the royal munster fusiliers

The summer was relatively quiet after the battalion moved in June to the Loos sector. Various tours and shell attacks brought some casualties in July and August. Other battalions were being withdrawn to reinforce the Gallipoli campaign, no reinforcements or recruits arriving, keeping the battalion weak as the Loos offensive began on the 25th September 1915. At first in reserve they had to hold the line with over 200 casualties, leaving 2nd RMF with around 350 all ranks, reduced to 250 by the time the battle died down on 13th October. A monthe later on 15th November John Redmond M.P, the Irish leader, visited the lines, promising to fill the depleted 2nd RMF with Irish recruits.

There followed three months of bitter winter in appalling trench conditions, spades, shovels and picks were more in use than weapons.

New young recruits began arriving, but in the relative inactivity, sixty five men were hit by harassing random fire. Forty went down with frost bite and trench fever in the Artic weather. In May the 2nd RMF received many of the personel from the disbanded 9th RMF, bringing it up to strength for the summer campaign. The first noteworthy operation was the Lieven raid on the 25th of June into which much preperation had been put, a Victoria Cross being awarded to Lieutenant Arthur Batten-Pooll, though losses were heavy with 5 officers and 60 other ranks killed or wounded.

The battalion was transferred with its Division down to the Somme in July for the opening of the battle of the Somme , entering the lines on the 14th July capturing its objectives two days later, and repulsing the German counter attack on the 18th July, in all with an officer and 26 men killed, 127 wounded and 50 gassed. They were in reserve until 20th August, when they entered the lines again for steady fighting but ran into a heavy off-target and ineffective British bombardment, killing 4 officers and 29 other ranks. A continual toll of casualties made September a costly month. After a months break in October, the 2 RMF returned to the Somme for Maitenance duties, then into front-line trenches full of mud from 27th November onwards, with steady frost bite and raids continuing to the end of December.Throughout the Somme campaign the 2nd RMF retained its local and Irish character. They were in the front line trenches again in February at Barleux when a thaw turned everthing into a sea of mud. In march the first major event was the German withdrawl from the old Somme battlefield to their new Hindenburg Line. The battalion followed across the Somme, but was held up removing mines and booby traps and also repairing communications in May. They then moved to near Nieuwpoort in Flanders for an intended amphibious landing with an impressive 43 officers and 1,070 men which was aborted by a surprise German attack on the 10th July. They went through severe shelling and gas. The division was moved to Dunkirk for another attempt near Zeebrugge to link with a land offensive through passchendale, also cancelled when not gaining enough footing.

Complete and utter ignorance on behalf of the General Staff , allowed men to live and die in conditions such as these. Most had never even visted the front line to see the misery and carnage for themselves.

By 6th November 1917 the 2nd RMFnow numbered 20 officers and 630 other ranks when it arrived at 'Irish Farm' in the Ypres salient. The ground was a quagmire full of water-logged shell holes after four months of battle. It was to be the last British effort of the Passchendale campaign. The 2nd RMF was to be one of two battalions leading the 1st Division's attack at 6am on the 10th November Weighed down with equipment they waded deep through mud and water, initially taking all the objectives within 45 minutes. Seeing the progress by the Canadians on the right they pressed on. The artillery support requested to break up the enemy landed as so often on the battalion's positions. The SWB advance had left a gap the Germans made use of to cut off most of the 2nd RMF. Three hours later saw only 7 officers and 240 other ranks present. 12 and 393 having become casualties. The battalion was railed out to Brielleu for the rest of the year.

By the end of January 1918 the 2nd RMF numbered up 44 officers and 823 other ranks. It was transferred to the 48th Brigade of the 16th ( Irish ) Division on the 3rd of February near Peronne where it entered the lines a week later, the Division under the inadequate command of General Hubert Gough. The next great initiative was expected from the Germans after their victory on the Eastern Front giving them a superiority of numbers in the west. The British front was at its lengthiest when the German March " Spring Offensive" opened with a devastating bombardment early on the 21st march from 4.15pm until noon. This bombarment deliberately cut off and isolated individual battalions holding the front line so that no reserves could reach them. This was then followed by Infantry attacks, a new tactic used by the German army where small groups of Infantry moved fast and attacked independently. It was the first so called " storm trooper " tactics.It was a tactic that took the Allies completely by surprise.The Munsters suffered badly from shelling but managed to hold the Germans off through the night until they were eventually overwhelmed. The 2nd RMF managed to make a retreat, some making it to a high ridge trench, where they were driven out but managed to retire to Epehy by dark, fog having allowed the Germans to infiltrate easily. Next day the battalion was withdrawn to Tincourt where the depleted 16th Irish Division was concentrated, the 2nd RMF now numbering only 290 other ranks from 629 the day before. On the 22nd March the battalion crossed back over the Somme at Peronne.

By the 25th March the battalion had lost 27 officers and 550 men, as the rest tried to reform, holding off several attacks and near encirclement, they formed a 400 man column and attempted a night retreat, half reaching friendly positions next morning at Hamel. Undergoing further bombardment they attempted to retake positions lost, which reduced them further until the remaining 3 officers and 93 men had to be withdrawn into a reserve position. Merely 2 officers and 42 other rank reinforcements joined them on the 3rd of April. The 2nd RMF was largely destroyed by the German offensive losing 36 officers and 796 other ranks since 21st March. It moved northwards to amalgamate with the equally hard hit 1 RMF at Inghem on the 14th April when the resulting unit numbered 28 officers and 896 other ranks. The 2nd RMF was reduced to a training cadre of 11 officers who the 16th ( Irish) Division to provide instruction for the newly arrived American units.

The battalion began reconstruction on 7th june 1918 when most of the 6th RMF who had returned from palestine were transferred to the 2nd RMF. The battalion made its last transfer to the 150th Brigade of the 50th Division at Arras for the begining of the Hundred Days Offensive and were largely made up of other men from Salonika and Palestine, most hardened by malaria and more resistant to the now apparent deadly influenza epidemic. The battalion was finally transported on the 1st October to Epehy, scene of its march experiences where it was again ordered into the lines on the 4th October to capture La Chatelet. Largely gaining their objective they had to retire encountering heavy counter attacks and failures elsewhere on the line, losing many 6 RMF pre-war veterans who had survived Gallipoli. The 50th Divisions advance was resumed on 10th October and the battalion was reduced to 13 officers and 411men by 16th October.The Battle of Ephey began on 18th October to drive the Germans behind the river, the Munsters going in next day in fog surprising the Germans, taking many prisoners as well as the objectives. The Munsters overran their objectives and were caught in another Divisions barrage, losses agian were heavy . They were then withdrawn and reorganised for what was to be their final operation of the war, successfully taking a large area around Haute Noyelles on 4th November, the number of prisoners taken indicative of the low state of the German morale. After a counter-bombardment on 7th November the battalion was withdrawn for the remaining days up until the Armistice.

Last reassembled in December before demobilisation the 2nd RMF numbered 25 officers and 581 other ranks. After demobilisation by February, the last cadre of 14 officers and 54 other ranks left France in June 1919 and was reabsorbed into the reformed battalion on the Isle of Wight numbering 900, of these a high 500 with war service. The 2nd Royal Munster Fusiliers served in Egypt from November 1919 to May 1922 returning for demobilisation and disbandment in July 1922. Their last commander wrote " Its losses amounted to 179 officers and 4,088 rank and file killed wounded or missing. There were 28 changes in the battalion's command during the war. The battalion retained its essentially Irish Character to the end of the war and was first to last composed of voluntarily enlisted soldiers. During the war 346 officers and over 8,000 other ranks passed through its ranks.

Victoria Cross Recipients: