The Battle for Dublin
Introduction from the Chronology
In sometimes fierce fighting in the first days of
July, pro-Treaty forces clear anti-Treaty troops from a number of buildings in
Dublin mostly in the city centre.
More Detail
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 do this 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 July 4th 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. Also on July 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 July 4th.
Gradually, from July 2nd
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 many
subsequent ambushes and other actions by the anti-Treatyites in Dublin, by the
evening of July 5th, 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. The O’Connor and Connolly (2011) book gives an
account of the battle by Paddy O’Connor who was a pro-Treaty officer involved
in the fighting.
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. Townshend says 65 pro- and
anti-Treaty troops were killed and an unknown of civilians “possibly well over
250”. 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).