1st Inniskillings from Crete to Malta

On 12 February 1907, the 2nd Battalion The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers departed Belfast, Ireland, for Crete, landing at Candida on 24 February. The Battalion HQ was stationed there with a detachment deployed to Canea. The garrison was for twelve months and the Battalion then moved to Malta where it arrived on 5 February 1908.

The following year, on 10 May 1909, some five years before the First World War, the 1st Inniskillings were on parade for the street lining of Valletta during the visit of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and his wife. Afterwards, the Duke of Connaught , who was the Field Marshal Commanding in Chief and High Commissioner Mediterranean, passed the Kaiser’s thanks through the Malta Command Orders saying that he:

… has been requested by Field Marshal, his Imperial Majesty the German Emperor, to express his appreciation of the smart appearance and steadiness of the troops who lined the streets on the 10th inst. : and of the guard of Honour in attendance on his Imperial Majesty. It was a great satisfaction to the German Emperor to see the British army so well represented.