On Saturday evening 8th May 1915 prior to the Battle of Aubers Ridge Area the 2nd Battalion Royal Munster Fusiliers marched through Rue du Bois, about one mile out from the town of
Neuve Chapelle in Belgium. The Battalion halted near a wayside shrine. Moving off the road they formed up in their respective companies. In front of each company was a green flag with the harp and word " Munster " embroided on it.
Father Francis Gleeson on horseback ( above) facing A company troops and wearing his stole administered them a ' General Absolution'

 

" The Kaiser knows the Munster's, by the Shamrock
On their caps,
And the famous Bengal Tiger, ever ready for a scrap
And all his big battalions, Prussian Guards and
Grenadiers
Fear to face the flashing bayonets of Munster Fusiliers

Into the middle of July, taking trenches, losing and retaking them again, conyinued on both sides. More new drafts arrived to replace casualties, but this did not relieve the intense hunger, thirst and exhaustion suffered much of the time. A month's rest was promised on the 15th of July, but by the 22nd of July they were back in action, their strength around 500 of whom only 3 officers and 314 men remained from those who first landed on the 25th April. The climax came with the Sulva attack on 21st August in the battle of Scimitar Hill, the last great battle of the campaign, the Turks inflicting severe casualties, the scrub bushes catching fire killing many wounded and others taking cover. The unsuccessful attack cost the Munsters 79 men and 3 officers that day alone. There was little further action other than holding front lines from September through November, when the weather worsened. Late in the month gales swept over the peninsula, hundreds were drowned in the flooded trenches or died from exposure and frostbite, followed on 28th November by a blizzard. The battalion was evacuated as it arrived on the River Clyde, sailing 2nd January 1916 for Alexandria. From there it sailed with the rest of the 29th Division arriving in France on 22nd March. Three years of warfare still remained for the battalion in France and Flanders on the Western Front. It had already suffered 45% of its total losses for the entire war, and numbered 24 officers and 287 men when disembarking.

The 1st Battalion Royal Munster Fusiliers were in the ront lines again on 23rd April at the Somme sector, slowly building up strength to 26 officers and 476 men. On the 29th May it was assigned to the 48th Brigade of the 16th ( Irish ) Division at Bethune and were reinforced by members from the disbanded 9th Royal Munster Fusiliers, bringing the Battalion up to full strength.

They remained in the area of the Loos salient into August with some intermittent casualtie. The 16th Irish Division was ordered south of the Somme Battlefield, the 1st Battalion Royal Munster Fusiliers entering the line facing the strategic town of Ginchy on 5th September having suffered 200 previous casualties by gas-shelling on the way. It took part in the ensuing and triumphant capture by the 16th Division but at a high cost for its Battalions, the 1st Royal Munster Fusiliers reduced to 5 officers and 305 other ranks.

The Battalion was then moved northwards to the south of Ypres in Belgium and absorbed the 8th Royal Munster Fusiliers on the 23rd November to bring it up to strength of 48 officers and 1,069 men by 1st December . Christmas 1916 was spent in the trenches, but as the new year arrived , an official report relates " as if by mutual consent both sides ceased fire a minute or two before the close of the old year. On the stroke of midnight the pipers tuned up and gave us ' The old year out and the new year in, A nation once again, God save Ireland, and a few more songs of the old country, N.C.O.s and men joining lustily in the choruses.

 

 

( To listen to the music which accomanies this video please turn the music off at the front page )

Up to the middle of March rotating routine trench duties continued with light casualties ( 2 officers and 20 men killed) The Battalion rehearsed special training during April and May for the assault on the strategic Messines Ridge. The Flanders offensive began at 3.10am on the 7th June 1917 with the detonation of nineteen huge mines previously burrowed under the German lines. There followed the advance of the 16th Irish Division opposite the village of Wytschaete, to the right the 36th (Ulster) Division opposite the village of Messines, the largest ever concentration of Irish soldiers on a battlefield. Their advance across awful country has been reported by all who saw it as a sight never to be forgotten, a captured German officer stated that they moved as if on parade.

the 1st Royal Munster Fusiliers took allits objectives on schedule despite the loss of nearly all of its supporting tanks. The subsequent battle was a complete success militarily, the two divisions showing great fortitude - the Germans no match for them as they mopped up all resistance, advancing over two miles in a few days with minimal losses, incredible by Western Front standards. Casualties were low in an action which was one of the most successful of the Battalion's actions, resulting from thorough planning, training and good leadership and of course the fighting quality of those regiments involved. It was then relieved and returned to Ypres salient front section in August.

Continuous rain turned the battlefront into a sea of mud causing a multitude of casualties and failure to take specific positions reducing the battalion to 37 officers and 701 men. Suffering less than other battalions, the battalion was moved with its Division back south into France where it built up to 1, 089 all ranks.

The 16th ( Irish) Division took up positions north of the main attack in the first Battle of Cambrai which opened on 21st November with the use of over 450 British tanks. The 1st Royal Munster Fusiliers advanced with such speed that only one enemy machine gun post was manned in time to open fire , which was taken with one loss. Considering the capture of a difficult object without tank support and taking 170 prisoners losses were light and followed previously unsuccessful attempts by other unitts during the summer. The 1st Royal Munster Fusiliers final front tour ended on 2nd December when the Division was moved south to take over a french section. From January through to March the battalion was involved in various engagements with snow, frost and mud.By

St Patrick's day it became clear that the germans were gaining the initiative and their Forecasted " Big Move" was awaited.

Captured German trenches Messines Ridge

A German casualty of the Messines Ridge

 

 

On the 21st March 1918, the German Army launched its largest offensive of the war, the devastating Spring Offensive or Kaiserschlacht

with 65 Divisions along 54 miles of the British Front. The 1st Royal Munster Fusiliers was fortunate to be in reserve as the Germans opened with a gas bombardement. By next day the battalion was heavily engaged, the enemy using a new zigzag attack strategy. The battalion retaliated but was forced to withdraw and were quickly down to 7 officers and 450 men. There was then a general withdraw across the Somme at Peronne where it reorganised itself into two companies of 170 men. The german Offensive had decimated the 1st Battalion to a shadow of its previous strength. The 16th Irish Division was reduced to cadre having suffered the heaviest losses of any British Division in the March retreat. The 1st Battalion Royal Munster Fusiliers was transferred to the 57th ( 2nd W. Lancs) Division which had not seen action since its arrival in February 1917.

The Battalion was glad to leave the 16th Division due to ' Rotten staffwork' entering the lines again in May at Gommecourt, a quiet sector during the summer. On the 27th August it again entered the line for an attack near Croisilles taking enemy support trenches on the Hindenburg Line in half an hour with some losses. Then came the assault of the 2nd September when martin Doyle won the battalion's second Victoria Cross on the Drocourt-Queant Line south of the river Scarpe, suffering 350 casualties. The Battalion was relieved and received replacements and was trained in preperation for the assault on the Cambrai to St. Quentin line. With a 3,000 yard advance on the 27th September Graincourt was captured. The Germans counter - attacked recapturing many positions. the Battalion remained under shell fire even behind the lines and was reduced to 7 officers and 261 men by the 3rd October.

The battalion supported the attack of 8th October on Cambrai, which was found to be evacuated the following day. The Germans were in disorganised retreat. The 57th Division was then sent North to Armentierers, the battalion entering the line on the 17th October, with no resistance. The following day Lille was captured. The battalion provided a guard of honour for the French president's visit to Lille on the 21st October. The 1st Battalion Royal Munster Fusiliers was billeted in Lille until the armistice of 11th November 1918.

The battalion remained in a predominantly Irish battalion to the end, composed of many Dublin Fusiliers from May 1918. During the war at least 43 officers and 869 other ranks died in action with the battalion.

It was demobilised in December reducing it to 13 officers and 89 others. In May 1919 after returning to England it absorbed the 3rd Royal Munster Fusiliers at Plymouth. It left for Silesia in September 1921, returning the foloowing April to be disbanded in July 1922

ending a history going back 250 years.