Posts Tagged ‘Second World War’
Thanksgiving service to be held to mark 80th anniversary of the Liberation of Rome
Cathedral Church of St Michael & St George Cardinal Nichols has authorised a thanksgiving service to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Rome to be held at the Military Cathedral Church of St Michael & St George in Aldershot at 11.30 on Saturday 15 June. The Cathedral Church of St Michael and St George serves…
Read MoreCharlie Lawson shares the story of his lost uncle with the We Have Ways podcast
UK actor Charlie Lawson shared the story of his uncle Royal Irish Fusiliers lieutenant John Glennie with James Holland and Al Murray in the popular weekly We Have Ways of Making You Talk Second World War podcast. John Glennie was killed in the Irish Brigade’s failed attack against German lines on the river Trigno north…
Read MoreRemembering great Italian escape of 1943-44
Tens of thousands of Allied prisoners of war fled from camps in Italy following the announcement of the armistice that took Rome out of the war in September 1943. Their story and the role played in it by Italians who provided them with food and shelter is being preserved in the work of the Monte…
Read MoreHow Operation Husky in July 1943 made Overlord possible in June 1944
Allied commanders of Operation Husky in Tunisia in 1943. Commander-in-chief General Dwight Eisenhower (left), Air Commander-in-chief Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder (second left) and General Montgomery (not in the picture) were commanders in Operation Overlord. General Harold Alexander, land forces commander in Husky (second right), remained in Italy. (© IWM CNA 1075) AT a…
Read MoreThe December 1941 Arcadia conference and the Irish Brigade
On 13 December 1941, a Royal Navy convoy comprising the battleship HMS Duke of York and three destroyers set sail for America from the River Clyde. The Duke of York was taking UK prime minister Winston Churchill on a tryst with destiny in Washington and a conference with US president Roosevelt. America had been Britain’s…
Read MoreCatania conference to commemorate Sicily campaign
A two-day conference is to be held in Catania next summer to mark the 80th anniversary of Allied landings in Sicily in July 1943. It will be one of a series of events on the island that will highlight a turning point in the history of Italy and Europe. The Sicily 1943: Peace, Security &…
Read MoreFusilier Edward Graham – From County Durham to Maletto in Sicily.
We are absolutely honoured to confirm that a re-dedication ceremony for Fusilier Edward Graham will take place at Catania CWGC cemetery on Wednesday 4th October 2017. After years of exhaustive research undertaken by Fusilier Graham’s twin sons, Edward and Sydney, they recently learnt that the CWGC and the MoD have confirmed that the “Known Unto…
Read MoreThe Irishmen who fought at Cassino
More than 100,000 men from the island of Ireland served with the Allied Forces during the Second World War. When the 38th (Irish) Infantry Brigade was formed in early 1942, a significant number of the men serving within its three constituent infantry battalions were either Irish born or had direct ancestry connections to Ireland. Brigadier…
Read MoreLondon Irishman Charles Ward remembers the events of 1939
On 18 October 1939, three 20-year old men reported to Liverpool Street train station to respond to call up papers for them to join the British Army. They were met on the station concourse that morning by Captain Colin Gibbs, then Adjutant of the 2nd Battalion, London Irish Rifles (2 LIR), who duly witnessed the attestation…
Read MoreHow the Irish Brigade crossed the Salso in 1943
Following the capture of Centuripe, the Irish Brigade pressed forward but were hampered by craters in the road down to the Salso river. Due to these delays, plans were made to attack across the river on the afternoon of 4th August and, despite some opposition, a bridgehead was secured by 430pm. The view northwards from…
Read More