Battle of Dublin

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Battle of Dublin
Part of the Irish Civil War
Fighting on O'Connell Street
Date June 28-July 5, 1922 Location Mostly Central Dublin Result Decisive Irish Free State victory
Combatants
Irish Republican Army	Irish Free State Army
Commanders
Rory O'Connor Oscar Traynor	Michael Collins
Strength
200 in Four Courts c. 500 more in city, reinforcments come from Tipperary, but arrive too late to take part	4000 troops
Casualties
At least 30 dead as well as more wounded and 400 taken prisoner.	At least 30 dead as well as more wounded and more than 250 civilian casualties.

The Irish Civil War 1922-23, began with the Battle of Dublin, with a week of street fighting in Dublin the Irish capital from June 28, 1922 to July 5. The violence began with an assault by the Provisional Government of the new Irish Free State on the Four Courts building which had been occupied by a hardline section of the anti-Treaty Irish Republican Army. The fighting ended with the defeat of the republicans and the securing of the capital for the Government.

[edit] The assault on the Four Courts

In April 1922, about 200 anti-treaty IRA militants led by Rory O'Connor, occupied the Four Courts in Dublin, resulting in a tense stand-off. They wanted to spark a new armed confrontation with the British, which they hoped would bring down the Anglo-Irish Treaty, unite the two factions of the IRA against their common enemy and around the common goal of the Irish Republic. However, for those who were determined to make the Free State into a viable, self-governing Irish state, this was an act of rebellion that would have to be put down by them rather than the British. The Free State Provisional Government was eventually forced to move against these men due to a combination of British pressure and the provocations of the Four Courts garrison -including the kidnapping of a Free State General - J.J. O'Connell.

Michael Collins accepted a British offer of artillery for use by the new Free State Army against the Four Courts. Two 18 pounder field guns were placed on Parliament street and Winetavern street, across the Liffey from the Four Courts complex and after a final ultimatum, they began their bombardment on the 28th of June.

The building contained twelve members of the Irish Republican Army Executive, including Chief-of-Staff Joe McKelvey], Director of Engineers Rory O'Connor, and Quarter Master General Liam Mellows. The garrison consisted of roughly 180 men drawn from the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the IRA's 1st Dublin Brigade, commanded by Commandant Paddy O'Brien, armed for the most part only with small arms, (rifles, five Thompsons submachineguns and two Lewis light machine guns) apart from one captured armoured car, which they named "The Mutineer". The members of the IRA Army Executive were the political leaders of the garrison, but served as common soldiers under the command of Ernie O'Malley, commander of the IRA's 2nd Southern Division. The Anti-Treaty side fortified the Four Courts to some extent, planting mines around the complex and barricading the doors and windows, but their leadership ordered them not fire first, to retain the moral high ground and so the Free State troops were allowed to surround the Four Courts.

After the first day's bombardment proved ineffective, the British gave the Free State two more 18 pounder cannon, and offered 60 pounder howitzers and even to bomb the Four Courts from the air. Collins turned down the latter two offers because of the risk of causing heavy civilian casualties. On the 29th, Free State troops stormed the eastern wing of the Four Courts, losing 3 killed and 14 wounded and taking 33 prisoners. Early the next day, Paddy O'Brien was injured by shrapnel and Ernie O'Malley took over military command in the Four Courts. By this time, the shelling had caused the Four Courts to catch fire. In addition, orders arrived from Oscar Traynor, the anti-treaty IRA commander in Dublin, for the Four Courts garrison to surrender, as he could not reach their position to help them. In the chaos of the moment, the Irish Public Records Office located in the western block of the Four Courts, which had been used as an ammunition store by the Four Courts garrison, was the centre of a huge explosion, blowing to pieces one thousand years of Irish state and religious archives. It has been alleged in some quarters that the Anti-treaty forces deliberately booby-trapped the Public Record office in order to kill advancing Free State troops, though the Anti-Treaty side have alway denied this. O'Malley surrendered the Four Courts to Paddy Daly, of the Free State's Dublin Guard unit, not long afterwards.

At this stage in the war, the loyalties of troops on both sides were confused, as most of them had fought the British together in the Irish Republican Army during the Irish War of Independence. By appealing to friends on the Free State side, several anti-Treaty leaders among the Four Courts garrison, notably Ernie O'Malley and Sean Lemass, escaped from captivity to continue fighting elsewhere.

[edit] O'Connell Street fighting

Street fighting on O'Connell Street during the Irish Civil War. The Free State's acquisition of armoured cars, seen in action here, was a major advantage in street fighting.

Despite the Free State force's success in taking the Four Courts, fighting continued in Dublin until July 5. On the 29th anti-Treaty IRA units from the Dublin Brigade led by Oscar Traynor occupied O'Connell Street to try to distract Free State attention from their attack on the Four Courts. Not all of the IRA units in the capital were prepared to fight against the new Irish government however and their numbers were probably about 500 throughout the city. The republicans held out in a "block" of buildings at the north eastern end of O'Connell street. Their only position on the western side of the street, in the YMCA building was eliminated when Free State troops tunnelled underneath it and detonated a bomb. Traynor's men in the "the block" held out until artillery was brought up, under the cover of armoured cars, to bombard them at point blank range. Oscar Traynor and most of his men made their escape when the buildings they were holding caught fire. Among the Republican casualties was Republican leader Cathal Brugha, who stayed behind in the Hamman hotel after Traynor and most other IRA men had left. He was shot in the thigh when he left the burning building alone to confront the Free State troops and died later from blood loss.

There were some further sporadic incidents of fighting around the city as Free State troops dispersed anti-treaty IRA groups.

Cathal Brugha was the last casualty in the battle for Dublin which had cost both sides sixty-five killed and twenty-eight wounded. In addition, the Free State took over 400 Republican prisoners. The civilian casualties are thought to have numbered well over 250. The high civilian casualties were doubtless the result of the use of heavy weapons, especially artillery, in a densely populated urban area.

Cathal Brugha, Anti-Treaty leader killed during the fighting on Dublin's O'Connell St

[edit] Aftermath

When the fighting in Dublin died down, the Free State Government was left firmly in control of the Irish capital and the anti-treaty forces dispersed around the country. "Round-ups" after the fighting captured more Republican prisoners and resulted in the death of prominent anti-Treaty activist Harry Boland who was shot dead in Skerries on July 31.

Oscar Traynor, Ernie O'Malley and the other anti-Treaty fighters who had escaped the fighting in Dublin, regrouped in Blessington, around 30 km south west of the city. An anti-Treaty IRA force from county Tipperary had arrived there but was too late to participate in the Dublin fighting. Instead this force headed south and took a string of towns, including Eniscorthy and Carlow, but quickly abandoned them when faced with superior Free State forces. Most of the Republicans then retreated further south again to the so called Munster Republic -territory south west of a line running from Limerick to Waterford. This in turn was taken by the Free State in an offensive from July to August 1922. (See also Irish Free State offensive).

Four of the Republican leaders captured in the Four Courts, Rory O'Connor, Liam Mellows, Joe McKelvey and Richard Barret were later executed by the Free State in revenge for the Anti-Treaty side's killing of TD (member of Parliament) Sean Hales. (see Executions during the Irish Civil War). The street where Cathal Brugha was killed was later renamed Cathal Brugha street in his honour.

[edit] External link

• Republican propaganda footage of the Four Courts under bombardment; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHghruI6sIQ

[edit] Sources

• Ernie O'Malley, The Singing Flame, Dublin 1978.
• M.E. Collins, Ireland 1868-1966, Dublin 1993.
• Michael Hopkinson, Green against Green - the Irish Civil War
• Eoin Neeson, The Irish Civil War
• Paul V Walsh, The Irish Civil War 1922-23 -A Study of the Conventional Phase [1]
• Meda Ryan, The Real chief, Liam Lynch
• Tim Pat Coogan, De Valera, Long Fellow, Long Shadow