An Cosantóir

| 23 www.military.ie THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE Government decided to order the National Army to attack the Four Courts garrison. The first move for the army was to cordon off the Four Courts and any adjoining building that were occupied by anti-Treaty forces. The army next requested and received 18 Pounder field artillery guns with high explosive ammunition from the British Army which was still stationed in Dublin. The artillery guns, manned by National Army soldiers began bombarding the Four Courts in the early hours of Wednesday, 28th June 1922. The Civil War had begun. The army was extremely fortunate in having an abundance of all ranks that had trained and operated these guns while serving in the British Army during the First World War. The besieged Four Courts garrison held out for just over forty-eight hours and was forced to surrender on Friday 30th of June. General Joe McKelvey was among the several hundred anti-Treaty IRA men captured, and he was imprisoned in Mountjoy Jail. As a result, Gen Liam Lynch was once again the commander of the anti-Treaty forces. Gen Michael Collins was Commander-in-Chief of the National Army during the early phase of the Civil War. Because Gen Collins wanted to stop the disastrous Civil War, his influence led to a restraint of National Army operations against the anti-Treaty forces. When Gen Collins was killed in the ambush at Beal-na-Bláth on the 22nd of August Gen Richard Mulcahy replaced him. The time of restraint was over. It was full scale warfare from then on. The following month, Gen Mulcahy asked the government for 'Special Emergency Powers for the Army.' Military trials were introduced for anti-Treaty men who were liable to be executed if captured while in possession of arms or explosives. The anti-Treaty IRA referred to the new law as 'The Murder Bill' and decreed, "that any TD or Senator who voted for the Bill should be shot on sight." Posters were circulated listing the TDs and Senators that had voted for the Bill. The Military Courts began sitting on 15th October. The first executions took place in Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin on 15th November when four were shot. Senior IRA officer Erskine Childers was executed in Beggars Bush Barracks, Dublin, on 24th November. Four of the most senior IRA officers in Mountjoy were executed in Mountjoy on 8th December 1922, as a reprisal for the IRA's assassination of Cork TD Sean Hales the day before. During the ten- months of Civil War, the government executed seventy-seven (77) anti- Treaty members by firing squads. During the War of Independence, the British authorities had executed fourteen (14) IRA men by firing squads in the Martial Law area and hanged ten (10) outside the Martial Law areas. During the War of Independence, the IRA forces were the experts in guerrilla warfare only, and only against British forces who were strangers in Ireland. During the Civil War they were not permitted to fight a guerrilla war, because their enemies were their former friends and colleagues and sometimes their relatives. The ghost army cloak was gone, now they had nowhere to hide and their identities were known. The anti-Treaty forces did not have the same level of public support as they had during the War of Independence, because the people were war weary and had enjoyed almost ten months of relative peace following the Truce. Also, the anti-Treaty policy of destruction of road, rail and river bridges, railways, rolling stock and infrastructure in general during the withdrawing of their forces, further alienated them from the civilian population, which was left suffering because of their needless destruction. While the pro-Treaty forces had adequate logistics to fight a conventional war, the anti-Treaty forces were at a major disadvantage. Very soon the anti-Treaty forces had to retreat from the greater part of the country and the losses of their fighting forces both in men and material were irreplaceable. The confidence and overwhelming might of the National Army was further illustrated in their ability to mount seaborne landings on the south and southwest coast, resulting in outflanking manoeuvres against the anti-Treaty defensive positions. In mid-1922, the National Army further enhanced their conventional force capability by forming the 'Army Air Service'. This was successfully accomplished in record time because of the availability of fully qualified and experienced former British Royal Air Force personnel of all ranks who joined the National Army. This was simplified by purchasing World War One surplus military aircraft from Britain, the very same types that these Army Air Service officers and enlisted ranks had flown and serviced during their previous service. During the Civil War, these aircraft were successfully used on reconnaissance and army co-operation missions. The National Army had evolved from the mistakes and lessons learned from the 1916 Rising, through the experiences of the War of Independence, to the conventional battles of the Civil War. The seeds sown by the Irish Citizen Army and the Irish Volunteers in 1916 had matured through the cauldron of warfare into a permanent and professional National Army, Óglaigh na hÉireann, that the country was and still is proud of. Sean Collins, viewing the body of his brother Gen Michael Collins, at the lying in state in Dublin's City Hall. Sean was interned on Spike Island during 1921. Photo from 'Ireland The Revolutionary Years'. The ruins of New Barracks Limerick, after it was set on fire by anti-Treaty forces before they withdrew. It was later looted by civilians. From 'The Irish Civil War in Colour', by Michael Barry and John O'Byrne The destruction of the rail network by anti-Treaty forces was a regular occurrence during the Civil War, as shown here near the Killurin Tunnel, Co. Wexford. From 'The Irish Civil War in Colour', by Michael Barry and John O'Byrne

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