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Service Details:
Medal card: E Kent M Rif Pte 1522
R Ire Rif
Sec Lt Capt dec’d 30/9/16.
Victory/British ø off 59 15e
15 Star ø off 59 25 IVXd/1711
22 NW/7/18358
First
theatre Gallipoli 7/7/15
Contact
Mrs Jenkins, Ardmore, Appledore, Kent. [Ancestry.com]
The Struma River flows through Bulgaria southward to the Greek frontier,
then south-east into the Aegean Sea. From the Allied base at Salonika, a road ran north-east across the
river to Seres, and it was this road that the right wing of the Allied army
used for the movements of troops and supplies to the Struma front during the Salonika
Campaign.
The
Salonika Force arrived in 1915, and dug-in until the summer of 1916, by which
time the international force had been reinforced and joined by Serbian,
Russian and Italian units. The Bulgarian attempt at invasion of Greece in July was repulsed near Lake Doiran. At the beginning of Oct 1916,
the British in co-operation with her allies on other parts of the front,
began operations on the River Struma towards Serres. The campaign was successful
with the capture of the Rupell Pass and advances to within a few
miles of Serres. Ian Millar died in
the operations in the Struma valley and the capture of Jenikoj.
Quote
from diary of David Campbell, MC: In our sector the main attack was carried
out by the 37th Division and our Battalion was allotted the task of guarding
their left flank. We crossed the Struma at dawn (It having been bridged
in the meantime by the R.E’s) and at first met with little opposition.
Then the company on my right came under fire and their advance was
checked. My company was sheltering under a high bank and our Second in
Command Major Graham, who happened to be with me, would not let me proceed
further until we made an effort to subdue the hostile fire. There was a
field of all mealies on my left front but straight ahead of me the ground was
clear. I had a company of machine guns with me so we first got them to
rake the mealies with their fire. By then, I had climbed to the top of
the bank and through my field glasses I spotted the sniping post that was
causing the trouble. In a matter of seconds, I had the machine guns on
to it and was watching their fire, from the strike of the bullets, converging
on the spot.
There was
no more fire from that post and we were able to continue our advance
unimpeded. But we had lost one officer killed, Miller and two officers
wounded O'Halloran and McQueen and several other ranks. Miller was a
great favourite in the Battalion and we deeply mourned his loss. [http://435728.com/web_documents/diarycampbell.htm ]
Quote
from the history of the first seven battalions the Royal Irish Rifles (Now
The Royal Ulster Rifles) in the great war vol. II By Cyril Falls Formerly
Captain, General Staff, 36th (Ulster) Division: The attack was a
complete success, the Bulgar outposts being driven in before their troops in
reserve realized what was happening.
By 8.45 the force was digging in upon its position. But the enemy quickly recovered. A first counter-attack was beaten off by
machine-gun fire at 11 a.m.
An hour later another, from Jenikoj, directed upon Zir, was checked,
but not without some difficulty, by the troops of the 81st Brigade. At 12.23 p.m. Colonel Becher reported that in
view of the aggressive spirit shown by the enemy, his force was none too
strong. Later in the afternoon the
Cyclist Company was moved across to his right flank, and he also brought up
his reserve platoon to close a small gap between his force and the 81st
Brigade. His casualties had been not
inconsiderable for fighting of this nature, one officer, Lieutenant Miller,
having been killed, and 2 officers, Lieutenant A. T. M. Poore and 2nd-Lieutenant
H. O’Halloran, and 16 other ranks wounded.
The Bulgars had apparently lost heavily in their counter-attacks. [http://435728.com/web_documents/fallsrir.htm ]
WW1
casualty Second Lieutenant Ian Miller or Millar - the further details from Belfast are:
Army List
March 1916
Column
1494b 6th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles
Temporary
2nd Lieutenant Millar I.A. commission date 30 Nov 1914
[This line actually appears as "*Millar I.A. 30 Nov 1914".]
IRELAND’S MEMORIAL RECORDS 1914- 19
MILLAR,
IAN ARTHUR. Rank, 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Irish Rifles, 6th Batt, died of
wounds, September 30, 1916. [rurmuseum@yahoo.co.uk]
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