Battle for Limerick City: Military History of the Irish Civil War: 1

The fighting around the Strand barracks was particulary heavy.

• Irish Free State offensive.
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In this new book on the victory of the Free State troops in Limerick, Padraig O Ruairc offers a fresh perspective on the struggle that reduced the viability of the Republican's hoped for 'Munster Republic' and set the stage for the battle of Kilmallock, which turned the tide of the Civil War in favour of the pro-Treaty forces.

Paperback , pages. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about The Battle for Limerick City , please sign up. Be the first to ask a question about The Battle for Limerick City. Lists with This Book. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Oct 09, Peter rated it really liked it.

A good insight into the events of the Civil War, often ignored by Irish Patriots. Some good story telling and some interesting anecdotes here. Could do with a map of the city, though - had to refresh my own memory, even though I'd lived there for over a year and have been visiting often. Caroline rated it really liked it May 08, John Leonard rated it really liked it Jul 18, John somers marked it as to-read Jul 28, Carol Beaver marked it as to-read Oct 06, John Flannery added it Oct 08, John marked it as to-read Dec 20, Hayley Shaver marked it as to-read Jul 23, Six more shells were fired at Ballybricken prison before it was also evacuated.

Some street fighting followed before the Republicans abandoned the city and retreated westwards. Two Free State soldiers were killed in the fighting and one Republican.

Five civilians were also killed. In taking these towns, Free State troops generally encountered only limited resistance. The Republicans, when faced with artillery, tended to retreat and burn barracks they were holding rather than try to hold them and risk heavy casualties. 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, although there were also some civilian casualties, since 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, troops were faced with about 2, 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 23 July Major General W. 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 surrendered to the Republicans. 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 following day, 2, Free State troops advanced on Kilmallock.

Fighting continued here until August the 5th, despite the arrival of over 1, 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 2 August and 8 August respectively. When the National Army entered Kilmallock on 5 August, they found only a Republican rearguard, the remainder having already retreated in the direction of Charleville.

There was final rearguard action at Newcastlewest before the republican forces retreated after losing a number of men press reports suggested 12 killed. The Free State's forces took the south and west of Ireland with landings from the sea.

The Battle for Limerick City

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. This force, consisting of 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.

The largest seaborne landings took place in the south. Ships disembarked about 2, well equipped Free State troops into the heart of the "Munster Republic" and caused the rapid collapse of the Republican position in this province.

The Free State forces rapidly occupied the towns in the county but the Republican units in Kerry survived more or less intact and would fight a determined guerrilla campaign for the remainder of the war. 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 troops, with two artillery pieces and armoured cars, who landed at Passage West , near the city, on 8 August. A further men were put ashore at Youghal and troops landed at Glandore.

However, they did not try to continue the fighting Cork itself, partly in order to spare the civilian population, but instead burned Charles Barracks , near Kinsale, which they had been occupying, and dispersed into the countryside. The Free State landings in Munster coincided with an attempt by anti-Treaty guerrillas to isolate Dublin by destroying all the road and rail bridges leading into the city. However this operation was a complete failure with over republicans being captured at a cost of only two Free State soldiers wounded.

Liam Lynch , the Republican commander in chief abandoned Fermoy , the last Republican held town, the following day. In leaving Fermoy, he issued an order to troops under his command to stop trying to hold fixed positions and to form flying columns to pursue guerrilla warfare.

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The Republicans failed, with the exception of a brief stand around Killmallock, to resist the advance of Free State troops anywhere in the country. While some of this can be put down to the Free State's advantages in arms and equipment, the Republican leadership under Liam Lynch also failed to devise any coherent military strategy, allowing their positions to be picked off one by one. On top of this, most of the Republican fighters showed little appetite for the civil war, generally retreating before National Army attacks rather than putting up determined resistance.

In part, this shows a lack of discipline and training for conventional warfare, but there was also a general reluctance on both sides to fight against former comrades from the War of Independence.

Military History, Limerick City Council

One, for instance Tom Maguire said that, 'in the beginning our men would not kill the [Free] Staters', while another George Gilmore said, 'I had not a desire to kill the enemy, all of our man had it [reluctance] to some extent and the officers who were operating against us were our own former friends'. The Free State Government's 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.

Aiken originally wanted to stay neutral, but was arrested by Free State troops along with of his men on 16 July They subsequently broke out of prison in Dundalk and temporarily re-took the town in a guerrilla raid. Nowhere, however, did the Republicans manage to re-take any territory lost on the first two months of fighting. Moreover, with the exception of county Kerry and a few other localities, the anti-treaty guerrilla campaign failed to gather momentum and by , was largely reduced to small scale attacks and acts of sabotage. It took eight months of intermittent guerrilla warfare after the fall of Cork before the war was brought to an end, with victory for the Free State government.

In April , Liam Lynch was killed. His successor as anti-Treaty commander, Frank Aiken, called a ceasefire on 30 April and a month later, ordered his men to "dump arms" and go home. The intervening period was marked by the death of leaders formerly allied in the cause of Irish independence.