It should leave no one surprised when I say that the history between Ireland and England is very
tattered to say the least. With spats of violence between the two dating back to the 18th century,
whole generations were brought up with a learned bitterness toward the other side,
and when World War 2 eventually took the globe by storm, Ireland had in 1922, only just gained
her independence from British rule and was in no mood to be fighting any wars nor in a mood
to help the British at any length, and thus stayed neutral. With that said, as the German Blitzkrieg
devastated Western Europe and was knocking on the door of the British Isles, many Irish
men put aside their qualms with the British to fight a fight they deemed of greater ideological
importance. However unlike the rest of the men who fought, these Irish soldiers didn’t come home
heralded as heroes for defeating Nazi Germany and were largely condemned by their own people.
Now first things first, I think it’s always good to give context, and context is especially
important here. As previously stated, the Irish and British have a bloody history
and that seed was passed on through generations, especially Irish generations, who came to despise
their British rulers. Inspired in 1798 by both the French and American revolutions,
the Irish had a crack at the British as well, only to be obliterated by British Forces, who were
already agitated by their defeat to the Americans only 20 years earlier. Despite the extraordinarily
high casualty rates the Irish incurred in their first rebellion, they tried again, albeit on a
much smaller scale, in 1803, where once again, the desperate bid for independence failed.
In 1916, the easter rising took place, where you guessed it, on easter
another big attempt was mounted by Irish rebels to kick the brits out of the country.
Once again, however, the British contained it and the Irish leaders were executed for their
part in the plot. The Brits however were starting to wane, and their forces were
being heavily depleted in the great war. By January 1919, just after the war had finished,
the Irish capitalised on weakened British morale and manpower and their sights were
set on making the crown finally bend the knee and allow Ireland their freedom.
After 2 years and a half years and a series of bloody engagements between the Irish and Brits,
the Irish, for the first time in any of the rebellions had a decisive upper hand,
and forced the English Government to relent and sign the Anglo-Irish treaty that ensured Ireland
their freedom from Britain. After a year or so of more fighting in the form of the Irish civil war,
the Irish finally set up a Government and began their journey as a newly independent state.
Although they were finally free from British rule, that didn’t stem the fact that the years
and years of war, violence and oppression still had a profound affect on the Irishmen,
many of whom continued to despise the English. In addition to this,
the existence of Northern Ireland still really pissed off a lot of the Catholic Nationalists
who believed that the Loyalist protestants in the North should be forced to join the rest
of Ireland. Although violence over Northern Ireland didn’t start until the late 1960’s,
tensions were still very much alive at the advent of World War 2.
Despite this tarnished history however, as we discussed at the beginning of this video,
many Irish ended up leaving Ireland to fight the Germans and were labelled deserters by their
own Government. The most notable fighting unit composed of Irish men was the 38th Irish Brigade,
which included battalions that fought in the battle of France, the North African campaign,
D-day, the Italian campaign and into the battle of Berlin.
Although a lot of these men who signed up fighting were protestant Irish,
there were many more who were catholic as well and it was noted that their fighting
spirit was particularly strong and fierce when they fought under a united Irish banner,
hence why they were grouped together separate to the British.
Churchill himself at one point even recommended to the war cabinet that there should be a separate
Irish wing in the RAF, and encouraged the men to choose Dublin born and Catholic RAF pilot ace,
Paddy Finucane, to be its head. This plan however, ultimately fell through, and Paddy
Finucane was killed in 1942 after his Spitfire was damaged and he unsuccessfully tried to navigate
back to England. His brother Raymond, who was also a pilot for the RAF, survived the war.
All in all, a minimum estimate of how many Irish citizens signed up for the war is 42,665,
although some claims estimate the figure to have been as high as 66,000.
Approximately 8000 served in the commissioned ranks and essentially became British officers,
seemingly forgetting that most of their country still didn’t really like the British.
Although the neutral Government at the time did turn a blind eye
to the many Catholic and Protestant men who left for England to fight,
their welcome home still wasn’t a warm one. It was only 20 years since Ireland had won
its independence from England and the wounds were still fresh. Many Irish still condemned
the war crimes perpetrated by England in their feud filled history and Gerald Morgan,
the Professor for History at Trinity College in Dublin estimates that at the time of World war 2,
60% of the population expected or indeed hoped the Germans would win.
Although there was a stigma against some of the civilians who went to England to fight,
what was much worse was the treatment of the 5000 soldiers in the neutral
Irish army who deserted their ranks to offer their services unto the brits.
Irish ww2 veterans who deserted their posts in the Irish army were subject to extremely harsh
treatment not only by certain British hating residents, but also their own Government.
The men who deserted the army were pretty much
treated as outcasts upon their arrival home. They were formally dismissed from the Irish army,
stripped of all pay and pension rights and prevented them from finding work
by banning the men from any employment paid for by state or Government funds.
The Irish Government drew up a list of their names and addresses and circulated them to
every Government department, ensuring many of these men would go unemployed.
It was even referred to by the Irish parliament at the time as the starvation order, and for many
families, that became a reality. If they even had jobs to begin with, many of the blacklisted men
were stuck doing menial jobs like turnip picking which they were extremely overqualified for.
In many cases, the men realised there was no future for them in Ireland. Their Government
disowned them, many civilians detested them and gave them the cold shoulder and they were sapped
of any and all opportunities. This led many of the men to simply go back to England and
sever ties with their home country for good. That said, there were still contingents of men whose
home was still Ireland and were not willing to move. These were the men who were hit hardest,
and the stigma persisted for decades to come. One such veteran who took part in the D-Day landings
and the liberation of concentration camps, Phil Farrington, stated that he wore his medals in
secret and genuinely feared he’d eventually be arrested and imprisoned again for his war
time service, as many of the returning Irishmen actually were on their immediate return in 1945.
Farrington was just one of hundreds of men who were greatly impacted by the social
and thus psychological stigma of that came with deserting the Irish army for the British one.
It wasn’t until May 2013 where the Irish Parliament finally apologised
and passed a legislation pardoning the 5000 Irish soldiers who became English soldiers in WW2.