Heritage archives - Kilmichael Ambush, November 28th 1920

Detail

Around 2am on Sunday morning November 28th, 1920, the Volunteers marched to Kilmichael from Ahilnane, north of Enniskeane, after Fr.O´Connell P.P. Enniskeane, had heard their confessions. Pat Deasy a sixteen-year-old from Kilmacsimon and John Lordan, Newcestown joined them later. They deployed them thus:

The Command Post occupied by Tom Barry with Jim (Spud) Murphy and John (Flyer) Nyhan, both from Clonakilty and Mick O´Herlihy from Union Hall.

No.1 section - consisted of 10 men, north of the road.

No.2 section - Michael McCarthy from Dunmanway led 10 more, were situated behind the monument.

No.3 section - Stephen O´Neill was in charge of 12 men, who were divided in to 2 groups of 6, at either side of the road.Two unarmed scouts were posted at the northern side of the ambush and another on the Dunmanway side.

Around 4.05pm, on this wet and cold evening, the tired and hungry volunteers got the signal. Two Crossley tenders carrying eighteen Auxiliaries commanded by Colonel Crake were approaching the ambuscade. Tom Barry wearing a military officer´s tunic stood on the road facing the first lorry. As it slowed down, he blew his whistle and threw The Mills bomb in the cab of the open lorry, killing the driver. No.1 section fired and soon all occupants were dead. No.2 section attackedthe second lorry, the Auxiliaries jumped on to the road, and as is widely believed, shouted surrender. Most historians agree that in response, three inexperienced volunteers stood up to take the surrender and were treacherously shot. The three volunteers, Michael Mc Carthy, Jim O´Sullivan, Rossmore and Pat Deasy, who died later, regarded as martyrs ever since were temporarily buried in Gortroe, but were later interred in Castletownkenneigh. In reaction to this, Barry ordered his men, to open fire again on the Auxiliaries, and in the ensuing exchange, all but two Auxiliaries were killed. Of the survivors Lieutenant Cecil Guthrie was captured near Dromcarra and executed. He was buried in Anahala bog, and years later reinterred in Inchigeela cemetery. The other Lieutenant (Cadet) H.F.Forde was rescued the following day at the Ambush site, and taken to Macroom for medical aid, and subsequently to England. It is believed that Lieutenant Forde lived into the 1980´s though paralysed and confined to a wheelchair.

Barry marshalled his men, sent for a doctor and priest. Fr. Gould, C.C. Kilmichael, attended the wounded and dying. They collected rifles, revolvers and ammunition, and then burned the two lorries. Before marching his men southwards, he lined them in front of the rock, ordered them to present arms and salute their fallen comrades. Arriving in Granure, about 11pm, they sheltered in a vacant cottage, where they were given buckets of hot tea and buttered brown bread, and were able to rest their weary bodies. They eventually dispersed and returned to their homes in West Cork. Midday on Monday, three lorries arrived from Macroom to collect the dead. In reprisal they destroyed and burnt houses and hay barns around the locality and fired shots at various people. Kilmichael Ambush has been heralded as one of the best-planned engagements ever in guerrilla warfare. In 1966, the now famous monument was erected, with script in both English and Irish and in part, reads as follows: They shall be spoken of among their people, The generations shall remember them and call them blessed.

Sir Hamar Greenwood: Sir Hamar was chief Secretary for Ireland between 1920 and 1922; he followed in the footsteps of James Ian Macpherson. The Auxiliaries: The Auxiliaries were recruited as a para-police force, following the departure of the RIC from most country barracks. They were officers who had fought in the First World War, and publicised as the very best of England´s fighting men, and were established as a terrorist force to wipe out all the resistance to British rule in Ireland. Highly paid and often undisciplined, they were heavily armed, each man carried a rifle, two revolvers and a Mills bomb. The names of the Auxiliaries involved in Kilmichael on that day were; William Barnes; Cecil Bayley; Leonard Bradshaw; Francis Craik; James Cleave; Philip Graham; Cecil Guthrie (escaped from Kilmichael, bit captured nearby at Dromcarra and shot) W.Hooper-Jones; Fredrick Hugo; Albert Jones; Ernest Lucas; William Pallester; Horrace Pearson; Arhur Poole; Frank Taylor; Christopher Wainwright; Benjamin Webster and H F Forde (The only survivor). The Volunteers: At Kilmichael Tom Barry´s men included: Jack Aherne Budrimeen, Ballineen. Sonny Carey Dunmanway. Neilus Cotter Kilnadur. Batty Coughlan Dunmanway. Denis Cronin Gurteenroe, Bantry. Sonny Dave Crowley The Paddock, Enniskeane. Timothy Crowley Glounbrack, Reenascreena. Pat Deasy Kilmacsimon, Bandon (Died at Kilmichael). Sean Falvey Ballymurphy, Innishannon. Johnny Hegarty Keelinga, Leap. Jack Hennessey Cahir, Ballineen. Michael Hurley Brade, Union Hall. Dan Hourihan Girlough, Ballineen. Jack Hourihan Toureen, Skibbereen. John Lordan Coolnaugh, Newcestown. Jack Mc Carthy Lissane, Drimoleague. Michael Mc Carthy East Green, Dunmanway (Died at Kilmichael). Paddy Mc Carthy("Kilmallock") Kilcoe, Ballydehob. Timothy "Casey" Mc Carthy Durrus. Jim "Spud" Murphy Pearse St., Clonakilty. John "Flyer" Nyhan Clonakilty. Denis O´Brien Castlelack, Bandon. Paddy O´Brien Girlough, Ballineen. Tim O´Connell Ahakeera, Dunmanway. John O´Donovan Behigullane, Dunmanway. Michael O´Donovan Bonagh, Rosscarbery. Michael O´Donovan Cullane, Leap. Patrick O´Donovan Drominidy, Drimoleague. Patrick O´Donovan Inchafune Hse, Dunmanway. Dan O´Driscoll Kilvurra, Rossmore. Michael O´Driscoll Snave, Bantry. Michael Con O´Driscoll, Granure, Ballygurteen. Jerome O´Hea Lissycremin, Lislevane, Bandon. James O´Mahony Ballineen. Jeremiah O´Mahony The Paddock, Enniskeane. Denis O´Sullivan Ardfield, Clonakilty. Jack O´Sullivan Cahirmounteen, Kealkil. Jim O´Sullivan Knockawaddra, Rossmore (Died at Kilmichael). John D. O´Sullivan Bawngorm, Bantry. Jack Roche Kilbrittain. Ned Young Dunmanway. John Kelly Johnstown, Kilmichael (Southern Scout). Tim O´Sullivan Shanacashel, Coppeen (Northern Scout). Kilmichael: A parish that is partly in the Western Division of the barony of East Carbery, but chiefly in the Barony of West Muskerry, was originally called Uibh Flann Luadh or Iffanloe (the territory of Flann ). Situated between the towns of Macroom and Dunmanway, it is the second largest parish in the Diocese of Cork, stretching seventeen miles in distance. In political terms, it is now in the NorthWest Cork Constituency.

General Tom Barry: The youngest of eleven children Tom Barry was born on July 1st 1897. He attended National School at Ardagh Rosscarbery. He worked as a clerk in Bandon until 1915, then joined the British army and during World War 1 served in the Middle East. On returning he enrolled in a business college in Skerrys. In 1919 he joined the West Cork Brigade of the IRA and was appointed as the Brigade Training Officer and from that, organised the Brigade´s Flying Column throughout the War of Independence. He was briefly imprisoned in the Curragh Internment camp. In 1927 he worked for the Cork Harbour Commissioners. He was Chief of Staff of the IRA between 1936 and 1937, but retired from the IRA in 1938. During World War 2 he was Operations Officer in the Irish Army in the Southern Command. His book "Guerrilla Days in Ireland" was published in 1949. General Tom Barry died in the Mercy Hospital Cork on July 2nd 1980, and was survived by his wife Leslie Bean de Barra.

Crossley tenders: These vehicles were built in Manchester, they were mainly 3 Ton, and 4 X 4 vehicles with 4 cylinder engines. Francis and William set up Crossley Brothers in 1867, when Francis, with help from his uncle, bought the engineering business of John M Dunlop, William joined him shortly after the purchase. The company name was initially changed to Crossley Brothers and Dunlop. The brothers were committed Christians and strictly teetotal refusing to supply their products to companies such as breweries that they did not approve of. They adopted the early Christian symbol of the Coptic Cross as the emblem to use on their road vehicles. The business flourished and in 1881 Crossley Brothers became a private limited company. The Mills bomb: In 1915 William Mills a Birmingham engineer developed this grenade. It had a central spring-loaded firing pin and spring-loaded lever locked by a pin. When it was in the air, the lever flew up and released the striker, which ignited a four-second time fuse allowing the thrower to take cover before it exploded. When the grenade went off the cast-iron casing shattered producing a shower of metal fragments.