#OnThisDay 1933 Eoin O’Duffy, ex Chief of Staff of the IRA, Free State Army General & admirer of Italian Fascist Benito Mussolini, was made leader of the Army Comrades Association i.e. the Blue Shirts, a quasi fascist organisation that later joined with Cumann na nGaedheal and others to became Fine Gael.
#OnThisDay 1922 Waterford City fell to the Free State Army after days of fighting. Under General Prout they attacked by both sea & land. Using a field gun to fire directly into AT-IRA position at the post-office, they soon pulled out or surrendered.
#OnThisDay 1798 William Aylmer & the United Irishmen force surrender at Timahoe, Kildare. “The rank & file were allowed to give up their arms & leave unmolested although the leaders were arrested, they escaped with their lives’. Some UI break away & move on.
#OnThisDay 1616 Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone died in Rome. O’Neill took on & almost beat Elizabethan England in the Nine Years War. The Flight of the Earls in 1607 saw O’Neill & followers leave Ireland for Europe hoping to return with an army, but this happened.
#OnThisDay 1942 Cork man James Murray VC passed away. During the First Boer War, Murray rushed his horse out into withering enemy fire, had his horse shot from under him but continued on foot to rescue a fellow wounded soldier.He was awarded the Victoria Cross.
The Irish at War 