Thomas McGuire

Killed in Action on the 07/12/1915 at Action of Kosterino, Serbia

On the 09/07/1915 the Battalion embarked at Devonport and sailed to Gallipoli via Mudros. They landed at Anzac Cove on the 05/081915. On the 30/091915 they moved via Mudros to Salonika. They were part of the 29th Brigade, 10th (Irish) Division. Thomas arrived in Gallipoli on the 02/10/1915. Thomas was Killed in Action fighting the Bulgarians at Kosterino when they overran his Battalion's position. The Salonika campaign : The campaign in Salonika was fought between an allied coalition (France, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Russia and Serbia) under the general control of France, and a coalition of Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and Germany. The background to the campaign is complex in terms of politics, involving a tangle of Balkan nations and ethnic groups, but stems from the outcome of the 1912-1913 wars in the Balkans. The British forces became involved largely as a result of David Lloyd George's ambition to encourage all the Balkan countries to engage against Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria and thereby weaken Germany. Thomas is listed as 3rd BATTALION on the Coatbridge Memorial. This is his original Battalion (415). See photos for Thomas' Medal Index Card, his Army Register of Soldiers Effects, his listing in the Ireland Casualties WW1, his CWGC Grave Registration, his name on the Doiran Memorial Panel List, his name on the Doiran Memorial, Thomas' Pension Records x 2 and the Connaught Rangers Cap Badge.