Martin McGuinness main speaker at this year’s event

MARTIN McGUINNESS will be the main speaker at this year’s Kilmichael Commemoration in County Cork which will be held on November 28th, the exact anniversary of the famous ambush led by Tom Barry.  The joint First Minister has been invited to address what will be the 90th anniversary of the historic battle.
This is one of the largest-attended commemorations in Ireland, reflecting not just the significance of the Kilmichael Ambush but the depth of respect held for those who took part in what is regarded as a turning point in the Tan War.
A week after the Bloody Sunday executions of 14 British spies in Dublin - and the British Army’s reprisals in Croke Park, killing 15 civilians - the legendary Tom Barry, then only 23 years old, led 36 IRA Volunteers in an operation against a convoy of Crossley tenders carrying the elite Auxiliaries paramilitary force, a higher-ranking version of the Black and Tans. The Auxies were commissioned British Army officers and seasoned veterans of the First World War. Despite this, ‘The Boys of Kilmichael’ got the better of them. Seventeen Auxiliaries were killed in a devastating blow to the image, morale and effectiveness of the British occupation forces.
This account of the ambush highlights the courage and determination of the IRA Volunteers who took part.

O/C of the 3rd West Cork Brigade Flying Column, the legendary Tom Barry

On November 21st 1920, a column of 36 IRA riflemen were mobilised at Clogher, County Cork, for a week’s training in advance of an attack on the Auxiliaries. At 2am the following Sunday. the IRA Flying Column fell in at Ahilina. Each man was armed with a rifle and 35 rounds of ammunition. A few had revolvers, and their commander, Tom Barry, who had been appointed Training Officer and Commanding Officer of the 3rd West Cork Brigade Flying Column, had two Mills bombs, which had been captured in a previous ambush at Toureen.
At 3am, the men were told for the first time they were moving in to attack the Auxiliaries between Macroom and Dunmanway. Fr O’Connell had heard the men’s confessions at the side of the road. On an extremely cold, wet night, the men began moving to Kilmichael to take on the dreaded Auxiliaries.
All IRA positions were occupied at 9am. The hours passed slowly. Towards evening, the gloom deepened over the bleak Kilmichael countryside. At 4.05 pm, an IRA scout signalled the enemy’s approach.
The first lorry came round the bend into the ambush position. Tom Barry, dressed in military-style uniform stepped onto the road with his hand up, signalling the convoy to stop. The driver gradually slowed down. When it was 35 yards from the Volunteers command post a Mills’ bomb was thrown by Barry and simultaneously a whistle blew signalling the beginning of the ambush.
The bomb landed in the driver’s seat of the uncovered lorry. As it exploded, rifle shots rang out. The lorry, its driver dead, moved forward until it stopped a few yards from the small stone wall in front of the command post. While some of the Auxiliaries were firing from the lorry, others were on the road and the fighting was hand-to-hand. Revolvers were used at point-blank range, and at times, rifle butts replaced rifle shots. The Auxiliaries were cursing and yelling as they fought, but the IRA coldly out-fought them. In less than five minutes, nine Auxiliaries were dead or dying.
Barry and the three men beside him at the Command Post moved towards the second lorry. This had been engaged by No 2 Section, which was in the middle of the ambush area, high up on the rocks.
The second group of Auxiliaries had taken up positions beside the ditch. Some had taken cover behind their lorry as the fight went on. Barry, with the three men at the command post, crouched along the dyke. When they were about halfway between the two lorries they heard the Auxiliaries shout: “We surrender! We surrender!” Some actually threw away their rifles and the firing stopped. The Volunteers accepted the surrender. In No 2 Section, some Volunteers who thought it was over stood up. But the Auxiliaries again took up their guns; some used their revolvers to open fire. Following this encounter, three Volunteers were fatally wounded.
When he saw this, Tom Barry gave the order: “Rapid fire and do not stop until I tell you!” The Auxiliaries once again shouted “We surrender!” but on this occasion the order was given to “Keep firing on them. Keep firing, No 2 Section. Everybody keep firing on them until the ceasefire.” The small IRA group on the road was now standing up, firing as they advanced to within ten yards of the Auxiliaries. When the ceasefire order was finally given there was an uncanny silence as the sound of the last shot died away. Sixteen Auxiliaries were dead and one seriously wounded. Volunteers Michael McCarthy of Dunmanway and Jim Sullivan of Rossmore also lay dead, and Pat Deasy was dying.
The lorries were set ablaze. The column was ordered to drill and march for five minutes. They then halted in front of the rock where Michael McCarthy and Jim O’Sullivan lay, where they presented arms as a tribute to the dead Volunteers.
Just 30 minutes after the opening of the ambush the column moved away to the south, intending to cross the Bandon River upstream from the British-held Manch Bridge. Eighteen men carried the captured enemy rifles slung across their backs. It started to rain again and the men were soon drenched. The rain continued as the IRA marched through Shanacashel, Coolnagow, Balteenbrack and arrived in the vicinity of dangerous Manch Bridge. The Bandon River was crossed without incident and Granure, eleven miles south of Kilmichael, was reached by 11pm
The engagement at Kilmichael was the first between the IRA and the previously invincible Auxiliaries and one of the most important battles of the Tan War. The British establishment could not comprehend how 18 battle-hardened officers fell in combat against what they previously dismissed as ‘rabble’. The first engagement between the IRA and Auxiliaries, took place at Kilmichael, County Cork, on November 28th 1920.