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County Cork, Southern Ireland. As dusk falls, a small military convoy approaches the village of Belnablau. Suddenly, shots are heard from a hill overlooking the road The convoy stops, a fierce gunfight ensues. As the ambushers retreat, a tall figure emerges from behind an armored car to pursue them. He stops to shoot and falls from a bullet to the head. The leader of the new Irish Free State falls to the ground. Is he dead? And if so, who wanted him dead? Civil wars are usually the most violent conflicts. Families are being torn apart. Friends fight against friends. Betrayal and intrigue add to the inevitable fog of war. And when a leading figure is shot in a mysterious and seemingly senseless manner,
conspiracy theories quickly arise. This has never been more relevant than in the case of Michael Collins. Hit by a single bullet during an ambush. Shot because he chose to risk his life when the enemy was already fleeing. Was this a planned murder, or just a senseless and unnecessary incident? The shooting of Collins eliminates the only person who could have brought the Irish Civil War to a quick and relatively bloodless conclusion. Instead, it continues for another 9 months with increasingly brutal atrocities and repression. The roots of the conflict that took Collins' life go back a long way. By the mid-17th century, England had conquered Ireland. The Protestant ruling class
controls a predominantly Roman Catholic population. Throughout the 19th century, there were frequent demands for self- government, which failed in the British Parliament. In 1914, another attempt to push through a bill on self- government nearly leads to disaster. Protestants in the northeastern province of Ulster begin to arm themselves for the fight. Only the outbreak of World War I prevents civil war and rebellion. Tens of thousands of Irishmen volunteer to fight for Britain. Nevertheless, demands for independence continue. April 24, 1916, Dublin. The Easter Monday uprising was quickly suppressed, and the leaders were imprisoned.
Violence flares up again after the end of World War I. A guerrilla campaign against continued British rule soon begins. Its military leader is Michael Collins. His brilliant use of guerrilla tactics soon makes him enemy number one for the British government. The man now recognized as one of the greatest masters of unconventional warfare was born in County Cork on October 16, 1890. Collins becomes an ardent nationalist and is captured after the Easter Rising of 1916. Imprisoned in Wales, he becomes a member of Sinn Féin, a small nationalist party led by the ambitious young politician Eamon de Valera. After the end of World War I,
Collins was released. At the next general election, he is elected as a member of the British Parliament, but, like other members of Sinn Féin, refuses to take his seat. Then the Irish MPs create a separatist Irish Parliament-Doyle Ehren. He declares Ireland a republic. De Valera is elected president, and Collins becomes Adjutant General of the Irish Republican Army and Director of Intelligence. 1920, Ireland. So, when the British government tries to destroy the new republic by force, Michael Collins proves himself a master of guerrilla tactics, ambushing enemy convoys and attacking barracks, draining British resources to the limit. Collins quickly realizes that one of the main flaws of the Irish republicans is that their ranks are full of British
spies and informers. He tracks them down mercilessly. At dawn on November 21, 1920, strike groups kill 14 British agents. Collins later extends this tactic to identifying key enemy intelligence officers and eliminating them. The British are reacting furiously to the Republican campaign. To reinforce the regular troops, irregular formations are being recruited from former unemployed soldiers. Known as the " Black-and-Aggro," these people become notorious for their cruelty. By 1920, the British were offering a huge reward of £10,000, the equivalent of over a million pounds today, for Collins' head- dead or alive.
But nothing stops the fighting. December 1920, London. With the country exhausted by the horrific war, the British government of David Lloyd George soon recognizes that it is necessary to grant Ireland some form of self- government. Preliminary approaches are made to De Valera, and a truce and negotiations for some form of self- government are agreed upon. Cunningly, De Valera left himself room for manoeuvre by refusing to lead the republicans on the grounds that King George V would not lead the British delegation. Instead, he chooses Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith. Both hesitate, certain that the British
will not allow the creation of a fully independent republic, and distrust the motives of De Valera, who has remained on the sidelines. October 1921, London. As expected, the most the British will agree to is a free state within the British Empire, where the king remains the nominal head. The six counties of Protestant Ulster are to be separated. Griffith and Collins know that this is far less than many in Sinn Féin and the IRA want, but they are also convinced that nothing more Signing the contract at 2:30 a.m., Collins says, "I may have signed my own death warrant."
Most people in the south of Ireland are desperate for peace and reluctantly support the treaty. Almost inevitably, de Valera denounces the treaty as a betrayal. But after a heated debate on January 7, 1922, Doyle approved it. De Valera immediately resigns as President of Ireland and forms a new party to fight for a republic. Many of Collins' former colleagues and friends in the IRA join him. Nevertheless, the Free State was created, with Arthur Griffith as its president and Michael Collins as its interim prime minister. In the first half of 1922, Collins tries to gain the IRA's support for the treaty, but the situation quickly escalates into civil war as both sides recruit former soldiers.
April 14, 1922, Dublin. Republicans opposed to the treaty occupy the Four Courts, hoping to provoke an armed response from the British, who are withdrawing troops by then. The new Free State government refuses to respond. A stalemate ensues while the Free State's national army is built up. Meanwhile, the partition continues, and in the new Ulster, Protestants begin pogroms against the remaining Catholics. One of the main ideologues of this is Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson, the Ulster-born former head of the British Army. June 22, 1922, London. Wilson was shot, most likely at the behest of Michael Collins, in retaliation for attacks on Ulster Catholics that
he had called for. The British government believes that this murder was committed by republicans who opposed the treaty and warns Collins that it will use force to liberate the Four Courts if the Free State government does not take action. June 28, 1922, Dublin. Using artillery provided by the British, Free State forces shell the Four Courts and then storm them, starting the civil war. The Free State government enjoys the support of the vast majority of the southern population, and over the next 6 weeks it takes control of most of the major cities, culminating in a naval landing at Cork on 10 August. De Valera and the anti-treaty Republican forces retreat into the countryside to wage guerrilla warfare, but Free State troops soon follow.
August 12, 1922, Dublin. Arthur Griffith dies of a cerebral hemorrhage. Collins remains the recognized leader of the Free State. He is desperate to reach a truce and organizes an inspection tour of the recently captured County Cork. On August 20, 1922, Collins traveled to Cork to meet with the local commander, General Emmett Dalton, a close friend. Many years later, Dalton describes his anxiety about prime minister's trip. I told him he was taking an unnecessary risk, and he said, "Of course not, they wouldn't shoot me in my home county." It is unlikely that Collins is aware of two facts that will soon raise difficult questions. The first is that the local commander of the anti-Treaty forces, Liam Dee, had scheduled a meeting of senior
IRA officers in the village of Beal Nabla, 20 miles west of Cork, for August 22nd. The second is that the day before, Eamon de Valera will visit Liam Dee for secret negotiations. Perhaps it is a coincidence that two leading figures from opposing sides of the civil war will find themselves in the same place at the same time. But Valera also recognized that a truce was necessary and was actively trying to achieve it. Was his meeting with Dee an attempt to convince him and then win over the local commanders? Was there also a possibility that Valera was hoping to meet Collins? August 21, 1922. Cork. After spending the morning inspecting the forces around the city, Collins drives to Macroom, which is about 20 miles away. There he holds a
mysterious meeting with the leader of a small group of IRA fighters who remained neutral. There is speculation that Collins hopes to use him as a go-between to reach Valera. Late in the evening he returns to Cork. August 22, 1922, Cork. At 6:15 a.m., Collins leaves in a small convoy on a visit to the southwest of the county. First he goes to Macroom and then back to Bandon to reach Clonakilty and Skibbereen. Why this detour to a city Collins had only been to the previous evening had been the subject of much speculation. The convoy consists of a motorcyclist, followed by an open
Crosley truck with two officers and 10 soldiers, and then an open Leyland touring car with two drivers in the front and Collins and Dalton in the back seat. At the rear of the column is a Rolls-Royce armored car with a Vickers machine gun. Collins wraps up business in Macroom around 8:00 a.m., and as the convoy passes through the village of Bel Nabla, he stops to ask directions to Bandon. The man they asked for directions was an IRA sentry. He recognizes Collins. It is now known that the enemy leader is in the area. August 22, 1922. Bel-Nabla. Hearing that Michael Collins has been spotted, the local IRA commander decides to prepare an ambush in case he returns by this road. It is unclear whether they planned to kill Collins or capture him
. It is during this discussion that Eamon de Valera, who had been spending the night nearby, arrives and is told what is happening. He was heard to say that it would be a shame if Collins were killed, as he had the greatest authority to negotiate a truce. But the local Irish republicans tell him that he has no military authority over them, and de Valera leaves without trying any further to convince them to abandon the ambush. The IRA members drag a cart across the road just outside the village and take up positions along a path running parallel to the north side of the road, about 120 yards up the slope. In Bandon, Collins holds a lengthy
meeting with the local Free State commander. Then his convoy heads to Clonakilty for lunch, and then on to Skibbereen. At 5:00 PM, Collins leaves Skibbereen and drives back to Bandon, where he dines with the local commanders. The convoy then sets off for Cork, intending, apparently on Collins' instructions, to stop at Macroom first. There is much speculation as to why Collins wanted to return to Macroom three times in less than 24 hours. Did he meet again with that neutral IRA member who needed instructions before the negotiations could continue? No satisfactory explanation was ever found, for it was a journey that never went beyond the borders of Belnable. By then, the Irish republicans who had set up the ambush had already decided that
Collins would not return. Most go to the pub in Belnable, leaving two men to clean up the cart and three more on the hillside as observers. August 22, 1922. Belnabla. Around 8:00 PM, observers see a motorcyclist leading Collins' convoy. From this point on, the accounts of what happened become contradictory. According to observers, they open fire on the truck, while the motorcyclist jumps off to hide. But John O'Connell in the Crossley truck remembered it differently. So we crashed, before we could brake, we flew straight into an obstacle, which consisted of a four-wheeled horse- drawn cart full of bottles of porter, and many of the bottles broke,
flying all over the road. Whatever actually happened, instead of moving on, the truck and car stop, Collins and Dalton jump out and run to cover behind the armored car, from where they open fire in return. The machine gun on the armored car also fires, but it constantly jams. However, after about 20 minutes, machine gun fire forces the IRA fighters on the hillside to retreat across the fields away from the village. Collins sees them and, by most accounts, leaves cover behind an armored car and runs out onto the road to shoot at them. But two witnesses much later recalled it quite differently. After a while the shooting died down and we could only hear distant shots,
distant volleys somewhere in the direction of Cork, and General Michael Collins stood up and looked around. Meanwhile he was loading his rifle, and while he was loading it, one long shot rang out, as if from a sniper, hitting him on the side of the head, on the right, he fell and did not say another word. I heard two shots and then I saw Michael Collins. I didn't know it was him then. I saw this man get up and fall again. You see, I saw Dalton, whom I didn't recognize at the time, run towards him. When Dalton reaches Collins, he is unconscious. He was wounded. He was lying there with a very deep wound on the back of his head. So I called the armored car back, we lifted it up, put it on the side of the armored car, and moved behind it so that
it was between us and their firing positions. We took him to the side of the road, and under the cover of an armored car we bandaged his wound. I bandaged the wound, and O'Connell read an act of repentance over him. I knew he was dying, if he wasn't already. Collins is taken to hospital in Cork, but dies on the way. Surprisingly, there was no investigation then or later into who killed Collins. Officially, this remains the tragic result of a chaotic shootout. The kind of accident that could happen in the midst of the chaos of a civil war. But rumors quickly began to spread that Collins' death was not accidental at all.
The presence of Eamon de Valera, his sworn enemy, in the village where the ambush was set, led many to assume that he had ordered Collins's murder. De Valera's words that Collins' death would be a major setback are considered a smokescreen to hide his involvement. And just as he used Collins to negotiate the treaty to avoid responsibility for it, so he used other people to get rid of his sworn enemy. But there was never any certainty that Collins would return through Bela-Nabla, and no evidence was presented directly linking de Valera to his murder. One of the IRA fighters retreating down the hillside was a former British Army rifleman. Retreating, he paused for a final shot at the tall officer and felt he could have hit him. But the
wound to Collins' head was later described as too large for a regular rifle bullet, whether it was a direct hit or a ricochet. This would require a " dum-dum" bullet. And although it was claimed much later that the shooter admitted to using such, this was never confirmed. The wound was most likely inflicted by Mauser pistols, which were used by militants on both sides. Soon, theories began to be put forward that the shot had been fired from close range. One of Collins' escorts could have accidentally hit him. But, more ominously, did someone take advantage of the opportunity to kill Collins? If so, who benefited from his death?
There is no doubt that the IRA ambushed Collins, but they could only have wanted to capture him. By stopping the car and turning the ambush into a chaotic shootout, Collins undoubtedly increased the chances that someone would die. And ironically, he was the only one who died. The IRA had good reasons not to want Collins dead. They were desperate for a ceasefire. And, as De Valera had predicted Collins' death turned out to be a disaster for them. Extremists such as William Cosgrave took over the Free State government and the killings continued for another 9 months before a ceasefire was finally agreed. Not all of his colleagues supported Collins. Some wanted more aggressive prosecution of the IRA and
were perhaps prepared to get rid of it. It was noted that some of the men in Collins' escort served in the British Army during the war. Their loyalty may have been questionable. This led to speculation that Collins was shot by a " sleeper agent" implanted by British intelligence, but no conclusive evidence of this theory was ever found. Suspicions remain that either De Valera wanted to eliminate his most powerful rival, or someone in his entourage wished him dead. If Collins' death was a murder, then, as is often the case, the main beneficiaries look like the most likely suspects. Heat.
