All along the banks of the River Somme, a great division lay. Waiting for the night to pass until the break of day. The morn shone on our orange sons. Amassed with bayonets fixed. The pride of Ulster Volunteers. The fighting 36th. Lest we forget. 1st July 1916.
I like they way they disobeyed orders and charged the enemy It could be argued that they cost the battle Silly Billys
" A total of 206,000 Irishmen served in the British forces during the war. 26,000 joined from the Ulster Volunteers".
Sorry mendro but you need to read up on this. There was no 'country fit for heroes' in 1918 for the returning soldiers. Some of the ones who were injured were reduced to begging. I read today that at the first rememberence day some ex soldiers wore their dole papers instead of medals because they felt so let down. Brave men indeed, but as normal let down by those in power.
Knock the leaders, the government but don't knock the soldiers. We can't begin to imagine the horror that they went through.
My grand father was at the battle of the Somme, with the RHA providing the 'creeping artillery' fire. He never spoke about it, but I was told the friends he had joined up with had all been killed in a gas attack. I can't imaginewhat those poor guys went through.
My grandfather was also there. He joined up at 15, ran away from home and lied about his age. He got his skin burnt by mustard gas but lived. Irishgreen claims the English have no bottle.
Wind up stopme nothing more. As a matter of fact my Grandmother's brother died at the Somme. Brave men all. "lions led by donkeys" springs to mind.
Scared young men being herded towards machine guns for the honour of the rich...Blackadders satire wasn't far off the mark at all
Not all wars are about the honour of the rich MTS. WW1 was massively avoidable, a monumental game of brinkmanship that proved disastrous. But WW2 was a war of necessity.
Don't know how many machine guns were at waterloo Because they could have used the experience considering they fought a 19th Century war on 20th century terms
