'TAN WAR' REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER - 'An tOglach' , 1918-1921.......
.......Liam Mellows wrote his last letter (to his mother) on December 8th , 1922 - he was then executed by a Free State Army firing squad . However , forty-six years after that execution (ie in 1968) more information regarding that deed was made public .......
In a letter to the media forty-six years after the execution of Liam Mellows (ie on April 24th , 1968) a Free State Army Captain , Ignatius O'Rourke , who was present at the execution of Liam Mellows and the other three men - Dick Barrett , Rory O'Connor and Joe McKelvey - wrote that , a few minutes before Mellows was shot dead he [Mellows] sent for the prison chaplain , a Father McMahon .
Captain O'Rourke wrote that "... a few minutes later .." he saw Father McMahon leaving the room (cell) "...accompanied by Liam Mellows , with his right arm around Liam's shoulders , and they walked along together leading the group as we all walked to the sandbags . Liam and Father McMahon appeared to be in deep , friendly conversation , with no sign of discord , disagreement or argument , just like two men discussing some point in a friendly fashion . They continued to talk until Father McMahon left Liam in the number one position at the sandbags ...."
However - (tangents ..!) - back to the 'An tOglach' Irish Republican newspaper ; when he was 'released' from Strangeways Prison in Manchester by the IRA on 20th October 1919 , Piaras Beaslai took over again as Editor of 'An tOglach' and was also appointed as 'Director of Publicity' for the IRA .......
(MORE LATER).
WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :
war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.
By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.
THE TRUCE.......
"...we drove into Cork City in a Model T. Ford , which we had previously taken from the enemy , and parked in Main Street . Three of us got out of the car and went into a shop , while I stood beside the car - the 'Truce' was on , we were in the uniform of the IRA , and an armed British Auxie stood yards away from me , staring at me and the car ......."
" Quite naturally , my hands slipped through the slip-pockets of my trench coat and closed on the butts of my Smith and Wessons ; he came striding up the roadway , straight towards the car . I knew , even at a distance , that he came looking for trouble . As the picture of a gunman he was the real thing - very tall , well built and sporting a moustache , which achieved the slightly sinister and military appearance he doubtless fancied .
His armament left nothing to be desired ; he was a two-gun man , with his holsters swung far below his waistbelt and strapped half way down his thighs , in 'cowboy' parlance , tied low . The riding breeches , putties and tunic he wore were well fitting , and the tasselled beret set off a handsome bravo . He halted in front of the car and gave it a general survey , then he leaned over the bonnet and examined the bullet holes around the wind-screen . Next he walked around it twice and , finally , stood up on the footpath straight in front of me .
" That car belongs to us ," he said . I said nothing . " I said that car belongs to us ," he repeated . I looked him in the eye ....... "
(MORE LATER).
TINKER , TAILOR , HIGH RISK SPY .......
By Frank Doherty .
First published in ' New Hibernia ' magazine , May 1987 , pages 7 , 8 and 9 .
Re-produced here in 11 parts .
(7 of 11.)
And on top of Maurice Oldfield being a child-molesting homosexual sadist , he was a disaster as a spy chief - for example , in attempting to crush the IRA (*) he introduced the 'Supergrass' system , a variation of the 'converted terrorist' idea used when he was fighting Communists in Malaya . As the present (ie 1987) upsurge in IRA activity ( (*) '1169...' comment - please note that in late 1986 the Provisional IRA had been disowned , and rightly so, by IRA Comdt. General Tom Maguire , from Cross , Claremorris , in County Mayo , who was then the last and faithful survivor of the Second (All-Ireland) Dail Eireann 1921 . This action was taken against the Provos because they had agreed to take seats in a British-imposed Administration in Ireland ie Leinster House ) has shown , the 'Supergrass' system backfired .
Court cases revealed enough information to the Provos about British security forces' intelligence gathering methods and sources to allow them to successfully purge their ranks and re-group in a manner which may take years to penetrate as far again . But perhaps the most misleading myth about Maurice Oldfield is that his influence on Ireland only began when he was made 'Security Co-ordinator' .
In fact , as the real head of MI6 from 1969 to 1978 (he was formally given the 'top job' in 1973 by Ted Heath whose Common Market negotiations were made easier by Oldfield's spying !) he was the master-planner of much that went on .......
(MORE LATER).
