Michael Collins's Intelligence War: The Struggle Between the British and the IRA, 1919-1921

312 Pages·2006·21.877 MB·English

by  Michael T. Foy

CH .---- __
C LLINS'S
INTELLIGENCE
WAR
THE STRU,GGLE BETWEEN THE
BRITISH AND THE IRA 1919-1921
MICHAEL T. FOY
MICHAEL COLLINS is often regarded
as Ireland's lost leader, a
revolutionary who became a
military commander and skilled statesman
before his premature death in an ambush at the
hands of former comrades. Michael T. Foy's
new book looks in depth at Collins's key role
in the Anglo-Irish War of 1919 to 1921.
Michael Collins rose to prominence within
Irish republicanism after the Easter Rising. As
an ordinary Volunteer in 1916, he witnessed
the harsh treatment of republican prisoners by
British officer Captain Lea Wilson. Four years
later, as IRA Director of Intelligence, Collins
sent his execution squad to assassinate Wilson.
Charismatic and ruthless, Collins accumulated
great influence within the IRA, eventually
becoming its de facto leader. It was his
understanding and exploitation of the power of
an intelligence system that was largely
instrumental in bringing about the Anglo-Irish
War. After establishing his own intelligence
organisation, Collins's spies soon had more
information on the G-men -Dublin's political
detectives -than they had on him and the IRA.
For the first time in Irish revolutionary hisrnry,
the intelligence initiative had been wrested
from the British.
Michael T. Foy examines the intelligence war
between Collins and the British and both sides'
efforts to achieve victory, as well as the
activities and methods of Collins's Intelligence
Department, assassination Squad and his moles
within the British administration. Collins's
personality and actions fascinated both the
Irish population and his British enemies, who
sought repeatedly to capture him. The
intelligence war's lethal character is described
in detail, especially Bloody Sunday 1920, when
Collins attempted to annihilate the British
espionage system in Dublin. Setting the secret
war firmly within the context of the Irish
capital at the time, the author draws on an
extensive range of primary sources -including
documents which have only recently been
released -to vividly recapture the atmosphere
of the period.
£20.00

MICHAEL
COLLINS'S
INTELLIGENCE
WAR
THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE
BRITISH AND THE IRA, 1919-1921
MICHAEL T. FOY
SUTTON PUBLISHING
First published in the United Kingdom in 2006 by
Sutton Publishing Limited · Phoenix Mill
Thrupp · Stroud · Gloucestershire · GLS 2BU
Copyright © Michael T. Foy, 2006.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of
the publisher and copyright holder.
Michael T. Foy has asserted the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 0-7509-4267-3
Typeset in 10.5/lSpt Photina MT.
Typesetting and origination by
Sutton Publishing Limited.
Printed and bound in England by
J.H. Haynes & Co. Ltd, Sparkford.
CONTENTS
Map iv
Acknowledgements vi
Prologue 1
1. The Road to Conflict: Michael Collins and the Onset of the
Anglo-Irish War, 1916-1919 5
2. Director of Irish Intelligence: The Organisation Takes Shape, 1919 35
3. Stumbling into the Haze: The British Response, January-July 1920 64
4. Duel: The Struggle between the British and IRA Intelligence,
July-November 1920 97
5. Seeking a Knockout Blow: Collins and Bloody Sunday,
21 November 1920 141
6. Slugging it out: Bloody Sunday to March 192 1 178
7. Looking for a Way out: The Quest for a Truce, May-July 19 21 219
Conclusions 239
Notes 246
Bibliography 272
Index 277
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Map 1. Dublin, 1918-1921
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RATHMINES
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My greatest debt is to Walter Grey, friend and former colleague. who was
involved in the project from the start. The book is in large part the product of
our continuous ?ialogue over three years, during which time I relied heavily
on his encyclopaedic knowledge of Dublin and Dubliners, his meticulous
vetting of many different drafts and the ideas generated in the course of
numerous stimulating discussions. Walter also designed the maps. I would
also like to thank Dr Timothy Bowman, Michelle Brown and Stewart
Roulston, who read and made detailed comments on the text. I am also
indebted to Dr Brian Barton, Commandant Pat Brennan, Brother Thomas
Connolly, Andrew Cook, Shay Courtney, Jason Foy, Jim Herlihy, Dr Michael
Hopkinson, Ivan Johnston, Grainne Killeen, Colin Kirkpa'trick, Commandant
Victor Lang, Susan Louden, Sergeant Patrick McGee, Peggy Mack (who
provided the only existing photograph of her father, Jack Byrnes), Dan Moore.
Julian Putkowski, Harry Ramsay, Denis Rice and Alasdair Verschoyle. Finally.
I want to thank Christopher Feeney of Sutton Publishing, who commissioned
the book, and his colleagues Jane Entrican, Hilary Walford and Yvette Cowles,
Allison McKechnie, who edited the manuscript, Jonathon Price, who read the
proofs, and Helen Litton, who compiled the index.
Michael T. Foy