east and west; and the
most critical hours were, as Sir John French says, on October 31st when
the Germans broke through the British lines at Gheluvelt, a village on
the road leading from Ypres south-east to Menin. On November 2nd the
Germans were everywhere repulsed. The Brigadier-General, Lord Cavan,
commanding the 4th (Guards) Brigade, paid the following remarkable
tribute to the work of the Irish Guards on that momentous occasion in
a letter to the Officer Commanding the battalion, Colonel Proby:--

"I want you to convey to every man in the battalion that I
consider that the safety of the right flank of the British
section depended entirely on their staunchness after the
disastrous day, November 1st. Those of them that were left have
made history, and I can never thank them enough for the way in
which they recovered themselves, and showed to the enemy that
Irish Guards must be reckoned with, however hard hit."

Lord Cavan, in a report dated November 7th, further states:--"On
October 31st, November 1st and 6th, the Irish Guards lost 16 officers
and 597 other ranks in disputing 200 yards of ground with superior
forces." Private Stephen Shaughnessy supplies an account of the
incidents of November 6th, when the Irish Guards were overwhelmed. He
says:--"At this time the enemy's strength was two to one. We
endeavoured to hold the enemy by machine-guns and rifle fire, until
they succeeded in penetrating the French line about two or three miles
on our right, and managed to come behind our rear line." Then he gives
an instance of the desperate duels that were fought between the slowly
retiring Irish and the hotly pressing Germans. "While retreating," he
says, "Captain King-Harman was the only officer I saw alive. He was
then standing up and firing with his revolver on the Germans, who were
only 60 yards away. I, or anyone else in our battalion, did not see
him alive afterwards." He adds:--"The only comrade I found within
reasonable distance was Private Birmingham, of Clonmel, formerly of
the Royal Irish Constabulary. We discussed the situation. He got over
the trench to fall back to the troops reforming in our rear. As I was
getting out of the trench, a rifle bullet came through my great coat,
penetrated my cardigan jacket without touching my body. We formed up
again, and were reinforced by the Life Guards, notwithstanding which
we were unable to regain our lost territory. When darkness came, we