From the Belfast Telegraph
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/features/story.jsp?story=365336

Truth of no man's land truce

By Richard Doherty

THE Christmas Truce of 1914 is one of the best-known episodes from the First
World War. So well known in fact that is almost hackneyed. A fresh account of
it is rare but one springs forth from the pages of this new history of 1st
Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles in the Great War.

The account was written at the time by the Rifles' Commanding Officer,
Lieutenant-Colonel George Laurie, who, although Canadian born, was of Irish
descent. Laurie recorded that the Germans asked for a 48 hour armistice, but
that only a 24 hour cessation was agreed.

Nonetheless, the British commanders were suspicious of the Germans' motives
and urged their men to remain on alert.

Laurie himself crossed to the German trenches on Christmas Day, armed only
with a three-day-old copy of the DailyTelegraph, and talked to a number of
German officers who inquired about the conditions of the British trenches,
complimented him on the accuracy of his soldiers' rifle fire (although Laurie
considered this a weak point in the battalion) and wondered if the Canadian
Division had arrived.

In spite of the suspicion expressed by senior officers, the soldiers on the
ground were quite happy with this respite from war and went out into No Man's
Land to meet their German counterparts who had been calling Christmas
greetings to their foes.

On Christmas Eve night the German soldiers had illuminated their trenches and
sung Christmas carols.

In No Man's Land the two sides exchanged gifts, admired family photographs
and talked - but there is no record of a football match being played on the
Rifles' sector of the front.

The truce continued into the next day, as the Germans opposing the Irish
Rifles seemed disinclined to resume hostilities. That day 1st Royal Irish
Rifles were withdrawn from the line but soon returned to the front and the
misery of the trenches.

The peace and camaraderie of that Christmas Day is in stark contrast to the
story that fills the remainder of this book.

Colonel Laurie, who wrote about the strange truce, was to be killed in early
March 1915, one of many men of his battalion who would never see home again.

Laurie's battalion had been in India and Aden since the turn of the century
but, when war broke out, they and many other regular battalions were ordered
home to form new divisions for the British Expeditionary Force in France and
arrived in that country in early November.

Their first two fatalities from enemy action demonstrated the composition of
the battalion: 30-year-old Rifleman Hamilton Orr from Newtownards and
21-year-old Rifleman Robert Sparrow from Dublin.

During 1916 the battalion saw much action and suffered many casualties.

They took part in the first day of the Somme offensive on July 1, 1916,
attacking near Ovillers, later described as "a veritable fortress" by a
battalion officer.

Losses were heavy and included the Commanding Officer, Lieutenant-Colonel
Charles Macnamara, who died from his wounds on July 15.

Total casualties for that day were 405, of whom some 20 were dead but many of
the 360 wounded would die later.

And there were further offensives and losses.

In 1917 the battalion took part in the Battles of Langemarck and
Passchendaele, part of the Third Battle of Ypres and notorious for the wet
and muddy conditions in which the men fought.

Transferred to 36th (Ulster) Division in early 1918 the Rifles fought in the
retreat of March, following the German spring offensive that was intended to
end the war before large numbers of American troops arrived in France.

During that retreat the battalion was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Donagh
McCarthy-O'Leary, who deserved but never received a Victoria Cross for his
gallant and inspiring leadership.

It was but a skeleton of 1st Royal Irish Rifles that survived the retreat but
the battalion, now rebuilt, played its part in the final British offensive
that led to the collapse of the German armies and the armistice of November
1918.

James Taylor's book is more than a masterly account of an Irish battalion at
war.

His research has allowed the inclusion of a number of valuable appendices,
including brief pen portraits of all the Rifles' wartime officers.

These include outstanding individuals such as McCarthy-Leary and those less
outstanding, including one described as a "slippery" character.

And there are rolls of honour, identifying the 1,275 officers and men who
died, medal rolls, instructions for the Somme offensive and information on
courts martial and discipline.

More than 80 years after the war ended, this book is a fitting tribute to the
men of 1st Royal Irish Rifles and to their comrades in the many other Irish
battalions who fought in that war.

The 1st Royal Irish Rifles in the Great War by James W Taylor. Four Courts
Press, Dublin, 2002; 363pp; illus; maps; hbk; £29.95; ISBN 1-85182-702-1

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