Colonel Dan Bryan (1900–1985) was an officer in the

Irish Army The Irish Army, known simply as the Army ( ga, an tArm), is the land component of the Defence Forces of Ireland.The Defence Forces are made up of the Permanent Defence Forces – the standing branches – and the Reserve Defence Forces. The Ar ...

and Director of Military Intelligence G2 (the Irish Army's intelligence section) during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, known in neutral

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

as " The Emergency", who "masterminded the most sophisticated security operation in the history of the Irish state." Daniel Bryan (more often known as Dan) was born in Dunbell,

Gowran Gowran (; ) is a town located on the eastern side of County Kilkenny, Ireland. The historic St. Mary's Collegiate Church is located in the centre of Gowran close to Gowran Castle. Gowran Park race course and Golf Course is located one km from t ...

County Kilkenny County Kilkenny ( gle, Contae Chill Chainnigh) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the South-East Region. It is named after the city of Kilkenny. Kilkenny County Council is the local authority for the cou ...

in 1900. From 1916, he studied medicine for two years at the

National University of Ireland The National University of Ireland (NUI) ( ga, Ollscoil na hÉireann) is a federal university system of ''constituent universities'' (previously called ''university college, constituent colleges'') and ''recognised colleges'' set up under t ...

. In November 1917 he joined the

Irish Volunteers The Irish Volunteers ( ga, Óglaigh na hÉireann), sometimes called the Irish Volunteer Force or Irish Volunteer Army, was a military organisation established in 1913 by Irish nationalists and republicans. It was ostensibly formed in respons ...

to fight against

British rule in Ireland British rule in Ireland spanned several centuries and involved British control of parts, or entirety, of the island of Ireland. British involvement in Ireland began with the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169. Most of Ireland gained indepen ...

. The

Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between th ...

was created in 1922. During the subsequent

Irish Civil War The Irish Civil War ( ga, Cogadh Cathartha na hÉireann; 28 June 1922 – 24 May 1923) was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United ...

Bryan opted to join the National Army (later known as the

). He was commissioned to the rank of

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in September 1923. He would remain in the Irish Army until his retirement in 1955. For much of his career, he served with the Headquarters Staff, specialising in intelligence. In 1940 when a cipher was found on the first German agent to be captured in Ireland, Wilhelm Preetz, Bryan recruited Richard J. Hayes Director of the National Library of Ireland as a codebreaker and closely co-operated with him in the breaking of German codes. In 1942 he succeeded Liam Archer as Director of G2; he exercised a decisive personal contribution towards the detection and arrest of German spies in Ireland, such as

Hermann Görtz Hermann Görtz (also anglicised as Goertz; 15 November 1890 in Lübeck – 23 May 1947 in Dublin) was a German spy in Britain and Ireland before and during World War II, liaising with the Irish Republican Army (IRA). After the war, he commi ...

and

Günther Schütz Günther Schütz (17 April 1912 – 1991) was a German citizen who worked for German Intelligence ( Abwehr) during World War II, he was deployed to Ireland, however, due to being parachuted into the wrong location he was apprehended by Irish pol ...

. Bryan remained head of G2 for the remainder of the War. In 1952 he was appointed Commandant of the Irish Military College. In 1983,

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...

made a dramatised television series (''

Caught in a Free State ''Caught in a Free State'' was a dramatised television series made by RTÉ in 1983. This four-part series was about German spies in neutral Ireland during World War II, known in Ireland as " The Emergency". Production The series was written by ...

'') about German spies in Ireland during World War II. A character closely based on Dan Bryan – "Colonel Brian Dillon" – was played by the Irish actor John Kavanagh.

References

External links

Memoir of Colonel Daniel Bryan (1900–85), University College Dublin ArchivesArticle in The Sunday Times (London)Behind a secret web of spiesSunday Business Post: "Hitler's strange bunch of spies"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bryan, Daniel 1900 births 1985 deaths Alumni of the National University of Ireland Irish Army officers Irish Directorate of Intelligence personnel National Army (Ireland) officers People from Gowran People of the Irish Civil War (Pro-Treaty side) World War II spies from Ireland

See also

References

Further reading

External links