Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-08-22
IRISH DIE LIKE HEROES
In FACE OF FIERCE FIRE
[Continued From First Page.l

CONTINUED From First Page.l
be placed as lying between Fortuin
on the north and Frezenberg on the
! south. Before them lay strong Ba-
varian positions scattered over a ter
rain which at first blush made the
advance seem impossible. Stretching
| out from the Zonnebeke-L -Langemarck
road across the center of the battle
field was a ridge which dominated
all surrounding ground and from a
| myriad of machine guns on the crest
could be poured deluge of bullets
into the advancing ranks.
Kncc-Decp Mud
Through the southern portion of
this section the swollen Zonnebeke
river poured its muddy water and
scattered along both banks of the
stream were mnay steel and concrete
redoubts holding from 20 to 100 Ger
mans, all well armed. Immediately
in front of the Irish was undulating
ground. Every knoll was strong
Bavarian position and the whole sec
tion was filled with concrete redoubts
! and shell hole nests lined with ma
chine guns. Depressions in the
ground were a mass of knee-deep
mud caused by recent rains and the
flood of the river.
The Irish battalions were muddy
and wet when they began the attack
The Ulstermen were on the left of
this battlefield and the men of the
South OH the right. Shoulder to
shoulder they moved out among the
heart breaking obstacles at the break
OF day, begging at every step, and
all that human beings could have
done under such circumstances they
did. AS they advanced they first en-
countered the customary thinly held
line of German outposts among the
shell craters., These Bavarians fell
back and almost Immediately the
lrishmen found themselves facing
fire from every machine gun before
them, vicious rapid fire whipping out
a steady stream of lead breast high
across the whole battlefield.
Rain of Lead
Amidst this hail of bullets and
crashing shells the Irishmen pushed
doggedly forward. The Ulstermen
first struck a position called Pond
farm, below Fortuin. Here were
crete plates and deep dugouts. The
Ulstermen plunged into the gun pits
and a fierce struggle followed. The
Bavarians would not surrender and
they fought until the last German
lay crumpled beside his gun. A
small garrison was left to hold this
place and the Irishmen pushed on.
There was constant and bitter fight
ing at every step.
n 4 Al. i
by partly cut barbed wire entangle-
ments and as they struggled through
this they were swept with bullets.
Numerous redoubts were encoun-
tered beyond and in most cases 1t
was hand-to-hand fighting to finish
with a stubborn enemy. The South
ern lrishmen at a given hour went
forward with all the coolness whicn
made them famous at Ginchy and
other places. They surged on
through the mire to some of their
objectives, but they had passed nu-
merous unsilenced machine gun en-
placements and the following waves
of infantry were held up by these.
Hand to Hand
North of FreZenberg was a redoubt
called Borry farm, holding sixty to
eighty BaVarians with machine guns.
The position was too strong for the
infantry to take, but the Irishmen
battled on until these troops which
had essayed an attack on the for
tification lay dead or wounded before
it. But others pushed forward to
Hill S5, as the ridge which domi-
mated the surrounding ground was
known, and for a time that eminence
was actually in British hands. But
ii was too important a position for
the Germans to relinquish. They
massed great numbers of men behind
it and hurled them against the Irish
The latter met the onslaught with
bayonet and dubbed rifles and fought
as their iorefathers had fought,
fiercely and determinedly.
But they were greatly outnum-
bered and gradually they were forced
to fall back until the Germans had
regained their hold on the hill. The
BaVarianS then began a series of
heavy countc" attacks and the Irish
many of them wounded and all eX-
hausted, retreated slowly. fighting
every inch of the way, until they
reached the trenches which they left
at dawne and which they held. No
more heroic effort has been made
since the war began than this.
Individual Hcroism
There thad been many instances
of individual heroism, a striking case
being that of the chaplain who gave
his life while working among the
men he loved. They tried to keep
him back, but he had been with them
in Ginchy and other struggles and
he would not desert his boys now, so
he continued to work on the she'll
torn, bullet-swept field. his kindly
face seen now beside some wounded
man, now beside another who was
dying.
1t was while he was kneeling TO
give absolution to some badly
wounded man that a German shell
broke near him and he was killed
1t was a great loss to the Irish troops
and his name was spoken with tears
by those left behind. Another who
will not be forgotten is the doctor
who for five days and nights con-