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The 36th (Ulster) Division

The 36th (Ulster) Division remained in the Western Front in France and Flanders throughout the war and took part in the following engagements:

1916

The Battle of Albert, Somme region in which the Division attacked at the Schwaben Redoubt near Thiepval. The Division was relieved on 2 July, having suffered 5104 casualties, of whom approximately 2069 died.

1917

The Battle of Messines, West Flanders, Belgium in which the Division captured Wytschaete
The Battle of Langemarck
The Cambrai Operations, including the capture of Bourlon Wood

1918

The Division was substantially reorganised in February 1918.

The Battle of St Quentin
The Actions at the Somme Crossings
The Battle of Rosieres
The Battle of Messines
The Battle of Bailleul
The First Battle of Kemmel Ridge
The Battle of Ypres
The Battle of Courtrai
The action of Ooteghem

On 11 November - Armistice Day - the Division was at Mouscron, north east of Tourcoing. It remained there throughout the period of demobilisation.

The 36th (Ulster) Division ceased to exist on 29 June, 1919.

The record of the Thirty-Sixth Division will ever be the pride of Ulster.

At Thiepval in the battle of the Somme on 1 July 1916; at Wytschaete on 17 June 1917, in the storming of the Messines Ridge; on the Canal du Nord, in the attack on the Hindenburg Line of 20 November the same year; on 21 March 1918, near Fontaine-les-Clercs, defending their positions long after they were isolated and surrounded by the enemy; and later in the month at Andechy in the days of 'backs to the wall', they acquired a reputation for conduct and devotion deathless in military history of the United Kingdom, and repeatedly signalised in the despatches of the Commander-in-Chief.

— Winston Churchill

The Somme, 1916

The 36th (Ulster) Division had been in the trenches of the Somme sector, north of the River Ancre, since February 1916. As spring arrived, the waterlogged trenches dried and the battle-scarred landscape was hidden under grass and summer flowers. Training intensified and the soldiers of the 36th (Ulster) Division knew that they were preparing for a great offensive.

The British Fourth Army's main line of assault would run for 25,000 yards, nearly 14 miles, from Serre in the north to Montauban to the south (map, below). The sector had long been quiet and the Germans had used this time to construct formidable defences of three consecutive lines, complete with railway tracks to carry supplies to the front. Each wood and village concealed a strongpoint with deep dugouts, many of which went down 40 feet and could hold a company of 200 men. These underground galleries were supplied with electricity and running water, had communications and first aid facilities, and could withstand the heaviest bombardment.

The Allies had counted on annihilating the German first line defenders with a week-long artillery bombardment the like of which had never been seen before; 1,732,873 shells were fired from 24 June - 1 July but too many rounds fell short, were premature bursts or failed to explode. From 24 June, the soldiers had listened to the cacophony and imagined themselves going over the top to find no Germans alive.

The 36th (Ulster) Division was the left division of X Corps and had been assigned the Thiepval/Ancre Heights sector, considered the key to the whole enemy line and the toughest area to attack (click on map, top-right). Major General O S W Nugent, commanding the 36th (Ulster) Division, fully realized that stopping the heavy preparatory bombardment ten minutes before the 0730 Zero Hour would give the Germans ten long minutes to come up out of their trenches and into position to meet the anticipated attack. Thus, he ordered that his Division would leave their assembly trenches prior to Zero Hour (0730 hours) and move forward to start lines. He calculated that although he might suffer losses from his own bombardment, the advantage of getting on top of the German 'Line A' under artillery cover far outweighed the risk.

The Ulster Division was to capture the German front line between the River Ancre on the left and Thiepval on the right. The 29th Division, the right division of VIII Corps, was to the left (north), the 32nd Division to the right (south) and the 49th Division to the rear. General Nugent divided his front into four sections. The left section, on the right (north) bank of the Ancre, was allocated to 108 Brigade. The left centre section, bounded by a line drawn from the north corner of Thiepval Wood just north of B 19, C 11, and D 11, and the Ancre, had its approaches through the Ancre marshy area and was not to be attacked directly. The right-centre section was allocated to 108 Brigade and the right section to 109 Brigade. The Divisional Reserve was to be 107 Brigade. The Division would therefore attack with 108 Brigade on the left astride the river Ancre, the objective being Beaucourt railway station over one mile away beyond the German third line, and 109 Brigade on the right with its objective as the formidable Schwaben Redoubt. The Divisional Reserve, 107 Brigade was to advance behind 109 Brigade and then pass through the Schwaben Redoubt and capture the German D line beyond.

By 2200 hours on 1 July, after a day of slaughter and sacrifice, the remnant of the 36th (Ulster) Division was forced back to the extent that it had no troops in any of the German lines except the dead, wounded and captured.

When it was relieved by the 49th Division the following day the 36th (Ulster) Division had over 5,000 casualties. The dead numbered 2,069.

All three regiments were awarded the Battle Honour ALBERT 1916, for the opening phase of the Somme Offensive, officially designated the Battle of Albert, for the fighting from 1-13 July 1916.

Battle of Messines 1917

The Battle of Messines (7–14 June, 1917), where John Eccles was awarded the Military Medal for bravery, was an attack by the British 2nd Army near the village of Messines (now Mesen) in Flanders, Belgium.

The objective was to capture the German defences on the ridge and deprive them of the high ground. The ridge gave commanding views of the British defences and back areas of Ypres to the north, from which the British intended to conduct the Northern Operation, an advance to Passchendaele Ridge and then the capture of the Belgian coast up to the Dutch frontier. The Second Army had five corps, three for the attack and two on the northern flank not part of the operation; XIV Corps was in General Headquarters reserve. The 4th Army divisions of Group Wytschaete (Gruppe Wijtschate, the IX Reserve Corps headquarters) held the ridge and were later reinforced by a division from Group Ypres (Gruppe Ypern).

The British attacked with the II Anzac Corps (3rd Australian Division, New Zealand Division and the 25th Division, with the 4th Australian Division in reserve), IX Corps (36th (Ulster), 16th (Irish) and 19th (Western) divisions and the 11th (Northern) Division in reserve), X Corps (41st, 47th (1/2nd London) and 23rd Divisions with the 24th Division in reserve). XIV Corps in reserve (Guards, 1st, 8th and 32nd divisions). The 30th, 55th (West Lancashire), 39th and 38th (Welsh) divisions in II Corps and VIII Corps, guarded the northern flank and made probing attacks on 8 June. Gruppe Wijtschate held the ridge with the 204th, 35th, 2nd, 3rd Bavarian (relieving the 40th Division when the British attack began) and 4th Bavarian divisions, with the 7th Division and 1st Guard Reserve Division as Eingreif (counter-attack) divisions. The 24th Saxon Division, relieved on 5 June, was rushed back when the attack began and the 11th Division, in Gruppe Ypern reserve, arrived on 8 June.^[2]

The battle began with the detonation of nineteen mines beneath the German front position, which devastated it and left large craters. A creeping barrage, 700 yd (640 m) deep, began and protected the British troops as they secured the ridge with support from tanks, cavalry patrols and aircraft. The effect of the British mines, barrages and bombardments was improved by advances in artillery survey, flash spotting and centralised control of artillery from the Second Army headquarters. British attacks from 8 to 14 June advanced the front line beyond the former German Sehnenstellung (Chord Position, the Oosttaverne Line to the British). The battle was a prelude to the much larger Third Battle of Ypres, the preliminary bombardment for which began on 11 July 1917.

On the right of IX Corps, the 36th (Ulster) Division attack on the front of the 107th Brigade, was supported by three mines at Kruisstraat and the big mine at Spanbroekmolen, 800 yd (730 m) further north.

Meticulously planned and well executed, the attack on the Messines–Wytschaete ridge secured its objectives in less than twelve hours. The combination of tactics devised on the Somme and at Arras, the use of mines, artillery survey, creeping barrages, tanks, aircraft and small-unit fire-and-movement tactics, created a measure of surprise and allowed the attacking infantry to advance by infiltration when confronted by intact defences. Well-organised mopping-up parties prevented by-passed German troops from firing on advanced troops from behind.^[121] The British took 7,354 prisoners, 48 guns, 218 machine-guns and 60 trench mortars. The offensive secured the southern end of the Ypres salient in preparation for the British Northern Operation. Laffert, the commander of Gruppe Wijtschate, was sacked two days after the battle.

Map of battlefield