THE TENTH (IRISH) DIVISION
THE TENTH (IRISH) DIVISION
IN GALLIPOLI
CHAPTER I
THE FORMATION OF THE DIVISION
“The Army, unlike any other profession, cannot be taught through shilling books. First a man must suffer, then he must learn his work and the self-respect which knowledge brings.”—Kipling.
Within ten days of the outbreak of the War, before even the Expeditionary Force had left England, Lord Kitchener appealed for a hundred thousand recruits, and announced that six new divisions would be formed from them. These six divisions, which were afterwards known as the First New Army, or more colloquially as K.1, were, with one exception, distributed on a territorial basis. The Ninth was Scotch, the Eleventh North Country, the Twelfth was recruited in London and the Home Counties, and the Thirteenth in the West of England. The exception was the Fourteenth, which consisted of new battalions of English light infantry and rifle regiments. The Tenth Division in which I served, and whose history I am about to relate, was composed of newly-formed or “Service” battalions of all the Irish line regiments, together with the necessary complement of artillery, engineers, Army Service Corps, and R.A.M.C. They were distributed as follows:—
29th Brigade.
5th Service Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment.
6thdittoRoyal Irish Rifles.
5thdittoThe Connaught Rangers.
6thdittoThe Leinster Regiment.
The 5th Royal Irish Regiment afterwards became the Divisional Pioneer Battalion, and its place in the 29th Brigade was taken by the 10th Hampshire Regiment.
30th Brigade.