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Decoding the IRA

Page 39

by Tom Mahon


  69 An Timthire to [no name], 28 February 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (98–9).

  70 An Timthire to [no name], 18 March 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (80).

  71 An Timthire to [no name], 28 February 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (98–9).

  72 Neenan to Twomey, 1933, in MTUCDA P69/185 (51).

  73 Irish Times, 1 May 1926.

  74 JB to Mr Browne, 25 October 1926, in MTUCDA P69/183 (180).

  75 JB to Mr Browne, 8 November 1926, in MTUCDA P69/183 (178–9).

  76 MD to Mr Brown, 15 January 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (132–3).

  77 An Timthire to [no name], 1 February 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (129–31).

  78 Ibid.

  79 An Timthire to [no name], 28 February 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (98–9).

  80 Ibid. An Timthire to [no name], 18 March 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (80).

  81 An Timthire to [no name], 1 February 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (129–31); CS to OC Kerry 1 Bde, 25 February 1924 [1927], in MTUCDA P69/48 (295).

  82 An Timthire to [no name], 1 February 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (129–31).

  83 The Advocate, 2 April 1927.

  84 An Timthire to [no name], 11 March 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (84–5).

  85 An Timthire to [no name], 18 March 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (80).

  86 Ibid.

  87 An Timthire to [no name], 28 February 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (98–9).

  88 Chairman to An Timthire, 3 February 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (123–5).

  89 An Timthire to [no name], 28 February 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (98–9).

  90 Chairman to An Timthire, 29 April 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (58–9).

  91 Terrace Talk Ireland website, ‘Kerry’s First American Tour of 1927’, reviewed 30 Aug. 2006.

  92 An Timthire to [no name], 1 February 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (129–31).

  93 An Timthire to [no name], 28 February 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (98–9).

  94 An Timthire to ]no name], 18 May 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (38-40).

  95 Chairman to An Timthire, 8 April 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (74–5).

  96 Chairman to An Timthire, 29 April 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (58–9).

  97 CS to ‘A Chara’, 6 May 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (63).

  98 An Timthire to [no name], 1 February 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (129–31).

  99 The Advocate, 2 April 1927.

  100 Information on the 1927 tour. Terrace Talk Ireland website, ‘Kerry’s First American Tour of 1927’, reviewed 30 August 2006. New York Times, 30 May 1927, 5 July 1927 and 18 July 1927. Irish World, 17 July 1927 and 23 July 1927; An Timthire to [no name], 18 May 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (38–40).

  101 Coogan, The IRA, p. 73.

  102 Twomey to Neenan, 1933, in MTUCDA P69/185 (24). Neenan to Twomey, 1933, in MTUCDA P69/185 (51). MacEoin, U., The IRA in the Twilight Years, 1923–1948 (Argenta Publications, Dublin, 1997), p. 238.

  103 Amos, F. and West, C., Chemical Warfare (McGraw Hill, New York, 1921), pp. 18, 19, 22, 80, 150, 163, 168, 175, 176, 380.

  104 Ibid., pp. 15, 137, 143, 390, 137.

  105 Swearengen, T., Tear Gas Munitions (Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, Illinois, 1966), pp. 4, 5, 12, 20, 22, 23, 53, 103–11.

  106 Borgonovo, J., Florence and Josephine O’Donoghue’s War of Independence (Irish Academic Press, Dublin, 2006), pp. 102–3, 109.

  107 McMahon, P., ‘British intelligence and the Anglo-Irish truce, 1921’, Irish Historical Studies, Vol. XXXV, No. 140 (November 2007), pp. 519–40.

  108 CS to Military Attache, 15 April 1925, in MTUCDA P69/37 (221–3).

  109 JB to Mr Browne, 8 November 1926, in MTUCDA P69/183 (178–9); HS to CS, 10 November 1926, in MTUCDA P69/41 (28).

  110 Act. CS to HS, 13 November 1926, in MTUCDA P69/41 (20); [No name] to Mr Jones, 10 November 1926, in MTUCDA P69/183 (173–4).

  111 JB to Mr Brown [in this case the letter is for Cooney and not Twomey], 26 November 1926, in MTUCDA P69/183 (168–9).

  112 No name to Mr Browne (this letter is in reply to letters from Cooney, and was most likely read by both Cooney and Twomey), 26 December 1926, in MTUCDA P69/183 (156).

  113 Kramer A. Dynamic of Destruction, p. 54

  114 Chairman to Mr Jones, 3 February 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (116–18).

  115 Jones to Browne, 28 February 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (102–4).

  116 [No name] to Mr Jones, 18 March 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (82–3).

  117 Chairman to Mr Jones, 29 April 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (66).

  118 Chairman to An Timthire, 18 March 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (77–8); [No name] to Mr Jones, 18 March 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (82–3); chairman to An Timthire, 8 April 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (74–5). There’s a reference in cipher in this last document to ‘mace and billys’ and also in an unencrypted document P69/48 (340), 7 February 1924 [1927]. This could not be referring to the trade name ‘Mace’ for CN gas which was developed in 1962 , but might be a reference to the billy or truncheon as a ‘mace’. As the phrase is both in cipher and plain text, it verifies the accuracy of the decryption; in P69/183 (80) Twomey mentions a ‘Dan Byrne’ and, as discussed in Chapter 11, this is most likely another name for ‘Mr Jones’.

  119 [No name] to Mr Jones, 18 March 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (82–3).

  120 Jones to Mr Smith, 8 April 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (68).

  121 Jones to Browne, 28 February 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (102–4).

  122 Hu, H. et al., ‘Tear Gas – Harassing Agent or Toxic Chemical Weapon?’ Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 262, No. 5 (4 August 1989).

  123 Swearengen, Tear Gas Munitions, p.105. Hu, et al., ‘Tear Gas – Harassing Agent or Toxic Chemical Weapon?’

  124 ‘Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare’, US Department of State website, reviewed 2 February 2008; ‘High contracting Parties to the Geneva Protocol’, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute website (www.sipri. org), reviewed 2 February 2008.

  125 Durney, J., The Mob: The History of Irish Gangsters in America.

  126 Bayor, R. and Meagher, T., The New York Irish, p. 366.

  127 Ibid., p. 370.

  128 MA to QMG, 21 November 1924, in MTUCDA P69/37 (226); MA to QMG, 16 February 1925, in MTUCDA P69/37 (227–8).

  129 MA to QMG, 21 November 1924, in MTUCDA P69/37 (226).

  130 Ibid.

  131 MA to QMG, 16 February 1925, in MTUCDA P69/37 (227–8).

  132 AG to QMG, 17 Nov. 1924, in MTUCDA P69/138 (12–13).

  133 CS to OC Cork 1, 26 April 1926, in MTUCDA P69/44 (95).

  134 Note, unsigned and unaddressed, no date. Stamped: IRA 23 Aug. 1927, in MTUCDA P69/196 (104).

  135 Hart, P., The IRA at War 1916–1923, p. 183.

  136 Ibid., p. 184–91.

  137 Ibid., p. 189.

  138 MA to QMG, 16 February 1925, in MTUCDA P69/37 (227–8).

  139 Jones to Mr Browne, 28 February 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (102–4).

  140 Coogan, T. P., The IRA: A History (Roberts Rinehart Publishers, Niwot, Colorado, 1993), p. 73.

  141 Hart, The IRA at War, pp. 190–1.

  142 Ibid., pp. 189–91.

  143 An Timthire to [no name], 21 December 1926, in MTUCDA P69/183 (159–60). Irish Times, 9 November 1926.

  144 An Timthire to [no name], 21 December 1926, in MTUCDA P69/183 (159–60).

  145 An Timthire to [no name], 28 February 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (98–9); Chairman to An Timthire, 3 February 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (123–5).

  146 Chairman to An Timthire, 2 February 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (123–5).

  147 In cipher both Twomey and Neenan spelled the ships name as the Victor Emanuel, leaving out the second ‘n’; chairman to An Timthire, 9 February 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (111–12).

  148 An Timthire to Mr Smith, 20 April 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (48–51).

  149 Irish Times, 1 May 1926.

  150 Hanley, ‘Irish Republicans in interwar New York’, p. 3.

>   151 New York Times, 17 January 1926.

  152 Minutes of meeting of Army Executive, 27 April 1927, in MTUCDA P69/48 (104–5).

  153 New York Times, 17 January 1926.

  154 Coogan, The IRA, pp. 80–1.

  155 Tarpey, The Role of Joseph McGarrity, p. 232.

  156 Cronin, S., The McGarrity Papers (Anvil Books, Tralee, 1972), p. 144.

  157 JB to Mr Browne, 8 November 1926, in MTUCDA P69/183 (178–9).

  158 JB to Mr Brown, 5 November 1926, in MTUCDA P69/183 (168–9).

  159 Chairman to An Timthire, 9 February 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (111–12).

  160 An Timthire to [no name], 1 February 1927 in P79/183 (129–31).

  161 Chairman to An Timthire, 2 March 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (88–9).

  162 Report of the foreign relations committee, no date, in MTUCDA P69/183 (136).

  163 Chairman to An Timthire, 2 March 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (88–9); chairman to An Timthire, 11 May 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (41–3).

  164 An Timthire to [no name], 1 February 1927 in P69/183 (129–31).

  165 Tarpey, The Role of Joseph McGarrity, pp. 224–5.

  166 Chairman to An Timthire, 24 February 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (106–7).

  167 Chairman to An Timthire, 2 March 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (88–9).

  168 MD to Mr Brown, 15 January 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (132–3).

  169 Letter of introduction from Cardinal Dougherty, 13 December 1926 in McGarrity papers, MS 17553 NLI.

  170 An Timthire to [no name], 28 February 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (98–9).

  171 An Timthire to Mr Smith, 20 April 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (48–51).

  172 An Timthire to [no name], 18 May 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (38–40).

  173 An Timthire to Mr Smith, 20 April 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (48–51).

  174 Ibid.

  175 Ibid.

  176 An Timthire to [no name], 18 May 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (38–40).

  177 An Timthire to Mr Smith, 20 April 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (48–51).

  178 An Timthire to [no name], 18 May 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (38–40).

  179 Chairman to An Timthire, 9 February 1927 in P69/183 (111–12).

  180 An Timthire to Mr Smith, 20 April 1927 in P69/183 (48–51).

  181 Hanley, ‘Irish Republicans in interwar New York’, pp. 4–5.

  182 An Timthire to [no name], 1 February 1927 in P69/183 (129–31).

  183 Chairman to An Timthire, 2 March 1927 in P69/183 (88–9).

  184 Doorley, Irish-American Diaspora Nationalism, pp. 34, 64, 89.

  185 An Timthire to [no name], 28 February 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (98–9); New York Times, 24 February 1927.

  186 Tarpey, The Role of Joseph McGarrity, pp. 305–6.

  187 Doorley, Irish-American Diaspora Nationalism, p. 193.

  188 Tarpey, The Role of Joseph McGarrity, p. 200.

  189 Ibid., pp. 210–11.

  190 Ibid., pp. 218.

  191 Ibid., p. 231.

  192 MA to QMG, 9 January 1925, in MTUCDA P 69/37 (225); the currency for the amount of 25,000 is not given, but is more likely to be US dollars than £ sterling.

  193 MA to MD, 21 January 1925, in MTUCDA P69/37 (229–30); MA to QMG, 9 January 1925, in MTUCDA P 69/37 (225).

  194 CS to MA, 15 April 1925, in MTUCDA P69/37 (221–3).

  195 Tarpey, The Role of Joseph McGarrity, p. 221.

  196 An Timthire to [no name], 18 May 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (34).

  197 Unsigned to An Timthire, 25 November 1923 [1926], in MTUCDA P69/183 (171).

  198 Unsigned to Jones, 7 December 1926, in MTUCDA P69/183 (163–4); though this letter is unsigned there is considerable evidence that it was written by Andy Cooney rather than Moss Twomey. Firstly, Twomey was still imprisoned. Secondly, the writer states that he had ‘just’ met the Soviet agent ‘James’ in London and Cooney had met with ‘James’ less than two weeks earlier – see: unsigned to ‘A Chara Dhil’, 25 November 1926, in MTUCDA P69/47 (52). Third, the author refers to his ‘leaving’ the US, and Cooney had returned to Ireland in the autumn of 1926, whereas Twomey hadn’t recently been in the US, if ever.

  199 An Timthire to [no name], 21 December 1926, in MTUCDA P69/183 (159–60); most likely from Connie Neenan rather than ‘Mr Jones’; Neenan accepted the position of An Timthire on 2 December.

  200 JB to Mr Browne, 21 October 1926, in MTUCDA P69/183 (183); chairman to An Timthire, 3 June 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (3–4).

  201 Unsigned to Jones, 7 December 1926, in MTUCDA P69/183 (163–4).

  202 MD to Mr Brown, 15 January 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (132–3).

  203 Unsigned to Mr Jones, 14 December 1926, in MTUCDA P69/183 (161–2); An Timthire to [no name], 10 May 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (29–30).

  204 An Timthire to [no name], 1 February 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (129–31).

  205 Chairman to [no name], 2 March 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (88–9).

  206 Instead of ‘except’ the actual decryption is ‘expect’ which I have taken to be an error by the document’s author; unsigned to Mr Jones, 18 March 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (82–3).

  207 Chairman to An Timthire, 29 April 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (58–9); chairman to An Timthire, 8 April, in MTUCDA P69/183 (74–5).

  208 Chairman to An Timthire, 11 May 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (41–3).

  209 An Timthire to [no name], 10 May 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (29–30); O’Connor’s title is given as both ‘Miss’ and ‘Mrs’.

  210 An Timthire to Mr Smith, 20 April 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (48–51).

  211 Chairman to An Timthire, 11 May 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (41–3).

  212 An Timthire to [no name], 18 May 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (34).

  213 Chairman to An Timthire, 3 June 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (3–4).

  214 Tarpey, The Role of Joseph McGarrity, p. 243.

  215 Ibid., p. 246.

  216 Chairman of Army Council to An Timthire, 8 April 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (74–75).

  217 Unsigned to Mr Browne, 26 December 1926, in MTUCDA P69/183 (156); unsigned to Jones, 7 December 1926, in MTUCDA P69/183 (163–4).

  218 An Timthire to [no name], 21 December 1926, in MTUCDA P69/183 (159–60).

  219 An Timthire quoted in a document captured from the IRA courier, Patrick Garland, and published in the Irish papers; Irish Times, 1 May 1926.

  220 Chairman of Army Council to An Timthire, 8 April 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (74–5).

  221 Unsigned to George [Gilmore], 2 May 1927, in MTUCDA P69/48 (75).

  222 MD to Mr Brown, 15 January 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (132–3).

  223 Ambrose, J., Dan Breen and the IRA (Mercier Press, Cork, 2007).

  224 Miss Annie O’Mahoney’s address was given as: 431 W. 24th Street, New York; An Timthire to [no name], 28 February 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (98–99). Irish Times, 1 May 1926.

  225 An Phoblacht, 10 December 1926; The Advocate, 23 April 1927.

  226 CS to military attache, 15 April 1925, in MTUCDA P69/37 (221–3).

  227 Tarpey, The Role of Joseph McGarrity, p. 213.

  228 Hanley, The IRA: 1926–1936, p. 164.

  229 Chairman to An Timthire, 2 March 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (88–9).

  230 An Timthire to [no name], 1 February 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (129–31).

  231 MD to Mr Brown, 15 January 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (132–3).

  232 Chairman to An Timthire, 3 February 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (123–5).

  233 An Timthire to [no name], 1 February 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (129–31).

  234 An Timthire to [no name], 18 March 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (80).

  235 Chairman to An Timthire, 24 February 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (106–7); chairman to An Timthire, 20 May 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (32).

  236 Chairman to An Timthire, 3 June 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (6).

  237 Hanley, ‘Irish Republicans in interwar New York’, p. 3.

  238 Coleman, M., ‘The Irish Hospitals Sweepstake in the United States of America, 1930–39’, HIS, Vol
. xxxv, No. 138 (November 2006), pp. 220–37.

  239 Twomey to Neenan, 3 March 1933, in MTUCDA P69/185 (78–9).

  240 FBI file on IRA, no date, referred to the bombing dated 28 May 1939, file number 61–555.

  241 Tarpey, The Role of Joseph McGarrity, p. 339.

  242 Ibid., pp. 330–40

  CHAPTER 8: THE SOVIET UNION AND CHINA

  1 I use the terms ‘Russia’ and ‘Soviet’ interchangeably, as the Soviet Union was in reality the Russian Empire in another guise. The independence of the constituent republics of the USSR was largely fictitious and control was centralised in Moscow.

  2 Leonard, R., Secret Soldiers of the Revolution: Soviet Military Intelligence 1918–1931 (Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut, 1999), pp. 171–2.

  3 Ibid., pp. 86–7.

  4 O’Connor, E., Reds and the Green: Ireland, Russia and the Communist Internationals 1919–43 (UCD Press, Dublin, 2004), pp. 6–7.

  5 In 1941 the RU was renamed the more familiar GRU; Leonard, Secret Soldiers of the Revolution, p. 17.

  6 Leonard, Secret Soldiers of the Revolution, pp. XII–XIII.

  7 Ibid., pp. 57, 71.

  8 Tucker, J., War of Nerves: Chemical Warfare from World War 1 to Al-Quaeda (Pantheon Books, New York, 2006), p. 20.

  9 Conversation in 2007 with Jeffrey Smart, Chief Historian, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland.

  10 O’Connor, Reds and the Green, p. 15.

  11 Ibid., pp. 2–3.

  12 Ibid., p. 89.

  13 Ibid., pp. 93, 127; MacEoin, U., The IRA in the Twilight Years, 1923–1948 (Argenta Publications, Dublin, 1997), pp. 116–17.

  14 An Phoblacht, 22 January 1926; O’Connor, Reds and the Green, pp. 128, 170.

  15 O’Connor, Reds and the Green, pp. 165, 187–8.

  16 Ibid., pp. 45, 47.

  17 Ibid., p. 1.

  18 Ibid., p. 74.

  19 CS to military attaché, 15 April 1925, in MTUCDA P69/37 (221–3).

  20 O’Connor, Reds and the Green, p. 112.

  21 I am very grateful to Emmet O’Connor for sending me a copy of Krivitsky’s M.I.5 file; CAB 126/250 from the National Archives, Kew.

  22 S to MD, 30 September 1925, in MTUCDA P69/208 (7).

  23 Unsigned to Jones, December 1926, in MTUCDA P69/183 (163–4).

  24 Unsigned to Mr Jones, 18 March 1927, in MTUCDA P69/183 (82–3).

  25 I am very grateful to Emmet O’Connor for sending me a copy of Krivitsky’s M.I.5 file; CAB 126/250 from the National Archives, Kew.

 

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