'TAN WAR' REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER - 'An tOglach' , 1918-1921.......
.......on 6th December 1921 , at ten minutes past two in the morning , a 'Treaty' was signed between the IRA and Westminster . The 'An tOglach' Irish Republican newspaper was not re-published after that 'Treaty' was signed .......
Its first and last Editor , Piaras Beaslai , took the side of the Free State and rose through the Free State Army to become a General ; the same man is credited with coining the description 'Irregulars' to describe the anti-Treaty IRA .
Piaras Beaslai died on the 21st June 1965 , at 84 years of age . And today , 39 years after his death and 83 years after the last copy of 'An tOglach' rolled off the presses , the conflict in Ireland remains unsolved - the British military and political presence is still in Ireland , and that countrys claim of jurisdiction over part of this island is still enforced .
'An tOglach' is gone , but you can still read about the continuing struggle for Irish Freedom here. Irish Republicanism needs your help : read the 'paper , take out a subscription - 'Play Your Part' .
[END of " 'TAN WAR' REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER - 'An tOglach' , 1918-1921."].
(Tomorrow : 'July 29th , 1848 - RIC , Firearms , Pikes ; and Five Children ...').
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.......
".......on arriving in Cork , we met the 'shawlies' and the 'echo' boys - all 'spoofers' , no-where to be seen when the fight was on ......."
" The outcome of our visit to Cork was the formation of an IRA Brigade Officers training camp at Coomroe , Valley Desmond ; this lasted for a fortnight , and four men from each of the nine IRA Battalions of the Brigade attended . The training was intensive and the discipline rigorous ; we were routed out at five in the morning and until half-past seven were engaged at the most severe physical exercises . We then had breakfast .
The same regularity was maintained all day at the various military exercises - we had four hours off in the evening and went to bed at half-past ten and , after such a day , sleep came to us quickly but , almost immediately after sleep came we would hear Sean Murray shouting - " Show a leg - up ! " It was five o'clock again ...
The work was hard but it made us strong and healthy ; we thoroughly enjoyed our intervals of rest , as we had good story-tellers , singers and musicians to provide entertainment . But a simple incident or accident one evening caused more laughter than I ever remember - we had amongst us one IRA Officer , much older than the majority of us ....... "
(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 .
(10 of 11.)
According to one former MI6 man , Maurice Oldfield had been involved with two key men who worked with MI6 - Maurice Foley MP and Ronald Burroughs , in the Biafran-Nigerian war in 1969 . A year later , all three were heavily involved in bringing together the disparate nationalist MP's .
Ronald Burroughs , who was then in Belfast with the cover title - ' British Government Representative' , had prepared much of the groundwork for Maurice Foley MP since his arrival five months earlier . With 'Sir' Maurice Oldfield only now being exposed for what he was , it is still too early to predict how much more about him and his role in recent Irish history will emerge . His real persona was revealed because of the increasingly bitter internecine feuding between MI5 , MI6 and various factions within both , of which the Peter Wright affair in Australia and the Holroyd/Wallace revelations are just part .
How much more will be told remains to be seen .......
(MORE LATER).
