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Showing posts with label Michael Collins. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Michael Collins. Show all posts

Caoimhin O’Muraile ☭ Monday 22nd August marked the centenary since the death of Free State Army Chief, Michael Collins. 

I wrote a piece some time ago on this subject examining the possibilities of who shot Collins. I ruled out, and still do, chief suspect, Sony O’Neil, due to the fact he had an injured shoulder at the time, a very painful part of the body to injure. And no matter how good a marksman he was supposed to be the recoil from the rifle of the day would have caused him such pain he would have screamed out in agony giving his position away. He would almost certainly have missed his target and this discussion would not be underway.

Recently there have been, not surprisingly, a few programmes of television about Mick Collins not least because it is the centenary. Not once do any of these supposedly researched programmes contemplate any British involvement in the death of Collins. Lloyd George, British Prime Minister of the day along with his cronies, Winston Churchill and Lord Birkenhead may well have had more than a hand in the execution of the Irish Free State leader. The question then must be asked, if this was the case, who could their agent have been?

Prior to the outbreak of Civil War, which Collins was desperate to avoid, he was still supplying the second and fourth divisions anti-Treaty IRA in the North of Ireland. He was doing this clandestinely and very cleverly making sure no guns could be traced back to the Free State Army. He apparently exchanged Free State Army guns for southern anti-Treaty weapons and it was these southern anti-Treaty weapons which were passed to the north. Remember this was before the outbreak of Civil War.

Who had knowledge of this most secret act on continuing clandestinely the War of Independence, officially over since 11th July of that year, and the signing of the Treaty in December 1921? Major General Emmet Dalton would almost certainly have had knowledge of this and it is my guess he is the culprit. I have no evidence, apart from circumstantial historical occurrences, to back this up which is why it is a guess. On the day Collins was killed, 22nd August 1922, Dalton was his second in command on the journey, his Aide De Camp. It is my suspicion Dalton was the man who told, if indeed this was the case, Lloyd George of what was going on. Once Civil War broke out, something which Lloyd George and Churchill did everything to encourage, even indirectly starting the thing, Collins ceased supplying the IRA in the north. This would not have been enough for the “Welsh Wizard” born in Manchester, Lloyd George, he would have wanted Michael Collins to pay even if he only suspected what Collins had done. I believe he had more than a suspicion of what Michael Collins had been up to!

Emmet Dalton had fought bravely, by all accounts, in the First World War for the Crown. He was a Captain, a commissioned Officer, and had therefore sworn an oath of loyalty to that crown. However, the fact he had fought for the British in Europe would not be sufficient to point the finger of guilt at Dalton. After all, had the veteran IRA Cork Brigade Commander, Tom Barry, not fought for the British in the same war? Does anybody point the finger of suspicion at him? No, they do not, therefore something more must surround Emmet Dalton. Dalton was very close to Collins and had, perhaps unknown to Collins, worked for British Intelligence in the past and, reportedly, would “subsequently do so again”. 

It was Emmet Dalton, now a Major General in the Free State Army, who ordered no inquest would be held into the death of Free State Commander in Chief, Michael Collins. Why would he, Dalton, do this - everything in his power to prevent an inquest into the death of his boss and, according to interviews with Dalton, his friend? Dalton was Collins second in command that fateful day in Beal na Blath and could quite easily, amid all the mayhem, shot the Chief at close range! 

The autopsy report into Collins death carried out by Oliver St. John Gogarty, which would have shown the head wound, went conveniently missing! It was later, much later, reportedly destroyed in a fire in 1932, ten years after the event. Where had it been in those subsequent years I must ask? All this amounts to the most powerful man in the state at the time receiving no investigation into his death. Emmet Dalton appears to have done much to ensure no investigation would take place! Could Dalton have been working for the British all the while? Could Dalton have shot Collins on the orders of British Intelligence? In later years Emmet Dalton claimed he had no idea of Michael Collins supplying the IRA in the north and, to be fair, he is not around to defend himself. Therefore, all this is pure supposition and nothing more.

There are many unanswered questions about what happened on that fateful day back in 1922. For example, what happened to Collins rifle? What happened to his hat, which had a bullet hole in which would tell us where he was shot and at what distance, where is this hat? It has never been produced! Why did nobody pick it up on the day? Apparently, there is a fake hat, far too small for Collins head, in the National Museum with a bullet hole in the wrong place. Why go to these lengths? To please the tourists maybe. Why did the Free State never investigate their Commander in Chiefs death? Could it be because the role possibly played by Major General Emmet Dalton may be unearthed, along with the involvement of the British Government of the day?

Like myself, Paddy Cullivan (who I have never met) asks the question; “why is there such reticence to find out what happened – is it because there may have been British involvement in his assassination?” Paddy asks many questions on this topical subject in his audio and visual spectacular featuring hundreds of images, shocking new research and incredible songs, The Murder of Michael Collins.

Many of these questions are those I have been asking myself for many years, as the traditional narratives just do not add up. The popular myth going round for years was that de Valera had Collins shot. That was a very convenient way of nicely rounding off a delicate subject, particularly if it involved a foreign former colonising power!!

Caoimhin O’Muraile is Independent 
Socialist Republican and Marxist

Michael Collins –✑100 Years On

Dr John Coulter ✒ Today marks the centenary of the ambush at Beal na Blath in County Cork which claimed the life of Michael Collins, one of the republicans who negotiated the Anglo-Irish Treaty which partitioned Ireland.

The wee road around Beal na Blath in Cork resembles a typical rural Irish road, but it a spot which radically changed the course of the island’s history - the effects of which are still felt a century later.

It was on that lonely road that on 22nd August 1922 during the Irish Civil War between the Anti-Treaty IRA and the Pro-Treaty Free State forces that one of Ireland’s leading terror strategists turned government minister - Michael Collins - was shot dead in an ambush by the IRA.

Collins was one of the republican strategists who transformed the Irish Volunteers, who had been heavily defeated in the Easter Rising of 1916, into a guerrilla - or terrorist - force known as the IRA which sparked the War of Independence in 1919.

Also known as the Tan War because of the military tactics used by the United Kingdom’s Black and Tans Army unit in Ireland against the IRA and civilian population, the debate still rages as to whether it was the Tans who brought republicans to the negotiating table, or Collins’ IRA tactics which forced the British to the table.

Ironically, Collins signed his own death warrant when republicanism’s political strategist Eamon de Valera sent Collins to London as the head of the republican delegation to negotiate what became known as the Anglo-Irish Treaty - a treaty which not only divided Ireland politically, but also sparked the equally bloody Irish Civil War.

Indeed, that civil war saw more IRA members executed by their fellow republicans in the Free State forces than by the Black and Tans during the earlier War of Independence.

And while the death of Collins one hundred years ago today effectively began the process which ended the civil war, it also bought Northern Unionism valuable time politically and militarily to establish its fledgling Northern Ireland Unionist-controlled state.

Last year, Northern Ireland celebrated its centenary as a nation of the UK. That may not have been the case had Collins survived the Beal na Blath ambush in 1922.

Collins recognised the Anglo-Irish Treaty could not deliver a 32-county, all-Ireland democratic socialist republic. Ironically, like getting rid of the modern day Northern Ireland Protocol, Irish Unity would also have to be achieved in stages.

The Anglo-Irish Treaty delivered 26 of those 32 counties, but a terror war against Northern Unionists would deliver the other six before the new Northern Ireland would ‘find its feet’ politically and militarily.

Had Collins lived, once he had crushed the Anti-Treaty IRA, he would have formed a new IRA to attack Northern Ireland from within. Indeed, depending on the level of resources he could muster from Irish America, could he have equipped the Free State army to actually invade Northern Ireland?

Then again, would the British have allowed Collins’ indirect IRA campaign or a Free State invasion of the North to take place? Would the Tans return to Ireland to unleash even bigger brutality on the nationalist population than during the War of Independence?

With the death of Collins, there was no one within the ranks of the Free State forces or Pro-Treaty political establishment with the working knowledge to even launch a terror campaign against Northern Ireland.

The priority of Dublin’s Dail Eireann political establishment after the end of the Irish Civil War was to try and heal the bitter wounds created by that bloodbath, thereby ensuring the fledgling Irish Free State - like Northern Ireland - found its feet.

For Collins to attack Northern Ireland - whether by terror tactics or a full-scale invasion - could have backfired dramatically with Unionists countering by invading the South and expanding the number of counties comprising the new Northern Ireland.

Yes, had Collins lived there would have been a second civil war in Ireland - the original civil war which was boiling up in 1914 between the Irish Volunteers and Ulster Volunteers had the Great War not erupted; a war which saw Unionists and nationalists fight - and die - side by side in the trenches of Europe against Germany.

Whilst there has always been a debate as to who fired that fatal shot which killed Collins in 1922, the blame has always fallen on an Anti-Treaty IRA sniper.

Ultimately, that sniper did Unionism a favour. By eliminating Collins, there would be no threat of a Free State invasion of Northern Ireland, either by IRA terror or direct military action by the Free State forces. That factor allowed Northern Unionism to secure the new state using the recently formed Royal Ulster Constabulary, and especially its use of the B Specials.

Not even the IRA’s flirting with Hitler’s Nazis during World War Two or the IRA’s disastrous border campaign of 1956-62 could shake the political stability of Northern Ireland.

It would take three decades of the Troubles to shake those foundations, but in spite of Sinn Fein electoral successes on both sides of the Irish border, Northern Ireland remains part of the UK.

Today (22nd August) will see republicans of various shades all trying to claim Collins as one of their own. In reality, he was the best republican Unionism ever had!

Follow Dr John Coulter on Twitter @JohnAHCoulter
Listen to commentator Dr John Coulter’s programme, Call In Coulter, every Saturday morning around 10.15 am on Belfast’s Christian radio station, Sunshine 1049 FM. Listen online. 

Anti-Treaty IRA Did Unionism A Favour By Murdering Michael Collins

Caoimhin O’Muraile ☭ Throughout the last century many people have asked this question and nobody has yet given a definitive answer. Who Shot Michael Collins?

There have been many anecdotes bordering on myths as to who the culprit(s) was/were and still nothing definitive. I do not claim to have the answer but it may be worthy of a quick examination of the events leading up to August 22nd 1922 at Beal na Blath in County Cork where the 31-year-old met his death. That, and the fact he was shot in the head are perhaps the only definite answers surrounding the death of the Free State Army’s Commander in Chief. This has not, however, stopped people speculating as to who the culprit(s) may have been. Perhaps the most popular bar room theory is that de Valera ordered his killing. He had held much antagonism toward Collins since his return from the USA in December 1920. Did he hold enough contempt for Collins to order his execution? Was he in a position to make such an order? After all, Liam Lynch was the Commander of the anti-treaty IRA, not de Valera whose military standing was mediocre and that is being kind. Many volunteers on the anti-treaty side saw de Valera as an inconvenience, someone who got in the way when he tried to manipulate or partake in military matters, he was a politician not a soldier. This was the reason he was manipulative enough to avoid going to The Treaty talks in 1921 - he sent Collins instead.

When the imperfect treaty was brought back by the Irish delegation in December 1921 it was to cause a stir in the Dail - and that is an understatement - between those who accepted, albeit reluctantly, and those who opposed it, led by de Valera. This ultimately led to civil war in Ireland, which was as bloody as anything that had gone on previously, including the War of Independence. However, before the Civil War kicked off, Michael Collins was allegedly and clandestinely supplying the northern divisions of the IRA with weapons to continue the conflict. He did this very cleverly by striking a deal with the anti-treaty IRA, taking their weapons to supply the northern units, replacing them with Free State Army guns. This way if the weapons were to be captured by the British they could not be traced back to Collins or the Free State, they belonged to the anti-treaty forces. This arrangement stopped of course when the Civil War broke out on 28th June 1922. Collins also reportedly had plans if the Civil War could be got over quickly, to reunite the IRA and march on the six counties. Would such an invasion have succeeded? Who knows, it’s all hypothetical now! The question is, had the British got wind of Collins antics? Had Lloyd George, Churchill and Birkenhead found out via their own spy and infiltration network what the signatory to the treaty was up to? Did they, therefore arrange for the shooting of Michael Collins? Enter Lionel Curtis.

Lionel Curtis was a behind the scenes man and second secretary to the British delegation during the treaty talks. He was the unseen figure behind the scenes and advised Lloyd George and Winston Churchill. One such piece of advice Curtis gave the Prime Minister was to advise him to inform Michael Collins his electoral pact with de Valera was “in breach of the treaty”, which it certainly was not. This was Curtis manipulating a situation for whatever ends. Irrespective of the rights and wrongs of what Lionel Curtis was advising it had the desired outcome, Collins repudiated the treaty on Lloyd Georges say so! He was clever and manipulative, and is on record as saying, after Collins was shot, “Collins premature death probably saved the treaty”. Why would a Civil Servant come to such a conclusion? After all Civil Servants are not known for passing such statements of likelihood on the deaths of other countries leaders, so why did Curtis show more than a passing interest in the death of Michael Collins? Did Curtis, after discussions with the Welsh Wizard (Lloyd George), arrange the shooting himself at the Prime Ministers bequest? He was certainly able and had the influence to arrange such an action! Again, we will never know, it does seem strange that a senior Civil Servant would make such a suggestive remark on “Collins premature death”. One thing is for sure, Lionel Curtis was not a man to be underestimated!

Something else which gives rise to a possible cover up about the killing of Michael Collins is; why have successive 26 county Governments ruled out any inquiry into the events of 22nd August 1922 at Beal na Blath? The most recent to oppose an inquiry into Collin’s death and circumstances surrounding it being An Taoiseach, Micheal Martin. This may be down to the fact that he is the leader of the party most associated with the anti-Treaty side, the ones many think responsible for Collin’s death, Fianna Fail (then in 1922 still part of Sinn Fein). But what then of Fine Gael? They are the successors to Cumann na Gaedheal, the party which Collins was a member of and the pro-Treaty political voice which formed the first Free State Government or Executive Council, despite Collins' alleged independent activities. Why have they, when in government, not ordered an inquiry? It would have been thought that it would be in Fine Gael's interests to show Fianna Fail up in a historical bad light! Or, could it be, more sinisterly, the fact that such an inquiry would show Britain’s hand in the killing? With Anglo Irish relations not brilliant at the moment perhaps the last thing the Irish Government want is to implicate former British politicians and civil servants in the plot to kill Michael Collins - it may prove embarrassing!

Let us move on, or go back, to the 22nd August 1922. What exactly could have happened? Collins was shot in the head, that is certain and beyond question. What is not certain is by whom? One suspect is a volunteer of the anti-treaty side, Denis “Sony” O’Neill. O’Neill had been active fighting for Britain, as were most of the National Volunteers, in the First World War. The National Volunteers were so named to differentiate them from the Irish Volunteers who refused to fight for the crown in Europe and staged the Easter Rising 1916, along with the Irish Citizen Army. He was an excellent shot that is known, but he carried an injury to his right shoulder collected on the battlefields of Europe. The time of the shooting was dawn and visibility very poor. The shot, if this theory is correct which I doubt, came from a distance of around 150 metres away (450 feet). Not only would O’Neill have been a very good shot, he would need to have been a marksman second to none and very, very lucky to hit with such accuracy in poor visibility at that distance and carrying an injured shoulder, not forgetting the wind and elevation of the projectile factor. Remember there were no telescopic sights in those days and the recoil from the rifle was severe. Could a man with an injured shoulder, one of the tenderest parts of the body, in such poor light, long distance, and given the affect the recoil would have had on his shoulder, really have carried out the shooting? There has to be a serious question mark over this theory. Yet it is a theory and without naming O’Neill in their discourse which many believe, and have believed over the last century that the shot came from anti-Treaty forces in the hills around Beal na Blath. Many agree the tale about de Valera giving the order but is there any evidence? It is almost 100 years ago since Collins was shot and eye witnesses are now long dead in most cases, more recently dead in others.

There are other theories apart from the O’Neill scenario, and one is that he was shot by somebody in his own entourage. One theory is Major General Emmet Dalton, who was close to Collins and was in the same vehicle may have done the deed. Dalton was a staunch treaty supporter and was the man charged with opening fire on the Four Courts using British artillery loaned by General McCready, the Four Courts being the anti-treaty HQ which kick started the Civil War. Had Dalton, or perhaps more to the point McCready, caught on to what Collins was up to arming the northern units of the IRA? Could the British General have made it a condition of loaning the artillery to Dalton, that he, Dalton, ensured that Collins would die? Dalton was a former British Army officer, and a National Volunteer in the First World War, he was a Captain. A major contradiction here is that Emmet Dalton was also a member of Collins elite band in Dublin, the “Squad”. He was a member of the party assigned to free Kevin Barry, before the plan was aborted, and had been with Collins for years. He participated in the killing of a number of British Intelligence Officers, known collectively as “the ”Cairo Gang,” on 21st November 1920. Nevertheless, is it possible he and Lloyd George along possibly with McCready were in this together, both wishing to stop what Michael Collins was doing in the North to save the treaty, with the ever-arcane Lionel Curtis the planner and execution organiser? Again, this is mere speculation and we could go on and on searching for culprits. It is almost certain now that Michael Collins was going to break The Treaty at a convenient moment. He justified this by reciting the Treaty of Limerick back in 1691 (which ended the Williamite war in Ireland) and the English betrayal and breaking of the said treaty. This, Collins claimed, “justified” him doing the same to this treaty.

There is yet another twist in this tale, one which is not wildly known. Michael Collins had signed a pact with James Craig, the Prime Minister of “Northern Ireland”. Part of this pact, article 6 starts with the line; “IRA activities to cease in the six-counties.” If this was the case then why was Collins, if indeed he was, arming the northern IRA units? The pact between these two belligerents contained eleven points, including abolishing the ill-fated Border Commission and the two of them, Collins and Craig, setting the border themselves. Would this then suggest Collins was accepting some form of partition? Another point contained in the Collins/Craig pact was around policing. It was agreed that recruitment into the Police, RUC, should be equally representative of both Catholics and Protestants. This was an attempt to quell the sectarian violence that had erupted in the six-counties since the treaty was signed. Recruitment to the police should be, according to the terms of the pact, representative of both communities (ring any bells?) particularly in Belfast. In mixed areas the police were to be composed half Catholics and half of Protestants. An advisory committee, composed of Catholics, to be set up to assist in the selection of Catholic recruits into the police specials in Catholic areas.

The pact was signed by Michael Collins and Kevin O’Higgins on behalf of the Provisional Government of the Irish Free State, James Craig, Lord Londonderry and E.M. Archdale on behalf of the “Northern Ireland” Government and was countersigned by Winston S. Churchill and Sir Laming Worthington-Evans on behalf of the British Government, noticeable to see no Lloyd George present (something not like him, he normally took a hands-on approach). The pact was signed on 30th March 1922. Unfortunately, Collins was killed and the pact never came into being. If it had, who knows? Where would the border have been? Was Churchill acting officially? The Border Commission Craig and Collins were trying to get rid of, was part of The Treaty so abolishing it would have been technically a breach of The Treaty! Or was it alright for the British Government to breach the terms of the treaty when it suited?

What was Michael Collins hoping to gain from this pact with the most unlikely of bedfellows? Did Collins intend, as he had decided over the treaty, to break the pact? If this was the case and even with a unified and better equipped IRA Michael Collins was preparing to take on the British Army regulars, the Black and Tans, which no doubt Churchill having been double crossed would certainly have reintroduced, the Auxiliaries and now, having stabbed Craig in the back, the Ulster Volunteer Force. This might have been, if indeed it was the case, too much even for a reunited and well-equipped IRA. Had Craig and Churchill, possibly via Curtis, have caught on? Could Craig have been involved somewhere along the line with the execution of Michael Collins? This is all supposition but as there is no definitive answer to who shot Michael Collins and the 26-county government reluctant to hold an inquiry, all these possibilities hold water. All the circumstances outlined above are historically accurate to my knowledge. 

The mystery of who shot Michael Collins is not one for the least enquiring of minds, and certainly not confined to the one theory held by many that de Valera was responsible, which is one possibility along with many others. There are many combinations of suspects, all feasible, but no hammer blow evidence to categorically point the finger at any! Theory one, Denis “Sony” O’Neill, the anti-treaty combatant with an injured shoulder, in poor visibility with heavy recoil from the rifle and at a distance of 150 metres does not add up to me in the real world of shooting relevant to the time. The numerous conspiracy theories including Lloyd George, Lionel Curtis and assassin unknown, Emmet Dalton being one suspect, but only a suspect, is another theory. The combination of Winston Churchill, Sir laming Worthington-Evans and Possibly James Craig is another. Could either of the latter two conspiracy theories involve General Neville McCready who loaned Free State Army Major General Emmet Dalton the artillery to bomb the Four Courts have had involvement?

There is perhaps one other candidate in the riddle who had Mick Collins shot and that is Brigadier-General Ormonde de l’ Epee Winter who was known simply as “O”. Winter replaced General Tudor at Dublin Castle in 1920 becoming responsible for intelligence operations in Ireland during the War of Independence. He was described by Mark Grant-Sturgis as; “O” is a marvel, he looks like a wicked little white snake, he is clever as paint, probably entirely non-moral” all of these things he was history tells us, and unscrupulous to the point of evil. He was Michael Collins nemesis and, unlike Collins, cared nothing for collateral damage, ie civilian deaths in his pursuit of quarry. He used many of Collins' methods in reverse, like using agents obtained by local police and through the agency of “local centres”. Collins used agents obtained by “local police” but sympathetic to the IRA and its aims. He used, as did Collins, captured documents and infiltrators, in much the same way as Michael Collins used Ned Broy, one of his number one spies and infiltrators working for British Intelligence along with David Neligan in Dublin Castle. In 1920 Winter took charge of the 90 strong Dublin District Intelligence Service known as the “Cairo Gang,” many of whom Collins had assassinated on Bloody Sunday 1920. Had Winter caught on to what Michael Collins was up to after The Treaty was signed, supplying the IRA in the north? Or did he just want revenge on the man who eradicated his unit? This being the case could Ormonde Winter have, through collusion or otherwise, had a hand in the shooting of Michael Collins? All speculation, but all possibilities. We could go on indefinitely pointing the finger of guilt at numerous persons but for me these are all strong possibilities, but only that.

These are only theories and not intended to be definitive conclusions, but it does seem strange the 26-county government, various, are most unwilling to open an enquiry as to who really did shoot one of the founders of the Irish Free State and Commander in Chief of the “National Army” on August 22nd 1922 at Beal na Blath in County Cork. It is my contention we will never know for certain who committed the deed, but no doubt speculation will continue indefinitely!

Caoimhin O’Muraile is Independent 
Socialist Republican and Marxist

Who Shot Michael Collins?

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