Part 10 (2/2)
So here, while the mad guns curse overhead, And tired men sigh, with mud for couch and floor, Know that we fools, now with the foolish dead, Died not for Flag, nor King, nor Emperor, But for a dream, born in a herdsman shed And for the secret Scripture of the poor.”
These young leaders have won the wooden cross--the symbol of the supreme sacrifice they made that others might live; the symbol, also, of eternal peace for themselves--the wooden cross which marks their graves. From north, south, east and west of Ireland, of differing creeds, of opposing political opinions--these men of the Irish Brigade and the Ulster Division--they lie, as they fought, side by side, comrades in a n.o.ble cause. It is sad to think of the many rare intelligences, ardent and glowing spirits, which are quenched for ever in the little cemeteries that have sprung up along the Allied Front.
The loss to Ireland is incalculable. But gain might come from it, which, weighed in the balance, would not be found wanting, if only the solemn lesson which it teaches were brought home to all: that one in Irish name, as one in Irish fame, are the northerners and southerners who died in France for the liberation of humanity.
Major-General Hickie--as mindful of the memories of those of his men who have fallen as of the well-being of those still in the fighting ranks--erected as a memorial to the dead of the Irish Brigade a statue in white marble of Our Lady of Victories in a town of the district.
Another striking proof of his esteem for the men is afforded by the following Order which he issued on December 18, 1916--
”To-day is the anniversary of the landing of the Irish Division in France; The Divisional Commander wishes to express his appreciation of the spirit which has been shown by all ranks during the past year. He feels that the Division has earned the right to adopt the motto which was granted by the King of France to the Irish Brigade, which served in this country for a hundred years: 'Everywhere and always faithful.' With the record of the past, with the memory of our gallant dead, with this motto to live up to, and with our trust in G.o.d, we can face the future with confidence.”
G.o.d SAVE THE KING.
CHAPTER XV
MORE IRISH HEROES OF THE VICTORIA CROSS
DEEDS OF THE HIGHEST MERIT AND l.u.s.tRE
In this war Victoria Crosses are being won in remarkably large numbers, despite dangers and sufferings immeasurably greater than were ever conceived of in any war of the past. It would seem, indeed, as if human nature is capable of withstanding any test to which it can conceivably be put. ”Man,” said Mr. Lloyd George, ”is the bravest animal that G.o.d has made; and, in comparison with him, the lion is an arrant coward.”
Up to the end of 1916 the war has contributed 221 additional names to that golden chronicle of valorous deeds--The Roll of the Victoria Cross. Of these as many as thirty-five are Irishmen. That is a most glorious achievement, having regard to the proportion of Irishmen in the Army. The number, taking the Irish regiments, the Irishmen in English and Scottish regiments and in the forces of the different Dominions, is altogether about 500,000; and estimating the entire strength of the Army to be 5,000,000, it will be seen that if the other nationalities won Victoria Crosses in the same ratio to their numbers as the Irish, the Roll of the present war would contain not 221, but 350 names. To put it in another way, the Irish on a basis of numbers would be ent.i.tled only to twenty-two of the 221 Victoria Crosses that have actually been awarded.
But however that may be, the Irish part of the Roll, as it stands, will be found to be a very thrilling record of the gallantry of Irish officers and men in the various theatres of war. Twenty of the thirty-five Irish heroes of the Victoria Cross are dealt with in the first series of _The Irish at the Front_. Of the remaining fifteen, the deeds of four are recounted in the exploits of the Ulster Division; one, in the story of the Irish Brigade--the second Cross that fell to the Brigade having been won by an English officer--and the other ten are dealt with here.
Sub-Lieutenant Arthur Walderne St. Clair Tisdall, V.C., of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, was another of the many gallant Irishmen who distinguished themselves at the memorable first landing at Gallipoli on April 25, 1915, when the Munsters and the Dublins won imperishable renown. The announcement of the award of the Victoria Cross to Sub-Lieutenant Tisdall was not made until March 31, 1916. The following official statement explains the delay--
”During the landing from the ss. _River Clyde_ at V Beach, in the Gallipoli Peninsula, on April 25, 1915, Sub-Lieutenant Tisdall, hearing wounded men on the beach calling for a.s.sistance, jumped into the water, and, pus.h.i.+ng a boat in front of him, went to their rescue. He was, however, obliged to obtain help, and took with him on two trips Leading Seaman Malin, and on other trips Chief Petty Officer Perring and Leading Seamen Curtiss and Parkinson. In all Sub-Lieutenant Tisdall made four or five trips between the s.h.i.+p and the sh.o.r.e, and was thus responsible for rescuing many wounded men under heavy and accurate fire. Owing to the fact that Sub-Lieutenant Tisdall and the platoon under his orders were on detached service at the time, and that this officer was killed in action on May 6, it has now only been possible to obtain complete information as to the individuals who took part in this gallant act.”
Sub-Lieutenant Tisdall came of a well-known Irish family, the Tisdalls of Charlesfort, who have been established in co. Meath since the year 1668. The late head of the family, Major Tisdall of the Irish Guards, fell guarding the retreat of the British Army in France in September 1914. The volume of _Memoirs and Poems of A.W. St. C. Tisdall, V.C._, by Mrs. M.L. Tisdall, states that among his ancestors and relatives on both sides were ”Crusaders, Royalists, who lost everything--even their family name--for King Charles I; Scotch Covenanters and French Huguenots, who had been driven from their own countries for their faith's sake; Irish patriots who fought at the Battle of the Boyne, a Danish Diplomatist who had danced with Queen Marie-Antoinette; an ancestress who is said to have fired the first cannon at the siege of Gibraltar; a famous Attorney-General for Ireland; a brilliant and versatile Cathedral Chancellor, a Bishop, three missionaries, and many university, military and naval men.” He was born at Bombay on July 21, 1890, his father--the Rev. Dr. St. Clair Tisdall (now of St. George's Vicarage, Deal)--being then in charge of the Mohammedan mission of the Church Missionary Society. He was educated at Bedford School from 1900 to 1909, when he left as Scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge, where he had a distinguished career, culminating in the winning of the Chancellor's Gold Medal in the university in 1913, after which he entered the Home Civil Service. On the outbreak of war he was called to the Colours as an A.B. of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, of which he had been a member for some time previously. He served in the ranks in the Antwerp expedition, and was afterwards given a commission. By this time, the memoirs tell us, ”he had acquired great self-control, and had practically conquered two of his Irish handicaps--viz. a hot temper and a certain carelessness, or casualness, in business. Latterly, the 'Tisdall temper,' as it is called in the family, only flashed out in the presence of what he considered wrong or unjust.”
The following extract from a letter by an officer of the Royal Navy who took part in the landing in Gallipoli was published in _The Times_ on December 6, 1916--
”It has been, unfortunately, my sad lot to write of the ending on this earth of many heroes, for I have been through much since August 1914; but I sincerely a.s.sure you that I have never seen more daring and gallant deeds performed by any man, naval or military, than those performed by the man I now know to have been Sub-Lieutenant A.W. St. Clair Tisdall, Anson Battalion, R.N.V.R., at the landing from the _River Clyde_ on that terrible 'V' Beach. Throughout the afternoon of April 25 a boat containing an officer (unknown to all) and three bluejackets, one of them a petty officer, was very prominent. The officer and the petty officer did the most daring of things, and were seen by very many. Time after time they visited that awful beach and brought back wounded officers and men. Darkness came on and that officer was nowhere to be found. All the petty officer and bluejackets could say was, 'He's one of those Naval Division gents.' Days and weeks pa.s.sed away, and I and others never ceased trying to find out if we could who and where the unknown hero was. Over and over we discussed in the _River Clyde_ and in dug-outs on the beach how those two had escaped.”
It was not till June 15, 1915, that the writer of the letter learned who the hero was. He adds: ”His very saving of the wounded and the handling of them was in itself the work of an artist, and a very great one.” The end of this gallant officer is told by an A.B. of the Anson Battalion, who, writing to Mrs. Tisdall, says: ”On May 6 the Naval Division got orders to make an advance, which we did, and advanced about a mile. When we got nicely settled in the enemy trench your son stood up on the parapet, looking for the enemy, but was not there long before he was shot through the chest, and he never said one word.” This was at the first battle of Achi Baba. Tisdall was buried on the night of May 7, a few yards from where he fell. It was a glorious death, but far from the kind of death he had dreamt of. In a poem, ”Love and Death,” written in 1910, he says--
”Be love for me no hoa.r.s.e and headstrong tide, Breaking upon a deep-rent, sea-filled coast, But a strong river on which sea-s.h.i.+ps glide, And the lush meadows are its peaceful boast.
Be death for me no parting red and raw Of soul and body, even in glorious pain, But while my children's children wait in awe, May peaceful darkness still the toilsome brain.”
Corporal William Richard Cotter, an Irishman serving in the East Kent Regiment, got the V.C. for an act of unexampled courage and endurance.
It was a deed which showed to what heights the bravery of Irish soldiers can soar. On the night of March 6, 1916, in the course of a raid made by his company along an enemy trench, his own bombing party was cut off owing to heavy casualties in the centre of the attack. The situation was so serious that Cotter went back under heavy fire to report and bring up more bombs. On the return journey his right leg was blown off close below the knee, and he was wounded in both arms.
By a kind of miracle, the miracle of human courage, he did not drop down and die in the mud of the trench--mud so deep that unwounded men found it hard to walk in it--but made his way for fifty yards towards the crater where his comrades were hard pressed. He came up to Lance-Corporal Newman, who was bombing with his sector to the right of the position. Cotter called to him and directed him to bomb six feet towards where help was most needed, and worked his way forward to the crater against which the Germans were making a violent counter-attack.
Men fell rapidly under the enemy's bomb fire, but Cotter, with only one leg, and bleeding from both arms, took charge. The enemy were repulsed after two hours' fighting, and only then did Cotter allow his wounds to be bandaged. From the dug-out where he lay while the bombardment still continued he called out cheery words to the men, until he was carried down, fourteen hours later. He died of his wounds. A wonderful story of gallantry, endurance and fort.i.tude, it would seem almost incredible were it not established by official record of the awarding of the V.C. to Corporal Cotter--
”For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty. When his right leg had been blown off at the knee, and he had also been wounded in both arms, he made his way unaided for fifty yards to a crater, steadied the men who were holding it, controlled their fire, issued orders, and altered the dispositions of his men to meet a fresh counter-attack by the enemy. For two hours he held his position, and only allowed his wounds to be roughly dressed when the attack had quieted down. He could not be moved back for fourteen hours, and during all this time had a cheery word for all who pa.s.sed him. There is no doubt that his magnificent courage helped greatly to save a critical situation.”
Cotter was born at Sandgate, near Folkestone, of Irish parents who came from Limerick, and was thirty-four years of age. He was educated at the Catholic School, Folkestone. Always fond of adventure, he ran away to sea as a boy. He then enlisted in the Army, and, after twelve years in the Buffs, came out on the Reserve in 1914, and was employed by the Sandgate Council. He was called up at the outbreak of war. He had lost an eye as the result of an accident, but nevertheless was sent on active service, and this disability enhances the extraordinary heroism of his deed. He was the eldest of six sons, one of whom was killed in France, one was in the Navy, one in Salonika, and another died after serving in the South African War. The chaplain of his regiment wrote to his parents informing them of his death, and said his last words were ”Good-bye, G.o.d bless them all.” Cotter was previously recommended for the Distinguished Conduct Medal in December 1915.
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