An Cosantóir

www.military.ie THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE | 33 regular military publication. A small coterie of these officers, from their own personal resources, took it upon themselves to energise and publish An tÓglach as a method of quickly disseminating and reinforcing training information. Costello functioned as editor for a number of issues. However, an ongoing editorial theme that criticised Govern- ment's lack of a Defence Policy incurred the wrath of the then Defence Minister Desmond Fitzgerald. The final straw for Fitzgerald was a January 1930 editorial supporting a statement made elsewhere, that the restricted availability of marriage allowance to Defence Forces personnel could be interpreted as encouraging contraception in the army. Such sentiments were unmentionable in Ireland at that time. Costello was asked to step-down as editor. In the aftermath of this controversy, the publication failed to garner sufficient support either from Department of Defence or within the Defence Forces and it, once again, fizzled out. Much of the 1930s passed without any regular military journal. WORLD WAR 2 The fall of France in June 1940 triggered a national "call to arms" in Ireland, to which there was a huge response. Costel- lo recalled the – "Immense tasks of organisation, training, morale building and even of defence planning to be under- taken simultaneously…there was urgent need for a military journal (as)..a vehicle of instruction that would supplement existing manuals and fill the place of non-existent ones" He had the idea that such a journal should be produced by the military college. When this proposal wasn't received with enthusiasm, Costello – since November 1939, serving as OC Southern Command, with HQ in Collins Barracks, Cork – instead, created his own weekly Southern Command newspaper. He continues the story – "The name An Cosantóir was chosen on the grounds that it was proper to the most numerous category of readers, the members of the LDF, and that it reflected the basis of the call to arms, to defend the freedom and integrity of the State." The early issues were laden with articles on tactics, care and use of weapons and some relevant contextual historical content from which readers could draw lessons to embel- lish their ongoing training. The training manual role of the publication at this time was emphasised by the important and ever-present instruction in bold print to - "Keep your cop- ies of 'An Cosantóir' in a safe place. You will want them for reference later". Demand for copies increased quickly and nationally. A deci- sion was taken to transfer the editing and publication of An Cosantóir to Dublin, under the auspices of the Army Authori- ties. This caused some resentment amongst the ranks of the largely Munster based contributors leading to a decline in suitable material coming forward for publication. This decision was reversed after 18 months when An Cosantóir was returned to Cork, only this time, with an aim of national circulation under the very capable editorship of Major Florrie O'Donoghue - the distinguished I/O in Cork during the War of Independence and one of several prominent men from that era, from both sides of the Civil War divide (or none in O'Donoghue's case), who joined up during the 39-45 War. O'Donoghue was also by this time editing 'An Barr Buadh' – a journal that Costello established for serving personnel of the First (Thunderbolt) Division, reporting sporting and competi- tion achievements of the troops. At the behest of Costello, An Cosantóir provided an early and important outlet for the writings and recollections of many veterans of the War of Independence. Prominent amongst these were Tom Barry, Sean Gaynor and Liam Deasy. Younger current readers of An Cosantóir, with ready access to such recollections via The Military Archives website, may fail to realise that this was the first time that many of these stories were written down and published. The aim in doing so was to educate, motivate and inspire the readership, as well as create a historical record which the current archive of An Cosantóir undoubtedly is. Having persuaded Barry to contribute to early editions of An Cosantóir – contributing under the pseudonym of 'Eyewitness' - Costello was later instrumental in encouraging his friend towards completion of 'Guerrilla Days in Ireland' and lobbied successfully for its publication in 1948. New life was breathed into some of these important early contributions to An Cosantóir with the 2009 publication of Terry O'Reilly's important book 'Our Struggle for Independence'. Costello officially retired from the Army in October 1945, with honorary promotion to the rank of Lieutenant General. He remained a lifetime reader of An Cosantóir, the ongoing publication of which remained a proud legacy of his later years in the Army. In his home he retained a collection of issues of An tÓglach, Emergency issues of An Cosantóir & se- lected other issues from later years, many adorned with ticks, underlining or comments in the side bar as was his habit. Today he is honoured and remembered by the annual 'Lt General MJ Costello An Cosantóir awards', which strive to highlight and honour contributions of note to the durable publication he established 80 years ago this year. C. 1935. On the right, as Commandant of The Military College, inspecting troops with An Taoiseach Eamon De Valera, in Pearse NOTE: Brian Costello is the grandson of LT General MJ Costello

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