At least 15 Auxiliaries killed in Kilmichael ambush

Kilmichael, 1 December 1920 -  At least 15 members of the Auxiliary police force were killed in an ambush in west Cork on 28 November 1920.

In addition to the number confirmed dead at the scene, a further member of the force is reported to be dying while another member is missing.

The ambush is the most daring and lethal yet to be carried out in Ireland.

The incident occurred in Kilmichael at around 10.30pm – at a bend on a secluded stretch of road between Macroom and Dunmanway – when two lorry loads of Auxiliary police under District Inspector Craig were attacked by a group of armed men numbering between 70 and 100.

The RIC Auxiliaries were based in Macroom Castle and had been conducting searches along the southern stretch of countryside towards Dunmanway.

The lead lorry is understood to have struck a mine; the occupants were, according to a report from a special correspondent from the Irish Times, blown up and killed instantly. The second lorry, travelling some way behind, attempted to pull up, but got stuck in a trench in the road. The occupants of this lorry exchanged fire with the ambush party, but by the time it the bullets ceased, almost all of them had been killed.

The dead Auxiliaries are to be removed to London for interment. The missing Auxiliary has been identified as Cadet C.J. Guthrie.

Cadet Taylor and Cadet Barnes, two of the men killed in the ambush. (Image: Freeman's Journal 3 December 1920)

The attack has been denounced as a ‘hideous outrage’ by the Irish Times in an editorial which described it as a ‘another of those blots on the name of Ireland which the repentance and sorrow of many generations will not expunge’. The Belfast Newsletter has stated that the ‘massacre of loyal servants of the crown’ will intensify the indignation caused in England by the recent assassination of officers in Dublin and urged the proclamation of martial law as the only remedy to the situation in Ireland.

As soon the news of the ambush reached Macroom all business was suspended and many families fled the expected reprisals, which, when they came left very few, if any, houses in the district undamaged, and destroyed some completely.

Junction of Patrick Street and Prince's Street in Cork where the bomb exploded. (Image: Cork Examiner, 25 November 1920)

Bombing incident
Cork has been the focus of extraordinary unrest in recent days. The last week has witnessed a spate of killings in the city and county, as well as fires and explosions.

Two men were killed and 12 people were injured when a bomb was flung in Patrick Street on 23 November as crowds were coming out of various places of amusement. No police or military are reported to have been in the vicinity when the incident occurred.

The dead men have been named as Patrick O’Donoghue of High Street and Edward Murphy of Tower Street. Both men died at Mercy Hospital. Two of the injured men are believed to be in critical condition.

[Editor's note: This is an article from Century Ireland, a fortnightly online newspaper, written from the perspective of a journalist 100 years ago, based on news reports of the time.]