A chara, - Kevin Myers (May 29th) laments the fate of 18 members of the Auxiliary division killed in the Kilmichael Ambush during the war of Independence.
Must I stress once again, that this war was forced on Ireland by the British Government who refused to accept the authority of a lawfully elected government of the Irish people and their declaration of independence. Worse still, in the war that followed, the British Government refused to implement the terms of the Geneva convention and captured IRA members (and the IRA was the lawful government of the Irish people) were executed by hanging or firing squad, or were sentenced to long terms of imprisonment. In many cases, they were executed unofficially after capture.
Kevin Myers must surely be joking if he suggests that the IRA, underarmed and undertrained and facing tremendous odds should treat the enemy, that behaved in such a manner, with kid gloves and most certainly not the Auxiliary Division, who were guilty of the most appalling atrocities, including the murders of two priests - Fr Griffin in Galway, and Canon Magner in Dunmanway.
The Auxiliary company stationed in Macroom Castle, as Kevin Myers admits, were guilty of the murder in Baile Mhuirne, of an unarmed civilian. The Auxiliaries who were present were all guilty of a capital crime, since they participated in the murder or refused to arrest and charge those responsible. The Auxiliaries at Kilmichael had no special reason to expect that they would be treated as soldiers, given their record of refusing to accept the conventions of war.
However, having known General Tom Barry very well, I am quite prepared to accept his version of the ambush - that the Auxiliaries surrendered, threw down their rifles, but then opened fire with their revolvers at close range when the volunteers broke cover to accept surrender. This version is supported by the fact that the IRA casualties were three dead and another wounded. These would be unlikely if the ambush party remained in their concealed and covered positions.
Incidentally, Captain Godfrey, for whom Kevin Myers sheds tears, was generally believed in Baile Mhuirne to be the man who murdered the civilian there.
I wonder if this habit of revising history will spread to other countries? Are we likely to find some German journalists in the new millennium favourably reviewing a book that laments the hard times suffered by the Gestapo or the SS in occupied Europe during the last war?
Dia idir sin agus an tolc! - Yours, etc., Padraig O Cuanachain,
Sean Bothar Eochaille, Corcaigh.