FIRST BLOOD FOR THE V.T.C. H ENCEFORTH the Volunteer Training Corps
will have the right to bear themselves with pride and confidence. They will remember that men of their own type and organiza- tion—men wearing the familiar " G.R." brassard—were called upon to fulfil just such functions in an emergency as the V.T.C. have confidently offered to fulfil, and that they acquitted themselves right gallantly and honourably. This happened in the Irish revolt. The V.T.C. in Dublin were the first to have the honour of shedding their blood in their country's cause. Those who were killed and wounded fell, it is true, under Sinn Fein and not under German bullets, but their military achievements ensured the progress of British arms just as much, even if indirectly, as though they had been fighting in France. We have read reports of the loyalty and bravery of the Nationalist Volunteers in Ireland, and we would say no word to detract from the honour properly due to any man who scorned to fight on the side of Germany and risked his life to show his true allegiance. But we want here only to tell the story of what was done by the " G.R." Volunteers when they were taken at a complete disadvantage and displayed a steadiness, enthusiasm, resource, and en- durance which would have done credit to a corps of old soldiers. Some of these Volunteers had been Volunteers in the pre-Territorial days, but most of them had not. The majority had acquired their military discipline solely from training since the war began. They were all, we believe, men over the military age. It is desirable to remind English readers of the distinctions between the various bodies of Volunteers in Ireland. There are no fewer than five groups : (1) The Ulster Volunteers ; (2) the Nationalist (or Redmondite) Volunteers ; (3) the Irish (or Sinn Fein) Volunteers, many of whom are seceders from the Nationalist Volunteers ; (4) the Labour (or Larkinite) Volunteers ; (5) the Volunteer Training Corps (or " G.R." Volunteers). The last-named Volunteers cannot be said strictly to belong to the same organization as the " G.R." Volunteers in England, because when the War Office delegated the management of the V.T.C. to the Central Association of V.T.C., under the presidency of Lord Desborough, the Association's control did not extend to Ireland. In all military measures since the beginning of the war Ireland has, of course, been treated as a country apart. But to all intents and purposes the " G.R." Volun- teers in Ireland are the same organization as we know in England, and they have always been in touch with the Central Association in London. That fact is outwardly expressed by their adoption of the " G.R." brassard. We understand that what the Dublin V.T.C. did during the revolt was as follows. On Monday, April 24th, the lst (Dublin) Battalion paraded at Beggar's Bush Barracks. There were four companies composed of the Irish Rugby Union Football Corps, the St. Andrew's Corps, the Dublin Veterans Corps, the Glasnevin Corps, as well as City and Railway Corps, and some motor-cyclists. The whole force, in spite of the number of units, was only about a hundred and twenty strong. It marched out of Dublin and took part in some field exercises in which the object was to drive back a force of Kingstown and Greystones Volunteers. We imagine that what followed is the only case on record of a sham fight turning into the real thing. Early in the afternoon the sham fight was over, and the V.T.C. of both sides began to march back to their quarters. Then came to the Dublin Volurteers the amazing news that the Shin Feiners were in revolt, and that several buildings in Dublin were in their hands. The commander of the 1st Dublin Battalion decided without a moment's hesitation what to do. The battalion marched for an hour and twenty minutes without a halt, and in this time covered the distance from Tilnock to Beggar's Bush Barracks. They found the barracks being besieged, and on itpproaching them came under a sharp fire from the Sinn Femers. They had no ammunition for their rifles ; they did not even carry bayonets. Meanwhile their " G.R." bras- Nerds made them easy targets. Their commander with an advance party managed to enter the barracks by the front entrance, taking with him a member of the Football Corps, who was mortally wounded. The remainder of the column was ordered to retire—a difficult and trying movement which was carried out with complete steadiness. This part of the column made its way to the back of the barracks, marching in single file till a place was reached wheie it seemed possible to climb over the wall. Eighty-one men and nine offiCers climbed over and joined the besieged garrison. There were only seventeen Lee-Enfield rifles in the barracks, and the Volunteers had only six which would take the -303 cartridge. The Volunteers were instructed to use their old Italian rifles as clubs if the Sinn Feiners attempted to rush them. A member of the battalion who had not taken part in the day's exercises pluckily came to the barracks in plain clothes, bringing a few more rifles.
We have written as though the whole of the column suc- ceeded in entering the barracks, but it is necessary, to say here that a part of the battalion, numbering about forty men, had been detached before the main body began to march back to Dublin. This body marched into Dublin by a different route under Mr. F. H. Browning, the well-known football player and sportsman of Trinity College, and came under a hotter fire than the main body. Mr. Browning was mortally wounded, and was tended with splendid courage by some of his companions while the Sinn Femers continued to fire on them. Very few of this party; succeeded in reaching the barracks. Its percentage of casualties was high.
In the course of the siege of the barracks, which continued for several days, a message was sent to the Regular officer in command offering him reinforcements, but pointing out that he should not accept them if he felt able to hold on without them, as men were urgently needed elsewhere. He refused the reinforcements—surely a high complinient to the Volun- teers who formed so considerable a part of his garrison. The total casualties of the Dublin Battalion were six killed and ten wounded.
The moral for the War Office and for the whole country is too obvious to be laboured. The Volunteer Training Corps under the Central Association will do what they offer to do, and, moreover, will do anything within reason that they are asked to do. Possibly it is too flattering to the English V.T.C. to associate them with the performance of their gallant comrades in Dublin. But in such circumstances we can only say that the sole evidence available on the subject encourages the view that men who receive the V.T.C. training can conduct themselves as disciplined and useful soldiers. What we have narrated is a truly fine record. • It at once suggests a policy to the authorities—to take the V.T.C. very seriously as part-time sold iers—and serves as a model and an inspiration to the V.T.C. themselves.
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