This narrative is concerned chiefly with the three distinctively Irish units of the New Armies engaged on the Western Front—the Ulster Division, the Irish Division (representative of the south and west), and the "Tyneside Irish," in which Irishmen living in the north of England enlisted. It also deals incidentally with the Irish Regular regiments of the Line, and with that numerous body of Irishmen serving in English, Scottish and Welsh battalions and in the Anzacs and Canadians.
The first series of The Irish at the Front covers, first, the fighting of the Irish regiments of the Regular Army in France, Flanders and the Dardanelles during the early stages of the war; and, secondly, the operations of the 10th (Irish) Division—composed entirely of "Kitchener's men"—against the Turks at Gallipoli. The latter, an exceptionally fine body of young Irishmen, gallantly fought and fell—as the story discloses—in that expedition, so ill-fated and yet so romantic, though they had never handled a rifle or done a day's drill before the war. In this series we see Irishmen of the same type matched against the Germans in France. As we know, Germany confidently expected that such levies, hastily raised and insufficiently trained, would break in pieces at the first encounter with her seasoned troops. But it was the formidable German lines that were broken, and they were broken by these very raw levies at the bayonet's point.
For the telling of the Irish part in the story of the Somme I am much indebted to the assistance given by officers and men of the Irish battalions engaged in that mighty battle. But the Irish soldiers are not only "splendid fighting material"—a rather non-human phrase now much in vogue, as if the only thing that matters in warfare is the physical capacity of man—they have souls and minds and hearts, as well as strong right hands, and of these also something is said in this book.
Michael MacDonagh.
CONTENTS
| [Introduction by John Redmond, M.P.] | PAGE | |
| [Preface] | 7 | |
| CHAP. | ||
| I.—[In the Trenches with the Connaught Rangers] | 11 | |
| Scenes Comic and Tragic | ||
| II.—[Exploits of the Ulster Division] | 24 | |
| Belfast's Tribute to the Dead | ||
| III.—[Ulsters' Attack on the Slopes of Thiepval.] | 32 | |
| "Not a man turned to come back, not one" | ||
| IV.—[Four Victoria Crosses to the Ulster Division] | 47 | |
| Brilliant Additions to the Record of Irish Valour and Romance | ||
| V.—[Combativeness of the Irish Soldier] | 56 | |
| The British Blends of Courage | ||
| VI.—[With the Tyneside Irish] | 67 | |
| Over the Heights of La Boiselle, through Bailiff's Wood to Contalmaison | ||
| VII.—[The Wearing of Religious Emblems at the Front] | 84 | |
| VIII.—[The Irish Soldier's Humour and Seriousness] | 104 | |
| Stories from the Front, Funny and Otherwise | ||
| IX.—[The Irish Brigade] | 118 | |
| "Everywhere and Always Faithful" | ||
| X.—[Irish Replies to German Wiles and Poison Gas] | 128 | |
| How the Munsters captured the Enemy's wheedling Placards | ||
| XI.—[Storming of Guillamont by the Irish Brigade] | 138 | |
| Raising the Green Flag in the Centre of the Village | ||
| XII.—[The Brigade's Pounce on Guinchy] | 146 | |
| Gallant Boy Officers of the Dublin Fusiliers | ||
| XIII.—[Honours and Distinctions for the Irish Brigade] | 152 | |
| How Lieut. Holland of the Leinsters won the V.C. | ||
| XIV.—[The Wooden Cross] | 158 | |
| Death of Lieut. T.M. Kettle of the Dublins | ||
| XV.—[More Irish Heroes of the Victoria Cross] | 165 | |
| Deeds of the Highest Merit and Lustre | ||
| XVI.—[Relations Between Enemy Trenches] | 182 | |
| Irish Kindliness and German Guile | ||