s with a chapter on the history of Excalibur, the legendary sword of kind Arthur that has become the symbol of Welsh nationalism. During World War I, at the battle of the Somme Britain sustained approximately 450,000 casualties. A weeklong artillery bombardment preceded the British infantry's "going over the top," but the latter were nevertheless mown down as they assaulted the virtually impregnable German positions. The term British incorporated the Welsh soldiers, Irish soldiers and English soldiers. Unquestionably, the appropriation of certain troops of particular, less desirable, ethnicity to more precarious areas of the battle was not coincidental. In short, both the Welsh and Irish regiments were given suicide runs before any English troops were expended. Burgess follows the exploitation of the Welsh Regiments in the battle of the Somme as well as other military escapades that demonstrate the regiments exploitation, through a character in Any Old Iron, David Jones. Dai for short, Jones was a Titanic survivor who felt he cheated death and so decided to give it another attempt at him. Earlier on in his military career Dai listened to a grumbling man who shared the general opinion of the Scottish, Irish, and Welsh troops with concern for Britain. He protest, Why were we fighting for the bloody English and not on the side of the bloody GermansAlready they saw the ghost of Arthur the Kind has been seen galloping over the hills on his charger, sword of Caledvwlch brandished high. [Anthony Burgess, Any Old Anvil. 30] Joining the First Royal Battalion of Gwent, an all-Welsh regiment, as a medical officer, his first order of duty was to suppress an Irish insurrection in Dublin. Burgess is pointing out the irony in the British exploitation of the Welsh. A people who wish to gain independence from Britain, are being called upon to aid the oppression of another subjugated people, the Irish. On his Journey to Dublin, Jones listen to another p...
