The Battle of Aubers Ridge during which the 8th Division took horrendous casualties, not least amongst the ranks of the 2nd Rifle Brigade who reached and held their objectives in a feat which is almost incomprehensible from the modern perspective, does not spring to mind promptly - even amongst Great War enthusiasts. I fully admit of thinking in terms of 14-15 as 'backwater material' in comparison to the subsequent battles of 16/17/18. Since I made a vow to find out more about the 'early war' actions on the 'forgotten front', I have been astonished at the awful scale of casualties and the bitterness of the fighting which was often to the point of the bayonet .. perhaps the 'last scrap' for the remnants of the old pre-war regulars.

Rarely have I seen a better summation of the horror of Fromelles in May 1915 than that written by the eminent historian Cyril Falls, who was no stranger to the nature of war on the western front having served initially as an infantry officer with the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.

I do not believe a better epitaph has been written for 'the men of '15' than that provided by Falls ...

At the end of his account of the action in his 'History of the First Seven Battalions of the Royal Irish Rifles in the Great war' he writes:-

' ...a butchery such as Fromelles, when men are mown down and nothing is won, has no such brighter side. It was a memory entirely evil.
The bravery displayed had been of the very highest standard, and no expressions that can be applied to it would appear other than weak. To hold the position meant almost certain death, and the position had been held for half an hour after the time fixed for the arrival of the supports. The splendid devotion of the officers is only too apparent. .. The lessons in the superiority of defence over offence were dearly learned in those early days, for their cost was something which could never be replaced.'

NB Some fifty men from 1 Royal Irish Rifles managed to join up with 2 RB's force and must have lost their lives with them in their gallant (there is no other word for it) last stand. Many more had fallen before they could join that backs to the wall defence.

I will be remembering the men of '15 on Saturday, May 9.

Des