Osprey - Essential Histories 065 - The Anglo-Irish War 1913-1922

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60 Essential Histories • The Anglo-Irish War fight ended at close quarters and it is likely that British claims of post-mortem mutilation were in reality the bayonet and bullet wounds caused during hand-to-hand combat. In many respects Kilmichael was a typical ambush fought at short range, concluded in minutes and leaving no survivors. In the lull that followed the storm, many of the IRA survivors were visibly shaken by what they had just done. Unlike Barry, most of them had never been in combat nor seen the detritus of battle before. In a move seen as callous by some, Barry berated his men for the loss of four men and then drilled them for five minutes amongst the British dead. According to Barry he did this to snap them out of their torpor by making them do something as familiar as drill. He was not alone in believing that routine mundane activity can help men cope with the trauma of combat. After removing the British weapons and the Auxiliaries' documents, Barry formed his men up and marched them away. By 11.00pm they were 11 miles away and spent the night in a cottage at Granure. The IRA heralded Kilmichael as a great victory, and for the British it marked the single greatest loss of life in one incident. Barry's plan was extremely aggressive and his dispositions such that if his initial attack had failed to neutralize the British he would have had great difficulty in extracting his men. In short, he had created a situation where his men had no choice but to kill or be killed. Although the action was well executed and made Barry a rebel hero, it did little to change the course of the conflict and it would take another year of bloodshed before a negotiated settlement brought Irish independence. Martial law and reprisals The IRA did not enjoy support right across Ireland, and with the exception of metropolitan Dublin its heartland was Munster and parts of Connacht. As a result only eight of Ireland's 32 counties were ever placed under martial law. There was almost no IRA activity in Queen's County and Leitrim, which would indicate that policing and everyday life changed little throughout the Troubles. Counties Meath, Kildare, Wexford and Wicklow were also relatively unaffected. In essence the struggle for Ireland focused around the Munster counties of Cork, Limerick, Kerry and Tipperary, where the bulk of army, police, IRA and civilian casualties were suffered. In the disturbed areas the British Army operated in conjunction with the RIC, and under ROIA IRA men could be tried by military courts rather than by civilian ones in order to prevent juries being intimidated. Military courts made it easier to convict IRA suspects and in the words of one newspaper report of 1920 in the Morning Post 'Whatever we may think of these reprisals in theory, in practice they are found to be the most effective way of causing murders to cease.' If anything they were counter-productive. Other papers, such as the Dáily Mail, agreed. When the army demolished several houses in Midleton, Co. Cork, on 1 January 1921: 'this is of course martial law. It is legal and disciplined. It is, we must believe, necessary. But it is horrible.' The reprisal was in response to an IRA ambush by members of the 4th Battalion, 1st Cork Brigade, when it killed three policemen and wounded five others on Midleton High Street on 29 December 1920. Not all of the press was convinced about reprisals, and the Galway Express commented that 'when they throw petrol on a Sinn Féiner's house, they are merely pouring paraffin on the flames of Irish nationality'. The Times believed that 'the name of England is being sullied throughout the Empire ... however much they may seek to disclaim responsibility'. This paper was deeply uncomfortable with British soldiers and police using 'methods inexcusable even under the loose code of revolutionaries'. An Auxiliary member of the RIC and a Black and Tan search an Irish civilian suspect.They were recruited by the British government to cope with the unrest in Ireland. Their reputation caused outcry in Britain and the USA. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)
The fighting 61
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PETER COTTRELL is currently a servi
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Essential Histories The Anglo-Irish
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Contents Introduction Chronology Ba
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8 Essential Histories • The Anglo
Page 10 and 11: 10 Essential Histories • The Angl
Page 12 and 13: Chronology 1169 Anglo-Norman invasi
Page 14 and 15: Background to war A troubled island
Page 18 and 19: Warring sides The combatants The Cr
Page 64 and 65: Portrait of a soldier David Neligan
Page 68 and 69: The world around war Civilian life
Page 80 and 81: How the war ended A brief peace The
Page 86 and 87: Conclusion and consequences Coming
Page 94 and 95: Index Figures in bold refer to illu
Page 96: About Essential Histories A multi-v
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Osprey - Essential Histories 065 - The Anglo-Irish War 1913-1922

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