France as he had supposed, since, though it had had
practice on the ranges at Seaford, as well as in Ireland, it had not
completed its official musketry and machine-gun courses, and was
not equipped for the front. Nor was the training of the Divisional
Artillery, which Lord Kitchener had not seen, nearly sufficiently
advanced. Lord Kitchener gave orders that musketry and equipment
should at once be completed, and that a fully trained Divisional
Artillery should be attached to the Division. Shortly afterwards he
said to Sir Edward Carson, referring no doubt to the New Armies only:
"Your Division of Ulstermen is the finest I have yet seen."
Owing to lack of accommodation it was a few weeks before the Division
moved to an area where its musketry could be carried out. By the
2nd of September it was assembled at Bordon and Bramshott. Here the
final equipment arrived, and there was feverish activity in fitting
it. Here also the musketry course was fired, for the most part with
American ammunition, which gave unsatisfactory results.[15] And
here the rest of the Division came to closer quarters with its own
Artillery, which had arrived at Bordon from Lewes on August the
31st. To be frank, there was some dismay when it was discovered how
elementary was its training. A year was the estimate by some regular
officers of the time needed to make it fit for service. The critics
had yet to learn what could be accomplished by intensive training,
directed from above with skill and energy, backed by hard work,
loyalty, and the swift intelligence of the Cockney from below.
The senior officers were now sent to France for instructional
purposes, being attached to the 5th and 18th Divisions. On their
return, news met General Powell that during his absence Major-General
O. S. W. Nugent, D.S.O.,[16] who had commanded a Brigade in France
with distinction, had been appointed to succeed him. The grounds of
the decision were unexceptionable: that Divisions should be taken
to France by general officers with experience of the conditions of
warfare in that country. There was, however, throughout the Division,
much sympathy with General Powell, who had been allowed to make his
tour in the line in ignorance of the fact, which the staff officers
with whom he came in contact knew, that his successor had been
appointed. He received the honour of the K.C.B. in recognition of his
high services in the training of the Division. Sir Herbert Powell
finally went to Vladivostok in charge of the British Red Cross. The
new commander was to remain with the Division for over two and a
half years. To-day his name is universally associated with it.
On September the 30th, the 36th (Ulster) Division, with the 1st/1st
London Territorial Artillery, was reviewed by His Majesty King George
the Fifth. It was desired not to prolong unduly the march past, as
His Majesty always insisted on waiting till the last man had gone
by, and General Nugent decided that the Artillery should advance in
column of batteries, and the Infantry in column of half-companies
with reduced intervals. It was a high test, triumphantly
accomplished. Lord Kitchener informed General Sir A. Hunter, G.O.C.
Aldershot Command, that the inspection was the quickest the King had
made since the beginning of the war: a triumph of staff work and of
drill. None of those who saw them is likely to forget the physique or
the bearing of that splendid body of men. It is hard to think without
emotion of what the Division was that day and the fate that awaited
it.
Lord Kitchener was there again, smiling and obviously well-pleased.
His Majesty warmly congratulated General Nugent, and, turning to Sir
George Richardson, who was present, told him what a fine Division had
been given by his Ulster Volunteers. As the King's motor-car overtook
some of the troops marching back to camp the men burst out into
wild cheering, so that the car swept along a loud-roaring line--an
unrehearsed and spontaneous exhibition of loyalty.
At the time of His Majesty's inspection the Advance Parties were
already in France. In the first days of October the Division crossed
the Channel, the mounted portion and transport to Havre, the
dismounted to Boulogne.
The year of preparation for battle was over.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Now Lord Carson of Duncairn.
[2] Now Brigadier-General T. E. Hickman, C.B., D.S.O., M.P.
[3] Sir Edward Carson's apprehensions were found to have been
justified when, on September the 15th, Mr. Asquith's Government
passed the Home Rule Act, the whole of the Unionist Party leaving
the Chamber as a protest against what it regarded as a breach of the
Truce.
[4] As, of course, were the titles "Scottish," "Irish," "Welsh,"
"Northern," "Southern," etc., to other Divisions.
[5] Now the Right Honble. Sir James Craig, Bt., Prime Minister of
Northern Ireland.
[6] Now Commander Locker-Lampson, C.M.G., D.S.O.
[7] Now Brigadier-General Ricardo, C.M.G., C.B.E., D.S.O.
[8] Captain Ricardo was asked officially to ascertain the views
of the Nationalist Party, in his district, which had a military
organization of its own. They replied that they would help on the
following conditions: (_a_) they would guard the shores of Ulster
only, and would not leave it; (_b_) they must be allowed to keep
their arms at the end of the war.
[9] Now Sir Herbert Powell, K.C.B.
[10] A G.S.O., 1st Grade, was not appointed to Divisions in training
at home.
[11] Now Lieut.-Colonel Spender, C.B.E., D.S.O., M.C.
[12] Formed May 1915.
[13] Now Sir G. Hacket Pain, K.B.E., C.B., M.P.
[14] In future, battalions of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers,
Royal Irish Rifles, and Royal Irish Fusiliers will be alluded to as
"Inniskillings," "Rifles," and "Irish Fusiliers," respectively.
[15] The writer saw one man, at whose shoulder he had stood on a
U.V.F. range while he put five huge bullets from an Italian Veterli
into the bull's-eye, miss the target twice at 600 yards.
[16] Now Sir Oliver Nugent, K.C.B., D.S.O.