The Battle for Limerick City

Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc

• Publisher: Mercier Press
• Year: 2010
• ISBN:
  9781781170687
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

The first of a six book series on titles on the Military History Of The Irish Civil War, this is an in-depth study of the battle for Limerick city.

The story concentrates on the vicious battle that took place between Republican and Provisional Government forces for the control of Limerick City. Occurring in the early days of the Civil War, hostilities arrived in Limerick with a whimper rather than a bang. Outnumbered and out-gunned, the Pro-Treaty Commander of the city, Michael Brennan, negotiated a truce with the Anti-Treaty Chief of Staff, Liam Lynch. But the benefit of this lull in fighting accrued almost entirely to the Pro-Treaty side, gaining them time for reinforcements and weaponry to arrive. When it did, the city became a battleground of extreme viciousness. Several buildings were shelled by 18-pounder guns at point-blank range. The fighting around the Strand barracks was particularly heavy. Padraig Ó Ruairc offers a fresh perspective on the struggle that reduced the viability of the Republican's hoped-for Munster Republic and set the stage for the battle of Kilmallock which checked the pro-treaty rout that the initial stages of the Civil War had been.

CHAPTER 1

THE BRITISH WITHDRAWAL

The remaining light was fading on a dreary February evening in Limerick city as a British army sentry from the Royal Welch Fusiliers stood high above the River Shannon on the walls of King John’s Castle. He watched with disinterest as the carefree townspeople sauntered across Thomond bridge below him in twos and threes. There was no haste, no clatter of hobnailed boots on cobblestones; the passers-by seemed at ease. Soft footsteps tapping on stone in the twilight. Young lovers wandered out on their evening walk, arm in arm, passing the city’s workers who shared cigarettes on their way home, nosily debating the merits of each pub in an effort to decide which one they should call to until some ‘wag’ finished the argument by loudly declaring they should have a drink in each one. On the north bank of the Shannon smart comments and biting insults were hurled at the passers-by from a group of corner boys sitting at the foot of the Treaty Stone. Occasionally these reached the soldier’s ears from across the river and he gave a wry smile when he managed to hear enough of the joke. For once he enjoyed the fact that the insults of the townspeople were not reserved for himself and his comrades.

The soldier hooked the canvas sling of his Lee Enfield rifle with the thumb of his right hand, readjusting the weapon to a more comfortable position on his shoulder. Then he unbuttoned the left breast pocket of his uniform tunic and withdrew a cigarette. He pressed a match against the Castle’s ancient stones, but he paused for a moment when a thought suddenly struck him. Years of experience in the trenches of the First World War and on patrol in Ireland had taught him that the flare of a match was enough to draw the attention of an enemy sniper. Still motionless he considered the prospect. There was peace in Ireland now, but a very uneasy peace. Only the week before the IRA had shot dead a Scottish Black and Tan named McEdward in Garryowen, and just two months before that the IRA had assassinated an RIC sergeant in Kilmallock named Enright. Republican breaches of the ceasefire were becoming more and more common.

Finally, having weighed up the odds, he decided that it was unlikely there were any IRA gunmen lurking in the shadows, he struck the match, raised it to the cigarette and braced his back against the wall to enjoy his smoke. Soon he would be back home on leave or in a quieter posting free from such cares.

Seven hundred years before when the British colonisation of Ireland began, Norman crossbow men would have stood at the same place on the Castle walls on sentry duty. But now, after centuries of struggle, rebellion and war the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Welch Fusiliers would be the last British troops to occupy the Castle. For over two years, from 1919 to 1921, the Irish Republican Army had waged a guerrilla campaign against the might of the British Empire, the largest empire the world had ever seen. The republicans had fought a long and hard campaign against the British army, the Royal Irish Constabulary, the Black and Tans and the RIC Auxiliaries and had brought the British military machine in Ireland to a standstill. On 11 July 1921, a truce had come into effect between the IRA and British forces. Five months later, on 5 December 1921, a peace treaty had been signed between the British government and representatives of the rebel Irish government. Now, in 1922, British forces were slowly being withdrawn from their barracks in the south of Ireland to be replaced by groups of Irishmen.

The final draft of the Treaty contained eighteen articles. Articles 1 and 2 gave the Irish Free State, comprising twenty-six of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, the same constitutional status as Canada, Australia and the other dominion states. Under Article 3, the British king would be represented in Ireland by a governor general appointed in the same way as the Canadian governor general. Article 4 of the Treaty set out the oath of allegiance to be taken by all members of the Irish parliament. It read:

I … do solemnly swear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the Irish Free State as by law established, and that I will be faithful to His Majesty King George V, his heirs and successors by law, in virtue of the common citizenship of Ireland with Great Britain and her adherence to and membership of the group of nations forming the British Commonwealth of Nations.

Article 5 covered the amount of the British war debt that would be paid by the Irish Free State. Article 6 dealt with defence and under its provisions the British military would have permanent naval bases at Cobh, Berehaven and Lough Swilly, and would be given additional bases and military facilities in times of war. Article 10 ensured that the Irish Free State would pay pensions to former British civil servants who had been stationed in Ireland. Pensions would also be paid to the RIC, with the exception of members of the force recruited in Britain. Articles 11 to 15 detailed the position of Northern Ireland.

In theory the Free State was to take over the functions of the British government for ruling the six counties under the Government of Ireland Act unless the unionist parliament at Stormont voted to remain within the United Kingdom. In that event the border between ‘Northern’ and ‘Southern’ Ireland would be drawn up by a boundary commission consisting of three members, one each appointed by the Free State, Northern Irish and British governments. Article 16 forbade either the Free State or Northern Irish governments to give special treatment to any religion. Finally the British government would hand over control of the twenty-six counties of Southern Ireland to a provisional government made up of existing Irish MPs.

The issue of whether to accept or reject this Treaty split Dáil Éireann – the rebel Irish government, Sinn Féin, the IRA, Cumann na mBan and all previously united republican organisations. Those who argued in favour of the Treaty claimed that while it did not deliver the republic they had struggled and suffered for since 1916, it was a fair compromise and realistically the most power and independence that they could get from the British government at the time. The Treaty guaranteed the removal of British forces from most of Ireland and that the British flag would no longer be flown over the war-weary populace in the south, many of whom saw it as a symbol of oppression at this time. Supporters of the Treaty claimed that the oath of allegiance to the British king was merely a formality and that they had forced the British negotiators to accept a very weak form of oath. At last the Irish people would have a government recognised by the British, their own army, state and flag. They would have control of their own economic affairs and the Free State would control its own courts, its own justice system and could establish its own police force.

Most of those who accepted the Treaty also felt that partition of Northern Ireland was merely a temporary measure and that the boundary commission would ultimately deliver so much territory to the Free State that the remaining area would be too small to be viable. This, they hoped, would result in the northern unionists taking the option to join the Free State, ultimately delivering a United Ireland. Many thought there was no alternative other than continuing the war with Britain, and they believed the Treaty would bring about a permanent peace. While the new Free State would not deliver them the ultimate freedom they longed for, it gave them the possibility of what Michael Collins called ‘the freedom to achieve freedom’. According to Robert Barton, a member of the Irish government who had signed the Treaty:

Collins looked upon the Treaty as being, as he said, a stepping stone to complete independence. He believed in accepting it, working it as far as it suited us and doing what has happened since, using it as a means of getting more.³

Opposing them, the republicans poured scorn on the Treaty and its supposed freedoms. They considered it a betrayal of everything they had fought for and an insult to the hundreds who had given their lives in that cause since 1916. They refused to swear an oath of loyalty to a foreign monarch and would rather continue the fight to become citizens of a fully independent Irish Republic than live as subjects of a foreign king within the British Empire. They regarded the establishment of the Free State and granting of dominion status as little more than a glorified form of Home Rule. They argued that the Irish Republic had been declared in 1916 and confirmed by the results of the 1918 general election, the establishment of Dáil Éireann and its ratification of the declaration of Independence in 1919.

To them the republic already existed and no treaty or government assembly could ever abolish the established right of the Irish people to complete independence. They had sworn allegiance to the republic and were prepared to die to defend it. They saw partition as a permanent political and social evil which would leave their northern comrades at the mercy of a hostile unionist population and British forces. They had no faith in a boundary commission and knew the partition of the six Ulster counties with the highest unionist majority, ensured that gerrymandering would be engrained in Northern Ireland for years to come and that a unionist government would always be returned; a government certain to reject any plans for Irish unification. They saw partition as an unnatural division of Ireland pandering to a unionist minority – not just a minority within Ireland but a minority within the nine counties of Ulster as well. Republicans could also not stomach the fact that Irish taxpayers were now expected to pay the pensions of RIC and Irish recruits to the Black and Tans, who had terrorised the Irish people at the behest of a foreign government.

The Treaty represented a compromise for the British that would allow them to end their involvement in an unpopular war which was costing the state up to £20 million a year, as well as damaging their international reputation. They needed a settlement that they could claim was a victory over the republicans, keeping Ireland as part of the British Empire, while at the same time allowing them to withdraw their forces from Ireland without losing face. The terms of the Treaty allowed them to achieve this.

During the Truce period Pádraig Ó Fathaigh, an IRA volunteer with the Mid Clare Brigade, had returned to his native Galway and foresaw that the question of accepting or rejecting the Treaty with Britain would lead to civil war:

The Auxiliary officer Br— who shot Father Griffin spoke the truth when he said to Miss Walshe that there would be a slaughter of Sinn Féiners soon and when she said, ‘That cannot be as ye are going’, he replied, ‘It’s no joke, the Sinn Féiners will slaughter each other. It is all arranged and you will find that what I say is true.’⁴

On 7 January Dáil Éireann voted by sixty-four votes to fifty-seven in favour of the Treaty. After the vote de Valera resigned as president and republican TDs withdrew from the assembly in protest. De Valera was replaced by Arthur Griffith, who appointed a new cabinet with Michael Collins as minister for finance, Richard Mulcahy as minister for defence, William T. Cosgrave as minister for local government and Kevin O’Higgins as minister for economic affairs. Under the terms of the Treaty, the Irish Free State was to come into existence on 6 December 1922, the first anniversary of the signing of the Treaty. Until the Free State was established, the British government would hand over power in stages to a Provisional Government elected by the parliament of ‘Southern Ireland’ under the terms of the Government of Ireland Act. In reality the ‘southern’ parliament consisted of the members of the Dáil, including the four unionist TDs representing Trinity College who had refused to attend Dáil Éireann. The Provisional Government met a week later on 14 January 1922 and elected Michael Collins as its chairman.

Following the Dáil vote on the Treaty, senior IRA officers who opposed the Treaty’s acceptance and its implementation held a series of talks. As a result of these Liam Lynch proposed that the IRA would revert to its original status prior to 1919, as an army of committed unpaid volunteers under the control of an elected executive. The entire IRA would be represented on this executive, regardless of their views on the Treaty. This would have two main results. Firstly it would halt the influx of ‘Trucileers’, men who had swollen the ranks of the IRA after the Truce, either in hope of financial gain now that some IRA members were being paid as soldiers in a semi-professional army, or who sought to bask in the glory of the organisation even though they had played no part in the fight against the British. Secondly it would refocus the IRA on maintaining army unity and hopefully find a way of securing a fully independent Irish Republic. In order to make this change a convention had to be held for the election of an executive as soon as possible. This convention would also give the membership of the IRA a chance to ratify or reject the Treaty. With the exception of the IRA’s 4th Northern Division under the command of Frank Aiken, who had adopted a neutral stance, all IRA units agreed to hold a convention in March. In addition Richard Mulcahy, minister for defence in the Provisional Government, gave a personal assurance that the existing Irish army, both the anti-Treaty units that continued as the Irish Republican Army and the pro-Treaty units that were beginning to form the new Free State army, would be maintained for the defence of the Irish Republic.

With the formation of the Provisional Government in January, the British army began to withdraw from their barracks throughout the twenty-six counties. Some returned home to Britain, while others were transferred north across the border to reinforce the unionist government. As the British forces withdrew, their former barracks were taken over by both pro-Treaty and anti-Treaty units of the IRA. Each IRA unit moved into the evacuated barracks in their area regardless of their political loyalties on the issue of the Treaty. The first barracks to be evacuated by the British was Beggars Bush in Dublin, which was taken over by pro-Treaty members of the Dublin Brigade IRA. The Provisional Government wanted to make sure that the men looked well for the occasion and sent their pro-Treaty troops to the Co-Op Tailors in Abbey Street to be fitted for new green uniforms. The political split between the pro-Treaty and anti-Treaty IRA units became clearly visible with the pro-Treaty men wearing their new green uniforms. The British army handed over Beggars Bush barracks to the Dublin Brigade of the Free State army on 31 January 1922. As the British soldiers withdrew, a British army officer, Lieutenant Bevin, was shot at by an IRA sniper as he was riding a motor cycle. The IRA sniper’s bullet passed through his jacket but he was not injured. This incident made it clear that the republicans did not regard the Treaty as a final settlement with the British.

Tensions grew between the IRA and the new Free State army, leading to armed clashes, as both jostled to take the military advantage. The competition to take over local barracks as the British army and RIC withdrew, became part of this struggle all over the country.

CHAPTER 2

EARLY HOSTILITIES
IN LIMERICK

In Limerick city on 16 February, the IRA held up two Black and Tans, Constables Williams and Harding, at Pery Square and took their revolvers. Two days later, on 18 February, Liam Forde, commandant of the Mid Limerick Brigade, issued a proclamation denouncing the Treaty and repudiating the authority of Michael Collins, Richard Mulcahy, and the other members of the IRA’s headquarters staff in Dublin who supported the Treaty, and declared his brigade independent of headquarters’ control and loyal to the Irish Republic:

This republic has been ratified by the people of Ireland and members of the IRA were sworn to maintain it. The aims of the head of the army and the majority of the GHQ staff are now unquestionably to subvert the republic and to support the Provisional Government, and to make possible the establishment of the Irish Free State. We therefore declare that we no longer recognise the authority of the head of the army and renew our allegiance to the existing Irish Republic. We are confident that in this stand we will have the support of all units of the IRA and of every loyal citizen of the Irish Republic.⁵

On the same day, the IRA’s South Tipperary Brigade issued a similar proclamation. In response Richard Mulcahy ordered Commandant General Michael Brennan and Free State troops from the 1st Western Division in East Clare and South Galway to enter Limerick city and take over the military barracks that the British army was due to evacuate. Officially the Provisional Government’s policy was for the local force to take over all evacuated British army barracks in their brigade area regardless of whether they were IRA or Free State army. However Limerick city was regarded as a key military position – it had been strongly garrisoned by British forces who had used it as a base during the War of Independence to dominate large parts of counties Clare, Limerick and Tipperary. Its position spanning the Shannon meant that it linked control of Munster and the western coast. If the IRA took military control of the city they would be able to consolidate their position in the south and west. This would have left Commandant Seán MacEoin and Michael Brennan’s Free State troops in Clare, Galway and the midlands surrounded by IRA brigades, and dangerously isolated from the rest of the Free State forces, except for the East Limerick Brigade and a few battalions of the Mid Limerick Brigade who also supported the Treaty.

Alternatively, if the Free State gained control of the city they would be able to cut off communications between the IRA in Connacht and Munster and could use the city as a base for mounting attacks on both of these areas. So Richard Mulcahy broke from the Provisional Government’s usual policy and ordered pro-Treaty troops into Limerick.

On 23 February the RIC evacuated the city’s five police barracks. Many of the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries who had been stationed there changed into civilian clothes, and enjoyed a few hasty drinks before setting to work gathering up their belongings and removing the RIC station plates and other British emblems from the front of the buildings to take home as souvenirs. The men who had evacuated the barracks celebrated the historic occasion with a few more drinks and one party made an unsteady march along Clare Street firing shots in the air from their revolvers in celebration. IRA Volunteer Mossie Hartnet was returning from a training camp when he encountered them at Limerick Station:

We arrived at Limerick Railway Station carrying rifles and equipment and we were standing there awaiting the train to Tralee, when out of the blue and to our discomfiture and dismay about one hundred or so Black and Tans ran all over the place, jumping gates, shouting, whistling and acting like a mob bent on destruction. When they saw us they gathered around us – some shouted, ‘Here are the bloody Shinners!’

‘Here are some of the invisible army!’

This was the first time we had met any of our opponents; before this we could never see them. Some shook us by the...

Table of contents

• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Foreword
• Chapter 1: The British Withdrawal
• Chapter 2: Early Hostilities in Limerick
• Chapter 3: The Outbreak of the Civil War
• Chapter 4: The War comes to Limerick
• Chapter 5: The Battle for Limerick
• Chapter 6: The End of the Conflict in Limerick city
• Appendix 1: Casualty Lists for Limerick, 11–21 July 1922
• Appendix 2: Biographies
• Endnotes
• Other Titles from Mercier Press
• About the Publisher
• About the Author