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5 (V) R IRISH, commanded by Lt Col J A Creaney TD, attended the first Annual Camp at Garelochhead Training Camp from 18 August - 1 September 1972 with the second week culminating in Exercise HIGHLAND FLING.
The Chief of the General Staff, General Sir John Chapple GCB CBE ADC Gen, had directed that amalgamating regiments could bestow on their Territorial Army battalions the distinction of carrying forward their former regiments' titles, customs and traditions. The 5th (Volunteer) Battalion The Royal Irish Rangers was retitled 5th Battalion The Royal Irish Rangers (Volunteers). The abbreviated title changed from 5(V) R IRISH to 5 RANGERS and the battalion retained the Royal Irish Rangers capbadge.
5 RANGERS, commanded by Lt Col R G Rowe R IRISH, attended the Battalion's final Annual Camp at Sennybridge Training Area, Wales from 9-25 October 1992.
5 (V) R IRISH re-roled as a NATO Reinforcement Battalion in April 1978*.
*Exact date in April not yet discovered.
The 5th and the 6th Battalion The Royal Irish Fusiliers, with 31 Brigade in Lemnos recovering from recent action on the Gallipoli front, were embarked for the 10th (Irish) Division’s deployment to Salonika and arrived complete, after some delays, in Salonika by late October.
Operation VARSITY
Symbols overlaid on modern map. E38 Autobahn is an example of post - Second World War feature.
Arriving from Egypt at Marseilles on 1 June 1918, the 6th Inniskillings entrained on 2 June and arrived around 2300 hours on 6 June at Berguette, east of Boulogne, before marching to tented encampment at Le Pire (Lillers). On 17 June the Battalion marched on via various locations, engaging daily in training for the front, before arriving at Martin Eglise on 15 July. The months of July and August were spent in battalion, brigade and divisional-level training at Martin Eglise.
From 15 March 1917, the 6th Battalion The Royal Irish Rifles was in the Struma Valley at Elisan, in support of the right of the Brigade's frontage, with outposts at Kumli and Barakli on the Belica Stream. On 31 March, the Battalion was ordered to conduct reconnaissance forward of Kumli with the aim of establishing a new line that would serve as a bridgehead over the stream. By 24 March, new positions were constructed without opposition and these allowed the Rifles to scout forward. One of the posts was attacked on 28 March, but withdrew in good order to the Battalion's piquet line.
The 6th Battalion The Royal Irish Rifles (6 RIR) was amongst the first units of the 10th (Irish) Division to arrive in Salonika from Gallipoli on 5 October 1915. By the end of October the Battalion's transport had arrived and soon its parent Brigade, 29 Brigade, began the move forward to the front. On 13 November, 6 RIR entrained at Salonika and travelled along the single-track line and after 50 miles detrained some ten or eleven hours later that night at Dorian.
On the day following the 6th Battalion The Royal Irish Rifles' defeat by the Turks on the hill feature Chunuk Bair, during the Battle of Sari Bair, the Battalion was relieved. When it moved to a rest area in a gorge north of Bauchop's Hill, its strength was less than 300 all ranks. From the 11-16 August 1915, the Battalion remained in close support and suffered greatly from lack of water and a plague of flies.
