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Guerilla Days in Ireland: A Personal Account of the Anglo-Irish War

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The incredible career of Tom Barry and that of the West Cork Flying Column is an inspirational example of what virtually untrained volunteers fighting for their families and their country can achieve, even in the face of overwhelming odds. The British had over 12,500 men in West Cork chasing after about 310 IRA Volunteers...and never defeated them. Barry discusses many military topics and personal thoughts which the student of Irish warrior traditions will find extremely helpful. Members of many guerrilla movements around the world have read and profited from the lessons in this book including Che Guevera (whose last name was "Lynch" thanks to his Irish grandfather) and the early Jewish guerrillas in the Irgun and Lehi. Anyone interested in understanding the mindset of Irishmen bent on taking a stance and fighting for what they believe in, will be well rewarded for reading this book.

This on the scene writer grimly reveals the unbelieavable atrocities the English purpetrated on the Irish people in this century. This book is a beginning to the understanding of the relations between the English and the Irish. The actions taken by armed mercenaries, English military, and English puppet police against the Irish people in their own country is appalling and brings to mind Hitler's treatment of the Jews in Europe twenty years later. A must read for all who seek an understanding to the Anglo/Irish situation.

For the third reviewer : you don't need to be English , Russian , German or American to understand and condemn nazi or stalinist atrocities ; similarly , you don't need to be an Irishman to realize Britain's unfair , oppressive and intolerant rule of Ireland , not yet finished by the way . There's ample historical evidence of all kinds of wrong doing by the British during their centuries-long illegal occupation of Ireland , denial of elementary basic rights to the Irish (catholics obviously)and the establishment of an unnatural separation of the North from the South that it is still unresolved .

Like any other country in the world , Britain has had brilliant pages in history and also dark , shameful ones , with their handling of the Irish case probably being the worst - to day .

As for the book , I'll only say this : don't miss the opportunity to learn how a small group of determined men (basically peasants)were led with brilliance to defeat a much bigger , stronger and modern army . Probably much to the dismay of some , still today .

Tom Barry fought with the British Army during the First World War, the Irish Republican Army during the war with England (1919-1921), and the anti-Treaty forces of the IRA during the Irish Civil War (1922-1923). Imprisoned by the Free State government in Dublin for his role in that civil war, he nevertheless returned to the ranks of the IRA and served as its Chief of Staff in the 1930s. He published these memoirs in 1949, at a time when Ireland was, at last, a Republic that until recently had been under the leadership of Eamon DeValera, Barry's longtime leader in these conflicts.

In an interesting historical moment of irony, the author heard the news of the 1916 Easter Rising the following May, as he served with the British Army expedition in Mesopotamia (now Iraq) as that army attempted but ultimately failed to relieve a British Army besieged in the city of Kut by Ottoman Turkish forces. By the summer of 1919, having returned to his native Cork from the war, Barry was inspired by that 1916 Rising to first learn more of his own country's history and its struggles with England, and then to join the Irish Republican Army just as the volunteers were re-arming and resuming their drilling to defend the Irish Republic created in the wake of the 1918 general election.

The IRA in this period found a number of its most important leaders and its most effective fighters from "rebel" Cork, and the fighting pursued in the fields, lanes, and city streets of County Cork made it the most important arena in the contest between Irish Republicans and the "forces of the crown." Prominent names were also to be found among the British commanders that Tom Barry and others would face in Cork. Future Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery served there as Brigade Major of the 17th Brigade and future Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival, who would surrender to the Japanese at Singapore, served as an intelligence officer and was decorated for that service. Both were considered to have done well in Cork by their Army superiors.

His earliest duties with the IRA were as an Intelligence Officer focused upon learning as much as possible about the British troops then garrisoning County Cork. However, by early 1920 the British reportedly begin to suspect his real loyalties and Barry quickly joined the fighting arm of the IRA as training officer for the Cork Brigade. It is at this point that Tom Barry begins his real story which is the account of the Cork Brigade, and especially the West Cork Flying Column, and their war with the much larger British Force occupying Cork. This became a major if not the principal arena of the Anglo-Irish War.

The narrative backbone of the book is Tom Barry's rise to command the West Cork Flying Column, the Cork Brigade's principal weapon for attacking British forces rather than just fending them off. This conflict was very much a modern guerilla war as the IRA frequently started out with weapons taken from their enemies and were frequently aided, abetted, and encouraged by the population. The IRA generally struck where their enemy was weakest and evaded combat when their enemy was clearly stronger.

The author describes this unequal war in detail, including the evolution of their tactics, military organization, recruitment, intelligence war, relations with and treatment of civilians, and the targeted use of violence against key individuals. Such details and related discussions lift this rather simple military memoir to the level of textbook on guerilla war from the viewpoint of the guerilla, and in this instance a very successful guerilla leader. This is a must read for anyone interested in Ireland in the 20th Century and its struggle for independence, or for anyone wanting to better understand guerilla warfare and how such a war is waged on the part of the insurgent or guerilla.

This book provides a candid personal history of the Irish struggle for independence from Great Britain during the period 1916-22. The author was leader of the I.R.A.'s most successful 'Flying Column', which consisted of a small group of guerrillas who through constant movement and opportunism successfully harried an overwhelming force of British troops in County Cork. The tactics used by these flying columns were in due course emulated in conflicts around the globe.

This book is strongly recommended for students of Irish history and guerrilla warfare. Furthermore, it provides valuable insights to all who are both fascinated and frustrated by the 'Troubles'. Essential reading for all Irish persons.

I would love to write a review, however, I ordered this book in January, it is now March and I still have not received it. Several emails to Hangars 212 have gone unanswered and I am very frustrated in trying to receive my pre-paid order.