Uncommon Valour Read Online Free

Volunteer Lieutenant William O’Brien of how vulnerable his position in McCaffrey’s Estate was. Realising the danger, O’Brien ordered his men to retreat. He shouted ‘spread out, spread out’ as they ran back towards the hospital buildings across the open field, devoid of any cover. The only way to return to the command area or the nearest auxiliary hospital building, the Catholic Women’s Hospital (11) was to move rapidly and try to use the dips and slight ridges in the field as cover. As the Volunteers withdrew from their position, John Joyce could hear men cry out as they were hit. Richard O’Reilly was shot and killed as he crossed the field. Each Volunteer ran in short rushes from one point to another, hoping the bullets would miss. Occasionally they turned and fired wildly at an unseen enemy. As Joyce crawled forward looking for cover, the dirt ahead of him jumped, spat and then exploded in geysers of earth as bullets kicked up the soil. After almost an hour and a half of crawling through the field, Joyce and the surviving Volunteers reached the relative safety of the Women’s Hospital. They were also near the convent that lay just fifty yards from Hospital 2–3 (5).
    The Volunteers at the Rialto gate (1) heard the noise of rapid gunfire in the distance. Suddenly a barrage of covering fire was laid down on their corrugated hut. Within seconds the hut resembled a sieve, as the bullets entered and ricocheted around the inside of the building. The patients in dormitory 6 cowered on the ground as the bullets ripped through the structure. The ward-master’s coat was pierced as he tried to protect the patients. Volunteer John Traynor was mortally wounded and fell to the floor. Traynor had been employed as a messenger boy in the nearby Guinness Brewery and, at seventeen years of age, he was the crack shot of the company. The others moved to his side and for a brief moment, prayed for the repose of his soul.
    Captain Irvine sent a messenger to Ceannt at headquarters requesting further orders. The messenger returned to Irvine with a written dispatch that stated he should retire his force further into the Union grounds. This order was impractical as the British assault was growing more intense and Irvine sent the Volunteer messenger back to Ceannt to relay this message to him. The messenger succeeded in reaching Ceannt, but as the fighting then intensified he was unable to return to Irvine. The unit at Rialto was now cut off from the central command in the Union.
    In the meantime, Captain Warmington ordered fifty men to use the wall of the Union as cover and move towards the rear of the site, along the route of the Royal Canal, and attempt to gain entry to the grounds via the rear entrance (7). They moved across the road on the double and set off.
    The covering rifle fire enabled Lieutenant Ramsay to lead the first assault on the Rialto gate. The gate was heavily barricaded and locked. Ramsay abandoned the idea of forcing open the main gate and his unit moved under the wall of the Union for cover. Here they located a small wooden door that they quickly broke down. As Lieutenant Ramsay charged through the doorway a volley of shots from the Volunteers met him. Ramsay was shot through the head and fell on the roadway near the chapel (2). His men withdrew back out through the gate onto the street. A brief truce followed and the Volunteers permitted a stretcher party to collect the body of the fallen officer.
    On receiving the news about the young lieutenant’s death, Captain Warmington was consumed with rage. He ordered his men to line up and he himself led another charge through the narrow entrance. He was shot dead as he entered the doorway and under intense fire his men broke off their attack and retreated. A second ceasefire was called and another stretcher party collected Warmington’s corpse. His body was laid on the pavement beside that of Lieutenant Ramsay. The fight then