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London Irish Rifles 1st Battalion, London Irish Rifles 2nd Battalion, London Irish Rifles 27th Sep 1940 Aircraft Downed 4th Nov 1940 Reliefs 26th Jul 1942 Orders 27th Jul 1942 In Action 29th Jul 1942 Intelligence 9th Sep 1943 Into Port 12th Sep 1942 On the Move 15th Sep 1942 Traditions 24th Sep 1942 On the Move 25th Sep 1942 Into Port 27th Sep 1942 Reorganisation 28th Sep 1942 Route March 29th Sep 1942 On the Move 3rd Oct 1942 Convoy 17th Oct 1942 Into Port 22nd Oct 1942 Leave 24th Oct 1942 Leave 25th Oct 1942 Reorganisation 25th Oct 1942 On the Move 30th Oct 1942 On the Move 31st Oct 1942 On the Move 1st Dec 1942 Concentration 2nd Dec 1942 Working Parties 3rd Dec 1942 Working Parties 4th Dec 1942 Working Parties 6th Dec 1942 On the Move 7th Dec 1942 On the Move 8th Dec 1942 On the Move 9th Dec 1942 Defensive Positions 10th Dec 1942 Recce 11th Dec 1942 Patrols 12th Dec 1942 Casualties 13th Dec 1942 Platoon in Reserve 14th Dec 1942 Platoon in Reserve 17th Dec 1942 Visit 18th Dec 1942 On the Move 18th Dec 1942 Patrol Sucessful 20th Dec 1942 Enemy Aircraft 21st Dec 1942 Conference 21st Dec 1942 Recce 22nd Dec 1942 On the Move 24th Dec 1942 On the Move 25th Dec 1942 Reliefs 25th Dec 1942 Observation Post 26th Dec 1942 Attack Made 27th Dec 1942 Parachutists 28th Dec 1942 Orders 28th Dec 1942 Enemy Active 29th Dec 1942 On the Move 30th Dec 1942 Move 30th Dec 1942 Stand by 31st Dec 1942 Newsletter 31st Dec 1942 Supplies 1st Jan 1943 Aircraft Downed 2nd Jan 1943 Patrols 2nd Jan 1943 Patrols 3rd Jan 1943 Patrols 3rd Jan 1943 Patrols 4th Jan 1943 Patrols 4th Jan 1943 Patrols 5th Jan 1943 Contact 5th Jan 1943 Under Fire 6th Jan 1943 Enemy Aircraft 6th Jan 1943 Enemy Aircraft 7th Jan 1943 Patrols 7th Jan 1943 Patrols 8th Jan 1943 Conference 9th Jan 1943 Patrols 10th Jan 1943 Reliefs 1st Feb 1943 Move 2nd Feb 1943 Move 3rd Feb 1943 Patrols 4th Feb 1943 Patrols 5th Feb 1943 Air Raid 6th Feb 1943 Patrols 7th Feb 1943 Patrols 8th Feb 1943 Dive Bombers 9th Feb 1943 Air Raid 10th Feb 1943 Missing Man 11th Feb 1943 Reorganisation 12th Feb 1943 Air Raid 13th Feb 1943 On the Move 14th Feb 1943 Patrols 15th Feb 1943 Patrols 16th Feb 1943 Patrol 17th Feb 1943 Ambush Patrol 18th Feb 1943 Patrols 19th Feb 1943 Patrol 20th Feb 1943 Shots Fired 21st Feb 1943 Patrols 22nd Feb 1943 Air Raid 23rd Feb 1943 Patrols 24th Feb 1943 Contact 25th Feb 1943 Air Raid 26th Feb 1943 Attack 27th Feb 1943 In Action 28th Feb 1943 Air Raid 1st Apr 1943 Reinforcements 1st Apr 1943 On the Move 2nd Apr 1943 Reinforcements 2nd Apr 1943 On the Move 3rd Apr 1943 Exercise 3rd Apr 1943 On the Move 4th Apr 1943 Departures 4th Apr 1943 Sandstorm 5th Apr 1943 On the Move 7th Apr 1943 Reinforcements 8th Apr 1943 Training 9th Apr 1943 Training 10th Apr 1943 In Action 12th Apr 1943 Training 13th Apr 1943 Orders 14th Apr 1943 On the Move 14th Apr 1943 Orders 15th Apr 1943 Reliefs 16th Apr 1943 Shelling 16th Apr 1943 On the Move 17th Apr 1943 Shelling 17th Apr 1943 Advance 18th Apr 1943 Shelling 18th Apr 1943 Difficult Conditions 19th Apr 1943 Shelling 20th Apr 1943 Shelling 21st Apr 1943 Shelling 22nd Apr 1943 Patrols Out 22nd Apr 1943 Attack Made 22nd Apr 1943 Plan 23rd Apr 1943 Untenable 23rd Apr 1943 In Action 23rd Apr 1943 Attack Launched 24th Apr 1943 Night Patrols 24th Apr 1943 In Action 24th Apr 1943 Attack Made 25th Apr 1943 Advance 25th Apr 1943 In Action 25th Apr 1943 Positions Strengthened 26th Apr 1943 Advance 26th Apr 1943 Advance 26th Apr 1943 Attack Made 27th Apr 1943 Prisoners 28th Apr 1943 Ground Retaken 28th Apr 1943 Shelling 29th Apr 1943 Preparations 30th Apr 1943 Recce 30th Apr 1943 Patrols 22nd Jun 1943 On the Move 26th June 1943 Move 6th Jul 1943 On the Move 31st Jul 1943 Under Fire 6th Oct 1943 In Action 6th Oct 1943 Attack Made 24th Oct 1943 Attack Made 26th Oct 1943 Reliefs 6th Dec 1943 Reliefs 1st Jan 1944 Standing Patrols 2nd Jan 1944 Patrols 3rd Jan 1944 Patrols 4th Jan 1944 Contact 5th Jan 1944 Snow 6th Jan 1944 Snow 7th Jan 1944 Patrols 8th Jan 1944 Road Cleared 9th Jan 1944 Convoy Returns 10th Jan 1944 Moves 11th Jan 1944 Recce 12th Jan 1944 Recce 13th Jan 1944 Patrols 14th Jan 1944 Orders 15th Jan 1944 Patrols 16th Jan 1944 Shelling 17th Jan 1944 Patrols 18th Jan 1944 Patrols 19th Jan 1944 Raid 19th Jan 1944 Attack 20th Jan 1944 Conference 21st Jan 1944 Patrols 22nd Jan 1944 Observation 23rd Jan 1944 Battle Patrol 24th Jan 1944 MT Convoy 25th Jan 1944 MT Convoy 26th Jan 1944 On the Move 27th Jan 1944 At Rest 1st February 1944 Reliefs 4th February 1944 All Units Arrived 8th February 1944 Training 16th February 1944 Location Statement 18th February 1944 Address 24th February 1944 Training and recreation. 25th February 1944 Sports 28th February 1944  2nd March 1944  8th March 1944 Training 11th March 1944 Training 14th March 1944 Divison Conference 20th March 1944 Training 21st March 1944 Training and Divisional confrerence 22nd March 1944 On the move 23rd March 1944 Relief completed 24th March 1944 Reliefs 26th March 1944 Status report 27th March 1944 Change of Sector Control 29th March 1944 Situation report 30th March 1944 Situation report 31st March 1944 Situation report 1st Apr 1944 Shelling 2nd Apr 1944 Shelling 3rd Apr 1944 Shelling 4th Apr 1944 Communication 5th Apr 1944 Under Fire 6th Apr 1944 Shelling 7th Apr 1944 Shelling 8th Apr 1944 Transport Heard 9th Apr 1944 Contact 10th Apr 1944 Defences 11th Apr 1944 Enemy Active 12th Apr 1944 Relief Complete 13th Apr 1944 Shelling 14th Apr 1944 Heavy Rain 15th May 1944 Mortars 15th May 1944 Reliefs 16th May 1944 In Action 16th May 1944 Attack Made 16th May 1944 In Action 17th May 1944 Advance 17th May 1944 Attack Made 18th May 1944 Advance 18th May 1944 Advance 7th Aug 1944 On the Move If you can provide any additional information, especially on actions and locations at specific dates, please add it here. Those known to have served with London Irish Rifles during the Second World War 1939-1945. Lees Albert. 2/Lt Loughridge George. McCombe Thomas. Rifleman (d.1st Mar 1944) Nichols Arthur Stephen. Rflmn. Reid George. L/Cpl. Willis George Richard. Cpl. The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed, please Add a Name to this List Records of London Irish Rifles from other sources. The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website. Announcements 1st of September 2024 marks 25 years since the launch of the Wartime Memories Project. Thanks to everyone who has supported us over this time. The Wartime Memories Project has been running for 25 years. If you would like to support us, a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting and admin or this site will vanish from the web. 19th Nov 2024 - Please note we currently have a huge backlog of submitted material, our volunteers are working through this as quickly as possible and all names, stories and photos will be added to the site. If you have already submitted a story to the site and your UID reference number is higher than 264989 your information is still in the queue, please do not resubmit, we are working through them as quickly as possible. Looking for help with Family History Research?   Please read our Family History FAQs The free to access section of The Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers and funded by donations from our visitors. If the information here has been helpful or you have enjoyed reaching the stories please conside making a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting or this site will vanish from the web. If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation. Want to find out more about your relative's service? Want to know what life was like during the War? Our Library contains an ever growing number diary entries, personal letters and other documents, most transcribed into plain text. Wanted: Digital copies of Group photographs, Scrapbooks, Autograph books, photo albums, newspaper clippings, letters, postcards and ephemera relating to WW2. We would like to obtain digital copies of any documents or photographs relating to WW2 you may have at home. If you have any unwanted photographs, documents or items from the First or Second World War, please do not destroy them. The Wartime Memories Project will give them a good home and ensure that they are used for educational purposes. Please get in touch for the postal address, do not sent them to our PO Box as packages are not accepted. World War 1 One ww1 wwII second 1939 1945 battalion Did you know? We also have a section on The Great War. and a Timecapsule to preserve stories from other conflicts for future generations. Want to know more about London Irish Rifles? There are:1548 items tagged London Irish Rifles available in our Library   These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War. Cpl. George Richard "Dicky" Willis 2nd Btn. London Irish Rifles My father George Willis, never talked about his experiences during the war but I managed to glean some information from him and from my mother before they passed away. He joined up with friends from London on 19th of June 1940. They made the trip to Ballymena to sign on. After that he did his basic training and served with 2nd Battalion, London Irish Rifles. He saw action in North Africa. He was shot and badly injured at Bou Arada Tunisia on 26th of February 1943 when the Germans overran his position. He sustained machine gun wounds to his upper left leg. One round passing through his thigh and then through his lower right leg. He was attended by a German medic who undoubtedly saved his life. The medic stayed with him until the British counter attacked and drove the Germans back to where they had come from. My father was taken to a field hospital. After that he was sent back to the UK and spent long rehabilitation at Roehampton Hospital. His favourite memory of this place was being given a pint of stout each day. He was medically discharged on 30th of September 1943. Neil Willis Add to this record. Rifleman Thomas McCombe 1st Btn. London Irish Rifles (d.1st Mar 1944) Tommy McCombe served with 1st Btn. London Irish Rifles. Tom Add to this record. L/Cpl. George "Sandy" Reid London Irish Rifles My granddad, George Reid, fought in WW2 he was captured at Anzio Beach after been shot twice. He was in a prisoner of war camp for about 2 yrs Stalag 4b, I think. He was released after the war and walked back from the camp with other prisoners to get home to see his 2 yr old son Steven Reid Add to this record. 2/Lt Albert Lees London Irish Rifles My dad was a 2nd Lt in the London Irish Rifles, part of the 1st Army in North Africa. He was captured in 1942 and eventually ended up in Oflag 79. He died in 1962 and never talked about his war experiences. I remember a story about fattening up the camp cat to eat it - but someone got there first! Does anyone remember him? Jenny Ford Add to this record. George Loughridge 1st Btn. London Irish Rifles I served with the 1st Btn. London Irish Rifles and was captured at Anzio beach head on 16th February 1944. I arrived at Stalag 4b in the spring of 1944, and was sent out on an Arbeitskommando at Ripnitz Kalkworks and Sandquarry after about six months. From there our group of 20 men were evacuated in April 1945 and marched out with our German guards. Our Arbeitskommando was on this march for about three weeks. The guards took off, throwing their rifles into the bushes and ditches. I paired off with Pte. Lancaster of the Lancashire Fusiliers - as I recall, and we met up with the US troops that evening. George Loughridge Add to this record. Recomended Reading. Available at discounted prices.

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The free section of the Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers. We have been helping people find out more about their relatives wartime experiences since 1999 by recording and preserving recollections, documents, photographs and small items. The website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions. If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running. Hosted by: The Wartime Memories Project Website is archived for preservation by the British Library Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV - All Rights Reserved We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.