A few observation clips from yesterday’s parade at the RBL National Parade.

28 October 1943, Brigadier Nelson Russell at the Trigno river: "I went to San Giacomo to talk to the chaps. They seemed to feel 'Everybody buys it once & often twice, so it must have been our turn but – wasn’t it a pity about the wee Colonel. We’ll have to square all that.'.."

27 October 1943, 38 (Irish) Brigade at the Trigno river: "Beauchamp Butler, forward as usual encouraging his chaps, was killed by an MG bullet. A somewhat similar fate had befallen the London Irish. Kevin O’Connor was killed by a shell & they had lost two Company Commanders."

27 October 1943, 38 (Irish) Brigade at the Trigno river: "An unlucky mortar bomb killed Paddy Proctor & all his Platoon Commanders as they were planning to attack the final ridge. Dennis Dunn, commanding the other leading Coy, was killed by a shell."

27 October 1943, 38 (Irish) Brigade at the Trigno river south of San Salvo: "The Brigade was ordered to take San Salvo by night attack on 27th/28th October. But things were fated to go badly...."

Termoli, 6 October 1943: "The Irish Brigade had distinguished itself in this very difficult operation. Their reputation, carried forward from Tunisia & Sicily, grew in stature until, as one historian commented that ‘they became the finest fighting brigade in the British Army’..."

Termoli, 6 October 1943: "The battle, & the danger from 16th Panzer, was over. Much credit was given to the Canadian tankies whose motto, recalled Major Bala Bredin, second-in-command of the Faughs, was ‘Have a Go, Joe’..."

Termoli, 6 October 1943: "The attack was launched at 1130 with the Faughs on the right flank & Inniskillings on the left. Opposition was tough. The London Irish had been stepped up between the coast & the road & moved to take the cemetery & a small hill a mile outside Termoli."

Termoli, 5/6 October 1943: "With 16th Panzer still bearing down on 78th Division’s positions, the arrival of the Irish Brigade, & armour, was critical. By 0245 on 6 Oct, the flotilla of 7 vessels carrying the brigade landed, having come under shellfire on the way into the port."

Termoli, 5/6 October 1943: "....'A pleasant peacetime cruise.’ as described at 13 Corps HQ. Brigadier Nelson Russell was assured that his brigade was unlikely to be fighting ‘for a fortnight or so’. As Nelson later commented wryly, ‘this did not go according to plan.'...."

5 October 1943, 1 RIrF on their way to Termoli: Lt Col Beauchamp Butler and Major Brian Clark.