An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir June 2017 www.dfmagazine.ie 32 | The Auxiliary Division: BRItISH SPECIAL FoRCES DURInG tHE IRISH WAR oF InDEPEnDEnCE By PAUL O'BRIEN MA D uring the Irish War of Independence, the rank-and-file of the RIC and Dublin Metropolitan Police bore the brunt of attacks by the IRA. In a short period of time a campaign of intimidation and violence against policemen and their fami- lies had forced many officers to resign. In the aftermath of the Great War and the Versailles peace talks in 1919, the British Empire found itself overstretched by ever-increasing demands to police its interests in places such as Germany, the Middle East, India and Ireland. The government was concerned that the unrest in Ireland would have a domino effect and spread to Britain's other colonies, where the authorities were unprepared and underequipped to deal with the large number of nationalist movements demanding independence, and the pos- sibility of the violent and bloody insurgencies that might occur. In Ireland the government had been depending on the civil administration based in Dublin Castle and the RIC to deal with the situation. As unrest in Ireland intensified, Sir Winston Churchill suggested establishing a gendarmerie to restore law and order and in July 1920 a new, specialist force, the Auxiliary Division of the Royal Irish Constabulary (ADRIC), was raised. This force, comprised solely of ex-military officers, was assigned a tough and dangerous mission by Prime Minister David Lloyd George to take the fight to the IRA. (The Auxiliary Division is distinct from the RIC Special Reserve, also established in 1920, who became known as the Black and Tans because of their mixed military/ police uniforms. However, the name Black and Tans is sometimes incorrectly used to cover both groups.) Rather than aligning the new force with the army, it was decided to incorporate them into the police, with the new recruits being called temporary cadets. It was envisaged that the Auxiliary Division was to be maintained as an autonomous force and was to be deployed into areas where the IRA was most active, with the mission to 'find, fix and destroy'. The first recruits arrived at the North Wall Dock, Dublin, from where they were transferred to Hare Park at the Curragh Camp in County Kildare. Here they underwent a brief, inadequate training course on the rudimentary skills of policing. They also received a refresher course in weapons train- ing, consisting of firing and bombing practice, for which they provided their own instructors. Later headquartered at Beggars Bush Bks, Dublin, the unit was equipped with up-to-date weapon- ry and an array of vehicles for rapid insertion into areas of operations. By the end of August 1920, 15 companies had been formed and four Members of the Auxiliary Division of the Royal Irish Constabulary. (National Museum of Ireland) Auxiliaries searching civilians on Amiens Street, Dublin. (Michael Curren)

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