An Cosantóir

www.military.ie THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE | 29 for rapid insertion into areas of operations. By the end of August 1920, fifteen Companies had been formed and four were immediately deployed to areas of considerable insurgent activity in counties Dublin, Kilkenny, Cork and Galway. In total there were to be twenty-one Companies, numbering between forty to eighty T/Cadets, organised along military lines, deployed as an elite body to seek out and eliminate the IRA. Realising that IRA intelligence had infiltrated the police, the ADRIC established their own intelligence units to gather information on republican operatives. Utilising their mili- tary skills, they began a violent counter-insurgen- cy campaign with raids on IRA safe houses and the lifting of suspects. Their aggressive tactics alienated the population and their actions and techniques were often questioned in the House of Commons, bringing condemnation from both sides of the house. The insurgents hit back with planned ambushes against ADRIC patrols and the assassination of Cadets, both on and off duty. An attack on a motorised ADRIC unit at Kilmichael in County Cork by Tom Barry and his Flying Column resulted in the annihilation of the patrol. Retalia- tion by Crown Forces for such attacks was brutal, with the houses of locals being destroyed and the destruction of local industrial and agricultural infrastructure, which was, in many cases sanctioned by the authorities. The very nature of counter-insurgency warfare found the ADRIC operating in a hostile environment with little or no support from the local population. The pressures of operat- ing under such austere conditions often resulted in certain units taking out their frustrations on the local populace, as can be seen with the burning of Cork city after an earlier ambush in the vicinity. The force was involved in numerous operations through- out the country and also was accused of conducting black operations resulting in the killing of high value targets. Two Companies of Auxiliaries responded to the attack on the Custom House, Dublin, by the IRA in May 1921. A fierce gun battle commenced as the building caught fire and IRA operatives tried to shoot their way out, with some being killed. In the aftermath of the operation, over one hundred members of the IRA were arrested and imprisoned, lead- ing to a shortage of trained and experienced operatives to continue the fight against the British in the capital. Smaller operations did take place but not to the same scale as that of the Custom House raid. The British authorities in Ireland believed that the Repub- lican campaign was nearing an end as the lack of experi- enced manpower, weapons and munitions were having a detrimental effect on the organisation. Initial talks between the two sides resulted in a ceasefire and later to peace talks which gave Ireland a 'Free State' status. One of the conditions for the cessation of hostilities was that the recruitment of cadets into the Auxiliary Division of the RIC cease and operations be suspended. The British government agreed and the force was disbanded in early 1922, with many officers looking to Palestine and its new gendarmerie for employment and adventure. During World War Two Churchill requested 'specially trained troops of the hunter class, who can develop a reign of terror down the enemy coast.' The Royal Marine Com- mandos are considered by many to be the prototype for the modern Special Forces but it was Churchill's request in 1920, which saw the formation of the Auxiliaries, a controversial force, considered by some to be the 20th century's first Special Services unit. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Paul O'Brien is a military historian who works for the Office of Public works at the Royal Hospi- tal Kilmainham. A regular contributor to An Cosantóir he is also the author of ten books, and has written extensively on the military strategy of the 1916 Rising as well as the Brit- ish Army in Ireland. His latest book Havoc: The Auxiliaries in Ireland's War of Independence (2017) is available now. Two of his books, Blood on the Streets and Crossfire, were turned into the critically acclaimed drama-documentary A Terrible Beauty. He lives in Dublin with his wife Marian and daughter Bláthnaid and their two cats. www.paulobrienauthor.ie Auxiliaries examining captured IRA weapons after the attack on the Custom House. I Company Auxiliaries, Hope Castle, Co. Monaghan This shot of joking Black and Tans and Auxiliaries was taken outside the London and North Western Hotel, North Wall, Dublin as they surveyed the damage after an I.R.A. attack on their quarters. Written on the mount of this photo was 'Tans glad to have escaped the bombs thrown at their headquarters in Dublin'. Photo: National Library of Ireland/W. D. Hogan/NLI Ref _HOG117

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