1939 AD - 1 / January - June
"Clann na Gael / The Organization Active Again Over the 6 Counties."
1939 AD
Franz Fromme
who was a
German expert on
Ireland who was still living in
Germany and who
had visited
Ireland
on many occasions to study
Ireland's
struggle for
"freedom"
from the oppression of the British
Imperial Government in England,
their Celtic
customs, and their
early Christianity,
advised
his comrade
Oscar Pfaus
a
German agent about the conditions
prevailing there, as the German Secret
Service had no information on
Ireland up to this date and they now considered they would
be able to make useful "contacts" there with the
disgruntled
"Anti - Treaty IRA" members who were still trying to get the
British
Imperial Government out of the
6 Counties
"artificially partitioned" from the
9 Counties in the Ulster
Province, in the event of "War"
occurring.
January 12th:
Sean
Russell the leader of the
"Anti - Treaty IRA"
decided to begin a
"bombing" campaign in England
for increased "publicity" to make the population there ware of what
has really gone on in Ireland so as to re - unite the
6
Counties previously "artificially partitioned" from the
9 Counties in the
Ulster Province by the
British Imperial Government, and to this end he sent a letter to
Lord Halifax the
British Foreign Secretary
to
"withdraw" all of the British Imperial Government's
Military Forces
from the 6 Counties
within
4
days and warned him that if this was not carried
out the "Anti - Treaty IRA"
would be forced to interfere in the "economic and
military" life of the population in
England in the same way as
"they"
had interfered for Centuries in the life of the poupation in
Ireland.
As there
was no action taken within this specified period he
"began" the bombing campaign in England
involving
127
separate incidents including
January 14th: The Eire / Irish Government / Irish Assembly under Eamonn de Valera and the Fianna Fail Party again declared the "Anti - Treaty IRA" "unlawful."
January 16th: A "Declaration of War" was also made for the "return" of the 6 Counties previously "artificially partitioned" from the 9 Counties in the Ulster Province by the British Imperial Coalition Government, that was issued by Joseph Mac Garritty of the Clann na Gael / The Organization in America, and it was also signed by 6 members of the "Anti - Treaty IRA," including Peadar O Flaherty, Patrick Fleming, Lawrence Grogan, Stephen Hayes, George Plunkett and Sean Russell and as a result further "bombings" were to be carried out in England for another 15 months and 66 members of the "Anti - Treaty IRA" were convicted of the 127 attacks with 57 of these were carried out in London alone. Sean Mac Bride their Chief of Staff was to "break" with the "Anti - Treaty IRA" over this bombing campaign in England.
January 19th: In
Eire / Ireland a bomb was detonated in
Tralee in Co. Kerry
in the south - west of the Munster Province
were
Francis Chamberlain, the son of the
British National Coalition Prime Minister
was staying,
and
Sean Russell
went out of
his way to notify all concerned that it definitely "was not" the work of the
"Anti - Treaty IRA.
February 3rd:
Oscar Pfaus the German
agent,
was to arrive in
Ireland
looking for a useful
contact in the "Anti - Treaty
IRA," and by mistake he was introduced by
Liam Walsh to
Eoin O Duffy,
who was aghast at
the suggestion that he had in any way, anything to do with the "Ani - Treaty
IRA," but
Oscar Pfaus
was to eventually
make contact with and meet with the "Anri - Treaty IRA"
at
Clontarf in
Dublin, including
Sean Russell
who was now the
"Anti - Treaty IRA" Chief of Staff
whom he advised to send an "Anti - Treaty IRA" member to
Germany were he might be able to
gain a supply of "small arms." Seamus O Donovan
came
forward and
tore an English
"pound note" in half and gave one half to
Oscar Pfaus stating that the other half would be produced by the
the "Anti - Treaty IRA" member when he
was to arrive in Germany
to secure
any
chance of arms.
February 4th: In England 2
bombs were set off in Tottenham
Court Road and Leicester
Square stations, which caused "much damage" and
2 people
were "injured."
February 6th:
In England again the
"Anti - Treaty IRA" tried unsuccessfully to
blow up the "Walton Gaol"
at
Liverpool, and sporadic explosions
were carried out in different areas of
London suburbs,
while
Seamus O Donovan
went to Germany
himself
to try and make contact for the supply of arms should "War" eventuate, but
nothing definite occurred.
February 7th:
In the
6 Counties
"artificially partitioned" from the
9 Counties in the Ulster
Province thousands
of leaflets calling for "National
Service" in the
British
Imperial Army were burnt.
March 2nd:
In England again the "Anti
- Treaty IRA"
planted bombs
in the aqueduct near
Stoneridge Park
in London,
and also in
the Birmingham Canal
near
Staffordshire, which failed to
cause much damage.
April 13th: 11
In England more "Anti - Treaty IRA" bombings were carried out in
London and
Birmingham.
April 26th:
Stephen Hayes
had by now taken over as the
"Anti - Treaty
IRA"
Chief of Staff as
Sean Russell
had gone off to
America
to raise "funds," but it was also rumoured it was just a
ruse to get him "out of the way,"while
Seamus O Donovan
paid a second visit to
Germany
where he had further discussions there about assistance
for the
"Ant - Treaty IRA" campaign, if
"War" should
break out.
Neville Chamberlain
the
British
National Coalition Prime Minister
decided to introduce
"Compulsory
Military Service" / Conscription in the
6
Counties "artificially partitioned" from the
9 Counties in the Ulster
Province who were in reality still under his control, and he was backed up by
Lord Craigavon / Sir James Craig
the leader of the Ascendancy "Official"
Unionist Stormont Government there, while the
Catholic Bishops
came out
"against
it" and
Eamonn de Valera
informed
him that all he would do was "strengthen" the
"Anti - Treaty IRA" there while carrying out
this
further "aggressive" move against the
Irish population there.
May 4th:
Neville Chamberlain
the British Prime Minister after
much consideration decided "not to proceed" to press the
Irish
population
in the
6 Counties
"artificially partitioned" from the
9 Counties in the Ulster
Province into his
"Conscription" programme.
May:
In Englan several
Irishmen who had been arrested were
sentenced to
10 - 20
years imprisonment.
May 30th:
The
Fianna Fail Eire / Irish Government
under Eamonn de Valera
had declared it would remain "neutral"
if a "War"
should
occur, so hundreds of
Irish Republicans
in
Belfast
situated in the
6 Counties
"artificially partitioned" from the
9 Counties in the Ulster
Province, which
were in reality still under the overall control of
the British Imperial Government, concurred with this decision,
but they took exception to the issuing of "gas
masks" there, as they saw it as further sign of
British
Imperial "sovereignty" over
them, so they gathered up
1000 of these gas masks and "burnt"
them, and that same evening magnesium
and tear
gas bombs also were
exploded in
Liverpool
and
Birmingham in
England.
June 6th:
Sean Russell
the previous leader of the "Anti - Treaty IRA" was
arrested in Detroit
in
America
at the request of the British Imperial
Government's
Scotland Yard because the
British
King
and Queen
were visiting
Canada as there were by now
10,000,000
Irish
- Americans
in
the population of the
United States
and
76 of
these were members of the
American
Congress
who sought an
explanation from
President
Roosevelt
as to why he was
"imprisoned" and they "boycotted" the
Royal visit, so
Sean Russell was
released
on
$5,000 bail put up by
Joseph Mac Garrity
from the
Irish - American Clann na Gael
/ The Organization
and he was
then "ordered" to "leave" the USA.
June 10th:
In England the
"Anti - Treaty IRA" destroyed
30 Pillar Boxes
and
Post Offices, and carried out
another further 17
explosions
in London,
with others in
Birmingham and
Manchester, while trying to gain
further "publicity" for their campaign of "re - unification" of the
6 Counties "artificially
partitioned" from the 9
Counties in the
Ulster Province with the other
26
June 14th:
In the Dail Eireann / Irish Assembly in
Erie / Ireland an "Act"
was passed in the
Parliament
to
incorporate "Offences against the
State Law," and the
"Anti - Treaty
IRA"
was again "officially" declared an "illegal" association and
Gerald Boland now became the new
Minister For Justice in the
Eire Government.
June 19th: In London once again "Anti - Treaty IRA" bombs were set off.
In Eire /
Ireland
200 Irishmen
staged a "procession" to honour the memory of
Theobold Wolfe - Tone the non - Catholic founder of
Irish Republicanism, and demanded the release of the
"Anti - Treaty
IRA" prisoners
held by Eamonn de Valera's
Fianna Fail Government in the Irish jails in
Dublin.
June 20th:
The
"Anti - Treaty IRA" planned commemoration for
Theobold Wolfe - Tone
to be held at
his nominated grave site at
Bodenstown
in
Co. Kildare in
Central Southern Leinster was
"banned" again by
Eamonn de Valera
the Irish
Prime Minister who
tried to stop it with the Irish
police /
Garda who could not handle it, so he had to bring in the Irish
National Army to bring it to an end,
while at the "Anti - Treaty
IRA" Memorial
that was held at the
Glasnevin Cemetery above
Dublin the
"Anti - Treaty IRA"
there stated
"publicly" that they did not want
"Civil War" in
Eire, or
to take over the
6 Counties "artificially partitioned"
from the 9 Counties in the Ulster Province
and that they had also ordered that there were to be "no casualties" in
the "bombing campaign" in
England.