100 years ago today: The Irish rugby ‘Pals’ slaughtered at Gallipoli

On August 15th, 1915, the 10th (Irish) Division attacked a mountain called Kiretch Tepe Sirt which overlooked Suvla Bay, where they had landed a week previously.

Two thirds of the division, the 30th and 31st Brigade, were tasked with taking the mountain and its ridge in order to secure the landing spot at Suvla Bay.

The attack started in the blazing heat of midday and went on until the following morning. The Royal Munster, Royal Inniskilling and Royal Dublin Fusiliers battalions involved all suffered terribly.

The 7th Royal Dublin Fusiliers, the famous pals’ batallion, with the largely middle-class cohort of rugby player recruited through the IRFU, was thrown into the fray.

They had initial success but the Turks were waiting and had large stockpiles of guns and bombs which they brought to bear on the battalion with devastating consequences.

The 7th Dublins suffered some 65 fatalities and 13 missing in their doomed assault.

Among those to die on August 15th and 16th were Wanderers rugby player and barrister Poole Hickman, John Fitzgibbon, the son of a nationalist MP, and Paddy Tobin, the son of a well-known Dublin surgeon. He is one of the characters featured in the play The Pals at Gallipoli.

The battalion was commanded by veteran Lieutenant Colonel Geoffrey Downing, a former captain of Monkstown rugby club who was instrumental in the foundation of a middle-class, rugby-centred unit. He gave an interview to The Irish Times on his return to Ireland.

The Irish Times, October 16th, 1915.

Colonel Downing, who commands the 7th Battalion of the Dublin Fusiliers, was good enough to tell an Irish Times representative something of their daring and achievements.

He is now at his home in Greystones recovering from the attentions of a Turkish sniper who put two bullets through his right foot.

Colonel Downing made it clear that, though only the exploits of his own battalion came under his immediate notice, the other units constituting the 10th (Irish) Division acquitted themselves no less gallantly.

At the very beginning of the landing at Suvla Bay they came under shrapnel fire, which wounded Lieutenant Harvey, late of the Provincial Bank, and ten men and killed two, as A and C Companies were landing under the direction of Major Lonsdale, second in command.

The motor barge, with the dead and wounded, returned to the steamer and took off B and D Company under Colonel Downing who joined the other companies.

The landings of B and D Companies were fortunately completed without casualties. Orders were received for an attack on Chocolate Hill known for a time as Dublin Hill Casualties occurred as the men traversed a narrow sand pit of which the Turks had the exact range, but the regiment was fortunate compared with some others at this point.

With the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers on one flank and the Royal Irish Fusiliers on the other, the Royal Dublin Fusiliers formed up for the attack. For a time casualties were few, but the regiments then came under a heavy shrapnel fire from their left and the advance had to be continued by short and rapid rushes. It was during one of these rushes that Lieutenant (Ernest) Julian, a well-known Dublin man, was mortally wounded and many other casualties were sustained.

“It was wonderful the way the men stood it,” said Colonel Downing. “They might have been old and seasoned troops, and they continued their advance as though they were on the drill ground. After that we came under heavy musketry fire which really seemed a relief after the shrapnel although casualties continued to occur.”

The advance continued over scrub, ditches and ploughed fields, and a message was received to the effect that it was imperative that Chocolate Hill should be taken before dark.

The 7th Dublins pressed forward in the centre. The actual attacking line was commanded A Company by Major Harrison closely supported by Captain Tobin with D Company, while the other companies were close up in reserve.

Before the crowning assault the naval guns shelled the top of the hill until the last possible moment. As the crest was surmounted the Turks broke and fled and did not wait to resist the bayonets of the Irish.

The hill was captured at 7.30pm in the evening of August 9th and it was seen to be very strongly fortified. There were tiers of trenches and dug outs, and every available form of defence had been employed. Rifles, shell and rifle ammunition, accoutrements, and stores were found in the fort and the men obtained as souvenirs some curiously coloured waistcoats abandoned by the enemy.

Casualties were comparatively few, a fact which Colonel Downing attributes to the men holding their fire till they were aiming at some well-defined object and pushing on vigorously, so that the enemy had little opportunity to “get the range properly”.

The men were in the greatest fettle after the attack and very pleased with themselves as they had reason to be. For four days, until transferred to another point the Dublins held the fort. There was practically no sleep owing to sniping and shrapnel.

Snipers were all around, and shot several men through the head. Colonel Downing pointed out two holes in his sun helmet, pierced by a shrapnel bullet which missed his head by the barest chance.

“My helmet was knocked over to one side,” said Colonel Downing, “and my cup of tea was spilt. It annoyed me very much. There was not much relief for after a night march the men found themselves allotted to take part in an attack on August15th.

Meanwhile, however, they had received their first batch of correspondence - a very welcome event. The attack commenced at two o’clock on the Sunday afternoon, and at about 6pm a hill had been captured in the face of the most strenuous opposition.

At the finish there was stiff bayonet work and the Turks were started on the run with big losses. Every inch of the ground was hotly contested. As the men surmounted the crest they gave a cheer which was taken up by the reserves, and echoed from the gunboat down below.

It was while Colonel Downing was bringing up the reserves that a sniper, left behind, and concealed in a bush emptied his magazine at him.

“I could feel the bullets whizz past my ears,” said Colonel Downing, “and then he got me twice in the foot. It felt as though an elephant had stamped on it and I was never so wild in my life. I emptied my revolver into the bush, and I think I got him.

"Major Harrison and Captain Poole Hickman, Captain Tobin and Lieutenant Fitzgibbon led bayonet charges that day, and the night which followed was the hottest the regiment ever had, for the Turks counter-attacked in great force. During the period eight officers were killed and many wounded."

Major Harrison, Captain Hickman, Captain Tobin, Captain Leschallis, Lieutenant Fitzgibbon , Lieutenant Crichton, Lieutenant Weatherill and Lieutenant Russell gave their lives.

In spite of all the enemy could do, the regiment held the position throughout the night, without giving an inch, and at nine o’clock on the Monday morning were relieved. The night was described by Major Lonsdale and the adjutant as the limit of frightfulness.

“They went to their deaths singing,” said Colonel Downing of his regiment, “and they refused to yield an inch of ground, though the dead and wounded lay thick around”.

A finer set of men than the 1st Dublins, whom I commanded for four years in India, and whose great landing at V beach is so well known, I have never seen, but I can honestly say I saw no difference between them and the 7th,which I had the honour to command at Suvla.

“We don’t want the lives of those who have fallen to be thrown away. I hope that all men of military age will now put aside the comforts of home, and fill up the ranks with the same bravery and patriotism. The sacrifice of those who matched through Dublin on that last day of April must not be rendered in vain.”

Taken from the eBook 'Twas Better to Die - The Irish Times and Gallipoli 1915-2015, published by Irish Times Books. Available to subscribers and on Amazon and Kindle, priced €4.99. For more information, go to: www.irishtimes.com/more/ebooks