Rineen Ambush
Encyclopedia
The Rineen Ambush was an ambush
carried out by the Irish Republican Army
(IRA) on 22 September 1920, during the Irish War of Independence
. It took place at Dromin Hill in the townland of Rineen, County Clare
.
The IRA's Mid-Clare Brigade attacked a Royal Irish Constabulary
(RIC) lorry, killing six officers. Shortly after, the volunteers were attacked by ten lorries of British Army
soldiers. However, they held off this attack long enough to flee the scene and sustained only two wounded.
In reprisal for the ambush, the RIC and British military raided three local villages, killed five civilians and burnt 16 houses and shops in the surrounding area.
and Auxiliaries
to the county. Five RIC men, eleven IRA volunteers and four civilians had been killed in County Clare during the two years before the ambush.
The Rineen Ambush was ordered by the leadership of the IRA's Mid Clare Brigade, who had noticed that an RIC lorry travelled every week on the Ennistymon to Miltown Malbay
road. John Joe Neylon (the leader of the local IRA battalion) was put in charge, although the actual attack was led by Ignatious O'Neill, the Officer Commanding. He was a veteran of World War I
who had formerly fought with the Irish Guards
. The ambush party had only nine rifles and some grenades, the remainder being armed with shotguns or handguns. They prepared to attack the lorry from a railway bridge that overlooked the road at Rineen.
The RIC lorry passed safely through the ambush position, travelling from Ennistymon to Miltown, due to some confusion among the IRA over the numbers they faced. However when they learned that there was only one lorry, it was attacked on its return journey from Miltown Malbay. The lorry was hit by a grenade and blasted at close range by rifle and shotgun fire. The shooting was over in seconds, with five out of the six RIC men being killed outright. The sixth man managed to run about 300 yards before being shot dead.
Five of the dead were Irish RIC officers and one was an English Black and Tan. The IRA took their weapons and burned the lorry.
However, not long after the lorry had been set ablaze, ten more lorries of British Army troops arrived on the scene. They had been sent out to search for Alan Lendrum, the magistrate who had gone missing earlier that day. A running fight developed, as four IRA riflemen kept the troops at bay while the other volunteers made their escape. Two IRA volunteers and several British soldiers were wounded in the firing. Padraic O'Farrell lists the casualties as three British soldiers killed, but this is not confirmed by the other sources.
That night, a mixed force of police and soldiers raided the home of Dan Lehane, whose two sons had taken part in the ambush. They shot him dead and burned his house at Lahinch. Patrick Lehane was burned to death in the attic when the house was set alight. Several other houses were burned in Lahinch and a further eight were razed in Miltown Malbay
.
A separate RIC raid took place in Ennistymon, in which several homes and businesses were burned. In this raid they killed Tom Connole, the secretary of the local ITGWU trade union, and burned his home. PJ Linnane, a 15-year-old boy, was also shot dead by the police.
In what may have been a belated reprisal for the ambush, four IRA men were arrested by the Auxiliaries at Killaloe
on 16 November, beaten, interrogated and then shot dead. Another two were summarily executed in the same way on 22 December at Kilkee
.
tabled a resolution condemning the reprisals and calling for an investigation. This was defeated by 346 votes to 79. Hamar Greenwood, the Chief Secretary for Ireland
, defended the State Forces' actions, saying that the houses destroyed were those of, "notorious Sinn Fein
ers... I am convinced that the people of those two villages knew of this ambush".
In Clare itself, according to IRA man Anthony Malone, the ambush had two effects. One was that the RIC became careful to travel in convoys of no less than three lorries. The other was that, as a result of the reprisals, the civilian population "became embittered against (the British) and adopted a more defiant attitude to the military and Black and Tans".
The death of Resident Magistrate Alan Lendrum, however, according to pro-republican Catholic priest Sean Gaynor, "was not to our credit". On October 1, the local IRA removed Lendrum's body from the lake, put it in a roughly constructed coffin and left it on the railway tracks at Craggaknock railway station for British forces to find.
Ambush
An ambush is a long-established military tactic, in which the aggressors take advantage of concealment and the element of surprise to attack an unsuspecting enemy from concealed positions, such as among dense underbrush or behind hilltops...
carried out by the Irish Republican Army
Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army was an Irish republican revolutionary military organisation. It was descended from the Irish Volunteers, an organisation established on 25 November 1913 that staged the Easter Rising in April 1916...
(IRA) on 22 September 1920, during the Irish War of Independence
Irish War of Independence
The Irish War of Independence , Anglo-Irish War, Black and Tan War, or Tan War was a guerrilla war mounted by the Irish Republican Army against the British government and its forces in Ireland. It began in January 1919, following the Irish Republic's declaration of independence. Both sides agreed...
. It took place at Dromin Hill in the townland of Rineen, County Clare
County Clare
-History:There was a Neolithic civilisation in the Clare area — the name of the peoples is unknown, but the Prehistoric peoples left evidence behind in the form of ancient dolmen; single-chamber megalithic tombs, usually consisting of three or more upright stones...
.
The IRA's Mid-Clare Brigade attacked a Royal Irish Constabulary
Royal Irish Constabulary
The armed Royal Irish Constabulary was Ireland's major police force for most of the nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries. A separate civic police force, the unarmed Dublin Metropolitan Police controlled the capital, and the cities of Derry and Belfast, originally with their own police...
(RIC) lorry, killing six officers. Shortly after, the volunteers were attacked by ten lorries of British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
soldiers. However, they held off this attack long enough to flee the scene and sustained only two wounded.
In reprisal for the ambush, the RIC and British military raided three local villages, killed five civilians and burnt 16 houses and shops in the surrounding area.
Background
The Volunteers in County Clare had been active since 1917 and by late 1920 had forced the RIC to abandon most of its small rural barracks in the county. This gave the IRA greater freedom to move in the countryside. In August 1920, the RIC were reinforced by the British deployment of Black and TansBlack and Tans
The Black and Tans was one of two newly recruited bodies, composed largely of British World War I veterans, employed by the Royal Irish Constabulary as Temporary Constables from 1920 to 1921 to suppress revolution in Ireland...
and Auxiliaries
Auxiliary Division
The Auxiliary Division of the Royal Irish Constabulary , generally known as the Auxiliaries or Auxies, was a paramilitary organization within the Royal Irish Constabulary during the Irish War of Independence....
to the county. Five RIC men, eleven IRA volunteers and four civilians had been killed in County Clare during the two years before the ambush.
The Rineen Ambush was ordered by the leadership of the IRA's Mid Clare Brigade, who had noticed that an RIC lorry travelled every week on the Ennistymon to Miltown Malbay
Miltown Malbay
Spanish Point Airfield is an privately owned airfield between Milltown Malbay and Spanish Point. The airfield, located on Sandhill Road in the townland Leagard South, was established by three local pilots in 1991, and the original clubhouse was opened by then Irish Minister for Defense Mr...
road. John Joe Neylon (the leader of the local IRA battalion) was put in charge, although the actual attack was led by Ignatious O'Neill, the Officer Commanding. He was a veteran of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
who had formerly fought with the Irish Guards
Irish Guards
The Irish Guards , part of the Guards Division, is a Foot Guards regiment of the British Army.Along with the Royal Irish Regiment, it is one of the two Irish regiments remaining in the British Army. The Irish Guards recruit in Northern Ireland and the Irish neighbourhoods of major British cities...
. The ambush party had only nine rifles and some grenades, the remainder being armed with shotguns or handguns. They prepared to attack the lorry from a railway bridge that overlooked the road at Rineen.
Ambush
As the IRA party was lying in wait, Alan Landrum, the local resident magistrate, drove unwittingly into one of the IRA's outposts. He was stopped at a railway crossing at Caherfeenick near Doonbeg. When the IRA demanded he surrender his car, he drew an automatic pistol and the IRA men shot him twice in the head, fatally wounding him. The IRA weighted his body with stones and dumped it in a nearby lake. Some accounts maintain that he died of drowning, while unconscious. Others that he was killed by the gunshots.The RIC lorry passed safely through the ambush position, travelling from Ennistymon to Miltown, due to some confusion among the IRA over the numbers they faced. However when they learned that there was only one lorry, it was attacked on its return journey from Miltown Malbay. The lorry was hit by a grenade and blasted at close range by rifle and shotgun fire. The shooting was over in seconds, with five out of the six RIC men being killed outright. The sixth man managed to run about 300 yards before being shot dead.
Five of the dead were Irish RIC officers and one was an English Black and Tan. The IRA took their weapons and burned the lorry.
However, not long after the lorry had been set ablaze, ten more lorries of British Army troops arrived on the scene. They had been sent out to search for Alan Lendrum, the magistrate who had gone missing earlier that day. A running fight developed, as four IRA riflemen kept the troops at bay while the other volunteers made their escape. Two IRA volunteers and several British soldiers were wounded in the firing. Padraic O'Farrell lists the casualties as three British soldiers killed, but this is not confirmed by the other sources.
Reprisals
The British forces, enraged by the ambush and the escape of the IRA force, took out reprisals on civilians in the surrounding area. Immediately after the action ended, they burned the house and farm of the O'Gorman family and shot a local farmer, Sean Keane. He later died of his wounds.That night, a mixed force of police and soldiers raided the home of Dan Lehane, whose two sons had taken part in the ambush. They shot him dead and burned his house at Lahinch. Patrick Lehane was burned to death in the attic when the house was set alight. Several other houses were burned in Lahinch and a further eight were razed in Miltown Malbay
Miltown Malbay
Spanish Point Airfield is an privately owned airfield between Milltown Malbay and Spanish Point. The airfield, located on Sandhill Road in the townland Leagard South, was established by three local pilots in 1991, and the original clubhouse was opened by then Irish Minister for Defense Mr...
.
A separate RIC raid took place in Ennistymon, in which several homes and businesses were burned. In this raid they killed Tom Connole, the secretary of the local ITGWU trade union, and burned his home. PJ Linnane, a 15-year-old boy, was also shot dead by the police.
In what may have been a belated reprisal for the ambush, four IRA men were arrested by the Auxiliaries at Killaloe
Killaloe, County Clare
Killaloe is a large village in east County Clare, Ireland, situated in the midwest of Ireland. The village is on the south end of Lough Derg, while the settlement spreads across the River Shannon, with the County Tipperary side known as Ballina...
on 16 November, beaten, interrogated and then shot dead. Another two were summarily executed in the same way on 22 December at Kilkee
Kilkee
Kilkee is a small coastal town in County Clare, Ireland. It is located midway between Kilrush and Doonbeg on the N67 road. The town, one of the most famous resorts in Ireland, is particularly popular as a seaside resort with people from Limerick City...
.
Reactions
The reprisals were condemned in the British, Irish and international press. In the House of Commons, the British Labour PartyLabour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
tabled a resolution condemning the reprisals and calling for an investigation. This was defeated by 346 votes to 79. Hamar Greenwood, the Chief Secretary for Ireland
Chief Secretary for Ireland
The Chief Secretary for Ireland was a key political office in the British administration in Ireland. Nominally subordinate to the Lord Lieutenant, from the late 18th century until the end of British rule he was effectively the government minister with responsibility for governing Ireland; usually...
, defended the State Forces' actions, saying that the houses destroyed were those of, "notorious Sinn Fein
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
ers... I am convinced that the people of those two villages knew of this ambush".
In Clare itself, according to IRA man Anthony Malone, the ambush had two effects. One was that the RIC became careful to travel in convoys of no less than three lorries. The other was that, as a result of the reprisals, the civilian population "became embittered against (the British) and adopted a more defiant attitude to the military and Black and Tans".
The death of Resident Magistrate Alan Lendrum, however, according to pro-republican Catholic priest Sean Gaynor, "was not to our credit". On October 1, the local IRA removed Lendrum's body from the lake, put it in a roughly constructed coffin and left it on the railway tracks at Craggaknock railway station for British forces to find.