PETER DALY | IRA VOLUNTEER WHO FELL WITH THE INTERNATIONAL BRIGADES IN SPAIN

One of the finest comrades and bravest soldiers

A MEMORIAL STONE was unveiled to the socialist republican Peter Daly in Monageer, Enniscorthy, County Wexford, on Saturday 3rd September by the recently-formed Peter Daly Society. Peter was an IRA Volunteer and fought with distinction in the fight against fascism and in defence of the Spanish Republic with the International Brigades in the 1930s.
MICHAEL NOLAN looks at the life of Peter Daly.

International Brigaders: Frank Ryan with his arm round Peter Daly (third from left, standing). Paddy O'Daire of Donegal is also pictured with Frank Edwards at the extreme right and Dublin's Timmy Prendergast, seated centre with beret

PETER DALY was born in Birkenhead, Liverpool, of Irish parents in 1904. His family moved back to Wexford at the end of 1911.
He joined Na Fianna Éireann in 1918. During the Tan War he was involved in the acquisition and storing of weapons for the Irish Republican Army. After the Treaty, Peter joined with the Volunteers opposed to it and was active with the republicans during the Civil War.
Captured by Free State troops during an engagement, he was taken to Wexford to be processed along with the other prisoners and put on a train to Mountjoy Prison. After sentencing he was transferred to Maryborough Prison (now Portlaoise) for six months’ imprisonment and then on to the Curragh for internment for a further 11 months. He was eventually released after an 18-day hunger strike.
After the end of the Civil War Peter Daly joined with many other Irish republicans who opted to leave Ireland in the hope of finding work elsewhere.
Surprisingly, Peter joined the British Army in 1926 and rose to the rank of sergeant in a short time. All was not as it seemed though and in 1930 Peter was forced flee from his post and go on the run when it emerged that he had in fact being channeling British Army weapons and ammunition to the IRA.
On returning to Ireland, Peter, using the military training he had gained in the British Army, became a Training Officer for the IRA.
Fianna Fáil came to power in 1932. The IRA was going through a period of ideological shifts and splits. Peter joined the Republican Congress. However, lack of job opportunities would force Peter to emigrate once again in late 1934.
His republican and socialist politics shaped his view of the world and while in London he became aware of the growing crisis that was developing in Spain. When the call for volunteers to defend the Republic was made, Peter had no hesitation in joining up. He entered Spain in early 1937.
Peter would see action in a number of different areas, from the Basque Country in the north to Andalucia in the south of Spain. He would be injured twice and recover to return to the fight. He would be commended for bravery in battle and promoted several times. Among those with whom he fought were Frank Ryan, Kit Conway, Joe Monks, Bob Doyle, Frank Edwards and Paddy O’Daire.
The Aragon offensive, in which Peter fought his last battle, lasted from August through to October 1937.
On 24th August, the republican attack began at eight points on a frontline that stretched from the border with France in the north to the town of Teruel more than 300kms to the south. Critically, the attacks would begin without aerial or artillery preparation.
Peter Daly had been made commander of the British and Irish battalion of the 15th International Brigade; Paddy O’Daire, from Glenties in Donegal, was his second in command. Their objectives were the towns of Quinto and Belchite, east along the River Ebro from Zaragoza.
Speaking on radio months after the attack, Paddy O’Daire described it as follows:
“Our first objective in the Aragon offensive was the town of Quinto. Months of inactivity on the front had given the German experts plenty of time for fortification work. The result was that Purburell Hill, on the outskirts of the town, was turned into a fortress. Big bomb-proof chambers held its garrison and the shells for a battery of artillery that seriously menaced our positions.
“Purburell Hill not only dominated the only road to Quinto and beyond but it dominated the town itself. It was essential, therefore, that Purburell be taken at once. There was only one quick way in — to storm it. Our battalion got the job.”
On the afternoon of 25th August, they took up positions for attack. Under heavy crossfire from the church, which the fascists in the town still held, and from Purburell itself, they advanced across a gully to gain a foothold on the hill. Here Peter Daly again showed fine qualities of leadership but while leading a charge up the hill he received a fatal wound to his stomach. He was taken to hospital.
Purburell Hill was taken. The following day, with Paddy O’Daire assuming command, the attack was suspended until artillery support was provided. At dawn on the 26th, the attack was recommenced. It was eight hours of fierce fighting on a bare hillside under a blistering sun. Under protecting fire, they fought upwards, often yard by yard. A final charge brought them in to the fascists’ trenches. Three hundred prisoners were taken. There was an equal amount of casualties.
It turned out that the International Brigade volunteers had captured a hilltop fortress with an attacking force inferior in numbers to the defenders. O’Daire said: “That does not often happen in war.”
The Donegal man, himself a former IRA Volunteer, went on to describe Peter as “one of the finest comrades and bravest soldiers I have ever met and his death is a great blow, not only to our battalion but to the Irish republican and working-class movement”.
Peter Daly died of abdominal wounds on 5th September 1937. He is buried in Benicassim Cemetery, near Valencia. He was 33 years old.