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The Squad (Irish Republican Army Unit)
The Squad, nicknamed the Twelve Apostles, was an Irish Republican Army (IRA) unit founded by Michael Collins to counter British intelligence efforts during the Irish War of Independence, mainly by means of assassination. The Squad engaged in executing informants, police active in harassment of IRA personnel, and enemy agents, and worked in counterespionage. Background On 10 April 1919, the First Dáil announced a policy of ostracism of Royal Irish Constabulary men. At the time Sinn Féin official policy was against acts of violence. Boycotting, persuasion and mild intimidation succeeded against many officers. However others escalated their activities against republicans and in March 1920 Collins asked Dick McKee to select a small group to form an assassination unit. Members When the Squad was formed, it came directly under the control of the Director of Intelligence or his deputy and under no other authority. The Squad was commanded by Mick McDonnell.Bureau of Military Hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various Resistance movement, resistance organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dominantly Catholic and dedicated to anti-imperialism through Irish republicanism, the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic free from British colonial rule. The original Irish Republican Army (1919–1922), often now referred to as the "old IRA", was raised in 1917 from members of the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army later reinforced by Irishmen formerly in the British Army in World War I, who returned to Ireland to fight against Britain in the Irish War of Independence. In Irish law, this IRA was the army of the revolutionary republic, revolutionary Irish Republic as declared by its parliament, Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic), Dáil Éireann, in 1919. In the century that followed, the original IRA was reorganised, changed and split on multiple occasions ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Dan Breen
Daniel Breen (11 August 1894 – 27 December 1969) was a volunteer in the Irish Republican Army during the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War. In later years he was a Fianna Fáil politician. Background Breen was born in Grange, Donohill parish, County Tipperary. His father died when Breen was six, leaving the family very poor. He was educated locally, before becoming a plasterer and later a linesman on the Great Southern Railways. Irish Revolutionary period War of Independence Breen was sworn into the Irish Republican Brotherhood in 1912 and the Irish Volunteers in 1914. On 21 January 1919, the day the First Dáil met in Dublin, Breen—who described himself as "a soldier first and foremost"—took part in the Soloheadbeg ambush. The ambush party of eight men, led by Séumas Robinson, attacked two Royal Irish Constabulary men who were escorting explosives to a quarry. The two policemen, James McDonnell and Patrick O’Connell, were fatally shot during the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Cathal Brugha Barracks
Cathal Brugha Barracks () is an Irish Army barracks in Rathmines, Dublin. A key military base of the Irish Defence Forces, it is the headquarters of 2 Brigade, and houses the Military Archives of the Department of Defence. History The barracks was originally constructed between 1810 and 1815, and named ''Portobello Barracks'' for the area in which it was sited. (When Sir Francis Drake looted the city of Portobelo, Panama, died and was buried at sea in its harbour, many places in England and Ireland were commemoratively named Portobello – including part of Rathmines in 1696. The nearby canal bridge and the area became known as Portobello and thereafter, the barracks.) In 1817 William Windham Saddler, son of balloonist James Saddler, set off in a hot-air balloon from the grounds of the barracks landing in Holyhead in North Wales. Originally designed as a cavalry barracks, it saw some development along these lines, with additional land being purchased, and the addition of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Dominic Behan
Dominic Behan ( ; ; 22 October 1928 – 3 August 1989) was an Irish writer, songwriter and singer from Dublin who wrote in Irish and English. He was a socialist and an Irish republican. Born into the literary Behan family, he was one of the most influential Irish songwriters of the 20th century. Biography Early life Behan was born in inner-city Dublin into an educated working-class family. His father, Stephen Behan, fought for the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in the Irish War of Independence. Dominic was the brother of Brendan Behan. His mother, Kathleen, a collector of songs and stories, took the boys on literary tours of the city. Behan's maternal uncle, Peadar Kearney, wrote "A Soldier's Song", the song the Irish National Anthem was based on. Another brother, Brian, was also a playwright and writer. At the age of thirteen, Dominic left school to follow in his father's footsteps in the housepainting business. The family house in which Behan lived was the property of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Brendan Behan
Brendan Francis Aidan Behan (christened Francis Behan) ( ; ; 9 February 1923 – 20 March 1964) was an Irish poet, short story writer, novelist, playwright, and Irish Republican, an activist who wrote in both English and Irish. His widely acknowledged alcohol dependence, despite attempts to treat it, impacted his creative capacities and contributed to health and social problems which curtailed his artistic output and finally his life. An Irish republican, Irish Republican and a Volunteer (Irish republican), volunteer in the Irish Republican Army (1922–1969), Irish Republican Army (IRA), Behan was born in Dublin into a staunchly republican family, becoming a member of the IRA's youth organization Fianna Éireann at the age of fourteen. There was also a strong emphasis on Irish history and Culture of Ireland, culture in his home, which meant he was steeped in literature and patriotic ballads from an early age. At the age of 16, Behan joined the IRA, which led to his serving tim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Stephen Behan
Stephen (christened Francis) Behan ( ; ; 26 December 1891 – 1967), was an Irish republican soldier who was father of writers Brendan Behan, Brendan, Brian Behan, Brian and Dominic Behan. Early life Behan was born on 26 December 1891 to James Behan, a foreman house-painter, and his wife Christina (née Corr; she married secondly Patrick English), a folder and gilder at a printing firm, and daughter of a middle-class law clerk. They lived in a house in Russell Street on the Northside, Dublin, Northside of Dublin which belonged to Christina, who owned a number of properties in the area. There is an oral history which suggests he spent less than six months as a brother-novice at St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Rahan, County Offaly; according to surviving members of his family, Behan was found in a compromising situation involving one of the college's domestic servants. According to Behan himself, he found this an attractive method of extricating himself from a path that had not ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Seán Lemass
Seán Francis Lemass (born John Francis Lemass; 15 July 1899 – 11 May 1971) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach and Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1959 to 1966. He also served as Tánaiste from 1957 to 1959, 1951 to 1954 and 1945 to 1948, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Minister for Industry and Commerce from 1957 to 1959, 1951 to 1954, 1945 to 1949 and 1932 to 1939 and Minister for Supplies from 1939 to 1945. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1924 to 1969. A veteran of the Easter Rising, 1916 Easter Rising, the Irish War of Independence, War of Independence and the Irish Civil War, Civil War, Lemass was first elected as a Sinn Féin Teachta Dála, TD for the Dublin South (Dáil constituency), Dublin South constituency in a 1924 Dublin South by-election, by-election on 18 November 1924. Lemass was returned at each election until the constituency was abolished in 1948 when he was re-elected for Dublin South-Central (Dáil constituency), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Vincent Byrne
Vincent Byrne (23 November 1900 – 13 December 1992) was a member of the Irish Republican Army and a senior figure in the assassination group known as The Squad. Pre IRA In 1915 he joined the 2nd battalion of the Dublin Brigade of the Irish Volunteers at age 14. On Easter Monday 1916 he assembled in Saint Stephen's Green and was supposed to march over to Jacobs Factory where he would remain for the rest of the week. He was told to go home and started to cry. On his way home he ran into his section commander who asked him what was wrong. When Byrne explained what had happened he was brought back to the Green. He spent the remainder of the week in Jacobs Factory under the command of Thomas McDonagh. When the rebels surrendered he escaped to his home but was arrested a week later and taken to Richmond Barracks. The Squad On the morning of the day of Bloody Sunday Byrne was in command of the IRA unit which assassinated Lieutenant Peter Ashmun Ames and Lieutenant Bennett in their r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Charlie Dalton
Charlie Dalton (29 January 1903 – 22 January 1974) was an Irish revolutionary. Charles Francis Dalton was born at 8 St Columba's Road in Drumcondra, Dublin on 29 January 1903 and grew up around Drumcondra. He was the son of laundry manager James Dalton and Catherine Riley. He joined the Irish Volunteers in 1917, aged 14. He was recruited to join The Squad. He was a colonel in the Free State Army and participated in the Irish Army Mutiny in 1924. He was married in Dublin in October 1928 to Teresa Morgan. He died 22 January 1974, at age 70. In 1929, he published a memoir entitled 'With The Dublin Brigade' His brother was Emmet Dalton James Emmet Dalton MC (4 March 1898 – 4 March 1978) was an Irish soldier and film producer. He served in the British Army in the First World War, reaching the rank of captain. However, on his return to Ireland he became one of the senior fi .... References People of the Irish War of Independence People of the Irish Civil War (Pro- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Tom Cullen (Irish Republican)
Tom Cullen (c.1891 - 20 June 1926) was an Irish republican active in the Irish revolutionary period. Biography During the Irish War of Independence he was one of those who worked very closely with Michael Collins and was known as one of his "best intelligence men."Neligan, David (1968), ''The Spy in the Castle'', MacGibbon & Kee, London, pg 64, SBN 261.62060.6 He was assistant director of intelligence (also known as 2nd deputy director of intelligence) which meant he was third-highest ranked in the intelligence department of the IRA. He was also the quartermaster general. On the same day as the Bloody Sunday (1920) massacre he was one of the gunman involved in the shooting of 18 suspected members of the Cairo gang. According to Irish Historian Tim Pat Coogan, Cullen and two other intelligencers broke the Dublin Castle spy system. He sided with the Pro-Treaty forces during the Irish Civil War and joined the Irish National Army, rising to the rank of Major-General. When the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Liam Tobin
William Joseph "Liam" Tobin (15 November 1895 – 30 April 1963) was an officer in the Irish Army and the instigator of an Irish Army Mutiny in March 1924. During the Irish War of Independence, he served as an IRA intelligence officer for Michael Collins' Squad. Early life Tobin was born at 13 Great Georges Street in Cork on 15 November 1895, the eldest son of Mary Agnes (''nee'' Butler) and David Tobin, a hardware clerk. Tobin had two younger siblings, Katherine and Nicholas Augustine Tobin, also born in Cork City. Tobin's family moved to John St. in Kilkenny and then to Dublin. Tobin went to school in Kilkenny and was an apprentice in a hardware shop at the time of the 1916 Rising. Tobin was a participant in the Easter Rising he fought in the Four Courts Garrison under Edward Daly. He was arrested and courtmartialed. He was sentenced to death and then had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment. Tobin was a prisoner in Kilmainham Gaol, Mountjoy, Lewes, Dartmoor, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
