Thomas Bernardine Barry (1 July 1897 – 2 July 1980) was an Irish republican. He was a prominent guerrilla leader in the Irish Republican Army (IRA) during the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War. Barry is often known for orchestrating the Kilmichael ambush, in which he and his flying column attacked an 18-man patrol of Auxiliaries, killing sixteen men.
Born in County Kerry, Barry was the son of a former Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) constable. In 1915, at the age of seventeen, he joined the British Army and would go on to see action as a gunner in the Middle East during the First World War. Despite expressing some British patriotism during his early years, Barry's views slowly began to change towards Irish republicanism. In his memoir, Barry stated that this started shortly after he heard about the Easter Rising in 1916, though records show that after the war he made two unsuccessful attempts at joining the British Civil Service. In July 1920, he joined the IRA's 3rd Cork Brigade. Using his experience from his time in the British Army, he was able to train up the men in the flying column so it could become an effective fighting unit. Barry then became the column's overall commander and would lead the Brigade in a number of successful attacks against British forces, including the ambushes at Kilmichael and Crossbarry.
Barry was prominent amongst the Anti-Treaty IRA republicans who opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty. Following the outbreak of the civil war, Barry was briefly imprisoned by the new Irish Free State but managed to escape and go on to command Anti-Treaty forces in the southern regions of Ireland. When it became clear that victory could not be achieved, Barry proposed that the Anti-Treaty IRA should lay down their arms, which led to frequent clashes with Liam Lynch. Barry still continued to be a part of the IRA after the civil war and served briefly as its commander-in-chief in 1937, during which he devised a proposed plan for an IRA offensive into Northern Ireland and opened contacts with Nazi Germany. After leaving the IRA, Barry would write Guerrilla Days in Ireland (1949), a memoir about his service in World War I and in Ireland.
Fellow republican Dan Breen regarded Barry as the best leader of any IRA flying column.
Early life Barry was born in Killorglin, County Kerry. He was the son of a Royal Irish Constabulary policeman Thomas Barry and his wife Margaret Donovan. Four years later, Thomas Barry Senior resigned and opened a business in his hometown of Rosscarbery, County Cork. Barry was first educated at Ardagh Boys' National School before later attending Mungret College in County Limerick from 25 August 1911 to 12 September 1912. The reason for his short stay is indicated by a reference from the school register of the Apostolic School, Mungret College: "Went–Home (ran away) without knowledge of superiors – no vocation".Irish Jesuit Archives, School Register of Apostolic School, Mungret College, p. 66
World War I In 1915, during Ireland's involvement in World War I, he enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery at Cork and became a soldier in the British Army.
Barry enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery on 30 June 1915 and was sent to the military depot at Athlone for basic training. After six months he was posted to the Mesopotamian front (modern Iraq) on 21 January 1916. He fought from January 1916 in Mesopotamia (then part of the Ottoman Empire). On 1 March, he was raised to the rank of corporal. In April, while his brigade was attempting to break the Turkish Siege of Kut, Barry first heard of the Easter Rising, which he describes in his memoir as "a rude awakening".Barry, Guerilla Days in Ireland, p.1 Perhaps, in reaction to the British response to the Rising, Barry dropped his rank at his own request on 26 May and reverted to his original rank of gunner, which he would hold until the end of the war.Bunbury, Turtle: The Glorious Madness, Tales of The Irish and The Great War, Gunner Tom Barry and the Siege of Kut; p. 272, Gill & Macmillan, Dublin 12 (2014)
From January 1917 until March 1918, he saw further action south of Kut, where his unit suffered heavy casualties, and also at Fallujah, Samarra and Baquba. In May 1918, his division was moved to the Egyptian front for the campaign in Palestine. Barry, however, remained in Egypt from June 1918 until February 1919, when he was shipped back to Ireland. Barry had some minor disciplinary issues in the Army, being punished on a number of occasions for being late for parade and disrespectful to NCOs. Nevertheless, when officially discharged from the army on 7 April 1919 Barry was described as a sober, good, hardworking man.Bunbury, Turtle: p. 273
War of Independence On his return to Bandon in County Cork, Barry first began to study Law and Business Affairs, while at the same time maintaining friendship with local ex-servicemen's organisations and building connections to the Irish republican movement. Initially Barry seemed proud of his wartime British Army service and hoisted a Union flag at Bandon on the first anniversary of the war's end in November 1919. For this reason he was distrusted by some local republicans, particularly Tom Hales.Meda Ryan, the Tom Barry Story, p17
In fact Barry acted as secretary to the Bandon Branch of the ex-servicemen's association, which was headed by local unionist the Earl of Bandon, from mid-1919 until mid-1920. He also applied to join the British Civil Service and for a posting to India, but seems to have failed the relevant exams.
Barry claimed in his Military Pension Application in 1940 that he had been infiltrating the ex-servicemen's organisation on orders from IRA Intelligence officer Sean Buckley and was secretly enrolled in the IRA from August 1919.
However, it was only in July 1920 that he formally applied join the 3rd (West) Cork Brigade of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), which was then engaged in the Irish War of Independence (1919–1921).Bunburry, Turtle: p.273 A number of events have been cited as influencing his decision to join the IRA. One was his failure to secure employment after the war.Gerry White, From Gunner to Guerrilla, Tom Barry's Road to Rebellion, Irish Times 3 June 2020 Another was the death of fellow ex-serviceman John Bourke, a veteran of the Royal Munster Fusiliers, who was bayoneted to death in a riot between Irish veterans and British troops; Barry acted as a guard of honour at Bourke's funeral. A possible third reason was the brutal beating of IRA members Tom Hales and Patrick Harte, both of whom were from Bandon, by officers of the Essex Regiment during an interrogation in July 1920.
Before being accepted into the IRA, he was first interviewed by IRA officers Ted O'Sullivan and Charlie Hurley, in order to vet him. Having overcome the suspicion he could be a spy, and helped by the fact that Tom Hales had been arrested and replaced as Brigade commander by Charlie Hurley, by late summer he was acting as their brigade training officer.Bunburry, Turtle: p. 273 Barry was initially highly valued by the IRA for his military experience and his ability to train their own raw volunteers.Peter Hart, The IRA and its Enemies, p. 30–32
At this time the IRA's guerrilla tactics were taking shape and small groups of dedicated guerrillas were being organised and trained. Barry participated in four training campsTom Barry, The reality of the Anglo-Irish war, 1920-21 in West Cork, p22 and two attacks on British forces in the autumn of 1920 – the Fanlobus ambush on 9 October and the Tooreen Ambush on 22 October, at the latter of which he commanded a section. He also tried, with Charlie Hurley, to assassinate a number of local police and judicial officials.Hart, The IRA and its Enemies, p32
However, Barry soon came to command the West Cork Brigade's flying column and definitively made his name as a guerrilla commander at the Kilmichael Ambush on 28 November 1920. This was a turning point of the war, when a company of 18 Auxiliaries was wiped out at the cost three IRA killed.Tom Barry Guerilla Days in Ireland, p44-45 The British alleged that Barry's men had killed wounded and surrendering Auxiliaries and mutilated their corpses. This was a charge that Barry always denied, claiming that he had ordered that no prisoners be taken after the Auxiliaries faked a surrender resulting in the death of some of his men.Barry, Guerilla Days p. 44-51. For the ongoing debate about Kilmichael see Kilmichael Ambush#Controversy
Barry was hospitalised for a time after the Kilmichael action and martial law was proclaimed in County Cork and across much of the province of Munster in response. However, in December the column regrouped, attacking a number of police and military barracks in the West Cork region.Barry Guerilla Days pp 70-86 In one such instance in February 1921, Barry's column attempted to launch an attack on the RIC Barracks in Rosscarbery, billeting at Burgatia House, which was owned by a Loyalist family, to avoid detection. However, a contingent of Black and Tans was sent out to arrest them after being tipped off by a postman. After a brief firefight, Barry and his men were able to push them back and escape. The column, which was around 30–40 strong, dispersed shortly afterwards into smaller units and subsequently lost 11 men killed. Three men died in the Upton Train Ambush and eight more died in various incidents and encounters with British forces.Barry, Guerilla Days, p97
In March 1921, Barry mobilised his largest guerrilla force of 104 men, divided into seven sections, and at the Crossbarry Ambush broke out of an encirclement of 1,200 strong British force from the Essex Regiment. At least ten British soldiers were killed in the action, along with three IRA volunteers including Brigade commander Charlie Hurley.Barry, Guerilla Days, p 130, for British losses, Hart, IRA and its Enemies p. 321
In total, British forces numbered over 12,500 men in County Cork during the conflict, while Barry's men numbered no more than 310. Eventually, Barry's tactics made West Cork ungovernable for the British authorities except by military means. In the late spring and early summer of 1921, British forces mounted large sweeps of the West Cork area, complete with aerial surveillance and armoured vehicles, forcing Barry's column to spend much of its time "on the run" in mountainous terrain to avoid them. While they did avoid being encircled, they were able to mount only one more major attack, which was on Rosscarbery police barracks in late March 1921.Barry, Guerilla Days, pp. 133–141, 152–153 and 193–201
Barry's ability as a guerrilla commander was widely acknowledged in the IRA, and in the early summer of 1921 he was summoned to Dublin to meet with IRA leader Michael Collins and President of the Irish Republic Éamon de Valera. He also participated in the formation of the IRA's First Southern Division, of which he was made Deputy Commander.Meda Ryan, Tom Barry IRA Freedom Fighter, p 135
Barry openly admitted in his memoir to taking a hard line with people he believed were collaborators with the British forces. He stated that his unit executed 16 civilians accused of informing in the first six months of 1921.Barry, Guerilla Days, p105 While he acknowledged that nine of the 16 killings were Protestants, who were a minority in West Cork, he maintained that they were killed for no other reason than for their aid to British forces. He maintained, "The majority of the West Cork Protestants lived at peace throughout the entire struggle and were not interfered with by the IRA".Barry, Guerilla Days, p113 Barry also stated that his unit burned the houses of local loyalists in retaliation for burning of republicans' homes by British forces and carried out reprisal killings of captured and off-duty British soldiers in response to the execution of IRA men.Barry, Guerilla Days, p116