An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir March 2019 www.dfmagazine.ie 14 | to the Republic and the government of the Republic. Hence, for Brugha and the cabinet, the Volunteers had legitimately become the army of the Irish Republic, the IRA. In August 1918, with the rapid expansion of the Volun- teers during the conscription crisis, GHQ had decided to publish a secret Volunteer newspaper, known as An tÓglách (the Volunteer) – this publication reflecting the views of the GHQ staff towards the ordinary Volunteers. Piaras Béaslaí, the Volunteers' Director of Publicity, was appointed editor. An tÓglách's chief aim was of course for propaganda pur- poses, and copies were often sought by the international press. Each issue contained an editorial, brief reports of Volunteer activities and training notes written by JJ 'Ginger' O'Connell. It was in this paper that the early recorded instances from 1919-21 of the conflict being referred to as a 'war of independence' can be found. To give one example, the editorial in the May 1st, 1921 edition literally begins a sentence with: 'The war of Independence is progressing favourably for the Irish Republican Army.' The editorial goes on to say, 'Things have developed for the most part in accordance with our calculations, while the enemy calcula- tions have been pretty badly upset. It can be said, however, that the development of military efficiency on the part of our officers and men in some of the most active areas has greatly exceeded our expectations.' Throughout the conflict, GHQ would encourage regular reports and communications with brigade areas on their levels of activity and their ambushes – Mulcahy regularly would complain to IRA leaders for their lack of activity in their local areas or mistakes made in operations involving ambushes or the sei- zure of arms. (Often these opinions were reflected in the pages of An tÓglách). For instance, in a docu- ment issued by GHQ to Cork No. 1 Brigade, criticis- ing a failed ambush in February 1921, it reads: 'An entire week in ambush position in one area is too long: after such a length of time there is no chance of the complete surprise that should always be aimed at. At most only a partial surprise can be obtained, and besides the enemy is certain to have planned some counterstroke if it gets a warning of that kind.' Further in the report, it says: 'The following points should be rectified: Bad scouting, bad inter-communication between Units, Bad Control of Units, lack of initiative and Sense of Responsibility on the part of subordinate Com- manders. A critical examination of this action shows that it might easily have been a disaster only for hold and steady action of small groups, which did not operate as one whole, but in isolation. This is skating on very thin ice indeed.' Memorandum and General Orders from GHQ would be regularly issued to local units. Many of these refer to minu- tiae matters of communications and general army con- duct, often they refer to how Volunteers should respond in certain situations. General Order No. 3, for example, issued on the 21st May 1920, reads as follows: 'No Volunteer shall under any circumstances make a statement to any police- man or other English official as to his whereabouts at any particular time, or as to the whereabouts or actions of any other persons.' General Order No. 6 refers to the boycott of the RIC, reading: 'Volunteers shall have no intercourse with the RIC and shall stimulate and support in every way the boycott of this force ordered by the Dáil. These persons who associate with the RIC shall be subjected to the same boycott, and the fact of their association with, and tolera- tion of this infamous force shall be kept public in every Michael Collins and Richard Mulcahy at Arthur Griffith's funeral ten days before Collins' death. Leo Whelan's painting now hanging in the National History Museum, Collins Barracks. The painting is called 'IRA GHQ, 1921'. Those depicted in the painting - and their roles in GHQ - are as follows: Sitting L/R: Michael Collins (Dir of the Intelligence), Richard Mulcahy (Chief-of-Staff), Gearóid O'Sullivan (Adjutant-General), Eamon Price (Dir of Organisation), Rory O'Connor (Dir of Engineering, O/C of IRA in Britain), Eoin O'Duffy (Asst Chief-of-Staff), Seán Russell (Dir of Munitions), and Seán McMahon (Quartermaster-General). Standing L/R: JJ 'Ginger' O'Connell (Dir of Training), Emmet Dalton (operational training), Seán Donovan (Dir of Chemicals), Liam Mellows (Dir of Purchases), and Piaras Béaslaí (Dir of Publicity).

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