Quote Originally Posted by Luis Anaconda View Post
Ireland being neutral in the war meant I had no relatives who fought in the wars. Though it was rumoured that my paternal grandfather volunteered for the army - no one says on which side though
As an integral part of the UK, they weren't neutral in WW1, LA, even if we didn't bring in conscription there in the hope of avoiding a civil war - lol, that worked well.

But the regular army regiments - eg the Connaught Rangers who fielded 6 btns and lost 2.5k officers and men - did fight, and kept getting a few additional volunteers to make up some of the lost.

I've been to the grave of the Irish Nationalist leader and MP, Redmond, in Flanders.

In Goodbye to all That, Graves said that when his Royal Welch took over a trench and the Hun opposite shouted across "Vot regiment, Tommy", one of them would shout back "the Oirish Guards" inferring said Paddy Guards were the elite of the home countries units.