#OnThisDay 1942 Thomas FitzGerald, a 17 y/o Assistant Cook from Kilkenny & Sailor Robert Rankin, 21, from Dublin perished along with all 49 crew of the Merchant Navy ship SS Empire Prairie when it was sank by the German sub U-654 (in pic) a few miles off of Bermuda.
#OnThisDay 1923 IRA Chief of Staff during the Civil War, Liam Lynch is shot in Tipperary by Free State Forces. Lynch had just voted against a peace deal days earlier. His death effectively ended the war. 20 days later, a ceasefire was called for by Frank Aiken.
#OnThisDay 1919 At a meeting of Dáil Éireann, President Éamon De Valera called for the Royal Irish Constabulary, “as agents of the British Government to be ostracised socially by the people”. Eoin MacNeill said the RIC “are a force of traitors & perjurers”.
#OnThisDay 1920 Two RIC constables, William Finn & Daniel McCarthy (pic) were ambushed on their way back from Petty Sessions in Tipperary. Both men were hit in the head & killed outright but a third constable was hit in the shoulder, returned fire & escaped.
#OnThisDay 1916 The SS Aud (Really the SS Libau) left Lubeck, Germany on its ill-fated journey for Ireland to supply the Irish Volunteers with arms for the Rising. This is an approximate map of their journey. The Aud was intercepted by the Royal Navy & scuttled.
The Irish at War 