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At the end of the 1st Battalion The Royal Irish Fusiliers' (Faugh's) tour in Berlin, the Battalion moved to the United Kingdom and proceeded on leave before reforming at Pelham Down on Salisbury Plain, England in March 1954. They prepared for their move to Korea where they would relieve the 1st Battalion The Royal Scots in the Commonwealth Division's 29 Infantry Brigade. (Right, Flash of 1st Commonwealth Division (Korea), © IWM (INS 6903))
On 17 October 1914, the 1st Battalion The Royal Irish Fusiliers was fighting to capture the town of Armentières during the 'Race to the Sea'. The Battalion gradually gained ground during the street fighting until it was held up by heavy enemy fire from a farm. B Company suffered many casualties until Captain R J Kentish set off a charge which blew down the farmhouse wall and cleared the building. Captain Kentish was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) and four men were awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) for their part in the action.
Despite the 1st Battalion The Royal Irish Fusiliers' costly failure in the attack on 3 May near Arras, the 4th Division was ordered to attack once again. As H-Hour was at 1930 hours, the attack caught the enemy by surprise; also, the heavy artillery preparation had been very successful. Soon all objectives were captured, including a particularly massive and formidable concrete machine-gun emplacement in a corner of the chateau; it helped explain why the Faughs had previously failed in capturing the same objectives.
The British and French had been edging slowly forward in the great Battle of the Somme. By early October they had reached the German's old fourth line of defences. The 1st Battalion The Royal Irish Fusiliers had moved up to the front line on 9 October 1916 and were in the area of Lesboeufs with Battalion Headquarters located in the shattered hamlet. This point on the front line represented a British advance of six miles since 1 July. During the relief, and for the next two days, the battalion sustained more than 58 casualties.
The British had advanced through Boer territory astride the Pretoria to Portuguese East Africa railway line and arrived at the border by the end of September 1901. Many assumed that war's end was approaching. The Boers, who had been dispersed but never engaged and beaten, had accepted that they could not win. However, they were determined to make sure that the British would not win, They therefore conducted a number of raids against posts on the British Line of Communication (LoC) along the Pretoria to Delagoa railway line in January 1901.
The 1st Battalion The Royal Irish Fusiliers, some 700 strong, embarked on HMT Captain Cook bound for the United Kingdom.
The 2nd Battalion The Royal Irish Fusiliers arrived in Malta before the outbreak of the Second World War and remained there throughout the island's siege until they left in June 1943. Malta was 60 miles from Sicily and not much further from enemy occupied Libya.
In September 1936, Arab violence flared in Palestine and caused a threat to peace. The Regiment embarked for Haifa at short notice on 12 September and, landing in Palestine twelve days later, moved to the Ramallah-Nablus area. Though observation posts and convoys were frequently fired upon, the Regiment incurred no casualties and, by the end of October, the Royal Irish Fusilier's area was quiet again.
Having disengaged successfully from the enemy on 27 May 1940 along the Canal de la Lawe and withdrawn through thin defences at Estaires, the 1st Battalion The Royal Irish Fusiliers continued withdrawing. At dawn on 28 May, having had little to no sleep, they were ordered back to stiffen the defence of Estaires. There was much frustration at the poor higher command and staff decisions and this increased when, not long after arriving, the Faughs were again ordered to withdraw.
During August 1914, the Germans had advanced deep into France. The Battle of the Marne, which was to halt the German advance and prevent them from capturing Paris, began on 5 September.
On 6 September, the 1st Battalion The Royal Irish Fusiliers, under the command of Major A R Burrows, led the advance of the 4th Division in the battle to drive the Germans back over the River Marne.
