Irish Free State offensive
The
Irish Free State offensive of July-September 1922 was the decisive military stroke of the
Irish Civil War. It was carried out by the forces of the newly created
Irish Free State against
Irish Republican strongholds of in the south and west of
Ireland. At the beginning of the Civil War in June 1922, the Irish Free State government held only the capital city of
Dublin. Much of the rest of the country was outside of its control, in the hands of the anti-
Treaty elements of the Irish Republican Army, who did not accept the legitimacy of the new state and who still recognised the
Irish Republic, created in 1919, as the legitimate government of Ireland. This situation was rapidly brought to an end in July and August 1922, when the Commander in Chief of the Free State forces,
Michael Collins, launched the offensive.
The offensive re-took the major towns for the Government and marked the end of the conventional phase of the conflict. The offensive was followed by a 10 month period of
guerrilla warfare until the Republican side was defeated.
See main article: Munster RepublicThe war started in
Dublin, with a
week of street fighting from the 28th of June to the 5th of July 1922. With Dublin in pro-treaty hands, the conflict spread throughout the country, with anti-Treaty forces holding
Cork,
Limerick and
Waterford as part of a self-styled independent
"Munster Republic". They also held most of the west of Ireland. The Free State, after its taking of Dublin, controlled only of the eastern part of its territory.
However, the Anti-Treaty side were not equipped to wage conventional war, lacking artillery and armoured units, both of which the Free State obtained from the British. This meant that Liam Lynch, the Chief of Staff of the Anti-Treaty IRA, hoped to act purely on the defensive, holding the "Munster Republic" long enough to prevent the foundation of the Free State and forcing the re-negotiation of the Treaty. Lynch's strategy was bitterly criticised by other anti-Treaty officers, such as
Ernie O'Malley. O'Malley felt that the Republicans, who initially outnumbered the Government forces by 15,000 fighters to 7000, should have siezed the initiative, taken the major cities and presented the British with a ressurrected
Irish Republic as a
fait accompli.
The thinking behind O'Malley's analysis was that time was on the side of the Free State as they could only get stronger, through supplies from the British and recruitment, while the Republican side had no means of re-supply.
The leaders of the Free State government, Michael Collins and Richard Mulcahy, also felt that a rapid victory was essential from their point of view. To secure the withdrawal of British troops from Ireland (Collins' ultimate aim) the Free State would have to demonstrate its viability by putting down what from their point of view was an illegal insurrection and controlling all of its sovereign territory. It was with this aim in mind that they launched their offensive in July-August 1922 to re-take the south and west of the country.
In
Limerick, the outbreak of the war saw the city already occupied by pro and anti-treaty factions. The anti-treaty IRA, largely composed of Liam Forde's Mid-Limerick Brigade and commanded by
Liam Lynch, held four military barracks and most of the town. The Free state forces in the city consisted of the pro-Treaty First Western Division of the IRA under Michael Brennan and the Fourth Southern Division under Commandant General Donocha O'Hannigan, held the Customs House, the Jail, the Courthouse, Williams Street
RIC Barracks, and Cruises Hotel. They also held the Athlunkard bridge located outside of Limerick which provided a secure means of bringing reinforcements. Fighting broke out between them on the 11th of July 1921, when the first Free State reinforcements arrived from Dublin. At 7pm on the 11th the
National Army opened fire on the Republican garrison holding the Ordnance Barracks. Lynch left when the fighting broke out and transferred his headquarters to
Clonmel. On the 17th, General
Eoin O'Duffy arrived with 1,500 Free State reinforcements including four armoured cars and an 18 pounder cannon. The 18-pounder field gun was used on the 19th to batter the Ordnance Barracks into surrender. The Castle Barracks (near King John's Castle) was captured the following day. After three days of street fighting, at midnight on the 19th the Republicans set the Artillery and New Barracks on fire and evacuated Limerick. Despite the intensive street fighting in Limerick, the casualties of the combatants were relatively light; eight Free State soldiers were killed and some twenty wounded, and about twenty to thirty Republicans were killed. Limerick Prison, designed to hold 120 people, contained 800 prisoners by November.
Republicans considered Waterford to be the eastern strongpoint of the Munster Republic, however, it too was taken by a Free State column equipped with armour and artillery under General Prout between the 18th and 20th of July. The city was held by the IRA Waterford Brigade, and a units from
Cork city under Colonel Comandant
Pax Whelan; a total of between 200 and 300 men. In late July 1922, National Army troops under Major General
John T. Prout, composed of 700 men, one 18 pounder artillery piece and 4
armoured cars arrived from
Kilkenny to re-take the city. The republicans had chosen to defend the city along the southern bank of the
river Suir, occupying the military barracks, the prison and the Post Office. Prout placed his artillery on Mount Mercy hill overlooking their positions and bombarded the republicans until they were forced to evacuate the barracks and prison. However the gun had to be brought down to Ferrybank (along the river) to fire over open sights before the republicans adandoned the Post Office. Some street fighting followed before the republicans abandoned the city and retreated southwards. Ten Free State soldiers were killed in the fighting and an unknown number of Republicans. The Free State forces under Prout went on to take
Carrick on Suir on August 3 and Clonmel on August 10.
At both Limerick and Waterford, the Free State's advantage in weaponry, particularly artillery, was decisive. Casualties on both sides in these actions were relatively light, but it seems likly that there were also substantial civilians casualties, given that the fighting took place in the heavily populated urban centres.
The Free State troops under Eoin O'Duffy encountered more tenacious resistance in the countryside around
Kilmallock, south of Limerick city, when they tried to advance into republican held
Munster. Eoin O'Duffy's 1,500 troops were faced with about 2000 anti-Treaty IRA men under
Liam Deasy, who had three armoured cars they had taken from the evacuating British troops. Deasy's men were dug in at Kilmallock,
Bruree to the northwest and
Bruff to the northeast.
On July 23 Major General W.R.E. Murphy (a former British Army officer and O'Duffy's second in command) took the town of Bruff, but his poorly motivated troops lost it again the following day and 76 of them surrrendered to the Republicans. The Free State troops re-took Bruff shortly afterwards, though and on July 30, they assaulted Bruree with their best troops - the
Dublin Guard. They took it after a five hour fight, but only after artillery was brought up at close range to support them. Liam Deasy attempted to re-take the village on 2 August, but the attack, with three armoured cars, was beaten off.
The followng day, 2000 Free State troops advanced on Kilmallock. Fighting continued here until August the 5th, despite the arrival of over 1000 more Free State troops and more armoured cars and artillery. Deasy's anti-treaty forces were ultimately forced to retreat however, when Free State forces were landed by sea behind them in
Passage West and
Fenit in counties Cork and Kerry on the 2nd and 8th of August respectively. When the National Army entered Kilmallock on August 5, they found only a Republican rearguard, the remainder having already retreated in the direction of
Charleville. The fighting around Kilmallock was the closest thing in the war to a conventional battle and was costly for both sides.
The Free State's seaborne landings were the first proposed by
Emmet Dalton and then adopted by Michael Collins. Their plan was to avoid the hard fighting that would inevitably occur if they advanced overland through republican held
Munster and
connaught. To this end, they commandeered several civilian passenger ships to transport troops. They were escprted by British naval vessels
[Paul V. Walsh, THE IRISH CIVIL WAR, 1922-1923:A MILITARY STUDY OF THE CONVENTIONAL PHASE, 28 JUNE - 11 AUGUST, 1922. Appendix M [1]]The first naval landing took place at
Clew Bay in
county Mayo on July 24, helped re-take the west of Ireland for the Free State. This force, consisting of 400 Free State soldiers, one field gun and an armoured car under Christopher O'Malley, re-took the Republican held town of
Westport and linked up with another Free State column under
Sean MacEoin advancing from
Castlebar. A Free State column also dispersed anti-Treaty IRA forces in
Donegal in Ireland's north-west.
The largest seaborne landings took place in the south. Ships embarked about 2000 well equipped Free State troops into the heart of the "Munster Republic" and caused the rapid collapse of the Republican position in this province.
Paddy Daly and the
Dublin Guard landed at Fenit in
county Kerry on July 31 and were reinforced by around 250 pro-treaty IRA men from
Clare, embarked from
Kilrush to
Tarbet in fishing boats. They rapidly occupied the towns in the county.
If the Munster Republic had a capital, it was
Cork and the largest seaborne landings of the civil war were aimed at taking that city. Emmet Dalton led 800 troops, with two artillery pieces and armoured cars, who landed at Passage West, near the city, on August 8. A further 200 men were put ashore at
Youghal and 180 troops landed at
Glandore. After some fighting at
Rochestown, the badly armed anti-treaty IRA in Cork did not try to resist this offensive, but burned
Charles Barracks, which they were holding and dispersed. On
August 10, Cork city was retaken, the last city to fall in the "Munster Republic".
Liam Lynch, the Republican commander in chief abandoned
Fermoy, the last republican held town, the following day.
The Free State offensive of July-August 1922 all but ended the Anti-Treaty side's chances of winning the war. Government victories in the major towns inaugurated a period of inconclusive
guerrilla warfare. Anti-Treaty IRA units held out in areas such as the western part of counties Cork and Kerry in the south,
county Wexford in the east and counties
Sligo and
Mayo in the west. Sporadic fighting also took place around
Dundalk, where
Frank Aiken and the
Fourth Northern Division of the Irish Republican Army were based. Aiken originally wanted to stay neutral, but was arrested by Free State troops along with 400 of his men on July 16th 1922. They subsequently broke out of prison in Dundalk and conducted a guerrilla campaign against the Free State along the new Irish border with
Northern Ireland. Nowhere, however, did the Republicans managed to re-take any territory lost on the first two months of fighting.
It took eight more months of intermittent warfare before the war was brought to an end, with victory for the Free State government. In April 1922, Frank Aiken called a ceasfire on the anti-treaty side and a month later, ordered his men to "dump arms" and go home. The intervening period was marked by assassinations and executions of leaders formerly allied in the cause of Irish independence. Commander-in-Chief Michael Collins was assassinated by anti-treaty republicans at Béal na mBláth, near his home in
County Cork, on August 22, 1922. Arthur Griffith, the Free State president had also died of a brain haemorrhage ten days before, leaving the Free State government in the hands of
William Cosgrave and the Free State Army under the command of General
Richard Mulcahy. The guerrilla phase of the war, much more than the conventional phase, developed into a vicious cycle of revenge killings and reprisals. (See
Executions during the Irish Civil War).
*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
*Meda Ryan, The Real chief, Liam Lynch
*Tim Pat Coogan, De Valera, Long Fellow, Long Shadow
