From India to St. Eloi on the Western Front.

The recruiting poster titled 'IRELAND'S WAR MAP' includes the battle at St Eloi fought on 14 March 1915 (© IWM (Art.IWM PST 13640)).

The weather immediately after New Year 1915 was inclement with heavy rain, frost and gales in succession with hardly a break. The ground was so sodden that troop movement became next to impossible and January's trench work was more difficult than ever. The British were beginning to take over some of the French areas and extending their general line from the Kemmel-Wytschaete road north to St Eloi. A great number of men contracted frost-bite and other ailments. The trenches there were very wet, and the discomfort was extreme.

The 2nd Battalion The Royal Irish Fusiliers' introduction to the Western Front in these conditions was one of extreme discomfort. They arrived in the St Eloi sector on 6 January 1915 and, having come from India, were neither equipped nor acclimatised for a European winter. The 2nd Faughs, together with other reinforcing units from India, had marched 17 miles to join 82 Brigade at the front some five miles north of the 1st Faughs' positions. The trenches taken over by the 2nd Faughs were crudely constructed and half under water. Because they were wearing the old Foreign Service boots, rather than the new issue pattern, many cases of trench foot and frost-bite occurred. Moreover, the sense of vulnerability was all the more as the parent 27th Division had even less than the normal inadequate allocation of supporting artillery.