Sunday, April 19, 2009
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UVF Fighting Home Rule
July 1st 1916
Orangemen at the Somme
July 1 1916
Quotes
Quotes
“A political party is the group of like minded people, with similar views. The party gives them the platform to engage with the electorate. However; it’s the electorate that permits them speak”. Ranger1640.
"Not until we change and demand change will we ever see change"! Ranger1640
"Under Nu-Labour common sense is now a crime". Ranger1640
“Government of the people, by the people, for the people”. Abraham Lincoln
“You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time”. Abraham Lincoln“I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crises. The great point is to bring them the real facts”. Abraham Lincoln
“No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent”. Abraham Lincoln“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”Henry Louis Mencken
Northern Ireland
Ulster Volunteer Force
UVF Fighting Home Rule
The 36th Ulster Division
July 1st 1916
36th Ulster Division Orangemen
Orangemen at the Somme
The Ulstermen at the Somme and the Loyalty of Northern Ireland in WWII
"I am not an Ulsterman, but yesterday, the first of July, as I followed their amazing attack I felt I would rather be an Ulsterman than anything else in the world...The enemys' gunfire raked them from the left, and machine guns in a village enfiladed them on the right, but battalion after battalion came out of the awful wood as steaily as I have seen them at Ballykinler, Clandeboye or Shanes' Castle..." -
W.B. Spender, 2nd July 1916
"But for the loyalty of Northern Ireland and its devotion to what has now become the cause of thirty Governments or Nations, we should have been confronted with slavery and death, and the light which now shines so strongly throughout the world would have been quenched.”
Winston Churchill May 1943
W.B. Spender, 2nd July 1916
"But for the loyalty of Northern Ireland and its devotion to what has now become the cause of thirty Governments or Nations, we should have been confronted with slavery and death, and the light which now shines so strongly throughout the world would have been quenched.”
Winston Churchill May 1943
Ulster Generals
By the summer of 1942, the Middle East was Britain's front line. During the Second World War, the British Army was being punched back towards Egypt at such speed that Rommel would take Cairo within a week.
The Allies would lose the Mediterranean, the Far East, the Iraq oilfields and possibly its US ally.
The defeat of Rommel under Ulster Generals Alexander and Montgomery at Alamein was considered by Churchill the hinge moment of the War, yet the Battle for Egypt 12 weeks earlier under another Ulsterman, General Claude Auchinleck, was the real turning point, and this "first" battle of Alamein has been forgotten.
These Generals turned the tide of the war, and did so when the Allied war effort faced catastrophe.
Six Ulstermen would become Field Marshals - Auchinleck, Montgomery, Alexander and Alan Brooke among them.
Fortunately for Europe, Ulstermen don't like going backwards in a fight.
The Allies would lose the Mediterranean, the Far East, the Iraq oilfields and possibly its US ally.
The defeat of Rommel under Ulster Generals Alexander and Montgomery at Alamein was considered by Churchill the hinge moment of the War, yet the Battle for Egypt 12 weeks earlier under another Ulsterman, General Claude Auchinleck, was the real turning point, and this "first" battle of Alamein has been forgotten.
These Generals turned the tide of the war, and did so when the Allied war effort faced catastrophe.
Six Ulstermen would become Field Marshals - Auchinleck, Montgomery, Alexander and Alan Brooke among them.
Fortunately for Europe, Ulstermen don't like going backwards in a fight.
Alan Brooke Churchhill Montgomery
Our brave Royal Irish regiment
Lt. Col. Tim Collins, commander of the 1st Battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment, March 2003.
"We go to liberate not to conquer. We will not fly our flags in their country. We are entering Iraq to free a people and the only flag which will be flown in that ancient land is their own. Show respect for them.
"There are some who are alive at this moment who will not be alive shortly. Those who do not wish to go on that journey, we will not send. As for the others I expect you to rock their world. Wipe them out if that is what they choose. But if you are ferocious in battle remember to be magnanimous in victory.
"Iraq is steeped in history. It is the site of the Garden of Eden, of the Great Flood and the birthplace of Abraham. Tread lightly there. You will see things that no man could pay to see and you will have to go a long way to find a more decent, generous and upright people than the Iraqis. You will be embarrassed by their hospitality even though they have nothing. Don't treat them as refugees for they are in their own country. Their children will be poor, in years to come they will know that the light of liberation in their lives was brought by you.
"If there are casualties of war then remember that when they woke up and got dressed in the morning they did not plan to die this day. Allow them dignity in death. Bury them properly and mark their graves.
"It is my foremost intention to bring every single one of you out alive but there may be people among us who will not see the end of this campaign. We will put them in their sleeping bags and send them back. There will be no time for sorrow.
"The enemy should be in no doubt that we are his nemesis and that we are bringing about his rightful destruction. There are many regional commanders who have stains on their souls and they are stoking the fires of hell for Saddam. He and his forces will be destroyed by this coalition for what they have done. As they die they will know their deeds have brought them to this place. Show them no pity.
"It is a big step to take another human life. It is not to be done lightly. I know of men who have taken life needlessly in other conflicts, I can assure you they live with the mark of Cain upon them. If someone surrenders to you then remember they have that right in international law and ensure that one day they go home to their family.
"The ones who wish to fight, well, we aim to please.
"If you harm the regiment or its history by over-enthusiasm in killing or in cowardice, know it is your family who will suffer. You will be shunned unless your conduct is of the highest for your deeds will follow you down through history. We will bring shame on neither our uniform or our nation.
"[Regarding the use by Saddam of chemical or biological weapons] It is not a question of if, it's a question of when. We know he has already devolved the decision to lower commanders, and that means he has already taken the decision himself. If we survive the first strike we will survive the attack.
"As for ourselves, let's bring everyone home and leave Iraq a better place for us having been there.
"Our business now is north."
"We go to liberate not to conquer. We will not fly our flags in their country. We are entering Iraq to free a people and the only flag which will be flown in that ancient land is their own. Show respect for them.
"There are some who are alive at this moment who will not be alive shortly. Those who do not wish to go on that journey, we will not send. As for the others I expect you to rock their world. Wipe them out if that is what they choose. But if you are ferocious in battle remember to be magnanimous in victory.
"Iraq is steeped in history. It is the site of the Garden of Eden, of the Great Flood and the birthplace of Abraham. Tread lightly there. You will see things that no man could pay to see and you will have to go a long way to find a more decent, generous and upright people than the Iraqis. You will be embarrassed by their hospitality even though they have nothing. Don't treat them as refugees for they are in their own country. Their children will be poor, in years to come they will know that the light of liberation in their lives was brought by you.
"If there are casualties of war then remember that when they woke up and got dressed in the morning they did not plan to die this day. Allow them dignity in death. Bury them properly and mark their graves.
"It is my foremost intention to bring every single one of you out alive but there may be people among us who will not see the end of this campaign. We will put them in their sleeping bags and send them back. There will be no time for sorrow.
"The enemy should be in no doubt that we are his nemesis and that we are bringing about his rightful destruction. There are many regional commanders who have stains on their souls and they are stoking the fires of hell for Saddam. He and his forces will be destroyed by this coalition for what they have done. As they die they will know their deeds have brought them to this place. Show them no pity.
"It is a big step to take another human life. It is not to be done lightly. I know of men who have taken life needlessly in other conflicts, I can assure you they live with the mark of Cain upon them. If someone surrenders to you then remember they have that right in international law and ensure that one day they go home to their family.
"The ones who wish to fight, well, we aim to please.
"If you harm the regiment or its history by over-enthusiasm in killing or in cowardice, know it is your family who will suffer. You will be shunned unless your conduct is of the highest for your deeds will follow you down through history. We will bring shame on neither our uniform or our nation.
"[Regarding the use by Saddam of chemical or biological weapons] It is not a question of if, it's a question of when. We know he has already devolved the decision to lower commanders, and that means he has already taken the decision himself. If we survive the first strike we will survive the attack.
"As for ourselves, let's bring everyone home and leave Iraq a better place for us having been there.
"Our business now is north."
Blog Archive
The 36th Ulster Division
July 1 1916