More family history

James O’ Sullivan has an excellent website about my grandfather’s regiment, the Munster fusiliers. His father served in the first battalion, which saw action at Gallipoli before transferring to the Western Front in 1916.

I am very grateful to James for providing me a clipping from the Times dated 23 March 1915, which lists members of the 2nd battalion that had been taken prisoner. One of them is my grandfather. There is no record of any members of the battalion taken prisoner between the Etreux rearguard action of 27 August 1914 and the publication of the list in the Times.

The conclusion is that my grandfather was one of a just a few hundred soldiers that held up a whole German corps for a crucial twelve hours and thus helped ensure the survival of the British Expeditionary Force in its retreat from Mons to the Marne.

Lucky to be alive!

It is Memorial Day in the United States. Here it is the late spring bank holiday. It's cold and it has been pissing down. I have been planning to write a some historical posts on the Munster Fusiliers, my grandfather's regiment in WWI and the RAF Pathfinder Force (my father served in 109 squadron). I will get around to them over the spring and summer.

What does strike me is that I am bloody lucky to have been born! My grandfather was captured during the Etreux rearguard action on 27 August 1914. Had he not been taken prisoner he would have had plenty of chance to spill blood between then and 11 November 1918:

Cap badge, Munster Fusiliers

• In 1914 in the Ypres Salient offensive and the Festubert battle.

• In May 1915 at the Rue du Bois battle where the 2nd Munster's suffered many losses to friendly artillery fire. Before engaging in battle, absolution was administered to the battalion by their Chaplain Francis Gleeson and is subject of the famous (well famous to me) painting by Fortunate Matania. 22 officers and 520 men went in to battle, 3 officers and 200 men returned.
  
  
  The last Absolution by Matania
  

• In september during Loos sector battles.

• In June 1916 during raids on German lines at Lievin

• In July in the attack on the village of Contalmaison.

• In September to December in the defence of Martinpuich and the Somme offensive.

• July 1917 in the Nieuport defence.

• In November at Passchendale

• In March 1918 in action at Epehy, Tincourt, Doingt, Chuignolles and Mericourt sectors.

• In October at Le Catelet, Foret de Mormal and River Selle sectors.

The second Munsters was wiped out several times over during WWI. A POW camp in Limburg in Germany was probably the safest place for him!

I am grateful to Jams O'Sullivan and his superb Munster Fusiliers site for this infiormation

Grandfather (another wordy wordless wednesday)

A wordy wordless wednesday this week but here goes:-

This is my paternal grandfather who served in the Second Battalion of the Royal Munster Fusiliers (2nd Munsters) and we believe was taken prisoner at the battle of Mons in 1914. That he survived that terrible conflict is probably down to his spending over four years in a POW camp in Limburg in Germany as a “guest” of the Kaiser! This photograph was taken in 1914.

We have little information n him now. A while ago I searched the WWI service medal database at the UK National Archives website and I was delighted to find a medal record for a private in the Munster Fusiliers bearing the exact same name as my grandfather who arrived in France on 13 August 1914.

This piece of information would place him in the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) at the start of WWI. It is a matter of record that on 23 August 1914 the BEF engaged the German First Army around Mons but the 2nd Munsters were held in reserve and did not participate in that battle.

The 2nd Munsters’ contribution to the Mons Campaign took place on 27 August at Etreux. At the time the BEF was in retreat and in extreme danger of being surrounded and destroyed by advancing German forces. Three companies of the 2nd Munsters under Major Charrier along with a troop of the 15th Hussars, and two guns of the 118th Battery, R.F.A., held off a full German Corps for a day taking appalling casualties in the process. This action allowed General Haig’s I Corps to put twelve miles between itself and the front almost certainly ensuring its survival as a fighting force.

The Action is a tiny footnote in a conflict that took millions of lives but it is a textbook example of the function of a rear guard force. I cannot demonstrate absolutely that my grandfather was actually taken prisoner there and I may never be able to but this must be a prime candidate.