<<From
the Somme to the Armistice
| <<1917 | 1918
1918
In January 1918 the Division took over the line again in the Somme sector,
relieving the trench from Sphinx Wood to the St-Quinten-Roisel railway.
The British Army as a whole at this time were now being restructured,
with smaller Brigades, of three Battalions each. More regular Battalions
were added to the 36th - the 1st and 2nd Inniskillings and the 1st Royal
Irish Rifles. The Division was now organised as follows :
107th Infantry Brigade
1st Battalion Royal Irish Rifles
2nd Battalion Royal Irish Rifles
3rd Battalion Royal Irish Rifles
108th Infantry Brigade
12th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles
1st Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers
9th Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers
109th Infantry Brigade
1st Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers
2nd Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers
9th Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers
The Pioneers were also slimmed down to only three companies, but the Division
was strengthened by the inclusion of another machine gun company.
A German assault was expected any day now: the enemy reaping the fruits
of withdrawal from the Russian front, and a make or break encounter with
the Allies was anticipated. After a prolonged troop build-up, the German
Infantry advanced on 21 March 1918. By 23 March the enemy had broken through,
and a couple of days of fighting in open countryside followed, where the
36th suffered badly. At the village of Erches a brave defence was put
up and the Division helped to stem the German advance.
On the left a painting by the Ulster artist William Conor,
was one of a series printed on Christmas
postcards and sold back home for a penny each in aid of the UVF hospitals
for the wounded.
On the right, a Christmas card for the troops still stuck in France in
the winter of 1918 to send home.
Between 21 March and the end of the month the 36th had suffered 7,252
casualties, the majority of whom were POW’s. The 108th Brigade had
been reduced to 300 men.
Drafts from England filled up the ranks with young and inexperienced recruits
as the Division moved north to the Ypres-Salient once again. In May, Maj.
General Nugent was replaced by Maj. General Clifford Coffin and one of
the last links with the Ulster Volunteer days was thereby severed. By
the end of September the 36th had been allocated to Lt General C.W. Jacob’s
2nd Corps, which advanced and took control of landmarks whose names had
spelt dread for years - the Menin Road, Zonnebeke, Vlamertinghe and the
obstinate ‘Hill 41’.
By 16 October the Division was at the gates of Courtrai, facing a demoralised
German Army that was a shadow of its former self.
On October 27 the 108th and the 107th Brigades were relieved from the
front line; they would play no further part in the war.
On October 29 the Austrians pulled out of the conflict and on November
11 the Germans ceased to fight.
On the famous ‘eleventh hour of the eleventh month’
the Armistice was signed and Europe at last knew peace. The Great War
was over.
Butr the men of the 36th Division were not to return home immediately.
They spent winter astride the French-Belgium border, and although the
Pioneers engaged in some railway construction, the main occupations for
most of the Infantrymen were educational and recreational. Men were being
prepared for a return to home life which would at first seem strange to
them. The British Prime Minister, Lloyd George, guaranteed “a land
fit for heroes to live in”, but the reality was likely to be something
else - for one thing, the men would have to find jobs. And in Ireland
there were to be further civil troubles. From January to early summer
demobilisation took place. By July 1919 the 36th Division - which had
started nearly five years previously as a vehicle for the energies and
enthusiasm of the Ulster Volunteer Force - was written off the register
and ceased to exist. It had been a home for many thousands of young men,
this strangely temporary body where they made friendships as deep as any
human relationships could be, and where they learnt the depths of misery,
pain and boredom that only war could teach. For thousands it formalities
and etiquette, its in-jokes and banter, had composed the final society
in which they had lived.
Men of the 36th Division before the Battle of Cambrai.
Memory
of the Brave
Lyrics and Music © copyright
Performed by Jamesy Gould
<<From the Somme to the Armistice | <<1917 | 1918
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