Osprey elite 147 irish regiments in the world wars

CONTENTS DR DAVID MURPHY was born in Dublin in 1968 and is a graduate of both University College Dublin and Trinity College Dublin He is a contributor to the Dictionary of Irish Biography, and has published two books and numerous articles In the course of his research he has visited many of the battlefields associated with famous Irish units He is currently compiling a gazetteer of Irish regiments for the Military Heritage Trust of Ireland THE IRISH REGIMENTS IN 1914 THE ULSTER VOLUNTEER FORCE & THE IRISH VOLUNTEERS THE IRISH REGIMENTS, 1914-18 • 1914-15: the Old Contemptibles and Gallipoli THE IRISH DIVISIONS, 1914-18 10 • 10th (Irish) Division • 16th (Irish) Division • 36th (Ulster) Division OTHER UNITS, 1914-18 23 • The Irish Guards • Territorial & volunteer units: The London Irish Rifles The Tyneside Irish • Irish Colonial volunteer units: Australia - CanadaSouth Mrica THE INTER-WAR YEARS 29 • Disbandments and survivals THE IRISH REGIMENTS, 1939-45 GERRY EMBLETON has been a leading illustrator and researcher of historical costume since the 1970s, and has illustrated and written Osprey titles on a wide range of subjects over more than 20 years He is an internationally respected authority on 15thand 18th-century costumes in particular He lives in Switzerland, where since 1988 he has also become well known for designing and creating life-size historical figures for museums 31 • The Irish Guards • The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers - The Royal Ulster Rifles The Royal Irish Fusiliers - 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards - 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars • 38th (Irish) Infantry Brigade • Territorial & Reserve units: The Liverpool Irish The London Irish Rifles - The North Irish Horse • Irish Colonial units: Canada - South Mrica IRELAND AND THE LEGACY OF THE WORLD WARS 53 SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY 54 PLATE COMMENTARIES 55 INDEX 64 Elite • 147 Irish RegiIIlents in the World Wars David Murphy · Illustrated by Gerry Embleton Consultant editor Martin Windrow First published in Great Britain in 2007 by Osprey Publishing, Midland House, West Way, Botley, Oxford OX2 OPH, UK 443 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016, USA Email: info@ospreypublishing.com © 2007 Osprey Publishing Ltd Dedication Dedicated to my great-uncle, Sgt Christopher Reynolds, Royal Dublin Fusiliers (1914-18); to my uncle, Sgt John O'Neill, Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire Regt and Middle East Commando (1936-1945); and to the memory of the tens of thousands of Irishmen who served in both World Wars All rights reserved Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a Acknowledgements retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrical, chemical, mechanical, optical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner Enquiries should be addressed to the Publishers ISBN 978 84603 015 Editor: Martin Windrow Page layout by Ken Vail Graphic Design, Cambridge, UK Typeset in Helvetica Neue and ITC New Baskerville Index by Glyn Sutcliffe Originated by Originated by PPS Grasmere, Leeds, UK Printed in China through World Print Ltd 07 08 09 10 10 A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library FOR A CATALOGUE OF ALL BOOKS PUBLISHED BY My special thanks go to Tom Burke and Seamus Greene of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers Association for providing illustrative material I am grateful to the Board of Trustees of the Imperial War Museum, London, and particularly to Sarah Martin, Yvonne Cooper and Joan Tabard of the IWM -' Photographic Section for their assistance My thanks also to Major Denis Lucy, formerly Royal Ulster Rifles, and to Xavier Paturel of the Juno Beach Museum; lowe a special debt of gratitude to M.Michel Grimaux of Graye-sur-Mer, Normandy The assistance of Dominic Kearney, RHO Irish Guards, is gratefully acknowledged; and I would like to thank Labhras Joye, Siobhan Pierce and the staff of the military exhibition at the National Museum of Ireland Finally I would like to acknowledge the invaluable assistance of Martin Windrow and Kate Flintham of Osprey Publishing, and to thank Gerry Embleton for his splendid paintings OSPREY MILITARY AND AVIATION PLEASE CONTACT: Artist's Note North America: Osprey Direct C/o Random House Distribution Center, 400 Hahn Road, Westminster, MD 21157 Email: info@ospreydirect.com All other regions: Readers may care to note that the original paintings from which the colour plates in this book were prepared are available for private sale All reproduction copyright whatsoever is retained by the Publishers All enquiries should be directed to: www.gerryembleton.com Osprey Direct UK PO Box 140, Wellingborough, Northants, NN8 2FA, UK Email: info@ospreydirect.co.uk Buy online at www.ospreypublishing.com The Publishers regret that they can enter into no correspondence upon this matter Editor's Note For clarity, we have in some cases simplified the exact form of regimental titles, e.g the placing of parentheses within the title at particular dates In a work of this length it seems unprofitable to take the space to explain that, for instance, the 4th Dragoon Guards were designated 4th (Royal Irish) Dragoon Guards before 1921, and 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards thereafter IRISH REGIMENTS IN THE WORLD WARS 1914-45 THE IRISH REGIMENTS IN 1914 D The author's great-uncle, Cpl (later Sgt) Christopher Reynolds, Royal Dublin Fusiliers, photographed with his wife Rose while on leave in Dublin Reynolds served in Salonika, France and Flanders (Author's collection) uring the numerous wars of the 17th and 18th centuries, Irish soldiers established an enviable reputation as fighting men Successive generations of political and economic exiles served in the armies of France and Spain, and in the 19th century Irish emigrants flocked to North America and the colonies One can find accounts of Irish regiments serving in many wars and in the names of diverse causes, including the campaigns of the Seven Years' War, the War of the Spanish Succession, the Napoleonic Wars and the American Civil War At some battles, such as Fontenoy (1745) and Fredericksburg (1862), Irish regiments were present on both sides While it remains for some an unpalatable truth, it can be shown that the largest Irish contingent was always that serving in the British Army; and by the mid 19th century perhaps 30-35 per cent of the British Army was composed of Irish soldiers Despite the fact that parts of Ireland were periodically in a state of open rebellion against the Crown, many different factors drove Irishmen to enlist - most commonly, simple economic necessity, as was the case with many English, Scottish and Welsh recruits Contemporary accounts of Irish soldiers also make reference to a desire for travel and adventure, and to maintaining family traditions At the outbreak of World War I the majority of the Irish regiments in the British Army could trace their origins back to the 17th and 18th centuries A number of them had been raised in the 1680-90s, before or during King William Ill's campaign against the Stuart monarchJames II; one - the future 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards - had even been raised by James, but had defected to William's army Many Irish soldiers also served far away in the armies of the Honourable East India Company, and these units subsequently became battalions in Irish-titled regiments of the British Line These former HEIC regiments included the Royal Dublin Fusiliers and the Royal Munster Fusiliers (see commentaries to Plates Al and El) The recruiting areas for the Irish infantry regiments in 1914; the cavalry maintained depots in barracks around the country and recruited nationwide A modern anachronism on this map is that the cap badge in the centre is that of the Royal Irish Rangers (1968-92) (Courtesy National Museum of Ireland) Irish Infantry Regiments of the Line Regular British Army (1881-1922) The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers The Connaught Rangers " The Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians) The Royal Munster Fusiliers The Royal Irish Rifles The Royal Irish Fusiliers (Princess Victo,ria's) The Royal Dublin Fusiliers The Royal Irish Regiment Irish regiments had served with some distinction during the Peninsular War, and the various Victorian wars against the Sikhs and Mghans, in the Crimea and the Indian Mutiny.l The regiments of MajGen Fitzroy Hart's Irish Brigade had achieved such prominence in the Second Anglo-Boer War that it was decided in 1900 to create a new Irish regiment within the Brigade of Guards, and this resulted in the foundation of the Irish Guards In 1914 the Irish Guards was therefore the youngest Irish regiment in a tradition that stretched back some 230 years In battle, the Irish soldier displayed a number of distinct characteristics In his history The Irish Guards in the Great War (1923), Rudyard Kipling summed up the character of the Irish soldier on campaign: 'Here the Irish rank and file by temperament excelled They had all their race's delight in the drama of things; and, whatever the pinch - whether ambushed warfare or hand-to-hand shock, or an insolently perfect parade after long divorce from the decencies - could be depended upon to advance the regimental honour.' When handled See Men-at-Arms 382, Wellington's Peninsula Regiments (2) The Irish; MAAs 193, 196, 198 & 201, The British 4rmy on Campaign (1) 1816-53, (2) 1854-56, (3) 1856-81 & (4) 1882-1902; MAA 268, British Troops in the Indian Mutiny 1857-59 sympathetically - even indulgently - by their officers, Irish soldiers established a fearsome reputation for ferocious elan in the assault and mulish obstinacy in defence During both World Wars, their soldierly qualities would be tested to the full *** At the outbreak of World War I the Irish regiments in the British Army were as follows (pre-1881 numbers in the Line in brackets): Irish Guards 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards 5th Royal Irish Lancers 6th Inniskilling Dragoons 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars Royal Irish Regiment (18th) Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (27th & 108th) Royal Irish Rifles (83rd & 86th) Royal Irish Fusiliers (Princess Victoria's) (87th & 89th) * Connaught Rangers (88th & 94th) Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians) (100th & 109th) Royal Munster Fusiliers (101st & 104th) Royal Dublin Fusiliers (102nd & 103rd) (* The official title from 1881 to 1920 was reversed, but we use this form throughout for consistency of style.) Further Reserve and Territorial units also existed in Ireland and England While the terms of the Territorial Act did not include Ireland, following the Cardwell reforms of 1881 existing Militia units had been re-designated as Militia or Reserve battalions of the Irish Regular infantry regiments; for example, in 1881 the Armagh Militia was redesignated as 3rd Bn, Royal Irish Fusiliers In 1902 two cavalry regiments were raised as part of the Special Reserve - the North Irish Horse and South Irish Horse In England, there were also two Territorial units with Irish titles: 8th (Irish) Bn, King's (Liverpool) Regt, and 18th (County of London) Bn, London Regt (London Irish Rifles) ( An unusual subject - the string band of the 1st Bn, Royal Dublin Fusiliers, pre-1914 They wear the red bandsman's tunic with blue facings and laced shoulder wings (Courtesy Royal Dublin Fusiliers Association) The 5th Bn, Connaught Rangers in training at Basingstoke, Hampshire, in 1915 This 'K1' volunteer battalion, raised in Dublin in August 1914, served first with 29th (Regular) Div at Gallipoli, attached to the ANZAC Corps; later with 10th (Irish) Div at Salonika and in Egypt; and from July 1918, with 66th (E.Lancs) Div in France, when that formation was rebuilt after the German spring offensive (Imperial War Museum Q55087) (Throughout this text, overseas readers should bear in mind that in the British Army the infantry 'regiment' provides a traditional designation but has no tactical role at all A regiment might raise any number of tactical 'battalions', numbered as part of the regiment whose historical lineage, cap badge and other traditional distinctions and customs they shared; but these battalions were tactically grouped into numbered 'brigades' - until early 1918, of four battalions each; after that date, of three battalions Three such brigades served together in a numbered infantry division It was rare for sister battalions of the same regiment to serve together in the same brigade, and they might well be deployed in different theatres of war.) THE ULSTER VOLUNTEER FORCE & THE IRISH VOLUNTEERS The volatile political situation in Ireland in 1914 created a unique set of circumstances that ultimately facilitated the plans of the General Staff In 1912 the Asquith government introduced its third Government of Ireland Bill (usually referred to as the third Home Rule Bill) Under the terms of the Parliament Act of 1911, this bill could only be delayed by the House of Lords for a maximum of two years In 1914, therefore, Ireland would gain self-government in domestic affairs The large Unionist community in Ulster - Northern Ireland responded to this unwelcome prospect with a mixture of political and military activity In January 1913 the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) was founded, and by the end of that year was about 85,000 strong In April 1914 the UVF landed a large consignment of weapons, consisting of 35,000 rifles and some million rounds of ammunition The UVF also benefited from a number of experienced officers within its command structure; and by 1914 it had developed quite a sophisticated organization that included motorcycle, medical and communications units In the South, the Nationalist community responded by forming the Irish Volunteers in November 1913 By the middle of 1914 this numbered about 150,000 men and had imported some arms from Germany, landing a consignment of 1,500 rifles and 45,000 rounds Although the Irish Volunteers were much less well armed than the UVF, civil war seemed to be inevitable upon the passing of the Home Rule Bill This situation had been exacerbated when officers in the Regular Army based at the Curragh let it be known that they would not act to disarm the UVF if ordered to so - an incident which became known as the 'Curragh Mutiny' Ironically, the wholly unexpected outbreak of World War I in August 1914 postponed conflict in Ireland, as the Home Rule Bill was shelved for the duration In London, however, Army chiefs - faced with commitment to a continental war and with a relatively tiny peacetime Regular army - viewed the UVF and Irish Volunteers greedily, recognizing a huge potential source of manpower After a series of negotiations, Unionist leaders such as Sir Edward Carson encouraged the men of the UVF to join the British Army; in the initial phase of enlistment some 24,000 UVF and 4,000 Reservists associated with the UVF joined up, forming the basis of 36th Ulster Division In the South, John Redmond, leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, did likewise; but this caused a split in the ranks of the Irish Volunteers, which by their peak in September 1914 numbered around 191,000 members Some 180,000 of these followed Redmond's lead, and renamed themselves the Irish National Volunteers The remaining 11,000 or so retained the original title and remained in Ireland; it was these men who would later fight in the Easter Rebellion of 1916 Of the Irish National Volunteers, it is estimated that at least 24,000 men enlisted in the British Army in 1914, while another 7,500 Reservists associated with the force also returned to the colours There was a certain grim irony in these political manoeuvrings, since both Unionist and Nationalist leaders had agreed to encourage their volunteers to enlist in order to extract government pledges of support for their two mutually contradictory causes In London the new Secretary of State for War, Lord Kitchener, initially wanted to funnel this manpower into existing battalions; however, continued pressure from Irish political leaders resulted in these UVF and INV volunteers forming numbered service battalions in the existing Irish regiments, and these would serve in three distinct Irish divisions It should be pointed out that not all enlistment in 1914 was politically motivated Economic hardship, particularly severe in the years leading up to the war, had already led many Irishmen to enlist; and in 1914 Ireland was no exception to the general war mania that gripped Europe Many young men left their jobs, universities and families in the rush to join in the war effort As a result, the Irishmen who enlisted in 1914 represented a much wider cross section of the country's society than the traditional sources of recruitment Students, sportsmen and men of the professional classes would serve alongside manual labourers; even four sitting Irish Members of Parliment joined up, including William Redmond, younger brother of the leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party Ireland had her own soldier-poets in Francis Ledwidge and T.M 'Tom' Kettle, neither of whom would survive the war~ Excluding the enlistments from the UVF and INV, it is estimated that another 134,000 Irishmen joined the Army in the course of the war, while a further 6,000 joined the Royal Navy and 4,000 the Royal Flying Corps/Royal Air Force; 3,700 men obtained direct commissions in the Army or Navy This total contingent of over 200,000 men represented the largest Irish contribution to any armed conflict in history Capt Standish Smithwick, Royal Dublin Fusiliers, who served during the war with both 1st and 2nd Battalions; he is photographed here in his pre-war blue 'patrols', displaying the regimental cap and collar badges, but no obvious rank insignia {Courtesy Royal Dublin Fusiliers Association} THE IRISH REGIMENTS, 1914-18 October 1914: a column probably from the 5th Royal Irish Lancers on the march near Wytschaete in Flanders The fact that some troopers lead spare horses suggests that this unit had recently lost men in action The 5th Lancers served with the 3rd Cavalry Bde of the BEF's Cavalry Division in 1914 (IWM Q56316) On the morning of 22 August 1914, C Squadron of the 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards, commanded by Maj Tom Bridges, was on patrol between the villages of Maisieres and Casteau on the main Mons-toBrussels road in Belgium German cavalry (from Cuirassier Regt No.4) were noticed approaching, and Bridges deployed half his men in ambush positions while the remainder prepared to pursue any fleeing Germans Sensing a trap, the Cuirassiers halted, and the British troops opened fire; the Irish Dragoons then pursued the Germans for some distance towards Soignies and, in the melee that followed, killed several and captured five of them This was the first encounter between British and German troops in the war, and Cpl Edward Thomas was later credited with firing the first shots The involvement of the Irish soldiers in the Great War has usually been associated with the three wartime divisions that were raised in Ireland At the outbreak, however, the Irish regiments contributed battalions of pre-war Regulars to the British Expeditionary Force (and many Irishmen were also serving in English and Scottish regiments) The BEF that went to France in summer 1914 - the 'Old Contemptibles' - contained the following Irish units and part-units: 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards (2nd Cavalry Brigade) 5th Royal Irish Lancers (3rd Cav Bde) B Sqn, South Irish Horse A & C Sqns, North Irish Horse 2nd Bn, Royal Munster Fusiliers (1st Guards Bde, 1st Division) 1st Bn, Irish Guards (4th Gds Bde, 2nd Div) 2nd Bn, Connaught Rangers (5th Inf Bde, 2nd Div) 2nd Bn, Royal Irish Rifles (7th Inf Bde, 3rd Div) 2nd Bn, Royal Irish Regiment (8th Inf Bde, 3rd Div) 1st Bn, Royal Irish Fusiliers (10th Inf Bde, 4th Div) 2nd Bn, Royal Dublin Fusiliers (10th Inf Bde, 4th Div) 2nd Bn, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (12th Inf Bde, 4th Div) 2nd Bn, Leinster Regiment (17th Inf Bde, 6th Div) BOTH Details from a group photo of officers of the South African Irish Regt, taken after the costly battle of Sidi Rezegh in November 1941 They wear a mixture of green caubeens with hackles' behind the crowned harp badge (left, & right background), and khaki field service caps One lieutenant (far right) displays the yellow-over-green diamond sign of 1st SA Div, and KD shoulderstrap slides with metal ranking and the orange outer stripe worn by all SA officers serving with the Allied armies Note the five medal ribbons worn by the captain sitting in front of him, clearly a World War I veteran (lWM SAF348) 52 IRISH COLONIAL UNITS Canada The Irish Fusiliers of Canada (Vancouver Regt) was mobilized for overseas service in 1939, and was sent to form part of the garrison of Jamaica The regiment was disbanded at the end of the war The Irish Regt of Canada had a much more active war After a spell guarding airfields and performing other garrison duties in Canada, its 1st Bn was posted overseas to Italy, where it arrived in November 1943 as part of 11 th Bde, 5th Canadian Armoured Division Serving as lorried infantry in the Adriatic sector of Eighth Army's front, it was then switched westwards to fight in Operation 'Diadem', the May 1944 assault on the Hitler/Dora Line and into the Liri Valley, where the battalion fought at the Melfa River crossings During the September attacks on the Gothic Line it breached the German defences to capture the village of Montecchio; further actions followed at Tomba de Pesaro and Coriano In February-March 1945, after reaching the Senio River, the whole of I Canadian Corps was transferred to the Netherlands for the final campaign in North-West Europe The 1st Bn took part in Operation 'Goldflake', and on 16 April it fought in a night action at Oterloo After capturing the town of Delfzijl it advanced into Friesland, where it supervised the German surrender in May Mter the war the Irish Regt of Canada resumed its role as a Reserve unit, and despite several reorganizations and threatened disbandment it survives in that role today, as 2nd Bn, Irish Regt of Canada with HQ at Sudbury, Ontario South Africa In November 1939 the South Mrican Irish Regiment was re-formed as 1st Bn, SA Irish Regt; a second battalion was raised in December but was disbanded soon afterwards, the unit reverting to its original title It was attached to 5th SA Inf Bde, moving to Kenya and then into Abyssinia (Ethiopia), where it fought in actions at £1 Gumu, Banno and the capture of Mega Transferred to North Mrica, the battalion suffered heavy casualties at Sidi Rezegh in November 1941 during the attempt to relieve Tobruk Reorganized as an artillery battery, it fought at El Alamein in October 1942 As 4th Bty, 22nd Fld Regt SA Artillery it later served thoughout the Italian campaign Eventually reverting to the infantry role during a series of post-war reorganizations, it survives today as the SA Irish Regt, a unit of the reserve (Citizen Force) with HQ in Johannesburg During World War II many Irish volunteers served with non-Irish regiments and also with the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force The author's uncle, Sgt John O'Neill, was a pre-war Regular with the Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire Regt; during the war he served with Middle East Commando, and was captured on Crete in 1941 Interestingly, this photo of Sgt O'Neill wearing his uniform - the 'Commando' shoulder titles just visible - was taken in Dublin after the war (Author's collection) IRELAND AND THE LEGACY OF THE WORLD WARS Historians differ over the number of Irishmen who joined the British forces during World War I; but although some drastically inflated figures have been suggested, around 210,000 men seems a realistically supportable estimate The national war memorial at Islandbridge, Dublin, lists the names of 49,435 men who died while serving with Irish regiments If one deducts a sensible proportion for nonIrishmen serving with those units, one reaches a figure of around 37,000 dead Although the Irish Free State remained neutral in World War II, a British government report of 1945 calculated that more than 43,000 men and women who were born in Eire had served in the British forces More than 38,000 others volunteered from Northern Ireland, a province of the United Kingdom and fully committed to the war; of these more than 7,000 were women These volunteers from both sides of the border served in all three services, in countless different roles, and on all fronts where troops from Britain and her Empire and Dominions were fighting Some historians give even higher figures; and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission has calculated that a total of 4,543 Irishmen died during the war while serving with the British Army, of whom 2,241 were from Northern Ireland and 2,302 from the Irish Free State, from a total population of just million 6 To put the World War II figures in context: in 1945 the total strength of the three British armed services was just under 4.7 million; members of the armed services killed and missing totalled 305,800, from a total population of 47.5 million 53 In the South the question of Irish involvement in the World Wars has proved problematic, and World War I, in particular, has remained a difficult issue In the vastly changed political landscape of post-1922 Ireland it was almost a taboo subject - despite the fact that most families had somebody who had served in the war, and that most of those who enlisted between 1914 and 1918 were simply following the lead of mainstream Nationalist politicians of the day Yet the men of the Southern divisions and regiments were often portrayed in their own country as misguided dupes or, even worse, as traitors Due to the policy of neutrality adopted during World War II, the voluntary involvement of Irishmen in that war remained a contentious subject for many years It is really only since the mid 1990s that this subject has been reexamined more widely The impetus for this new phase of investigation and debate came from a number of individuals and some small regimental associations As part of wider efforts to develop greater mutual understanding between Ireland's two communities, the collective history of Ireland's part in the World Wars has benefited from renewed research and gestures of reconciliation and commemoration The opening of a 'Peace Tower' in November 1998 at Messines, the scene of actions by both the 16th Irish and 36th Ulster Divisions in 1917, represented a major step forward *** The Messines Peace Tower south of Ypres in Belgium, opened in November 1998 as a joint memorial to the 16th (Irish) and 36th (Ulster) Divisions It is modelled on the round towers built in early Christian monasteries in Ireland (Author's collection) Since World War II the majority of the historic British regiments have been steadily amalgamated out of existence, including the Irish units In the latter case the notable exception has been the Irish Guards, whose 1st Bn remains proudly in the ranks of the Brigade of Guards The traditions of the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards have been maintained since 1992 within the amalgamated Royal Dragoon Guards; and those of the 8th Royal Irish Hussars at first, from 1958, within the Queen's Royal Irish Hussars, and since 1993 within the Queen's Royal Hussars (Queen's Own and Royal Irish) The infantry regiments that survived in 1945 have undergone a series of amalgamations: in 1968, into the Royal Irish Rangers, and in 1992 into the Royal Irish Regiment Both the Irish Guards and the Royal Irish Regiment have seen recent active service in the Arabian Gulf and Iraq SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY The majority of the Irish regiments have been the subject of at least one regimental history The best source of information on these is A.S.White's A Bibliography of Regimental Histories of the British Army (2nd edn, Naval & Military Press, 1992) Other important publications include: 54 The Irish Sword (Journal of the Military History Society of Ireland) Thomas Bartlett & Keith Jeffrey (eds), A Military History of Ireland (Cambridge University Press, 1996) Desmond Bowen & Jean Bowen, Heroic Option: the Irish in the British Army (Pen & Sword, 2005) Timothy Bowman, Irish Regiments in the Great War - Discipline and Morale (Manchester University Press, 2003) A.E.C.Bredin, A History of the Irish Soldier (Belfast, 1997) Mike Chappell, Men-at-Arms 182, British Battle Insignia (1): 1914-18 (Osprey, 1986) Mike Chappell, Men-at-Arms 197, British Battle Insignia (2): 1939-45 (Osprey, 1987) Mike Chappell, The British Soldier in the 20th Century (1), Service Dress 1902-1940 (Wessex Military Publishing, 1987) Mike Chappell, The British Soldier in the 20th Century (2), Field Service Head Dress 1902 to the Present Day (Wessex Military Publishing, 1987) Mike Chappell, The British Soldier in the 20th Century (6), Tropical Uniforms (Wessex Military Publishing, 1988) Bryan Cooper, The Tenth (Irish) Division in Gallipoli (London, 1918, rip Dublin, 2000) Richard Doherty & David Truesdale, Irish Winners of the Victoria Cross (Dublin, 2000) Richard Doherty, Clear the Way: A History of the 38th (Irish) Brigade 1941-47 (Dublin, 1993) Richard Doherty, Irish Volunteers in the Second World War (Dublin, 2001) Richard Doherty, Irish Generals in the Second World War (Dublin, 2004) Myles Dungan, 'They Shall Not Grow Old': Irish Soldiers in the Great War (Dublin, 1997) Cyril Falls, The History of the 36th (Ulster) Division (Belfast & London, 1922) B.Girvin & G.Roberts (eds) , Ireland and the Second World War (Dublin, 2000) Henry Hanna, The Pals at Suvla Bay (Dublin, 1916) Henry Harris, The Irish Regiments in the First World War (Cork, 1968) R.G.Harris, The Irish Regiments 1683-1999 (2nd edn, Staplehurst, 1999) E.AJames, British Regiments 1914-18 (5th edn, Naval & Military Press, 1998) TomJohnstone, Orange, Green and Khaki: The Story of the Irish Regiments in the Great War 1914-18 (Dublin, 1992) John Lucy, There's a Devil in the Drum (London, 1938, rip 1992) David Orr & David Truesdale, 'The Rifles Are There': The Story ofthe 1st and 2nd Battalions, The Royal Irish Rifles in the Second World War (Pen & Sword, 2005) Alfred O'Rahilly, Father Willie Doyle Sf (London, 1939) Bryan Perrett, Vanguard 13, The Churchill Tank (Osprey, 1980) James W.Taylor, The 1st Royal Irish Rifles in the Great War (Dublin, 2002) James W.Taylor, The 2nd Royal Irish Rifles in the Great War (Dublin, 2005) PLATE COMMENTARIES UNIFORMS The uniforms of the Irish regiments, while not as elaborate as those of the Scottish, did have certain distinctions, and most regiments adopted some more or less subtle features to denote their 'Irishness' These practices ranged from incorporating shamrock or harp motifs in the designs of regimental badges, to wearing feather hackles in emerald green or St Patrick's blue on ceremonial headdress For instance, by the time of the Napoleonic Wars the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers - the old 27th, first raised by William III in 1689 as Tiffin's Regiment of Foot - were famously displaying their badge depicting the castle in their home town of Enniskillen (the Army spelling, always uncertain, was standardized as 'Inniskilling' in 1840) The long history of these 55 regiments, some of them raised in India, also ensured the inclusion of more exotic features, such as the elephant and tiger in the badge of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers The most distinctive uniforms within Irish regiments have always been those of the pipers The Irish Guards established a pipe band in 1916, and Army Order 548 of 1920 authorized pipers for the Irish Line regiments In a typically Irish fashion, however, many of these had already unofficially raised pipe bands before the beginning of World War I These pipers often wore either standard service dress or bandsman's uniform; during the war they occasionally wore combinations of service dress with ceremonial items, these including khaki bonnets or caubeens, saffron-coloured kilts and green hose During the interwar years more formal ceremonial dress appeared; this included a caubeen and doublet of rifle-green, saffron kilt, black brogues, green hose, and in some cases the brat or Irish cloak Certain units, such as the London Irish Rifles (TA), retain this type of piper's uniform to this day During World War II the caubeen was adopted as the distinctive headdress for Irish infantry regiments It was issued both in khaki and in rifle-green, the latter becoming the preferred option for senior ranks; but from 1943 the khaki 'cap, GS' was sometimes worn when the caubeen was not available (and see commentary, Plate G2) The caubeen style of headdress is still used by the Royal Irish Regiment, the London Irish Rifles and the Irish Regiment of Canada, among others In terms of formation insignia, during the middle years of World War I the 16th Irish Div adopted a green shamrock sign, while the 36th Ulster Div used a 'Red Hand of Ulster' device; the 10th Irish Div initially used simply a strip of green cloth attached to the shoulder strap In World War II the 38th (Irish) Brigade adopted the green shamrock, which was displayed below or instead of the 78th Div's battleaxe sign 58 A neat illustration of the range of uniform items worn by Irish regime~tal pipers is provided by these two from the Liverpool Irish, entertaining the crowd before a football match at Courseulles-sur-Mer, Normandy, on Bastille Day, 14 July 1944 The pipe-sergeant (right) wears the brat or cloak over his battledress The other piper can be seen to display the white-onred 'King's Regiment' shoulder title, above the Beach Group sign set on 3rd Cdn Div's French-grey patch (see Plate H1) Both wear kilts, sporrans, hose, and ankleputtees with blanco'd tapes Note that pipers wore 1937 pattern webbing pistol equipment, here with a diagonal shoulder brace (IWM 87274) A: THE REGULAR ARMY, 1914 Many of the Irish regiments that existed at the outbreak of World War I could trace their origins back to the 17th century, and they included units raised for both the British Army and the Presidency armies of the Honourable East India Company All of these regiments had elaborate full dress review uniforms, many of which would never be seen again after the Armistice of 1918 and the disbandment of many historic Irish regiments in 1922 Ai: Captain, 2nd Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers, review order The 2nd Royal Dublin Fusiliers could trace their lineage to the Bombay Regiment raised in 1661, which became the HEIC's Bombay (European) Regiment in 1668, and the British Army's 103rd Regiment (Royal Bombay Fusiliers) in 1862 It became the 2nd Bn, RDF in the Cardwell reforms of 1881 when the 102nd Regiment - the old Madras European Regiment of 1648 - became 1st Bn, Royal Dublin Fusiliers The review dress features a racoon-fur busby with greenover-blue hackle, scarlet tunic and black trousers with a red seam The 2nd RDF had seen active service during the Boer War, and this officer wears both the Queen's and the King's South Africa Medals The 2nd RDF would go to France in late August with 10th Bde, 4th Div, and would take part in the fighting retreat from Mons A2: Corporal, 2nd Battalion The Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment, 6th Division; field service marching order This regiment was originally raised in Canada in 1858 as the 100th (Prince of Wales's Royal Canadian) Regiment, changing to the Leinster title in 1881 This junior NCO wears the standard 1902 service dress uniform and 1908-pattern webbing equipment, in the field service marching order of the original British Expeditionary Force which went to France in 1914, and is armed with the standard 303in Short Magazine Lee Enfield (SMLE) His regiment is identified by the brass cap badge and shoulder titles; the two chevrons on his left forearm are good conduct badges, marking five years' Regular service before the Great War (one chevron for two years, three for 12 years) The 2nd Leinsters went out in September, and fought with 17th Bde, 6th Div south of Armentieres in late October A3: Lieutenant, North Irish Horse, mounted review order This unit of the Special Reserve wore one of the most elaborate review uniforms in the British Army The black patent leather hat with dark green plumes was apparently inspired by that of the Italian Bersaglieri, while the tunic is in lancer style, dark green with white facings and trim and silver buttons B: THE SOUTHERN & EASTERN FRONTS, 1914-17 B1: Private, st Battalion Royal Irish Regiment, 10th Division; Palestine, 1917 During the course of the war Irish regiments saw service on all the fronts on which the British Army was engaged After hard fighting at Gallipoli in 1915, and further heavy casualties - from battle and disease alike - in Macedonia in 1916, the 10th Div was shipped to the Middle East to fight the Turks The 1st RIR - 'Paddy's Blackguards', the old 18th Regiment, raised in 1684 - was transferred in from 27th A fine uniform study of Maj R.C.B.Jeffreys of 1st Bn, Royal Dublin Fusiliers, taken early in World War I; his rank and medal ribbons identify him as a pre-war Regular The handsomely cut service dress tunic, leather-reinforced riding breeches and Sam Browne belt were officers' distinctions that proved to make too identifiable a target for snipers Towards the end of the war many officers in the front lines abandoned them in favour of other ranks' uniforms and at least partial equipment, and carried rifles I~~~ th~ir ~en (~ourtesy floyal Dublin ~usiliE!rs Asso,?iation~ Div, with which they had already fought since 1914 on the Western Front and in Macedonia It had been !~r t~~~ Salonika campaign that the British troops had been issued with felt slouch hats - some pale brown, some grey drab; the RIR cap badge is pinned to the snapped-up left brim The rest of the uniform is standard khaki service dress, and the jacket has been removed on the march The 10th Div used a green cloth loop around the outer end of the shoulder straps as a divisional sign The breech of the SMLE is protected by a dust cover 57 Interesting photo of two staff officers from 36th (Ulster) Div in 1917; note the red staff collar tabs of the lieutenant-colonel (right), wearing shorts with puttees He has attached a dull metal cap badge to the front of his helmet, but it is hard to make out which one He displays shoulder-strap ranking, and the Royal Artillery major attached to 36th Div (left), cuff ranking; note the latter's purple and white Me ribbon They have confidently chosen to have their chat while sitting on stacked boxes labelled 'Government Explosive' (lWM 05627) 58 B2: Corporal William Cosgrove (VC), st Battalion Royal Munster Fusiliers, 29th Division; Gallipoli, 26 April 1915 On 25 April part of 86th Bde, 29th Div (the 1st Munsters, with a company of 1st RDF and two of 2nd Hampshires) were sent in to land on V Beach at Gallipoli from the steamer River Clyde As soon as they emerged from the sally ports cut in the ship's sides and tried to get into the boats, they came under Turkish fire so heavy that, despite appalling casualties, by nightfall only some 400 men had got ashore After a wretched night huddled on the narrow beach, the surviving Munsters assaulted Turkish trenches the next day When his platoon, which had only one pair of wirecutters, was held up by high barbed wire fences and began to wither under a storm of fire, the 6ft 6in Cpl Cosgrove - a pre-war Regular known as the 'East Cork Giant' - threw himself at the wire and began tearing the timber stakes bodily out of the earth, creating a gap for his comrades to surge forward He was seriously wounded, (one machine gun bullet passed through his body from side to side, nicking but not breaking his spine), but he recovered to receive the Victoria Cross for his gallantry The Munsters wore regulation service dress and 1908 equipment, differenced only by the issue of the Wolseley helmet, with a red patch bearing a white fusilier 'bomb' over 'RMF' B3: Lieutenant, 5th Battalion Connaughl Rangers, 10th Division; Egypt, 1917 The New Army volunteers of the 5th Connaught Rangers were a unit of the division's 29th Bde from its formation This officer's tropical khaki drill uniform follows the cut of European service dress in most respects, although the rank 'pips' are displayed on the shoulder straps; note also the ribbon of the Military Cross, and the gold wound stripe on his left forearm The yellow 'V' - Roman five - on the green triangular topi patch, and the green-over-yellow bars on both sleeves, are battalion distinctions; 10th Div did not have an integrated sequence of 'battle badges' His equipment is the pistol order of the 1914 pattern leather set, complete with a canvas-and-Ieather haversack on which his steel helmet is strapped A blackthorn stick was traditionally carried by officers of many Irish units C: THE WESTERN FRONT, 1915-17 C 1: Sergeant Edwards, 1/18th Battalion London Regiment (1 st London Irish Rifles), 47th Division; Loos, 25 September 1915 The 47th (2nd London) Division arrived in France in spring 1915; its 12 infantry units were all Territorial battalions of the London Regiment Sergeant Edwards was the captain of his battalion football team, and when they went 'over the top' in drenching weather he kicked a football towards the German lines to encourage his comrades to follow He wears standard service dress and webbing equipment, with the distinctions of a Rifle unit - black buttons and shoulder titles and black-on-rifle-green badges of rank; his headgear is the early-issue P-type anti-gas helmet of impregnated flannel (The present-day London Irish Rifles, now Coy of the London Regiment, still commemorate Sgt Edwards' action on 'Loos Sunday' each year.) C2: Lieutenant, 24th (Service) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers (1 st Tyneside Irish), 34th Division; Somme, June 1916 This subaltern just returned from a trench raid on the German lines is in fact unidentifiable, since for security reasons he has removed all insignia apart from the cuff ranking on his service dress jacket The purpose of such raids was usually to take prisoners, or at least to bring back insignia such as shoulder straps, from which the facing troops could be identified He wears here a 'souvenir' Pickel haube replacing the knitted 'cap, comforter' that he would have worn for the raid; his face is darkened with lamp black, and he has discarded his belt so it does not snag while he is worming his way through barbed wire He is armed only with his Webley revolver, though murderous improvised trench clubs were also often carried C3: Piper, 2nd Battalion Irish Guards; Ypres Salient, 1917 This figure is based on contemporary photographs which show pipers in a mixture of modified service dress and special features The headgear is a khaki caubeen of exaggerated size, with a large regimental badge on green backing The jacket skirts have lost their pockets and have been re-tailored to doublet shape A saffron kilt is worn; green knit hose (stockings) have saffron garter tabs, and are worn with short puttees At this time Irish bagpipes - with only two drones - were being used; the bag, ribbon and cords are plain green In 1916 the Foot Guards began to wear coloured cloth regimental shoulder titles, for the Irish Guards in white on green; the battalion was indicated by the number of vertical bars below this, here also in green In the front line pipers wore pistol equipment D: WESTERN FRONT, 1916-18 D 1: Captain Eric Bell (VC), 9th Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, 36th Ulster Division; Somme, July 1916 Captain E.N.F.Bell distinguished himself during the first day of the Somme Although attached to a mortar platoon, he led a 'bombing' attack on German positions, actually throwing mortar bombs like hand grenades He then delayed a German counter-attack with accurate rifle fire, Taken on the day following the Armistice, 12 November 1918, this posed photo shows Irish Guardsmen in typical late-war uniform and kit, for some reason carrying large artillery shell cases Both wear the white-ongreen regimental shoulder title, and the man on the right the single green bar of 1st Bn; he displays three gold wound stripes on his left forearm and, as in the photo on page 25, there is a white plaited lanyard at his left shoulder (IWM 03352) before being killed while rallying a group of leaderless men He was gazetted for a posthumous Victoria Cross; he has no known grave, and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial He is shown here wearing an enlisted man's service dress and 1914 leather equipment plus binoculars, and a pistol, with rank insignia on his shoulder straps, holster on his left side; he also carries an SMLE The 36th Div later adopted the Red Hand of Ulster on a white shield as its divisional sign, with a complex system of differently coloured geometrical shapes to identify brigades and battalions D2: Father William Doyle, MC, 8th Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers, 16th Irish Division; Ypres Salient, summer 1917 Father 'Willie' Doyle of the Army Chaplains Department was attached to the 8th RDF in the division's 48th Brigade He distinguished himself on the Somme in summer 1916 while evacuating wounded, and the following year was decorated with the Military Cross Killed during the Third Battle of Ypres in 1917, he has no known grave; he was unsuccessfully recommended for both a VC and a DSO, and after the war became a focus of popular devotion in Ireland, even being considered for canonization Roman Catholic chaplains generally had a much higher reputation than Anglicans for going forward into the trenches and sharing the dangers and hardships of their flock; the Anglican churches forbade priests from going further forward than brigade headquarters, though there were some honourable instances of disobedience Father Doyle is illustrated in service dress with a clerical collar; his equivalent rank of captain is worn on shoulder straps bordered with black tape, his collar bears the ACD badges of a black Maltese Cross on green backing, and he displays the 16th Div shamrock sign on both sleeves He carries a medical aid bag and the large medical canteen 59 Fusiliers of the 2nd Inniskillings, 38th Irish Bde, reading a newspaper from home - Ireland's Saturday Night - during a lull in the shelling at Anzio in early 1944 The left-hand man wears the American-made War Aid battledress very commonly issued in the Mediterranean theatre of operations {IWM NA13063} D3: Trooper, 5th Royal Irish Lancers, 2nd Cavalry Division; Flanders, 1918 This regiment had taken part in the retreat from Mons in summer 1914, and in 1918 it was the first to re-enter that town The overseas service stripes on the trooper's right cuff (introduced in January 1918) show that he has served throughout the war: one blue for each year, over one red if the first included 1914 service If his left breast was visible we would also see the red, white and blue ribbon of the 1914 Star campaign medal, introduced retrospectively in 1917 As was fashionable in cavalry regiments, the 5th RIL cap badge has been 'sweated' on to the front of his helmet He is armed with a lance, SMLE rifle, and (hidden on the left side) bayonet and 1908 sword, with ammunition bandoliers around his waist and chest and his mount's neck On his back, over his slung haversack and canteen, he carries the 'small box respirator' (gasmask) in its cavalry satchel; his mount also has a respirator, folded and fixed to the 1902 bridle His 1912 universal saddle supports a forage net and feedbag, his rifle and messtins, his rolled greatcoat at the cantle and a folded groundsheet over the wallets at the pommel Of the BEF's three cavalry divisions only the 3rd used a system of 'battle badges' on the jacket sleeves E: THE INTERWAR YEARS E 1: Corporal, st Battalion Royal Munster Fusiliers; India, 1920-22 60 This and the next figure illustrate two of the regiments that would disappear with the foundation of the Irish Free State in 1922, by means of two soldiers in India, smartly turned out in their full regimental glory This veteran of the Great War displays a wound stripe on his left forearm, the ribbon of the Military Medal for gallantry, and the three-ribbon set marking pre-war Regulars who had served in the BEF from 1914: the 1914 Star (' Mons Star'), War Medal and Victory Medal - known as 'Pip, Squeak and Wilfred' after three popular cartoon characters of the day The regiment's 2nd Bn had gone to France with the 1st Guards Bde, 1st Div in summer 1914, and the 1st Bn had landed at Gallipoli the following year (see B2) It was fitting that the RMF's final posting should be to India; the old 101 st of Foot had been raised there in 1861, from the East India Company's 1st Bengal (European) Fusiliers, which could trace its origins to 1756 The late-pattern khaki drill (KD) cotton tunic, with straight pocket flaps, is worn with shorts, knitted 'hosetops' and puttees, and for walking-out dress the 1908-pattern web belt and a privately purchased 'swagger stick' The brass shoulder title, 'M, F' flanking a fusilier bomb, is also worn on the Wolseley helmet pinned through a green felt shamrock, below a white-and-green hair hackle Corporal's badges of rank are worn on both sleeves, temporarily fixed by hooks or pins - the KD uniform needed frequent laundering and starching Despite his status as a combat veteran he has no 'good conduct' badges, and we may assume that he has had to put up and remove his 'tapes' more than once E2: Trooper, 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards; India, 1920-22 This regiment would live on to some degree, since rather than being disbanded it was amalgamated with another regiment dating from the 1680s - the 7th DG - to become the 4th/7th DG, which was granted the 'Royal' title in 1936 Although the 4th RIDG had Great War battle honours from 1914 to 1918, this youngster is not a war veteran He wears the cavalry version of KD, with pale leather reinforcement to the breeches, the bandolier replacing the waist belt, and spurs on his boots His regimental distinctions are the badges on his helmet and collar, the white-and-black helmet pompon, the gold on midnight-blue of his good conduct chevron, and the midnight-blue puttees, wound downwards from the knee in cavalry style E3: Regimental Sergeant-Major, Irish Guards; UK, 1939 The senior soldier in his Regular battalion, this godlike figure wears essentially the same service dress as his guardsmen since before World War I, though of an immaculately tailored appearance His cap badge is of silver, gilt and coloured enamels, closely resembling that of his officers; like them, he wears brown boots and a Sam Browne belt Foot Guards NCOs were authorized to wear the forage cap with regimentally coloured bands with service dress, and their ranks were identified by the numbers of lines of gold Russia braid on the patent leather peak - in ~his case, the maximum five The warrant officer appointed as the RSM of his battalion wore on both upper sleeves the magnificent Royal Arms badge - the 'fighting dogs'; for service dress this was worked on a khaki background in fawn, brown, red, blue, yellow and black threads and silks His ribbons are those of the Distinguished Conduct Medal (a gallantry decoration second only to the Victoria Cross), the three Great War service medals, the George VI Coronation Medal and that for Long Service & Good Conduct The mascot of the Irish Guards is an Irish wolfhound; they are usually named after heroes of Irish history and mythology For ceremonial they are often outfitted with decorated coats, but around the barracks this huge but amiable beast wears a plain studded collar F: WORLD WAR II: NORTH-WEST EUROPE, 1939-42 F1: Fusilier, st Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers, 50th Division; British Expeditionary Force, France, May 1940 The RIF were nicknamed the 'Faughs', from the Gaelic warcry Faugh a Ballagh! ('Clear the way! ') of the old 87th Foot This battalion served in 25th Inf Bde, 50th Div, under II Corps - their corps commander was LtGen Alan Brooke, the brilliant Irish soldier who would rise to be Chief of the Imperial General Staff for most of the war This pre-war Regular, with five years' good conduct, is seen during the exhausting retreat to the Channel ports, wearing the British infantryman's regulation field uniform and personal equipment that was introduced a couple of years before the war and worn, with very minor changes, for its duration His Mk II steel helmet has a neatly made hessian cover with camouflage loops for adding foliage - several BEF battalions, including 1st RIF, were photographed with these The pre-war 'battledress, serge' has concealed buttons and pleated breast pockets The 1937-pattern webbing equipment is complete with the carrier for the short-lived 1939 pattern square-headed entrenching tool The satchel for his respirator (gasmask) is worn in the alert position on the chest; white tapes hold his rolled anti-gas cape behind his neck, and pass down and round his back via the side rings of the satchel, to hold the latter flat against the body The only insignia worn by most BEF units were badges of rank, but 1st RIF were among those few who wore a battalion flash - in this case, a downwards-pointing green triangle butted up against the shoulder seams on both sleeves (the 2nd Inniskillings, serving with 13th Inf Bde in 5th Div, wore an upwards-pointing green triangle) In addition to his SMLE rifle this soldier is burdened with the platoon's obsolescent 55in Boys anti-tank rifle, which weighed a crushing 36 pounds F2: Guardsman, 2nd (Armoured) Battalion Irish Guards, Guards Armoured Division; UK, March 1942 From a famous photograph taken on March 1942 when the battalion was shown off to the press with its new Covenanter tanks; this guardsman is the signaller/loader from 'Ulster', the tank commanded by the RSM in battalion headquarters Tank crew clothing and equipment was still at an experimental stage; this 'crash helmet, Royal Armoured Corps' was a modified miner's safety helmet made from riveted fibre, and fitted with a leather curtain incorporating headphone housings for the Audio-Frequency (AF) wireless system At a slightly later date a plume-shaped flash in bright 'St Patrick's blue' would be painted on the right side of the helmets, echoing the plume worn in the regimental bearskin; for now only the number identifying the battalion's vehicles within the division - '53' - is displayed The short leather jerkin, made up from scraps, was not in service for long The guardsman wears pistol equipment of belt, braces, brace attachments, and his 38in revolver in a long-strap thigh holster - another short-lived item On his left forearm he displays the qualified signaller's crossed blue and white flags, over the wreathed 'S.P' for special proficiency, over a two-year good conduct chevron F3: Sergeant, 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards, 9th Armoured Division; UK, 1942-43 In his best walking-out dress for a 48-hour pass, this confident young NCO sports the optional, private-purchase 'coloured field service cap', which was authorized in July 1937 for wear when off duty That of the 5th RIDG was lemonyellow and bright green, with gold piping; the regimental cap badge was a crowned, interlaced 'V D G' in silver After returning from Dunkirk the regiment spent a long time training in the UK, as a unit of 28th Armd Bde, 9th Armd Div - a formation raised in December 1940 which was disbanded in July 1944 without ever going overseas (The 5th RIDG did; when the 9th Armd Div was disbanded they were posted to 22nd Armd Bde in 7th Armd Div in Normandy, going into action at the height of the bloody fighting of that summer.) The 9th Div sign of a panda mask is worn on the upper sleeves of the battledress, above the yellow-and-red arm of service strip of the RAC; a red-on-yellow 'Royal Armoured Corps' shoulder title was authorized in summer 1943, but was slow to catch on in many units, which did not like the hint of regimental anonymity A distinction of 5th RIDG was the White Horse of Hanover - a badge of British cavalry since the 18th century - which was worn in silver metal on a dark green backing, pinned to the badges of rank by sergeants and above All military personnel were ordered to carry the gasmask and steel helmet at all times, on or off duty G: NORTH AFRICA & ITALY, 1943-44 G1: Lieutenant-Colonel 'Pat' Scott, 2nd Battalion London Irish Rifles, 78th Division; Tunisia, May 1943 The CO of 2nd UR would go on to succeed Brig Nelson Russell as the commander of the division's 38th (Irish) Bde in Italy in summer 1944 Here, depicted in a group of commanding officers in Tunisia, he wears the rifle-green caubeen that distinguished the officers and warrant officers of the UR, pulled to the left in regimental fashion Above its silver crowned harp badge is the dark green feather hackle this was removed in the field His khaki drill shirt is a typical private-purchase example; it is worn with regulation shorts, long woollen socks and ankle puttees, over boots in Rifles black Removable slides slipped over his shoulder straps display his crown and star of rank, in the black-on-green of Rifle regiments Photos often show 78th Inf Div personnel in KD uniform displaying the divisional sign - a yellow battleaxe on black - and brigade signs or regimental flashes, on removable cloth tabs Here tabs are temporarily fastened to the upper sleeves; other ranks often wore various combinations on shoulder-strap slides The other battalions of the Irish Brigade sometimes wore regimental versions of the green shamrock brigade sign: the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers with a small red outline triangle superimposed, and the Royal Irish Fusiliers with a down-pointing white outline triangle Finally, LtCol Scott wears round his left shoulder the rifle-green lanyard of his regiment Officers often chose not to display on everyday uniform the medal ribbons to which they were entitled 61 Posed in conversation with Papal Guards in Rome on 12 June 1944, two pipers both wear caubeens, saffron kilts and long green hose with saffron garter-tabs Their KD shirts both show shoulder-strap slides with two patches - the yellow-onblack battleaxe of 78th Div, with the green shamrock of 38th (Irish) Bde The pipe-sergeant (centre) has the grey hackle, and the large silver castle cap badge worn by pipers, officers and WOs of the Inniskillings; his three plain white chevrons are worn on a khaki brassard round the rolled right sleeve of his shirt The left-pulled caubeen should identify the piper (right) as from the London Irish Rifles, but his hackle also seems to be grey rather than rifle-green The Irish pipes themselves have green bags, and two drones linked by green ribbons and tasselled cords, as in Plate C3 (IWM NA16180) 62 G2: Warrant Officer Class I, 2nd Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, 5th Division; Anzio, Italy, 17 March 1944 The 2nd Bn of the 'Skins' served in 13th Inf Bde - the senior brigade of 5th Div - from the outbreak of war until September 1944; in that month they would be posted to 38th Bde of 78th Div, replacing the regiment's 6th Battalion This figure is from several posed photos showing a rum issue on St Patrick's Day, shortly after the division was shipped into the confined Anzio beachhead The WOI wears a headgear first acquired by this battalion, whose popularity spread to the 6th 'Skins' in 78th Div: a caubeen locally made from the dark grey-green cloth of captured Italian Army greatcoats The Inniskillings pulled their caubeens to the right; the traditional grey hackle is not worn here, but note the distinguishing cap badge of officers and WOs - the large silver 'castle', originally worn only by the regiment's pipers Another mark of his rank is the shirt with collar and tie worn under the opened BD blouse The battledress is of the US-made 'War Aid' type often seen in Italy, recognizable by the fly front but exposed but~ons on the unpleated pockets Fixed by narrow elastic to his shoulder straps he wears (rather oddly for this date) the stitched black-onkhaki regimental title of 1939-41, 'Inniskillings' in an arc The 5th Div sign of a white 'V' on a khaki patch is sewn to his sleeves, above the single infantry-red brigade strip marking the senior brigade in the division Below this is the red triangle flash worn by the 'Skins' in memory of the old 29th Div sign of 1916-18; it would shortly move up to the cap and be worn instead as a badge backing On both forearms he displays the Royal Arms of his grade, worked in pale buff and brown The service rum jar had not changed since the Great War G3: Sergeant, st Battalion London Irish Rifles, 56th Division; Faenta, Italy, winter 1944-45 The 1st L1R had served in 168th Inf Bde of 56th Div from the end of 1940 until April 1943; the brigade was then transferred to 50th Div until October 1943, returning to 56th in November when the 50th went back to the UK In October 1944 the 1st LIR were switched to the division's 167th Inf Bde, remaining there for the rest of the war This figure is a composite from a group photographed while preparing to go out on patrol in the Italian winter Only officers and WOs wore the rifle-green caubeen; this NCO wears, pulled to the left, the khaki 'cap, general service' with the regimental badge but not the green hackle, which was removed in the front line Against the cold he wears a sweater under his BD and a leather jerkin over it, with a woollen scarf and gloves The photo clearly shows the 56th (London) Div's red-on-black sign of 'Dick Whittington's cat', but neither a shoulder title nor a rifle-green brigade strip Like the Royal Ulster Rifles to whom they were affiliated, the L1R were authorized to wear all rank badges in black on riflegreen; and one corporal in the original photo can be seen to wear the regiment's rifle-green left shoulder lanyard For patrol work the minimum of web equipment is worn - belt, braces, and basic pouches holding grenades and the 20round box magazines for the M1928A1 Thompson SMG, with which most men in the group are armed H: NORTH-WEST EUROPE, 1944-45 Hi: Private, 8th Battalion The King's Regiment (Liverpool Irish), 7th Beach Group; Juno Beach, Normandy, June 1944 The beach groups included both Army and Royal Navy personnel; they had to be capable of local assaults and of resisting counter-attacks in the early stages of a contested landing, but their main function was to marshal the flow of traffic over the crowded beaches under fire This Bren gun 'No.1' carries the weapon and has its tool-and-spares wallet slung to hang on his hip; his 1937-pattern basic pouches carry four magazines, and he now has the new 'light respirator', with integral filter, slung on his other hip The 7th Beach Group were attached to 3rd Canadian Div for the DDay landings on Mike sector of Juno Beach Photos show the 'King's Regiment' shoulder title in infantry white-on-red, worn above the red anchor on a very pale blue disc of the beach groups, mounted on 3rd Cdn Div's pale 'French-grey' rectangular patch The beach groups' white identifying band is visible under the camouflage netting on his Mk " helmet H2: Corporal, 2nd Battalion Royal Ulster Rifles, 3rd Division; Sword Beach, Nor.mandy, June 1944 Depicted shortly after landing on Queen Red sector, this section leader still wears - under his battledress - the inflatable Iifebelt issued for the assault landings, its rubber inflation tube dangling in view The new Mk III steel helmet is worn, garnished with netting and hessian scrim, by almost all the riflemen in the A Coy photo (see page 44) His BD blouse shows full badges: the black-on-green regimental shoulder title, over the 3rd Div patch, over the two bars of 9th Inf Bde - the second in the division - in the regiment's rifle-green rather than infantry scarlet; his badges of rank are also black-on-green In addition to 1937-pattern webbing fighting order he has the machete often issued to section leaders, and is armed with a Mk III Sten gun Slung around his torso is a toggle rope, more usually associated with airborne and commando units For clarity of the Iifebelt detail we have omitted here his camouflaged net veil, worn in the original photo hanging very loose like a Western bandana H3: 2nd Lieutenant, st (Airborne) Battalion Royal Ulster Rifles, 6th Airborne Division; Hamminkeln, Germany, 24 March 1945 The 1st RUR were assigned to the air-landing (glider) brigade of the newly forming 1st Airborne Div in November 1941, remaining with them until May 1943 They were then transferred to the 6th Abn Div, which stayed in the UK, and thus missed the tragically mishandled airborne phase of the invasion of Sicily in July, which saw heavy casualties among the glider troops They finally went into action on D-Day, landing by glider in Normandy with the rest of 6th AL Bde; they were kept in action as conventional infantry for a full three months before 6th Abn Div returned to the UK to prepare for future operations The 6th's next airborne landing was during the Rhine crossings of late March 1945, when they took their objectives in short order This is a composite of two figures in a famous photo taken beside the town sign of Hamminkeln The maroon Airborne Forces beret is worn with the regimental badge of a silver crowned harp on a riflegreen backing patch Apart from his black-on-green rank pip this subaltern is otherwise dressed and equipped like any other airborne officer, in the third pattern airborne helmet, Denison smock over battledress (including the modified airborne trousers with a widely expanding left thigh pocket), and 1937 pattern webbing His personal weapon is a Canadian-made Browning M1935 Hi-Power 9mm automatic pistol, whose clips he carries in a British-made two-pocket pouch on his belt Before the D-Day landings, Field-Marshal Montgomery inspects 2nd Bn, Royal Ulster Rifles (see Plate H2) The regimental badge can be seen worn on a rifle-green square on the khaki caubeen, pulled left Apart from the black-ongreen regimental shoulder title, and coloured shoulder-strap loops which probably identify the companies, no other insignia are visible The CO, LtCol I.C.'Tommy' Harris, wears a rifle-green field service cap with a miniature regimental badge on a cord frontal boss; he seems to be the only man wearing the regiment's rifle-green left shoulder lanyard (lWM H38626) 63 The history of military forces, artefacts, Irish Regiments personalities and techniques of warfare in the World Wars For nearly 250 years, Irish soldiers made up a significant minority of the British Army In 1914-18, despite the growing movement for Irish independence, more than 200,000 Irishmen volunteered, and won an imperishable reputation Although independent Eire remained neutral in World War II, more than 40,000 volunteers from Full colour artwork the South joined men from Ulster to serve in the British forces This book places the records of such heroic names as the Inniskillings, the Munsters, the Dublin Fusiliers and the Royal Irish Rifles in the context of the World Wars, and illustrates a selection of their Unrivalled detail uniforms and insignia Photographs US $17.95 I $25.95 CAN IS B N 978-1-84603-015-4 17 OSPREY PUBLISHING www.ospreypublishing.com 781846 030154 ... America and the colonies One can find accounts of Irish regiments serving in many wars and in the names of diverse causes, including the campaigns of the Seven Years' War, the War of the Spanish... Royal Dublin Fusiliers The Royal Irish Regiment Irish regiments had served with some distinction during the Peninsular War, and the various Victorian wars against the Sikhs and Mghans, in the Crimea... survived the German spring offensive, it served in the final decisive actions including Bapaume, Arras and the crossing of the Canal du Nord During World War I the Irish Guards were almost continuously