On the first day of the Battle of the Somme, July1, 1916, The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers regiment suffered the highest number of loses sustained in any one day, than any regiment in the modern army.
Today, the complete history of the regiment is recorded at the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers Regimental Museum at Enniskillen Castle, and its new redevelopment and modernisation programme, completed, along with multi media and interactive displays and story boards, is open for everyone to visit.
Remarkably, military artefacts, weaponry, uniforms, photographs, field shaving kits, field glasses, drums, Silver ware, relics of a past have been preserved, which poignantly and respectfully help to provide a vivid reflection of the days of conflict, and the lives of real individuals, young soldiers, many of whom never made the journey home to Northern Ireland.
Shining out amid the display sits the very Bugle, played by Bugler Jack Downes who sounded the advance of the Inniskillings on the morning of the first day of battle at the Somme. Bugler Downes survived that first day in battle, but he died in March 1918, during the final march for the German's major offensive.
Soldiers who won the Victoria Cross for brave acts, feature in this Inniskillings collection, among them the story of Enniskillen born Captain Eric Norman Frankland Bell. His citation records that he was in command of a trench mortar battery, on July 1, at Thiepval, France.
When the frontline was hung up by enfilading machine gun fire, captain Bell crept forward and shot the machine gunner, according to his citation.
"Later on no less than three occasions, when our bombing parties, which were clearing the enemy trenches, were unable to advance, he went forward alone and threw trench mortar bombs among the enemy. When he had no more bombs available, he stood on the parapet, under intense fire, and used a rifle with great coolness and effect on the enemy advancing to counter attack. Finally he was killed rallying and reorganising infantry parties, which had lost their officers. All this was outside the scope of his normal duties with his battery. He gave his life in his supreme devotion to duty," said the citation.
The museum's new show case has captured a real sense of trench warfare, with a life-like, life-size model of Sergeant James Somers from Belturbet, who won the Victoria Cross for bravery defending his trench from attack.
Museum Curator Major Jack Dunlop, explained that on the first day of the Somme, five Battalions, the 1st; 2nd; 9th; 10th and 11th fought on July 1st. Many of the soldiers in the 9th, 10th and 11th battalions part of the 36th Ulster Division, were from Fermanagh, Tyrone, Derry, Donegal. The 1st and 2nd battalion, were recruited from all over Ireland, he said.
"There were over 4,000 soldiers in total, with 2,208 men dead or wounded at the end of the first day," he said.
"They fought between Thiepval and the redoubt at Beaumont-Hamel, within a frontage of three miles, against an impregnable fortress. Their very valour was their destruction," he said.
He said the battle of the Somme lasted four and a half months, and by its end, the battle had taken a toll of more than one million men from Britain, France, and Germany.
"We had eight Victoria Crosses, which is the most that any Irish regiment received," he said.
The war poets also feature among the new displays at the museum, and information about poet Francis Ledwidge, who served with the Inniskillings, takes pride of place.
"We are preserving our local military history. The trustees of the regiment are safe guarding for posterity the heritage and noble deeds of the regiment over almost 300 years of history,"
"we are commemorating those who paid the ultimate sacrifice, and bring out their personal stories," he said.
"We are telling our 280 year history in a modern chronological way," he said.
"In the whole of the UK, Enniskillen is the only town or city to actually have given its name to two regiments, the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and the Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards," he said.
Website www.inniskilling.com and phone no 028 66 32 31 42


(June 27 2008)