An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir November 2017 www.dfmagazine.ie 28 | seventy-five years ago, with wwii at its height and the outcome still far from certain, ireland's military chiefs decided the time was right to put the country's Defence Forces to the test. in this article, the result- ing manoeuvres, the largest in the history of the state, are examined by pat poland. all photos are from the hanley Collection in military archives. In the autumn of 1942, the Second World War was in its third bloody year. In Janu- ary, the first of 300,000 American troops to be stationed in Northern Ireland had arrived in Derry. In North Africa Gen- eral Erwin Rommel attacked the British perimeter of El Alamein but was repulsed. In August Rommel's counterpart in the British Eighth Army was replaced by an officer with Irish roots, Bernard Mont- gomery, who was once stationed with the British Army in Victoria (now Collins) Barracks, Cork, and who would soon be promoted to field marshal. Also in August, Operation Jubilee, an attempt to land a significant force of Brit- ish and Canadian troops at Dieppe, on the north coast of France, ended in a rout. Meanwhile, in Russia the Wehrmacht seemed unstoppable as it continued its advance on Stalingrad Against this background, Taoiseach Éamon de Valera declared that the chances of Ireland being invaded were increasing and ordered the strength of the Defence Forces to be raised to 500,000, and the Irish Army planned major manoeuvres to test and prepare its troops. The scenario for the manoeuvres devised by the Plans and Operations staff at GHQ posited that Redland, 'an aggressive totalitarian country' had declared war on its southern neighbour, Blueland, 'a small democratic state' hav- ing its capital at Fermoy, Co Cork. Their neighbours, Brownland and Greenland, had declared themselves neutral; no incursions from the belligerent sides, however, would be countenanced. Thus began Ireland's biggest-ever series of military exercises. The principal dramatis personae were Chief of Staff Lt Gen Dan McKenna; Maj Gen Hugo MacNeill, GOC 1st ('Spearhead') Division, based at Carton House, Maynooth; and Maj Gen Michael J Costello, GOC 2nd ('Thunderbolt') Division, based at Collins Barracks, Cork. Dan McKenna, a Derryman and veteran of the War of Independence who was not renowned for suffering fools gladly, worked around the clock – he was known to frequently put in twenty-hour days – to bring the Emergency army to optimum efficiency, and he expected his staff to do likewise. He was held in high regard by senior US and British army officers. Hugo (aka Aodh) MacNeill was a nephew of Eoin MacNeill, founder of the Irish Volunteers. Tall and considered austere, he had held the rank of major general since the foundation of the Na- tional Army. His brief was to contain any incursion by Allied forces coming from Northern Ireland. MJ Costello's personality could not be more different; if MacNeill preferred the quiet shades of relative anonymity, 'Mickey Joe' heartily enjoyed the bright lights of fame. Promoted to colonel at the age of 19 on the order of Michael Collins, one commentator described him as 'a born soldier, worshipped by his men'. His 'Thunderbolt' Division was tasked with countering an Axis invasion along the southern coast. On 17th August 1942, Redland troops (MacNeill's 2nd Division) mobilised and began marching southwards from Dublin and the Midlands to engage the forces of Blueland (Costello's 1st Divi- sion). Soon, 20,000 troops were on the move – many marching over 150 miles – to engage each other in what became known as the Blackwater Manoeuvres. The chief of staff's subsequent lengthy report to Minister for Defence, Oscar Traynor TD, on the exercises was summarised as follows: August 17th: 2nd Division commences its march from Dublin and the Midlands to the south. September 1st to 3rd: First exercise - at- tack on the line of Blackwater from the northern bank. September 6th to 7th: Second exercise - attack on the line of Blackwater from the southern bank. September 10th: Third exercise - attack on assumed invasion bridgeheads east and west of Cork Harbour. September 13th: Parade of two divisions,

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