British Intelligence wiped out
By Wayne Sugg
On the morning of Sunday 21 November 1920 the IRA carried out one
of its most successful operations. The British secret service in
Ireland was decimated when 13 senior intelligence officers were
executed and many more fled into Dublin Castle.
Behind the war against the British state in Ireland was a highly
organised Intelligence Department operating in the main under
Michael Collins's direction. Former and serving British soldiers
or RIC men, tradesmen, landladies, maids, taximen, businessmen,
postmen, British agents and others supplied vital snippets of
information on which the department depended.
The IRA success forced the British to draft in agents/assassins
from England. The Cairo Gang, so-called because of their
intelligence work in the Middle East, was established because of
Sir Henry Wilson's demand that the IRA's Intelligence Department
be eliminated. Living unobtrusively in boarding houses in Dublin,
the British agents prepared a hit list of known republicans for
assassination.
But the IRA's intelligence network was a step ahead. Frank
Thornton obtained the names and addresses of all the senior
British secret service men sent over to Dublin. An IRA agent in
the Dublin Metropolitan Police stationed at Donnybrook, Sergeant
Mannix, was the source.
From then on a close watch was kept on their movements. After
many weeks' observation Dublin Brigade and the Intelligence
Department pooled information and resources, selected from a list
of suspects a number whom they were sure were agents and set the
date to execute them.
The operation had been carefully planned by many of the IRA's
most senior activists, including Michael Collins, Dick McKee,
Liam Tobin, Peadar Clancy, Tom Cullen, Frank Thornton and Oscar
Traynor. The date picked was the day of a big GAA match between
the Leinster champions, Dublin and Tipperary, and the large
crowds in Dublin, it was felt, would afford easier movement for
the Volunteers.
The operation began at 9am when up to eight Volunteers entered 28
Pembroke Street. The first two secret service men to be shot were
Major Dowling and Captain Leonard Price. Andy Coohey, Dublin
Brigade, removed documentats from their rooms before three more
British officers in the house were executed, Captain Keenlyside,
Colonel Woodcock and Colonel Montgomery.
As Keenlyside was about to be executed a struggle ensued between
his wife and Volunteer Mick O'Hanlon. The OC of the unit, Mick
Flanagan, arrived, pushed Mrs Keenlyside out of the way and shot
her husband.
Close by at 119 Morehampton Road six Volunteers entered, took
three men into the hallway to be shot: Lieutenant McLean, his
brother-in-law John Caldow, who had come from Scotland to join
the RIC, and TH Smith, the landlord and a known informer. McLean
asked not to be shot in front of his wife; the Volunteers obliged
and took the three to the top floor, where Volunteers Vinnie
Byrne and Seán Doyle shot them. Caldow survived his injuries and
soon afterwards returned to Scotland.
At 92 Lower Baggot Street, Captain Newbury and his wife had
blocked their bedroom door on hearing their front door crashing
in. As Newbury tried to get out through his window he was shot
dead by Volunteers Bill Stapleton and Joe Leonard. His body hung
from the window for several hours because the Black and Tans
refused to move it fearing it was part of a trap.
Two of the key figures in the Cairo Gang, Colonel Peter Aimes and
Captain George Bennett, were shot dead after Volunteers were
given access to 38 Upper Mount Street by a sympathetic maid.
After a short gun battle both men lay dead in their rooms.
Captain Fitzgerald, alias `Fitzpatrick', was shot dead at 28
Earlsfort Terrace. He was the son of a Tipperary man and had
survived a previous execution attempt when the bullet only grazed
his head. This time he was shot twice in the head. At this
address the documentation found detailed the movements of senior
IRA members, proving that the British Secret Service was planning
an operation similar to the IRA's of that morning.
Meanwhile an IRA unit led by Tom Keogh entered 22 Lower Mount
Street to execute Lieutenant Angliss, real name McMahon, and
Lieutenant Peel. Both had been recalled from Russia to organise
the intelligence service in the south Dublin area. Angliss
survived a previous assassination attempt when shot at in a
billiard hall. He was targeted for murdering a Sinn Féin
fundraiser John Lynch, mistaken for Liam Lynch, Divisional
Commandant of the 1st Southern Division.
gliss was shot as he reached for his gun. Peel, hearing the
shots, managed to block his bedroom door and survived even though
more then a dozen bullets were fired into his room. When members
of Fianna Eireann on lookout reported that Auxiliaries were
approaching the house, the unit of eleven Volunteers split up
into two groups, the first leaving by the front door, the second
leaving through the laneway at the back of the house.
In the laneway Frank Teeling fell injured during a running gun
battle with the Auxiliaries (he was the only Volunteer captured
that day). Under pressure, Auxiliaries Garnin and Morris went for
reinforcements. They did not get very far before being shot dead.
At 119 Baggot Street, Captain Bagally, whose involvement in
military courts led to manys a Volunteer's execution, was shot
dead by a three man IRA unit, one of whom was a future Fianna
Fáil Taoiseach, Seán Lemass.
Some officers had decided for safety reasons to reside in hotels.
Captain McCormack and Captain Wilde were in the Gresham Hotel.
The IRA unit gained access to these rooms by pretending to be
British soldiers with important dispatches. When they opened
their doors they were both shot..
Captain Crawford had a close call after the IRA entered a
guesthouse in Fitzwilliam Square where he was staying, looking
for a Major Callaghan. On not finding their target, they debated
whether or not to shoot Crawford. It was decided that as he was
not on the hit list he would not be shot, but was given 24 hours
to leave Ireland, which he promptly did.
In the Eastwood Hotel the IRA drew a blank because the target, a
Colonel Jennings, had, along with Major Callaghan, spent the
night in a local brothel.
Those of the British Secret Service who survived the IRA
operation 77 years ago this week either fled to Britain or sought
refuge in Dublin Castle fearing that they were next on the IRA
hit list. Frank Teeling, who was captured and was sentenced to
death, managed to escape with others from Kilmainham Jail before
the sentence could be carried out.
Next week: Britain's revenge: Bloody Sunday and the execution of
IRA prisoners
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