The Corps were now camped outside Son while the Royal Engineers built a Bailey bridge so that the Corps could cross the Wilhemina canal and advance to Nimegen. The Bridge was completed the following day.

Later that day the Guards Division, led by the Irish Guards, reached Nijmegen where the 82nd Airborne Division was located. Their advance had to be halted, for the 82nd had not taken the Bridge as intended. The bridge wa finally captured in the evening of the 20th. On the 21st, the British Paras at Arnhem, heavily outnumbered and outgunned had to surrender on the 21st, after many days fighting that saw true heroism and courage, XXX Corps had been just an hour from the bridge at Arnhem but had to wait for the arrival of 43rd Infantry Division. Further fighting took place until the 25th. it was at times a truly tragic campaign. The Irish Guards saw further action in Holland until they were finally part of the advance towards and into Germany. The Guards saw action during the Rhineland Campaign. On the 21st of April at a village known as ' Wistdedt ' in Northern Germany, Guardsman Charlton of the 2nd Irish Guards, was a co-driver of a tank during the capture of the village by a small number of the Irish Guards. The germans soon attempted to re-take the village with numerically superior forces, which largely consisted of officer cadets under the command of their very experienced instructor officers as well as two or three self-propelled guns. Three of the four tanks of the small Irish Guards force were badly hit, the fourth ( Charlton's ) being disabled by a complete electrical failure before the action started. When the tank was disabled, Guardsman Charlton was ordered to dismount the turret 0.50 Browning machine gun and support the infantry. Charlton, as the Irish Guards became increasingly in danger of being over-run by the Germans, took the machine gun from his disabled tank and advanced in full view of the attacking Germans, firing and inflicting heavy casualties on them, halting the lead company and allowing the rest of the Guards time to reorganise and retire.

He continued his attack, even when he was wounded. Charlton, now with just one arm, carried on firing until he collapsed from a further wound and loss of blood. His courageous and selfless disregard for his own safety helped most of the Irish Guards to escape capture. He later died of wounds he had received. He was awarded the postumous Victoria Cross. It was the last Victoria Cross of the European Theatre, and the last so far of the Irish Guards. Unuasually most of the citation was based on German accounts of the fight as most of his later actions were not witnessed by any Guards Officers or surviving non-commissioned officers

Guardsman Edward Charlton VC, Born 15th June 1920

' On the morning of the 21st April 1945, Guardsman Charlton was co-driver in one tank of a troop, which , with a platoon of infantry seized the village of Wistedt. Shortly afterwards the enemey attacked this position under cover of an artillery concentration of great strength, comprising as it later transpired, a battlaion of the 15th Panzer Grenadiers, supported by six self propelled guns. All the tanks including Guardsman Charlton's were hit; the infantry were hard pressed and in danger of being over-run. Thereupon, entirely on hos own initiative Guardsman Charlton decided to counter attack the enemy. Quickly recovering the Browning from his damaged tank, he advanced up the road in full view of the enemy firing from the hip. Such was the boldness of his attack and the intensity of his fire that he halted the leading enemy company, inflicting heavy casualties on them. This effort at the same time brought much needed relief to our own infantry.
For ten minutes Guardsman Charlton fired in this manner until wounded in the left arm. Immediately, despite intense enemy fire , he mounted his machine gun on a nearby fence which he used to support his wounded left arm.
He stood firing for another ten minutes until he was again hit in the left arm which fell away shattered and useless.
Although twice wounded and suffering from loss of blood, Guardsman Charlton again lifted his machine gun on to the fence, now only having one arm with hich to fire and reload. Nevertheless he still continued to inflict casualties on the enemy, until finally he was hit for the third time and collapsed. He died later of his wounds, in enemy hands. The heroism and determination of this Guardsman in his self imposed task were beyond all praise. Even his German captors were amazed at his valour. Guardsman Charlton's courageous and self-sacrificing action not only inflicted extremely heavy casualties on the enemy and retrieved his comrades froma desperate situation, but also enabled the position to be speedily recaptured.

Edward is buried at the British Military Cemetary
South of Soltau near Becklingen. He was 24 years old.

In March 1943 the 1st Irish Guards, who had been based in the UK since 1940, landed at the North African country of Tunisia. The battalion fought in the Medjez Plain area, seeing action at Djebel bou Aoukaz, or ' Bou ', during the bloody engagements to capture the area. Part of the area was took on the 27th April and further fighting carried on for a number of days with the Irish Guards suffering heavy casualties in the process.

During an action on the 28th, Lance-Corporal Kenneally of the 1st Irish Guards, charged down the forward slope of the ridge that his own company was poisioned along, attacking the main body of a German Company that was preparing to attack, firing his Bren Gun as he did so, causing so much surprise and confusion that the Germans broke in disorder and began to retreat . The Lance -Corporal returned to his position unharmed, firing his Bren on the Germans upon his return

Lance-Corporal JohnKenneally VC

On the 30th April the Lance-Corporal repeated his brave actions when, accompanied by a Sergeant of the RC, charged the enemy who were forming up to assualt the same position that the Lance-Corporal performed his daring feat. Both men charged the Germans, firing as they did so and inflicting heavy casualties on the Germans which resulted in the routing of the German forces. The two men began to return to their position but as they did so, Kenneally was hit in the thigh. This however did not stop him. He carried on fighting, refusing to relinquish his Bren Gun and leave his position. Despite his wound he fought for the rest of the day and for his actions was awarded the Victoria Cross. The Regiment's first of the war.

Sixty hand picked men of the Irish Guards were part of the 14,000 strong British contingent that took part in a victory parade in the capital Tunis on the 20th may 1943. In December that year the 1st Irish Guards reached Italy. The Battalion took part in the Anzio Landings on the 22nd January 1944. Fierce close quarter fighting later took place as the Germans strove to destroy the beachhead. The 1st battalion were hit by a number of German counter- attacks and suffered severe casualties during fighting for positions christened the ' Factory', the Caves, the Lake and the Gullies in lates January and February. On the 22nd of January the Battalion had landed at Anzio 794 strong.

A further 286 had arrived as replacements: yet by mid February, only 520 remained and at the begining of March, when the Battalion was

withdrawn from the beachhead, strength was down to just 267 men. The 1st Battalion returned to England where it remained for the rest of the War, training replacement drafts for the regiment's other two Battalions.

After the war and with demobilisation, the 3rd Irish Guards were disbanded in 1946, the 2nd doing so the following year. In 1947 the 1st Irish Guards deployed abroad for the first time since 1944, heading for troubled Palestine to perform iternal security duties there. After the British left Palestine in May 1948 the Battalion moved to Tripoli, Libya and returned home in 1949. The Battalion joined the British Army of the Rhine in West Germany in 1951, remaining there until 1953. After the Coronation of the Queen It was then posted to the Suez Canal Zone in Egypt, remaining there until the British Withdrawl in 1956.

  And so the story, traditions and history of this fine regiment continue to this day.

Quis Seprabit - Who shall Seperate Us

Postcard from my own collection