TRALEE FIANNA EIREANN AT WAR

The following account by a former Fianna officer in Kerry is an extract of an article that appeared in ‘Kerry’s Fighting Story 1916-21′, originally published by The Kerryman in 1947.

*Extract of article transcribed by Eamon Murphy

NO MERE ACCOUNT of routine scout work is the story of the Tralee Fianna Éireann. It is an integral part of the history of the entire resistance movement in the town, during the Anglo-Irish War. Boys of the Fianna, all of them in their ‘teens, stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the men of the Republican Army in many big engagements. They fought bravely, some died leaving to the survivors the rich legacy of their inspiring example of courage and self-sacrifice.

The re-organisation of the Fianna took place simultaneously with the re birth of the Republican Army, in 1917. In Tralee a sluagh was formed in each Volunteer area, and the members worked in the closest co-operation with the IRA. The work of organisation was completed by the end of the year 1917, and among the brigade staffs formed at a Fianna Convention in the Mansion House, Dublin, in 1918, was one for Kerry.

During the year 1917 the Fianna was mostly occupied by the work of re-organisation. Training proceeded intensively, and the boys were engaged in intelligence operations. In addition to which they also carried out most of the stencilling, distribution and publication of literature dealing with Dáil Éireann bonds. During these early days they were also taken up with scouting and outpost work, and participated in the capture of arms and ammunition from British military at Tralee railway station, in October 1918.

When the terror of the Black and Tans was loosed in all its fury, in 1920, the Tralee Fianna showed that the years of intensive training were not wasted. The brigade O/C, Miko Leary, together with his adjutant, Thomas O’Connor, and quartermaster, Billy Myles, fought in the ambushes at Castlemaine and Lispole.

The same three Fianna officers, with Patrick O’Connor, participated in the attack on a Black and Tan contingent at Glenbeigh, on 26 May 1920, when nine rifles and a machine were captured from the enemy.

Miko Leary was also a member of the party which attacked Fenit barracks in June 1920. The assault on this barracks began at midnight, and, in the course of the attack Volunteers had to climb the walls of the building and get onto the roof which they intended to smash. All the while the besieged Royal Irish Constabulary fired at them from windows and loopholes. Whilst the attack was in progress a British gunboat anchored in Fenit Bay fired one shell which was believed to have exploded harmlessly on Ballyheigue strand. Nevertheless, reinforcements from the gunboat compelled the attackers to retire; but dawn showed that the barracks was completely gutted, and of no further use to the enemy.

Not alone was the [Fianna] organisation an invaluable adjunct to the IRA but, in addition, that it was also a first-class fighting unit in its own right. During the period of the Truce a special section of the Tralee Fianna was attached to the republican Police doing protective duty, guarding banks, investigating robberies and attending republican courts as witnesses. The Fianna assisted in repelling the onslaught of the Black and Tans who broke the Truce in Tralee, in January 1922, and ran amuck in the town. Following this incident units of the Fianna were constantly on day and night duty.

The following members of the Kerry Fianna were presented with watches by Éamon de Valera, then the president of the Irish Republic, for distinctive services given during the Anglo-Irish War:

Mick O’Leary; Thomas O’Connor, Billy Myles (killed in action during the Civil War, at Annagh, Tralee); Paddy Daly, then battalion O/C; William Butler, company O/C Ballyroe; Patrick O’Connor, ‘D’ company, Tralee battalion.

The president also presented a silver cup to the Tralee battalion for being the outstanding Fianna in Ireland.