I was demobilised from Cologne in January 1919. After all, I had been mixed up in that European dogfight for over four years (I enlisted in September 1914) so it was time to pack up, go home, and wonder what it was all about even though one can never really find that out. […] I came home in January 1919 from the Rhine, cursed as I thought from this soldiering business, and practically a pacifist. […] However a few weeks later I was in the volunteers (7th battalion Tipperary No 1 Brigade, 3rd Southern Division) about the getting in touch part, although it may seem paradoxical to say it, I was hardly out of touch even when in the other man’s army. I was this way. (An unnamed soldier)
During the War of Independence, hundreds of veterans of the Great War offered their service to the Irish Republican Army and rapidly obtained training and commanding positions in republican battalions. Veterans spied for the IRA, deciphered intelligence codes, and even approached military forces under the guise of friendly old comradeship to collect information.
Ex-servicemen received the delicate tasks of ambushing British lorries, shooting drivers and soldiers. The multifarious nature of the duties undertaken by these ex-servicemen invites historians to rethink the contribution of professional soldiers in the composition of the Irish Republican Army. A thorough investigation into the witness statements (Bureau of Military History, Military Archives of Ireland), police reports (Colonial Office, The National Archives London) and personal correspondence (University College Dublin Archives) all point out to the need to acknowledge that the IRA benefited from the fighting techniques of professional veterans during the War of Independence.
At night, far away from public attention, in remote places, young republican recruits trained under the supervision of these shadows from the trenches. This is the reason why, whereas military studies have focused exclusively on methods of guerrilla warfare to explain the heavy losses among Crown forces, the participation of British veterans must not be underestimated.
What the IRA would have achieved without the contribution of these Great War veterans is hard to apprehend, if not historically irrelevant. However, while militarily unskilled youths could fell a tree for roadblocks, threaten civilians, raid a house for weapons, or even shoot a rabbit or pheasant for the flying column’s pot, when an operation necessitated tactical marksmanship, or when a unit was ambushed by British forces, veterans of the Great War were called upon. The IRA could not possibly engage so efficiently with the superior resources and skills of the British army without resorting to these “crack shots”.
IRA headquarters viewed veterans of the Great War for what they could offer: additional military efficiency in a period of war. So too did the British authorities. When both resignations from the RIC and assassinations of military and police forces increased, the British govenerment relied on Great War veterans, men already trained, who could be rapidly transferred to Ireland and could intervene without undergoing training. The formation of the Auxiliaries and Black and Tans testified to the British urgency to raise a force of professional soldiers in order to crush the IRA rapidly.
In the aftermath of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, Dáil Éireann hoped to be able to weaken the anti-treaty forces and therefore made sure to offer former republican activists strategic positions in the army. Thousands of ex-British officers and men transferred their loyalty to the Free State army. Most commanding officers and generals in the national army had fought for the British during the First World War and then in the IRA during the War of Independence. Veterans of the Great War offered military skills, expertise and professionalism to what was an army in its infancy.
I noticed that an additional military experience with the IRA during the Anglo-Irish War added to their chances of receiving prominent responsibilities in command positions. The criterion here was one of symbolic legitimacy and prestige. The transfer of powers from the British forces to the Free State army brought about a redefinition of loyalties among military forces. Ex-members of the British Crown willingly enrolled in the national army on the grounds that the oath of allegiance to the British monarch allowed them to retain their imperial identity, while fighting for the Free State. Ex-IRA activists agreed to mitigate their republican ideals and pledged allegiance to Dáil Éireann.
By deliberately placing ex-IRA members in positions of command, the authorities of the Free State government were in a position to offer them a degree of substantive recognition within the new nation-state, while at the same time weakening the IRA, even as the authorities acknowledged the role of republican units during the War of Independence in the creation of Dáil Éireann.
Across Europe, veterans transferred their military skills and loyalty from imperial to national armies. Ex-servicemen guaranteed security and stability during state-making processes as much as they may have fed paramilitary violence. The homecoming of Irish troops is but one example of what took place on a larger scale across Europe in the aftermath of the first World War. What happened in Ireland was hardly unique. Ex-servicemen and officers formed a heterogeneous community with kaleidoscopic motivations and expectations. Some of them staunchly supported the British Crown and others backed the revolution, while the majority aspired to a serene and peaceful re-integration within their local community.
As soon as they transferred to civilian life, quite a few of them experienced difficulties in finding a job in a society plagued by unemployment and ongoing paramilitary violence. Across Europe, in the immediate aftermath of 1918, as historian Bruno Cabanes has shown, the “moment of re-integration became, almost necessarily, a moment of frustration” for veterans. Britain assisted them, going as far as creating large “colonies for ex-servicemen” in the 32 counties and implemeting re-education schemes. Britain never reneged on its moral obligation.
Following the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, the withdrawal of British troops severely complicated their socioeconomic demobilisation (as it did for other communities) but veterans could rely upon initiatives of private employers, especially in Northern Ireland where veterans entered the pantheon of loyalist combatants for king and country.
When it comes to paramilitary violence, there is nothing to support the contention that there was either an official or even a tacit republican policy aimed at the elimination of veterans of the Great War. However, in some areas, it cannot be disputed that there were individuals (whether members of the IRA or not) who nourished a deep resentment towards them. While this personalised animosity rarely led to their execution, it generally exposed them to acts of political violence, both verbal and physical.
The belief according to which the IRA would have deliberately launched a campaign against them coupled with the artificially constructed and systematic opposition between IRA members and Great War veterans has prevented a deeper analysis of the post-war trajectories of these men.
2021 marks the 100th anniversary of the end of the War of Independence and represents an opportunity to shed new light on the roles played by British veterans. Shadows from the Trenches tracks their trajectories, illuminating their hopes, expectations and uncertainties.
Shadows from the Trenches: Veterans of the Great War and the Irish Revolution (1918-1923) by Emmanuel Destenay is published by UCD Press
