An Irish Regiment in the Salient.
15 J
The Ypres Times.
Towards the end of May, 1915, the 2nd Leinster Regiment, which had been holding
the lines in front of Armentières since the previous October, got movement orders for
the Ypres Salient.
A long dusty march on the uneven Flemish pavé, broken for a night at Bailleul,
brought us to the N.W. edge of Vlamertinghe. Here, in the shady woods, we lay up in
bivouac for twenty-four hours before proceeding to the trenches.
Minute inspections of the new gas respirators soon killed the all too short time before
we paraded for our first tour in the Salient.
Our march to the line was uneventful, but it might not have been had we not given
Ypres a wide berth. Due west of the city at the Water Towera landmark which was
to retain its identity throughout four years of Hun frightfulnesscompanies branched
off to the left and crossed the canal by a recently constructed pontoon. Here they were
brought on to a track running behind the battery positions direct to La Brique, whose
jagged rafters and walls lay silhouetted out against the moonlight. We were now quite
close to the firing line, and the terrible narrowness of the Salient was clearly defined by
the continual spout of the brilliant vellow-green Véry lights which seemed to go up all
round us. Ypres was being heavily bombarded as we marched round it and the sky was
all lit up by the flashes of the shells, which were whining incessantly backwards and
forwards. I expect the men of my platoon were very surprised at the heavy shell fire.
I know I was! North of the Water Tower we passed a derelict travelling menagerie this
greatly amused the men and brought forth the following comment from Private
Corrigan "Be Japers, sure tis big game hunting we've come up to Wipers for." Jfr'
The relief was complete at midnight. As it was dark we had naturally carried out
our relief over the open anyway there were no pukka communication trenches to use.
The Battalion was unfortunate in having nine casualties due to a few spasmodic
bursts of machine-gun fire.
The Company which I belonged to lay in support to a front line company holding the
Cross Roads Farm sector, and the left flank of my platoon rested up against the walls of
a tortured old homestead called Irish Farm.
We were not very anxious to see what our new sector looked like we knew it was
bound to look pretty miserable, and the smell of gas hung all round the place.
Daylight revealed flat barren wastes, fields of high grass all bleached yellow from the
gas, with dykes and ditches separating them.
Studded about here and there were the ruins of farmhouses, and there was practically
no timber of any kind with the exception of the usual few willow trees which grow at
random all over Flanders.
Behind us was the deserted and battered village of St. Jean, and away in the distance
we could see the towers and pinnacles of the Church and Cloth Hall of Ypres.
After stand-to the men all started drumming up their char the smoke from their
fires must have been spotted immediately by an over-keen Boche observation officerat
any rate for 20 minutes we were subjected to shell fire, the like of which we had never
seen before."
Many braziers were upset and there was much bad language but we had no casualties.
The Battalion remained in the line for 21 days and came out less some fine old
characters. I remember we had a regiment of Turcos on our leftthey were quaint
looking birds in their short blue jackets and picturesque red trousers. They were a great
nuisance, as they kept up a rapid fire throughout the night and our wiring and working
parties always came in for the Hun's retaliation.
In the daytime many of these Turcos used to leave their trenches and go back at
large into Ypres.
