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  • "The 33rd Battalion of the Irish army leave for the Congo on board a US Airforce Globemaster. The film shows the Irish troops parading and being blessed before departure at Baldonnel aerodrome.

    Embarkation of the 33rd Battalion to the Congo, 18 August 1960.

    In August 1960 with the permission of the Irish Air Corps, Thomas Fewer had access to film the departure of the 33rd Battalion of the Irish army to serve in the Congo.

    The film shows the arrival of a US Airforce Globemaster at Baldonnel aerodrome. The parting troops parade before the Taoiseach, Sean Lemass, the Minister for External Affairs, Frank Aiken and the Minister for Defence, Kevin Boland.

    The soldiers are blessed by the Rev. P Duffy acting Head Chaplin to the forces and say goodbye to loved ones before departing.

    Michael Fewer son of the filmmaker Thomas can be seen with a notebook in hand coming off the plane and talking to American military personnel.

    The soldier embracing his mother at the steps of the plane may well be Jimmy Forde. The bus his parents were travelling on from Cork broke down so by the time they got to Baldonnel their son has already boarded. An American officer arranged for Jimmy to come off the plane to say farewell to his parents.

    Nine Irish soldiers of the 33rd Battalion were killed at an ambush at Niemba on 8th of November 1960."

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    • "Four survivors along with relatives, friends and members of the present day Defence Forces gathered for the unveiling of a memorial to the men who lost their lives in an accidental explosion at the Glen of Imaal in County Wicklow on 16 September 1941.

      The members of the Irish Defence Forces were part of a unit conducting tests with anti-tank mines when one of the mines exploded prematurely killing 16 men and blinding three others.

      Minister for the Environment John Boland, whose uncle also survived the explosion, unveiled the memorial commemorating the worst single incident involving loss of life since the foundation of the state.

      Survivor Sergeant Richie Lennon describes the fateful accident"

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      • Spending time with members of the Air Corps responsible for patrolling the Irish coastline on a daily basis.
        RTE Nationwide, broadcast on 23 July 2007.

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        • Irish Army Manoeuvres During The Emergency 1942

          The Blackwater manoeuvres involving over 20,000 troops from the Irish Defence Forces took place from 17 August to 27 September 1942.
          The 1st Division under Major General Michael Joseph Costello and the 2nd ‘Spearhead’ Division under Major General Hugo MacNeill were engaged in the largest training exercise undertaken by the Irish Army.

          This film photographed by army personnel*shows living conditions in the field,*troops*carrying out training*exercises, and marching. *Away from the serious business of*the manoeuvres rest and recuperation involved*music and dancing with the local population.

          Tragedy struck during the manoeuvres when Lieutenant Thomas Ryan from Cashel, and Sergeant John McElligott from Listowel, both members of the 12th Battalion, drowned in the River Blackwater at Ashe Quay, Fermoy, County Cork.

          This film shown here is courtesy of the Irish Military Archives was produced and photographed by the 2nd Division Photographic Unit by authority of the General Officer Commanding. The film*has been digitised by RTÉ Archives.

          Last edited by Rhodes; 17 August 2017, 22:32.

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          • Fascinating footage - you can see them parading through Naas around 9:12 in the direction of Dublin.

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            • Amazing how the prams were still being used up to about 15 years ago.
              For now, everything hangs on implementation of the CoDF report.

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              • Age profile is very interesting, seems to be a lot of older men .
                Covid 19 is not over ....it's still very real..Hand Hygiene, Social Distancing and Masks.. keep safe

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                • A valiant effort at pretending everything was ok here during the emergency!
                  "He is an enemy officer taken in battle and entitled to fair treatment."
                  "No, sir. He's a sergeant, and they don't deserve no respect at all, sir. I should know. They're cunning and artful, if they're any good. I wouldn't mind if he was an officer, sir. But sergeants are clever."

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                  • Originally posted by morpheus View Post
                    A valiant effort at pretending everything was ok here during the emergency!
                    Far from it but we are talking 2 divisions being exercised in the field, and that wasn't including a number of independent bdes and the LDF

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                    • We have not since approached anything close to having exercises at that scale, regardless of the level of equipment available.
                      For now, everything hangs on implementation of the CoDF report.

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                      • Dead right. I was in for 11 years and at no time did we ever practise or exercise as a military air arm; no collective test of the Air Corps as a functioning Air Arm of the State. The odd time, aircraft went off to play with the Army but even that was rare enough. When you see big air forces carry out practises like Red Flag where they test rearmament times, refuel times, damage repair, wheel changes in combat conditions, rotor blade changes under field conditions, then you know they take it seriously. when ever security operations such as Royal visits occurred, which one would have thought would be an ideal opportunity to test the abilities of the Don, they brought in the real Army and the ARW. I suspect that the grown ups thought that we'd make a balls of it.

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                        • Originally posted by Rhodes View Post
                          Irish Army Manoeuvres During The Emergency 1942

                          The Blackwater manoeuvres involving over 20,000 troops from the Irish Defence Forces took place from 17 August to 27 September 1942.
                          The 1st Division under Major General Michael Joseph Costello and the 2nd ‘Spearhead’ Division under Major General Hugo MacNeill were engaged in the largest training exercise undertaken by the Irish Army.

                          This film photographed by army personnel*shows living conditions in the field,*troops*carrying out training*exercises, and marching. *Away from the serious business of*the manoeuvres rest and recuperation involved*music and dancing with the local population.

                          Tragedy struck during the manoeuvres when Lieutenant Thomas Ryan from Cashel, and Sergeant John McElligott from Listowel, both members of the 12th Battalion, drowned in the River Blackwater at Ashe Quay, Fermoy, County Cork.

                          This film shown here is courtesy of the Irish Military Archives was produced and photographed by the 2nd Division Photographic Unit by authority of the General Officer Commanding. The film*has been digitised by RTÉ Archives.

                          Looks like one trooper was having fun at 03.27. coamley maidens indeed!!

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                          • My grandfather took part. He said that it was based on the premise that the Germans had landed on the South coast and were making for Dublin. His opinion was that it took a year to plan and prepare and that they stripped out every usable vehicle, gun and piece of kit from every other unit to make it work and that it burned the fuel supply for a peacetime year. It opened a lot of eyes to the actual ability of the Army to defend the State from external aggression and the ability of the state to supply it's own Army. More than a few noses were out of joint afterwards.

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                            • Originally posted by GoneToTheCanner View Post
                              My grandfather took part. He said that it was based on the premise that the Germans had landed on the South coast and were making for Dublin. His opinion was that it took a year to plan and prepare and that they stripped out every usable vehicle, gun and piece of kit from every other unit to make it work and that it burned the fuel supply for a peacetime year. It opened a lot of eyes to the actual ability of the Army to defend the State from external aggression and the ability of the state to supply it's own Army. More than a few noses were out of joint afterwards.
                              In fairness we are talking about 20,000 troops here

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                              • ......which equated to about a sixth of the ultimate total of troop numbers during the Emergency. The event was designed to test the abilities under field conditions and it did just that. I'd love to read the post event assessments.

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