Forward the Rifles

The battlefields of Gallipoli and Salonica were a far cry from life on a small working farm in County Louth, Ireland, and yet, in 1915, Captain David Campbell, M.C., 6th Royal Irish Rifles, found himself in the searing Turkish heat, confronted by a faceless and seemingly tireless enemy. Less than twelve months after joining the Officers' Training Corps in Trinity College Dublin, Campbell led his company over the arid ground to the Front. From the beginning he kept a diary, describing life in these two theatres of war in great detail. Forward the Rifles is that diary. In it, he encapsulates the frightening scale of warfare, and yet he managed to find humour in the simple acts of himself and his men, as they trudge through daily life, trying to keep their bodies nourished and their spirits buoyed. The story of Captain David Campbell is one that will ring true for many, and yet it is an intensely personal one, chronicling his recovery from the physical and mental woulds of battle. Now, more than three decades after his death, the unswerving loyalty, courage and kindness of Captain David Campbell, M.C., are reborn.

Auteur

As a young man David Campbell lived on a small family farm in Co. Louth, Ireland. Like many Irish soldiers his service took him to Gallipoli. He was wounded and evacuated to England where he recovered. Captain David Campbell worked as an engineer for the Calcutta Port Commissioners during the construction of the King George's Dock, Calcutta. On his return to Ireland he was appointed Resident Architect for the construction of the Irish War Memorial in Dublin. In 1938 he became Resident Engineer for the Construction of Shannon Airport, and later for the construction of concrete runways at Dublin Airport and the Dublin military airport, Baldonnel. He died in 1971 aged eighty-three years.