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Category: On This Day

On This Day in the Great War

Video and image blog posts relating to significant events and dates of the Great War. The origins of the Great War are complex. Presenting a chronology of the Great War on the Western Front would be a daunting task. Instead, CEFRG presents a random look at the Great War in these blog posts.

Battle of Liege

The first battle on the Western Front was the Battle of Liege which opened on 5 August 1914. Before the end of 1914, no less than 25 battles or actions on the Western Front. The battles also significant, including such battles as the Battle of Mons, the First Battle of the Marne, First Battle of Arras, and First Battle of Ypres.

Battle of Neuve-Chapelle

Canada’s first action came at the Battle of Neuve-Chapelle which opened on 10 March 1915. While not a large battle, the first time the Canadian Expeditionary Force fully involved in action with the enemy. Under the British 1st Army, Canada’s role in the battle to prevent the Germans in this sector from reinforcing the combat zone. Unfortunately, the artillery bombardment provided too light to suppress the enemy trenches.

March to the Rhine

Canada’s final actions in the Great War came after the Armistice. The March to the Rhine by the 1st and 2nd Canadian Division with select Corps Troops, saw Canada crossing the Rhine river at Cologne, and Bonn, Germany. This action was followed by the Allied Occupation of Germany which lasted for ten years.

Canada’s role completed before the spring of 1919, and most of our troops home before the official end to the war on 28 June 1919, when Germany and the Allied Nations (including Britain, France, Italy and Russia) signed the Treaty of Versailles, formally ending the war. Therefore, many blog posts of On This Day in the Great War extend into 1919, particularly concerning demobilization.

  • Monday, 10 February 1919, in the Great War

    Monday, 10 February 1919, in the Great War

    While Spartacans on the rampage in Berlin, the Irish Guards hockey game held at Cologne, Germany on Monday, 10 February 1919. No Canadians attended – 1st Canadian Division HQ had closed at Marienburg on 12 January 1919. CEF participation in the Allied Occupation of Germany lasted only a month.

    Irish Guards Hockey Game
    Guards ice-hockey march at Cologne, 10 February 1919.

    Meanwhile in Paris, the Supreme War Council reached a decision at yesterday’s meeting. Decided to impose more severe conditions upon Germany for the renewal of the armistice because of Germany’s attitude toward the fulfilment of her obligations.

    Irish Guards Hockey Game

    The 1st Battalion, Irish Guards deployed to France, eight days after the United Kingdom had declared war upon the German Empire. They served as part of 4th (Guards) Brigade of the 2nd Division.

    Irish Guards Hockey Game
    Guards ice-hockey march at Cologne, 10 February 1919. Images captured by British war photographer Lt Ernest Brooks.

    The battalion immediately engaged in the Retreat from Mons.

    Irish Guards Hockey Game
    Guards ice-hockey march at Cologne, 10 February 1919.

    The 1st Battalion suffered huge casualties between November 1–8, 1914 holding the line against near defeat by German forces.

    Irish Guards Hockey Game
    German civilians watching the Guards ice-hockey match at Cologne, 10 February 1919. Note the sign “Reserviert fur Britische Militar”.

    By the end of First Battle of Ypres on 22 November 1914, the battalion suffered over 700 casualties. Only two companies left to rebuild the battalion.

    Guards ice-hockey march at Cologne, 10 February 1919.

    The original battalion of 1st Irish Guards which had been decimated, and had to be reconstructed with new recruits.

    THE BRITISH ARMY OF THE RHINE, 1919-1929 (Q 3592) Guards ice-hockey march at Cologne, 10 February 1919.

    In February 1915, Lance-Corporal Michael O’Leary performed an act of bravery at Cuinchy, earning the first of four Irish Guards VC’s in the Great War.

    Public Skating

    Irish Guards Hockey Game
    Skating at Cologne, 10 February 1919.

    Second Lieutenant John Kipling, the 18-year-old son of author Rudyard Kipling. Listed as missing during the Battle of Loos in September 1915.

    Irish Guards Hockey Game
    Skating at Cologne, 10 February 1919.

    Kipling

    In tribute to his son’s regiment, Kipling composed the poem “The Irish Guards”. After the war he wrote a two-volume history of the regiment’s service in the war.

    Irish Guards Hockey Game
    Skating at Cologne, 10 February 1919.

    When the Armistice signed on 11 November 1918, the 1st Battalion, Irish Guards at Maubeuge. Near to where the Irish Guards began their war in 1914 at Mons.

    Irish Guards Hockey Game
    Skating at Cologne, 10 February 1919.

    On 13 December 1918, under a steady down pour, the Irish Guards crossed the south bridge at Cologne, and began their occupation of the west bank of the Rhine.

    Skating at Cologne, 10 February 1919.

    The Allied Occupation of Germany ended ten years later on 13 December 1928. The Irish Guards had returned home in 1919.

    Irish Guards Hockey Game
    British troops skating at Cologne, 10 February 1919.

    Both battalions returned to Britain victoriously in the spring of 1919. After a final parade through London, the 2nd and 3rd Irish Guards, now surplus to requirements, and disbanded.

    Irish Guards Hockey Game
    British troops skating at Cologne, 10 February 1919.

    In 1920, for St Patrick’s Day, the regiment donned its full-dress for the first time since before the outbreak of the Great War.

    Cologne Cathedral

    Irish Guards passing the Cathedral at Cologne on their way to change guard, 10 February 1919.

    The regiment’s continued existence threatened briefly by Winston Churchill, Secretary of State for War in 1921. He had sought the elimination of the Irish Guards as an economy measure. 

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