These were former British Army officers now attached to the Royal Irish Constabulary and were anything but “Officers and Gentlemen”. These retired officers, like their lower ranked counterparts, the Black and Tans were among the most ruthless bunch of cut throats and arsonists perhaps bettered in atrocities only by the Nazi SS of the Third Reich years in Germany and later the occupied countries which should tell us a lot about these Auxiliaries.
As bad as the Black and Tans were, the Auxiliaries were arguably worse and were the gang responsible for burning down Cork City as a reprisal for IRA activity, or that was their rationale. Even their commander, Brigadier General Frank Percy Crozier, was not happy with the behaviour of his men who were undisciplined to say the least, Crozier eventually resigned. These Auxiliaries and the Black and Tans were reviled throughout Ireland and, in the case of the Tans were attached directly to the RIC whereas the Auxiliaries were nominally attached to the police but often acted independently in rural areas. This caused some RIC officers, local men, to resign rather than work along-side such thugs. Tom Barry decided something had to be done about these rampaging thugs running around burning people’s houses and killing civilians in cold blood.
The Flying Column of the Third West Cork Brigade of the IRA would be the instrument which meted out retaliatory action against the Auxiliaries. On 28th November 1920 the column led by Barry and consisting of thirty volunteers set out to do just that. Barry positioned his men in strategic positions, just outside the County Cork village of Kilmichael, in preparation for an ambush which would go down in Irish folk lore. Barry himself, always a man to lead from the front, stood in the road waiting for the tenders to approach. At this point he would stop the small convoy and the attack would begin.
The Flying Column of the Third West Cork Brigade of the IRA would be the instrument which meted out retaliatory action against the Auxiliaries. On 28th November 1920 the column led by Barry and consisting of thirty volunteers set out to do just that. Barry positioned his men in strategic positions, just outside the County Cork village of Kilmichael, in preparation for an ambush which would go down in Irish folk lore. Barry himself, always a man to lead from the front, stood in the road waiting for the tenders to approach. At this point he would stop the small convoy and the attack would begin.
Because of the mixed uniforms adorned by the Auxiliaries and the attire worn by Barry he was briefly mistaken for an officer of the same organisation. He was armed with a Mills Bomb [Grenade] and as the vehicles slowed down, he threw the projectile at the front lorry knocking out most of its inhabitants. At this point the volunteers opened fire on the bewildered Auxiliaries taking them completely by surprise, there was much close-range fighting. The Auxiliaries appeared to surrender and three IRA men stood up to accept their enemies handing over of weapons and themselves, or so they thought.
This surrender turned out to be what became known as a “false surrender” and though most had thrown down their rifles the Auxiliaries still had small arms in their possession and immediately opened fire on the IRA men who were stood up in clear visibility, killing all three. At this point the rest of the IRA on Barry’s order resumed firing as their commander shouted “and don’t stop until I tell you”. This time there would be no chivalry in accepting a second attempt at surrendering by the treacherous Auxiliaries and seventeen of them were killed and one seriously wounded [though this figure differs and some reports put the number at twenty dead and one wounded]. This amounted to eighteen (or twenty-one), the entire compliment of Auxiliaries, and was an emphatic victory for the IRA. For years after, in fact until his dying day, Tom Barry was full of remorse for not warning his men of the “false surrender” tactic which was often used in warfare. He blamed himself for the loss of three volunteers who, understandably, believed the surrender was genuine.
The “false surrender” claim of Tom Barry was disputed by a revisionist historian called Peter Hart. In his book The IRA and its Enemies Hart tries to claim there was no “false surrender” just a genuine one which Barry refused to accept, thus killing the men in cold blood. Hart claims, with no convincing evidence, that the Auxiliaries offered a genuine surrender and were then gunned down in cold blood, even going as far as to suggest some Auxiliaries were bludgeoned to death by use of an axe. He claims to have interviewed one of the last surviving members of the Flying Column, Ned Young.
The “false surrender” claim of Tom Barry was disputed by a revisionist historian called Peter Hart. In his book The IRA and its Enemies Hart tries to claim there was no “false surrender” just a genuine one which Barry refused to accept, thus killing the men in cold blood. Hart claims, with no convincing evidence, that the Auxiliaries offered a genuine surrender and were then gunned down in cold blood, even going as far as to suggest some Auxiliaries were bludgeoned to death by use of an axe. He claims to have interviewed one of the last surviving members of the Flying Column, Ned Young.
In her book, Tom Barry – IRA Freedom Fighter, Meda Ryan disputed Harts claim to have personally interviewed two IRA veterans in 1988-89, a rifleman and a scout. Ryan stated just “one veteran was alive then” maintaining that the last surviving veteran, Ned Young died on 13th November 1989 aged 97. The second last surviving veteran, Jack O’Sullivan, died in 1986. Ned Youngs son, John, stated in addition that his father “was also not capable of giving Hart an interview in 1988, as Ned Young suffered a debilitating stroke in late 1986.” John Young gave a sworn affidavit to this affect in December 2007. Hart's claims to have interviewed survivors of Kilmichael are suspect to say the very least, and look more like a revised false version of history to suit Hart's own narrative and discredit Tom Barry and the Flying Column.
Hart's claims that axes were used to mutilate the bodies were first uttered by Mr Stephen Brady, a Solicitor who acted for the families of the Auxiliaries killed at Kilmichael. Meda Ryan states in her book, Tom Barry IRA Freedom Fighter on page 83, that “Stephen Brady was aware that the statements of the Castle [Macroom Castle} were exaggerated. The more harrowing it [the ambush] was, the hacking of bodies and cruelty of the engagement the better the compensation”. Put simply the gorier, be the report right or wrong, the more money in compensation the families would receive! So, the reports of supposed usage of axes by Barry and his men lose more and more credibility as the tale unravels, depending who is telling it. It must be remembered that those of the Auxiliaries who testified were not there and were, in many cases the same men who burned down civilian homes for no reason except their own lust for violence and inflicting misery.
Another very questionable piece of so-called evidence supporting Hart's claim was a document supposedly from Barry held at Macroom Castle. This document was/is in all probability a forgery designed to give false information regarding the ambush. The language and use of words was/is not that which Tom Barry would have used and why would the column commander admit to butchering the enemy? The British and their allies are past masters at these dirty tricks, whereas Tom Barry generally fought his war according to the rules of “civilisation.” He was not the sort of man who took sadistic pleasure in killing while, at the same time, recognising that in war deaths are going to happen. Even most of Barry’s enemies recognised the brilliance of Tom Barry and his respect for the rules of “civilised warfare” and engagement. The exception to this rule was Major Arthur Percival (the man who surrendered the entire British Army to a numerically inferior Japanese force at Singapore in the Second World War) of the Essex Regiment. This regiment of regular British troops were particularly barbaric and Barry responded to their actions in kind, but only against men of the Essex Regiment, not regular British troops in general who, like himself abided by the rules.
Another false claim by many of the day, particularly the Auxiliaries and later used by Hart, was the claim Barry and the Third West Cork Brigade IRA were sectarian against people of the Protestant denomination. This again is untrue as overwhelming evidence to the contrary proves. For the record it was Cork Protestant, Sam Maguire, who swore Michael Collins into the Irish Republican Brotherhood and sectarianism was never part of the IRA's war. On one occasion over a number of days fifteen informers and spies were shot. Of these nine were Roman Catholic and six of the Protestant faith. The media only reported the denomination of the Protestants, the minority of executed people on this occasion, and never mentioned the other nine Catholics who were shot for the same offence. This was to create a picture in the minds of their readers - an image of sectarianism against Protestants. Why else would the papers make an issue out of the denomination of the Protestants, without mentioning they were informers or spies, and not mention the Catholics even though there were more of them?
Peter Hart died in 2010 so, unfortunately, is not here to be cross examined about his, at very best, sketchy account which is at worst a pack of lies. No doubt some of his evidence - apart from where the only way would have been through a séance as his alleged witnesses were dead - came from corrupt sources and Hart should have had more sense then to use such statements from butchers. Tom Barry was a highly respected guerrilla fighter admired by friend and many foe (Percival exempted) alike. The so-called “false surrender” not happening claim to me sounds like an attempt to discredit Barry and his very successful Flying Column.
Another very questionable piece of so-called evidence supporting Hart's claim was a document supposedly from Barry held at Macroom Castle. This document was/is in all probability a forgery designed to give false information regarding the ambush. The language and use of words was/is not that which Tom Barry would have used and why would the column commander admit to butchering the enemy? The British and their allies are past masters at these dirty tricks, whereas Tom Barry generally fought his war according to the rules of “civilisation.” He was not the sort of man who took sadistic pleasure in killing while, at the same time, recognising that in war deaths are going to happen. Even most of Barry’s enemies recognised the brilliance of Tom Barry and his respect for the rules of “civilised warfare” and engagement. The exception to this rule was Major Arthur Percival (the man who surrendered the entire British Army to a numerically inferior Japanese force at Singapore in the Second World War) of the Essex Regiment. This regiment of regular British troops were particularly barbaric and Barry responded to their actions in kind, but only against men of the Essex Regiment, not regular British troops in general who, like himself abided by the rules.
Another false claim by many of the day, particularly the Auxiliaries and later used by Hart, was the claim Barry and the Third West Cork Brigade IRA were sectarian against people of the Protestant denomination. This again is untrue as overwhelming evidence to the contrary proves. For the record it was Cork Protestant, Sam Maguire, who swore Michael Collins into the Irish Republican Brotherhood and sectarianism was never part of the IRA's war. On one occasion over a number of days fifteen informers and spies were shot. Of these nine were Roman Catholic and six of the Protestant faith. The media only reported the denomination of the Protestants, the minority of executed people on this occasion, and never mentioned the other nine Catholics who were shot for the same offence. This was to create a picture in the minds of their readers - an image of sectarianism against Protestants. Why else would the papers make an issue out of the denomination of the Protestants, without mentioning they were informers or spies, and not mention the Catholics even though there were more of them?
Peter Hart died in 2010 so, unfortunately, is not here to be cross examined about his, at very best, sketchy account which is at worst a pack of lies. No doubt some of his evidence - apart from where the only way would have been through a séance as his alleged witnesses were dead - came from corrupt sources and Hart should have had more sense then to use such statements from butchers. Tom Barry was a highly respected guerrilla fighter admired by friend and many foe (Percival exempted) alike. The so-called “false surrender” not happening claim to me sounds like an attempt to discredit Barry and his very successful Flying Column.
Many years later Hugh Dalton the head of Britain’s Special Operation Executive (SOE) during World War Two, which trained various resistance movements across occupied Europe, studied the methods and actions of the IRA in the War of Independence. Many ambushes of German forces across Europe by the SOE and their resistance allies were based on the actions of Commandant Tom Barry of the Third West Cork Brigade Flying Column. Would Dalton have used Barry as a blue print if the things Hart and others were saying held any water? I doubt it, and he would certainly not have made it public if he had. Commandant General Tom Barry was and is rightly so highly respected in Irish Revolutionary folk lore and no amount of revisionism will change that.
There are many more instances about the Kilmichael Ambush and I have used the few which I considered appropriate for this blog. It is only an outline of the event and an attempt to put the false claims, as I see them, of Peter Hart and others to bed. I would strongly recommend Meda Ryan's book, Tom Barry IRA Freedom Fighter which goes into the subject in some depth.
There are many more instances about the Kilmichael Ambush and I have used the few which I considered appropriate for this blog. It is only an outline of the event and an attempt to put the false claims, as I see them, of Peter Hart and others to bed. I would strongly recommend Meda Ryan's book, Tom Barry IRA Freedom Fighter which goes into the subject in some depth.
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Caoimhin O’Muraile is Independent Socialist Republican and Marxist |
Nice one Caoimin ... Ownie Harris was/is a big supporter of Peter Hart's fraudulent narrative ... nuff said.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very interesting piece.
ReplyDelete