During the
later months of 1920 the Black and Tans carried
out a reign of terror, arson and beatings.
Prisoners were ill treated in Macroom Castle
where one was beaten to death. They
murdered several people including James Lehane,
Ballyvourney 15th October, Denny
Mahony, Kilmichael 30th November,
Jerh Casey (16 years) Rreenaniree 3rd
January, 1921 and several in Dunmanway including
Canon Magnor P.P. 15th December.
Major Grant signed an order on 1st
December stating that all men seen in Macroom
and surrounding areas with their hands in their
pockets would be shot.
Flying Column Formed
During the first week of January 1921 a Brigade
Flying Column was formed. It consisted of
most of the old Batt. Column, including the 12
Ballingeary men and 15 men from the 1st.Batt.
Cork City under Dan Donovan ( nicknamed Sandhow)
and under the overall command of Sean Hegarty.
An old house at Ullanes, Ballymakeera
was used as a training camp. It had been
used as a stall for cattle but was cleaned and
whitewashed. The men slept on bags filled
with straw on the floor. They under-went
an intensive training course under Sean Murray,
(ex sergeant major, Irish Guards). It
included camouflage, advancing and retreating,
etc. After five weeks training we moved to
a new camp at Harringtons, Clountycarthey,
Renaniree where we were joined by 24 men
from the 7th Batt, (Macroom area) who
had undergone a similar course in Clondrohid.
We now numbered 62 men, armed with rifles, a few
shotguns and revolvers and two Lewis machine
guns.
Before dawn next morning, Feb. 11th
(St Abbeys Day) we took up ambush positions on
the Gortnabinna side of the Mouth of the Glen
three miles nothh of Ballingeary on the road to
Renaniree. We waited until nightfall and
returned to camp. On that day the Tans
raided Clondrohid and shot 16 year old Daniel
O'Mahony. Before dawn next morning the
Column moved out again, crossed the Sullane and
took up positions at Coolnacahera near
Coolavokig on the road betweem Macroom and
Ballyvourney. Next day we were
back at the Mouth of the Glen again.
Four lorries came as far as Renaniree but turned
back. We rotated between both sites for
ten days but were in the wrong place on three
occasions. It was now decided to
concentrate on Coolavokig.
Ambush
On the
morning of the 25th February the men
had again taken their positions along a quarter
mile stretch of the road. The two machine
guns had been placed high on the rocks on the
northern side, one at each end. Since
Kilmichael, the Tans were very wary and usually
travelled in large parties, four or five lorries
with 10 to 14 men per lorry. They also
carried civilian hostages. As dawn broke,
eight lorries and two cars carrying well over a
hundred soldiers approached slowly from the
east. They had armour mesh on some of the
lorries and machine guns mounted on others.
When they were only about half-way into the
ambush position they slowed even more and
soldiers began to jump from the lorries pulling
the hostages with them. The four hostages
were forced at gunpoint to walk slowly in front
of the leading lorry, while some soldiers began
to climb the rocks. The volunteers had no
option but to open fire. The soldiers
guarding the hostages were quickly shot and the
hostages ran west the road and jumped the fence
to the south and disappeared.
A fierce
fight now raged as the Tans tried to break
through to the west. They had recovered a
machine gun from a lorry and opened fire with
it. The men operating it were both wounded
and the gun was abandoned on the roadside.
Our western machine gunner worked well and
prevented them recovering any more of the guns
off the lorries. The volunteers at the
western end now began to move forward and the
Tans began to fall back. Their commander,
Major Seafield Grant stood by the fence trying
to rally his men but he too was fatally wounded.
The Tans now retreated further and took cover in
the acre plots of two cottages south of the
road. The occupants, Twomeys and Cronins
had left two weeks earlier.
However at the eastern end, where the Cork city
men were positioned, things were not going so
well. The machine gunner here was an
ex-British Army officer known as Crux
O'Conner who was regarded with suspicion by some
of his companions. He fired a few rounds
and then abandoned the gun, falsely stating that
it was jammed. Nobody thought of checking
it and it lay idle for the rest of the fight.
This allowed the British to reach the shelter of
some small fields east of the cottages but they
were prevented from escaping further by the
Macroom men who were positioned south of the
road. Some of the lorries had stopped
outside of the ambush position and the last
lorry driver succeeded in reversing to safety
and escaped back to Macroom to raise the alarm.
The Ballingeary and Kilnamartyra men
successfully crossed the road and with the
Macroom men closed in on the soldiers in the
acres who now retreated into the cottages.
They broke loopholes in the wall but this was a
disadvantage to them as we directed our fire
into them. Wounded men lay on the roadside
and in the acres. Some crawled to the
doors and begged to be let in but were refused.
We did not fire on these men. After a
while the fire from the cottages was reduced to
random shots and we felt that victory was near.
If we could capture the western cottage the
soldiers to the east could be out-flanked and
would have to surrender. Plans were
prepared to bomb the cottage. However the
men had been so engrossed in the fight that a
large convoy of reinforcements had arrived
unnoticed. Hundreds of soldiers were
dismounting and attempting to encircle the area.
Some of the men were rushed east to stall them.
Word now reached us that more troops were
approaching from the west but were delayed by
roadblocks. After fighting a stiff
rearguard action for half an hour the
column escaped from the area without any
casualties and quickly retreated north
westwards. British casualties were 14 dead
and 24 injured. We were bitterly
disappointed to leave such a prize of guns and
ammunition behind. The fight had lasted
over four hours and had been heard for miles
around. Local volunteer Denis O'Leary on
hearing the prolonged gunfire had attempted to
join the Column but was prevented by the arrival
of the reinforcements.
Thirty
four lorries of reinforcements from Cork,
Ballincollig, Bandon, Clonakilty, Millstreet and
Macroom passed through Macroom. Fourteen
arrived from Kerry. Eight from Skibbereen and
Bantry passed through Ballingeary and four more
came from Dunmanway, bringing over six hundred
troops altogether. A plane circled
overhead but failed to spot us as we moved
quickly from the scene. British soldiers
burned houses in the area, including the two
cottages which had sheltered them. They
shot cattle and fowl and used a donkey for
bayonet practice. That evening they shot
and badly wounded Jerh Lucey in Ballyvourney.
The Macroom men now headed for Ballinagree.
The Column divided into two groups, one headed
west towards Cooolea and the other towards
Mullaghanish with orders to regroup in
Kilgarvan. While this group were having
tea in houses in Coomnaclochy , Ballyvourney,
four lorries of soldiers approached. They
dismounted and advanced in a line across the
fields. After a brief fight in which they
suffered three more casualties they ran back to
the lorries and quickly left the area. All
volunteers reached safe houses in Kilgarvan that
night. The Kilgarvan company had
information that reinforcements and supplies for
Kenmare were to pass through by train. The
Column joined forces with them and lay in ambush
at Morley's Bridge for six days before it was
learned that they had arrived by sea from
Castletownbere. The Column returned to
Coolea. Two large cars had been commanded
from loyalists and were driven from Cork by Jim
Grey (1st Batt.) and James D. Cronin
(local company).
Carrigbawn Round-Up
On the 15th
March the Column was ordered to move to
Ballingeary. The Lewis guns, ammunition,
bedding and the officers were transported in the
cars, while the men made their way on foot to
Pats (Padraigs) Cronins house at Gurteenflugh.
The local men hadn't been home since Christmas
and they visited their families. It was
late when they all reported back and it was only
then they realised that Crux O'Connor was
missing.
Under cover of darkness British
troops had filled trenches on the Renaniree road
and as dawn broke on the 16th
March a large convoy moved into the area.
The alarm was raised by Danny Leary, Bawnaneel,
Ballingeary who began to whistle loudly.
Two local volunteers John J. Cronin
(Gurteenakilla) and Con D. Cronin (Bawnatoumple)
were alerted and began to run to warn the
Column. John's route was blocked by troops
at Gurteenowen and Con came under heavy fire at
Carrignadoura, but escaped. The sound of
the gunfire alerted the Column, who quickly
moved east from the house and into a large
cummer. Soldiers were already at Bán
a Mháire Cross, but they waited there for other
soldiers, whose arrival was delayed by road
blocks at Currahy and Keimaneigh.
Pats and his sisters worked hard and
successfully covered the two cars with loads of
furze and bedding. As the Column moved
upwards in the cummer soldiers appeared on the
top of Leaca from the Kerry side. Scouts
reported that troops were approaching on foot
from Carrignadoura side and that troops were on
the eastern side of the Meelin and on the
Fuhirees road. An aeroplane began to fly
low over the glen and we felt sure that he
should have spotted us. The situation
looked bad as we were almost surrounded.
The Column numbered 37 men and since Coolavokig
we were very low in ammunition, around 14 rounds
per man. It began to rain and a thick
blanket of fog came down over the mountains.
The Column moved quickly upward and westwards
and formed a circle on the western end of
Carrigbawn. The men lay in holes in the
bog and covered themselves with fionán.
The fog cleared briefly around 3p.m. and we
could see soldiers all around, down in the
valley, on top of Meelin and a long line
extending northwards on Leaca. Thankfully
the fog returned again and soon afterwards we
heard the sound of lorries leaving. When
darkness fell a scout was sent down and he
reported back that all was clear. It
became known as the Carrigbawn Round-Up.
It is believed between 350 - 400 soldiers were
involved.
It was now decided for safety
sake to disband the Column and the men returned
to their companies. Some of the Corkmen
opted to stay in the area and were warmly
welcomed by the locals. O'Connor was now
regarded as a traitor and all companies were
warned about him. On March 23rd.
he led Black and Tans to a hideout at Clogheen
near Cork City. Six volunteers were
trapped there and after a fight in which they
were all wounded, they surrendered. They
were then brutally beaten and tortured to death
when they refused to yield information.
Three of these men had been members of the
Column and had fought at Coolavokig. They
were nailed to doors and had their tongues cut
out. O'Connor was sentenced to death by
the I.R.A. but survived a sniper attack in Cork.
He was later seen boarding a ship in Cork under
a false name. He was traced to New York
and shot there almost a year later.
By
the end of January the arms fund had reached
£85. Ian McKenzie Kennedy (Scotty) was
entrusted with the money and travelled to
England at great risk to himself to purchase
arms. He returned on March 24th
with eleven new Webley .45 revolvers hidden in a
crate of plough socks. An underground
foundry was constructed at Carrigbawn,
Ballingeary to manufacture hand grenades
and bombs. Local volunteers scoured the
countryside for scrap metal, old pig troughs and
plough boards etc. A year earlier Scotty
had provided the "74/14/12" recipe for gunpowder
to the officers. The charcoal was made
near Glenflesk and the powder was manufactured
in Ballyvourney. The bombs were then
loaded at Brigade headquarters which had been
moved from the city to Gurtyrahilly,Collea
before being delivered to companies in Cork and
Kerry. Since the Coolavookig attack
Black and Tan raids west of Macroom had ceased
completely. When the Southern Division
I.R.A. covering all of Munster was set up its
headquarters were also at Gurtyrahilly.
Officers included Liam Lynch and Liam Mellows.
An officer training camp was set up in Cuam Rua,
Gougane Barra. Volunteers from all over
the county and elsewhere attended.
The
local company was now stretched to the limit.
A twenty four hour guard was kept on all roads
leading to the area, Mouth of the Glen,
Currahy, Pass of Keimaneigh, and Leaca Road.
It involved a rota of sixteen every day.
Food, workers and supplies had to be maintained
at the training camp and at the bomb factory at
Carrigbawn. Large numbers of dispatches
had also to be delivered. Volunteers also
had to check the identity of students at the
Irish classes.
On April 9th
the Column was mobilised again and joined the
Kilgarvan men for an attack on Kilgarvan
Barracks, only to find it had been abandoned a
few hours earlier. They now lay in ambush
at Loo Bridge for three days but withdrew when
the site became too well known. Local man
Jerh McCarthy (Upper Currahy, an uncle to the
Lynch's) took part in Headford Ambush with No. 2
Kerry Brigade.
A Black and Tan named
O'Carroll had begun supplying revolvers and
ammunition to the Macroom Company with a view to
getting a pardon to return home to the west of
Ireland. According to him the garrison had
been reduced to around seventy five men as a
result of the four ambushes and minor attacks
and because of desertion. The Column
mobilised again on May 15th and moved
to Macroom. Under cover of darkness the
men climbed over the walls and occupied the
grounds of the castle. The Macroom men
were then supposed to burn the house of a
loyalist who entertained the officers. If
the Tans went to his aid they were to be
ambushed by them on the Coolehane road.
Some of the Column were then to attack and hold
the castle gate while the rest were to rush and
bomb their way into the castle. However
the Macroom men failed to burn the house and
after waiting almost two hours, within two
hundred feet of the castle the Column withdrew.
It caused a lot of anger as the men involved had
taken a great risk.
The Big Round-Up
During the first week of June 1921 we
received reports of a big build up of troops in
all the surrounding towns in Cork and Kerry and
on June 5th hundreds of soldiers
approached the area. The company worked
hard all day and night removing all weapons and
hiding bombs. The foundry in Carrigbawn
was dismantled and hidden and all evidence of
the training camp was removed. One of the
Column's motorcars was also removed to Borlin.
Officers from both headquarters were escorted to
safe houses in Kerry and then most of the
volunteers also left. That evening large
columns of foot soldiers arrived in Ballingeary.
Their Commanding Officer, Major Percival (later
General) rode a white horse. He set up his
headquarters in Jerry Connellys yard in
Derryvaleen. By dawn they had closed all
the roads. All Ballingeary, Coolea,
Ballyvourney and the Cleadach valley were
surrounded and searched. Two men were shot
at Cleadach, while 84 year old Sean Jerh
Kelleher was shot in Ballyvourney, and Daniel
O'Riordan was shot at Carrigaphooka.
Horse drawn artillery guns were brought in and
Shehy mountain was shelled for almost two days,
killing two sheep. The searches lasted
until June 10th but were a complete
failure as not even one round of ammunition was
captured. Newspaper accounts put the
number of troops involved at between 10 and 15
thousand. As the searches moved south
towards Dunmanway, Tom Barry's Column left their
hiding place at Castledonovan and moved to
Borlin and the over the mountains to Coom Rua
and Gougane. They were warmly welcomed by
the locals during their stay there. The
search was known as The Big Round-Up.
On July 11th 1921 the Truce
between the British and Irish forces was
declared. Work had resumed at the Foundry
in Carrigbawn and continued during the
Truce. The Training Camp had also resumed
at Coom Rua and courses on machine guns, mine
laying and booby traps were given even though
all these activities were in breach of the
Truce. During some of this period, James
D. Cronin, Gurteennakilla served as bodyguard
and chauffeur to Mrs McSweeney, widow of the
late Lord Mayor of Cork, Terence McSweeney.
Most of the company attended the victory parades
at Coolavookig and Macroom and the big parade in
Cork City. Dan Sullivan and Tadg Callaghan
were released from jail in March 1922, having
served 18 months.
The Column was again
mobilised in April 1922 and occupied Macroom
Castle and parts of the town during the
Officer's Crisis. Four British spies had
been captured and executed in Macroom.
Brigade Major Montgomery (later
General) had halted the withdrawal of British
troops and demanded a search of the town.
On April 30th he led a large force of
soldiers to the Square and demanded access to
the Castle. However they found themselves
surrounded and had to withdraw. On May 4th
they arrived again. This time the Column
had taken positions at the eastern end of the
town and after another tense confrontation
Montgomery finally admitted defeat and returned
to barracks.
(1) Jerry Connelly's
house is now Partick and Kathleen Creedons,
Derryvaleen
(2)On 16/12/1942 during World War
2 General Percival surrendered an army of
65,000 soldiers and all of Malay and Singapore
to the Japanese without a fight. Most of
these men died in prisoner of war camps.
(3)General Montgomery (Monty) rose to the rank
of Field Marshall and became one of the most
famous Generals of World War Two.
Edited
by Donal Cronin, Bawnatoumple,
Ballingeary, Co. Cork.