Ground Truths: British Army Operations in the Irish War of Independence

Description

In 1922, just after the end of the Irish War for Independence, the British Army’s ‘Irish Command’ drafted an official four-volume historical record of their experiences and understanding of the war in Ireland. Entitled ‘The Record of the Rebellion in Ireland, 1919–1921 and the part played by the Army in Dealing with It’, this annotated collection is based on the first of those four volumes and is edited to include material that was missed, incorrect or deliberately changed by the authors before final drafts concluded.

Largely a defence of the perception that the British army ‘lost’ the war in Ireland, this collection of original documents features aspects of everyday warfare such as military intelligence worries and rebel press propaganda, as well as the more intense key moments of the War of Independence, such as the arrest and death of Terrence McSwiney, the murder of Thomas MacCurtain, the hunger-strikes of 1920, the murders of British Army officers that subsequently led to the Croke Park massacre on 21^st November 1920, and the arrests of Arthur Griffith and Eamon De Valera.

Essentially the testimony of the British Army Officers who lead the fight against the Irish republicans, the text is an exciting and original insight into the experiences and operations on a side of the War of Independence rarely studied in Irish history – the British.

About the Author

W.H. Kautt is the author of The Anglo-Irish War and Ambushes and Armour. He served for ten years in the US Air Force and taught history at the USAF Academy. He is an Associate Professor of Military History at the US Army staff college. In the summer of 2005, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.