16th (Irish) Division - History

History

Moved by the fate of Belgium, a small and Catholic country, John Redmond had called on Irishmen to enlist “in defence of the highest principles of religion and morality and right”. More Catholic Irish enlisted than Protestants.

The Division began forming as part of the K2 Army Group towards the end of 1914 after Irish recruits in the early days of the war from England and Belfast first filled the ranks of the 10th (Irish) Division before being assigned to the 16th Division, formed around a core of National Volunteers. Initial training began in Ireland at Fermoy, Munster; recruits also trained at Buttevant. It moved to Aldershot in England for more intensive training in September 1915. After thirteen weeks, the formation was deployed to Etaples in France, joining the BEF, from where it left on December 18 for that part of the front in the Loos salient, under the command of Irish Major General William Hickie. It spent the rest of the war on the Western Front.

Until March 1916 the Division was part of IV Corps, commanded by the staunch unionist Henry Wilson. Wilson, who had called the division “Johnnie Redmond’s pets”, inspected them over the course of a few days over Christmas 1915, noting that they “appear to be inferior” and that “at least 50p.c. are quite useless, old whiskey-sodden militiamen”. Hickie agreed that he had “a political Divn of riff raff Redmondites”. Wilson thought 47th brigade had “old officers, old & useless men, very bad musketry, rotten boots, and altogether a very poor show”. Wilson reported to the Army Commander Monro (6 January) that the Division, despite having been training since September-October 1914, would not be fit to serve in an active part of the line for six weeks. Although political prejudice probably played a part in Wilson's views, he also attributed much of the difference in quality between his divisions to training, especially of officers, in which he took a keen personal interest, opposing Haig's wish to delegate training from corps to division level.

At Loos, in January and February 1916, the division was introduced to trench warfare and suffered greatly in the Battle of Hulluch, 27–29 April, (during the Easter Rising in Ireland). Personnel raided German trenches all through May and June, and in late July they were moved to the Somme Valley where they were intensively engaged in the Battle of the Somme. The 16th division played an important part in capturing the towns of Guillemont and Ginchy, although they suffered massive casualties. During these successful actions between 1 and 10 September casualties amounted to 224 officers and 4,090 men; despite these very heavy losses the division gained a reputation as first-class shock troops. Out of a total of 10,845 men, it had lost 3,491 on the Loos sector between January and the end of May 1916, including heavy casualties from bombardment and a gas attack at Hullach in April. Bloodletting of this order was fatal to the division’s character, for it had to be made good by drafts from England.

In early 1917, the division took a major part in the Battle of Messines alongside the 36th (Ulster) Division, adding to both their recognition and reputation. Their major actions ended in the summer of 1917 at the Battle of Passchendaele after coming under the command of General Hubert Gough and the Fifth Army. In July 1917, during the Third Battle of Ypres, although both divisions were totally exhausted after 13 days of moving weighty equipment under heavy shelling, Gough ordered the battalions to advance through deep mud towards well fortified German positions left untouched by totally inadequate artillery preparation. By mid August, the 16th had suffered over 4,200 casualties, the 36th almost 3,600, or more than 50% of their numbers. Field Marshal Haig was very critical of Gough for "playing the Irish card".

The 16th Division held an exposed position from early 1918 at Ronssoy where they suffered more heavy losses during the German Spring Offensive in March and being practicaally wiped out in the retreat which followed Operation Michael, when they helped to finally halt the German attack prior to the Battle of Hamel. The decision was then made to break up the division, the three surviving Service battalions were posted to other formations. On 14 June the division returned to England for "reconstitution". The Conscription Crisis of 1918 in Ireland meant that fewer Irish recruits could be raised so that the 16th Division which returned to France on 27 July contained five English Battalions, two Scottish Battalions and one Welsh Battalion. The only original Battalion left was the 5th Royal Irish Fusiliers.

The dispersion of the Irish battalions throughout the BEF in 1918, despite its practical considerations, appears to suggest that the Irish units were increasingly distrusted by the military authorities.