An Cosantóir the official magazine of the Irish Defence Forces and Reserve Defence Forces.
Issue link: https://digital.jmpublishing.ie/i/54063
26 | the Irish Defence Forces 1940-1949: the ChIeF oF StaFF'S RePoRtS AUTHORS: MICHAEL KENNEDY AND VICTOR LAING PUBLISHER: IRISH MANUSCRIPTS COMMISSION ISBN: 9781906865061 - HARDBACK PRICE: €75.00 O n the outbreak of WWII Ireland declared that it would adhere to a policy of neutrality that was declared with little consideration of the necessary military resources to defend it. In the years preceding the commencement of hostilities very little effort was made to ensure that the Defence Forces were sufficiently manned and equipped with even the minimum re- quirement to offer resistance to any enemy, except an internal one. Consequently, when war was declared the Government was in the position of the householder who has not paid his insurance policy and sees smoke wafting through his hall door. Just like the improvident householder, the government found it impossible to claim when the emergency had occurred. Britain had enough problems filling orders for her own forces so was not in a position to fill Irish requirements. In addition there was always the possibility that in the event of the treaty ports not being made available to the Royal Navy by the "Eire" government it was likely that they would have to be forcibly reoccupied. It therefore made no sense for Britain to provide Ireland with the means to oppose any such reoccupation. The Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces was given the diffi- cult task of defending the country with the meagre forces that were available and what could possibly be raised within the country. This publication provides a fascinating insight into that process followed by the Chiefs of Staff from 1940 until 1949. Most of the story is told in the first five reports dealing with "the Emergency" but the later ones give a very good insight to the measures taken, or not taken, during the post-war period at the start of the Cold War. The Irish Manuscripts Commission and Military Archives are to be complimented on this monumental publication of the yearly Chief of Staff reports for the period 1940 to 1949. These reports are extremely detailed, covering all aspects of the development of the DF and a frank account Maj Gen L Archer An Cosantóir February 2012 Photographs courtesy of Military Archives