Soloheadbeg ambush

Soloheadbeg ambush
Part of the Irish War of Independence
A proclamation offering a reward of £1,000 for information leading to the capture of those involved in the Soloheadbeg ambush
Date 21 January 1919 Location Near Soloheadbeg, County Tipperary, Ireland 52°31′N8°10′W / 52.52°N 8.16°W / 52.52; -8.16 Result Irish victory IRA seize large amounts of gelignite
Belligerents
Irish Volunteers/Irish Republican Army	United Kingdom Royal Irish Constabulary
Commanders and leaders
Seán Treacy Dan Breen	James McDonnell   † Patrick O'Connell   †
Strength
10 volunteers	2 policemen
Casualties and losses
None	2 policemen killed
class=notpageimage| Location within island of Ireland

The Soloheadbeg ambush took place on 21 January 1919, when members of the Irish Volunteers (or Irish Republican Army [IRA]) ambushed Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) officers who were escorting a consignment of gelignite explosives at Soloheadbeg, County Tipperary. Two RIC officers were killed and their weapons and the explosives were stolen. The Volunteers acted on their own initiative and had not sought authorisation for their action. As it happened on the same day that the revolutionary Irish parliament first met and declared Ireland's independence, it is often seen as the first engagement of the Irish War of Independence. ^[1]

Background

In April 1916, during the First World War, Irish republicans launched an uprising against British rule in Ireland, called the Easter Rising, where they proclaimed an Irish Republic. After a week of fighting, mostly in Dublin, the rising was put down by British forces. Most of the Rising's leaders were executed. The Rising, the British response, and the British attempt to introduce conscription in Ireland led to even greater public support for Irish republicanism.^{[ citation needed ]}

In the general election of December 1918, the Irish republican party Sinn Féin won a landslide victory in Ireland, gaining 73 out of 105 seats (25 of these unopposed) in the British Parliament. However, in its election manifesto, the party had vowed to set up a separate government in Ireland rather than sit in the British Parliament. At a meeting in Dublin on 21 January 1919, Sinn Féin established an independent parliament called Dáil Éireann and declared independence from the United Kingdom. ^[2]

Planning

That same day, an ambush would be carried out by Irish Volunteers from the 3rd Tipperary Brigade. It involved Seán Treacy, Dan Breen, Seán Hogan, Séumas Robinson, Tadhg Crowe, Patrick McCormack, Patrick O'Dwyer and Michael Ryan. ^[3] Robinson (who had participated in the Easter Rising) was the commander of the group that carried out the attack and Treacy (a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood since 1911) coordinated the planning of the attack. ^[4] The unit involved acted on its own initiative. ^[3]

In December 1918, they received information that there were plans to move a consignment of gelignite from Tipperary British Army barracks to the Soloheadbeg quarry. They began plans to intercept the consignment and Dan Breen's brother Lars, who worked at the quarry, received information that the consignment was to be moved around 16 January 1919. They anticipated that there would be between two and six armed escorts, and they discussed different plans. If the escort was small, they believed they could overpower the RIC officers without firing a shot. Gags and ropes were hidden in the quarry, so that if the officers surrendered they could be bound and gagged. ^[5] The planning for the ambush took place in the 'Tin Hut', a deserted semi-derelict house at Greenane. ^[3]

Robinson, who had returned to the Brigade area after his release from jail, was briefed by Treacy about the plans to seize the gelignite. Robinson supported the plan and confirmed with Treacy that they would not request permission from the Irish Volunteer leadership. If they did, they would have to wait for a response, and even if the response was affirmative, it might not come until after the gelignite was moved. ^[6]

Ambush

Each day from 16 to 21 January, the men chosen for the ambush took up their positions from early in the morning to late afternoon and then spent the night at the deserted house. Seven of the Volunteers were armed with revolvers while Treacy was armed with a small automatic rifle. ^[3] On 21 January, around noon, Patrick O'Dwyer saw the transport leaving the barracks. The consignment of 160 lb of gelignite ^[5] was on a horse-drawn cart, led by two council men and guarded by two RIC officers armed with carbine rifles. ^{[3] [7]} O'Dwyer cycled quickly to where the ambush party was waiting and informed them. ^[4] Robinson and O'Dwyer hid about 20 yards in front of the main ambush party of six, in case they rushed through the main ambush position. ^[8]

When the transport reached the position where the main ambush party was hiding, masked Volunteers stepped out in front of them with their guns drawn and called on the RIC to surrender, shouting "Hands up!" more than once. ^{[3] [7]} It was raining. ^[5] The officers could see at least three of the ambushers; one officer got down behind the cart and the other apparently fumbled with his rifle. ^[5] According to the Volunteers, the officers raised their rifles to fire at them. ^{[3] [7]} Séumas Robinson said the officers attempted to shoot but that the rifles did not fire because "the cut-off had been overlooked". ^[9] The Volunteers immediately fired at the officers, and it is believed that Treacy fired the first shot. ^[5] Both officers were killed: James McDonnell and Patrick O'Connell, native Roman Catholics. ^{[8] [10]} MacDonnell was shot in the left side of the head and through the left arm; O’Connell was shot through the left side, and was likely in a stooping position. ^[5] McDonnell was born in Belmullet, County Mayo. He was aged 50 at the time of his death and was a widower with five children. O'Connell was unmarried and a native of Coachford, County Cork. ^[11]

As planned, Hogan, Breen and Treacy took the horse and cart with the explosives and sped off. ^[3] They hid the explosives in a field in Greenane. The explosives were moved several times and later divided up between the battalions of the brigade. ^[12] Tadhg Crowe and Patrick O'Dwyer took the guns and ammunition from the dead officers, ^[3] while Robinson, McCormack and Ryan guarded the two council workers, Ned Godfrey and Patrick Flynn, before releasing them once the gelignite was far enough away. ^[8]

Breen gave apparently conflicting accounts of their intentions that day. One account implies that the purpose of the confrontation was merely to capture explosives and detonators being escorted to a nearby quarry. ^[13] However, almost thirty years later he told the Bureau of Military History that he and Treacy intended killing the police escort to provoke a military response.

"Treacy had stated to me that the only way of starting a war was to kill someone, and we wanted to start a war, so we intended to kill some of the police whom we looked upon as the foremost and most important branch of the enemy forces [...] The only regret we had following the ambush was that there were only two policemen in it, instead of the six we had expected". ^{[3] [7]}

Séumas Robinson said that they would not have "shot down men in cold blood, although certainly we had no intention of being intimidated by the armed guard". ^[3] Patrick O'Dwyer said the plan had been to "disarm them and seize the gelignite without bloodshed if possible", ^[8] and Tadhg Crowe said they did not believe the ambush would end in violence. ^[14]

Aftermath

A wanted poster for Dan Breen.

The ambush would later be seen as the beginning of the Irish War of Independence. ^{[15] [16] [17] [18]} The British government declared South Tipperary a Special Military Area under the Defence of the Realm Act two days later. ^{[19] [20]} There was strong condemnation from the Catholic Church in Ireland. The parish priest of Tipperary Town called the dead officers "martyrs to duty". ^[21]

A meeting of the Executive of the Irish Volunteers took place shortly thereafter. On 31 January, An t-Óglach (the official publication of the Irish Volunteers) stated that the formation of Dáil Éireann "justifies Irish Volunteers in treating the armed forces of the enemy – whether soldiers or policemen – exactly as a National Army would treat the members of an invading army". ^[22]

In February 1919 at a Brigade meeting in Nodstown Tipperary, Brigade officers drafted a proclamation (signed by Seamus Robinson as O/C) ordering all British military and police forces out of South Tipperary and, if they stayed they would be held to have "forfeited their lives". GHQ refused to sanction the proclamation and demanded it not be publicly displayed. Despite this it was still posted in several places in Tipperary. ^{[23] [6]}

In order to avoid capture, Breen, Treacy, Hogan and the other participants were forced to stay on the move for the following months, often hiding in the barns and attics of sympathisers. ^[24]

Commemoration

A monument was erected at the site of the ambush, and each year, a ceremony of remembrance is held there. ^[25]

See also

• Timeline of the Irish War of Independence
• Rescue at Knocklong

References

1. English, Richard (1998), Ernie O'Malley: IRA Intellectual, Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. "Explainer: Establishing the First Dáil" Archived 4 April 2021 at the Wayback Machine . Century Ireland Archived 19 January 2019 at the Wayback Machine .
3. Ambrose, Joe. Seán Treacy and the Tan War. Mercier Press, 2007. pp.89-98
4. Aengus Ó Snodaigh (21 January 1999). "Gearing up for war: Soloheadbeg 1919"
5. "Soloheadbeg: what really happened?" Archived 21 January 2019 at the Wayback Machine . History Ireland , Volume 5, Issue 1 (Spring 1997).
6. Bureau of Military History, Witness Statement 1721, Séumas Robinson Archived 23 November 2017 at the Wayback Machine
7. Tomkins, Phil. Twice A Hero: From the Trenches of the Great War to the Ditches of the Irish Midlands 1915-1922. Memoirs Publishing, 2013. pp.96-97
8. Bureau of Military History, Witness Statement 1432, Patrick O'Dwyer Archived 16 July 2019 at the Wayback Machine
9. "The Soloheadbeg ambush - Sudden, bloody and unexpected" Archived 21 January 2019 at the Wayback Machine . RTÉ, 20 January 2019.
10. "The Soloheadbeg Ambush - 21 January, 1919". Garda Síochána Historical Society. Archived from the original on 15 September 2018. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
11. "Men Drive Away in Cart Laden with Gelignite". Freemans Journal. 22 January 1919.
12. Bureau of Military History, Witness Statement 1450, John Ryan Archived 17 July 2019 at the Wayback Machine
13. Peter Berresford Ellis (2007). Eyewitness to Irish History. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 231–232. ISBN   978-0-470-05312-6. Archived from the original on 19 August 2020. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
14. Bureau of Military History, Witness Statement 1658, Tadhg Crowe Archived 15 September 2016 at the Wayback Machine . p.8
15. Irish Freedom by Richard English ( ISBN   978-0-330-42759-3), page 287
16. The Irish War of Independence by Michael Hopkinson ( ISBN   978-0773528406), page 115
17. A Military History of Ireland by Thomas Bartlett and Keith Jeffery ( ISBN   978-0521629898), page 407
18. Michael Collins: A Life by James Mackay ( ISBN   1-85158-857-4), page 106
19. Sean Treacy and the 3rd. Tipperary Brigade by Desmond Ryan (Tralee 1945), p.74
20. Police Casualties in Ireland, 1919-1922 by Richard Abbott ( ISBN   978-1856353144), p.49
21. Stewart, Bruce. Hearts and Minds: Irish Culture and Society Under the Act of Union. Colin Smythe Publishing, 2002. p.222
22. "Chronology of Irish History 1919 - 1923: January 1919". Archived from the original on 5 March 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2010.
23. Sean Treacy and the 3rd. Tipperary Brigade by Desmond Ryan (Tralee 1945)
24. Sean Treacy and the 3rd. Tipperary Brigade by Desmond Ryan (Tralee 1945)
25. "The Irish Times view on Soloheadbeg: a complex legacy" Archived 23 January 2019 at the Wayback Machine . The Irish Times , 21 January 2019.

Bibliography

• Abbot, R. Police Casualties in Ireland (1919-1922). p. 30–32 ( ISBN   1856353141)
• Aengus Ó Snodaigh (21 January 1999). "Gearing up for war: Soloheadbeg 1919". An Phoblacht .