Micheal Collins and 'The Squad'.

[HONOUR-GUARD]

Good morning Capel Street Man,
You mentioned contact details you have to allow me to submit a request for my grandfathers military record pre-truce , I would be most grateful for same.
Kind Regards
HG

[capel street man]

W.S.445 Col. J.J.Slattery " The Squad" ref -  Bloody Sunday quote -
On the evening of 20th November, 1920, the Squad, the Active Service Unit, and a lot of other Volunteers from individual units were ordered to parade at a house in Gardiner Street, I believe. We were addressed there by Dick Mckee, who told us that an operation had been planned for the following morning, Sunday at nine a,m, to eliminate a number of British Intelligence Agents and spies who were residing in houses throughout the city. He had the names and addresses of the men who were to be executed there were members of the Intelligence Section present.
I was assigned to 22 Lower Mount Street, where 2 enemy agents were located. One was Lieutenant McMahon, but I cannot remember the other mans name.
Tom Keogh and myself from the Squad, with six others from "E" Company of the 2nd Battalion, proceeded to Lower Mount Street, at the appointed hour on the following morning,21st November. We knocked at the door and a maid admitted us. We left two men inside the door to see that nobody would enter or leave the house, and the remainder of us proceeded upstairs to two rooms, the numbers of which we had already ascertained. We had only just gone upstairs when heard shooting downstairs. The housekeeper or some other lady in the house had seen a patrol of Tans passing by outside, and had started to scream. The Tans immediately surrounded the house and tried to gain admission.One of our young men, Billy McClean, fired at them through the door and eased the situation for us for a little while, although he got wounded in the hand himself. I think the Tans fired first.
We succeeded in shooting Lieutenant McMahon, but could not gain admission into the room where the other agent was sleeping. There was a second man in McMahon's bed, but we did not shoot him as we had no instructions to do so. We discovered afterwards that he was an undesirable character as far as we were concerned, and that we should have shot him.
We went downstairs and tried to get out but found the British Forces at the front of the house. We went to the back of the house, and a member of "E" Co, Jim Dempsey, and myself got through by getting over a wall. We understood that the rest of our party were following us, but after going a little distance we found we were alone. What actually happened was that Teeling was the third man to scale the wall, and as he got up he was fired on from the house. We were all fired on, but Teeling was the only man who was hit. Teeling took cover in the garden.The other members of our party retired and got safely through the front door in the confusion. It was only hours afterwards that we discovered Teeling was wounded. Dempsey and myself went round by the South Circular Road, and got a wash - up in Goldens house, Victoria Street. We got home safely. Some time before the football match most of us met again, and it transpired that Teeling was on the missing list. un - quote.
CSM

[corisande]

Thanks CPM

That raises a point that I have never managed to solve, viz the second man in Angliss' bed

Slattery says here
There was a second man in McMahon's bed, but we did not shoot him as we had no instructions to do so. We discovered afterwards that he was an undesirable character as far as we were concerned, and that we should have shot him

My summation of inquiry was
They found the man, whose real name was Angliss, the bedroom door was unlocked and he was in bed with the man who became the inquest’s ‘Mr C’. He testified at Teeling’s court-martial that I was awakened about 9 a.m. by someone shouting ‘Hands up’ when I opened my eyes I saw five men standing at the end of my bed covering me with revolvers. One of the men who appeared to be acting as leader gave the order to keep McMahon and myself covered and he proceeded to search the room. He picked up a civilian coat belonging to McMahon and said ‘ is this your coat McMahon’, McMahon said ‘No.’ He then put his hand in the inside pocket, took out a wallet and said ‘You’re a damned liar ’ and put the wallet in his pocket. He then said ‘where are your guns Mac’. McMahon said ‘look here we are two R[oman] C[atholic]s but the guns are in that bag’. The man then walked over to the bag which was lying in a corner of the room, lifted it on to the table and burst the locks off with his hands and took out three revolvers. They were one service Colt, one Webly-Scott Automatic and one .32 automatic. He put them in his pockets. I then heard firing which seemed to come from the street and I heard a noise as if someone was trying to smash in the front door. A man’s voice on the landing then shouted ‘are you all right there boys. They’re surrounding the house.’ The five men in the room then turned as if to rush out, they went a little way down the room then halted and the man who had been doing the searching raised his revolver – pointed it at the bed and fired. I saw McMahon raise his arm to cover his face and at the same time I threw myself out of the bed on to the floor practically simultaneously I heard other shots ring out from the other men in the room and they all rushed out of the room. McMahon was shot three times in the chest and once in the buttock.

I have never managed to find out who the other man was. Odd really that neither side have mentioned him by name. Any ideas or leads on "Mr C" ?

[capel street man]

Good morning H.G. you will need to write to -
Department of Defence, Pensions Section/Department, Renmore, Galway.
You will need to include his D.O.B. and the addresses he lived at from the time of the War of Independence up to when he applied for a pension, normally in the 1920,s 30,s.
The person I dealt with was a Marie Treacy, Pensions Administration Section
Email *
This was in 2008, so I am not sure if it has changed due to the cut backs.
As I mentioned it took about 2 years to receive the information but it was well worth the wait, once you get your grandfathers  S.P. no, it may be worth checking with the Military Archives at Cahill Brugha Barracks, Rathmines ,Dublin to see if they have any information on your grandfather, I was fortunate that a file on my grandfather had survived and in it was a handwritten letter by him stating what he had been involved in, it was fascinating, I wish you well in your research, keep me informed.
CSM

Moderator Note : Email address removed - can you exchange any email details by PM please

[capel street man]

I came across this Corisande, 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 documention found detailed the movements of senior I.R.A. members, proving that the British Secret Service was planning an operation similar to the I.R.A,s of that morning.
CSM

[corisande]

I have come across that before, but am inclined not to believe it unless I can substantiate it. Nobody had claimed to have taken part in that raid, which is really odd. My feeling is that they got the wrong man and nobody wanted to have admitted that they took part.

http://www.cairogang.com/addresses/earlsfort-ter/earlsfort-terrace.html

As you know, for most of the Bloody Sunday raids there are a lot of WS as to what took place (through the eyes of the man making the statement anyway)

[capel street man]

Came across this H.G, I thought the name struck a cord but I could not quite place it, I have been going through my notes and research files and came across the following Witness Statement, I only copied pages 10 & 11 of a W.S. no.1210 by M.Carroll, ref - it mentioned an Irish spy they were after, by the name of O,Neill who was a former member of the Battalion and a very dangerous man to the I.R.A. in Dublin and a great asset to the British Intelligence, to which department he had been attached.
Quote - Sean Tumbleton and J.Breslan were beaten up and  kicked all over the place. Guns were found on Cluskey and Breslan. Hoare and Tumbleton were released on the following day as they proved to be civil servants and, therefore, thought to be law - abiding citizens.
He is mentioned in the next paragraph, quote -
About the end of June, 1921, a Company Council was held in the Phoenix Park...... Larry Ledwidge, Battalion I.O, Jos.O,Connor, Comdt, Sean Guilfoyle, Vice Comdt,F.O,Grady, O/C "A" Company, James Keogh, Lt., Section leaders T.Jones, M.Carroll, S. Keys, M.Hoare, S.TUMBLETON, Adjt., C.Murray, J.Harcout and P. Bolger were present....... un - quote.
That should wet your appetite
CSM

[HONOUR-GUARD]

Thank you  CSM , thats the very type of little nugget that makes one strive to know more.
Regards
HG

[capel street man]

Good morning Corisande, reference to your recent post about assassination attempt on Carew, a W.S. no 707 by Michael Noyk, Solicitor and legal adviser to M.Collins and A.Griffith, he also defended Moran,states the folowing-
Quote - Before closing my narrative in this case, I may mention that on the second morning of the trial ( Moran) there was excitement caused by the fact that Major Carew, whom I have already mentioned, was not available. He turned up later with his arm in a sling and it was ascertained that he had been shot at while having tea in the basement portion of the then D.B.C. Tea Rooms in Dame Street while on his way to the Castle. From enquiries made by me, it was apparent that the shooting was not done by the I.R.A, but was obviously done by the British Forces. un - quote. What do make of that ?
He also mentions an encounter with Captain King and Captain Hardy, let me know if you want it.
C.S.M.