The Irish Perspective on Guerrilla Logistics

In the Guerrilla Logistics post from yesterday, one of the comments was absolutely superb in highlighting the challenges and resulting limitations the Irish experienced during the Black and Tan War.

The West Cork IRA Flying Column had a terrible logistic problem in the 1919-1921 Black and Tan War with England. The Units commander Tom Barry, described the initial class V situation as grim and the tactics had to be tailored to the specific mission of engaging the enemy specifically to resupply by pickup from enemy casualties. Obviously, with almost nothing on hand initially, the early targets were chosen because they were lightly defended by small details who were not primarily front line combat soldiers. An early raid to destroy a coastal lighthouse is a good example. The beacon was of little military value, but the disarmed coasties provided a few more rifles, handguns, and ammunition. By carefully selecting weaker targets that could be overwhelmed with low risk to the insurgent force, Barry was able to build up a stockpile of about 300 Lee Enfields and a Lewis Gun. The West Cork IRA Flying Column therefore had an operational strength of 300 men. There were relief IRA gunmen available who had no arms, so the replacements took the weapons from the men they were relieving at designated times and places and the operational force was always fresh for new assignments. There was a well developed underground organisation to look after security, medivac, and such classes of supply that the impoverished Irish countryside could provide, but the only way to obtain arms at the local and regional level was to take them from the British police and military. The roadside ambushes conducted by Barry’s men featured special task details who had no job other than to sweep the kill zone for enemy arms and equipment after the action. Barry’s men knew that they had better make the most of their shots because the typical combat load was just 5 rounds. They became experts at the efficient ambush out of this necessity and were the same men who ambushed and killed Michael Collins and his Free State troops in the 1922 Irish Civil War.

The training, development of tactics, operational history of this force is described in detail in Tom Barry’s book “Guerilla Days in Ireland”.The national level leadership of the IRA operating clandestinely in Dublin was eventually able to obtain some Thompson Submachine guns from America by way of smuggling networks, but these were few, and late, and obviously added to the ammo supply problem by way of rate of fire and unique .45 ammunition. The lessons for the impoverished, isolated insurgent are many , but chief among them is that battlefield pickup is an emergency expedient. If that is your only option you had better pick your fights carefully and make sure you win them quickly.

Learn from the past, gents. Get what you can for the Troubles that lay ahead.

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About the Author: NC Scout

NC Scout is the nom de guerre of a former Infantry Scout and Sergeant in one of the Army’s best Reconnaissance Units. He has combat tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He teaches a series of courses focusing on small unit skills rarely if ever taught anywhere else in the prepping and survival field, including his RTO Course which focuses on small unit communications. In his free time he is an avid hunter, bushcrafter, writer, long range shooter, prepper, amateur radio operator and Libertarian activist. He can be contacted at [email protected] or via his blog at brushbeater.wordpress.com .

8 Comments

  1. Anonymous August 12, 2020 at 10:03

    4.5

  2. James Carpenter aka "Felix" August 12, 2020 at 10:05

    A good source for books such as Barry’s “Guerilla Days in Ireland” is Thrift Books at http://www.thriftbooks.com
    Days in Ireland is currently listed as “unavailable” but can be added to a “wish list”, you are notified when a copy becomes available. My experience is that the wait on “wish list” is typically shorter than they project if a copy of what you’re looking for isn’t currently at hand.
    My “Medical Library” for dealing with illness/injury when trained personnel are not at available all comes from Thrift Books. And they won’t break your piggy bank.

  3. Anonymous August 12, 2020 at 11:29

    5

  4. Suburban Survivor August 12, 2020 at 15:23

    Another good read is The Squad, nicknamed the Twelve Apostles, was an Irish Republican Army (IRA) unit founded by Michael Collins to counter British intelligence efforts during the Irish War of Independence, mainly by means of assassination.

    https://www.amazon.com/Squad-Intelligence-Operations-Michael-Collins/dp/1856354695

  5. vyt1az August 14, 2020 at 22:46

    The follow up comment by the same author of this article was also good in my opinion:

    ***********
    The Irish had a long history of resistance, which served them well as fighters, but it was the solid central organization of the IRA at that time, which sprang from the long established Irish Republican Brotherhood that probably made the difference in this war as compared to the numerous previous failures. How that particular cultural and political organization was built and how the eventual manpower and leadership of the IRA was recruited, vetted, and developed is the true key to understanding why the IRA won in 1921 against overwhelming odds. The strength of the organization, its strong internal security, and widespread support form the majority of the Irish population. It was these strengths that enabled them to overcome the problem of being almost entirely unarmed at the start of hostilities. Barry’s excellent tactics alone would not have won the day of the peasants of the Irish countryside had not been near universally supportive. We in America today have the opposite problem from The IRA in 1919. We have plenty of weapons and ammunition, and experience in using them, but we have no central organization, leadership, and security beyond the local level .You mention improvised weapons etc. The IRA experience with these in 1921 was not good. Attacks against strongpoints with improvised or inadequate explosives failed more often than not, and even if the position was taken, Barry’s force was often exposed for an excessively long time and forced to use precious ammo stocks in support of multiple breach attempts. Barry explains why he thought these risks had to be taken, but the IRA never really figured out the supply problem in 1921 for firearms and the efforts of their amatuer “learn as you go” bomb makers was very unsatisfactory. This war may be one of the best examples of a successful insurgency with minimal outside support that featured widespread battlefield pickup as a primary means of arming the insurgent force. They did win due to some outstanding exploits and sacrifice, but it was a close thing and shows why being an armed, free people is the foundation of our liberty.
    ***********

    This following sentence is a good summary of what has kept me up at night for years:

    “We in America today have the opposite problem from The IRA in 1919. We have plenty of weapons and ammunition, and experience in using them, but we have no central organization, leadership, and security beyond the local level”

    The US does have one big advantage over Ireland though. We’ve got a massive expanse of varied terrains and climates to take advantage of. Totalitarian control, the hallmark of an established Marxist government, doesn’t work nearly as well in those conditions. A land mass this big with various mountain ranges is almost impossible to fully control.

    • mike August 15, 2020 at 14:47

      Thanks for the kind review. I agree with your assessment on the vastness of this country. This combined with our tradition of arms should go along way toward foiling the communist end game plans for us. The shared memory by heritage Americans of the true meaning of Liberty, which is our birthright, will be the binding agent that unites our counter revolution. They made a critical mistake in going for the brass ring before it was fully extinguished from the consciousness of so many armed and free men who will not be reconstructed or enslaved.

  6. Jon August 20, 2020 at 20:52

    Scout

    The old adage that amateurs talk tactics and professionals master logistics rings true. I learned this in spades during the second of my awful tours in mech outfits. I only did two, and that was plenty. Fayetteville is head and shoulders better than Hinesville no matter who you are. The logistics will cause more problems than most folks can imagine.

    Battlefield pickups of arms is always important. Beat have a plan for movement, security, inspection, and issue. But it goes beyond Class V items. Class III petroleum, oil, and lubricants; air and oil filters for ground vehicles and ground support equipment, power generation and distribution, medical equipment…and most importantly Class VI items. A man needs creature comforts. And that sword cuts both ways. Local contracted services and supplies isn’t much different than battlefield pickups, if ya thing about it. Sustainment is an effective if unglamorous way of constraining you’re adversary. And we all know that sustainment folks don’t fight very well.

    So in addition to seizing opportunities to supply friendlies that might prefer a particular end item, we ought to think through how to prevent the adversaries from accessing and exploiting local supplies and services. Michael Collins was a master at both, as well as finance and intelligence. Much to learn from the Anglo-Irish war, the Six County Troubles, the second Boer War, and the fall of Rhodesia.

  7. Anonymous May 1, 2021 at 03:19

    3.5

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