Tourmakeady ambush - Misplaced Pages

Ambush carried out by the IRA in Ireland in 1921

Tourmakeady ambush

Date	3 May 1921
Location	Tourmakeady, County Mayo
Result	IRA victory

Belligerents

Irish Republican Army
(South Mayo Brigade)

Royal Irish Constabulary
(Black and Tans)

Commanders and leaders

Tom Maguire

Geoffrey Ibberson

Strength

60 volunteers

600 British troops
120 Auxiliaries

Casualties and losses

1 killed
1 wounded

4 killed
1 wounded

v t e Irish War of Independence
Timeline Soloheadbeg Knocklong Holywell Sack of Balbriggan Rineen Tooreen Ballinalee Piltown Cross Tralee Bloody Sunday (Dublin) Kilmichael Burning of Cork Pickardstown Drumcondra Clonfin Dromkeen Upton Clonmult Coolavokig Sheemore Clonbanin Kilfaul Selton Hill Burgery Crossbarry Headford Scramoge Tourmakeady Kilmeena Custom House Carrowkennedy Rathcoole Coolacrease Bloody Sunday (Belfast) McMahon killings Arnon Street killings Dunmanway killings

Irish War of Independence

Timeline

The Tourmakeady ambush or Battle of Tourmakeady occurred on 3 May 1921 during the Irish War of Independence. The South Mayo Brigade of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), commanded by Commandant Tom Maguire ambushed an RIC/Black and Tan re-supply patrol in the village of Tourmakeady, County Mayo in the west of Ireland in order to destroy the patrol and to cause the closure of Derrypark RIC Barracks, seven miles to the south.

IRA Adjutant (South Mayo Brigade) Michael O’Brien sustained fatal injuries when he was shot while trying to assist the injured Brigade leader (Maguire). Another IRA Volunteer, Pádraig Feeney, was also killed that afternoon, a monument in Tourmakeady commemorates him. Royal Irish Constabulary Constables Christopher O'Regan, William Power and Sergeant John Regan were killed in the battle. Black and Tans Constable Hubert Oakes also died in the ambush.

Following the ambush, the Flying Column took to the nearby Partry Mountains and were subsequently engaged by British troops from the Border Regiment. Extensive searches and reprisals followed in the area over the next week. On 3 May 1921, in reprisal for the ambush, Crown forces burned several commercial establishments and homes in the area.

References

O'Halpin, Eunan & Ó Corráin, Daithí (2020), The Dead of the Irish Revolution. Yale University Press, pgs 404-405.
O'Halpin, pg 405.
McGrath, Pat (4 May 2021). "Centenary of War of Independence ambush marked in Mayo". RTE News. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
Donal Buckley, The Battle of Tourmakeady, 2008
O'Halpin, pg 405.

Categories: