One Mans Hero Is Another Mans Terrorist.

R.Dub.Fusilier

here is an article from the journal of the Medal Society Of Ireland about a Victoria Cross winner who later joined the IRA and the Irish Army. cant put up article link as it is in the archives. the web site link is http://www.msoi.eu/ .an irish man who fought for the british empire and later for Irelands freedom just like James Connolly, Tom Barry ,James Daly etc.

FROM HERO TO TERRORIST.
Martin Doyle was born on 25th October 1894 in New Ross, County Wexford. Ireland at that time was a deeply troubled and divided country, both politically and socially, if not geographically; the partition of the six northeastern counties to create Northern Ireland would not take place for a further twenty-seven years. Its struggle for independence had been long and violent, eight years before Doyle was born there had been severe rioting in Belfast resulting in thirty-two deaths, and one year later, in what has been called the ‘Mitchelstown Massacre’; the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) killed three demonstrators.
Keen to escape the poverty and injustice, Doyle lied about his age and in 1909, aged just fifteen, joined the 18th Royal Irish Regiment and was sent to serve in India. In December 1914, Doyle, now serving with the Royal Dublin Fusiliers (RDF), was posted to France. Promoted to sergeant in 1915, and now a veteran of the Battle of Mons, he was promoted to company sergeant major and was transferred to the 1st Battalion, Royal Munster Fusiliers (RMF), which had amalgamated with the RDF after they had suffered heavy losses at Gallipoli. The RMF were part of 49th Brigade of the 16th (Irish) Division.

Ludendorff’s final offensive of the war, codenamed ‘Operation Michael’, began on the 21st March 1918. Taken completely by surprise, and after a battering by artillery that was so superior numerically, the British Fifth Army collapsed, leaving the right flank of the Third Army exposed, forcing it to withdraw. Within a week the German assault had advanced forty miles along a fifty-mile front.
Three days after the commencement of the German assault, Doyle’s unit was under machine-gun fire from a barn located in no-mans land, in front of the German line. Doyle led a group of volunteers in a bayonet charge, but by the time he reached the barn he found that he was on his own, without hesitation he bayoneted the gunners and seized the machine-gun. Later on that same day Doyle was captured, but was later released following a successful counter-attack by his unit. Doyle was awarded the Military Medal for his bayonet charge earlier in the day.

The last Allied counter-offensive of the war began on the 26th September 1918, and would see the war brought to an end on the 11th November. Doyle’s regiment was in action early on in the offensive, at Riencourt, where he took command of his company after all of the officers had become casualties. The enemy had surrounded a number of his men and Doyle, without any assistance, rescued them. Whilst he was carrying a wounded officer to safety, and under heavy enemy fire, he spotted a British tank in difficulty, each member of the crew had been wounded and they were under heavy machine-gun fire from an enemy trench. Leaving the wounded officer in a place of safety he ran along the enemy trench until he came across the machine-gun, which he promptly put out of action, capturing three of the crew. Returning to the tank he found it on fire and surrounded by the enemy, nevertheless he managed to rescue a badly wounded sergeant and take him to safety. That evening his company came under attack from the Germans, but with Doyle’s inspiration and leadership the attack was beaten off and a large number of prisoners were taken.
Doyle was awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery, and King George V presented it to him, on the 8th May 1919. He was given a hero’s welcome on his return to New Ross, where he married and settled down, he was still only twenty-five years of age.

The business of Home Rule for Ireland had dominated home politics from 1885 until the start of the Great War, it was essentially a process designed to allow Ireland more say in the way in which it was governed and freeing them from the rule of Westminster. The House of Lords had for decades opposed Home Rule, seeing it as the beginning of the end for England’s role as the head of the Empire, if Ireland were to be given its independence, where would be next?

The third Home Rule Bill was introduced in 1912, when many Unionists reacted by forming the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) to resist it. Many thousand’s joined the ranks of the UVF, who openly imported weapons from Germany for use in the struggle. The authorities did little, if anything, to stop the movement of these arms. In direct response to the UVF, and designed to counteract their influence, the Irish Volunteers were formed (in 1919 they changed their name to the Irish Republican Army – the IRA). The authorities did everything they could to actively resist any attempts by the Volunteers to smuggle in arms, in direct contrast to their lack of activity against the movement of weapons destined for the UVF.

The Bill was postponed at the onset of the war, both sides agreed that this was the patriotic thing to do, Germany was a much larger issue and unity was needed to beat the Hun. Tens of thousands of Irishmen joined the fight against Germany; many Irish Volunteers did so in the mistaken belief that if they supported Britain in her hour of need, their loyalty would be rewarded by the granting of Home Rule at the end of hostilities.

A small group of Volunteers believed that no matter what happened Britain would not grant them Home Rule, and decided that force of arms would be the only way to get what they wanted. An uprising was planned for the spring of 1916, the Easter Uprising, as it was called, took place mainly in and around Dublin. The rebels pinned much of their hopes on the British not using artillery, but this is precisely what they did. Dublin was surrounded and reinforcements were brought in, the rebels were outnumbered by 20 to 1.

When the attack against the rebels began it soon became very clear that the British Army would stand no nonsense, any building that they felt posed a threat, and indeed some that did not, was flattened by artillery fire. They made no distinction between rebel and civilian, although to be fair the rebels did not have a uniform, deciding who was who would not have been easy. By the end of the uprising, on Saturday 29th April, much of Dublin had been razed to the ground, 500 soldiers had been killed, along with 1,000 civilians.

Initial reaction to the rising by the citizens of Dublin was one of disbelief; the captured rebels were attacked as they were escorted to prison. Many of the population saw it as a betrayal, particularly to those many thousands of Irishmen who were dying at the front.
Opinions changed, however, when it became known how their captors had treated the rebels. Tried by a military court in secret, the leaders of the uprising were executed, their deaths announced only afterwards. One of the leaders, seriously wounded, was simply put in a chair and shot out of hand. When the prisoners were eventually released, they came home as heroes.

The war in France over, many of the original Irish Volunteers returned home disillusioned. Their sacrifices in the war had been to no avail, it was apparent that the British Government was no closer to granting Home Rule. Seasoned veterans, they were a ready pool of volunteers to continue the armed struggle against the British.

Michael Collins, a prime mover in the 1916 uprising, and who had escaped capture and retribution, was now the leader of the republican movement and ready to take the movement into what would effectively be a war against the British. Doyle, still working for the army although now a civilian, was recruited into the IRA and became an intelligence officer in the Mid-Clare brigade. He would have been privy to information that the IRA would have found invaluable.
The Anglo-Irish war continued with neither side giving any quarter. The government launched a new force early in 1920, comprising largely of ex-soldiers who had little or no knowledge of the Irish problem, it became known as the ‘Black and Tans’ due to the colour of the uniform it was first issued with. An ill-disciplined organisation, they were deployed to scattered Constabulary barracks without effective control from either army or police officers and left largely to their own devices. As the IRA stepped up its guerrilla war the government responded with yet another force, the Ulster Special Constabulary, including the notorious ‘B Specials’. Exclusively loyalist it soon became an effective weapon against the rebels. They were implicated in several highly controversial incidents, the killing of four members of a Catholic family, and the killing of three Catholic youths in County Antrim, to name just two. In addition special powers were introduced, the army, whose strength in Ireland was steadily increasing, imposed a curfew across the country between the hours of 11pm to 5am. The IRA was banned and flogging was used as a ‘special punishment’. Internment was also introduced; some 500 suspects were imprisoned without trial.

For their part, the IRA also ‘executed’ many Nationalists, including a Unionist Member of Parliament. During the weekend of his murder, the 21st-22nd May, there were a total of fourteen murders carried out by the IRA. Their main target were members of the RIC and their barracks, although government buildings were also attacked and destroyed.
It’s unlikely that Doyle would have had any direct participation in any of these atrocities, his masters would have felt the risk to be too great, the information that he was able to supply was far more valuable to the cause than just another man behind a rifle. Collins had a string of informants, some highly placed, Doyle must surely have been one of these, the attacks masterminded by Collins are a good indication of the level of information that he was receiving.

The war developed into a case of ‘tit for tat’. IRA gunmen shot dead nineteen army intelligence officers in Dublin on the 21st November, later that day Auxiliaries, looking for wanted men at a football match, fired into the crowd killing twelve and wounding sixty-five. A few weeks later lorries transporting Auxiliaries were ambushed by the IRA, all but one of the occupants were killed. Two days later Auxiliaries and ‘Black and Tans’ sacked and burnt part of Cork city centre.

Doyle continued to supply Collins with information, he was working at the army’s home barracks and would have seen and heard much that Collins would have been able to put to good use. At one point the British became so suspicious of Doyle that he asked Collins for permission to leave and go to ground, it must be indicative of the quality of the information that he was supplying that his request was denied. During one mission for his IRA masters he was very nearly caught in a trap, escaping with the British on his heels. On another occasion he is known to have supplied the rebel cause with stolen arms.

A truce was finally called in the July of 1921, and a few months afterwards a Treaty was agreed by both sides, which led to the formation of the Irish Free State, now the Republic of Ireland. Doyle joined the new Irish army, during the ensuing Civil War he was stationed in Waterford, Kilkenny and South Tipperary. At the conclusion of the Civil War Doyle joined the peacetime army, he served for the next thirteen years and rose again to the rank of company sergeant major. One of his jobs during this period was as an instructor at the School of Instruction, teaching rifle and Vickers machine-guns.
He left the army in 1937, although with a degree of difficulty, as the service was very reluctant to let him go. He took up a new appointment as a security officer with the Guinness Brewery, although he did not cut all ties with the military, joining the Dublin Army Reserve. He died on the 20th November 1940, aged forty-six. He is buried at the Grangegorman British Military Cemetery in Dublin.

British accounts of his life, although mentioning his VC and MM, do not mention any of his activities with the IRA. Conversely, his Irish Defence Force records made no mention of either of his gallantry awards!

johnny_doyle

He became an intelligence officer in the Mid-Clare Brigade, and was active
throughout 1920 and 1921 in Ennis.

VC winners including CSM Doyle were to form an Honour Guard for the Unknown Soldier in 1920
http://www.victoriacross.org.uk/aaunksol.htm

A photo of CSM Doyle is online at
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Doyle&GSfn=Martin&GSbyrel=in&GSdyrel=in&GSob=n&GSsr=1&GRid=7746082&


Martin DOYLE, an Irish soldier who won the Victoria Cross, the
highest British award for gallantry in battle, is unlikely to be remembered
with total pride in British military annuals. After returning home a hero
from the Great War in France, where he also won the Military Medal, he threw
in his lot with the national struggle for freedom in 1920 and spent the next
few years fighting the Crown forces in Ireland. With the ending of the War
of Independence he signed up with the new Free State army and saw more
action in the Civil war that followed the treaty. When peace came again he
continued to serve in the Irish army, ending his career in Dublin's McKee
Barracks in 1937.

Per article by Hilary MURPHY (with photo of Martin DOYLE w/ King George V
and Queen Mary at Buckingham Palace) in the 1994 #4 issue of "Irish Roots"
magazine published in Cork, the man with this distinguished and chequered
military career was born in Gusserane, in the New Ross District of Co.
Wexford. His father, Larry DOYLE, worked on the land to make a modest
living. When Martin was a boy the family moved into New Ross town. After
leaving school, he worked with a local farmer, but on St. Stephen's Day 1909
he went to Kilkenny and joined the Royal Irish Regiment largely
recruited from Cos. Kilkenny, Wexford, Waterford and Tipperary - claiming to
be 17 though two years younger. Showing a propensity for soldiering, after
an initial stint of home service he was drafted to India where he advanced
himself, attending night classes and courses whenever possible. Good at
sports, he became the Regimental novice lightweight champion in 1913.

At the outbreak of war in 1914 DOYLE was called home with his regiment. In
December (now serving with the Royal Dublin Fusiliers), he was posted in
France and was soon in the thick of the fighting. His leadership was soon
recognised and he was promoted to Sergeant in 1915. He was one of the lucky
ones to survive the slaughter at Mons. Martin rose though the ranks to
Company Sergeant-Major, and transferred to the 1st Battalion, Royal Munster
Fusiliers CSM DOYLE won his first medal for bravery, the Military Medal, 24
March 1918, while serving at Hattenfield in France.

His unit was in reserve when the front-line troops were driven back by the
Germans. Called in to restore the situation, the Munsters recaptured
Hattenfield and then advanced towards the trenches outside the town.
Skirmishing with the enemy they soon came under sustained, deadly
machine-gun fire from a derelict barn situated in a 'no-man's-land' between
them and the Germans, a mere 40 yards away. Calling for volunteers, DOYLE
led a bayonet charge on the barn. Reaching it alone, he routed the Germans,
seized the machine-gun and took possession of the barn. Some time later he
was captured by the enemy - although roughly treated, he was released by a
successful counter-attack by his regiment.

The Wexford soldier was to display even greater bravery six months later.
Near Riencourt on 2 Sept. 1918, he became a select band of Irishmen (29 in
the course of WWI) to merit the Victoria cross for 'conspicuous bravery.'
The official announcement: 'When command of the company devolved upon him
consequent upon officer casualties, and observing that some of his men were
surrounded the enemy, he led a party to their assistance, and by skilled
leadership worked his way along the trenches, killed several of the enemy
and extricated the party and carried back, under heavy fire, a wounded
officer to a place of safey. Later seeing a tank in difficulties, he rushed
forward again under intense fire, routed the German troops, who were
attempting to commandeer it, and prevented the advance of another German
party. A German machine gun now opened fire on the tank at close range,
rendering it impossible to get the wounded away, whereupon DOYLE, with great
gallantry, rushed forward, and single-handed silenced the machine gun,
capturing it with three prisoners. He then carried a wounded man to safety
under very heavy fire. Later in the day when the enemy counterattacked his
position, he showed great power of command, driving back the enemy and
capturing many prisoners. Throughout the whole of these operations, DOYLE
set the very highest example to all ranks by his courage and total disregard
of danger.'

After the war ended, Martin DOYLE was welcomed on his arrival in his home
town of New Ross in March 1919. His proud parents and a large crowd of
soldiers, townspeople greeted him at the railway station: The local
newspaper reported - 'The meeting between the young hero and his aged
parents was very touching: going straight to his mother and father he
embraced them. He was escorted to his home in Mary Street amidst a scene of
great enthusiasm. As they approached the Royal Hotel a trumpeter standing on
the steps sounded a stirring bugle call which evoked ringing cheers. There
was a profusion of decorations in the town along with scrolls bearing words
of welcome to the New Ross hero.'

Then came the day when Martin went to Buckingham Palace in London to be
decorated with the Victoria Cross and Military Medal by King George V. He
was the only Irishman among the five recipients of the VC that day, together
with two Englishmen and two Scotsmen. A bright future lay ahead of him in
the British army with the promise of a commission but the Wexford man had
very different ideas that would have been anathema to the King and his
military authorities. He retired from the British army in July 1919 and
joined the IRA when the Irish War of Independence was at its height. He
became an intelligence officer in the Mid-Clare Brigade, and was active
throughout 1920 and 1921 in Ennis. On at least one occasion he was under
such suspicion that he considered taking to the hills with his rifle. On
another occasion he went to Kilrush on a mission and, due to faulty
information, he almost fell into a trap. During the Civil War he served with
the Free State Army in Waterford, Kilkenny and South Tipperary. He was
wounded in the left arm in Limerick in early 1923. After the Civil War ended
he was posted back to his home town of New Ross for a spell. When he retired
from the Irish army in 1937, now married with three daughters, he took up
pensionable employment in the Guinness Brewery as a security officer. The
army authorities were very reluctant to let him go. He was described as 'an
excellent NCO, a very good Vickers machine gun and rifle instructor, and
someone who could not be replaced without serious inconvenience to the
service.' Not totally severing his army links, he spent a further year and a
half in the 2nd Batallion Regiment of Dublin Army Reserve. Having spent 9
years 5 months in the British army service, 2 years in the Old IRA, 15 years
5 months in the regular Irish army, he hung up his uniform on 25 Jan 1939,
just as new war clouds were threatening. Sadly, he was not destined to enjoy
his hard-earned retirement. Stricken with polio, he died 20 Nov 1940, in Sir
Patrick Dun's Hospital, Dublin, at 46. This great but little remembered
Irish soldier rests in peace in Grangegorman British military burial place,
off Blackhorse Ave., near McKee Barracks, Dublin, under a headstone erected
by his old comrades in the regiment.

BullyBeef

This is the beauty of the internet its for all people to use around the globe or who knows, beyond even one day. To find & share information debate topics & learn something along the way.
This type of information is the type of thing that shows the way things as they really were, obviously its as close to true fact as anything is from that time span. A man who by his own free choice spent the most part of his life serving one army or another , he was obviously cut-out for the military life & the dangers it held .
Who can say what he experienced as a very young man in ww1 ,what it does show is his own unselfish way of being ready to serve for who or how he chose for his own reasons .Not forgetting how it states that his friends family & neighbourhood who celebrated his homecoming what an event to be acknowledged.
It occurs to me this man could have chosen, not to take up with what was to be two separate sides ,however for his own beliefs he did & his countrymen at that time read like they were very pleased to have such a person giving the time & help he could. it’s a pity such people never had the time for writing full memoirs.
Sex was or possibly still is the most popular topic on the internet that’s followed by genealogy family research has been a huge thing for a number of years & Ireland looks to be putting evermore information on line .As future generations start to unearth the truth of ancestors surely more will find such things within military archives as often they contain as much information if not more than other records.
Looking at the following figures I think a lot more is going to be unearthed in time to come possibly not as dramatic as this man Martin Doyle was, but all with a story to unfold.
Mr. John Redmond declared in the House of Commons on November 2nd, 1915, that from England and Scotland alone one hundred and twenty-three thousand men of Irish birth had joined the army since the outbreak of war. One hundred thousand of these volunteers were home rulers.
Great Britain had two hundred thousand volunteers of Irish blood to the war ; Canada, New Zealand and Australia enrolled over one hundred thousand recruits of Irish birth or descent ;
While one hundred and fifty thousand soldiers born of Irish parents were in the army previous to the war,
Making a total of, roughly, more than half a million Irish soldiers in the army

johnny_doyle

I've been following bits and pieces about Martin Doyle for a while - originally from the belief that he might have been a relative of my Gt Grandfather which turned out to be not the case.

He was obviously a very talented soldier/leader; I'd love to know what made him make the move to the IRA. Some gumption attending a VC winners reception in the late 1920's - would people there have known that he'd fought against them and how would they have reacted?

Damned shame to die of polio having survived so much conflict.

SlabMurphy

BullyBeef wrote: »

Mr. John Redmond declared in the House of Commons on November 2nd, 1915, that from England and Scotland alone one hundred and twenty-three thousand men of Irish birth had joined the army since the outbreak of war. One hundred thousand of these volunteers were home rulers.
Great Britain had two hundred thousand volunteers of Irish blood to the war ; Canada, New Zealand and Australia enrolled over one hundred thousand recruits of Irish birth or descent ;
While one hundred and fifty thousand soldiers born of Irish parents were in the army previous to the war,
Making a total of, roughly, more than half a million Irish soldiers in the army

Let's not start grasping at straws making up some convulted statistics to try and say their was more than 1/2 a million Irish men in WW1. What next ? like claiming that if someone drinks a pint of Guinness he's an Irishman :rolleyes:

BullyBeef

SlabMurphy wrote: »

Let's not start grasping at straws making up some convulted statistics to try and say their was more than 1/2 a million Irish men in WW1. What next ? like claiming that if someone drinks a pint of Guinness he's an Irishman :rolleyes:

So just to be clear, you are saying that statements a lie?
or that I have lied by posting it?

If you are saying that Mr. John Redmond did not say this then please go ahead & prove it.

Mr. John Redmond declared in the House of Commons on November 2nd, 1915, that from England and Scotland alone one hundred and twenty-three thousand men of Irish birth had joined the army since the outbreak of war. One hundred thousand of these volunteers were home rulers.
Great Britain had two hundred thousand volunteers of Irish blood to the war ; Canada, New Zealand and Australia enrolled over one hundred thousand recruits of Irish birth or descent ;
While one hundred and fifty thousand soldiers born of Irish parents were in the army previous to the war,
Making a total of, roughly, more than half a million Irish soldiers in the army.
However if you as some individual chose not to recognise his figures then that’s your choice & nothing more.

SlabMurphy

BullyBeef wrote: »

So just to be clear, you are saying that statements a lie?
or that I have lied by posting it?

If you are saying that Mr. John Redmond did not say this then please go ahead & prove it.

Mr. John Redmond declared in the House of Commons on November 2nd, 1915, that from England and Scotland alone one hundred and twenty-three thousand men of Irish birth had joined the army since the outbreak of war. One hundred thousand of these volunteers were home rulers.
Great Britain had two hundred thousand volunteers of Irish blood to the war ; Canada, New Zealand and Australia enrolled over one hundred thousand recruits of Irish birth or descent ;
While one hundred and fifty thousand soldiers born of Irish parents were in the army previous to the war,
Making a total of, roughly, more than half a million Irish soldiers in the army.
However if you as some individual chose not to recognise his figures then that’s your choice & nothing more.

I never said you were a liar. All I said was Let's not start grasping at straws making up some convulted statistics.

As for Redmond's alleged statement, since your the one making the assertion then you should be the one bringing forth the evidence that he said the above.

johnny_doyle

can't comment on the big figures but can gives some examples of Irish born in other services which might be of interest :

- the Canadian soldier killed during the Easter Rising (Neville Fryday) and buried in Mount Jerome was born in Co Tipp. Enlisted Toronto.

- the Canadian nurse drowned when the RMS Leinster was torpedoed (Henriette Mellet) and buried in Mount Jerome was born in Co Galway. Enlisted London, Ontario.

- the Scottish soldier killed during the Easter Rising (Peter Ennis) and buried in Deansgrange was born in Dublin. Enlisted Glasgow.

Slight variation :
- the Canadian officers (Lucas and Worswick) shot in the Guinness Brewery during the Easter Rising were both born in England, as was the Royal Dublin Fusilier CQMS (Flood) who was court martialled (and found not guilty) for their shooting.

English in an Irish regiment :

Pte John Miranda, Connaught Ranger mutineer. Born in Liverpool; mother of Irish/Swedish descent, father Brazilian(?). The only mutineer still buried in India; no known family at the time Daly, Sears and Smyth(e) were brought back to Ireland.

Sgt Joseph Woods, Connaught Ranger mutineer. Born in Bristol. No known Irish lineage. Reputed to have said :

‘These boys fought for England with me, and I was ready to fight for Ireland with them.’

Sgt Woods won a Military Medal during WW1 whilst serving with the Leinster Regiment.

An article that gives a breakdown of recruitment in Ireland is online at :
http://www.qub.ac.uk/sites/irishhistorylive/IrishHistoryResources/ArticlesandLectures/IrelandandtheFirstWorldWar/

For some info about the impact of the Easter Rising on recruitment of Montreal Irish :
http://www.umanitoba.ca/colleges/st_pauls/ccha/Back%20Issues/CCHA1985/Burns.pdf

Snickers Man

Interesting stuff.

It is one of my hobby horses that history is full of examples of men who fought in the army of one country and later took up arms against that country on behalf of their own. This does not make them traitors, turncoats or mercenaries, rather it simply shows that people are made up of an assortment of allegiances, identities, values and causes. As the sands of history shift, so does the prominence which people attach to the various causes that animate them. Fighting against the army in which you learned your trade can be the most natural thing in the world.

There were of course many Irishmen who fought in the struggle for independence who had previously served in the British Army. Examples have been given above. But this is by no means unique to the Irish experience. Many former loyal soldiers of the British Empire have later served in armies that sought their own countries' independence from that empire.

Examples include many Israelis from the era of their struggle for independence, including the Irish-born Chaim Herzog who went on to become president of Israel. Chin Peng who led the Malayan insurgency against Britain in the 1950s had been an ally of the British against the Japanese in WWII. One could even include George Washington, liberator of the US, who had been a loyal servant of the crown in its wars against French colonists in colonial America.

Moving outside the British army, a fine example is Ahmed Ben Bella, leader of the FLN during its bloody struggle to free Algeria from the French. He had served in both the French and Free French armies in WWII and had won the Croix de Guerre twice, once in each army.

If you scan the history of central and eastern Europe of course you will find numerous examples of soldiers who fought on one side in WWI and another entirely in WWII. Often for the simple reason that their countries had gained independence after WWI and they were now fighting for their native lands, frequently against the army in which they had previously served.

Most famously, perhaps, Car Gustav Mannerheim, the great Finnish hero who led the defence of his country against Soviet aggression had previously served in the Russian army. During WWI, Finland was part of the Russian Empire.

General Sosobowski of Poland, who led the Polish Brigade at Arnhem in WWII (portrayed byGene Hackman in A Bridge too far) had served in the Austro Hungarian army AGAINST the Allies in WWI. His commanding officer in the Polish Army which was attacked in 1940 by the Germans (including now the Austrians) was a chap called Rommel, who had been born in that part of Poland ruled by Russia before WWI and consequently had served in the Russian army in that war. He was also distantly related to the more famous German Rommel.

Originally Posted by BullyBeef
Mr. John Redmond declared in the House of Commons on November 2nd, 1915, that from England and Scotland alone one hundred and twenty-three thousand men of Irish birth had joined the army since the outbreak of war.

I suspect you got that date wrong. According to Hansard, there was no sitting of the Commons on that date. There was an interesting debate on the Government of Ireland on October 18, 1916 in which Redmond gave some of his views of Ireland's contribution to the war and of Britain's shabby treatment of Irish soldiers.

I think it is the folk memory of how mistrusted and abused Irish soldiers were in the army in WWI that is behind much of the reluctance to "celebrate" their story even to this day.