Chapter II: 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.