<<From
the Somme to the Armistice
| 1917 | 1918>>
1917
On 13 JUly 1916 most of the 36th was sent to the training area west of
St. Omer for training and reorganisation; they were joined five days later
by the artillery who had still been helping to cover the 49th Division
at the Somme front. When the drafts of new men from home had began to
be absorbed into the ranks, the Division went back to ‘holding the
line’ - from the Neuve Eglise - Warneton road to the Wulverghem
- Messines road. However, throughout the autumn of 1916 the 36th had a
reasonably quiet time - the attention of the Germans was very much focused
on the defence of the Somme, further south.
In the early spring of 1917 there was a rapid increase in the pace of
life as a build up of troops began for the 2nd army’s attempt to
capture the Messines - Wytschaete Ridge. In the Messines attack the 36th
was to fight alongside the Irish Catholics of the 16th Division which
had been formed primarily from the National Volunteers. On 31 May 1917
the preliminary bombardment opened at the start of yet another effort
to break the deadlock. On 7 JUne at 3,10am the troops moved forward, making
good progress and exploiting the tactical advantage created by huge mines
exploding at zero hour. When the 36th eventually retired from the line
on the night of 9 JUne, sixty-one officers and 1,058 other ranks were
casualties in the Division, and losses probably three times as great had
been inflicted on the enemy. Four days later, the 36th moved to the area
between Mont Noir and Bailleul where rest was allowed before the men took
over a section of the line between Blauwepoorbeek and Rose Wood, a nearly
won position which the Germans were anxious to make difficult to hold.
In the air, Baron Von Richthofen (the Red Baron) and his squadron of red
scout planes attacked barrage balloons and flew low along the trenches
with guns blazing.
On 7 July the Division, minus artillery, Engineers and Pioneers moved
back to St Omer for twelve days of rest.
A bathing party from the 36th Division on the French coast.
The 36th was now in the 19th Corps, a part of the 5th Army, and the Division
was moved up at the end of July to Poperinge, where, on the last day of
the month, the dreaded Third Battles of Ypres began. The Ypres Salient
was an area of persistent and bloody conflict throughout the war. In the
part of Ypres campaign known as the battle of Langemarck, the 36th was
back up to the 5th Division, and once again it was operating alongside
the 16th Division. From 2 to 18 August 144 Officers and 3,441 men of the
36th were to become casualties in the Ypres Salient.
The 36th was soon on its way south again where it was to be joined by
the 1st Royal Irish Fusiliers, a regular Battalion whose numbers were
needed in a Division that was now deplorably under strength. Increasingly
the 36th was being filled with conscripts from mainland Britain - a different
kind of soldier entirely from the UVF recruits of 1914-1916.
On 27 August the 1st Fusiliers was incorporated into the 107th (the ‘Belfast’)
Brigade, where the 8th and 9th Rifles - the old East and West Belfast
Volunteers - were amalgamated. Also the North Irish Horse had been dismounted
and the three hundred or so men who thus became available were incorporated
into the 9th Royal Irish Fusiliers. The 7th Royal Irish Rifles, from the
16th Division, was amalgamated with the 2nd (regular) Rifles and the new
blend was sent to the 36th’s 108th Brigade, in which the 11th and
the 13th Rifles - the old South Antrim and Down Volunteers - were also
amalgamated.
Memories of the Somme were stirred when the 36th detrained at Bapaume
and Miraumont, towns that had been in German hands when the Ulstermen
had occupied the trenches on either side of the Ancre more than a year
before. The area was now devastated, and less hospitable than the Picardy
Volunteers had known in pre-Somme days. On 29 and 30 August the 36th relieved
the 9th Division, confronting the redoubtable Hindenburg line of trenches,
strong and recently constructed, beyond which lay the beautiful town of
Cambrai.
On 30 September the Pioneers and artillery rejoined the Division from
the Salient where the Pioneers had been erecting camouflage over the notorious
Menin Road.
On the morning of 20 November the 36th was involved in a new offensive
in which they had to capture trenches between the Bapaume-Cambrai road
and the Canal du Nord. On 14 December after an exhausting and miserable
time the men were relieved and retired from the line to spend a comparatively
pleasant Christmas resting and wondering, no doubt, whether 1918 would
prove to be the final year of this seemingly interminable war.
Men of the 12th Royal Irish Rifles behind their line near
Essigny.
Many must have remembered scenes like this when they thought of dead friends.
<<From
the Somme to the Armistice
| 1917 | 1918>>
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