Anyone who has served in the Irish Defence Forces will be very familiar with the Glen of Imaal in the heart of Wicklow. In typical military fashion every training exercise or time on the range in this area is marked with either cold lashing rain or relentless attacks by midges; meaning you don’t exactly get a chance to take in the magnificent beauty or the historical landmarks. We took a visit to the Glen this week to research a project. The Glen of Imaal is a military training area and range since the turn of the 20th century, however, a military presence date back further. We were specifically looking for the old boundary stones and what we could find of Leitrim Barracks.
Military Boundary Stones
Military boundary stones and trenches can be found in many – but not all – former British military sites; primarily training areas and ranges that originally had no boundary wall or fence. Most are gone or have been reclaimed by nature; others, like in the Glen of Imaal, you walk past without taking notice. Their primary purpose was to delineate boundaries of a military site. The stones are marked with distinct letters and symbols which can help date them. For example: the broad arrow or crows foot denoting the Board of Ordnance have been in use since 1699. In 1805 this symbol was used on all ordnance stores in use by His Majesty’s Service. Admiralty boundary stones are adorned with the fouled anchor. Stones marked with the letters BO denotes the Boundary of the (Board of) Ordnance. The Board of Ordnance was disbanded in 1855 and became the War Department and from this date stones are marked WD. Each stone is given a number which denotes their location on a map. In the Glen of Imaal there are several stones clearly visible between Table and Lobawn mountains along a boundary trench with the markings WD and the arrow.
Another visible set of boundary stones and boundary trench can be found on the hills surrounding Kilbride Military Camp in Northwest Wicklow.
War Department Markers on Table and Lobawn Mountains.
Leitrim Barracks
Two barracks were built in the Glen by the British military: Coolmoney Camp and Leitrim Barracks. The former is still in use by the Defence Forces, but Leitrim Barracks may not be familiar to you. Not to be confused with the county, Leitrim is a townland in the Glen of Imaal. Following the 1798 rebellion and the threat of French invasion, the authorities at the time developed a defence in depth plan for Ireland that included coastal defences and a barrack network complemented by an infrastructure that could allow for rapid deployment of units. In Wicklow a military road was sited and constructed by the War Office from 1801 to 1809. Starting at Rathfarnham the road runs to Aughavannagh, with a side route from Enniskerry to Glencree. The route from Rathfarnham to Aughavannagh covers 36 miles (58 km). Barracks were built/or sited along the way: Glencree, Liffy Head Bridge (not built), Laragh, Drumgoff in mid Glenmalure and Aughavannagh. Not on the Military Road, Leitrim Barracks in the Glen of Imaal was also built to protect the old mountain track way linking Glen of lmaal to Glendalough.
Leitrim Barracks pre 1914: Photographer: Robert French. Collection: Lawrence Photograph Collection. (National Library of Ireland).
This image and to the right show the site of Leitrim Barracks today.
Leitrim Barracks could accommodate 200 troops. The main building caught fire in 1914 and the barracks was dismantled by the National Army Salvage Corps in 1923. Still marked on the map, the barracks today is forest with very little evidence that troops ever occupied the area. One photograph of the barracks in the National Library shows the main barracks building prior to the fire.
Glen Disaster
While in the area we paid our respects to the 16 soldiers who lost their life in an accident on 16 September 1941. The incident, known as the Glen of Imaal Disaster, occurred during a training exercise involving 27 officers and men from the army’s anti-aircraft battalion, artillery school, and corps of engineers. An antitank mine unexpectedly exploded immediately killing 15 while 1 later succumbed to wounds. Three other men were blinded in the accident.
The memorial to the men who lost their lives in an explosion in September 1941.
Dublin Port’s Emergency Story LDF veteran – Oliver Joseph Doyle
Oliver is seen here with his daughter Rita in Lucan Lodge Nursing Home. (Photograph by Michael Coyne)
As part of our newest project on Dublin Port during the Emergency (1939 – 1946) period we met today and interviewed Oliver Joseph Doyle from Stella Gardens, Irishtown, Dublin.
Oliver who is 98, worked as a iron moulder, but during the Emergency he served with the Local Defence Force (LDF). He first served with an infantry unit based in the RDS before transferring to an anti-aircraft unit in Ringsend.
The anti-aircraft positions around Dublin were vital to the defence of Dublin Port. Oliver told us that his father, Mathew Doyle, also served with the Maritime Inscription and LDF in Dublin Port.
Thank you to Lucan Lodge Nursing Home for facilitating our meeting today.
We are pleased to announce a wonderful project for the Dublin Port Company that will tell the story of the Emergency (1939 – 1946) in Dublin; in particular the defence of Dublin and the port. If you are a veteran or there is a veteran from this period in your family that served in the Dublin area either with the Irish Army, Marine Service/Inscription, Air Corps, Local Defence Force, Local Security Force, Air Raid Warden or St. John Ambulance please do get in touch. We would like to record as many of these stories as possible before they are lost to time.
Although Ireland declared neutrality it did not escape the war. Members of the Defence Forces, emergency services, and Merchant Navy risked their lives to ensure Ireland and its citizens were defended and supplies kept coming in. Anti-Aircraft batteries, coastal artillery, and coastal Look Out Posts became a common feature around the country. Naturally Dublin – the capital – and its port were vital to Ireland’s survival. The war came directly to the Irish people more than once. On several occasions Luftwaffe aircraft jettisoned their bombs after getting lost on their way to targets in Northern Ireland or the United Kingdom. Probably the most significant attack in Dublin came on the night of 31 May 1941, when four high-explosive bombs were dropped by Luftwaffe aircraft on the North Strand area of Dublin City. Twenty-eight people were killed and 90 more were injured in the blast. Some 400 people were left homeless.
This image shows the destruction on North Strand.
We’d love to hear from you if you have a story you’d like to tell.Please Share this post with your friends.
Images with thanks to: Military Archives, Air Corps Museum, Dublin City Archives, and the Independent Newspapers Ireland/NLI collection.
Celbridge LDF circa 1941/1942. (Image courtesy of George Bagnall)
We are currently researching for an upcoming project focusing on the military story of Celbridge, County Kildare.
In the past Celbridge has had several military units of it’s own; a company of Irish Volunteers was formed in 1779 known as the Castletown Union, the Castletown Union Volunteers or the Castletown Volunteers. This unit was reformed into the Celbridge Volunteers in 1784; a company of Irish Volunteers was formed in 1914; local Irish Volunteer and IRA units were also active from 1919 – 1923; on the outbreak of the Emergency in 1939 a unit of the Local Defence Force (LDF) was formed. The Celbridge LDF company morphed into a company of the North Dublin Battalion on the formation of the Fórsa Cosanta Áitiúil (FCÁ) in the late 1940s. The North Dublin Battalion eventually became the 7th Infantry Battalion FCÁ, of which C Company was in North Kildare with platoons in Celbridge, Maynooth, and Kilcock. The unit remained active in Celbridge until the 1980s.
As part of our upcoming project – Celbridge’s Military Story – we are very interested to meet military veterans in the area, especially those who served in the Celbridge LDF and FCÁ. Please Share this post
This project is supported by Kildare County Council Heritage Office.
Renmore Barracks, Galway, had a very special guest on Friday: Lieutenant Colonel Ned Cusack who turned 100 on 1 March. A veteran turning 100 is not a daily occurrence; especially a former member of 1st Infantry Battalion. There to meet Ned ware Lt Col Frank Flannery, O/C 1st Infantry Battalion (1 Cn Cois), veterans and members of his family. To mark the occasion members of 1 Cn Cois paid tribute to the guest of honour with a Guard of Honor and a tour of the the barrack’s museum where Ned reminisced over photographs dating back to the Emergency period. He was then invited to the Officer’s Mess for a birthday celebration.
Birthday celebrations in Renmore Barracks.
Ned Cusack was born on 1 March, 1919. Growing up in Mitchelstown, Co. Cork, he joined the Defence Forces after completing his Leaving Certificate. Ned began his military career with the 12th Cadet Class. The following year with war clouds gathering, the cadets were put through intensive training. On commissioning Ned was posted to 1st Infantry Battalion in Galway, where he would spend a large part of his career. The battalion and Galway became his home. For the duration of the Emergency period the Ned and his unit were on a ‘war footing’. In 1940 he met Eileen, who he married in 1944. Following the intense years of the Emergency Ned went on to serve with the 5th Infantry Battalion in Collins Barracks, OC 20th Infantry Battalion FCÁ and OC Griffith Barracks, Eastern Command HQ, and with the United Nations in Cyprus. He retired from Army service in November 1977 and took up the appointment of Manager of Galway Fishery. Retiring in 1986, Ned lives today with Eileen in Moycullen, Co. Galway. Ned and Eileen have seven children, ten grandchildren and nine greatgrandchildren.
Ned wrote about his experiences in the Emergency in three issues of Ireland’s Military Story in 2016 and 2017.
The Ivy Patch Gun Possible ‘Four Courts’ Irish Field Gun Returns Home
By Kenneth L. Smith-Christmas, Lar Joye, and Commandant Stephen MacEoin
The ‘Ivy Patch’ gun, loaded for shipment back to Ireland, under the supervision of Lieutenant Colonel Paul Carey.
A potentially very significant 18-pounder Mark II field gun arrived home in Ireland last year, after having been gone for more than fifty years. This gun was made in Scotland during World War I for the British Army, and it could very well have later played a significant role in Irish history, before being sold as surplus scrap metal to an American international arms dealer in 1959, and then finally ending up in a patch of English ivy at a now-shuttered dinner theater in northern Virginia, not far from Washington D.C. The story of its discovery and return is a tale of coincidence and chance, as well as energetic efforts on both sides of the Atlantic.
The Irish 18-pounders
At 4am on 28 June 1922, two 18-pounder field guns (serial numbers as yet unknown) opened fire on the Four Courts in Dublin, Ireland, in an action that signalled the beginning of one of the most heartbreaking episodes in Ireland’s long and turbulent history—The Irish Civil War. Six 18-pounder guns (two Mark I’s and four Mark II’s) had been ‘loaned’ by the British Army to the fledgling National Army of the Provisional Irish Government, in order to quell the growing rebellion against the newly established Irish government. A visceral and implacable division had erupted between the Irish nationalists who had spent years fighting the ‘Forces of the Crown’ to bring independence to Ireland. One side, the ‘Free Staters’, supported the 1921 Anglo Irish Treaty with the British government that gave Ireland the same status as other Dominions, like Canada and Australia, but not a complete break from the British Empire. The opposing faction, soon to be dubbed the ‘Irregulars’ or ‘anti-treaty’, would not be satisfied with anything but full independence, and a group of them had holed up in Dublin’s Four Courts building, an imposing Georgian edifice alongside the River Liffey. The Provisional Government demanded their surrender, but when it was refused, they opened fire.
After three days of shelling with light ‘wire-cutting’ shrapnel rounds from these two guns, the defenders surrendered when their munitions magazine exploded, and the building caught fire. Recent historical research indicates that the explosion was more likely caused by the rebel forces mining the building, rather than from the bombardment. Sadly, the building also contained the Public Records Office, as well as the Four Courts, and it, too, was destroyed. The end result was not only the destruction of a beautiful building, but also the loss of 700 years of archives. Although the building was later rebuilt and re-opened as a judicial court, its loss is still felt today. However, the end of this siege just marked the beginning of a sad, and brutal, conflict that tore close long-time friendships and families asunder, until it ended some eighteen months later. Indeed, except among academics and historical enthusiasts, the subject is still avoided by many people in Ireland today, as the memories are too searing. The Irish Free State came into effect on 6 December 1922.
Between 1926 and 1941, the Irish Department of Defence acquired additional Mark I and Mark II, as well as more modern Mark IV, 18-pounder guns from Britain. During World War II, the British government also supplied Ireland (on 29 December 1937, under the new constitution, the Irish Free State was renamed Ireland) with other military gear and weapons. Concurrently, this ‘Ivy Patch’ Mark II cannon, like all of Ireland’s artillery, was modernised with pneumatic tyres, as well as with a braking system for towing behind motor vehicles. It then continued to serve in the Irish Army, until 1958, when it was sold for scrap metal as part of a shipload of artillery and machine guns to the relatively new firm of International Armament Corporation (Interarmco) of Alexandria, Virginia, (a small city, just down the Potomac River from Washington D.C.). Interarmco ‘Interarmco’, also later known as ‘Interarms’, was founded in the mid-1950’s. Its organiser and president, Sam Cummings, was a savvy and resourceful weapons purchaser who found ‘untraceable’ arms for certain governmental agencies during the 1950’s, and also acquired surplus military arms abroad for civilian sales in the United States. His travels and dealings took him all over the globe, and while in Argentina, he approached the government there and offered to empty its warehouses of obsolete military weapons at ‘bargain basement’ prices. Accordingly, he proposed an offer that the Argentines accepted, and old brick warehouses along the waterfront streets of what is now upscale ‘Old Towne’ Alexandria, Virginia, were soon packed to the ceilings with thousands of M1891 and M1909 Argentine Mauser rifles, hundreds of machine guns, swords, and even 7,000 steel cavalry lances, as well as 542 assorted cannons of all types. The Argentine cannons, mostly of German manufacture, but also from other countries, eventually were dispersed in the local area, across the United States, and around the world. As was the case with the rifles, they were sold at very low prices. Coincidentally, this huge purchase took place in 1959, a few months after the ‘Ivy Patch’ 18 pounder gun arrived in Alexandria on a Finnish cargo ship, the SS Finnmerchant, from Dublin, as part of a shipload of other obsolete surplus Irish cannons (among which were Mark I and Mark II 18-pounders, 4.5” howitzers, and anti-artillery guns, as well as some 60-pounders) and more than 850 machineguns.
This 4.5 inch howitzer, sitting on the waterfront of Alexandria, Virginia, was one of the cannon in the same 1959 shipment of war material from Ireland that contained the “Ivy Patch” 18-pdr gun.
The ‘Ivy Patch’ Gun
The owner of a then recently-opened dinner theatre and restaurant, overlooking the banks of the Occoquan River a few miles to the south of Alexandria, purchased this 18-pounder gun from Interarmco and set it up among his outdoor gallery of other antiques—old fire engines, farm machinery, and curiosities. Among the other curiosities on the premises was a US-made World War II searchlight, also painted battleship gray like the 18-pounder gun, as well as other similarly painted cannons. There the gun sat in an ivy patch for the next forty-plus years, until the ivy had nearly covered it, and the once-thriving dinner theater declined.
In February 2006, Ken Smith-Christmas, one of the staff curators at the planning office for the forthcoming National Museum of the U.S. Army, was sent to England, in order to, among other tasks, inspect the restoration work that was being done to an original World War II LCVP (landing craft, vehicle, personnel) wooden landing craft from the Normandy Invasion of 1944. A private firm near Portsmouth, England, was doing the restoration. After checking out the work that had been done to the landing craft, Ken accompanied the owner on a tour of his facility. When Ken noticed a British 18-pounder gun under restoration, he casually asked about it, since he had a life-long interest in World War I. The owner replied that it was being restored for the military exhibition at the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin, and that it was one of the guns that had fired on the Four Courts in 1922.
Concurrently, this ‘Ivy Patch’ Mark II cannon, like all of Ireland’s artillery, was modernised with pneumatic tyres, as well as with a braking system for towing behind motor vehicles. It then continued to serve in the Irish Army, until 1958
Ken was very impressed to hear that, as Irish military history had also been a favourite topic of his for many years, and he then asked the owner where the gun had been found. Ken heard the owner’s reply of ‘Argentina’, and that really piqued his interest, since he had grown up in the Alexandria area, and remembered the many fenced lots on the Alexandria waterfront that held all sorts of cannons from Argentina. In fact, when Ken was still in high school, he had tried to buy one of these cannons—a 1903-dated Krupp 77mm field gun— from a man who had acquired it from one of these lots, and had it sitting in front of his house in a neighbouring subdivision. At any rate, Ken also knew of the plans to establish a military museum in Dublin, as he had met its director, Lar Joye, the previous summer at a conference of the International Committee of Museums of Arms and Military History (ICOMAM) that was held in Canada, and he had eagerly listened to Lar’s presentation about the new ‘Soldiers and Chiefs’ exhibition that was coming soon to Dublin’s former Collins Barracks. However, Ken didn’t give the gun in the restoration yard much further thought, and simply looked forward to seeing it in the new museum whenever he could get an opportunity to visit Dublin again.
A few years later, Ken was stuck in one of the inevitable evening rush hour traffic jams while driving home from his museum planning office in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. While waiting for the line of cars ahead of him to finally move, Ken noticed that he was across the highway from the Lazy Susan Dinner Theater, and recalled that this locale had played a part in a book that he had been reading about Confederate guerillas during the American Civil War. There had been a firefight between Colonel John Mosby’s partisan rangers and a troop of New York cavalry near the Occoquan River, and it had centered around an old house on the hill where the dinner theater now stood. Ken had only visited the dinner theater once, and at night, many, many years before, so, out of curiosity, and in frustration at the barely-moving traffic, he drove up the winding access road to see if the old house was still there. While killing time, and walking around the premises, he stumbled across the Irish Free State-marked 18-pounder gun in the ivy patch. The rubber tyres were rotting away and only the barrel, breech, and shield were still visible above the ivy.
The ‘Ivy Patch’ Irish Free State 18-pounder gun, as it was discovered on the grounds of a declining dinner theater in Virginia, about English ivy had grown up and around the gun over the years, nearly obscuring it from view.
Recalling the ‘Argentina’ statement by the restorer in England, and knowing that Interarms was the only logical source of the gun, Ken surmised that this gun, too, must have come from Argentina, as a part of the 1959 Argentine shipment. The two people manning the office at the dinner theater informed Ken that the present owner would never part with the gun, as it was one that his grandfather had acquired, and, as such, it had become a proud family heirloom. Ken left a business card with the staff members and asked them to let him know if there was ever any intention to dispose of the gun. He contacted Lar Joye sometime later about it, but since Lar was very busy with his newly opened museum, and Ken understood that Lar already had what had been described to him as a real ‘Four Courts’ gun, neither of them were too concerned about it. According to the dinner theater staff, the present owner didn’t want to let it go, and even if he did, getting it back across the Atlantic would be a quite a feat.
When Ken was finally able to visit Lar at his museum in Dublin’s Collins Barracks in June 2013, he saw the same restored 18-pounder gun on exhibit that he had last seen seven years before in England. During a tour of the galleries, Lar told Ken that this gun on display was a Mark IV, and had later been updated, but then had been restored back to its original World War I configuration. Although the artifact label addressed the use of 18 pounders by Irish gunners in World War I and at the Four Courts, this gun, contrary to what Ken had been told earlier in England, had not actually fired on the Four Courts. Lar pointed out that he had been searching for a Mark I or Mark II gun from 2003 to 2006, but could not find one in Ireland. Apparently, no one knew what had happened to the Irish Army’s Mark I’s and Mark II’s, but it was rumored that they had been sold to Argentina or Bolivia. This was most likely the reason for the restoration company’s confusion about the gun’s history and its origins. At this point, Ken reminded Lar about the gun in the ivy patch back at the dinner theater in Virginia, and, although Ken couldn’t recall any of the markings on it—other than the ‘FF’ (Irish Defence Forces emblem) on the breech— or its model designation, Lar said that it might be of interest to the museum, after all.
A former Irish Army 18-pounder in the National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks, Dublin. This example has been restored to a horse drawn Mark II variant.
In December 2014, Lar contacted Ken about the gun in the ivy patch, and asked him if he would photograph it. At that time, Ken, now retired, was en route to his winter home in Key Largo, Florida, but promised that he would photograph it when he returned from Florida the next spring. However, Ken suffered a near-fatal abdominal aortic aneurysm the following February, so he had to put that project on the back burner when he finally got back to Virginia. Lar reminded him about it the following August, and, while on an errand in northern Virginia a few weeks later, Ken happened to pull off the road by the entrance to the dinner theater. Although he didn’t have his camera with him, he went up to check on the gun. Ken found the gun still lying in the patch of ivy and, while he was looking at it, he happened to meet the current owner. The owner didn’t reveal his last name, but he and Ken soon discovered that they shared a mutual interest in historical firearms, and the owner verified that his grandfather had, indeed, acquired the gun from Interarms in the early 1960s. Ken noted down the serial number and the markings on the gun, and pointed out the interesting potential provenance of the gun to the owner.
When asked if he would be willing to part with it, the owner said that, since his wife was of Irish ancestry, he might consider it. Ken reported to Lar that the gun was, indeed, a Mark II, and returned a few weeks later to photograph the gun. When he arrived, he saw that the dinner theatre was now closed for good, padlocked gates had been erected at the entrance and exit, and the offices looked deserted. He called the telephone number on the door, and tried to email the owner for days afterwards—all to no avail. Finally, he suggested to Lar that he ask the military attaché at the Irish embassy in Washington to send a letter to the address listed on the dinner theatre’s now-defunct website, in hopes that the owner would be curious about the return address on the envelope, open it, and contact Lar at the museum. While Ken was down in Key Largo again for the winter, his close friend in Alexandria, Bob McDonough (also a student of Irish history), kept a watch on the gun to ensure that it didn’t stray, and stayed in communication with Lar.
Lar sent several letters to the owner, Glenn Graves, and thankfully, Glenn responded. Since the Republic of Ireland does not have a military attaché in Washington, Lar contacted Colonel Conor FitzSimons, the Irish Defense Forces official representative at the United Nations in New York (and a fellow artillery officer), and arranged a meeting in Virginia for February 2016. Colonel FitzSimons, Commandant Stephen MacEoin (the then director of the Irish Military Archives), and Lar met with Glenn, and found that he was very keen to have the gun returned to Ireland. Glenn was the perfect host to the three Irishmen, and they all spent a delightful winter’s day in a Virginia field, talking about the Civil War— the Irish one, and not the American one!
After Stephen MacEoin worked out the finer details of the agreement with Glenn, he and Lar recommended the acquisition of the gun to the Chief of Staff of the Irish Defence Forces. The Chief of Staff, in turn, dispatched Lieutenant Colonel Paul Carey, Executive Officer of the J4 Branch, Defence Forces Headquarters, to pick up the gun and transport it back to Ireland. Paul Carey journeyed to the former dinner theater in July 2016, and the gun arrived back in Dublin by the first week of August 2016. This certainly was a remarkably quick turnaround from the initial visit to the arrival of the gun. The ivy patch gun is currently being restored. Research is ongoing, both at the British National Archives in London, and at Military Archives in Dublin to learn exactly which Mark I and Mark II guns were acquired by the Irish Free State prior to July 1922, and hopefully, which ones actually fired on the Four Courts.
Finally, the entire operation is emblematic of the benefits that the museum community receives from membership in ICOMAM. Had it not been for Ken and Lar’s fortuitous meeting over dinner at the ICOMAM Canada conference in 2005— when they not only became professional colleagues, but good friends—this potentially significant gun would still be sitting in an ivy patch, and unknown to the world, or even worse, possibly melted down for scrap metal.
Where Are These Cannons Now?
When the SS Finnmerchant was unloaded on the Alexandria, Virginia, waterfront, in February 1959, there were not only dozens of pieces of artillery and limber/caissons, in crates and on the deck, but also 843 crates of machine guns, on board the ship. On 22 July 1958, the Irish government had disposed of all of it as scrap metal, since there was not a market in Ireland, or in Europe, for these items at the time, as anything but scrap steel. In fact, the cost of shipping the guns to America was more than Sam Cummings had paid for the entire shipment. The artillery consisted of seventeen 18-pounder field guns and trailers (limber/caissons), twenty-two 4.5” howitzers and trailers, and six 60-pounder guns and trailers, along with twenty-three crates containing five 12 pounder guns, four 3-inch anti-artillery guns and mounts, tons of spare parts, and inert ammunition. The serial numbers for the four AA guns were: 1449; 1675; 1677, and, 1711. The five 12-pounder ‘Land Type’ quick firing guns were: 1070 (Drill Purpose); 1544; 1654; 1703, and, 1803. The serial numbers of the five Mark I 18-pounder guns were: 6460; 7209; 7470, and, 10392. The serial numbers of the twelve Mark II 18-pounder guns were: 2819; 2908; 3484; 4254; 4770; 5605; 7554; 7765; 8577; 8976; 9168, and 10756. Number “9168” is the repatriated “Ivy Patch” gun. The ten Mark I 4.5” howitzers were numbered: 20; 135; 861; 1405; 1653; 1686; 1770; 1814; 2132, and, 3109. The twelve Mk II 4.5” howitzers bore the serial numbers: 2209; 2763; 2839; 2871; 3340; 3350; 3376; 3455; 3559; 3588; 3617, and, 4032. Finally, the six massive 60-pounder guns were numbered as: 1603; 1618; 1634; 1637; 1667, and 1688. These artillery pieces were sold in the local area, across the United States and Canada, and perhaps elsewhere, but aside from the ‘Ivy Patch Gun’, a Mark II 4.5” howitzer (Serial Number 2839) in a private collection in Virginia, and two more 4.5” howitzers at the Pennsylvania State Museum in Boalsburg (near State College in Pennsylvania), the whereabouts of the rest of them is, at present, unknown to the authors.
The authors thank Michael J. Parker, Esq., formerly of Interarms, for his kind assistance in the preparation of this article, and, of course, Glenn Graves, for his very generous donation of the gun to the National Museum of Ireland. Glenn E. Hyatt, Stefan Rohal, Paul Smith, and Robert McDonough provided information on extant machineguns and cannon from the 1959 ‘Irish Shipment’. The greater part of this article was published previously in the online ICOMAM Magazine in the winter of 2016, and was intended for an international, not a specifically Irish, audience.
A life-long student of military history and artefacts, Ken Smith- Christmas retired from a 37-year career in military museums— primarily the U.S. Marine Corps, and the U.S. Army. In retirement, he pursues his deep interest in Irish military history, and assists the international museum community in firearms legislation.
A Guard of Honour for President Douglas Hyde, by members of the 1st Infantry Battalion, during the Emergency. (Image courtesy of Renmore Barracks Museum)
On A War Footing
The Emergency Years (Part 1)
An interview with Lieutenant Colonel Ned Cusack (Retd)
First published in Winter 2016 issue.
For most of us, the Emergency period in Ireland (1939 – 1946) is an account in the history books with black and white images. Nearly all Ireland’s veterans who served abroad or at home during this period have passed away. There are a few veterans still alive and well. To them the events that took place some 75 years ago, are like yesterday. Ned Cusack is 97 years old. Living with his wife Eileen, in Moycullen, Co. Galway, he is a fit, retired Irish Defence Forces officer. Still driving and fully versed in email and the computer, it was amazing to speak to someone who could recollect with such accuracy, the time Ireland braced itself for war.
Laughing about how times have changed, Ned showed us his Commissioning Certificate signed by Uachtarán na hÉireann Douglas Hyde, Taoiseach Éamon de Valera, and Minister for Defence Oscar Traynor. In Ned’s wedding photograph was none other than a very young Lieutenant Pat Quinlan – the very same Pat Quinlan of Jadotville fame. Pat Quinlan was in Ned’s junior cadet class.
How times have changed indeed. When Ned and Pat joined up they were wearing the German style Vickers helmet and high collar tunic. Japan, Italy, Germany and Russia were all expanding. It was a time when ideologies redefined the fate of nations. Stalin was purging his people; Adolf Hitler was annexing Austria; and civil war was raging in Spain. To Ned, the world was long at war well before September 1939. This is his story.
I was born on 1 March 1919. I grew up in Mitchelstown, Co. Cork. Once I completed my Leaving Certificate in the summer of 1938, I applied for the Civil Service. In those days, there were not many jobs in the country. You applied for the likes of clerical officer positions or the ESB (Electricity Supply Board). These were all secure jobs, if you were lucky enough to get one. There were usually only around ten vacancies a year. So, you had to aim to come in the top six to be in with a chance.
As part of the Civil Service exam I also applied for the Army Cadetship. To my utter surprise I was called for an interview. There was around 300 selected for interview. I remember travelling from Mitchelstown on the bus to St. Bricin’s Military Hospital to do my medical. This was followed by the interview. Six senior officers were in front of me. I was a raw country guy being quizzed by six senior officers. I knew nothing about the Army good, bad or in different. You can imagine how I was feeling.
At that time the main item of news was the Spanish Civil War. Franco, of course, was topical and Irish men like Frank Ryan who had gone over to take part. It just so happened I knew the answers. About two weeks later I got a letter to report to the Military College in the Curragh Camp, Co. Kildare, to start training at the beginning of September.
Cadet Ned Cusack, 1939.
The 12th Cadet Class numbered 54. It was a large class as the Army were anticipating the war to come and there was a severe shortage of officers. Six billets with 9 cadets in each billet. Back then everything was in Irish. Everything, all commands, all instructions. You were billeted based on your application results. I was in Gasra 3 (Section 3). That meant all the geniuses were in Gasra 1. We were issued with bulls wool uniforms. I’d never seen such a uniform in my life. It took a while to accustom to military life.
There were guys from all over the country. There were also several ex-teachers in our class. They had joined the army because their pay was so poor they couldn’t afford rent in Dublin. I asked what in the name of god were you doing leaving a teacher’s job to join the army. They said teachers wages then was diabolical. You couldn’t live off it. After rent you had no money left. In Dublin, you may have to pay 30 Shillings a week in rent. After that the teachers had little left. In the army, they got a uniform, food and digs.
As Junior Cadets, we got 4 Shillings a day, Senior Cadets – 5 Shillings. I didn’t drink or smoke so this was money bonanza from heaven for me. I could buy a bicycle, a new suit of clothes, and a lovely overcoat. 4 Shillings a day was a lot of money in those days.
The cadetship was two years. We were straight into it. The first three months you were brought up to corporal level. There were also academic subjects such as French, history and geography. History was a big one. We had to do a lot of European history. All the military training at the time was based on World War I British doctrine. You were all the time talking and studying about slit trenches and digging deep trenches. We wasted a lot of time digging trenches. Mobility was not mentioned much. This way of thinking all changed after the German Blitzkrieg swept across Europe. War clouds darkened over Europe.
On 19 February 1939, Taoiseach Éamon de Valera announced that Ireland would be neutral if war broke out. In August 1939, we had a year’s training done and granted a month’s annual leave. We were all at home enjoying ourselves. In the middle of the month it was announced via the newspapers and radio that “all ranks are to report back to your units”. Off I headed for the Military College with my cardboard suitcase.
The 12th Cadet Class (1938 – 1939). Ned is circled.
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was a neutrality pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed in Moscow on 23 August. On 1 September, Nazi Germany invaded Poland. On 2 September, the Oireachtas declared a State of Emergency. This declaration was enacted the following day:
Make provisions for securing the public safety and the preservation of the State in time of war and, in particular, to make provision for the maintenance of public order and for the provision and control of supplies and services essential to the life of the community, and to provide for divers and other matters (including the charging of fees on certain licences and other documents) connected with the matters aforesaid.
At 11.15am, 3 September, British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, broadcast on BBC:
This morning the British Ambassador in Berlin handed the German Government a final note stating that, unless we heard from them by 11 o’clock that they were prepared at once to withdraw their troops from Poland, a state of war would exist between us.
I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received, and that consequently this country [Britain] is at war with Germany.
Junior and Senior Cadets were assembled in the big lecture hall in the Military College. In the back of our minds Cork were playing Kilkenny in the All-Ireland and all Cork and Kilkenny Cadets were geared to go to Croke Park. We were never as close to Croke Park in our lives.
Addressing us was Major General Hugo MacNeill. He announced “We are now on a war footing. There will be no leave. Everyone is confined to barracks”.
The General announced that the Senior Cadet class were to be commissioned immediately. He then said to us “I am going to condense your training into six weeks. After that you will be commissioned. In the meantime, you will soldier day and night, seven days a week”.
Croke Park was not to happen. Worst of all Kilkenny beat Cork by a puck at the last second of the match.
Later that day, An Taoiseach Éamon de Valera broadcasted on Radio Éireann to the people of Ireland:
You know from the news bulletins that I have been listening that the great European powers are again at war. That this would be the end, as appears almost inevitable for months’ past. Such an escape we had a year ago, would hardly be expected to occur twice. Yet until a short time ago there was hope. But now hope is gone and the people of Europe are plunged once more into the misery and anguish of war
Noting the march of events, your government decided its policy early last Spring and announced its decision to you and the world. We resolve with the aim of our policy would be to keep our people out of the war. As I said in the Dáil. With our history, with our experience of the last war and with a part of our country still unjustly severed from us, we felt that no other decision and no other policy was possible
For those six weeks, we went through hell on earth. We were on manoeuvres well into the darkness and lectures were held in the middle of the night. There were no breaks, no leave. The one good thing was we had no tests. We trained and trained. After six weeks, intense training we were commissioned.
We thought after that we’d get at least two weeks off. It was not to be. We were to report straight to our new units. Back into the lecture hall and our postings were read out. We had been asked where we would like to be posted. I had put in for the 4th Infantry Battalion or coastal artillery in Cork. Either one was not far from home. Lovely.
Major General MacNeill announced, “Ned Cusack, 1st Infantry Battalion Galway”. Jesus, I thought where is the 1st Infantry Battalion in Galway. I’d never been to Galway. I was not a happy man. The next morning the saloon car dropped me at Kildare train station, after a change at Athlone, I headed into the Wild West.
I reported to Renmore Barracks and introduced myself to Major Dineen, the Commanding Officer of the 1st Infantry Battalion. In those days, we used the rank Major as Lieutenant Colonel. He was a 22 man and had what was known as pre-truce service. From Clare, he had fought in the War of Independence and then in the Civil War. After becoming a teacher for a while, he joined the new Defence Forces. A nice man he was a genius on Gallipoli. He knew that battle inside out and lectured us endlessly on the Gallipoli campaign. All his tactics were based on the First World War.
Now that we were on a war footing the Battalion was on continuous exercise. North Clare and Galway Bay area became very familiar. Nobody knew what was going to happen. If the Germans were to keep coming, more than likely their main thrust would be from the sea. In turn we trained extensively in coastal defence. I remember Ballyvaughan Co. Clare and Spiddal in Galway very well. We defended them until we were blue in the face.
Changing of the Guard at Renmore Barracks, Galway, 1939. (Image courtesy of Renmore Barracks Museum)
There was only one lorry for the entire battalion. We had to march everywhere. 10, 20 mile marches were nothing to us. And then a day’s work at the end of it defending the coast, harrying a Company in Defence at dawn. They were great fun. I hadn’t hit my 21st birthday yet and by god we were fit.
It was very serious training. We spent days on the ranges. I was an expert on the Lewis Light Machine Gun. Our standard rifle was the Lee–Enfield bolt-action .303” and we had the Ordnance ML 3” mortar. The ML 3” mortar is a conventional Stokestype mortar which was muzzle-loaded and drop-fired.
Later we received the Bren machine gun, the Czechoslovak ZGB 33 version to be precise, and the Brandt mle 27/31 mortar from France. As we were pre-war men the entire battalion was dressed in the German styled Vickers helmet and heather green high collared tunic. We were fierce looking individuals.
One day in early November I reported to the commanding officer. “You and your platoon are to report to Mallin Head, Co. Donegal’. There was a radio station and observation post up there which had to be guarded and the observation post manned. It was bitterly cold. I got out expecting to see billets. All there was eight man tents. We relieved the unit there and our job was to keep out intruders. At that time our biggest fear was the IRA (Irish Republican Army). They were active at the time. The radio station and the observation post were a vital strategic location as they covered a huge part of the north-west Atlantic. The reports emanating from that post throughout the war were vital to the Irish and the Allied war effort.
We monitored movements of aircraft, submarines and shipping and gathered all the respective information. It was cold and the food was not the best. I could think of better places to be. After a month, we thought we were going back to Galway. No. we got a call. “You and your platoon are to report to Drumsna in Co. Leitrim in two days’ time”.
Drumsna was a strategic bridge over the River Shannon connecting Ireland with Northern Ireland. At Drumsna anyone that was crossing the bridge was stopped, searched and questioned. As the officer, I’d have to ask all the questions. Where are you coming from? where are you going? what will you be doing there? Nothing could pass Drumsna bridge without my say so.
As well as checking any IRA activities we were also getting information on the British activities in the North. Bitter cold, tents, not exactly four-star standard. After about three weeks we were ordered back to barracks for respite.
Back in barracks in the second week in December we had a cushy time. Lovely nice food and warm beds. Christmas was on the cards and we thought we might get a break and finally get to go home and see the family.
Well, the senior officers who were still on peacetime mentality said you, you and you orderly officer Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and St. Stephen’s Day. I was on St. Stephen’s Day. The older officers were off home for the Christmas.
Three young Lieutenants in charge of the barracks. Midnight Christmas Eve, phone call from Command Headquarter Athlone. “Barrack to be placed on lockdown forthwith. No movement. You are to put out patrols internally and externally”. What in the name of god is this all about I asked, “the IRA have raided the Magazine Fort in the Phoenix Park in Dublin, and got away with all our reserve ammunition”.
Everyone was recalled to barracks. Raids were expected all over the country. That was our Christmas 1939.
An aerial view in which you can clearly see the remains of one of the Fort Shannon gun emplacements, with the open gun chamber, overhead beam, gun mounting, parapet, and the entrance to the magazine passage at the rear. (Photo by Ken Mooney
During the Second World War a vast range of forts and military defence installations were constructed across the European war zone. These included, for example, the German Atlantic Wall that stretched from Spain to Norway, which was laid out to guard the coast against an Allied invasion, or the British defence system built to defend the country against a possible German attack. Here an equally extensive range of gun emplacements, anti-invasion obstacles, and forts were constructed in coastal, estuarial and inland positions. During the same war time period, the Irish government built only a single large-scale military installation: Fort Shannon on the County Kerry side of the Shannon Estuary. The Irish government was concerned that an invasion force could strike up the Shannon to Limerick and quickly reach the interior of the country.
Coast Defence Artillery
As Ireland took a neutral position in the war, it was felt that
such an attack could originate from Germany or Britain. The government established
a number of coastal defence forts around the coastline around the same time,
but these were essentially the nineteenth century structures that the British
authorities had kept under the Anglo/Irish Treaty. The forts were handed over
to the Irish government in 1938. When World War II broke out the coastal defence
installations became vital to the defence of Ireland’s deep-water ports. There
were five Coast Defence Artillery installations in the Southern Command and two
installations in the Western Command. Manned by the Artillery Corps, Coast
Defence Artillery Detachments were deployed as follows:
Southern Command
Forts Westmoreland, Carlisle and Templebreedy in Cork Harbour, Co.
Cork. Fort Berehaven in Bantry Bay, Co. Cork. Fort Shannon on the Shannon
estuary, Co. Kerry, from 1942.
Western Command
Forts Dunree and Lenan in Lough Swilly, Co. Donegal. Armaments
varied between installations. They included some 26 coastal artillery pieces:
9.2”, 6”, 4.7”, 60-pounders with a number of naval 12-pounders and Hotchkiss
3-pounders. The forts and their guns were manned 24/7 all year round. They had
a primary role of the defence of the respective harbour. Furthermore, these
harbours were deemed ‘controlled ports’. This gave Coast Defence Artillery a
secondary role of ‘Control of Examination Anchorage’. This meant that all ships
entering the harbours had to be searched and deemed ‘Safe’ by the Examination
Service. The Coast Defence Artillery installations were supported by the Corps
of Engineers Coast Defence Company. Headquartered at Fort Camden in Cork
Harbour, the unit consisted of 232 all ranks. Its main task was the engineering
support of the coastal defence installations and the provision of seventeen searchlights.
The engineers were deployed to all coastal installations except Fort Lenan
which had no searchlights. The installations were further augmented by
detachments of the regular Army, Local Defence Force and the Marine Service/Marine
Inscription Service.
A five-acre site near Tarbert in Kerry was chosen for the new Coast Defence Artillery installation to be named Fort Shannon
Fort Shannon
In 1941, it was decided that the Examination Service for the Shannon estuary, based at the port of Cappa on the Clare side, would need artillery support. A five-acre site near Tarbert in Kerry was chosen for the new Coast Defence Artillery installation to be named Fort Shannon. It was to be armed with a battery of 6” guns, a machine gun platoon and a searchlight detachment. Commandant Mick Sugrue came from Fort Carlisle (now Fort David) to assume command and oversee the construction. Gunners were dispatched from Kildare Barracks and the Cork Harbour Forts. Land was bought and leased. Communication by day and night across the estuary was assured by the building of Look Out Posts (LOPs), and augmenting these with wireless and telephone. Thus, Loop Head, Kilcraudaun Head and the Examination Service on the north shore were linked with Doon Head, Scattery Island and Fort Shannon. Close liaison was maintained with the Harbour Master at Limerick, who held a naval rank of Lieutenant Commander. He was responsible for movement of all shipping in and out of the estuary. Fort Shannon was not a fort in the strict military sense, but a pair of coastal defence guns positioned at Ardmore Point, overlooking the Shannon estuary, a short distance down river from Tarbert. The site is roughly oval in plan, set on a broad ledge high above the estuary, with the largely undefined boundaries swinging along the southern inland boundary. The terrain rises sharply from the water to an approximately level position – although it could easily be scaled in an assault – and rises slightly again a little further inland; with a farm-style gateway on both the east and west sides.
Original map of Fort Shannon. (Courtesy of Military Archives)
The site for the fort was, however, carefully chosen. Ardmore Point projects into the estuary and faces downstream to cover a point where the width of the navigable channel is limited between Scattery Island on the north bank and Carrig Island on the opposite side. Consequently, an enemy vessel seeking to pass between the islands is forced to present its bow, or front, directly to the fort so that it can engage only its forward armament in an attack. Today Fort Shannon is very overgrown with trees and shrubs. Nevertheless, it is possible to identify the main military elements. The two-gun emplacements can be seen overlooking the estuary: one near the east side of the oval, the other in a more central position. West of these is a pair of searchlight enclosures near the river edge, with the Power House and Communications Building on the higher level behind, while three machine gun pillboxes can be seen stretching along the curved southern boundary. The Power House and Communications Centre is a single story domestic looking stone built building with a galvanised steel hipped roof and four large rectangular windows facing the estuary. The doorway to the interior is on the landward side.
Gun Emplacements
The two-gun emplacements in the centre of the site are the most obvious features of the fort. Each consists of a gun chamber, behind which an underground passageway provides a link to the magazine. The gun emplacements in both cases were built with mass concrete sides and roof, inside which the gun chamber was open to the estuary, except for a low parapet behind which the gun was positioned. Overhead a heavy metal beam remains built into the underside of the roof, which allowed the gun to be manoeuvred into position on its mounting that still remains. There are two stores at the rear of the gun chamber with the entrance to the magazine access passage between. The dogleg route of the access passage leads to the magazine. This was also provided with an external concrete stair leading to ground level near, the doorway to the magazine chamber. The inclusion of the dogleg was presumably to minimise the force of a blast from an artillery or air strike, on either the gun chamber or the magazine. Both magazines were of mass concrete construction and were completely underground. They were given no windows, but each had small roof apertures to provide some degree of ventilation. During the construction period it seems as if the top soil of the site was stripped away and once the concrete structures were completed the soil was returned to partially cover the sides and roofs of the emplacement and magazine for camouflage purposes.
A 6-inch Mk VII coastal defence gun, similar to those that existed in Fort Shannon, being test fired in Grey Point Fort Museum, Helen’s Bay, County Down in 2014.
A restored Ordnance QF (Quick Firing) 4.7-inch coastal defence gun. These guns were used on Bere island and Fort Dunree. This gun is on display in Fort Mitchell Museum, Spike Island.
The Guns
Both guns were 6” Breach Loading (BL), Mk VII, coastal defence
guns, manufactured by Vickers between 1902 and 1903. Although the manufacture
of these guns’ dates from the early twentieth century, they were the standard
British coastal defence weapon of the period and remained so for the duration
of the war. Initially each of the Shannon guns was supplied with 120 rounds and
it took a ten-man crew to load, operate and fire each gun with a capacity of
eight rounds per minute. Today the Shannon Fort guns are no longer present, but
seem to have been transferred to Fort Dunree Museum in Co. Donegal where they
have been partially restored and are on display.
Searchlights
The two anti-aircraft searchlights were housed in a pair of flat
roofed concrete structure, each with a wide aperture that allowed the searchlight
to be directed across and down the estuary. The positioning of the lights would have
provided sufficient scope to illuminate any would-be attacker attempting to
sail up the estuary, under the cover of darkness. Today the concrete structure,
the rusted metal drum of the lamp, and the parts of the concrete housing is all
that survives.
Pillboxes
The three flat roofed mass concrete pillboxes placed on the raised ground around the landward perimeter overlook the site. Each of the boxes is set into the ground with a square plan a small entrance doorway and narrow vertical slot on each of the four faces. The purpose of the pillboxes was presumably to provide machine gun cover against a direct assault from either the river or the landward side. In the case of an attack, the defence capabilities of Fort Shannon would have been restricted, not least by the limited stock of ammunition held. Furthermore, the rate of fire of the two guns would have been slow and the concrete structures would not have been sufficient to withstand a concentrated bombardment.
A view from one of the pillboxes. Across the Shannon Estuary you can see Money point Power Station Co, Clare.
Called into action
Throughout the Emergency years the gunners and engineers of Fort Shannon guarded their posts. The only shots fired were during practise. Its personnel were called out on one occasion however. According to an article on Coastal Defence Artillery in An Cosantóir, November 1973, by Commandant J. E. Dawson and Lieutenant C. Lawler, the men of Fort Shannon went to the rescue of the Merchant Vessel E.D.J. after it went aground near Cappa during a gale. Thankfully no lives were lost.
The fort closes
The fort experienced only a limited lifespan. It was abandoned at the end of the Emergency in 1946, when Commandant Mick Sugrue evacuated the fort on 31 May, 1946. Only a small skeleton crew remained behind for a short period after. Today the fort lies abandoned and derelict. Whatever wooden support buildings that originally existed have now disappeared. Fortunately, a restored example of the Fort Shannon gun-types can be seen in Fort Mitchell (Fort Westmorland) Museum on Spike Island, while in Grey Point Fort Museum in Co. Down, a pair of similar guns is maintained in working order, one of which was successfully test fired as recently as 2014. Nevertheless, Fort Shannon remains an important feature of Irish military history and today the dilapidated and neglected state of the site reflects poorly on the authorities responsible for its upkeep. This is particularly so, when contrasted with other similar fortifications around the Irish coastline, such as the museums at Fort Dundee, Fort Mitchell and Gray Point Fort, where restored and heavy and light weaponry are clearly and attractively presented to visitors.
Today the remains of Fort Shannon still stands sentinel over the Shannon estuary.
Fort Mitchel – Guarding the entrance to Cork Harbour. (Image courtesy of Spike Island)
In the last 1,300 years Spike Island, in Cork Harbour, has been host to a 6th century Monastery and a 24-acre fortress that became the largest convict depot in the world during Victorian times. The island’s rich history has included monks and monasteries, rioters, captains and convicts and sinners and saints. Today the island is dominated by the 200-year old Fort Mitchel, the star shaped fortress which became a prison holding over 2,300 convicts. Now a magnificently restored visitors centre the fort is open to the public all year round. The fort is also home to Ireland’s largest collection of restored artillery. Superintendent Spike Island, Tom O’Neill (a retired Reserve Defence Forces officer and Prison Officer), gave us a guided tour around Spike Island’s defences and their artillery collection.
The entrance to Spike Island. (Photo by Ken Mooney)
When Tom advised us that we’d need the entire day to see the restored fort, we thought he was kidding. Spike Island is an experience like none other in the country. Your journey starts at Kennedy Pier, in Cobh, where you embark on a ferry. The trip across for us modern day tourists is one of beauty. The estuary of the river Lee is full of stunning scenery and all kinds of wildlife. Once inside the walls you are immediately taken aback by the sheer size of the fort. On the ferry over it is difficult to grasp the scale. Inside, you can only imagine what the fortress must have been like when full of soldiers and bristling with artillery.
A view of the dry moat, Bastion 4, and the Flanking Galleries. (Photo by Ken Mooney)
As a natural deep-water port, Cork has been a tempting
strategic target throughout history. Due to threats by the French in the 18th
century, it was decided to improve the fortifications of Cork Harbour. Spike Island,
at the mouth of the estuary, acts as a natural gun emplacement. A pre-existing fortification
existed on Spike Island, but a more modern fort was needed. In 1789, building
work began on a stone-built fort designed by Colonel Charles Vallancey. It was
named Fort Westmoreland in honour of John Fane, 10th Earl of Westmoreland and
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1789 to 1794.
“The star shape allows the defenders in the fort to fire over all parts of the island, making the whole island an effective kill zone for anyone who dare enter”
Fortress Spike
With the threat from Napoleon, fortifications in the harbour were further enhanced. The next construction began in 1804. The six-bastion star shaped fort was completed by the mid-19th century. The fort was designed to stop enemy vessels in their path and defend itself from landing attacks. The star shape allows the defenders in the fort to fire over all parts of the island, making the whole island an effective kill zone for anyone who dare attack. Flanking galleries further allowed the defender to pour musket and artillery fire into the ranks of a landing force that got close enough. The fort is surrounded by a dry moat. If troops landed, they couldn’t see the moat. Facing them was a raised slope called a glacis. Advancing in the open they would have been cut to pieces.
Members of 1st Artillery Regiment in training on the QF 12-pounder 12 cwt coast defence gun. (Photo by A/B Davey Jones. Irish Naval Service)
This fort was originally armed with 29 24-pounder guns, two
12-pounder guns and twelve 6-pounder cannons. Along with howitzers and mortars
it was a formidable obstacle in any belligerent’s path. As technology evolved
so did the artillery on the island. When excavations were taking place in the
fort, three old smoothbores were recovered, later restored and are now on
display.
Supported by other forts – Carlisle (now Fort Davis), Camden (now Fort Meagher), and Templebredy, it is no wonder no one ever dared attack Cork. Fort Camden and Fort Carlisle were built at opposite sides of the harbour entrance during the period of the American War of Independence, Templebredy was built in 1910, at the back of Crosshaven facing out to the sea. If an enemy vessel managed to get through the entrance, straight in front of them would have been the guns of Spike Island. The fort was of such strategic importance that the British First Sea Lord, Winston Churchill, later called the island ‘The sentinel tower of the approaches to Western Europe’.
C Block and Mitchel Hall in the centre. (Photo by Ken Mooney)
By the turn of the 20th century the fort was armed with
breech loading rifled guns. The 6-inch Mk VII gun, together with the 9.2-inch
Mk X gun, provided the main coastal defence throughout the British Empire, and
later Ireland, from the early 1900’s until the abolition of coastal artillery in
the 1950’s. When the fort was handed over to the Irish Free State in 1938, it
was renamed Fort Mitchel after the Nationalist hero, John Mitchel, Mitchel, who
was a prisoner on Spike Island in May 1848. As Tom took us around the restored
bastions, he told us that that Spike was armed with the 6-inch guns. The 9.2-inch
were mounted on Templebredy and Fort Davis. Unfortunately, there are no
9.2-inch guns left in the country. However, Spike Island has two beautifully
restored 6-inch guns. Grey Point Fort near Belfast also has two, former Irish
Army, restored 6-inch guns. The 6-inch guns had a crew of 9. It could fire
Lyddite, HE, and Shrapnel 100 lb shells. With a rate of fire of eight rounds a
minute, it could engage targets up to13,400m (light charge) or 14,400m (heavy
charge). The 6-inch guns at Spike were originally mounted out in the open.
Interestingly, during the early 1940’s, the Irish Army moved the 6-inch guns on
Spike into underground emplacements. This was some undertaking. The most
logical reason for this was to protect them from aerial or naval
bombardment. Today on Bastion 3 where
the 6-inch guns used to be, are a battery of four QF 12-pounder 12 cwt guns. They
are still in working condition and are the Irish Army’s saluting battery for
Cork Harbour.
As part of the restoration, the underground emplacements
have been completely restored – along with 6-inch guns. The underground
emplacements include: crew quarters, a Battery Observation Post, and gun
emplacement. The Battery Observation Post gives you a clear view out to the
mouth of Cork Harbour. From here the officer would have worked out the
distance, elevation and range of the enemy target.
The Gun Park
Spike Island is also home to a unique collection of
artillery pieces. The collection traces the use of artillery in Ireland from
the 1700’s up to the present-day Irish Army. Some pieces you will be very
familiar with, including the Bofors L/60 and L/70 40mm anti-aircraft guns, and
the British Ordnance QF 18 and 25-pounders. Others such as a 17-inch anti-tank
gun and a 4.7-inch coastal gun are one of a kind examples in Ireland. All are
kept out of the elements in the Gun Park.
The earliest artillery piece in the collection is the
12-pounder cannon. It is one of Spike Island’s oldest artillery pieces. The
crest of King George III on the barrel dates the piece to the late 1700’s. Designed
as a naval gun, this piece was used for coastal defence. This is indicated by
the presence of a breeching ring at the rear of the gun, through which a strong
rope was passed and fixed to either side of the gun port opening to control recoil
when the gun rolled back upon firing. This is one of three such cannon on Spike
Island. They were used as bollards on the pier and were removed in circa 1999, restored
and mounted for display. The 7-inch Rifled Muzzle Loading Cannon on display represents
the progression of artillery technology, with the introduction of rifling
grooves cut into the barrel to impart spin and stability to the shell while in
flight. Dating from 1865, three of these massive 7-inch guns were mounted on
Spike Island, one on each of the three bastions facing Cobh. The introduction of breech loaded guns
rendered them obsolete.
“A one of a kind and the envy of the artillery community is the QF 4.7-inch coastal gun. This gun was made by the Elswick Ordnance Company of England. Spike Island’s 4.7- inch dates from 1910, is one of only two known surviving examples in Ireland”
The QF 12-pounder was originally designed as a shipboard
naval weapon, also used for coastal defence. Batteries were positioned in Forts
Carlisle and Camden, providing protection against torpedo boats and covering
the Cork Harbour minefield. The thickly armoured shield provided protection for
the crew operating in open gun emplacements and is considered extremely rare. A
one of a kind and the envy of the artillery community is the QF 4.7-inch
coastal gun. This gun was made by the Elswick Ordnance Company of England.
Spike Island’s 4.7-inch dates from 1910. It is one of only two known surviving
examples in Ireland; the other is at Fort Dunree in Co. Donegal. This rare gun
has been the subject of an extensive restoration project and must be among the
best-preserved examples of its type in the world. Luckily the brass fittings
and breach block were still in the Irish Army stores. ‘It was originally
thought that the guns were from Bere Island. However, the Fortress Study Group
found that the 4.7-inch was originally bought for the Irish Army in 1940, for a
gun emplacement in Galway Bay. The emplacement was never built and the guns
were put in storage. How many were brought in is unclear.
Bofors L/70 Anti Aircraft Gun alongside a QF 18-pounder
Leyland Machine Lorry
A 25pdr and a 17pdr
A 12-pounder cannon
The Bofors anti–aircraft guns are very much at home in
Spike. During the Emergency years (1939 1946) anti-aircraft emplacements were
built on Spike. In later years, the 4th Air Defence Battery was also based on
the island. The Bofors L/60 pm display is one of the very guns that served on
Spike from 1980 – 1985. Another rare artillery piece in the collection is the
Ordnance QF 17-pounder Anti-Tank Gun. Developed in World War II to counter new
and heavily armoured German tanks, the 17 pounders proved a battlefield
success. The 17-pounder served with the Irish Army from 1949 to 1962. It too is
fully restored.
Spike Island visitors centre is only open two years. In that
very short time the team on the island has done incredible work. The artillery
collection on the island is an aspect of Irish military history that has not
been written about that much. At one time gun emplacements and forts with their
coastal artillery dotted the coastline well into the 1950’s. One by one the
forts were no longer used and the gunners’ story was forgotten.
Gun by gun and barrel by barrel, the team on Spike Island is preserving and retelling that story. The management on Spike Island are most grateful to the Department of Defence and members of the Defence Forces for their outstanding support in the project. They are also very fortunate in having a dedicated team of volunteers working on the guns and in the museum.
There are many more fascinating stories to come from Spike
Island including the Aud Exhibition and that of the prisoners who were there.
Watch out for more on Ireland’s island fortress.
Spike Island – Cork Harbour Ferries depart from Kennedy pier
Cobh, which is right in the town centre next to Titanic Cobh. Tickets can be
purchased from the kiosk on the pier, or save money and book online. Online
booking is highly recommended during the busy summer months to secure you preferred
sailing and avoid disappointment. Open year round for pre-booked tour groups of
15 or more, contact Spike Island for booking. Regular sailings for walk up passengers
(advance online booking recommended):
Commandant Quinlan alongside a Thompson Ford Armoured Car at Jadotville. (image courtesy of An Cosantóir – the Defence Forces magazine)
The United Nations Operation in the Congo
(Opération des Nations Unies au Congo, or ONUC), was established in July 1960.
Ireland was one of the first countries to contribute peacekeepers to the
mission. In June 1961, the Irish Defence Forces’ 35th Infantry Battalion
deployed to the Congo.
The Situation in Congo Deteriorates
By early August 1961, with a functioning government and parliament established, it was time to end Katanga’s secession from the Congo. Operation Rumpunch was designed to take into custody and repatriate European Gendarmerie officers and mercenaries. It began with a raid on Gendarmerie headquarters in Élisabethville by Irish troops and simultaneous raids and arrests by other United Nations (UN) forces. At this time there was 400 foreign mercenaries and advisers still in Katanga, mostly in the south of the country, protecting the Union Minière du Haut Katanga (mining union of Katanga) operations.
On the morning of 28 August, UN forces began
apprehending European officers in Élisabethville and in the North Katangan
centres. At the same time the UN also occupied the premises of the post office and
radio and set a guard, comprising of Irish troops, around Katanga’s Minister of
the Interior, Godefroid Munongo Mwenda’s villa. UN representatives, including
Dr. Conor Cruise O’Brien, Ireland’s special representative to Dag Hammarskjöld,
Secretary General of the UN, met the Katangan government and received the answer
that President Moïse Tshombe was willing to give full co-operation, to dismiss
all the foreign officers. Tshombe then broadcasted a statement, free from complaint
or hostility, in which he said that he bowed to the UN decision and that ‘all foreign
officers were dismissed from service and must leave Katanga’.
By 8 September, 273 foreign mercenaries had
been repatriated, while another 65 were waiting to go. However, another 104
were unaccounted for. With their replacement in the Gendarmerie by African
officers a revolt by the Gendarmerie against the Tshombe regime was quite possible.
An African mutiny would possibly take an anti-European turn and UN troops were
requested to protect white populations in the Katanga mining belt. There were 32,000
Europeans in Katanga. Few of them owned land, or their own businesses’ and most
worked for one of the great companies of the Union Minière or for economically subsidiary
enterprises like the Simba Brewery.
Meanwhile, the Katangan Government began a
propaganda campaign against the UN. Katanga Radio accused UN troops of rape and
pillage in Élisabethville, while the Union Minière announced publicly that it was
ready to repatriate European women and children if that became necessary ‘as a result
of the activities of the UN’. President Tshombe announced a UN plot to arrest him,
disarm the Gendarmerie and send in the Congolese army. Demonstrations against the
UN began with troops being stoned, mainly by youths organised by the Gendarmerie.
A Company Deploys
Members of A Company. By the time A Company was cut off there were 157 personnel in the camp, including two Scandinavian pilots and an interpreter. (Image courtesy of Declan Power)
It was into this flashpoint that, on 11 September, the 155 strong A Company, 35th Battalion, arrived into the sprawling mining town of Jadotville. This number also included two Thompson Ford Mark VI armoured cars under the command of Lieutenant Kevin Knightly. The Irish were replacing a 300-strong Swedish force who had been openly informed by the European population that they were not wanted. The Swedish commander sensing his isolation and precarious position withdrew on ½ September. As the Swedes had ostensibly withdrew without orders ONUC needed to save face and a new force had to be assembled to protect the white population in the town from an allegedly growing threat from the local populace. The only unit available was A Company.
Initially, A Company were well received, but the situation changed when the Gendarmerie staged a mock attack and advance up to the Irish lines before being recalled. A Company commanding officer, Commandant Patrick Quinlan, ordered his men to hastily dig five-foot deep trenches around their encampment on the outskirts of the town. Soon A Company found itself surrounded by hundreds of Katangese, their Belgian advisers and a contingent of French mercenaries who drove around the camp in jeeps pointing their mounted machine guns at them.
Commandant Pat Quinlan ID Card. (Image courtesy of Military Archives)
Jadotville veteran Pat Dunleavey (Then a
Private), from Mullingar, said: ‘We were billeted in disused galvanised houses
and tents around an abandoned disused garage with pumps and a forecourt.
Commandant Quinlan visited Jadotville to meet the mayor and quickly saw the hostility
towards the UN. On return he called his platoon officers together and briefed
them on the situation. He patrolled the area and ordered us to dig trenches in
strategic areas. The ground here was as hard as concrete. Commandant Quinlan
was called in again to Jadotville and threatened that if we did not move out
and back to Élisabethville hostilities would erupt. He called a conference that
night and told the men of the company’s situation’.
More trenches were dug 20-30 yards apart. The
two armoured cars were placed in an enfilade position from where they could cut
off infiltrating enemy attacks and provide full support to the criss-cross of
trenches. Radio communications were established and ammunition and water supplies
checked. The troops then settled down to await the first attacks, which were
not long in coming. These were small probing actions and then to the surprise
of everyone the Gendarmerie commanders called a cease-fire and offered to allow
a message to be sent through the lines to Battalion HQ and explain the
company’s situation.
Captain Liam Donnelly, accompanied by an NCO
and a driver drove back through enemy lines to Élisabethville only to be left waiting
five hours while the battalion staff entertained Conor Cruise O’Brien, head of
the UN mission in Katanga. Neither the staff officers, nor O’Brien, appeared to
understand the seriousness of the situation. Captain Donnelly returned to
Jadotville to find the situation grimmer than ever.
The First Attack
The first serious attack took place on Sunday morning while most of the company were attending Mass. Gendarmeries in jeeps and on foot swarmed into the Irish positions. Corporal John Monahan, from Athlone, was returning from the wash house and spotted them. He jumped behind a Vickers machine gun and opened fire on the enemy, taking them completely by surprise. The Katangese had been led to believe that the Irish would be a pushover. The heavy machine guns of the armoured cars opened-up and the Katangese retreated in confusion.
From a safe distance the Katangese kept up a
continuous hail of rifle and mortar fire on the Irish position, keeping the
defenders pinned down and making movement during daylight hours practically impossible.
While the enemy mortar crews were very professional, being mainly Belgian and
French ex-soldiers, they caused few casualties as the Irish trenches were built
up rather than down. The looseness of the Congo soil made it impossible to dig down,
instead the loose soil was thrown up and packed high all around the trench to give
protection from shrapnel.
Not all the locals were against the Irish. An
Irishman working with Union Minière estimated that there were between four and
five thousand troops around the Irish unit, although Irish evaluations put them
at 2,000. A Belgian woman also helped the besieged troops. Pat Dunleavey
witnessed the devastating effect of the Irish firepower: ‘Paddy McManus, from Athlone,
was in a trench facing a road about three-quarters of a mile long, a straight
road heading in towards Jadotville, when all of a sudden a Belgian officer
crossed the road about two hundred yards away, got down on his hunkers and beckoned
his troops to come across. As the troops came across McManus engaged with his
machine gun on the first two and then about six or seven immediately ran across
the road straight into the line of fire and were killed. They were left
sprawling all over the road’.
Another veteran, Noel Stanley (then a Private),
from Clara, Co. Offaly, broke up several Katangese attacks with his Bren gun: ‘I
used up about 100 mags’ (thirty rounds in each) and wore out a few spare
barrels’. Stanley had served a previous tour in the Congo with the 32nd Infantry
Battalion. ‘When the fighting started, we never left the trenches. The only
time I left them was when we moved in from the outer trenches into the houses.
Father Fagan gave us general absolution while we were in the trenches. I
thought he was a very brave man’.
Siege
For the next five days and nights Katangese attacks made life difficult for the beleaguered defenders. On 15 September alone, at least ten separate attacks, up to sixty strong, were beaten off. Occasionally during lulls in the fighting, the defenders could see bodies being dragged away by the Katangese. Exploding mortar shells from the Irish 60mm mortars destroyed a nearby garage and damaged some surrounding buildings, causing a ferocious blaze, which lit up the night sky. Irish mortar fire also hit an enemy assembly area and an ammunition dump, which sent shells whizzing in all directions to the accompaniment of hearty cheers from the defenders. The dump, which contained most of the shells for a French-made 75mm gun, blazed furiously all night long and into the next day. The 75mm could have knocked out the armoured cars and devastated the Irish positions. In its haste to deploy, A Company had left its 81mm mortars and extra rations behind. ‘Sergeant Tom Kelly was in charge of the mortars,’ Noel Stanley recalled. ‘We only had 60mm mortars. Tommy Kelly could drop a mortar round on a plate a mile away, he was that good’.
In one attack the Katangese took a house about
150 yards from Company HQ from where they completely pinned down troops manning
the forward trenches. It was essential that this enemy position was
neutralised. Under covering fire an anti-tank section commanded by Corporal John
Monahan raced into open ground to engage the enemy position with a 84mmm recoilless
rifle. The house was completely destroyed and several Katangese killed. When
the Katangese took another nearby house Private John Mannion, from Mohill, Co.
Leitrim, crept down to it under cover of darkness and lobbed in a hand grenade,
driving the Katangese out. Commandant Quinlan was in constant contact with the
mayor of Jadotville, named Amisi, who threatened the Irish with a mob of
locals. ‘They will eat you up,’ he threatened over the phone. ‘You can send them
out,’ Commandant Quinlan retorted in his best Kerry accent. ‘We would probably give
them indigestion.’ Commandant Quinlan regularly went out among his troops to
make sure their defences were solid enough. ‘He was tough, but good,’ Noel
Stanley recalled, ‘And that’s what we needed out there’.
The company radio sets were virtually useless
as most of them failed to operate accurately at such long range, but Commandant
Quinlan managed to contact HQ in Élisabethville and stated that unless reinforcements
arrived soon, the defenders were in grave danger of being wiped out. He was
told that a relief force was on its way. This news greatly encouraged the men
and raised their flagging morale.
The Irish were not the only ones listening to
the radios. The mercenaries were able to intercept the messages on their more powerful
radios. There was only one point where a crossing was possible and this was at
Lufira Bridge. When the Irish reinforcements, codenamed Force Kane, arrived at
Lufira Bridge, on 13 September, they were met by a strong enemy force. A
decision was taken to abandon the attempt to cross the bridge until the next
day and Force Kane retired to bed down for the night and prepare for a dawn
attack the next day. The attack did not kick off until 08.30, which lost them
the element of surprise. During the night the Katangese had been busy and had moved
up more troops which ensured that any attempt to force a crossing would result in
heavy casualties. The rescue attempt was abandoned and Force Kane returned to Élisabethville.
Two days later another attempt was made by
the same Irish company, reinforced by a company of Gurkhas. The column arrived
late due to transport problems and strafing by a Belgian piloted Fouga jet from
Kolwezi, which killed three Gurkhas and wounded five. Attempts to approach the bridge
were met by withering enemy fire from the reinforced Katangese, who had been informed
of the UN advance by a BBC World Service report. It became apparent that a
daylight attack without air support was impossible without heavy losses.
Again, the decision was taken to abandon the
rescue attempt and they reluctantly returned to Élisabethville. The Fouga jet bombed
and strafed the retreating UN force, killing two and injuring ten Gurkhas. Four
Irish soldiers were also wounded. With the failure of the second rescue attempt
the Katangese moved up more reinforcements to Jadotville, where the situation was
now becoming desperate. Water was running out and the defenders sent urgent
radio messages to HQ requesting that supplies be air-dropped in.
Around the same time a helicopter piloted by
Bjørn Hovden, a Norwegian, crash-landed in the Irish position with a limited
supply of food and water. It suffered severe damage and was unable to take off.
The water on board was in jerry cans that had previously carried oil and was of
little use to the defenders. The Fouga jet now began bombing and strafing the
Irish position and urgent requests to Britain to allow UN planes to use Manono airport
to relieve the beleaguered garrison were refused.
As the fifth day of the siege dawned the situation was evidently desperate. The men had no proper sleep for five days and nights. Food and water were very scarce and the tropical heat was also taking its toll. The radio sets were beginning to fail, with only an occasional garbled message getting through. The enemy was growing extremely confident, despite suffering heavy casualties. Further low-flying attacks by the Fouga were thwarted when it was damaged by concentrated and accurate ground fire, ensuring that its bombing attacks from then on were carried out at a greater height. Pat Dunleavy recollected: ‘This jet used to come from Kolwezi airport and fly over first of all and then fly up into the sun and do a turn and start firing as it came down. He would start firing his cannons at us and he would let off two bombs every time. His whole object was to hit the filling station. Fortunately, he didn’t succeed. He would do four or five raids a day on this caper’.
From a safe distance the Katangese kept up a continuous hail of rifle and mortar fire on the Irish position, keeping the defenders pinned down and making movement during daylight hours practically impossible
As the Irishmen prepared for what everyone
thought would be the final battle the mercenary leaders appealed to them to surrender.
This offer was immediately rejected and another offer was then put forward. He stated
that, ‘if the Irish would agree to a ceasefire, the Katangese would withdraw
from around their positions, water supplies would be reconnected, and joint patrols
from both sides would operate to maintain order in the town. If this offer was
refused the Irish could expect to be overwhelmed and their safety would not be
guaranteed’. Commandant Quinlan consulted with his senior commanders the
options available. They now had no further communication with the outside world,
and had little hope of escape or rescue; ammunition supplies were low; supplies
of food and water were practically gone and the men were exhausted.
Ceasefire and Surrender
On 16 September, Commandant Quinlan reluctantly agreed to the Katangese cease-fire terms. After destroying all documentation and rendering their heavy weapons unserviceable A Company moved to a hotel in Jadotville, housing their weapons elsewhere. The attitude of the Belgian paratroopers and French mercenaries was surprisingly friendly. Many of them complimented the Irish on their bravery and the tenacity of their defence. However, the native Katangese, who had suffered heavy casualties, were far more hostile. The arrival of Minister Munongo and more Katangese troops from Élisabethville changed the situation. Only small quantities of food and water were delivered to the Irish and it came as no surprise when several days later the Katangese broke their agreement.
A large force of Katangese, who confiscated all
of A Company’s arms, surrounded the compound. Effectively the Irish were now prisoners
of war. The mercenaries firmly believed that the Irish had suffered heavy
casualties and they asked Quinlan how they had disposed of the bodies. They
flatly refused to believe that no Irish soldiers had been killed and only four had
been wounded. Enemy casualties had been heavy. One estimate revealed that 30
European mercenaries had died as that number of coffins had been buried and only
whites justified coffins, and that 150- 300 Katangese had been killed and several
hundred more injured. Pat Dunleavy said: ‘We were taken into the town of
Élisabethville under guard and compounded in a hotel there. We were very well
treated in the hotel regards food and accommodation, but we were subjected to a
lot of searches and if any parts of ammunition or weaponry, was found on us we
were harshly dealt with. I remember three or four of our people who had still ammunition
on them were severely beaten. Arrangements were made for a swap of prisoners. We
were brought to a camp between Élisabethville and Jadotville, on a lake, in
buses with a heavy escort. When we arrived in this camp it was deplorable. The hostility
that we received from the soldiers’ wives was very, very frightening. They threatened
us with signs of cutting our heads off, cutting parts of our bodies off,
stuffing them in our mouths, etc… Needless, to say this surrender did not take
place and we were brought back to the hotel again. This went on three times in
succession. We agreed a plan that on the third and final attempt ― if it failed
― we were to disarm the troops in the bus, shoot the troops in the bus in front
of us and make a breakthrough back to Élisabethville. Fortunately, this did not
have to happen as we were brought to a disused airport on the outskirts of
Élisabethville where the official hand-over took place’.
As negotiated the radio station and the Post
Office seized by the UN would be handed back in exchange for 185 prisoners held
by the Katangese. A Company returned to Ireland on 22 December, and received a
huge and enthusiastic reception in Athlone. Commandant Quinlan’s men have the highest
regard for him and his reputation. According to Pat Dunleavey, ‘Pat was really
great and we owe a lot of gratitude to him. Unfortunately, he was not given the
recognition for what he did in overwhelming odds. We put up such a fight’.
Forty-four years after the event the veterans of Jadotville were honoured at a ceremony at Custume Barracks in Athlone.
James Durney is Co. Kildare Historian in Residence and author of many books including the bestselling The 100 Kilo Case. The true story of an Irish ex-NYPD detective protected by the Mafia, and one of the most infamous drug busts in New York City.
Read more on James Durney at: www.jamesdurney.com
Letter to the Editor Spring 2017
Dear Sir I want to bring to your attention an error in the caption on page 14, article: In Defence Of Peace, Winter 2016. The caption states that the photo was taken at Jadotville. I think this photograph was not taken in Jadotville for the following reasons:
The building in the background was Headquarters for the 35th Infantry Battalion, and later the 36th Infantry Battalion, at Leopold Farm, Élisabethville.
In this photograph, the armoured cars are painted green. This did not happen until after the ceasefire in September 1961, to make them less conspicuous, which was when the Jadotville action took place. When the cars arrived in the Congo with the 34th Infantry Battalion, they were painted white. I was on a detachment that travelled by air from Élisabethville to Kamina, to bring a couple of cars just arrived in the Congo, to Élisabethville by train. They were painted. This journey of 500 miles took 3 days and nights through mostly jungle. Therefore, the two cars at Jadotville were still white at the time of the engagement.
The officer in the photograph may or may not be Quinlan, it is very hard to tell.
The helmet the gunner in the armoured car is wearing was worn by the 36th Infantry Battalion members and was not available to members of the 35th.
Yours sincerely John O’Mahony, Former Trooper, Armoured Car Group, 35th Infantry Battalion
