MUNSTER8 Burma to Supress an Uprising by the Dacoit Rebels

FOR MY GRANDFATHER, PRIVATE CHRISTOPHER DALY, CAPTURED AT ETREUX, AUGUST 1914. he Royal Munster Fusiliers were formed from the amalgamation of the 10lst Foot Regiment Royal Bengal Fusil- iers and the 104th THE SECOND Foot Regiment Bengal Fusiliers. These two regiments became the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the Royal Munster Fusiliers under an order passed in July 1881. Regimental headquarters were in Tralee. In 1886, they were sent to MUNSTER8 Burma to supress an uprising by the Dacoit rebels. During their stay in Burma, they won a prize of 300 rupees in aYriflecontest which was open to all the troops. During the 1890s, they were posted back to India again. The Boer 1914 1918 War broke out in October 1889, and the Munsters were off again. They landed in Durban on 30th December 1901, and from there they proceeded to Botha's by Des Ryan Part One Pass, where they were employed build- ing blockhouses from Botha's Pass to reinforce the blockhouse line, and a pri- at Limerick for a while. When Edward Vrede. The blockhouses were set up in vate was wounded when a party of VII died in May 1910, they were,$ent to an effort to control Boer movements. Boers rushed the line. On 10th October London and lined the funeral rdute at The wide open plains gave the Boer 1902, they left South Africa and returned Picadilly. During the coronation of guerrillas superior mobility and ham- to Ireland, arriving in Queenstown George V, in 1911, they again lined pered the British forces and their sup- (Cobh) on 16th of November.' Picadilly and part of Pall Mall. Because ply columns. The blockhouses were In August 1903, they were presented the Mall was behind Picadilly, they had cylindrical in shape, with projecting A- with new regimental colours by King to break ranks and run down the side shaped roofs, and each was manned by Edward VII at Cork racecourse. In April streets to get there on time. During a seven men. During a drive on the 1904, they were stationed in Gibralter, miners' strike that year, they were Orange River Colonv, on February 21st where they won the Governor's Cup for posted to Birmingham and Coventry; and 22nd 1902, a detachment of musketry. Later on, the battalion their duties consisted mainly of guard- fusiliers were sent to Botha's Pass to returned to Ireland and were stationed ing railway stations and-- signal-boxes- --- The action at Etreux, August 27th, 1914. TWENTY-ONE and of escorting supplies. When war news of the retreat until 11 p.m. Later does about using a knitting needle. was declared, they were stationed at that night (2 a.m. .on Monday 24th), the The Germans shot the horses from Aldershot. 1st and 2nd Armies received their under our men and then the Uhlans On 28th June 1914, Gavrilo Princip, a orders to disengage and pull back. It tried to capture our batter^."^ member of a Bosnian nationalist move- appears that the stretegy was to hold "The Munsters got orders to leave the ment, assassinated the heir to the Aust- the Germans at bay during daylight, trenches and pull the guns out of rian-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz and then fall back under the cover of action", said another fusilier, Private Ferdinand, and also his wife, Sophie, darkness. That Monday morning, as Crowley. He had been wounded insthe who had been on a visit to the capital of the Munsters were digging in, the Ger- leg, but this did not stop him from!giv- Bosnia, Sarajevo. Princip's weapons man attack was renewed, as one ing his comrades a hand. After ,tying were supplied by a terrorist organisa- fusilier has recounted: the pull-ropes to the guns, they w,ere tion in the neighbouring state of Ser- bia. (Bosnia and Serbia are now part of Yugoslavia). The Austrian government believed the Serbian government were behind the assassination and sent Ser- bia a; ultimation. Although Serbia complied with most of its terms, Austria was not satisfied, and declared war on the 28th July. Within afew days, all the major powers of Europe were involved in the war; Russia supported Serbia; Germany backed up Austria and France sided with Russia. Ger- many declared war on Russia on the 1st August and against France on the 3rd. The German invasion of neutral Bel- gium brought England into the war. On 4th of August, England declared war on Germany. An expeditionary force was raised which became known as the BEF, and the Munsters Fusiliers formed part of this force. On 13th of August, the fusiliers left Southampton on the ship "Dunvegan Castle" for the French port of Le Havre. They stayed in a ca-mp for two days during bad weather when there was heavy rain and thunder and lightning. From Le Havre they travelled by rail to a place called Le Nouvion and then marched to a village named Boue, where they spent another five days doing route marches. By 22nd August, they had moved up to the Belgian frontier. On Sunday morning, the 23rd, 86,000 sol- diers of the BEF were waiting on a Lanc. Cpl. Jim Cleary, of WestlandRow, Limerick, catpuredat Etreux, August 1914. twenty mile front, near the Belgian mining town of M~ns.~They were "The Germans $urned up en masse. attacked by German cavalry. He lost his divided into two armies, the 1st and Their first shells landed at our rear, footing while endeavouring to parry a 2nd. The Munsters were part of the 1st but they soon found the proper range sword stroke which a German made at Army under the command of General through their flying machines, which his head, and though he avoided this Haig. The German 1st Army was known kept beyond our rifle range. We were one and got to his feet again, he to be near; its commander, General digging our trenches when the first received another trust in the f~rearm.~ Von Kluck, did not expect any opposi- shells went wide, but before we had Later that night as the fusiliers were tion and had remarked earlier on that time to occupy our trenches, the Ger- preparing to fall back, they hitched the he would send the police to arrest the mans gof the accurate range. Our captured German horses to the guns BEF - a phrase once used by Bismark. men withstood the fire bravely, but still had not enough horses, and the In Mons, that Sunday morning the thbugh we were up against a regular men had to pull some of the guns. One sun was shining brightly and the stone wall of Germans. We mowed fusilier with a sense of humour people of the town were getting ready them down as we went through remarked: "The German horses did not for mass. A small train filled with holi- them, but as far as we wentthey were understand Irish but they pulled the day-makers was seen passing on its still there. After our thirty miles guns alrightU.Theyhad to pull theguns way to the coast. At 10 a.m. the Ger- march we were fairly worn out and a distance of about five miles, and get- mans came. As the battle raged all that besides the Germans were much bet- ting on to the main road just as dark- day around the coal fields of Mons, the ter served with machine-guns than ness set in, they rested until daybreak, Munsters somehow or other escaped we were. In our battalion we had only when relief horses came to their assis- the German onslaught. About 5 p.m. one machine-gun, while they were tan~e.~ the French 5th Army - who were to able to bring up columns of machine- On 25th August, the Munsters were the right of the fusiliers (see map) - guns. But we rushed them with our expecting to billet at Landrecies. As the began to give way and retreat. Due to a rifles and bayonets. As far as their 1st Army entered Landrecies, they lack of communication between the rifle firing was concerned they could encountered on the road a Body of French and the BEF, Sir John French, not hit a hay-rick. They knew no more troops who wore French uniforms and (the BEF comrqa@der) did not receive about using a bayonet than a child whose officer spoke in French. Sud- TWENTY-TWO denly these troops, "without the now under heavy attack at Fesmy. down. I was no sooner down when slightest warning, lowered their "What they did not know was that a dis- two shots came ringing over my bayonets and charged". They were patch rider with orders to continue the head. I was then four fields away some of Von Kluck's men and, like the retreat had been shot downr'.ll Around from my comrades. I got down on my 1st Army, were also scheduled to billet noon the 10th Reserve German Army hands and knees and crept along the that night at Landrecies. General Haig, had launched their attack on Fesmy. ground until I got back to my com- thinking he was under heavy attack, Having forced their way into the vil- rades. There they lay ready for action, telephoned BEF headqyarters to send lage, they got as far as a couple of gun- when they heard the shots. I wasvery help. Assuming the worst, GHQ sent limbers drawn up at the side ofthe road unlucky for a moment. I was aga,in orders altering Haig's line of retreat for and killed and dispersed the gunners sent back to my post, but when th 're the next day.

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