London Irish at Cassino
80 years ago today. Official caption: 17 May 1944. “Italy, Fighting around Cassino. A 17-pounder anti-tank gun with part of its protection troop entrenched under the barrel. The men are left to right, L/Cpl McCluskey of Belfast, Rfn Nelson of County Down, and LCpl Kerr of County Tyrone. 2nd Battalion, London Irish Rifles.”
Taken by Capt. Richard Felix Gade, No. 2 Army Film and Photo Section, Army Film and Photographic Unit. IWM NA 15075
Note the M4 Sherman medium tank as well as the Bren gun at the ready in addition to the Ordnance QF 17-pounder.
First fielded in 1943 on the push towards Tunisia to dispatch the Afrika Korps, the 3-inch gun was rushed to serve under the codename Phesant to counter the armor on increasingly heavy German panzers. As such, it replaced the woefully inadequate 57mm QF 6-pounder. However, as it was only able to penetrate 163mm of armor at 500 meters, the 17 pdr was soon replaced after the war by the 120mm BAT recoilless rifle in its anti-tank role.
As for 2 Bn, LIR, the unit dates back to 1916 and landed in France for the Great War as part of the 60th (London) Division, formed from London Irish. Disbanded after WWI, it was stood back up in 1939 initially as part of 6th Armoured Division and later within the 78th (Battleaxe) Division, seeing much combat in Italy including battle honors earned at “Lentini, Simeto Bridgehead, Adrano, Centuripe, Salso Crossing, Simeto Crossing, Malleto, Pursuit to Messina, Sicily 1943, Termoli, Trigno, Sangro, Fossacesia, Teano, Monte Camino, Calabritto, Carigliano Crossing, Damiano, Anzio, Carroceto, Cassino II, Casa Sinagogga, Liri Valley, Trasimene Line, Sanfatucchio, Coriano, Croce, Senio Floodbank, Rimini Line, Ceriano Ridge, Monte Spaduro, Monte Grande, Valli di Commacchio, and Argenta Gap,” then serving as a garrison in occupied Austria postwar.
The British Army in Italy 1945 Infantry of 17 Platoon, ‘H’ Company, 2nd London Irish Rifles move forward through barbed wire defenses on their way to attack a German strongpoint on the southern bank of the River Senio, 22 March 1945. Menzies (Sgt), No 2 Army Film & Photographic Unit IWM NA 23238
Late 20th Century amalgamations saw the LIR folded into the Royal Ulster Rifles, then the Royal Irish Rangers, and finally to The London Regiment, based in Camberwell since 2000 and has seen much recent service in Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Cyprus in the past quarter century.