I have focussed on the men who served with the battalion during the first two months of the war partly because the events that unfolded between August and October 1914 are in themselves extraordinary. In a few short weeks there took place the first hostile contact between the British and the Germans at Mons, the crucial battle of Le Cateau, the long and hot retreat to the outskirts of Paris, the successes on the Marne and the stalling of the allies’ advance at the Aisne. Then, at the beginning of October 1914 the battalion was redeployed north and took part in the fighting around La Bassee. On the 20th of October at Le Pilly, they were surrounded and overwhelmed. All but 135 men and one officer were either killed, wounded and/or taken prisoner. This means that since they had disembarked in France on 14th August well over a thousand members of the battalion had become casualties. Such a casualty rate among the battalions of the First World War may not in itself be exceptional. However, what needs to be taken into account is the fact that many of those who proceeded to France with the 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Regiment had been serving together for years and in some cases decades. Some may have fought together in the Boer War or have had a shared experience of the hardship of years of service in India. They genuinely were comrades in arms, which must have made the destruction of this regular army battalion all the more affecting for those who survived. The first day of the Somme may well have produced equally shocking statistics. However, the close camaraderie of the regular army was by then a thing of the past and replaced by a weary acceptance of the brutalities of trench warfare and an understanding that too great an investment in those around you was best avoided. It is the poignancy of all those friendships and long-standing associations torn asunder in eight short weeks that makes this tale so compelling.
Created by: , Patrick63223
Died 1914
British Army 6323 Private Royal Irish Regiment 2nd Battalion
British Army 32644 Private Royal Irish Regiment
British Army 8921 Private Royal Irish Regiment
British Army 35173 Private Royal Irish Regiment
British Army 8453 Private Royal Irish Regiment
Born 1886
British Army Temporary Lieutenant Royal Army Medical Corps attached to the Royal Irish Regiment
Died 1914
British Army 10867 Private Royal Irish Regiment 2nd Battalion
British Army 10632 Private Royal Irish Regiment 2nd Battalion (embarkation for France to join BEF)
British Army 7483 Private Royal Irish Regiment 2nd Battalion (embarkation for France to join BEF)
Born 1886
Died 1914
British Army 8613 Private Royal Irish Regiment 2nd Battalion
Born 1886
British Army 8073 Private Royal Irish Regiment 2nd Battalion (embarkation for France to join BEF)
Born 1896
Died 1914
British Army 10861 Private Royal Irish Regiment 2nd Battalion
British Army 10293 Private Royal Irish Regiment 2nd Battalion (embarkation for France to join BEF)
Born 1884
Died 1914
British Army 8716 Private Royal Irish Regiment