'No Surrender Here!'

The Civil War Papers of Ernie O'Malley 1922-1924

Cormac K.H. O'Malley, Ernie O'Malley, Cormac O'Malley, Anne Dolan

• Publisher: The Lilliput Press
• Year: 2008
• Print ISBN: 9781843511274
• eBook ISBN: 9781843512967
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: European History
• Index: History

This collection documents one man's attitude to war and his difficult acceptance of peace, his experience of capture, imprisonment, hunger strike and finally release. In these letters, however, 'No Surrender Here!' also captures the voices of both the leadership and the rank and file: the detached and often inappropriate orders from above, and the confusion of men who, in some cases without boots on their feet, know that theirs is a hopeless cause. Letters to friends and family also reveal the more personal costs of war. Just over a month after the 1921 truce that ended Ireland's fight with England, Ernie O'Malley longed for a return to war. Ten months later he was waging civil war against many of the men he had once fought with, against those who accepted the new Irish Free State. 'No Surrender Here!' The Civil War Papers of Ernie O'Malley 1922-1924 is the first comprehensive collection of letters, memoranda and orders detailing this period of chaos and confusion, intransigence and idealism, which gripped the country from June 1922 to May 1923. These documents detail the war as it was fought with none of the benefit of hindsight and occasional artistry that marks the memoirs of many of the men involved, not least O'Malley's own carefully crafted narratives, 'On Another Man's Wound' and 'The Singing Flame', published decades later. These fully annotated documents, given historical perspective with a general introduction by Professor Joe Lee, provide extraordinary insights into the republican mentality during the Irish Civil War, into what remains a contested and controversial period of modern Irish history.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• ILLUSTRATIONS
• Acknowledgments
• Note on the Text
• The Background: Anglo-Irish Relations, 1898–1921
• Personal Setting
• The Papers in Context
• Details of Military Service, 1916–19241 and List of Wounds
• List of Documents
• Abbreviations
• PART I : From the Truce to the Fall of the Four Courts
• PART II : Four Courts to Ailesbury Road
• PART III : Prison
• APPENDIX I : Text of the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty between Great Britain and Ireland
• APPENDIX II : Draft Programme for Army Convention, 25 March 1922
• APPENDIX III : Draft Constitution Adopted at the Army Convention, 9 April 1922
• APPENDIX IV : Minutes of the Army Council – Proposals of Free State Delegates
• APPENDIX V : Minutes of the IRA Executive Meeting, 16–17 October 1922
• APPENDIX VI : Draft Proclamation by the IRA, 28 October 1922
• APPENDIX VII : General Orders
• APPENDIX VIII : Operation Orders
• APPENDIX IX : Routine Orders
• APPENDIX X : Memos
• APPENDIX XI : Calendars for August 1921–August 1924
• APPENDIX XII : Names Mentioned in the Text – Ranks and Positions Held during the Civil War1
• Glossary of Irish Terms
• Bibliography
• Index
• Plates
• Copyright