FOR MY GRANDFATHER, PRIVATE CHRISTOPHER DALY, CAPTURED AT ETREUX, .

he Royal Munster were formed from the amalgamation of the 10lst Foot Royal Bengal Fusil- iers and the 104th THE SECOND Foot Regiment Bengal Fusiliers. These two became the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the Royal Munster Fusiliers under an order passed in July 1881. Regimental headquarters were in . 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 from Botha's Pass to reinforce the 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. rushed the line. On 10th October London and lined the funeral rdute at The wide open plains gave the Boer 1902, they left and returned Picadilly. During the coronation of guerrillas superior mobility and ham- to Ireland, arriving in Queenstown , 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 . 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 , 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. This move was to splitthe and horses. The Munsters counter- I did not see anything. While I Jas BEF in two, the result being that the 1st attacked and drove the Germans from eating an apple I heard the Germ@ and 2nd armies lost contact for several the village. The Germans then cavalry coming along in close order days6 with their lances, one thousand yards As the Munsters left Landrecies the from me, but they did not see me. In next morning, they spotted some Ger- order to check their advance, I fired mans coming out of a forest: "They three shots. They got off their horses crossed a tillage field on to a ridge when they heard the shots. That gave about 1,000 yards away. They were at me time to get back to my comrades the rate of twelve to one. We did a and tell them about the enemy. At bayonet charge. When they saw the this time there was only half of "A" wild Irish coming, they held up their company to fight or die. There was hands, and also six white flags. We only twosections of us in this battery. went over to take them prisoners. Our line of fire was small, and only When we got out on the left of them extended one hundred yards. The they picked up their arms and shot us German line of fire extended over down. They opened up on us with a lot two miles. We held our position until of maxims (machine-guns). Very few of there was only seven of us left. We us got back. There were five of us who were lying there for two hours, and got back without a wound. But we paid they were coming nearer and nearer, them for it. Our artillery kept it shelled until they were only ten yards from night and day and every rifle shot took us. They were all around us. While we down a German. When we got done were there the rain fell in torrents. they were as thick on that ground as Thank God for the rain -that is what grass- dead and ~ounded".~ saved us from being killed. There we After a tiring march on Wednesday were and our teeth crackling from the the 26th, the Munsters had reached the cold and hunger at the same time. village of Fesmy. It was here they Our officer was brave and so were received their orders to cover the with- our men. We all gave up to be killed drawal of the remainder of the rear- and sure to die. We had only one guard. A French army officer, wounded chance to take a certain road, and during the retreat, was in Fesmy and A map of the battlefield, there were Germans left and right of witnessed this event: "The Colonel us. I led my comrades as best I could. simply nodded his head and he passed retaliated, this time driving cattle in We all ran. I was first, but the fire was them (orders) on to the men, like as front of them; but after a couple of too heavy and I turned myself though he was giving orders to a waiter machine-gun bursts from the fusiliers, under a hedge until all the fire at a h~tel."~ they fell back.12 ceased. All my comrades had gone To help them out in this task they Private Patrick O'Donnell's company away, and I was alone. I fell nine were given two field guns (each gun was stationed at a crossroad outside times under heavy fire, but God must was pulled by six horses) and two Fesmy. In a letterto his wife, he said: be with me, to say that I could escape. troops of the 15th Hussars. They were "Now is my chance to tell you about I was lying on the road for ten divided into four companies (ABCD) our first battle on the 27th August, minutes before I could get up and and took up positions in and around when our first misfortune took place. being then alone, I was in great Fesmy, under the command of Major We were all together and took up danger. Our brave officer was Paul Charrier. Half of "A" Company position at a cross of four roads. But wounded and two of my comrades, and one troop of Hussars were sent to we did not know what was gcing to leaving only three out of five the village of Bergues, about two miles happen this daj. There was only the hundred. It was God that saved away. At 9 a.m. on Thursay, the 27th, a Royal Munster Fusiliers at this battle me."13 German cavalry patrol appeared just fighting the rearguard action. It was While all this was taking place, there outside Fesmy. They fired a few shots there where our comrades fell. We were one or two humorous incidents. A into the village. While some fusiliers formed a company about four miles company cook was seen chasing a pig, were digging, others fired at the from the remainder of our battalion. and its yells could be heard above the enemy.g The Germans, dismounting We were at this crossroads for two sound of battle. Another cook was seen from their horses, took cover and hours before we met anything. I was running from one side of the road to the waited for reinforcements. New orders put on an out-post alone, four fields other, under heavy fire, with the men's arrived for the Munsters: they were to away. It was a risky job, but we did dinners. The men taunted him with hold onto their positions until ordered not think for a moment that we were shouts of "Come on Micky, what are or forced to retreat. going to fight. I was up an apple tree you stopping in the middle of the road At 12.30 a.m., the road at Etreux was getting some apples, when I was for?" and "Don't be emptying all that reported to be clear of all transport. At 1 fired on by the Germans. I was put tea down your trousers." p.m. orders were dispatched to all rear- about for a moment, but soon came Around 2 p.m. there was a lull in the guard units to retire at once.1° This to my senses, and looking around me fighting and the Munsters began message though sent by two routes I could see nobody. I fell off the apple evacuating their positions. The field- failed to reach the Munsters, who were tree - it was the quickest way. to get- gunners went first and took up posi- i'. TWENTY-THREE tions outside the village to cover the reported to him, at about sunset. take the road to get the train for Sen- men's retreat. Meanwhile, "A" Com- Once more, he rallied the men to the nelager. During our journey many of pany and the Hussars, after being dri- charge and, mortally wounded, fell as the men dropped down from pure ven out of Bergues, retreated south- they crossed the road.15 exhaustion and hunger. Expecting on wards towards Oisy, arriving about 3 Incident by incident, the later stages our arrival that decent provision p.m. By 5.30 p.m., nearly all the battal- of the Munsters' stand developed as would be made after what we suf- ion was assembled at Oisy, except "B" the hours passed by and ammunition fered, to our great surprise and Company. Runners and cyclists were could only be renewed by taking what astonishment we were compelled to sent out to find them and it was nearly was left from the dead and dying. sleep out on a 'sandy desert' wifhout an hour before they rejoined the battal- Slowly and dreadfully, the twilight covering of any descriptionj This ion. As the fusiliers prepared to leave came as the German onslaught class of thing prevailed for about ten the village the Germans tried to sur- gathered force and the many sounds of or twelve days, when inforrn4tion round them. The Munsters opened fire battle rose around the men who, with was tendered by a German under- and a bridge over which the Germans the battalion thinned to less than half officer that some straw would be were forced to come was filled with the their fighting forces, still resisted the dead and dying. Gradually, the fusiliers massed battalions of German sol- left thg village and after a final burst of dier~.'~ fire, they leaped to their feet and ran f6r "So many officers had by this time it. Unknown to the Munsters, the Ger- fallen that the command devolved man 19th Reserve Division upon Lieutenant Gower. Collecting (who were some miles away) heard the such men as were left, he formed fighting and anticipated the fusiliers' them in an orchard, facing to all next move to the village of Etreux. The points of the compass and continued Germans moved into the village and to resist. Gradually the Germans waited. crowded in on them from three sides, As the Munsters edged their way bringing fresh machine-guns into towards Etreux, they spotted some position and at 9.15 p.m. they closed Germans running across the road in in also from the north and the little the village. Major Charrier summgned band of not more than two-hundred- their two field-guns. As the gunners and-fifty of all ranks, with ammuni- whipped up their horses and galloped tion almost spent, was overpowered. down the road, a battery of German The Munsters had been fighting artillery, about 15,000 yards east of the against overwhelming odds for village, opened fire on them.14With ter- nearly twelve hours and discovered rifying impact, a shell exploded among at the end that they had been the leading gun-team, killing and matched against at least six battal- wounding most of the men and horses. ions of the 73rd and 77th Reserve Another shell hit a farmhouse which Infantry Regiments of the 19th the gun-team were passing at that Reserve Division, besides three of the time. Short range rifle fire was opened 15th Regiment of the 2nd Guard on them from the south and from some Reserve, all forming part of the 10th Germans, who were hidden in houses Reserve Corps. Beyond question, on the northern outskirts of the village. they arrested the enemy's pursuit in The Germans' main position seemed to this quarter for fully six hours."17 be a loop-holed house on the west side The next day about 1500wounded Ger- of the road. The battalion was sur- mans were assembled in the vil- rounded. Charrier called to the gunners lage and this number did not include to put a round into the house, but to no the casualties at Fesmy and Oisy. avail, and the last remaining gunner The Munsters were allowed to bury was shot down while carrying an 18- their dead comrades. They buried at pounder to the gun. The rattle of mus- least 110 men in the orchard which had ketry and the booming of gunscould be been the scene of their last stand. (In heard everywhere; the air itself vib- 1921, the orchard was bought, a wall rated. On all sides, the dead lay in hud- was built around it, with iron gatesfac- dled heaps, while the wounded, with ing the Extreux-Landrecies road. On grey faces, tried to rise, or crawled in the 4th of June 1922, Father Willie maimed agony a little further on to die. Gleeson performed a dedication cere- given to us. No tents were erected, Bit by bit, the shattered remnants of the mony).18 and we had only a blue sky above us. battalion fell back into an orchard, Private Wm. O'Connell, from Bishop In hail, rain, frost and snow we were where Captain Chute brought the Street, Limerick, was one of those who condemned to submit to this terrible machine-guns along the road under a survived, and he has recorded: ordeal. During all that time the condi- hail of lead and placed them in posi- "After being captured we were tion ofthe men was something awful. tion. He was wounded in the side and brought to an old mill near Etreux No clean underwear was ever given immediately afterwards was killed by and there we remained for 16 days, them; nor facilities for resting or any- another bullet. Led by Major Charrier, living on a very 'substantial' basin of thing else offered. We were compel- the fusiliers charged the loop-holed soup called cabbage-water. Nothing led to exist on a drop of black coffee house but could not take it. An envelop- else was offered to us, although the made trom burnt horsebeans and a ing force now circled around them with majority of our lads suffered from small ration of bread for the whole a ring of fire, shells and bullets. Major rather severe wounds. In order to day and had often to work very hard. Charrier, who was twice wounded, partake of this so-called soup, we had Many a time, I have seen unfortunate steadily continued the direction of the to use broken bottles, as no utensils Irish lads driven at the point of the action. He was standing by one of the were provided. On the seventeenth bayonet to walkthree of four kiltmet- guns, which had been put out of action, day we were all ordered to 'fall in'and ers to carry heavy railway sleepers when Lieutenant Gower came and and owina to their weak conditions they fainted under the heavy burden. Carey, had left the house the night parade, at St. Gobain on the 29th The sanitary arrangements here before to give a hand at a neighbouring August, the battalion could only mus- were very simply abominable. Star- farm. When he returned on the next ter 5 officers and 196 other ranks. Rein- vation, misery, and cruel treatment day and discovered what had hap- forcements arrived on 6th September., constituted our lot during ourtime in pened, he fell to his knees and thanked Meanwhile, the German advance into Sennelagqr. On the 22nd December, God for his escape, and prayed for the France was stopped at the Battle of the 1914, we were transferred to Limburg souls of his dead comrades.21 Marne which was just beginning.23 camp."1g In Brussels, an escape route existed Some of the Munsters who had been Another fusilier tells us that when he right under the noses of the German badly wounded at Etreux we.fe still was being transported by train to a authorities. It was run from a clinic by there in October. An officer attq'ched to prison camp, a search party of Ger- an English nurse, Edith Cavell. The the 2nd Battalion described the spne: many soldiers had "knocked him allied soldiers who hid there were "I was wounded in two placeb/a bul- about" in his train carriage, a process allowed to go out at night for exercise let right through my throat, and all which he found repeated with growing (when the evenings got dark) and were the biceps of my right arm blown away by a piece of shell, but no bones broken. The Germans are really good to us prisoners, and seem to be very clever, so there is really nothing to complain about. All the officers were sent off to Germany yesterday and all the men who were able to travel, so I am alone here among the Germans, except for three or four of our men who are very bad. The town where we are is just one big hospital. Every home in it is full of wounded men, and the flies and smells are awful ... I stay out in the air all day, and walk along by the canal as far as I can to be away from it all. Although we were well beaten, I believe we gave as good as we got. Some of the men who served in the Boer War said: "It was child's play to this, and that never was a battle so fierce as the one we were knocked In Limerick in those opening weeks of the war, recruits were enlisting at the Strand, Castle, the New (Sarsfield) and Ordinance (later Morgan McMahon's timber yard in Mulgrave Street) bar- racks. A relief committee was set up by the Old Munsters Comrades' Associa- tion and the following appeal was issued: "Amongst the troops at the front is the 2nd Battalion Royal Munster Fusiliers, the Regiment which for many years has been localized in Munster and whose Regimental Dis- trict comprises the Counties of Clare, Cork, Kerry and Limerick. It's ranks are largely filled with men drawn from those counties. We, who are Fr. Willie Gleeson giving general absolution, Rue du Bois, 8th May 1915. watching their fortunes in the field with anxious hearts, must take care brutality at every station throughout asked to bdback by 9 p.m. One even- that they lack nothing which we can Germany. Angry crowds of soldiers ing, a group of Munsters went to a cafe, send them to add some measure of threatened him and waved revolvers in some distance from the clinic. They got comfort to the inevitable hard-ships his face; the German Red Cross people drunk and a fight started. After causing of active service; we must relieve had been "particularly bad", ignoring some damage to the cafe, they were them of all care or anxiety as to the his wounds, while repeatedly giving thrown out. Fear and panic had set in at welfare of their dear ones left behind; food to the German soldiers. Though the clinic by the time the drunken sol- and we must see that funds are forth- weak from his wounds, he was prod- diers came back singing "It's A Long coming to assist the many who alas! ded with bayonets to march the mile Way To ". They had placed will return home battered and from the train station to the camp.20 themselves, Nurse Cavell and the many maimed from the battlefield, unable As the Germans moved into northern others who were trying to help them in to earn a liveliho~d."~~ France, groups of fusiliers were trap- great danger. As far as is known, this Among the ladies on the committee ped behind the lines. In one case, a incident passed unnoticed by the Ger- was Major Charrier's wife, who did not party of twelve Munsters were hidden mans who were billeted in the area.22 know, at that time, that her husband by a miller and hisfamily. The Germans After the battle at Etreux, those was already dead. having discovered this, raided the fusiliers who were lucky enough to A German merchant ship, the""~er- house and executed the miller and ele- escape southwards reformed at the pischore", which had been in Limerick ven fusiliers. The t~elfth,a man named town of Jonqueusea. At a roll-call when war was declared, was st0DDed. .

WENT/-FIVE "F" CompanvZnd Munsters, Aldershot, circa 1913, at Foynes, and the crew were made 9th November, they were ordered into command. The rifle fire was very heavy prisoners-of-war. The ship was then the front line. On the loth, they that day, and the men had to throw brought back to Limerick. By 8th Sep- marched through Zillebeke to the their food from one trench to another; tember, six or seven Limerickmen woods near Klien Zillebeke, where they any attempt to carry it along the line arrived home on leave after the retreat relieved the . On the was to court certain death. from Mons. One of those was Jeremiah next morning, intense artillery fire was On the 13th, the Germans broke Lyons. On 23rd September, the ex- opened up on them. Shells of all through on the Munsters' left and could army men employed in the G.P.O. weights and sizes hissed and screamed actually be seen coming around behind where he had worked, presented him through the air, and the constant vibra- them. At that moment, some forty men with a cigarette case and a box of tions from exploding shells knocked of "C" Company attacked the Ger- cigarettes. October brought news of out the fillings from the men's teeth. mans. When they went forward with a Limerickmen who had been captured The advance of the Prussian Guard yell, the Germans hesitated and those during the retreat. Mrs. O'Connor, in could be heard long before it was seen. who stood their ground were bayon- Mary Street, received a letter from her As the Germans approached, they eted. Onward swept the wave of husband, who had been wounded dur- could be heard singing "Die Wacht am Munsters, and in a short time the lost ing the fighting and was now in a Ger- Rhine". The air was filled with bursting trenches were regained. That night, man hospital: "Nearly all the Battalion shells and with tree splinters which under cover of darkness, they moved was captured and were prisoners in flew in every direction - the falling back to their old positions.28 Germany".. trees burying the fusiliers as they lay in On the morning of the 14th, a Lance-Corporal Joseph O'Driscoll, of their shallow trenchd. The men fought number of German soldiers came for- Little Barrington Street, in a postcard to in groups of two and three and wave ward as if to surrender, with their his mother, wrote: after wave of Germans were shot hands above their heads and their rifles "Just a line to let you know I am alive down. Due to the rain and snow that held in one hand. The Munsters and well. We have been captured by had fallen, the area was now a sea of shouted at them to drop their rifles and the Germans. There are about 140 kil- mud, and the Munsters had a job in try- come in. A few did so, but some yards led, and about 50 wounded. The rest ing to stop the mud from clogging their from the trenches the rest of them are alive but prisoners. If you want to rifles. As the Prussian Guard came dropped as if one man and a second write my address will be Lance-Cor- closer, the fusiliers charged and the wave of Germans opened fire. Some of poral O'Driscoll, Prisoner, German Guard "scattered in wild disorder atthe them were shot down, but the attack Army".26 point ofthe bayonetn.27 was beaten back. This was the last A number of other families in the city On 12th Nov., the Munsters began to attack that the Germans made against also received cards. dig their trenches a bit deeper, to a the battalion during the battle for Towards the end of October, the depth of four feet. That day also, the . Munsters were moved up the Ypres senior NCO., of the Battalion, Quarter- One of the Munsters summed up the .- ("Wipers") salient and for four days in master-Sergeant Fitzmaurice, was kil- battle in a few words: November they were in the thick of the led, leaving Regimental Sergeant- "The Germans had made an effort to fighting. Reorganised as a kattalion on Major John Ring, a Limerickman, in take it (Ypres), and when they saw

P- - TWENN-SIX that was impossible they almost as to what happened next. On the 22nd, wounded men were taken first. It was levelled it to the ground with their the Battalion received orders that the the same with Major Thompson. He monstrous shells. the inhabitants original line was to be retaken. The day lay out side his trench all day scarcely got time to leave and a great before there had been a number of con- wounded, and still issued orders to many perished under their own tradictory orders, and it would apear his men till he died from exposure ... roofs. The Germans were driven back that this was to prove fatal for the Captain O'Brien left his bit of cover with great losses. The fighting was Munsters. On the left of the fusiliers and gave it to a private and was killed terrible. When the enemy retired they were the Gloucesters, and on their a few minutes afterwards. Other went for a rest, which was short lived, right, the . The officers were killed and wounfled for a 'coal box' came through the Munsters left the trenches that morn- during the advance, still the roof, killing seven...".29 ing at 7 a.m. As they moved out into no- went forward and took the tre l/"""ches at the point of the bay0net.3~ To make matters worse, the batt'al~on was shelled by its own artillery. At 10 p.m. that night, they received orders to withdraw. On Christmas Day, an unoffi- cial truce was observed on some parts of the front line, but not where the Munsters were: "We have a priest attached to the Battalion, Father Gleeson, a Thurles man. He said mass for us on Christ- mas Day, actually in the firing line. Where he had his little altar, was pep- pered with bullets. He is a grand priest and shows no fear".32 In January 1915, despite the unofficial truce, those soldiers who had played football with the Germans on Christ- mas Day, were now being ordered to play the game of war - or face courtmartial and possible execution. REFERENCES

1. History of the Royal Munsters, Vol. 2, by S. McGance, Gale and Polden, 1922. 2. War Underground, by A. Barrie-Star, 1981. 3. Limerick Chronicle, 51911914. 4. LimerickChronicle, 121911914. 5. Limerick Chronicle, 121911914. 6. Guns of August by B. Tuchman. 7. Limerick Chronicle, 711 111914. 8. Limerick Chronicle, 1011211914. 9. Limerick Chronicle, 1011211914. 10. History of The Royal Munsters, Vol. 2, by S. McGance, Gale and Polden, 1922. 11. Limerick Chronicle, 1011 211 914. 12. The 2nd Munsters in France by H.S. Jarvis, Gale and Polden, 1922. 13. Limerick Chronicle, 2711011914. 14. History of the Royal Munsters by S McGance, Gale and Polden, 1922. 15. The Story of the Munsters at Etreux, , Rue Du Bois and Hullock by Mrs. Victor Rickard, Hodder- Regimental Sergeant-MajorJohn Ring. Stoughton, 1918. 16. Ibid. On the 15th, the fusiliers were relieved man's-land, past Givenchy, a shot rang 17. History of the Royal Munsters,Vol. 2 by S. McGance, by the Grenadier Guards. As they out, then what gppeared to be a battery Gale and Polden, 1922. staggered back to the rest area, hungry, of machine-guns opened up on them. 18. Ibid. haggard, caked in mud, and wet Within ten minutes, over 200 men were 19. Limerick Chronicle, 131211919. through, their was a feeling among the hit. They took shelter in a country road 20. The Irish Sword, Vol. XV, No. 59,1982. 21. Old Contemptible by H. Beaumont, Hutchinson and with shallow ditches. There was no men that they had avenged the deaths Co., 1967. and capture of their comrades at sign of support, eitherfrom left or right. 22. Ibid. Etreux. Their next two nights of rest Later on, they would discover that they 23. History of the Royal Munsters Vol. 2 by S. McGance, were spent bivouaking in the rain and had been 500 or more yards ahead of Gale and Polden, 1922. bedding down in a field 3 inches deep the advancing troops.30 24. Limerick Chronicle, 2011011914. in water. As their Colonel realized what was 25. Limerick Chronicle, 11911914. On 21st December, the Munsters heppening, he ran forward to rally the 26. Limerick Chronicle, 2711011914. were sent down the line to Festubert. men, who got up and charged into the 27. Limerick Chronicle,. 12112/1914. Some Indian soldiers had been driven hail of fire: 28. The 2nd Munsters in France by H.S. Jarvis, Gale and Polden, 1922. back in this sector a few days previ- "Colonel Bent got wounded trying to 29. Limerick Chronicle, 1211211914. ously, and there was a gap in the line save a wounded private who lay in 30. The 2nd Munsters in France by H.S. Jawis, Galeand between Festubert and the village of front of his trench, and when the Polden, 1922. Givenchy. The fusiliers were called in stretchers bearers went for him he 31. Limerick Chronicle, 161111915. to fill this gap. There is,some confusion refused to be moved till all the 32. Ibid. . ,W

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