" Charge of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers at Colenso "

" The daring and bravery of the Irish Brigade is
beyound description " writes Private Tucker of
the Rifle Brigade who were nearby and had also
received many shells.

"I have only one fault to find with the Irish but perhaps it is a good
One - they are too reckless as regards taking cover. They expose
Themselves too much and thus more lives are lost than is necessary
In fighting an enemy like the Boer, in his native cover, this is madness."

( Private Tucker,Shillin a Day)

 to cross Bridle Drift, could not find it. Distrusting his map indicating the drift

he chose to follow his native guide who spoke no English and vaguely pointed east towards the river, then bolted at the first shot. Hart did not send scouts ahead and he also ignored the warning sent to him by Colonel Burn - Murdoch of the 1st Dragoons. In broad daylight Hart marched his Irishmen massed together across a coverless veldt of a flat salient that formed a big U-shaped loop of the river. They were a perfect target for the unseen Boers on the heights, whose accurate fire burst upon them from all sides. It was a death trap. Within forty minutes some four hundred men were mown down. Undoubtebly brave, Hart known as ' Coeur de Leon ' and ' General No-Bobs ' because he never ducked under fire, recklessly dashed about in the midst of this chaos, ignoring bullets and spurring on his brave Irishmen, who would not yield as long as he with ' unquenched ardour ' kept them there. In the ensuing confusion some Dublin Fusiliers actually rushed into the river, only to drown with their equipment because the river had been damned by the Boers and was eight feet deep, not two as had been expected. A few managed to swim back. Casualties in the Dublin Fusiliers and Connaught Rangers were particularly heavy and Hart's Brigade had the severest losses of the troops engaged.

When later despite their casualties and ordered by General buller to retire, the Irishmen did so under protest. The first attempt to relieve Ladysmith had failed. At this point it might well be worth mentioning that as with the Colours, saving guns was always considered an honourable achievment demanding the highest recognition. Buller horrified with Hart's defeat, ordered a rescue of the 12 field guns and eight naval guns that had been abandoned by Colonel Charles Long, commander of the Royal Field Artillery.Volunteers were requested, one of these being the only son of General Lord Roberts ( an Irishman ), the Honourable Frederick Roberts of the 60th Rifles. Frederick lost his life in the attempt and was awarded the Victoria Cross. Two Irishmen also won the Victoria Cross that day attempting to rescue the guns. these were Corporal george Edward Nurse, from Enniskillen of the 66th Battery Royal Field Artillery and Captain Hamilton Lyster Reed, from Dublin of the 7th Battery, who was wounded.Corporal Nurse along with Captain H. Schofield managed to hook in the limbers and recover two of the guns.The citation for Captain Hamilton Lyster Reed's Victoria Cross is as Follows:

 

On Decemebr 1889 at the Battle of Colenso, South Africa, when so many horses had become casualties, Captain Reed brought three teams from his battery in an attempt to save the remaining guns. The shell and rifle fire was intense, and he was wounded almost at once, along with five of the thirteen men who rode with him, one of whom was killed.Of the 21 horses, 13 including his own were killed before Captain Reed got half way to the guns, and he was forced to retire.

Colenso was indeed a very Irish Battle.The battle was a defeat for the British forces and became part of a notorious time period for the British in the war known as " Black Week " The defeat, however did not discourage further attempts being made. The Dublins did not participate in any more attempts until January 1900 when they took part in the Tugela Campaign, collectively known as the Battle of the Tugela Heights. February saw the Dublins take part in heavy fighting before, on the 27th February, they supported the Royal Irish Fusiliers in their final charge on Pieter's Hill, suffering heavy casualties though taking the position. This led to the siege of Ladysmith being lifted the following day by cavalry, with the main force of infantry arriving on 3rd March. For their bravery, Queen Victoria decreed that a sprig of shamrock be adorned on the headdress of Irish units on St Patricks Day to commemerate their actions in South Africa.

This tradition remains in existence toda

 

" My Brave Irish " by Richard Caton Woodville, The last charge on Pieters Hill 27th February
1900, by the 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers, supported by the 2nd Battalion Royal Dublin
Fusilers.

In May the British began their advance towards the Transvaal, one of the Boer republics, and early the following month the Dublins took part in the effort against Laing's Nek during the attempt to achieve an entry into the transvaal. this was successfully achieved annd the capital Pretoria , was captured on the 5th of June. The war however did not end and the boers began a guerilla campaign against the British. During this phase of the war many block houses were constructed to help restrict the movement of the Boer Guerillas and men of the Dublin Fusiliers helped to garrison them. This phase of the war also saw the mounted infantry companies, among which were Dublin Fusiliers MI, in their element, hunting the (now small) groups of Boers. The dublin Fusiliers also took part in the hunt for

Christiaan De Wet, a prominent Boer officer.

The last of the Boers surrendered in May 1902, the Treaty of Vereeniging formally ending the conflict. During the war, volunteers from the three militia battalions of the Dublins had been used to provide reinforcements for the two regular battalions fighting in South Africa. The 2nd Dublins had left South Africa in January 1902. The Dublins suffered nearly 700 casualties ( Killed, wounded, missing ) during the conflict, many of whom died of disease, indeed the vast majority of British Army casualties were from disease. As a side note, the distinguished service of the Irish regiments compelled an Irish member of Parliament in the House of Commons to request the establishment of an Irish Regiment of Foot Guards; this happened and the Irish Guards were formed on the 1st of April 1900.

The First World war began in August 1914, the British Empire declaring war on Germany after it had invaded Belgium. The Regiment raised 6 Battalions during the war ( 11 in total ) serving on the Western Front, Gallipoli, Middle East and Solonika. The Dublin Fusiliers received 3 Victoria Crosses and was also awarded 48 battle Honours and 5 Theatre Honours. The Regiment lost just over 4,700 killed and thousands wounded during the war.

The 2nd Battalion the Royal Dublin Fusiliers arrived in France in the month war was declared as part of 10th Brigade, 4th Division. The Division was part of the British Expeditionary Force ( BEF), the professionals of the old regular army, who had seen service and action in other parts of the Empire including South Africa. They were also known as the ' Old Contemptibles ' when the German Kaiser made a comment referring to them as the ' Contemptible little Army ' who he did not see as causing the might of the German Army any problems as they stormed across France and Belgium. He would be proven very wrong. The 2nd Dublins took part in the retreat from Mons, taking part in their first engagement on the 26th August at Le Cateau that helped delay the German advance towards Paris, inflicting such heavy casualties that the Germans thought they faced more machine guns than they actually did. the reason being that the soldiers of the BEF were professional soldiers, seasoned veterans who had exceptional skills in musketry. These ' Old Contemptibles ' were going to make the Kaiser's army pay for every yard they advanced. The BEF then resumed their retreat, but many men, including those from the Dublins were stranded behind German Lines, many of which were taken prisoner. The Battalion badly depleted later to part in the Battle of the Marne ( 5-9 September ) that finally halted the German advance just on the outskirts of Paris, forcing the Germans to retreat to the Aisne. There the 2nd Dublins took part in the Battle of Aisne and later took part in their last major engagement of the war, at the Battle of Armentieres, which began on the 13th October and ended on the 2nd of November.

The 2nd Dublins took part in all but one of the subsidiary battles during Second Ypres that took place between 22nd April - 24th May 1915. The Battalion suffered heavily at the battle of St Julien, the second subsidiary battle, incurring hundreds of casualties. They had no respite, taking part in the next two subsidiary battles at Frezenburg and Bellewaarde. On the 24th May the Battalion was subject to a German poison gas attack near St - Julien and effectively disintergrated as a fighting unit. The British at that time had no defences against gas attack; indeed the large-scale use of gas by the Germans on the Western Front had begun at Second Ypres. It had brought the world into a new form of warfare, which no one was prepared for.The 2nd Dublins Commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Loveband of Naas, died the following day. The Battalion did not take part in any other major battles for the rest of the year.

The 8th and 9th Dublins who had arrived in France in December 1915 as part of the 48th Brigade of the 16th ( Irish ) Division, were also subject to a German gas attack at the Battle of Hulluch, near Loos, on the 27th of April 1916, suffering heavy casualties. There had been trouble at home that month in Dublin when the Easter Rising had taken place though, in spite of this, the Dublin Fusiliers still performed with dedication to their duty. The British launched the Somme Offensive on the 1st of July 1916 and the 1st and 2nd Dublins took part in the first day of the Somme that saw the British forces sustain horrific casualties, some 60,000 about of which 20,000 were killed.

The 8th and 9th Dublins took part in their first major battle during the Somme Offensive, taking part in the capture of Ginchy on the 9th September. The Dublins also took part in the last major battle of the offensive, at the Ancre that took place between 13th and 18th November. The Dublins, once again had suffered large numbers of casualties during the Somme offensive ( i will be covering the Royal Dublin Fusiliers involvement in the capture of Ginchy when i come to write a seperate section on the 16th ( Irish ) Division. I will aslo be doing the same with a section on the 10th ( Irish Division) in the Gallipoli Campaign.