Liverpool Irish

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The Liverpool Irish
Active 1860-present
Country United Kingdom
Branch Army
TA Centre Aigburth Road, Liverpool
Uniform Caubeen headress
Pipers: Saffron kilts, green shawls[2]
Equipment L118 Light Gun
Decorations Victoria Cross: 2nd Lt. E.F. Baxter
Battle honours South Africa 1900-02
Commanders
Honorary Colonel Valentine Charles, 5th Earl of Kenmare (1906)[1]

The Liverpool Irish is a unit of the British Territorial Army, raised as infantry in 1860 and transferred to the Royal Artillery as an anti-aircraft regiment in 1947. The Liverpool Irish has since reduced to "A" Troop, in 208 (3rd West Lancashire) Battery, 103rd (Lancashire Artillery Volunteers) Regiment. The regiment provides individual reinforcements to regular artillery regiments equipped with the AS-90 and L118.[3]

Liverpool's large Irish community formed the 64th Lancashire Rifle Volunteer Corps on 25 April 1860, one of many volunteer corps raised in Lancashire during a period of heightened tension with France.[4] The corps (later renumbered the 18th) was briefly incorporated into the 2nd Administrative Battalion, which was formed to organise other volunteer corps in the county.[5] The 64th formally became the "Liverpool Irish" Rifle Volunteer Corps in 1864.[6]

Under the localisation scheme implemented during the Cardwell-Childers reforms of the British Armed Forces, the Liverpool Irish became the 5th (Irish) Volunteer Battalion of the King's (Liverpool Regiment).

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Second Boer War

The battalion was not mobilised intact during the Second Boer War, instead it provided drafts for the King's and a service company for the 1st Royal Irish Regiment.[7] The company's service was recognised with a single battle honour: "South Africa 1900-02". When the Territorial Force was established in 1908, the HQ of the Liverpool Irish was transferred from Everton Brow to Shaw Street. The battalion, renumbered the 8th, became subordinated to the Liverpool Brigade, West Lancashire Division.

[edit] World War I

At the onset of war, in August 1914, the Liverpool Irish mobilised and moved to Canterbury. Two duplicate battalions were raised in October 1914 and May 1915, designated as the 2/8th and 3/8th respectively. Territorial soldiers who had not volunteered for overseas service formed the 2/8th, which became responsible for training recruits.[8] The 2/8th was, however, dispatched to the Western Front in February 1917, with the 57th Division's 171st (2nd Liverpool) Brigade. The third-line battalion remained responsible for training recruits and was ultimately absorbed by the 7th (Reserve) Battalion, West Lancashire Reserve Brigade.

The 1/8th transferred to the North Lancashire Brigade in February 1915 and landed at Boulogne in May, one month after the brigade was assigned to the 51st (Highland) Division. Heavy casualties were sustained in the battalion's first engagement of the war, in the Second Action at Givenchy (15-16 June). The Liverpool Irish was the only battalion remaining in the brigade able to undertake an attack, the other three having incurred heavy losses on the first-day.[9] Much of the Liverpool Irish fell as they advanced across no man's land, opposed by artillery, rifle, and machine-gun fire.[10] The few that penetrated the first-line of the German trenches eventually retired to British lines.[10]

Second-Lieutenant E.F. Baxter
Second-Lieutenant E.F. Baxter

When the West Lancashire Division was reformed in January 1916, the battalion and its brigade returned to their original division. A group of specially-trained volunteers from the Liverpool Irish conducted the division's first major raid on German trenches, at Ransart on the night of 17 April. Split into two parties of wirecutters and raiders, the Liverpool Irish entered the trench system and proceeded to grenade three dug-outs and destroy a munitions store[11] The raiders' sole fatality, Second-Lieutenant Edward Felix Baxter, was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross.

The division arrived in the Somme area on 25 July and moved to the frontline opposite the village of Guillemont on 30 July.[12] Guillemont, where other battalions of the King's Regiment had fought, was the 1/8th's next major battle, on 8 August. Rapidly advancing in conditions that made visibility poor, the Liverpool Irish reached and entered the village.[13] The battalion, effectively unsupported after the 1/4th Loyal Regiment withdrew from the German first-line trench, became isolated and surrounded. Casualties numbered 15 officers and men killed, 55 wounded, and 502 missing.[13] The battle for Guillemont was renewed by other units of the 55th Division on 9 August.

Reorganisation in January 1918 resulted in the 1/8th absorbing the 2/8th and transferring to the latters brigade, with Lieutenant-Colonel E.C. Heath of the 1/8th retaining his command. The consolidated 8th battalion was assigned to the 2/8th's 171st Brigade. When the armistice came into effect on 11 November, the Liverpool Irish was billeted at Hellemmes.[14] The end of hostilities was noted in the battalion's war diary: "Armistice signed."[15]

Almost four-years of service on the Western Front had resulted in the Liverpool Irish incurring substantial losses. During the period of their attachment to the 55th Division, casualties for the 1/8th amounted to 475 officers and men dead; 1,575 wounded; and 410 missing.[16] Two soldiers from the battalion were executed during the war: Privates Joseph Brennan and Bernard McGeehan, both charged with desertion.[17]

Reduction in national expenditure following the war (the "Geddes Axe") reduced the British Armed Forces and the Liverpool Irish was disbanded in 1922.

[edit] World War II

Expansion of the Territorial Army was authorised in 1938 and resulted in the Liverpool Irish being reformed in 1939, with HQ at the Embassy Rooms, Mount Pleasant.[18] Lieutenant-Colonel Ernest Michael Murphy was appointed as the battalion's first commanding officer.[19] While Allied plans to invade occupied France developed in 1943, the Liverpool Irish was selected to form the nucleus of the 7th Beach Group. The group's objectives on an invasion beach were to maintain organisation, secure positions, and provide defence against counter-attack. Extensive specialist training occurred in Ayrshire and other parts of Britain under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel W.J. Humphrey.

LCAs approaching Juno Beach.
LCAs approaching Juno Beach.

On 30 May, the Liverpool Irish moved from its camp in southern England to the port of Southampton and embarked aboard troopships and landing ship tanks in early June. Part of the Liverpool Irish embarked aboard the Ulster Monarch, formerly a passenger ship on the Belfast-Liverpool line.[20] After a delay of 24-hours, the invasion fleet proceeded to Normandy on 5 June. The 7th Beach Group landed at Juno Beach with the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division on 6 June.

Two companies of the Liverpool Irish were assigned to the "Mike Green" and "Mike Red" areas, at Graye-sur-Mer, where the Royal Winnipeg Rifles suffered heavy casualties. Under intense machine-gun and mortar fire, the landing of Major E.M. Morrison's "A" Company proceeded well and a command-post was established after reaching the sand dunes.[21] In "B" Company's area, the late arrival of the reconnaissance party and DD tanks exposed the landing infantry to heavy machine-gun fire. The company's officer commanding, Major O'Brien, and the second-in-comannd were among those wounded.[22] While under fire, the beach group collected the wounded and dead, located and marked minefields, attempted to maintain organisation, and directed vehicles and troops inland.[23]

On 7 June, a bomb from a lone Luftwaffe fighter exploded amongst the anti-tank platoon of the Liverpool Irish, killing 15 and badly wounding seven.[24] The Liverpool Irish served with the beach group for a further six-weeks. Depleted by losses and the transfer of soldiers to other units as reinforcements, the Liverpool Irish was disbanded in August.

When the Territorial Army was reconstituted in 1947, the Liverpool Irish reformed as 626 Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment. The Liverpool Irish reduced to "Q" battery, 470 (3rd West Lancashire) Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, in 1950, and was further reduced to a troop in 1967.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ The London Gazette, 7 September 1906. p10
  2. ^ Fitzsimons (2004), p12
  3. ^ 103 Regiment Mission Statement,army.mod.uk/. Accessed 10 October 2006
  4. ^ Mileham (2000), p54
  5. ^ The London Gazette, 16 November 1860, p4.
  6. ^ The London Gazette, 15 November 1864. p5
  7. ^ Mileham (2000), p63
  8. ^ Middlebrook (2000), Your Country Needs You!: Expansion of the British Army Infantry Divisions 1914-1918, p115
  9. ^ Mileham (2000), p96
  10. ^ a b Wyrall (2000), p154
  11. ^ Coop (1919/2001), p26
  12. ^ Coop (1919/2001), p30
  13. ^ a b Wyrall (2000), p304-305
  14. ^ Wyrall (2000), p692
  15. ^ Wyrall (2000), p700
  16. ^ Coop (1919/2001), p182. Figures are approximate.
  17. ^ House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 4 February 1999, publications.parliament.uk. Accessed 10 October 2006
  18. ^ Fitzsimons, p12
  19. ^ Colonel Murphy, a chemist who had served with the Liverpool Irish during the First World War, was killed in 1941, during the Liverpool Blitz. CWGC entry.
  20. ^ Fitzsimmons (2004), p44
  21. ^ Neillands (2004), D-Day 1944: Voices from Normandy, p236
  22. ^ Fitzsimons (2004), p49
  23. ^ Mileham (2000), p165
  24. ^ Fitzsimons (2004), p65

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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