The 2nd Battalion Royal Ulster Rifles And

Famous Irish Regiments

1689 1968

The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers

Battle honours

On the Regimental Colour: Martinique 1762, Havannah, St Lucia 1778, 1796 Maida, Badajoz, Salamanca, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Orthes, Toulouse, Peninsula, Waterloo, South Africa 1835, 1846 - 47, Central India, Relief of Ladysmith, South Africa 1899 - 1902. On the Queen's Colour: Le Cateau, Somme 1916, 1918, Ypres 1917, 1918 St. Quentin, Hindenburg Line, France & Flanders 1914 - 18, Macedonia 1915 - 17, Landing at Hells, Gallipoli 1915 -16, Palestine 1917 - 18, North West Europe 1940, Djebel Tanngoucha, North Africa 1942 - 43, Centuripe, Sicily 1943, Garigliano Crossing, Cassino II, Italy 1943 -45, Yenangyaung 1942, Burma 1942 43. Battle Honours not borne on the Colours: Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914, Aisne 1914, Messines 1914, 1917 Armentieres 1914, Aubers, Festubert 1915, Albert 1916, Bazentin, Guillemont, Ginchy, Ancre 1916, Arras 1917, Scarpe 1917, Pilckem, Langemarck 1917, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde, Poel Capelle, Cambrai 1917, 1918, Rosieres, Beaurevoir, Courtrai, Selle, Sambre, Kosturino, Struma, Helles, Krithia, Suvla, Landing at Suvla, Scimitar Hill, Egypt 1916, Gaza, Jerusalem, Tel Azur, Defence of Arras, Ypres-Comines Canal, Two Tree Hill, Bou Arada, Qued Zarga, Djebel El Mahdi, Landing in Sicily, Solarino, Simeto Bridgehead, Adrano, Simeto Crossing, Pursuit to Messina, Termoli, Trigno, Rome, Advance to the Tiber, Trasimene Line, Monte Spaduro, Argenta Gap, Middle East 1942, Donbaik.

regimental history

 ' Nec Aspera Terrent '

Difficulties Do Not Daunt Us

In 1688 the inhabitants of Enniskillen took up arms in defence of their town against the threat of attack by the forces of James II. The troops so raised, The Inniskillingers, Foot and Dragoons were not content to sit passively behind the walls of their town but made repeated expeditions into the surrounding district to seek out and destroy the enemy. So successful was this force it was incorporated into the army of William III, in which it the Foot became ' The Inniskilling Regiment. ' Its Colonel being Zachariah Tiffin, and as such fought at the Battle of the Boyne, in Ireland. Throughout King William's Irish campaign, from the Boyne to the fall of Limerick, the regiment, at times armed with nothing else than scythes and reaping hooks, fought with great bravery, earning the right to carry the badge of the Castle of Inniskilling flying the flag and Cross of St. George. The regiment was transferred to Scotland for employment during the Jacobite Rising of 1715-1716 and subsequently received permission to carry to carry the Horse of Hanover with motto on colours and appointments.

Six hundred members of the regiment set sail for the West Indies in 1739 and were engaged at Poto Bello. Such was the case during these type of postings that very few men ever returned home, either dying during battle or from disease. At the conclusion of this particular duty just nine men made the return journey. The Royal Warrant of 1751 abolished the old system of using its Colonel's name to identify a regiment and numbering according to seniority was adopted, thus the regiment became the 27th ( or Inniskilling ). During the Seven Years War 1756 - 1763, the Regiment fought against the French in North America and the West Indies. In 1778 it returned to North America to take part in the War of Independence, but as the result of the alliance formed by the French with the American colonists, it again found itself involved in numerous expeditions against the French West Indian possessions.

A typical battle scene from the American War of Independence. The irregular American forces under George Washington proved an equal match to the disciplined British forces.

The war with France came to an end in 1783 but broke out again ten years later and in 1796 the ' Twenty-seventh ' won one of its most prized battle-honours, ' St. Lucia, 1796, ' It left England in November 1795 as part of the expedition under the command of Sir Ralph Abercromby, but after a journey of seven weeks at sea was forced to return to Portsmouth through bad weather. After major work was carried out the fleet set sail again, reaching Barbados in April 1796. The Task at hand was to capture a strongly held hill called Morne on the landward side of the harbour at St. Lucia. It was a daunting task, as the hill was 900 feet high and defended by a force of 2,000 French colonial troops, under the command of French officers. The British force under the command of Brigadier, Sir John Moore landed in a bay just north of the harbour. They marched through thick jungle and occupied a nearby height so that their guns could bear on the French positions. Brigadier-General Moore led the Inniskillings against the enemy, storming the barricades and positions, and capturing the important citadel of St. Lucia. The action by the Inniskillings was mentioned in Sir Ralph Abercromby's general order:

' The behaviour of the Enniskillen Regiment of Infantry was so worthy of praise that it deserves the Commanding-in-Chief's highest approbation. To Col Gillman . .( commanding 27th ) the officers and men of that gallant regiment, he also returns his best thanks. '

We have seen how service abroad decimated the ranks of such fine regiments . The losses to the regiment from yellow fever were terrible. After the capture of Morne in 1796, Sir John Moore was left in charge of a force which amounted to 4,000 men. Approximately five months later the force was reduced to 1,000 men fit for duty, and 1,000 sick. The campaign in St. Lucia was costly. It is estimated that between 1793 and 1796 the campaign had resulted in the loss of 80,000 soldiers to the army, of which 40,000 had actually died. In 1794 men were dying at a rate of 300 a month, due to disease, poor living conditions and food. page being constructed