Dignitaries, members of the Irish Defence Forces, veterans, family, and members of the public turned out in the rain today at Grangegorman Military Cemetery to remember those who served and lost their lives during the Great War. The annual remembrance event is co-hosted by the OPW and Claddagh Branch Royal British Legion (RoI). The colour guard was provided by members of the Prison Service. The British Ambassador to Ireland Robin Barnett CMG laid a wreath.
It was an honour for Ireland’s Military Story/The Irish Military Heritage Foundation to be invited to the annual Great War commemoration in Woodenbridge, County Wicklow.
In beautiful surroundings on the banks of the river Aughrim at Woodenbridge county Wicklow is the Woodenbridge World War One Memorial Park. The memorial was built to commemorate the 1,192 men from the county who lost their lives in the Great War. People from all over the county gathered to remember and pay tribute to their countymen, many were family descendants of Wicklow men and women who had served and or lost their lives during the war. Chief Executive – Wicklow County Council Frank Curran opened the ceremony. In attendance were members of the diplomatic corps including German Ambassador to Ireland Deike Potzel, Polish Ambassador to Ireland Anna Sochańska, and British Ambassador to Ireland Robin Barnett CMG.
Veterans were represented by members of the Royal British Legion (ROI), the Royal Air Force Association, the Irish Guards Association, the Organisation of National Ex-Service Personnel and the Irish United Nations Veterans Association
Thank you to the The Western Front Association for their hospitality on Saturday at their conference in Dublin Port. Our team at the event thoroughly enjoyed the day and the speakers’ contributions The conference examined the legacy and aftermath of the First World War. The event was recorded by our team and you will be able to watch the lectures at your leisure in the coming weeks.
The photo shows conference speakers: Lar Joye , (Heritage Director at Dublin Port Company): ‘A Divided Company -Dublin Port and the Impact of the First World War’; Conference Chair, Dr. @Brendan O’ Shea (European Trustee, WFA); Gerry White, (Island of Ireland Trustee, WFA) ‘From Gunner to Guerrilla – Tom Barry’s Road to Rebellion’; Professor Gary Sheffield, (University of Wolverhampton, President of the WFA): ‘Hinge of the 20th Century: The aftermath of the First World War’; Dr. Jennifer Wellington, ( University College Dublin): ‘Exhibiting War: The Great War, Museums, and Memory’; Dr. Darragh Gannon, ( Queen’s University Belfast): ‘Beyond Versailles: Ireland’s Global Revolutionary Moment’. (Photo by Wesley Bourke)
Victory Day commemorations in Dublin 100 years Ago Today
On 11 November, 1918, the guns fell silent across frontlines
spanning several continents. Some ten million military personnel and eight
million civilians lost their lives. Millions of others were severally wounded,
many went on to live with hidden wounds that haunted them for the rest of their
lives. The war to end all wars, however, did not officially end until the
signing of the Treaty of Versailles on 28 June 1919 in Versailles between the
Allied Powers and Germany; exactly five years after the assassination of
Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The remaining Central Powers signed separate
treaties.
Evening News, 28 June 1919
To celebrate the ending of the war and to pay tribute to the
men and women who had fought and died during the conflict, Victory Day or Peace
Day commemorations were held around the world. In Britain a Peace Committee met
on 9 May 1919, and outlined a series of celebrations throughout the Great
Britain and Ireland running over four days, including a Public Holiday, Victory
Marches, a day of thanksgiving services, and other popular festivities. The
main Victory/Peace Parades took place on 19 July, 1919. In Ireland parades were
held throughout the country; the largest taking place in Dublin centred around
College Green.
The Evening Herald, Saturday, 19 July, 1919 reported:
‘Dublin’s Peace Day
Huge Crowds Witness Military Pageant in the Streets
THE IRISH REGIMENTS CHEERED
The much-discussed military demonstration in celebration of
Peace took place to-day in Dublin, and was witnessed by huge crowds who lined the
streets in the vicinity of College Green. The chief centre of attraction was
College Green, where a platoon was erected outside the Bank of Ireland, and was
occupied Viscount French, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and other members of the
Irish Government.
It is estimated that 15,000 troops and about 5,000 demobilised
soldiers (all Irish) took part in the “Victory Parade.” The remnants of the
Irish regiments were heartily greeted by the assembled crowds. Irish music by many
bands was a feature of the proceeding.’
Images from Freemans Journal 21 July, 1919 and Irish Life, 25 July 1919.
The papers noted the excitement in Dublin as people
travelled to the city the previous day and took up roof top positions early
that morning; crowds even trampled each other around O’Connell Bridge when they
leaned the parade was not coming their way. A detachment of Irish Guards had
been sent from London and it was their pipe band who took a pride of place.
Amongst the guardsmen was a blinded comrade. Some of the units taken part
included: the Royal Irish Regiment, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, the Royal
Irish Fusiliers, the Connaught Rangers, the Royal Munster Fusiliers, the Royal
Dublin Fusiliers and the Leinster Regiment also marched. Naturally the Royal
Dublin Fusiliers, which were estimated at a 1,000, were greeted with cheer
after cheer. For those wounded who couldn’t march a viewing stand was erected.
The bands played a variety of Irish music; St. Patrick’s Day and the Wearing of
the Green most noted.
The Irish Times noted: ‘Outside of London the whole kingdom saw no more heart-stirring celebration of the day than in Dublin. Our city’s Victory March furnished a noble answer to those who say that Ireland did not give her best to the cause of freedom.’
Around the country other smaller parades took place in
Athlone, Belfast, Cork, and Limerick, just to name a few.
Not everyone was happy with the parades. Black flags were hung out in several areas to note those who had been killed. Between 3,000 and 5,000 nationalist veterans under Sir Henry Grattan Bellew boycotted the parade as they felt betrayed after fighting for the liberation of smaller nations and Ireland was still without Home Rule. Republicans too were not impressed and in places sneered at the troops and painted slogans such as ‘You fought for freedom where is it!’
Victory Parade, Dublin photographed by Joseph Cashman, shows troops marching past College Green from the roof of Trinity College Dublin. The Cashman Collection is held at RTÉ Archives. Images: Courtesy of RTÉ Archives.
Annual Ceremony of Remembrance and Wreath Laying – Irish National War Memorial Gardens
Photographs by Ken Mooney and Wesley Bourke
The annual ceremony of commemoration and wreath-laying at the Irish National War Memorial Gardens at Islandbridge is arranged and led by the Royal British Legion Republic of Ireland District with the co-operation and assistance of the Irish State. This major Battle of the Somme anniversary event commemorates those who lost their lives in the two World Wars, in particular the estimated 60,000 Irish men and women from all parts of the Ireland who served and died in those conflicts. Representation from all parts and traditions of the Island of Ireland is a key feature.
The ceremony commenced at 12.30 pm with a colourful parade of the standards of Royal British Legion, regimental, ex-services organisations and commemorative associations. This was followed by an ecumenical service of remembrance, recitals and music and the laying of official wreaths by government and civic leaders from Ireland and Northern Ireland, members of the Diplomatic Corps, Service and veterans’ representatives.
Music was provided jointly by bands from the 1st Brigade of the Irish Defence Forces and the Royal Irish Regiment.
Some special guests this year include: Lt. Gen. James Bashall (National President) & Mrs Bashall, Mr Charles Byrne Director General TRBL and Maj. Gen. David Jolliffe IEST.
Pinnacle to the invasion’s success were combined operations. At the centre of these operations was an Wexford man – Captain Rickard Donovan
By Declan Brennan
Cover image: Personnel and equipment arriving at Normandy by air and sea following the D-Day invasion in 1944. (Photo: US National Archives and Records Administration, 26-G-2517.)
Captain Rickard Donovan – Early Years and service in the Great War
Rickard Donovan
Rickard Donovan was born in 1898, at Ballymore near Ferns in County Wexford. At the age of 13, he was sent to the Royal Naval Colleges in Osborne and Dartmouth, England to qualify for a career in the Navy. At the start of the Great War, he was promoted to midshipman and was serving on HMS Ocean until it was hit by a mine and sunk in the Dardanelles in March 1915. Rickard was reassigned to HMS Agamemnon from April to June 1915, followed by HMS Exmouth until January 1917, and finally HMS Blenheim to August 1917.
He travelled home in May 1916 for his father’s funeral. At this stage he had been promoted to Sub Lieutenant. For the remainder of the war, he became interested in and trained as a submariner, a service which was still in its infancy and extremely dangerous due to the many leaks and hazardous fumes on board the vessels. He did so well in this area of service he was promoted to Lieutenant by 1919.
Despite this promising start to his career, Rickard’s health was badly affected by his time aboard submarines and he contracted tuberculosis. By 1927, having reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander, the disease had progressed, he was invalided out of the Navy and granted a disability pension.
Times were hard for Rickard during the inter-war years and he worked in many areas, engineering, shipbuilding, at one stage he was a door-to-door salesperson selling china in London.
Rickard Donovan, extreme right, with fellow submariners.
World War II
At the outbreak of World War II in 1939, 41 year old Rickard reenlisted in the Armed Forces, and was assigned to Combined Operations which drew on the best practices and expertise available within the Royal Navy, the Army and the Royal Air Force to create a unified force. In the following years, Rickard was rapidly promoted, suggesting that he was highly regarded by his colleagues, comments in his service records show this to be true.
Combined Operations
A department of the British War Office set up during Second World War to harass the Germans on the European continent by means of raids carried out by use of combined naval and army forces. It comprised background staff whose job was to plan operations and to develop ideas and equipment to harass the enemy in any way possible. It also covered all those who worked with landing craft up to and including the landing ships that were used in the various amphibious operations. Among the projects undertaken by Combined Operations was the surveying of landing sites for invasions, including those of Sicily and Normandy. These were carried out by Combined Operations Pilotage Parties made up of members of the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Corps of Royal Engineers and Special Boat Service. Combined operations were involved in many misinformation campaigns (fake news!) which took place preceding the D–Day landings.
In 1942/43 Rickard was part of the Plans Division, In August 1943, he was promoted to Assistant Director of Plans with an Acting Rank of Captain. In December 1943 Rickard was again promoted to Deputy Director of Combined Operations, and in 1944 he was made Senior Deputy Director. Rickard was one of the small number of people responsible for working out the detailed plans necessary for Operation Overlord (D-Day), and for directing its course. It also appears that Rickard took the lead on most day-to-day activities in this period. Letters from Lord Mountbatten to Rickard are amongst the family memorabilia in Ballymore County Wexford.
Churchill wrote to Mountbatten following his visit, with others, to the Normandy beaches on D Day + 6 (12 June 1944):
“Today we visited the British and American Armies on the soil of France. We sailed through vast fleets of ships with landing-craft of many types pouring more men, vehicles and stores ashore. We saw clearly the manoeuvre in progress of rapid development. We have shared our secrets in common and helped each other all we could. We wish to tell you at this moment in your arduous campaign that we realise how much of this remarkable technique and therefore the success of the venture has its origin in developments effected by you and your staff of Combined Operations”.
Soldiers coming ashore at Normandy on D-Day. (Photo: US National Archives and Records Administration, 111-SC-320902.)
Confirmation that Rickard was at the centre of many operations carried out by Combined Operations were included in his own service records from the end of the war in 1945. Captain Robert Ellis, Assistant Chief of Combined Operations, wrote of Rickard ‘It is my opinion that the successful expansion of our naval amphibious resources owes much more to his brilliant work than to any other single factor. I have been particularly struck by his loyalty and patience in difficult and disappointing circumstances, when these have arisen.” [TNA, ADM 196/120, ADM 196/146, quote from ADM 340/242]
After D-Day he continued in Combined Operations turning his skills towards the campaign in South East Asia as Chairman of the Eastern Landing Craft Base Committee in 1945. In 1945 he received a CBE from the UK and a Legion of Merit from the USA in recognition of distinguished service to the Allied cause during the World War II.
Rickard Donovan, right, receiving the Legion of Merit in 1946.
Later Life
Rickard Donovan retired from the Royal Navy in May 1946, medically unfit, he had suffered greatly with the untreatable TB throughout the war, contracted from his time spent serving on Submarines years earlier.
Rickard Donovan died in London in 1952, at the age of 54. He was buried on the side of a hill overlooking the Irish sea, at the family farm in Ballymore, Co. Wexford. He always considered this as his home and visited regularly even during the height of WW2 to keep strong family ties with his mother and sisters.
At the beginning of World War I tank warfare was not in the manuals of the day. To break the deadlock of trench warfare however, the belligerent nations began to develop armed armoured tracked vehicles. These were crude machines. By Autumn 1917, the tank had made its appearance on the battlefield. Clement Robertson, from Delgany in Wicklow, was one of the first to volunteer for the newly established Tank Regiment – and the first tank Victoria Cross recipient. Robertson Family
Captain Clement Robertson VC, circa 1916. (Image from author’s collection)
Clement was born on 15 December, 1890, in Pietermaritzburg,
South Africa as his father was serving there at the time. He had four brothers,
three older and one younger. His great grandfather was William Robertson who
married Margaret Jameson in 1801. She was the daughter of John Jameson the
founder of the John Jameson and Sons Distillery and Margaret Haig (daughter of
John Haig the original proprietor of John Haig and Sons). His father John
Albert Robertson was born in 1851; he was in the Royal Artillery and served in
South Africa. He retired after the Boer War and settled more permanently in
Delgany in County Wicklow. The five sons were all involved in serving King and
Country in one way or another. William Cairns Robertson (1882-1950) DSO Royal
Artillery, Albert John Robertson (1884-1954) (My Grandfather) Royal Navy Rear
Admiral and MVO, Sir Fredrick Robertson Kt Bach CSI CIE (1885-1964) was in the
Indian Civil Service, Clement Robertson VC (1890-1917) KIA, and Charles Wyndham
Robertson (1892- 1971) served with the Monmouthshire Regiment. Charles then joined
the engineer firm John Jameson & Sons after the war.
William Cairns Robertson DSO, the eldest, became a
Lieutenant Colonel in the Royal Garrison Artillery like his father. He had
joined at the end of the Boer War and served in the Great War. He was awarded the
DSO in 1918 and was mentioned in Despatches. Albert John was my Grandfather. He
chose the Royal Navy. He was born in 1884 and like his brothers was educated at
Hill House, St. Leonards on Sea. He joined the HMS Britannia Royal Naval
College in 1898 and went to sea as a midshipman in 1900. After his promotion to
Lieutenant in 1905 he specialised in the navigation branch. Throughout the
Great War he served with the Second Cruiser Squadron of the Grand Fleet. He was
navigator on HMS Achilles and was there during the engagement with the sinking
of the disguised German Auxiliary Cruiser Leopold in March 1917, in defence of
the armed boarding steamer Dundee, which the Leopold had attacked.
Albert was mentioned in dispatches following this engagement and noted for early promotion as ‘an exceptionally skilful and cool navigation officer’. From June 1918, he served on the armoured cruiser HMS Minotaur. These ships operated in the North Atlantic protecting merchant shipping. HMS Minotaur was involved in the Battle of Jutland in 1916. These two ships were Warrior Class Armoured Cruisers. Albert was thrown into the freezing Atlantic Ocean on a couple of occasions and this affected his health in later life. After the war, he worked at the Portsmouth Navigation School and from 1922 until his promotion to Captain he was navigator on the Royal Yacht Victoria and Albert. He became Captain of Dockyard and Kings Harbourmaster at Portsmouth from 1931 to 1933 and became ADC to King George V. He retired on promotion to Flag Rank in 1936. He was also a member of the Royal Victorian Order.
Sir Fredrick, I don’t know that much about, except that he
worked in the Indian Civil Service. He left Trinity College Dublin in 1908 with
a BA. He was in the Indian Civil Service from 1909 to 1937. He had a number of
different positions and clearly did well because he was knighted in 1945. He
was awarded the Honour of ‘Companion of the Star of India’ in 1941, and the
‘Companion of the Indian Empire’ in 1935.
Charles Robertson, the youngest, studied engineering at
Trinity College Dublin and hadn’t finished his degree when war broke out. He
joined the Royal Monmouthshire Regiment and served during the war in Palestine
and Egypt. The Monmouthshire Regiment were engineers and built bridges, roads
and defence works. He was mentioned in Despatches. Following the war, he went
to the Sudan on an irrigation project. His later life was spent as a director of
John Jameson and Sons Distillery. His passion was golf and he won the Irish
Close Championship in 1925 as a member of Delgany Golf Club.
‘Later that year at the end of September the push towards Passchendaele was in progress. By this time Clement had been promoted and was now Acting Captain and in command of a section consisting of five tanks.’
The five brothers were all fanatical golf players and were founder members of Delgany Golf Club. It is Fredrick whose name appears on the monument at the entrance to the Club as one of the founders in 1908. Clement won the Captain’s prize in 1908 and Charles won the Presidents Cup the following year.
Family photo taken at Struan Hill, Delgany, where they lived. Clement is on the back left, Fredrick beside him. Parents in the middle, seated, and Charles on ground in front, circa1904. (Image author’s collection)
Early Life
Although born in South Africa, Clements pent his childhood in Delgany. He went to Haileybury College in England and then to Trinity College Dublin to study Engineering. He graduated in 1909, and went to Egypt to work on the Nile Irrigation Project. With the outbreak of war, he returned to England and joined the 19th (Service) Battalion, Royal Fusiliers. He applied for a Commission in the 3rd Reserve Battalion, Queen’s Royal (West Surrey)Regiment and was successful. This was 1916 and, in an effort, to break the stalemate of trench warfare on the Western Front they were secretly developing and testing a large, armoured, mobile vehicle with cannon and machine guns. This machine, they hoped, could travel through no-man’s land, crushing the barbed wire defences, cross the enemy trenches and fire sideways down the length of the trenches. The Heavy Machine Gun Corps was being formed. This would later become the Tank Corps and later styled the Royal Tank Regiment.
Clement volunteered, and with his engineering background,
was accepted as one of the first officers appointed. He went to Belgium in
January 1917 as a Tank Commander. He was in action in early June 1917, in the
assault and taking of the Messines Ridge. His tank was part of X Corps and in
support of units of the London Regiment of 140th (4th London) Brigade, part of
41st Division. I have walked the route he took that morning from Arundel House
towards his objective at White Chateau Stables and on to Opal Reserve and have
seen where his tank was hit by a 5.9- inch artillery shell. The left Sponson was
badly damaged. Three of his crew were hit; Sergeant William Clegg was killed
and two others were badly wounded. I have visited the grave of Sergeant Clegg
in the Dikkebusch New Military Cemetery; killed in action 7 June, 1917, aged
32, from Burnley in Lancashire. The tank could not precede and had to limp back
to base.
Passchendaele
Later that year at the end of Septemberthe push towards Passchendaele was inprogress. By this time Clement had beenpromoted and was now Acting Captain andin command of a section consisting of fivetanks. On October 4th, he was to take histanks into action at a small village calledReutel, a few miles east of Ypres, in supportof the infantry. The front line was on thesoutheast corner of Polygon Wood. Thetanks had to be brought safely in darknessand under heavy shellfire to that point first.
For three nights prior to this, Clement and Gunner Cyril Allen worked, without sleep, to reconnoitre and tape a safe route for the tanks to take. This was the Third Battle of Ypres and by now the ground was a bare sea of mud and craters. You will have seen the photographs showing just stumps where trees once grew, mud so deep that a man could drown in it. The hard ground of the damaged road was the only way. Eventually on 4 October, they were to move up to the start line. They crawled from Sterling Castle, through Black Watch Corner and along the south side of Polygon Wood. Constantly under shellfire and with the weather deteriorating, Clement and his assistant were not happy that they could follow the tapes safely from inside the tanks. They therefore got out of the tanks and Clement and Cyril Allen guided the tanks on foot. They reached the start point at 3am and rested for a few hours and at dawn they moved off. Clement knew that there was still a real danger of the tanks missing their way. So, with great determination he continued to lead them on foot. The small bridge over the Reutelbeek miraculously was still intact. It was the only way to cross the marshy ground to their objectives on the other side of the small valley. Captain Robertson was certain that if the tanks failed to see the bridge and follow the hard ground to it then action would be lost.
Image from the Illustrated War News report on Clement’s action.
‘The gunfire was intense by now and was concentrated on the leading tanks. The commander of the first tank was amazed to see Clement still untouched‘
The German barrage came down furiously, rifles cracked,
machine guns spluttered, but the two lone figures went ever forward. They were
well ahead of the infantry now, the only two living creatures to be seen.
Bullets whistled by them, flattening with a dull sound against the thick hides
of the following tanks, shell bursts flung showers of mud over them, but they
walked on, unhurt and undeterred. At last they came to the bridge. Gunner Allen
went back to guide the rear tanks and Clement guided the leading tank over and
then the others one by one. The gunfire was intense by now and was concentrated
on the leading tanks. The commander of the first tank was amazed to see Clement
still untouched. The tanks were now safe to continue to their respective
objectives and when Gunner Allen reached the bridge, he could not see his
Captain. The fire was so intense that, in his own words he ‘had to crawl on my
hands and knees’ eventually finding his brave Captain in a shell hole, shot in
the head. Gunner Allen took maps and documents from Clement’s body and finally
took shelter in one of the last tanks. Clement was 26 years old. The Tank Section
went forward and successfully drove the enemy from their strong points.
For his actions on 4 October, Clement was awarded the
Victoria Cross (VC) and his medal was presented to his mother by Brigadier
General C. Williams CB, Commanding Dublin District at the Royal Barracks in
Dublin. It is sad that she did not feel up to the journey to London to have it
presented by the King, as would be customary.
Acting Captain, The
Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regiment, attached to A Battalion, Tank Corps
The citation reads:
On 4 October 1917 at Zonnebeke, Belgium, Captain Robertson led his tanks in attack under heavy shell, machine-gun and rifle fire over ground which had been ploughed by shell-fire. He and his batman had spent the previous three days and nights going back and forth over the ground, reconnoitering and taping routes, and, knowing the risk of the tanks missing the way, he now led them on foot, guiding them carefully towards their objective, although he must have known that this action would almost certainly cost him his life. He was killed after the objective had been reached, but his skilful leading had already ensured success.
Gunner Allen was awarded the DCM (Distinguished Conduct
Medal) for his splendid devotion to duty. It was unfortunately not long before
death claimed him also. He was killed some seven weeks later in Cambrai where
the tanks were next to go into action. His body was not found and his name
appears in the Louvreval Memorial. Killed in action on 20 November, 1917. He
wrote a letter to my Grandmother outlining the events leading up to Clement’s death.
It is a moving a poignant letter, beautifully written in pencil and using wonderful
English. The sadness is in the fact that he never got a chance to send this letter
to my Grandmother. It only appeared a few years ago when a relation was looking
through some of Cyril’s effects that had survived and been kept in an attic for
90 years.
Clement Robertson is commemorated on a plaque in Delgany Parish Church and on the Memorial in Trinity College Dublin. He is buried in Oxford Road Cemetery in Belgium near where he fell.
On 4 October 2017, the friends of the Tank Memorial Ypres Salient organised a special centenary remembrance ceremony dedicated to Captain Clement Robertson VC of the Royal Tank Corps. At this occasion the bridge at the Reutelbeek was officially named ‘Robertson’s Bridge’.
(Images: http://www.wo1.be)
This article first appeared in the Victoria Cross Journal in March 2014. Ian Robertson, Clément’s nephew, served with the Irish Guards and today is Chairman of the Irish Guards Association in the Rep. of Ireland.
Cover: Busy scene on beach at Gallipoli 1915. (The Illustrated History of the Great War)
First published in Autumn 2015 issue.
In August 1915, the Allies attempted to break the stalemate at Gallipoli by a daring attack on the Sari Bair range above Anzac Cove, including the high point of Chunuk Bair. The attempt failed; and a few months later the Allies, admitting defeat, evacuated the peninsula. The action at Chunuk Bair mostly involved troops from New Zealand. But among the attacking forces were Irish battalions of the 10th (Irish) Division, including the 6th Battalion The Prince of Wales’s Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians). New Zealand historian Christopher Pugsley, who described the battle in ‘Gallipoli: The New Zealand Story’ (Auckland 1984; 5th edition 2014), refers briefly to the Leinsters, claiming that at a critical time they fled in the face of a Turkish counterattack. But contemporary accounts tell a different story. In this centenary year of the Gallipoli campaign the record should be set straight.
In the early hours of 8 August 1915, New Zealanders of the Wellington Battalion seized the summit of Chunuk Bair. But theirs was a feeble foothold, for the Turks began to pour a withering fire onto the position and onto Rhododendron Ridge, a spur running from the crest towards the Aegean Sea. The companies of the Wellington Battalion clinging to the summit were soon wiped out, leaving their support companies holding a trench just below the crest.
For a day and a half the New Zealanders held on until they were relieved by two English battalions on the night of 9-10 August. The next morning the Turks counterattacked in force, sweeping the Englishmen off the summit and rushing down Rhododendron Ridge scattering all before them into the gullies and ravines. The Leinsters, who were part of the 29th Brigade, 10th (Irish) Division, had been brought up in reserve during the night of 9 August. According to Pugsley, in the early hours of 10 August, the Leinsters relieved the Auckland Battalion at the Pinnacle, a feature on Rhododendron Ridge. The Pinnacle was marked by a line of shallow trenches two hundred metres in front of another feature called the Apex, which was the location of the New Zealand Brigade headquarters.
Describing the Turkish counterattack, Pugsley wrote: ‘Any determined defence might have held, but the 6th Battalion Loyal North Lancashires did not resist but broke and ran, as did the Wiltshires below them. Only the New Zealanders forward showed any fight.’ He then added: ‘Panic spread and the Leinsters at the Pinnacle also fled’. But this statement contradicts the account of the battle given by Major Bryan Cooper in ‘The Tenth (Irish) Division in Gallipoli’ (London, 1918). After describing the overwhelming of the Loyal North Lancashires and the Wiltshires, Cooper wrote: ‘But on the right the Leinsters stood their ground. At last the moment had arrived to which they had so anxiously looked forward. Turk and Irishman, face to face, and hand to hand, could try which was the better man. … In spite of the odds, the two companies in the front line succeeded in checking the attack, and at the crucial moment they were reinforced by ‘B’ and ‘C’ Companies from the support line. … Shouting, they flung themselves into the fray, and drove the Turks back after a desperate struggle at close quarters’.
Unfortunately, neither Pugsley nor Cooper cite a source for their account of the reaction of the Leinster Regiment to the Turkish counterattack, so it is not possible to identify definitively the evidence upon which each relied. It must also be said that each author has written from a particular, but alternate, perspective.
Cooper himself served with the 10th (Irish) Division at Gallipoli and his book was written during 1917. Thus, to some degree, his account might be considered self-serving and influenced by patriotic exigencies that would be irrelevant to a disinterested historian writing long after the event. Cooper admits as much in the Preface: ‘It is by no means easy for an Irishman to be impartial, but I have done my best’. Furthermore, Cooper was not present at Chunuk Bair and in writing his book relied on summaries provided by fellow officers of the division. Therefore, his account of the Leinsters does not carry the added weight that might be accorded to an eyewitness. Like Pugsley, he has had to reconstruct the event from the testimony of others.
Pugsley, on the other hand, is a New Zealander who was writing a national history of the Gallipoli campaign, as the title of his book indicates. He considers the battle for Chunuk Bair to be one of the outstanding feats of arms in his country’s history and, in the conclusion to the chapter on the battle, he extols in quite fulsome and passionate terms the virtues of his countrymen who fought in it. It is understandable, therefore, that Pugsley’s primary research might not have extended to other nationalities and that his writing might not fully or accurately describe their activities. He has neither quoted nor cited Cooper’s book and his bibliography suggests he did not consult the war diaries of the 6th Leinster Regiment or the diaries, correspondence and memoirs of its officers and men.
So, the question remains: did Pugsley misrepresent the reaction of the Leinsters?
The Leinster’s war diary does not indicate the battalion’s precise location on Rhododendron Ridge. However, its account of the action on the morning of 10 August 1915, gives no indication that the Leinsters fled:
‘TURKS attacked about 06:00, several reaching crest of RHODODENDRON SPUR, a firing line was formed and rushed to the top of RHODODENDRON SPUR where they came under a hot fire. The line was withdrawn about 10 yards from the crest, a machine gun then enfiladed the line from the left inflicting several casualties, a sniper on our left also inflicted losses. Lt Figgis killed. Lt Col Craske wounded in left arm. Attack withdrew about 07:45 and firing line was retired to the trench’.
Although the war diary contains neither the detail nor the colour of Cooper’s account of the action, it indicates that the Leinsters advanced and then withdrew under orders. The war diary also includes the following: ‘On the 23/8/15 Maj Gen Sir A. Godley KCMG, CB sent for the C.O. and complimented him on the work of the BATTALION on the morning of 10/8/15. He also asked after Lt Col Craske (who was wounded) and said your Colonel has done good work’.
This hardly suggests that the Leinsters fled the scene. The Australian Official Historian Charles Bean in his account of the battle corroborates Cooper’s account: ‘That night the position at Chunuk Bair was entirely in the hands of the New Army battalions. Birdwood and Godley had by then given up the intention of renewing their assault on the following day, and the new garrison was for the moment to stand on the defensive. The Loyal North Lancashire held both the advanced foothold and the Auckland’s old half-way position at the Pinnacle. The 6th Leinster occupied the Apex. In other words it was the Loyal North Lancashire and not the Leinsters who were at the Pinnacle when the Turks attacked. This is made clear by one of Bean’s maps which shows the Pinnacle and the Apex on Rhododendron ridge occupied by the two units.
Stretcher bearers removing wounded at Gallipoli, 1915. (Image Imperial War Museum)
Bean’s account of the Turkish counter attack includes the following:
‘Then the North Lancashire broke, both at Chunuk Bair and at the Pinnacle. When the 5th Wiltshire, who had been digging, saw the Turkish line descending upon their right, they also ran back, down the Sazli Dere. …On Rhododendron small parties continued to trickle forward, and an hour later Turks even appeared close above General Johnston’s headquarters at the Apex, where Captain Wallingford is said to have shot two with his revolver. The 6th Leinster and a company of Auckland infantry advanced with bayonets fixed, and relieved the Apex of any further threat’.
Bean’s account in this regard is supported by that of the British Official History:
‘At daybreak on the 10th August, therefore, the British line at the head of Rhododendron Spur was held by three companies of the Loyal North Lancashire (38th Brigade) in the forward trenches, and one company at the Pinnacle. To the right of and far below the Pinnacle were 2½ companies of the 5/Wiltshire (40th Brigade), while the Apex was held by the remnants of the Wellington Battalion, some of the 6/Leinster (29th Brigade) and the massed machine guns of the New Zealand Infantry Brigade.… Suddenly, at 4.45am, dense waves of Turks came pouring over the sky-line. … [Soon] the Turks had captured the Pinnacle, but at that point their advance was stopped by annihilating fire from the New Zealand machine guns at the Apex. The Leinsters were rushed into line to hold the Apex position, and this they succeeded in doing for the rest of the day’.
Based on the Leinsters’ war diary, the official histories and Cooper, Pugsley’s assertion that the Leinsters fled the Pinnacle during the Turkish counter-attack is wrong. Rather, they did their job in defending the Apex, enabling the New Zealand machine gunners to continue to inflict severe punishment on the Turkish forces, thus preventing them from forcing the British Empire troops off Rhododendron Ridge.
Dr. Jeff Kildea was Keith Cameron Chair of Australian History at University College Dublin 2014. He is currently working in the Irish Studies Centre, UNSW, Sydney Australia. You can read more on this subject in Dr. Kildea’s book ‘Anzacs and Ireland’, Cork UP, 2007 or by visiting his website: www.jeffkildea.com
