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The Dublin Fusiliers

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Sung By: Johnny Mc.Evoy
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The regiment was created on 1 July 1881 due to Childers reforms by the amalgamation of the 102nd Regiment of Foot (Royal Madras Fusiliers) and the 103rd Regiment of Foot (Royal Bombay Fusiliers) -- who had been in the service of the East India Company until they were transferred to the British Army in 1862 -- to form the 1st and 2nd Battalions, The Royal Dublin Fusiliers. It became the county regiment of Dublin and Kildare in Ireland
First World War
The First World War began in August. and the British Empire declared war on Germany after it invaded Belgium. The Regiment raised 6 battalions during the war (11 in total), serving on the Western Front, Gallipoli, Middle East and Salonika. The Dublin Fusiliers received 3 Victoria Crosses (VC), the highest award for bravery in the face of the enemy, and was also awarded 48 Battle Honours and 5 Theatre Honours. The Regiment lost just over 4,700 killed and thousands wounded during the war.
The Western Front
The 2nd Dublins arrived in France in the month war was declared as part of 10th Brigade, 4th Division. The Division was part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), the professionals of the old regular army, known as the 'Old Contemptibles' after a comment made by the German Kaiser. The 2nd Dublins took part in the retreat from Mons, taking part in their first engagement on 26 August at Le Cateau that helped delay the German advance towards Paris, inflicting such heavy casualties that the Germans thought they faced more machine-guns than they actually did. The BEF then resumed their retreat, but many men, including from the Dublin Fusiliers, were stranded behind German lines, many of whom were taken prisoner by the Germans. The Battalion, badly depleted, later took part in the Battle of the Marne (5-9 September) that finally halted the German advance just on the outskirts of Paris, forcing the Germans to retreat to the Aisne. There, the 2nd Dublins took part in the Battle of the Aisne and later took part in
their last major engagement of the war, at the Battle of Armentiéres, which began on 13 October and ended on 2 November.
The 2nd Dublins took part in all but one of the subsidiary battles during Second Ypres that took place between 22 April-24 May 1915. The Battalion suffered heavily at the Battle of St Julien, the second subsidiary battle, incurring hundreds of casualties. They had no respite, taking part in the next two subsidiary battles at Frezenburg and Bellewaarde. On 24 May the Battalion was subject to a German poison gas attack near St Julien and effectively disintegrated as a fighting unit. The British at that time had no defences against gas attack, indeed the large-scale use of gas by the Germans on the Western Front had begun at Second Ypres. The 2nd Dublins Commanding Officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Loveband of Naas, died the following day. The Battalion did not take part in any more major battles for the rest of the year.
The 8th and 9th Dublins, who had arrived in France in December 1915 as part of 48th Brigade of the 16th (Irish) Division, were also subject to a German gas attack at the Battle of Hulluch, near Loos, on 27 April 1916, suffering heavy casualties. There had been trouble at home that month in Dublin when the Easter Rising had taken place though, in spite of this, the Dublin Fusiliers still performed with dedication to their duty. The British launched the Somme offensive on 1 July and the 1st and 2nd Dublins took part in the First Day of the Somme that saw the British forces sustain horrific casualties, some 60,000, about 20,000 of which were killed. The 8th and 9th Dublins took part in their first major battle during the Somme Offensive, taking part in the capture of Ginchy on 9 September. The Dublins also took part in the last major battle of the offensive, at the Ancre that took place between 13-18 November. The Dublins, once again, had suffered large numbers of casualties during the Somme offensive.

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