National War Memorial, Islandbridge
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The National War Memorial is an 8 hectare war memorial along the banks of the River Liffey in the Islandbridge area of Dublin, built to commemorate Irish soldiers, many former members of the National Volunteers, who died in World War I on the Western Front and in Gallipoli and the Dardanelles while serving in The Royal Dublin Fusiliers, the Royal Munster Fusiliers and the Connaught Rangers as battalions of the 10th (Irish) Division and the 16th (Irish) Division, as well as Irishmen who at that time served and died in other regiments of the British, Canadian, Australian and U.S. Allied armies in support of the Triple Entente's retaliation to free Europe from the hegemony of the Central Powers.
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[edit] Memorial
Visible from the Phoenix Parks magazine fort, it commemorates 49,400 Irish soldiers who died out of over 300,000 who fought in all armies. Designed by the great memorialist Sir Edwin Lutyens the Garden of Remembrance surrounds an alter stone and a Cross of Sacrifice. In the granite paved pergolas are illuminated Volumes recording the names of all the dead, and were once publicly accessible, although the threat of vandalism has now had them closed except for visits by appointment, and which can be digitally viewed in an onsite office
A wooden cross, the Ginchy Cross, built by the 16th (Irish) Division and originally erected on the Somme, is housed in the same building. Three granite replicas of this cross are erected at locations liberated by Irish divisions - Guillemont and Messines-Wytschaete in Belgium, and Salonica in Macedonia.
The site was suggested by and the work began when W.T. Cosgrave was president of the Irish Free State Executive Council. He said ".... this is a big question of Remembrance and Honour to the dead and it must always be a matter of interest to the head of the Government to see that a project so dear to a big section of the citizens should be a success". In the changed political conditions of the 1930s Eamon de Valera's government recognised the motive of the Memorial and made valuable state contributions to it. There was no discord in its building – workers were so drawn from the unemployed that 50 per cent were former ex-British Army and 50 per cent ex-Irish Army. To provide as much work as possible the use of mechanical equipment was restricted, and even granite blocks of 7 and 8 tons from Ballyknocken and Barnaculla were manhandled into place with primitive tackles of poles and ropes. On completion in 1939 the Trustees responsible said: "It is with a spirit of confidence that we commit this noble memorial of Irish valour to the care and custody of the Government of Ireland"[1].
A further Great War Irish national memorial, taking the form of an All-Ireland journey of conciliation, was opened in 1998 at the Island of Ireland Peace Park, Messines, Flanders, Belgium. See also external links.
Those who died in the Easter Rising which ran concurrently with the First World War, and the Anglo-Irish War, are commemorated in the Gardens of Remembrance on Parnell Square.
[edit] Irish participation in World War I
[edit] Ferdinand assassination triggers war
Gavrilo Princip was one of three men sent by Dragutin Dimitrijevic, the chief of the Intelligence Department in the Serbian Army and head of the Black Hand, to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, during his visit to Sarajevo on June 28, 1914. Ferdinand had accepted the invitation of General Oskar Potiorek to inspect army manoeuvres in his capacity of Inspector General of the army. Princip shot Ferdinand in the neck and his wife, Sophie, in the abdomen while their cavcalcade travelled on Franz Joseph Street. This started a chain of events that culminated in a Declaration of War by Britain on August 4, 1914
[edit] Political climate in Ireland in 1914
Nationalist Ireland had strived to achieve Home Rule and these efforts were reflected in the passage of the Home Rule Bill on September 18, 1914. The operation of this Bill was suspended for a year as the British sought to achieve consensus throughout Ireland and Great Britain on the issue. The Leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, John Redmond MP, on September 20, 1914 called on Irish Volunteers to enlist in Britain's war effort in support of the Triple Entente at what was a time of heightened emotions as the German advance through neutral Belgium was threatening Paris.
The Irish Volunteers were divided on this proposition. They numbered about 180,000 and 12,000 of these dedicated themselves to securing political independence for Ireland from the United Kingdom - by force, if this was required. The remainer formed the Irish National Volunteers following Redmond.
[edit] Answering the call
Approximately 80,000 Irish men enlisted in the first year of the War and half of these were from what is now the Republic of Ireland; the other half were from what is now Northern Ireland. They enlisted in the 10th (Irish) Division and the 16th (Irish) Division of the New British Army with participation from each of the four provinces. The 36th (Ulster) Division comprised members of the Ulster Volunteer Force, who imported over 24,000 rifles and three million rounds of ammunition (to defend the North-Eastern most six counties from the prospect of Home Rule from Dublin), ironically enough bought from Germany, the very country they were later to wage war against.
Irish men also joined other Irish regiments including the London (Irish), the Irish Guards and several other regiments that were based in Scotland, Wales and elsewhere in England. Irish men also enlisted in the forces of the United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.
[edit] First shot
Corporal E Thomas of 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards had the distinction of firing the first shot in the War.
[edit] Gallipoli, 1915
A stalemate on the Western Front prompted an alternative approach to beating Germany. Irish, British, French and New Zealand troops were transported from Britain to Gallipoli after Constantinople had been captured which meant that Russia needed aid to launch an assault from the east to tie down the German army. The Royal Navy tried to sail up the Dardanelles on March 18 but several ships were lost. A land invasion was attempted in April at six locations but Turkish defences kept the advance close to the beach. Another attempt was made in August but this too failed. Winston Churchill who had proposed the venture resigned from Government. He lost his seat in Parliament and was not reelected until World War II commenced.
The 1st Battalion of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers and the Royal Munster Fusiliers with the Inniskilling Fusiliers participated in the April attempted Landing at Cape Helles. Their efforts were in vain and there were over 600 casualties in a 36-hour period .
[edit] St Julien, 1915
While the 2nd Battle of Ypres raged in May the 2nd Royal Dublin Fusiliers were nearly wiped out as a result of a German initiated poisen gas attack. There were 666 personnel at the outset and 21 survived.
[edit] Salonika, 1915
A force of 2,454 attached to the 10th (Irish) Division sailed from Gallipoli to Salonika on September 29 to fight on the Bulgarian front. The Royal Dublin Fusiliers and The Royal Munster Fusiliers were ordered to take the village of Jenikoj the following week. There were 385 casualties.
[edit] Hulluch, 1916
A German gas attack on April 27 in the Battle of Hulluch caused 385 casualties. The 16th (Irish) Division remained in Loos until August. They then moved to The Somme but not before suffering 6,000 casualties, including 1,496 deaths.
[edit] Battle of the Somme, July - November 1916
The Battle of the Somme commenced early on July 1 and the day ended with a total of 60,000 casualties of whom 20,000 were kiled in action. The 36th (Ulster) Division suffered 5,500 casualties and 2,000 of these were killed in action. The 1st Royal Dublin Fusiliers fought next to the 36th and endured 147 casualties - 22 killed and 64 missing in action. The 2nd Royal Dublin Fusiliers lost 14 of their 23 officers 311 out of a total of 480 in other ranks. There was also Irish participation in 1st Royal Irish Rifles, 1st Royal Irish Fusiliers, 1st Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and 2nd Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, 2nd Royal Irish Regiment, in four battalions of the Northumberland Fusiliers. The Battle continued until the following November when it was ended as a consequence of inclement weather.
While progress was limited the 16th (Irish) Division captured Guillemont on September 2 and Ginchy on September 9. The former Nationalist MP for East Tyrone, lawyer and economics professor at UCD, Tom Kettle was killed in this battle.
[edit] Messines Ridge
The 16th (Irish) and 36th (Ulster) Divisions fought alongside each other to capture the village of Wijtschate, Belgium in a well planned attack in June 1917 at the Battle of Messines. Three million shells and 9,500 tons of explosives were used in a single week. One of those lost in battle was 56 year old Major Willie Redmond MP for Clare and other constituencies for 34 years. He was a brother of the Leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party John Redmond and he was killed on June 17
[edit] Passchendaele
The following month, July 1917, both Divisions moved under the command of General Sir Hubert Gough, with little regard for the Irish and Commander of the British Fifth Army who ordered an advance to the east of Ypres towards well fortified German positions left untouched by totally inadequate artillery preparation during the Third Battle of Ypres. By mid August the 16th (Irish) had suffered over 4,200 casualties and the 36th (Ulster) had suffered almost 3,600 casualties, or more than 50% of their numbers. Dalkey native Fr Willie Doyle a Jesuit and chaplain to the 10th (Irish) Division was killed. He had been awarded the Military Cross and was nominated for the Victoria Cross for his commendable bravery.
[edit] 1918
The 16th (Irish) Division and the 36th (Ulster) Division were almost wiped out in the German Spring Offensive towards Amiens in March 1918. One third of the total personnel were killed - over 6,400 in the 16th and over 6,100 in the 36th. Irish manpower was reallocated to other Divisions and they took part in offensives that by October drove the Germans back from territory gained in the previous four years. The War ended a month later with the Armistice of 11 November; a war that had the participation of an estimated 140,000 Irish men and women from Ireland.
[edit] Notes
- ^ H.E.D (Henry) Harris (Major) The Irish Regiments in the First World War, pp 210. Mercier Press Cork (1968)
[edit] Reading Sources
- Thomas P. Dooley: Irishmen or English Soldiers: ?
the Times of a Southern Catholic Irish Man (1876-1916).
Liverpool Press (1995), ISBN 0-85323-600-3. - Myles Dungan: They Shall not Grow Old
Irish Soldiers in the Great War
Four Courts Press (1997), ISBN 1-85182-347-6. - Keith Jeffery: Ireland and the Great War
Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge (2000), ISBN 0-521-77323-7. - Bryan Cooper (1918): The 10th (Irish) Division in Gallipoli
Irish Academic Press (1993), (2003). ISBN 0-7165-2517-8. - Terence Denman: Ireland's unknown Soldiers
the 16th (Irish) Division in the Great War
Irish Academic Press (1992), (2003) ISBN 0-7165-2495-3. - Desmond & Jean Bowen: Heroic Option: The Irish in the British Army
Pen & Sword Books (2005), ISBN 1-84415-152-2. - Steven Moore: The Irish on the Somme (2005), ISBN 0-954-9715-1-5.
