Explore Listing
Click on The Queen's and Regimental Colours of The Royal Irish Regiment to read more about the history of our Colours and Battle Honours.
The distinction EGYPT 1882 was a Theatre Honour awarded for actions in Egypt during 1882 that did not include the Battle of Tel-el-Kebir, for which The Princess Victoria's (Royal Irish Fusiliers) was awarded the separate Battle Honour TEL-EL-KEBIR.
At 2140 hours on 23 October 1942, a 15-minute artillery barrage opened the Allied attack against the German and Italian (Axis) forces in western Egypt. It was the beginning of the (Second) Battle of El Alamein and at 2200 hours, General Montgomery's Eighth Army advanced into the Axis defensive positions. In the months prior to the attack, Montgomery had been building and developing his Army's strength in both manpower and materiel, while also building a dummy army to the south in a deception operation.
When France surrendered and Britain, after Dunkirk, was clearly prepared to carry on fighting Nazi Germany, Hitler began to prepare for an invasion of England - Operation SEALION. The Germans decided first to destroy Britain's air defences. Churchill addressed the House of Commons saying:
The following account of the battle is an extract from a regimental history and follows on from the event recorded for 3 January 1951.
———————————————————————————————-
At 0315 hours, firing was heard in the distance to the northwest. Shortly afterwards the Americans reported that their outpost company at Koyang had been attacked and forced to withdraw. They also reported that their forward troops on the Rifles' left flank were in contact with small groups of the enemy.
This battle, which took place on 15 December 1899, was the third main British defeat by the Boers in five days and the culmination of a period known as 'Black Week'. Both the 1st Battalion The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, in 5 (Irish) Brigade* and the 2nd Battalion The Royal Irish Fusiliers were present at the Battle of Colenso, although the latter's role, as part of the reserve 6 (Fusilier) Brigade, was to detach four companies to escort artillery.
The Kings of Ava, since the latter part of the 18th century, had been rising to power over the petty chieftains around them and establishing an empire in what is now Burma. Their expansion brought them as far as the British possessions of Bengal and Chittagong. Attacks on British posts in September 1823 and January 1824 resulted in the Governor General India declaring war on the Kings of Ava on 24 February 1824. Major General Sir Archibald Campbell's expedition, the main of four attacking forces invading Burma, assembled in the Andaman Islands and sailed for Rangoon on 5 May 1824.
The Battle of Falkirk Muir saw Blakeney's Inniskillings, fighting the Jacobite Army of Bonnie Prince Charlie, The Young Pretender. The Inniskillings was one of the British Regiments of Foot of the Royal (Hanoverian) Army led by Lieutenant General Henry Hawley, Commander in Chief Scotland. Poor preparation, the Jacobite rout of the Hanoverian cavalry and loss of cannon spelt disaster for Hawley. The appalling weather added to the ferocity of the Jacobite Highlanders' advance which instilled panic in the Hanoverian lines.
The Battle of Gully Ravine began at 1045 hours on 28 June 1915 and became the scene of vicious and bloody fighting as the Turks began a series of counterattacks on the night of 1–2 July. Two soldiers of the 1st Battalion, the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, Captain Gerald O'Sullivan and Serjeant James Somers, were awarded the Victoria Cross for recapturing a trench taken by the Turks during a counter-attack.
