An Cosantóir

www.military.ie THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE | 43 forces in Ireland and a much increased presence of naval vessels of in Irish waters. Then, in 1916 came the preparations for the Easter Rising. The Royal Navy Admiralty had intelligence that the Rising was planned for Easter Sunday and that there may have been a planned land- ing by German forces on the 20th April 1916. A Royal Naval fleet lay in wait off the coast when the German Auxiliary vessel the Libau, rigged to disguised itself as a Norwegian vessel the Aud, arrived at Kerry Head carrying a cargo of arms and ammunition for the rebels, in the hopes of a rendezvous with the German U-Boat U-19, from which Sir Rodger Casement rowed ashore to the lonely Banna Strand on the night of the 21st. And while he was been chased and captured, another dramatic chase was beginning, the Aud which had come under suspicion of been up to nefari- ous deeds was chased along the coast, until its Captain Carl Spindler still feigning ignorance and innocent was escorted into the mouth of Cork Harbour on the morning of the 22nd. He ran up his true colours of the Imperial German Navy, and then he scuttled and abandoned her. The British took heart from these events and thought that the Royal Navy had helped to smother the flames of rebellion before they took hold at all. As dawn broke on the bright Monday morning of the 24th, the most prepared of the British forces for the rebellion was the Royal Navy. It was the force which, although it did most of its work unseen, was also the force which played one of the most important roles in quelling it. From the Helga shelling rebel posi- tions in Dublin to the large movements of troops from England to Dublin to reinforce the British garrisons. Many other ship movements took place as troops were dispatched to deal with areas judged to be at risk of open rebellion. With this brief rebellion subdued, the Royal Navy was able to again focus on fighting the real war, on the seas in support of the entrenched warfare in Europe. With 1918 came a cessation of hostilities and peace in Europe, however such peace was not to last in Ireland. Strike for Independence: The Royal Navy was pivotal during the War of Independence, working as Naval forces do, out of sight on the seas supporting both the military and the civil powers, which found the new guerrilla style of warfare increasingly difficult to confront and put down. The maintenance of supply lines and trade coupled with the ability to land troops were needed, made the Royal Navy indispens- able. There were little direct destructive attacks on either the Royal Navy or Coastguard installa- tions, although there were numerous raids for small arms, which happened in places such as: Ballyheigue, Ringsend and Enniscrone. In Fenit, Co. Kerry in June 1920, the Destroyer HMS Urchin was alongside the pier there and members of the ships' company were deployed to protect the Coast Guard station there. On the night of the 2nd, when the attack began on the local RIC barracks situated beside the station, the weather was very poor. The bad visibility rendered the Urchin only capable of firing blank rounds from its forward 4-inch gun, in case a stray round might hit the defenders not the rebel attackers. Urchin's armed landing parties which had pistols, rifles and Lewis machine guns exchanged fire with a large party of rebels, who were well organised and had stuck from good cover. The assault which began at 3am with a rocket blast, ended as suddenly as it began with two loud blasts on a whistle. The IRA lifted their fire and were off into the night. The network of Royal Irish Constabulary barracks across the country was the preferred target for rebels who need arms and ammuni- tion. However, as the War of Independence pro- gressed the British tactic of placing Royal Marine detachments at the stations was proving to be ineffective and unsatisfactory, so these troops were withdrawn and many of the remote sta- tions where evacuated. As the war spread into every corner of Ireland, hundreds of RIC barracks where burnt across the country to ensure they could not be reoccupied. The Royal Irish Con- stabulary Special Reserve, better know by their more infamous name the 'Black and Tans' aided by the Police Auxiliary Division or 'Auxies' where unleashed upon the population of Ireland. They were not subject to correct levels of military discipline and they were responsible for many arbitrary acts of extreme violence against the civilian population. They meted out a shocking level of brutality and even torture of IRA prison- ers and sympathisers. They were responsible for the massacre of civilians in Croke Park on Bloody Sunday in November 1920 and the burning of Cork city in December 1920, and around the country they enforced the official British policy of taking reprisals against the rebels, burning their property and harassing their families. Despite our willingness to compartmental- ise the Black and Tans away from the other branches of the British Forces, with regards to their viciousness and thuggery, it is a simple and indisputable fact that the Royal Navy was key to the maintenance of British military power in Ire- land. The brutal suppression of the insurrection needed the combined effort of all forces of the British Empire. As we enter into another period of commemoration and remembrance, we need to ensure the romanticization of the 'plucky' rebels and the demonization of the 'vengeful' Tans is balanced by honest accounts of what occurred. The truth of the War of Independence is that war in all its forms is a destructive and brutal affair. We can be proud of those rebels who fought to free our Nation while still being aware that that freedom came at a price. Cork City, RIC Black and Tans and Auxies Submarines in Bantry Bay during WWI. HMS Urchin in 1917. Queenstown (Cobh) Harbour in 1915.

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