An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir May / June 2024 www.military.ie/magazine 22 | THE IRISH VOLUNTEERS AT WAR, 1916 – 1923 ARTICLE BY TOM O'NEILL, COMDT RDF (RETD) PHOTOS BY TOM O'NEILL, COMDT RDF (RETD) PART 3: THE CIVIL WAR The terms of the Anglo-Irish Treaty led to a split in the IRA. This resulted in a pro-Treaty and anti-Treaty divide. During the early months of 1922, the scene was set for a disastrous, destructive and tragic Civil War. From the beginning of 1922, a pro-Treaty, Provisional Government, was in power in Ireland. Meanwhile the British military were withdrawing their forces from Ireland and in the process of handing over their barracks and camps to Irish forces. The barracks or camps were handed over to pro or anti-Treaty forces, depending on which side was strongest in the area. Luckily for the government, the pro-Treaty forces were stronger in Dublin. This resulted in the majority of the barracks and state buildings in the capital being saved for the government. The extensive military complex in the Curragh was also handed over to government forces. One exception in Dublin was the Four Courts on Inns Quay. The anti-Treaty forces set up their Dublin headquarters in the Four Courts on the 14th of April 1922 and had a substantial and well-armed garrison inside. They set up extensive defensive positions within the Four Courts. Considering their limited war fighting capability, the anti-Treaty forces had quickly forgotten one of the principal lessons from the 1916 Rising, not to garrison large buildings. On 29th March 1922, members of the anti-Treaty, First Cork Brigade IRA, conducted an extraordinarily successful maritime operation off the coast of Cork, when they hijacked the British vessel 'Uponor'. The vessel had departed the Royal Naval base on Haulbowline Island in Cork Harbour early that morning and was bound for Devonport on the south coast of England. The ship's hold contained at least 381 service rifles, 727 service revolvers, 33 Lewis light machine-guns, 6 Maxim medium machine-guns, hundreds of thousands of rounds of service ammunition, hand grenades and a quantity of explosives. IRA officers hijacked the 'Uponor' while off the Cork coast and diverted it into Ballycotton Bay. The IRA had organised a successful unloading plan and had commandeered sufficient lorries to remove the weapons and equipment to prepared arms dumps. Prior to this successful operation, the men of the anti-Treaty, First Cork Brigade, did not have sufficient arms and ammunition with which to fight the impending Civil War. During the early months of 1922, there were a number of unsuccessful attempts to reunite the pro and anti-Treaty forces. One was on the 18th of June when a proposal by Cork anti-Treaty IRA officer Tom Barry, that war should be declared on the withdrawing British forces. The proposal did not reunite the two sides, but it resulted in a split in the anti-Treaty forces. As a result, General Liam Lynch resigned as commander of the anti-Treaty forces and he was replaced by General Joe McKelvey from Belfast. For a few weeks, there was a second anti-Treaty force under Gen Lynch, with his headquarters in Barry's Hotel, Dublin. The pro-Treaty forces, referred to as the 'Free State Army' or the 'National Army,' were at a greater advantage than the anti-Treaty forces, also referred to as 'The Irregulars.' The National Army was very well funded by the government and was supplied with weapons and ammunition from British Army stocks in Ireland. This extended to the British Army supplying heavier weapons such as artillery and armoured cars. The National Army had begun the transition from being guerilla fighters to professional and conventional soldiers, thanks in no small measure to the British Army for their support weapons. The anti-Treaty forces were never able to make that transition. Several Irish men that had seen war service as senior officers in the British Army, joined the National Army. Their war time experience was of immense benefit and enabled senior command appointments to be filled in time for the conventional warfare of the Civil War. While the Provisional Government had sufficient funds with which to run the country and pay the salaries of the military and civil servants, the anti-Treaty forces were compelled to use bank robberies and other illegal activities for generating funds to keep their organisation funded. The bank robberies, shootings and kidnappings carried out by the anti-Treaty forces were undermining government authority. The British government was putting pressure on the Provisional Government to stop these acts of lawlessness. When two members of the London IRA, Reginald Dunne and John O'Sullivan, assassinated Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson in London on the 22ndJune 1922, the Provisional Government had to take steps to clear the anti-Treaty forces out of the Four Courts. Field Marshal Wilson was the Chief Security Advisor to the Northern Ireland government. When the anti-Treaty IRA kidnapped Lt Gen JJ 'Ginger' O'Connell, Deputy Chief of Staff of the National Army, the Provisional The bombardment of the Four Courts. From 'The Irish Civil War', Tim Pat Coogan and George Morrison. National Army support weapons, an 18-pounder field gun and a Lancia armoured car, in action at the junction of Henry Street and O'Connell Street, Dublin. From 'The Irish Civil War', Tim Pat Coogan and George Morrison

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