In the 'Ranks of Death'

‘In the Ranks of Death’, a new book by Londonderry military historian, Richard Doherty, tells the story of the brave men and women, who fought to destroy the Axis powers between 1939 and 1945.

The numbers joining from both sides of the border - more than 100,000 across the three service - joined the 20,000 already serving when war broke out in 1939.

As well as looking at regimental actions, the book also examines individual servicement and women who went above and beyond for their comrades - a disproportionate number of Irishmen rose to command British forces around the globe, and no fewer than nine earned the Victoria Cross for their valour.

Characters such as Blair Mayne and Roy Farran, highly decorated SAS offiers, appear as examples of the bravery and heroism exhibited by the Irish forces in the bloodiest war in history.

Richard Doherty is, or course, recognised as Ireland’s leading military history author, with 23 published works to his credit.

In his introduction, he writes: “Over centuries, Irishmen have fought in all Britain’s wars but no episode in that history brings them more credit than their part in the Second World War. In 1999, to mark the 60th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War, I researched and wrote ‘Irish Men and Women in the Second World War...A second book, ‘Irish Volunteers in the Second World War, followed in 2002. With the number of veterans diminishing as the years pass, and with much more research undertaken in the intervening years, I thought it appropriate that the seventieth anniversary of the war should also be marked by a ook paying tribute to those Irish who served...While it can only provide a snapshot of the many stories from so many Irish personnel, I hope that it manages to convey some idea of the contribution they made.

“May their memory never die.”

The author acknowledges that the new book touches only lightly on the contribution of the Irish in the Second World War, yet how could it be othwise, given the immensity of that contribution.

Nevertheless, this is a book that will add greatly to the understanding not just of what these brave men and women did, but also why they did it.

Published to mark the 70th anniversary of the Second World War, this book is doubly timely, in that it comes as the Republic, and many nationalists in Northern Ireland, are rediscovering and reclaiming a shared history and acknowledging the contribution made by Irishmen in both world wars.

So it may go some way towards assisting that re-evaluation, providing as it does more persuasive evidence that the contribution of Irish men and women from both sides of the border, should not be underestimated, nor forgotten.