The Battle of the Somme

WE can be ‘funny’ in this country when it comes to historical commemorations.

If events were on our side then there is great fanfare but if it was ‘the other side’ then…history is written by the victors and much depends on the mood of the public. Easter Week survivors were jeered by many as they were taken off to Frongoch internment camp but returned as heroes whereas those who fought in the Great War were sent off as heroes but ignored on their return. Some, such as Tom Barry, fought in the War of Independence, most were ignored and hid their involvement while estimates put the number of ex-servicemen killed by the IRA as high as 200.
In the 1920s, thousands attended Remembrance Day events and over 100,000 poppies were sold annually. In the ’30s these events stopped as they were regarded as ‘foreign’ and not really ‘fíor Gael’. In the 1980s when President Hillery was invited to the Remembrance Day Service in St Patrick’s Cathedral, the Haughey government refused him permission to attend.
In 1919, the government decided to build a national memorial to those who died in the war but the plan came to nothing. Eventually, the War Memorial Gardens were built by ex-servicemen of the Irish and British Armies. They were derelict by the ’70s when the Fitzgerald government decided to restore them. Most people were unaware of them until the visit by Queen Elizabeth II.
Members of the National Volunteers and the Ulster Volunteers enlisted in the army at the outbreak of the Great War. The Ulster Volunteers believed their involvement would guarantee their place in the United Kingdom, while the National Volunteers were fighting for the freedom of small nations and to further the cause of Home Rule.
No battle proved as costly for either group as that of the Somme in 1916. At least 3,500 Irishmen were killed in the battle which raged from July to November. These were only those in the Irish divisions. There were hundreds of casualties in other regiments. July marches are held in memory of the men of the 36th Ulster Division, 2,000 of whom were killed and 3,500 injured on the very first day, July 1. They attained their objective but when no reinforcements could reach them, the survivors had to return to their own trenches. There are memorials to their valour all across Ulster and theirs is seen as a blood sacrifice guaranteeing their place in the Union. There are no such memorials to the men from the other provinces who suffered as much.
In the September offensive alone, the 16th Irish Division drawn from the other provinces, suffered 4,500 casualties, of whom 1,200 were killed. There are no memorials to them and no marches in their memory. Many families do not even know where their ancestors are buried and many of the survivors were shunned and victimised when they returned.
Maybe the visit by the Queen to the Memorial Garden in Islandbridge will raise awareness of their accomplishments.
The Battle of the Somme, when over one million men were killed with no appreciable change to either army’s positions, ended on November 18, 1916 – 95 years ago this week.