The history of the Irish Guards as an infantry regiment of the British Army dates from the Regiment's formation in 1900. The Irish Guards have an over one hundred year-long history during which the regiment have served with distinction in almost all of the United Kingdom's conflicts throughout the 20th and early 21st centuries ranging from the First World War to the War in Afghanistan.
The Irish Guards were formed by Queen Victoria in 1900 to honour the Irishmen who had fought in the Second Boer War. The Irish Guards first saw combat as a regiment in the First World War during which they fought on the Western Front from the beginning to the end of the war. The regiment played a significant role in many of the First World War's pivotal battles such as the First Battle of Ypres, the Battle of Loos and the Battle of the Somme. By the end of the war, the regiment had experienced significant losses and won four Victoria Crosses, two of them posthumous. The Irish Guards were to experience similar fighting just twenty one years later with the commencement of the Second World War. The regiment won two further Victoria Crosses and saw action during the Norwegian Campaign, the Battle of France, the Tunisian Campaign, the Italian Campaign, Operation Overlord and Operation Market Garden. Following the conclusion of the Second World War, the Irish Guards were involved in several conflicts arising from the decline of the British Empire, including the Jewish insurgency in Mandatory Palestine, against the EOKA group in Cyprus and in the Aden Emergency. Moving into the 21st Century, the Irish Guards served in the Balkans Conflicts, the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan.
Creation
The Irish Guards was formed on 1 April 1900 by order of Queen Victoria to commemorate the Irish people who fought in the Second Boer War for the British Empire.Irish Guards Regimental website "103 Years of the Irish Guards" This followed an initial suggestion from the Irish-born British Army officer Field Marshal Viscount Wolseley to allow soldiers in Irish Regiments to wear the shamrock in their headdress on St. Patrick's Day. This developed into a suggestion that an Irish Guards regiment should be created.
The Irish Guards' first honorary Colonel-of-the-Regiment was Field Marshal Lord Roberts, known to many troops as "Bobs". Because of this, the regiment gained the nickname "Bob's Own" but are now known affectionately as "The Micks" (although a generally derogatory term if used in society, this term is not seen as offensive or derogatory by the regiment.)
Roberts, as the new Commander-in-Chief in the Second Boer War, was too busy at the time to take over a new regiment, but he was appointed a Colonel of the regiment on 17 October 1900. Major Richard Joshua Cooper, of the 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards, was appointed the first Commanding Officer on 2 May 1900 and 200 Irishmen from the same regiment were transferred as the nucleus of the new regiment. Selected members of the line infantry regiments were chosen to fill out the ranks of the new regiment.R. G. Harris: The Irish Regiments, Spellmount, 1999 edition, "Irish Guards" p. 89
The regiment's first Colours were presented by King Edward VII to the 1st Battalion on 30 May 1902 at Horse Guards Parade. A few Irish Guardsmen saw action as mounted infantry in the final stages of the Boer War. Otherwise, the Irish Guards were stationed in the United Kingdom for the first fourteen years of its existence, performing ceremonial duties in London during that time until the beginning of World War I.
First World War 1914-1915: Outbreak of War and the first battles on the Western Front
The 1st Battalion, Irish Guards deployed to France, eight days after the United Kingdom had declared war upon the German Empire, as part of 4th (Guards) Brigade of the 2nd Division, and would remain on the Western Front for the duration of the war. The battalion took part in the Battle of Mons and the subsequent arduous and bloody Great Retreat. The Irish Guards was part of the rearguard during the retreat and took part in a small-scale action at Landrecies against the advancing Germans. The 1st Irish Guards also took part in another rearguard action at the woods near Villers-Cotterets, on 1 September, during the Battle of Le Cateau in which their Commanding Officer, Lieutenant-Colonel the Hon. George Morris and the Second-in-Command Major Hubert Crichton were killed. Le Cateau was a successful action that inflicted very heavy losses on the Germans and helped delay their advance towards Paris.
In August that year, the 2nd (Reserve) Battalion was raised at Warley Barracks to serve as a training battalion for the men needed to replace losses sustained by the 1st Battalion in France. The 1st Irish Guards later in September took part in the First Battle of the Marne and the advance towards the Aisne. The Irish Guards, having lost their Commanding Officer only a few weeks after they had reached France, would take part in one of the bloodiest battles of 1914, the First Battle of Ypres, which began on 19 October. The battle caused major casualties among the old Regular Army. The 1st Battalion was involved in fighting for the duration of the battle, taking part in the major actions, at Langemarck, Gheluvelt and Nonne Bosschen.
The 1st Battalion suffered huge casualties between November 1–8 holding the line against near defeat by German forces, while defending Klein Zillebeke, with No. 3 Company suffering severe casualties on November 1 and No. 1 Company being caught in the open after a French retreat on November 6 exposed their flank, ensuring that at the end of the day "the greater part of them were missing".The Irish Guards in the Great War – First Battalion – Rudyard Kipling p. 57-61 By the end of First Battle of Ypres on the 22 November, the battalion had suffered over 700 casualties and could only field two companies from the survivors. The 2nd Division, of which the 1st Irish Guards were part of, suffered 5,769 officers and men killed, wounded or missing in action. The original battalion of 1st Irish Guards which had arrived in France barely two months before had been practically wiped out and had to be reconstructed with new arrivals. The rest of 1914 and early 1915 was spent in the trenches with little action, although the soldiers were at risk from snipers and shells.
In February 1915, Lance-Corporal Michael O'Leary performed an act of bravery at Cuinchy, where attack and counter-attack had been taking place between the British and Germans since 29 January until early February. On 1 February, O'Leary was part of a storming party which attacked an enemy barricade, during the attack the party suffered casualties and a group of the storming party then were hit by their own artillery bombardment. O'Leary rushed forward, shooting five Germans before attacking a further three in a machine-gun position at the next barricade, capturing two Germans in the process. The trench and many prisoners were taken thanks to the actions of O'Leary. He was awarded the Victoria Cross, the first VC the Irish Guards won in the war.Batchelor & Matson, p. 2
In May 1915, the 1st Irish Guards took part in the Battle of Festubert, though did not see much action. In July 1915, the 2nd (Reserve) Battalion was redesignated the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion, and another battalion, the 2nd Battalion Irish Guards was formed at Warley Barracks. In August that year the 1st Irish Guards, along with the rest of the 4th (Guards) Brigade, was moved to the Guards Division. The brigade was redesignated the 1st Guards Brigade. August 1915 also saw the arrival to France of 2nd Irish Guards who were subsequently attached to the 2nd Guards Brigade. In September that year, both battalions of the Irish Guards fought together for the first time in the Battle of Loos, which lasted from 25 September until early October.
1916-17: The Battle of the Somme and Passchendaele
Both the 1st and 2nd Irish Guards spent much of the remainder of 1915 and early 1916 in the trenches until 1 July 1916 when the Battle of the Somme began, which was, and still is, the bloodiest day in the history of the British Army, but the 1st Irish Guards were spared the day's bloodshed as they were held in reserve. The 1st Irish Guards were soon called into the fray at the Battle of Flers–Courcelette where they suffered severe casualties in the attack in the face of withering fire from the German machine-guns. The battalion then went on to take part in the Battle of Morval. They were involved in the capture of the northern part of the village on 25 September and were relieved the following day by the 2nd Irish Guards. The 1st Irish Guards suffered quite heavily during the Morval engagement with over 250 casualties. The 2nd Irish Guards fought until 28 September when they too were relieved and entered into a period of rest along with the rest of the Guard's Division.
The Irish Guards had been brought back up to strength sufficiently during their rest period so that by the summer of 1917 they would once again be called on to front a major British offensive with the start of the Battle of Passchendaele. The 2nd Irish Guards were the first to enter the Battle of Pilckem which began on 31 July and despite taking heavy casualties, including their Commanding Officer, achieved their objectives in the face of heavy German resistance. 1st Irish Guards spent the first day of the offensive in reserve before joining their sister battalion on 1 September. Further actions took place for the 1st Irish Guards at the Battle of the Menin Road Ridge, where they beat off several German counterattacks, and at the Battle of Poelcapelle, during which the battalion lost every one of its company commanders although 2nd Irish Guards suffered few casualties.
In a testament to the ferocity of fighting that the Irish Guards faced at the Battle of Passchendaele, an action took place on 12 September that would see two members of the regiment win the Victoria Cross. Lance-Sergeant John Moyney and Private Thomas Woodcock of the 2nd Battalion, Irish Guards, were part of an advance post that became surrounded by Germans. During the defence, the Lance-Sergeant attacked the advancing Germans with grenades and with his lewis gun. He, and his men, then charged the Germans, breaking through them and reaching a stream where he and Private Woodcock formed a rearguard while the rest of the party withdrew. They subsequently began to withdraw, crossing the stream, but Private Woodcock heard cries for help and he returned, retrieving the wounded man and carrying him back to British lines under machine-gun fire. They had held out for ninety-six hours.
The Irish Guards took part in the Battle of Cambrai, the first large use of the tank in battle took place during the engagement. The 1st Irish Guards initially enjoyed a quiet sector for the opening of the battle until 30 November when they suffered heavy casualties fighting through the streets of the village of Gouzeaucourt. The Guards Division, and with it the 1st and 2nd Irish Guards, were pulled off the line on 6 December for a rest period, having fought almost continuously since the start of August.
1918: Final victory and the ending of the War