Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Son of William and Rose RYAN
Of Blessington near Evandale, Tas.

From Francois Somme

Pte 2949 Cyril Ferdinand Ryan
12th Australian Infantry Battalion,
3rd Brigade, 1st Australian Division, 1st AIF
 
On the fields of the Somme, stand, motionless and solemn, thousands of white tgraves, the final resting places of so many young men who here, through the poppies, fought with exceptional bravery behind the parapets on which there are more than a hundred years, alongside their brothers, stood tall in honor and brotherhood in the face of death which they faced day and night and which, without mercy, without respite, fell on them in storms of fire, in rain of bullets, in hail of shrapnel which in infernal buzzing, in a lugubrious symphony of steel poured out with tons and tons of shells, transformed fields that were once peaceful, valleys that were once silent, into fields of executions, at sea mud and blood filled with the lifeless bodies of men then in the prime of their lives who, in courageous but murderous attacks, gave their lives in the barbed wire, collapsed one after the other, hit head-on in full swing, riddled with bullets and face down, expired their last breath of life while still holding their rifles in their hands but their sacrifice was not in vain because today we live in peace thanks to their courage and we have the chance to to have a life without war, without the fear of tomorrow while between 1914 and 1918, for four long years of endless hell, these men who watched over each other like brothers, lived each day as if it were I was the last with the fear of being hit or killed at any moment by a bullet bearing their names. Shoulder to shoulder, in a sacred bond of camaraderie, they gave their today, they gathered and marched together to the at the door of death and for many, found here, the peace that they hoped for so much, that they waited so long for and for which they paid the supreme sacrifice and, young for eternity, still stand among the poppies of the Somme , alongside their comrades who, like them, did not have the chance to return home but who found in France, the respect, gratitude and love of a people who owe them so much and who, like me and I hope, like my son later, we will always watch over them so that their memory remains strong, so that the names and faces of these heroes live forever.

On this day, it is with the utmost respect but also with the deepest gratitude that I would like to honor the memory of one of these young men, one of my boys of the Somme who, for Australia and for France, for our tomorrow, gave his today. I would like to pay a very respectful tribute to Private number 2949 Cyril Ferdinand Ryan who fought courageously in the 12th Australian Infantry Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 1st Australian Division of the Australian Imperial Force, and who died of his wounds 108 years ago, on the 24th July 1916 at the age of 19 during the Battle of the Somme.

Cyril Ferdinand Ryan was born in 1897 in Blessington, Tasmania, Australia, and was the son of William Patrick Ryan (1871-1955) and Rose Ryan (née Reynolds, 1872-1975), of Evandale, Blessington, Tasmania. After his studies and graduation, he worked as an assistant farmer until the outbreak of the war.
On 4 August 1914, the British Empire declared war on Germany and her allies. The outbreak of war was greeted with great enthusiasm in Australia, which at the time was still a young nation, and the government of Prime Minister Andrew Fisher pledged his country’s full support to Britain, the mother country.

Despite his young age and driven forward by the ardent desire to do his duty for his country, Cyril enlisted on July 27, 1915 in Claremont, Tasmania, as a Private in the 12th Australian Infantry Battalion, 9th Reinforcement of the brand new Australian Imperial Force .The 12th Battalion was raised in August 1914 under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Lancelot Clarke who was killed on April 25, 1915 by a sniper during the landing at Gallipoli and was replaced by Lieutenant Colonel John Gellibrand who took charge of the battalion afterwards the evacuation of the peninsula in December of the same year. After a three-month training period in Claremont during which he learned the basics of modern warfare such as bayonet fighting, marches and musketry exercises, Cyril embarked with his unit from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A20 Hororata on September 27, 1915 and sailed for Egypt, arriving at Tel-El-Kebir on January 7, 1916 then after a new training period of just over two months in the torrid heat of the desert, proceeded for France on the troop transport "Corsican" from Alexandria on March 29.

On April 5, 1916, after less than a week of a peaceful journey on the Mediterranean Sea and under a radiant sun, Cyril and his unit finally arrived in France and were disembarked in Marseilles then, by train, were sent to Strazeele, in Hauts-De-France region.Here, the men of the 12th Battalion followed a period of training including gas exercises with the use of tear gas, musketry exercises, marches over a distance of eight kilometers every afternoon and bayonet fights. A few weeks later, on April 21, they moved to Sailly-Sur-La-Lys where their training resumed intensively and were reviewed by the British General Herbert Charles Onslow Plumer who was very impressed by the level of professionalism of the Australian troops who, in return, were amused by the "general's big white mustache" then on April 27 received the visit of General Douglas Haig who declared "that he expected a lot from the Diggers" who, since Gallipoli, had earned the reputation of being strong and true warriors.

On May 18, 1916, the troops of the 12th Battalion left Sailly-Sur-La-Lys and marched in support billets in the Petillon sector, near Fleurbaix, where after having received reinforcements, once again resumed their training, which led the battalion to a very high level of efficiency but the war was already beginning to show its brutality, in fact, the sector was regularly shelled by German artillery and many of Cyril's comrades fell before even having fought in the trenches which they joined on June 9 near Petillon, in a front line called "nursery" in which Australian troops without combat experience acclimatized to the conditions of trench warfare.

On July 2, 1916, while the day before the terrible Battle of the Somme began, Cyril and his unit moved to Outtersteene where they relieved the 46th Australian Infantry Battalion and again followed extensive training including hand-to-hand combat, bayonet fights then a week later, on July 9, they marched to Meteren and proceeded to the Somme by train. On July 11 at 5 p.m., they arrived in the town of Doullens then proceeded to Naours which they reached the next day. Shortly after, on July 16 , they moved to Rubempré then went to Albert where they saw astounded, on the roof of the basilica, the statue of the Golden Virgin which, without a movement, was hanging in the void. At that time, there was a strong belief among the soldiers who saw this statue and thought that the day the Golden Virgin fell to the ground, the war would end. Cyril and his comrades were now only a few kilometers from the front lines and could already see beyond the horizon, the village of Pozieres under British artillery fire which razed the village of which there remained "only piles of smoking red bricks".

Without knowing it, but like a presentiment, the men of the 12th knew deep down that this is where they would soon be pushed to take part in their first major engagement on the Western Front and they were right because on July 22, orders were received and read "Pozieres, gentlemen, we must take this village tomorrow and hold it, the time has come for us and for Australia to show in France our bravery and our determination."This moment was solemn because after reading this order, each man was asked to write a letter to their loved ones in case something happened and everyone knew that during the following days, comrades, brothers and friends would no longer be there but what they didn't know was what hell Pozieres would be, not only for the 12th Battalion but for the entire Australian Imperial Force who at Pozieres suffered the most terrible losses of the entire Somme Campaign.

Intended in part to divert the German army’s attention from Verdun, the Somme offensive included the fighting around Pozières, which dominated the high ground in the British advance towards Thiepval. There the 1st, 2nd, and 4th Australian divisions wrested a small, devastated area from the enemy, but at a staggering cost. Over 42 days the Australians made as many as 19 attacks against the German positions. The final casualties totalled an appalling 23,000 men killed, wounded, or taken prisoner. The losses sustained throughout that exhausting period were almost unsustainable for a volunteer army.

The high ground at Pozières was an essential advantage, and a place from which further attacks could be launched. The 1st Division was the first to go into the battle, and did so on 23 July 1916. The Australians managed to capture the village of Pozières, whereupon they were subjected to relentless artillery bombardment that reduced the village to rubble and inflicted a heavy toll among the allied troops. The 2nd Division relieved the 1st, and suffered even more losses attacking towards the heights east of the village. The 4th Division then went in, pressing its attack north towards Mouquet Farm and holding off German attempts to retake Pozières. Each of the three Australian divisions, though severely reduced, served a second tour on this notorious battleground.

The massive artillery bombardment from the Germans at Pozières inflicted a huge number of casualties among the Australians. for several weeks Pozières became the focus of the Somme fighting and the worst place to be on earth.

Of the 23,000 Australian casualties, 6,800 men were killed or died of wounds.

Unfortunately, on July 24, 1916, the day after the start of the Battle of Pozieres, under intense enemy machine gun fire and a terrible enemy bombardment, Cyril met his fate and was seriously wounded. He was immediately evacuated from the front line and admitted at the 1st Australian Field Ambulance where he died a few hours later. He was only 19 years old.

Today, Cyril Ferdinand Ryan rests in peace alongside his friends, comrades and brothers in arms at the Warloy-Baillon Communal Cemetery Extension, Somme, and his grave bears the following inscription: "Rest in peace."

Cyril, so young but already so brave, more than a hundred years ago, under the Australian sun, you answered the call of duty and joined your comrades who together, proudly wearing their slouch hat, marched to do their part on the battlefields of the great war then, together, guided by an invincible faith, by the hope of a great adventure, by the desire to do something with their lives alongside their brothers, they said goodbye to their homes then, after a last embrace in the gentle and loving arms of their mothers, of their fiancées, they climbed on great steel giants which, through clouds of vapors, slowly across the oceans, led them towards a distant country where they knew little but for which they were ready to give so much. Through the waves and the foam, they stood proud in their uniforms, wearing on their collars the rising sun, symbol of an entire army, of an entire nation made of determined men and women who together did their duty with honor and loyalty in the hospitals and the trenches.

Leaving behind them the Southern Cross, they headed towards a distant horizon made of uncertainties but there, behind the steamboat rails, seeing their friends who stood with them in silence, they knew why they were going to fight because beyond the threatened peace and freedom, they all volunteered to be with each other, to Watch over each other.From their union under the Australian banner, the ANZAC spirit was born, a spirit of bravery, gallantry, coolness, solidarity, common efforts in the face of dangers and death. A spirit of good humor, compassion and sacrifices which led them across the blood-red beaches of Gallipoli, into the reddened clay of Fromelles then into the mud of the Somme where the young Diggers fought tirelessly from the hell of Pozieres to the ruins of Villers-Bretonneux and Amiens. Behind the drums and bagpipes, they marched singing, carrying on their faces the smiles of a courageous youth, of an innocent generation who, alongside the horses, in clouds of dust, headed towards the front line but little by little, the sun disappeared and the darkness became more present, the sun's rays gave way to rains of shells and the young Australian soldiers, step by step, plunged into a hell which revealed itself to them in the deafening artillery fire which, all around them, as they relieved men whose eyes were empty of life and hope, poured out death and chaos in long sprays of fire from which fell the bruised ground from the north of France but also with horror, legs, arms, body parts of what were men a few moments before.

In this nightmare, these boys who hoped so much from life lost their innocence which was crushed under the shrapnel and were swallowed in oceans of mud from which nothing could escape but nevertheless, in this infernal cauldron, they remained tall and strong, they stood brave but endured so many horrors which remained forever hidden in their hearts and on which it was impossible to put words, adding to the physical wounds, invisible scars from which so many tears flowed well after the war for those who were lucky enough to return home but who left behind their best friends whom they saw again and again every night in their nightmares being reduced to pieces by shells or cut in two by bursts of machine guns. The war remained within them until the end of their lives and during storms, silently, their hearts and minds returned to the Somme where the Australians suffered terribly during battles which were among the deadliest of the entire war and during which, one after the other, brothers and their fathers collapsed in bloodshed through the barbed wire which tore the skin.

Courageously, as at Mouquet Farm, in Flers, Gueudecourt, to the sound of bugles and whistles, animated by unfailing courage, they rushed forward with a rapid step towards the enemy lines, the metal of their bayonets reflecting under a July sun alongside men who were brothers to them and who, valiantly, went towards death which caught them too early in the hail of lead which stopped them in their tracks while they were in the prime of their lives but until the end, in life as in death, they remained united in camaraderie, in the fraternity which still brings them together today behind the rows of their graves which still bear the story of their lives. Forever young, they still walk through the eternal poppies, silently guiding us to tell us who they were and what they did for us and every day, I feel proud to watch over them because to perpetuate their memory, it is to bring them back to life, it is to preserve their history so that their names and their faces live forever and through my eyes, there is no greater honor and privilege.

Thank you so much Cyril, for everything you did for us and for my country who owe you so much and whose love and gratitude will belong to you forever. Here, in the Somme, Australia and the ANZAC spirit will live forever. At the going down of the sun and in the Morning,we will remember him, we will remember them.