THE DUBLIN FUSILIERS

New Zealand Tablet, 9 December 1915, Page 39

THE DUBLIN FUSILIERS

_ "The Royal Dublin Fusiliers is a regiment of several nicknames and much glory. 'You may call it, if you like, ‘ The Dubs,' or ‘ The Lambs,’ or ‘The Old Toughs,' or, better than aught else, * The Blue Caps,’ and you will be calling them no more than great men and great generals have called them in pride, or determined enemies had called them in fear (writes Mr. W. Douglas Newton). Each of their nicknames means to them an honor; but each of their nicknames matters little before the grave splendor of their motto. 1 Spectamur Agendo ’ is the text written in gold across their battle standard, and ‘Judge us by our deeds’ is the only thing that concerns them. Indeed, it is the only thing that matters at all. The Dublin Fusiliers have made for themselves a glorious' annal with their arms; but they have done more than that—they have, with their own bayonets, made a great part of the British Empire as it stands to-day. A startling thing, this, to realise that the British Empire is what it is to-day because a regiment of Irishmen made it so. But that is only true. India is one of the brightest jewels in our crown, and the Dublins put that jewel there. They are India. They won it. But for them it would not be ours. Their courage, their pre-eminence in fighting, and their bayonets gave us this wide and wondrous realm, and their bayonets helped through many years to hold what Irishmen had won. History gives them this glory, which none can gainsay. The Dubliners have been fighting in their old fine fashion in this war. That is, they have not merely been fighting bravely and well, they have been fighting in every sphere where fighting was to be done. They have been at their splendid old game in the East as well as the West. They were not only at Mons, but they were first in the landing at the Dardanelles. . The Dubliners acted as rearguards in the (Mons) fight. They covered with their steady front the retirement of the small but indomitable army that fell back towards Paris. It was fight and fall back, and fight again all those awful days. Whenever the Germans sought to quicken the pace of retreat to rout, the Dubliners met them and broke their rushes with the chill austerity of their rifles, and before these steady ranks the German checked and tempered his ardor of chase. On August. 26, 1914, the Irishmen had the worst of their times. They were in a turnip field and a blazing sun, and they had to meet the attack of the Germans without any cover, ~ f

They performed their task in their old habit. The enemy endeavored to swamp them with massed rushes. The beat of the Irish bullets withered each rush as it came on. Mass after mass piled up against the' Dubliners, and mass after mass was shattered and tossed back. The Irishmen suffered woefully. Their ranks were cut up by quick-firer and rifle bullets, tlTeir numbers were thinned by the plunging fire of shrapnel. Still they held tight, fought on, banded the Germans off. They were keen to get to work with their homely and traditional weapon the bayonet, but only once did the Germans draw near enough for that. The chance, however, was seized. The ‘Dubs’ leapt to their feet, catapulted into the thick mass before them, and the crude steel reddened and sank home. That was the only chance. It was glorious, and it was good.

Mass told after that. Mass pushed and pushed at them until it drove them from the field. They went back through the bitter day’s fighting stubbornly. At one time they held a farm until the building was burst -to pieces about them as they fought by the German shells. - A party of .them was cut off, and spent wildly adventurous days wandering about behind the German front, evading capture by fractions, hiding by day and running by night, until they reached safety in Boulogne, shipped to England, and returned to their • regiment once more. The rest went back steadily, in spite.-., of thinned ranks, fought a rousing battle on the right of Landrecies, went back again until the whole British line -was safe. .

. Since then they have had as'much fighting as any regiment, and they have done it well. They fought through the "Marne and the Aisne, and they have notched their name on the glories of, Ypres. They did splendid work at La Bassee, and with the Royal Irish' and Seaforth Highlanders they were responsible, with a splendid flash of bayonets, in rushing a difficult hill and clearing it of Germahs. Since then they have taken their just share in trench war, and in many quick fights that have gone forward along our line. Always they did well, and carried themselves bravely.