Following the Easter Rising of 1916, which ultimately became buried in mythology, events took their predictable course. Great roaring fires of patriotism banked up as the British executed the principle leaders, imprisoned others and imposed martial law. The Rising, viewed as a military disaster, was not an end in itself, but rather a beginning; a point of departure.
During that time, a young Cork man wearing the uniform of the British soldier was engaged against a different enemy in Mesopotamia (then part of the Ottoman Empire, present day Iraq), for a different cause. It was there Tom Barry first heard of the Easter Rising.
Thomas Barry was born in Rosscarbery, County Cork, July 1, 1897. He was the son of a former Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) officer who had become a shopkeeper. Tom was educated for a period at Mungret College, County Limerick. In 1915, during World War 1, he enlisted in the British Army. Following the war, Tom returned to Cork and was involved with ex-servicemen's organizations.
In 1920, he joined the Irish Republican Army ( IRA ) which was then heavily engaged in the War of Independence ( 1919 - 1921 ). He was designated as the brigade-training officer which involved him in the brigade council meetings.
Eighty-five years ago, on November 28, 1920, Barry's column ambushed and wiped out an entire company of British Auxiliaries at Kilmichael, Co. Cork. The "Auxies" as they were called, became the modern version of Oliver Cromwell. They functioned independently from the RIC and the military. There ranks were filled with ex-army officers from the Great war. The British government believed because of there previous experience as officers, they would be more tempered, thus making them good law enforcers. In contradiction, the documented atrocities they committed against the Irish people was most despicable.
Notwithstanding, Tom Barry and his Flying Column taught the "Auxies" a lesson in military tactics and sent a message to London, your Auxies are not the answer you are looking for, relative to "putting the Irish people in their place." The ambush on November 28 was a masterpiece of military planning.
The Commandant of the West Cork Brigade, again, achieved an extremely significant victory at Crossbarry, situated about twelve miles south-west of Cork city. The engagement began as a huge encircling operation by the British forces involving the Hampshire Regiment (Cork), the Essex Regiment (Bandon & Kinsale), and the infamous Auxiliaries from Macroom, one thousand, one hundred and twenty seasoned troops facing 104 civilian soldiers.
The British operation was based on intelligence they had received which suggested that the operational location of the West Cork Brigade headquarters was situated in the Ballymurphy area. When Tom Barry was made aware of the British military presence in the area he had to make a decision, stand and fight or retire and attempt to evade action.
It wasn't an easy decision, because any section could be caught while retiring, possibly with heavy casualties as a consequence. The shortage of ammunition, each member of the Flying Column had only forty rounds when the battle commenced and that was a major concern, however, Barry had to plan and plan quickly, ultimately making the decision to stay and fight. Speaking to the column he outlined his plan, stating he would smash one side of the encirclement on the Crossbarry road and then deal with the others. He stated, "no man or section was to retire from their position, and all were assured that they would be quickly reinforced if and when attacked." The one hundred and four IRA men were divided into six sections in the form of a triangle on one side of the road, with section seven at the other side of the road Communication between Barry as Column Commander and the other officers and the various sections was to be maintained by runners.
From the beginning of the fighting Flor Begley, the brigade piper, played martial airs on his war pipes in Harold's farmyard and continued to play while the firing lasted. Volunteers who fought at Crossbarry, spoke later of the way the piper spurred them on to greater effort. Tom Kelleher often said over the years that followed, "that man's music was more effective than twenty rifles". The piper also had an effect on the morale of the British troops. They would have associated a piper with a battalion in their army, and consequently would have thought that there were many more volunteers present than there really were. Liam Deasy, writing some forty years later, says in his book "Towards Ireland Free" that "this was Begleys finest hour and will always be remembered as "The Piper Of Crossbarry".
To detail the action in depth without knowing the area could cause the reader to lose interest in the story, however, the end result at Crossbarry was a major victory for the West Cork Brigade. It has been documented as the largest and most important battle in West Cork, if not in Ireland, during the Anglo-Irish war. It was a demoralizing defeat for British occupation forces. Needless to say, the British conducted widespread reprisals in the aftermath of their defeat at Crossbarry. The official account of British casualties was thirty-nine soldiers killed, including five officers and forty-seven wounded although some subsequent reports stated that British losses were far greater. After the Battle of Crossbarry, Lloyd George realized that the "Irish question" required another approach other than force. A combination of the finding of an investigation into the Irish situation, and the IRA's success in the field prompted London to suggest a truce, July 11, 1921. After six months a document was prepared and referred to as, "The Articles of Agreement for a Treaty between Great Britain and Ireland" and was signed at 2:10 am, December 6th, 1921.
The Anglo-Irish War was officially concluded.
During the negotiations that preceded the Truce that ended the war, the British had demanded that Barry be handed over to them before progress could be made on other matters. Michael Collins refused, although he afterwards jokingly told his fellow Cork man that he had been sorely tempted.
Barry opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty of which had (in his eyes) betrayed the Irish Republic and partitioned Ireland. He fought on the Republican side in the Irish Civil War (1922-1923) and was imprisoned by the Irish Free State.
After the defeat of the Irregulars in the Civil War, Barry was released and served as general superintendent of Cork Harbor Commission from 1927 to1965. In 1940 Barry was made responsible for Intelligence in the Irish Army's Southern Command, a position he held for the duration of World War II. In 1941 he was denounced by the IRA for writing for the Irish Army's journal.
After Arthur Percival, General Commanding, Malaya, signed the surrender to Japanese forces, February 1942, Barry wrote to the former commander of the Essex Regiment commiserating with him on his defeat Barry was an unsuccessful candidate at the 1946 Cork Borough bye-election. In 1949, Barry published his memoirs of the Anglo-Irish War Guerilla Days in Ireland, which became a classic account of the war and an influential guide on guerrilla warfare. Barry was supportive of the Provisional IRA campaign but expressed reservations about many of their tactics, in particular the killing of civilians in England.
Commandant Thomas Barry, Soldier of Ireland, passed from this life, July 2, 1980, one day after his eighty - third birthday, in a Cork hospital. He was survived by his wife, Leslie Price Barry, once a Director of organization of Cumann na mBan