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St Georges Day, 23 April 1951.
This was the first full day of fighting in the Battle of the Imjin River. The Chinese Spring Offensive now fell on the British 29 Independent Infantry Brigade whose infantry included the 1st Battalion The Royal Ulster Rifles, the 1st Battalion The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers, the 1st Battalion The Gloucestershire Regiment and the Belgian UN Command (with its Independent Belgian Battalion north of the Imjin).
Both sides claimed victory but the Germans never again attempted to send a fleet out to engage the British fleet, concentrating instead on submarine warfare.
As part of the Allied spring offensive of 1915, the British IV Corps and the Indian Corps attacked with the aim of taking the village of Neuve-Chapelle, and the high ground beyond, while the French attacked the German positions on Vimy Ridge. The battle began on 10 March 1915 and the preliminary bombardment, which lasted thirty-five minutes, was the most intense British artillery bombardment of the war to date.
Elements of James II’s Jacobite Army had laid siege to Crom Castle just outside Enniskillen. It was owned by Colonel Abraham Creighton, an ancestor of Earl Erne of the current Crom Castle (the original having been destroyed in a fire in 1764). The first Jacobite siege in early 1689 against the castle was led by Lord Galmoy and then defeated by a relieving force commanded by Enniskillen’s Governor, Gustavus Hamilton.
During July 1917, the 1st Battalion The Royal Irish Rifles had been preparing for the battle of Pilckem Ridge. This would, on 31 July, be one of the opening battles of Passchendaele, a campaign also known as the Third Battle of Ypres. On 30 July 1917, the Battalion began its 8-mile approach march to the start line for the battle. The Adjutant, Captain (later Brigadier) Whitfeld, described that march:
(Above, looking north from Hill 60. In the middle distance are W Hills, Green Hill, Chocolate Hill, Salt Lake and Lala Baba near the beach. Between and behind the first two is Scimitar Hill)(© IWM (Q 14458)).
The following is an extract from 'History of The Royal Irish Rifles', by Lieutenant Colonel George Brenton Laurie, and is an account of the 2nd Battalion The Royal Irish Rifles at the Battle of Stormberg on 10 December 1899, during what was described as 'Black Week' in the opening actions of the Boer War.
During the Cyprus EOKA Emergency, at Liopetri village, around 0200 hours on 1 September 1958, gunmen opened fire with automatic weapons on elements of the 1st Battalion The Royal Ulster Rifles. The gunmen were experienced Greek-Cypriot fighters from EOKA (Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston/National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters), at that time engaged in a campaign of terrorism, their aim being independence from Britain and the eventual 'union' (Ένωσις/Enosis) of Cyprus with Greece.
In December 1944, Adolph Hitler attempted to split the Allied armies in northwest Europe by means of a surprise attack through the Ardennes to Antwerp. The Battle of the Bulge (16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945) was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during the Second World War. It failed in its attempt to split the Allied advance to the Rhine, especially when the weather cleared and allowed the Allied Air Force, with its overwhelming air superiority, to attack and destroy the advancing German armoured columns.
Sir Alan Patrick Herbert CH, (1890-1971) served with the Hawke Battalion of the Royal Naval Division. The 36th (Ulster) Division's 108 Brigade had tried to capture the Ancre Heights on 1 July 1916. At the end of the Battle of the Somme in November 1916, at the fourth attempt to capture this German stronghold, the Royal Naval Division succeeded. The Dead of those attacks lie in Ancre Cemetery. His poem dedicated to their memory was published in 1917.
