lest we forget? it seems we have
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Fortnight Publications Ltd.
Lest We Forget? It Seems We HaveThe Road to the Somme: Men of the Ulster Division Tell Their Story by Philip OrrReview by: Rob FairmichaelFortnight, No. 261 (Apr., 1988), p. 19Published by: Fortnight Publications Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25551518 .
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books
Lest we
forget?
It seems
we have
Rob Fairmichael
Philip Orr The Road to the Somme:
men of the Ulster division tell their
story Blackstaff, ?9.95
ililiiiii
A life of close shaves?men of the Ulster division behind their lines in Essigny in 1918
HOW WE remember the dead is probably quite a good indication of how
we relate to the living. There is little sign that in Ireland we have learned
how to commemorate all those who have died in political conflicts and
wars. In the Republic, how to remember those who fought under a British
flag in the world wars is still very much a live issue. And when, two
armistice days ago in Belfast, an Alliance councillor wore a red and a
white poppy it caused apoplexy among many unionists, and some mem
bers of his own party.
Philip Orr's book is of considerable service in adopting a matter-of
fact approach to how the men of the 36th (Ulster) division lived and died.
It is well illustrated with contemporary photographs, as well as cartoons
by a soldier, Jim Maultsaid.
I would challenge anyone to read it without feeling a lump in their
throat?as I did on several occasions. Some of the most poignant pieces are not about the battlefront but the home front: the father of a boy living near Bleary was journeying to Lurgan station to join up, and "to the sound
of receding hoofbeats on a country lane, one boy's father disappeared out
of his life".
But horror there was, and bravery, stupidity, cruelty and 'coward
ice'?at least one Belfast man was executed for desertion. Perhaps it was
Dark reflections?a brazier-lit
dug-out viewed from the darkness of the trench
a sane response to an
insane war but deser
tion was labelled by the nation state as
cowardice in the face
of 'the enemy'. At the other end
was Billy McFad
zean, from Cregagh, who instinctively threw himself on two
grenades whose pins fell out when a box of
them fell in the trenches. McFadzean
was instantly blown to
smithereens, but
saved all his comrades
except one who lost a
leg. He was awarded a
posthumous VC.
As for stupidity, the officers come in
for some stick from
those interviewed.
Tommy Jordan, from
Ballynafeigh, 'lost a
stripe' for losing his
temper with an officer
who gave out to him
for the state of his
boots. He had been at the front for days, returning tired and unkempt and
suffering from damaged eardrums.
But, while the book focuses mainly on the personal stories of the men
who fought at the Somme, it also looks at the policies and the propaganda. A short introduction explains the origin of the war in the rampant nationalisms and imperialisms of the European powers. It charts the
establishment in January 1913 of the UVF, drawing under one command
volunteer forces which had emerged in opposition to home rule. Carson
negotiated with the British before committing his followers to the Euro
pean fray. Unique amongst the army, the 36th division was set up in
September 1914, with its basis in an oathbound paramilitary organisa tion?the UVF.
Orr quotes conflicting statistics as to whether more Prods or Teagues
joined the British army. Certainly the 36th was almost all Protestant, but
if some figures are right higher proportions volunteered from some
southern, 'Catholic' counties than from the Protestant heartlands of
Antrim and Down. Both loyalist and nationalist leaders saw participation as guaranteeing a favourable reaction to their political claims when the
war was over.
Orr remarks on this naivete: the price paid was to no avail. While
sentiment may have played a part in the political 'settlement' of partition, brute politics probably paid little note to such niceties. And the UVF, set
up to defend 'Ulster' against 'Rome rule', had faced slaughter in defence
of Catholic France.
The author deals in detail with the 'big push' of July 1st, 1916. The massive bombardment of German positions was meant to leave a
walkover for the British forces; instead they met stiff resistance and
merciless machine-gun fire from higher ground. The battle plan was
inflexible and contributed to the carnage on the British side.
The 36th division did relatively well, in military terms, in reaching the
German fifth line of defence. But the further it pushed the more isolated
it became, since the divisions on either side made little progress. Orr
postulates that the 36th got so far because it had been ready and waiting, in no man's land, when the whistle went. Heavy German reinforcements
and counter-attacks, plus lack of British support, meant the survivors
were almost all back at their original trenches by nightfall. If the figures Orr quotes for those from the Ulster division who went
'over the top' are typical, men stood around an 80 percent chance of being killed, wounded or captured on July 1 st, 1916. Altogether 21,000 British troops died that day, with 35,000 wounded and 600 taken prisoner. The aftermath is traced: the buff envelopes arriving at home, the heartbreak for
those at the front and those left behind.
The memories of the hell of battle stayed with the survivors. As one
wrote 50 years later, "we were locked in chains for execution". Another,
George McBride, pointed to the continuity between the Great War and the
Cold War of the 80s: "Even with all the weapons we have now, we can
only do on a bigger scale what we did in the last ones."
As NATO rearms Europe with new nuclear weapons not proscribed by the Euro-missile treaty of last December, the question remains of whether
humankind has learned the lessons of the Great War, of the inhumanity so
well documented by Philip Orr. The answer, seemingly, is no.
Fortnight April 19
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