I know that officially they were not involved but taken into account the numbers of Irish men and women involved I thought that they should have their own thread.
Welcome, I would say that there are a lot of Irish from the UK that would disagree with you about no Irish participation! The Irish Guards were the Spearhead of the Market Garden landforces if I remember correctly.
Thanks for the welcome but the Irish Guards were an english outfit 
My uncle’s fought for the british and we still have a british legion club in dublin.
The Irish government passed an awful lot of intelligence on to the British concerning landings of German spies, who were then picked up when they reached the mainland. They were neutral, but knew which side their bread was buttered – should mainland Britain fall, it was quite evident that Ireland would be invaded as well.
I bet they wouldnt think they were ‘English’ mate. I suppose as usually happens a lot of Irishmen from the Republic joined the British Army?
Napalm- one of the RAF’s greatest aces was Dublin-born Brendan Finucane- 3rd ranking ace! he had 32 kills but was KIA in 1942. Makes one wonder what his tally would have been if he’d lived to the end of the war like Johnny Johnson with “just” 38. 
Or Richard Bong with 40, but of course his were easy kills against inferior japanese machines. :lol:
Well, you learn all your life. My understanding was that Irish were neutral but friendly toward Germany due to their dislike of the British. Go figure…
The Irish Government were strictly neutral throught out the war, any help to the British would have been unofficial and hence probably of very low value.
Even when news of Hitlers death reached de Valera he personally visited the German embassy in Dublin to offer his condolences, to ensure he was strictly neutral. Although this may have given the impression that they were friendly. It is worth noting that the IRA at one point attempted to deal with the Nazis to obtain weapons for their cause, possibly with the intention of causing havoc as fifth columnists. However the government tried to be as impartial as possible.
Many Irish individuals, however, joined the British Army, lying about where they came from, etc. as well as their ages in some cases (standard during both wars by all sides!!). This was a PERSONAL choice not government policy. It is also worth noting that they were all volunteers, non were conscripted.
Their government on the otherhand refused to help even when 100s of sailors were dieing on the Atlantic run daily. Churchill even mulled over the idea of invading the Southern Coast of EIRE in order to seize the ports deemed so vital to stemming this fatality rate. Their government was also particulary vocal about the Northern Irish ports being used for the war effort, even though Northern Ireland was part of the UK.
In short I would say, Salute the men who fought in the British Army, but not the government/country.
Good points 1000yd. Although close to 70,000 citizens of Eire joined the UK military, with another 200,000 or so moving to the UK to work. Also, not all the Irish Government advocated neutrality. This is a lengthy but knowledgeable article concerning Eire in WW2
Interesting post Firefly.
Always sad to here of shoddy treatment to men who gave much if not their all.
Piotr- A fair number of Americans joined the RCAF and RAF well before the US got into the war, when we were also “neutral.”
Twitch, we the Poles always had (and still have) a soft spot for the US and the Americans going back to the times of Pulaski and Kosciuszko. in fact a USToday poll show that in 2003 the highest positive opinion of USA was found in Poland. Ironically, it indicated that Poles were more pro-American than the Americans themselves!
As you know from 303 Squadron post it was the American fliers who started the Kosciuszko squadron in Poland in 1920. Also, we (the Poles) are aware of the American contribution to the war effort before the US officially joined in (take Gabreski for instance, or, of course, Chenault’s flying Tigers).
Er, hate to break up the American angle on this, but the American volunteers in the Eagle squadrons, etc. have WHAT to do with the Irish volunteers?
I think there is a thread in which the American contribution pre-Americas joining the war in the american forces thread or in the other units thread.
Good point 1000yd, everyone back on topic please.
Piotr- I am going to send you a private message on the topic you mentioned since this is strictly about Irish. 8)
Not only were the ports in the north used, and to exit Londonderry you must sail by the southern (Eire) border, but lower Lough Erne was a seaplane station. I am not sure if they took off and then turned east and crossed Eire or went north and out that way. I seem to remember seeing a print on the wall of the Royal Enniskillen Yacht Club that depicted the Walrus that sighted the Bismarck which came from there.
Are you also including the Irish from the north or do they not count?
The border between the free state and the north was marked on maps, it was not often marked on the ground. Many farmers had fields on both side of the border and saw little point in recognising it (and still do for that matter).
It should also be pointed out that the Erie government and the IRA were not very close and any moves by the IRA should not be understood as being related to southern policy or ideas. The IRA would quite happily kill members of the free state government if they thought it would do them some good.
Not sure what date the southern government made the IRA an illegal organisation.
Were they ever a legal organisation? Remember the IRA were on the losing side of the civil war, and the government were the winning side. That all happended less than 20 years before WW2 kicked off - hardly long enough for the IRA to get back in the government’s good books.