E . A Mackintosh

' Old soldiers never die, they simply fide a-why! '
That's what they used to sing along the roads last spring;
That's what they used to say before the push began;
That's where they are today, knocked over to a man.
Siegfried Sassoon.

The 11th Royal Irish Rifles were further away from the German machine-guns firing from the norther and were able to make better progress. By 8.15 am these men were consolidating the forward face of the Schwaben Redoubt. The support battalion of the 108th Brigade was the 15th Royal Irish Rifles. Experience mirrored that of the 13th Battalion. On the right the companies made better progress and many men advanced past the B lines.
9.00 am however marked the end of the period within which the 11th Royal Irish Rifles and the two right support companies of the 15th, suffered few casualties. From now on they would be under heavy machine gun fire from both flanks throughout the day. To the right the men of the 109th Brigade would have even more success.

15th Royal Irish Rifles

13th Royal Irish Rifles

10th Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers

Schwaben Redoubt

Ulster Tower Memorial

108 Brigade

11th Royal Irish Rifles

107 Brigade

16th Northumberland Fus

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14th Royal Irish Rifles

11th Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers

British Front Line

German Front Line

109 Brigade's objective included the Schwaben Redoubt and the Mouquet switch Line to the east of the Schwaben Redoubt. The redoubt was garrisoned by 11 Coy 99 RIR and 4 Coy 8 Bavarian RIR. As with all the 36th Division's attacks at 7.30am, the 9th and 10th Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers had crept out across the sunken road towards what little was left of the German wire. Such was the concentration of the smoke, artillery and trench mortar barrage that they were also able to do this in broad daylight just ten minutes before the assault began. The 10th Inniskillings reprted ' At 7.15 on a beautiful summer morning the two leadig companies began to issue by platoons through the prepared gaps in our wire into No Man's Land and form into extended line with about three paces interval and in this formation crept cautiously up till the leading line was within 100 yards of the German 'A' Line where it lay down to wait the signal to assault. ' At zero hour the British barrage lifted. Bugles blew the advance. Up sprang the Ulstermen and without forming up in the waves adopted by other divisions, they rushed the German front line. The wire was well cut; the Germans were slow coming up from their dugouts. After a short, fierce fight, the front-line trench was captured along most of its length. By a combination of sensible tactics and Irish dash, the prize that had eluded so many, the capture of the German front line, had been accomplished. The 9th Inniskillings, to the right of the 10th Battalion suffered more casualties from the enfilade fire of at least one machine gun in Thiepval Fort which was already trained on the Ulstermen passing north of the village. The German support lines were simply overrun by the Ulstermen from Derry and Tyrone and they drove forward towards the Schwaben Redoubt. As they moved forward all of these men came within range of the Thiepval machine-gun teams who had effectively repulsed the attacks of the 15th Lancashire Fusiliers ( 1st Salford Pals ) and the 16th Northumberland Fusilers on the trenches west and south-west of Thiepval itself. Their situation was desperate as the below film will show.

As the Derry and Tyrone men crossed the skyline ( the Mill Road Cemetary is situated on the skyline. for those that have not visited the battlefield, if fyou stand in the cemetary you get an incrdible view over the British Lines and also an indication the slope the Ulsters attacked up. From this position you can also see the incredible distance the Ulsters had to cover in a totally open landscape with no cover, in order to assault the Schwaben Redoubt, see above map ) their right hand unit the 9th Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers suffered increasingly heavy casualties from this enfilade fire. Behind them the men of the 11th Inniskillings and 14th Royal Irish Rifles suffered terrible casualties as they merged from Thiepval Wood in support of the 9th and 10th Inniskillings. The men bravely pressed forward, taking casualties every inch of the way. By now the German machine-gun at Thiepval cemetary was in action since the British barrage had lifted past the 'B' lines. The last remnants of the British smoke screen had cleared and visibility from Thiepval was good. It was apparent that the whole of the landscape bisected by Thiepval Road was now bloodied by the horrific spectacle of hundreds of dead and dying soldiers. It is impossible to picture what such a scene would have looked like. Certainly no photographs were ever taken to be published in the local papers back home. Only those that were there would know what it was like. By 8.00am the front face of the Schwaben Redoubt, and the German reserve line was secured by 109 Brigade's assault battalions and half an hour later these indefatigable soldiers were through Schwaben Redoubt and onto the Mouquet Switch Lines, having sent back hundreds of prisoners, many of whom were glad of the chance to outpace their escorts across the terrors of the battlefield and back into Thiepval Wood. In the heat of the battle these German soldiers stood little chance. Again the 10th Inniskillings report was graphic in its description of what happened to the first clutches of captured men " Enemy prisoners now began to come in, most of them evidently been concealed in deep dug-outs in the German support trench which runs close behind their front trench. They seemed for the most part dazed and bewildered by the fury of our bombarment and were only to glad to surrender and throw down their arms. They were sent back under escort to our trenches-about sixteen prisoners to each escorting soldier. the first batches of these were so anxious to reach the shelter of our trenches that they outstripped their escort in the dash across the open and meeting our reinforcing lines coming forward were bayonetted by them in the heat of the moment. Some reached our trenches and were there hunted by the few of our men remaining in our front line. ( continued next page )