I was made aware of this by 2 chaps not so far from this forum only recently
:
Quote:
Naval & Military Press
A secret list of 5,000 Irish soldiers dismissed for deserting and joining the British Forces during the Second World War.
It may not be widely known but a large number of Irish soldiers deserted their own army during WWII (Eire remained neutral) and crossed the sea to join the British army. Once the war was over these men were officially dismissed the service and their names published in this confidential document. The formal title of the document is “List of personnel of the Defence Forces dismissed for desertion in time of National Emergency pursuant to the terms of Emergency Powers (No 362) Order 1945 (S.R. & O. 1945 No 198) or Section 13 of the Defence Forces (Temporary Provisions) Act, 1946 (No 7/1946).” In it are listed, in alphabetical order, some 5,000 or more names with Army No, last recorded address, date of birth, declared occupation prior to enlistment in Defence Forces, and date of dismissal from Defence Forces. In the latter case the date is almost invariably 8 August 1945. This document was circulated to all civil service departments and state run services, e.g post office, health service, state owned bus , rail, air and shipping companies etc. This was obviously intended to bar them from any form of government employment. It is a fascinating document and one which I have never been aware of before. It would be interesting, with the Naval and Military Press CD of Soldiers Died in WWII, to see how many of them were killed or died in the war. The number of desertions is surprisingly large for a small army, but it must be an indication of the strength of feeling at the time.
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We've had it confirmed that State institutions carrying a copy of this list would be unable to offer a named applicant a job, even until fairly recently. I found it quite amazing.
What I don't find so amazing is that so many thousands of men from Eire fought and died under Commonwealth colours (while their own country chose to interpret that neutrality meant offering condolences for Hitler's death...).
I always like the 'look' of Eire's contemporary Army though:
To create a list of 'Irish' units could be mildly tricky as it might overlook the great many men from Eire (majority?) that served within commonwealth units with no link to 'Irish' by tradition or title at all.
For a good start on those Units originating from that part of the UK that is 'Northern Ireland' you might try the North Irish Horse:
The North Irish Horse - By Gerry Chester
North Irish Horse
Be careful though, as it would be a rather unwise assumption to make that any particular action under the auspices of such a unit was carried out by exclusively Irishmen, or even any Irishmen at all.
Cheers,
Adam.
Irish units in WWII
"Faugh a'Ballagh" (Clear the Way)
Re: Irish units in WWII
For the first time I have seen "History" at close quarters,and I know that its actual process is very different from what is presented to Posterity. - WWI General Max Hoffman. 
