The 10th (Irish) Division in the 1917-1918 Palestine Campaign – Assistance

[Eran Tearosh]

 

 

All,

The presence and actions of the 10^th (Irish) Division in the 1917-1918 Palestine Campaign remains a bit of a ‘mystery’. Arriving as a full Irish formation from Salonika to Egypt in September 1917. They became involved in the Southern Palestine Offensive, ending 1917 at the vicinity of ‘Passage of Horon’ and north of it, staying there for a few more months (This is the period I’m most interested in – I live not far from the area they were holding), involved with March 1918 fighting and then – most of the Irish battalions were sent to France. Allenby’s army was ‘Indianized’, and this process included the 10^th Division. Only 3 Irish battalions remained in this theater of war till armistice.

Sad, but understandably, the 10^th Division didn’t write an official divisional history for this part of the Great War. I’ve tried to find some Regiment’s / Battalion’s histories and came up with only a few things (Below). However – only a few pages in each book refer to the Palestine Theatre, so I’m not sure it’s worth the sky-high prices (due to shipment fees). So, can someone who owns one or more of these books help me? In addition – are there war-diaries of the Irish Battalions Available on-line?

 

The first book looks a bit promising (It’s a 2015 book):

The 10th (Irish) Division

The Great War

The exploits of the 10th (Irish) Division in Gallipoli, Salonika and Palestine during The Great War

 

By Max Vitali 

 

One chapter, from a book of some 51 pages is dedicated to the Palestine Campaign. It’s on Kindle (Which I don’t have), so I’m not sure it’s worth the investment (The book itself is cheap, but not the Kindle device itself)

 

 

The second book:  

The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in the World War

 

By Sir Frank Fox

 

By the list of contents, only 7-8 pages, starting on page 211, are relevant.  

 

 

 

The third book: 

History Of The First Seven Battalions

The Royal Irish Rifles (Now The Royal Ulster Rifles) In The Great War  

 

By Captain Cyril Falls 

 

By the list of contents, only 9 pages (from a book of 188 pages) are relevant, starting at page 125 (Maybe there are a few more words about leaving Palestine on the next 2-3 pages).

 

 

Any help will be most appreciated! Of course, if anyone knows of other books and or other sources – that will be a great help.

(On the internet I found this link, which did help a little: https://www.royal-irish.com/, but not much more)

 

Eran

 

[kenf48]

3 hours ago, Eran Tearosh said:

(The book itself is cheap, but not the Kindle device itself)

You can download the Kindle app to your smartphone or tablet for free in the UK (as a matter of interest the device is currently at the lowest price ever I still prefer Kobo) but I find the app is ok -doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the device but good enough. 

As to the more pressing question a forum search shows a number of links including access to the OH on @MaureenE  fibwiki pages - follow links from this GWF virtual library thread

 

[MaureenE]

There are online books  including the Official History linked from the FIBIS Fibiwiki page Egypt, Palestine, Syria (First World War)

https://wiki.fibis.org/w/Egypt,_Palestine,_Syria_(First_World_War)#Historical_books_online

 Included is the 2nd book mentioned above by Sir Frank Fox, but I am having  problem with the online book file which has been digitised by the British Library. The BL Catalogue page is http://explore.bl.uk/BLVU1:LSCOP-ALL:BLL01016553148.  Click on "I want this" for the digital link from the catalogue. If you too have problems with the digital file, write to the British Library.

Maureen

Edit: The 3rd book mentioned above by Cyril Falls would I think be in the public domain in North America, but is restricted for me

https://books.google.com.au/books?id=yFU8AAAAMAAJ

Edited 23 January , 2022 by MaureenE

[emrezmen]

Hi, Eran

I do have a digital copy of "5th Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers in the Great War" by F.W.E. Johnson. Ten pages of it deal with Palestine Campaign. I can send you if interested.

Edited 23 January , 2022 by emrezmen
Name correction

[Eran Tearosh]

Thank you!

Ken - I live in Israel, and didn't find any of the Kindle options you mentioned. still looking around....

Maureen - Same problems you encountered with the BL and Google Books....

Emre - Great!! yes, please send me those pages (You have my email)

Again, thank you all!

Eran

 

 

 

[MaureenE]

This link from Amazon is about the Kindle App

https://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=16571048011

Maureen

[kenf48]

The OH is accessible online as per Maureen’s link on the fib wiki page

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.211976/page/n405/mode/1up

No index which is a bit of a nuisance but it is chronological in the margin 

I know where you are which is why I stressed the U.K. but I assume Amazon ‘s tentacles have reached you 😏

 

 

[Eran Tearosh]

Again, thank you all!

Ken - I have both volumes' of British OH. Part 1 of Vol. II has some relevant info, but of course, naturally, doesn't include too many anecdotes and 'day to day' stuff (Although one can find some of these here and there in the British OH). That's why I'm after the Divisional / Regimental / Battalion books - Some of them (Not all!!) have lots of these. In this particular case, I'm working on road construction in the south parts of Samaria, just north of the biblical 'Passage of Horon'. Most of the work there was done by the 10th (Irish) Division, assisted by 74th (Yeomanry) Division. I found quite a lot of things in books of the latter division (Alas, less of the 10th Division...)

Maureen - Thanks. I'm trying to find the right option. I'll 'dive' deeper into it tomorrow. 

And many thanks to Emre - The Royal Irish Fusiliers book is great! 

Eran

 

[MaureenE]

Try the Frank Fox book on this BL link http://access.bl.uk/UVR7/build/uv-2.0.2/app.html?isHomeDomain=true&isOnlyInstance=true&manifestUri=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.bl.uk%2Fmetadata%2Fiiif%2Fark%3A%2F81055%2Fvdc_100002346476.0x000002%2Fmanifest.json&embedScriptUri=http://access.bl.uk/UVR7/build/uv-2.0.2/lib/embed.js&embedDomain=access.bl.uk&domain=access.bl.uk&isLightbox=false&locale=en-GB&config=https://api.bl.uk/configuration/universalviewer/v2/ark:/81055/vdc_100002346476.0x000002&xdm_e=http%3A%2F%2Faccess.bl.uk%2Fitem%2Fviewer%2Fark%3A%2F81055%2Fvdc_100002346476.0x000002&xdm_c=default9088&xdm_p=4#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=3&xywh=-1%2C-356%2C3539%2C3455

Maureen

Edited 24 January , 2022 by MaureenE

[Eran Tearosh]

This one works!!!

Thanks Maureen!

[Eran Tearosh]

All, 

Managed to download the local app here which enables me to read Kindle books on my PC (Ken - thanks!)

Downloaded the The 10th (Irish) Division book (Written by Phil Tomkins, and not the name mentioned on Amazon). Hmmm.... there are some very interesting details, but many (and I really mean - many!) mistakes, dates etc. mixed up and so on. Didn't really help me that much on the task I'm dealing with at the moment, but as I wrote - there are some interesting details regarding equipment, touring Jerusalem etc. 

Eran 

 

[Margaretnolan]

I have the book The Irish Regiments in the First World War by H.E.D Harris.

There’s a chapter Palestine 1917-1918. I will scan it and email it to you if you wish. Send me your email address by message please.

Margaret

Edited 26 January , 2022 by Margaretnolan