Battle for Dublin
Holed up in the
‘Block’ in O’Connell St, the O/C of the anti-Treaty Dublin Brigade, Oscar
Traynor faced a dilemma. He was being
urged by many of his own people (such as Cathal Brugha and Maurice Twomey) to
evacuate and resort to guerrilla tactics but did not want to as he considered
that it amounted to surrender. However,
when faced with the artillery and armoured cars of the pro-Treaty forces, he
eventually decided to gradually evacuate, leaving small groups behind as a rear
guard.
When buildings in
places such as Parnell Square and North Great Georges St were evacuated by the
anti-Treaty forces, the fight became a house to house fight in O’Connell St
with the pro-Treaty forces using the same holes in the walls between building
that were made by the anti-Treatyites so that they could move between
buildings. Two pro-Treaty men were
killed in this operation.
Crowds gathered to
watch the on-going fighting which resulted in civilian casualties. Kate Dowling was killed on the 4th
July while watching the fighting on O’Connell St and Henry Hynes was shot in
the head on the corner of O’Connell St and Parnell St. On the 4th,
two children were found dead in a house in the Marlborough St area. A
pro-Treaty soldier called Connolly was killed on Moore St. on the 4th.
Gradually, from the 2nd
July onwards, the pro-Treaty army captured the anti-Treaty positions around
O’Connell St, restricting them to fewer and fewer positions. (The anti-Treatyites progressively evacuated
– including prominent ones like De Valera, Austin Stack and Sean T. O’Kelly
- by melting in the crowds or going
over rooftops.) Eventually, the pro-Treaty deployed their artillery – an
18-pounder was located at the corner of Henry St and O’Connell St and, on the
other side of the ‘Block’ an improvised armoured train was brought up with a
mortar to bomb anti-Treaty positions at Moran’s and Hughes’ Hotels. The surrender by the party remaining in
Hamman Hotel included an accusation of false surrender in which it was claimed
that pro-Treaty Staff Sergeant Stapleton was killed. (However, a Captain Edward
Stapleton survived the fighting and it is not clear if this was the man
referred to.) One of the last groups to surrender was a party of nine men led
by Cathal Brugha. In the final moments
of the surrender, Brugha was wounded and died two days later in the Mater
Hospital. There are conflicting reports
on his shooting.
While most of the
action was in the O’Connell St, a squad of pro-Treaty men led by Frank Thornton
cleared the anti-Treaty men out of their base in 41 York St including a ‘one
hour’s stiff fight’ to clear them out of the Swan pub on the corner of York St
and Aungier St. A sniper was killed
near St Patrick’s Cathedral. Also, the
anti-Treaty post in Dolphin’s Barn was taken without a fight.
Even though there
would be subsequent ambushes and other actions by the anti-Treatyites in
Dublin, by the evening of the 5th July, the battle for Dublin was
over with all positions which had been held by the anti-Treatyites in the hands
of the pro-Treatyites. In addition,
there were about 750 anti-Treaty prisoners, mostly in Mountjoy.
Hopkinson says total
casualties for the fighting in Dublin were 65 killed and 28 wounded. Macardle
says that there were 60 deaths and 300 wounded in the eight days of the
fighting in Dublin. Doyle says that
there were 62 deaths and 276 wounded between the 28th June and 6th
July. However, Dorney says that, at
least, 81 people were killed in the seven days of fighting – “But the true
total is almost certainly higher, particularly the civilian casualties” (Dorney
2018, pg 100). He breaks the deaths down
into 29 pro-Treaty soldiers; 15 anti-Treaty volunteers; at least, 36 civilians
and one British soldier (Private Rodgers, RAF).