The 101st & 104th Regiment of Foot
THE ROYAL MUNSTER FUSILIERS
REGIMENTAL BATTLE HONOURS
101st: Plassey, Condore, Buxar, Rohilcund 1772 (1), Sholinghur, Guzerat, Deig, Bhurtpore, Ghuznee 1838 (2), Affghanistan 1839
Ferozeshah, Sobraon, Pegu, Delhi 1857, Lucknow.
(1) inherited from 2nd Bengal European Regiment in 1803, later withdrawn and re-granted in 1894
(2) apparently misdated.
104th: Rohileund 1774 (1) Chillianwallah, Goojerat, Punjaub, Delhi 1857
(1) inherited by ist Bengal European Regiment in 1803
Combined Battale Honours of the 101st and 104th plus: Masulipatan (1) Badra (1) Carnatic (2) Rohilcund 1794 (3) Burma 1885-87 South Africa 1899-1902 : The Great War ( 11 Battalions ) Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914, Aisne 1914, Ypres 1914-17, Langemark 1914-17, Gheluvent, Nonne Bosschen, Givenchy 1914, Aubers, Loos, Somme 1916-18, Albert 1916, Bazentin, Poziers, Guillemont, Ginchy, Flers-Corcelle, Morval, Messines 1917, Passchendale, St Quentin, Bapaume 1918, Rosiers, Avre, Arras 1918, Scarpe 1918, Drocourt-Queant, Hindenburg Line, Canal du Nord, St Quentin Canal, Beaurevoir, Cambrai 1918, Selle, Sambre, France and Flanders 1914-18, Italy 1917-18, Kosturino, Struma, Macedonia 1915-17, Helles, Landing at Helles, Krithia, Suvla, Landing at Suvla, Scimitar Hill, Gallipoli 1915-16, Egypt 1916, Gaza, Jerusalem,, Tel' Asur, Palestine 1917-18.
(1) Awarded 1894 for service of 101st Regiment (2) Awarded 1889 for service of 101st Regiment (3) Awarded 1894 for service of 104th Regiment.
The Regiment was formed in 1881 as part of the reorganization of the Army, from the 101st Regiment of Foot ( Royal Bengal Fusiliers) and the 104th Regiment of Foot ( Bengal Fusiliers) and the Militia of Munster. Both the Fusiliers Regiments had originated as "European" Regiments of the East India Company and transferred to the British Army in 1861 when the British crown had taken control of "John Company's" private armies after the Indian rebellion of 1857. Five of the European Infantry Battalions were given Irish Territorial titles. The first and second Royal Munster Fusiliers were the former Bengal Fusilier Regiments, the higher number battalions were the militia units. The Childers Reforms linked Regiments to recruiting areas - in this case the counties of Clare, Cork, Kerry and Limerick.
Militarily the whole of Ireland was administered as a seperate command with Command Headquarters at Parkgate ( Phoenix Park) Dublin, directly under the War Office in London.
At the begining of the 20th Century the Regiment consisted of two regular service and two reserve Battalions prior to World War 1.
In August 1914 the need for further divisions resulted in the creation of a New Army. Subsequently the Munsters had a total of eleven raised Battalions. The Regiment was awarded 51 Battle Honours and 3 Victoria Crosses. It suffered a total of 3,070 lost casualties.
101st and 104th regiments of foot:
Although the reputations of the 101st and 104th Regts, linked
in 1881 to form the Royal Munster Fusiliers, were mainly Indian, both could trace predecessors from 1760s. The history of the 101st can be broken down into three main periods: 1760-1817 during which there were four short-lived regiments numbered 101.
1756-1858/61: The century of service with the East India Company. Finally from 1861 when control passed from the Company to the Crown, and as the 1st Bn Royal Munster Fusiliers ( 1881 ), through to 1922 when disbanded in 1922. From the early regiments only two can claim an Irish connection, the third in succession dating 1794-5 titled The 101st ( Irish) Regt of Foot, raised by Colonel William Fullarton in March 1794 but reduced in 1795. None of the regiments which carried the number 104 were Irish, only two had titles. The earliest from 1761-3 was the 104th ( King's Volunteers ) Regt of Foot, the next from 1780-3 left no record. In 1794 the 104th ( Royal Manchester Volunteers ) Regt of Foot was raised and was sent to Ireland. Although this regiment only lasted a year it was presented with Colours which were laid up in Manchester Town Hall. The last of these early corps were entitled simply the 104th Regiment of Foot in 1806, but did see much service in Canada and during the American War of Independence before disbandment in Canada 1817.
the 101st royal bengal fusiliers and the 104th bengal fusiliers:
The story of the Bengal European Regiments begins in 1756 with the return of Lt-Col Robert Clive to India in his
successful attempt to suppress the degenerate but powerful Suraj-ud-Daula, who had captured Calcutta and was responsible for the ' Black Hole ' ( two of the survivors of the Black Hole on the 20th June 1756 were Ensigns Walcot and Moran, two of the first officers of the Regiment ) For the next 100 years the Bengal European regiment ( for one short period as many as six battalions ) marched and fought the breadth of India, was awarded battle honours for its endeavours at Plassey and down through the years until the Mutiny. Its ranks were full of Irishmen. In 1861 three Bengal European regiments were transferred to the Crown( the 2nd regiment was created on the 29th July 1839, the 1st and 2nd regiments had been awarded no fewer than 6 Victoria Crosses between them. Five to the 1st and one to the 2nd )The 1st and 2nd becoming the 101st Royal Bengal Fusiliers and the 104th Bengal Fusiliers respectively. Sir Hugh Rose
Rose presented colours to both regiments, to the 101st at Multan on 25th February 1862 and the following year to the 104th at Bareeilly on 26th February. The 101st returned to England in 1869, the first of the old Company's troops to come home and was followed by the 104th on 18th December 1871. For the first three years of home service the 104th was stationed at the Gosport Forts and in barracks at Portsmouth. After the formation of The Royal Munster Fusiliers in 1881, the 1st battalion was away during this period, having left the Isle of Wight in 1874 and after a two year stay in Malta, proceeded to Nova Scotia followed by service in Bermuda and was in England again by 1884. At Western Heights Dover, on 22nd September 1886, new colours were presented to the battalion by Lady Louisa Fielding, wife of the Lieutenant General Commanding South East District. A high compliment was paid to the corps in the 1890s, during a conversation on the various merits of the Line Battalions in England Field Marshall Viscount Wolesey is reported to have remarked " Well i have an Irish Battalion which can beat the whole lot you mention, that is the 1st Battalion of the Munsters, now in Ireland "
The 2nd Battalion on the other hand was home in Ireland, at Birr in King's County in 1878, then to Belfast and the Curragh, going abraod again in 1882, firstly to Malta and then off to India. In 1887 it joined the Burma Field Force before returning to India where it remained until called upon for active service in South Africa towards the end of the war. The 1st battalion however served throughout the whole of the South African War arriving at Cape Town on 16th September 1899 and was in the battle at Belmont on 23rd November and from then continually on the move and in action almost the whole of the next two years. Throughout the war the regiment suffered 5 officers and 63 NCOs and men killed, and 4 officers and 73 soldiers wounded. The Distinguished Conduct Medal was awarded to 19 NCOs and men.
After the war the 1st battalion embarked for India where the Queen's South Africa Medals were presented in January 1903.
The 2nd battalion came home to Ireland where King Edward presented new Colours at Cork on 1st August 1903. During the Great War there were eleven battalions of the Royal Munster Fusiliers, the 1st and 2nd Regular, 3rd Reserve and 4th and 5th Extra Reserve from the former three Militia Battalaions. And so the Great War came....
" For most conspicious bravery in the leading of his section with great dash during our
Attack from the beach to the east of Cape Helles, on the Turkish positions,
On the 26th April 1915, Corporal Cosgrove on this occasion pulled down the posts
Of the enemy's high wire entanglements single-handed, not withstanding a terrific fire from
Both front and flanks, thereby greatly contributing to the successful clearing of the heights.
Citation for Corporal William Cosgrove VC, Royal Munster Fusiliers, Gallipoli 1915.
1st (regular service) battalion & gallipoli
At the outbreak of war the 1st Munster's (1RMF) Battalion was acting as a regular garrison in Rangoon, Burma. Their last home station had been fermoy in 1899. They arrived back at Avonmouth, Uk in January 1915, and were entrained for Coventry where it was assigned to the 86th Brigade of the British 29th Division. In March it sailed for the Dardenelles, Turkey, when it numbered 28 officers and 1,002 other ranks.
Turkey had joined the Central Powers's side in November 1914, the object of the landing on the Dardenelles peninsula was to open the Dardenelles Straight in the Battle of Gallipoli to enable Allied relief convoys to reach Russia. Aboard the SS River Clyde, a converted collier with a capacity for over 2,000 men, they arrived on the 25th April together with the 1st Battalion The Royal Dublin Fusiliers and some companies of the Royal Hampshires. The ship ran gently ashore, its exit bows facing the beach, for what was to be the 'grossly'
mismanaged British "V" beach landing at Cape Helles. Small boats first carried companies of Dubliners to the beach, when four hidden Turkish machine gun posts opened fire and decimated them. Lighters to the shore were roped together, two companies of Munsters pouring out on to gangways from the bows of the ' River Clyde were literally cut to pieces by enemy fire. Those who jumped to one side drowned under their heavy equipment. The slaughter of these brave Irishmen continued until all boats and lighters were filled with dead and wounded and the bay literally a sea of blood.The ships commanding officer on being informed that they were not succeeding replied in British miltary tradition " Offensives once begun are never called off " That day the Munsters lost many of their longest serving veterans.
At daybreak next day, just three companies of Munsters, two of Hampshires and one company of Dubliners had made it to the shelter of some dunes and a small ridge at the edge of the beach. On the 26th they took Fort Sedd-el-Bahr overlooking the bay charging and taking the village behind. It was in this attack that the heroic actions of William Cosgrove won the battalion's first Victoria Cross. Turkish counter attacks were held off. The 28th saw a new renewed attack in the Battle for Krithia Village, but by the 29th the Munsters were withdrawn due to heavy losses and amalgamated with the surviving Dublin Fusiliers, to form the "Dubsters" battalion of 8 officers and 770 men.
Above left, an artists impression of the landing with men casually walking along the gangways onto the barges and then to the beach, when in reality (right) it can be clearly seen from a photograph taken from the River Clyde that the deck of the barge in the foreground is covered with dead and wounded.Under magnification it can be seen that some soldiers who survived are peering over the bodies of their fallen comrades.Another barge linking the assault to the beach has drifted away. In the dstance on the beach in the middle foregound and to the left and which show as dark areas are the survivors of the Irish force, huddled together to escape being hit by machine gun fire under the protection of a small ridge on the beach.The fort of Sedd-el-Bahr is to the right. Below left, the beach today with the fort in the background. The bend in the road is just above where the Irish boys took shelter that day, when two fine Irish regiments suffered so heavily.
On the night of 1st May the Turk's almost out of munition but sporned by the then young Ataturk carried out a tremendous attack before we knew it began. Bayoneting on both sides was terrible. At dawn the Turks were mown down, mounds of bodies and streams of blood remaining everywhere . The Battalion was reduced to 4 officers and 430 men, who attempted further attacks the following days, but by the 11th were down to 372 men. Receiving new drafts on 29th may, the Munsters and Dubliners were seperate units again, the Munsters by 4th June numbering 40 officers and 500 other ranks. Though handicapped by the new recruits being much too young and inexperienced. Shelling absolutely demorilized them. They withheld a further attack on 17th June killing 300 Turks. New drafts replemished officers to 23, other ranks to 588. They took part in the Division assault on 28th June securing five trench lines. This provoked a general attack by the Turk side along the Cape Helles front on the 5th July, the Turks losing heavily.
