Ulster Tower, The Somme 16th February 2023

It is great to be back on the battlefield. Over the past few days I have been staying in Ypres, Wipers or Ieper, however you want to say it. One of the main reasons I come here is because my Great, Great Grandfather who was a Lance Bombardier in the RFA, served here for the majority of the war with the Fifth Division. He was gassed during the 3^rd Battle of Ypres in 1917.

Today, the 15^th February 2023 I went down to the Somme, a place where he also assisted the fateful charge on the 1^st of July 1916.  I started the day with a visit to the Ulster Tower, one of my personal favourite places on the battlefield. You can walk the fields both right and left of the tower as long as you are respectful of the crops. At this time of year there are no crops and some of the fields have been ploughed.

It was here that the 36^th (Ulster) Division attacked on the 1^st of July from Thiepval Woods.  The 36^th were made up nearly entirely of UVF (Ulster Volunteer Force) members. The UVF was a unionist organisation set up to defend the unionist parts of Ireland from the threat of home rule.

They were assigned the Thiepval/Ancre Heights sector which was one of the most toughest areas to attack.  As the men of the Ulster Division lined up ready to attack, a young bomber stood there priming his grenades. His name was Billy McFadzean. Unlike the other members, he joined as part of the Young Citizen Volunteers who were a non-political organisation made up from both Catholics and Protestants, yet they were small in number. He had enlisted in the 14^th Battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles. He was one of the bombardiers priming supplies of hand grenades, when one of the boxes of grenades fell into the crowded trench. Billy noticed that two of the grenades’ safety pins were dislodged. He threw himself on top of them before they exploded, killing himself but only injuring one other. If Billy had not done this selfless act, many in the crowded trench would have died or been injured. For this action he was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.

The exact location where this occurred is within the Thiepval Wood which is protected by the Somme Association. The wood is currently closed and will open at the beginning of April. I will be returning in April 2023 and will tour the woods. I will of course post the details.

Form Thiepval Wood, the ground rises over open fields to the crest of a ridge in front of you. Located at the top of the ridge to the right of the Ulster Tower is Mill Road Cemetery and just a few yards beyond this was the German front line trench. Using trench maps and GPS you can locate the exact position of the trench lines. Turning 180 degrees looking back at the woods, you can see the uphill open advance route that the 36^th Ulster Division had to endure. To the left of the Ulster Tower around 200 meters from the road are the remains of a concrete German machine gun position. The ridge turns downwards and then bends away from the wood. By walking this position you can see the view over the adjacent valley and sense how difficult it was to dislodge the Germans from this prime position. Anyone advancing up the slope within sight of this machine gun position was in great danger.

Looking at the trench maps the German lines run along the ridge parallel to the front of the woods, then swing down the valley to the left of the woods, with Thiepval village on the left in German hands. You get the sense how very exposed the woods were and what an awful task the 36^th had on the 1^st July 1916.

I will be returning to this sector in April 2023 and will post more details of what happened to the 36^th and the Irish Regiments on the 1^st July 1916. Their story is so fascinating with more Victoria Cross winners, one of the relative successes of that day compared to the awful events which unfolded on the 1^st July 1916.