Everything about 16th Irish Division totally explained
The
16th (Irish) Division was a
division of the
New Army, raised in
Ireland from the Irish
National Volunteers in September
1914 as part of the K2 Army Group. In December 1915, the division moved to
France, joining the
British Expeditionary Force (BEF), under the command of Irish
Major General William Hickie, and spent the duration of the
First World War in action on the
Western Front. The division required a substantial refit in
England between June and August 1918, which involved the introduction of many non-Irish battalions.
The Division began forming towards the end of 1914 after Irish recruits in the early days of the war from
England and
Belfast first filled the ranks of the
10th (Irish) Division before being assigned to the 16th Division, formed around a core of the Irish
National Volunteers. Initial training began in Ireland at
Fermoy and
Buttevant, when it was moved to
Aldershot Barracks in
England for more intensive training in September 1915. After thirteen weeks, the unit was deployed to
Etaples,
France, where they left on December 18 for the front at the earlier
Battle of Loos salient.
At
Loos they got their introduction to
trench warfare in January and February 1916, and suffered greatly in the
Battle of Hulluch,
April 27-
April 29,
1916. They raided German trenches all through May and June, and in late July they were moved to the
Somme Valley where they were intensively engaged in the
Battle of the Somme.
The
16th Division was critical in capturing the towns of
Guillemont and
Ginchy, though they suffered massive casualties.
In early 1917, the division took a major part in the
Battle of Messines alongside the
36th (Ulster) Division, due to both their recognition and reputation. Their major actions ended in the summer of 1917 at the
Battle of Passchendaele after moving under General
Hubert Gough's
Fifth Army command. He had little regard for the Irish and in July 1917 during the
Third Battle of Ypres, although both divisions were totally exhausted after 13 days of moving heavy equipment under heavy shelling he ordered their battalions advance to the east of Ypres through deep mud towards well fortified German positions left untouched by totally inadequate artillery preparation. By mid August the 16th (Irish) had suffered over 4,200 casualties and the 36th (Ulster) had suffered almost 3,600 casualties, or more than 50% of their numbers, which General Haig was very critical of him for "playing the Irish card" (Robin Prior and Trevor Wilson:
Passchendaele, the untold truth (1997) pp 102-105).
In early 1918, the division held an exposed position at Ronssoy during the German
Spring Offensive. They suffered heavy losses here and during the retreat which followed, also under Gough's command, for which he was dismissed. They helped finally halt the German attack at the
Battle of Hamel.
Formation
47th Brigade :
48th Brigade :
9th (Service) Battalion, Royal Munster Fusiliers (New Army) (disbanded May 1916)
7th (Service) Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles (until August 1917)
8th (Service) Battalion, Royal Dublin Fusiliers (merged with 9th Battalion October 1917)
9th (Service) Battalion, Royal Dublin Fusiliers (merged with 8th Battalion October 1917)
1st (Service) Battalion, Royal Munster Fusiliers (from May 1916 until November 1916)
1st (Service) Battalion, Royal Dublin Fusiliers (from October 1917 until April 1918)
2nd (Service) Battalion, Royal Munster Fusiliers (from February 1918 until May 1918)
22nd (Service) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers (from June 1918)
18th (Service) Battalion, Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) (from July 1918)
11th (Service) Battalion, Royal Irish Fusiliers (from June 1918 until August 1918)
5th (Service) Battalion, Royal Irish Fusiliers (from August 1918)
10th (Service) Battalion, Royal Dublin Fusiliers (from June 1917, disbanded February 1918)
The 8th and 9th Battalions of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers combined to form the 8/9th Battalion in October 1917 which was subsequently disbanded in February 1918.
49th Brigade :
7th (Service) Battalion, Royal Irish Fusiliers (merged with 8th Battalion October 1916, disbanded February 1918)
8th (Service) Battalion, Royal Irish Fusiliers (merged with 7th Battalion October 1916, disbanded February 1918)
7th (Service) Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (merged with 8th Battalion August 1917)
8th (Service) Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (merged with 7th Battalion August 1917)
2nd (Service) Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment (from October 1916 until April 1918)
7th (Service) Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles (from August 1917 until October 1917)
7th (Service) Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment (South Irish Horse) Battalion,(from October 1917 until July 1918)
34th (Service) Battalion, The London Regiment (County of London) Batallion (from June 1918)
6th (Service) Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry (from July 1918)
18th (Service) Battalion, The Gloucestershire Regiment (from July 1918)
The 7th and 8th Battalions of the Royal Irish Fusiliers combined to form the 7/8th Battalion in October 1916 which was subsequently disbanded in February 1918. The 7th and 8th Battalions of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers combined to form the 7/8th Battalion in August 1917 which was subsequently disbanded in February 1918.
Battles
Battle of Hulluch
Battle of the Somme (1916)
Battle of Guillemont
Battle of Ginchy
Battle of Messines
Third Battle of YpresFurther Information
Get more info on '16th Irish Division'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://16th__irish__division.totallyexplained.com">16th (Irish) Division Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
