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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