BiA ArmA 3 Operation - The Battle of Kilmallock

published on: 22/03/2026

Author: W. Jarvis

Historical background of the Battle of Kilmallock

The signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in December of 1921 saw the conclusion of the Irish War of Independence, a guerrilla war that had been fought in Ireland since 1919 between the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and British forces. This treaty provided the legal basis for the establishment of the Irish Free State, a self-governing dominion of the British Empire holding a status “the same as that of the Dominion of Canada”. It also provided means for Northern Ireland, established in May of 1921 through the Government of Ireland Act 1920, to opt out of the Irish Free State, which was exercised by the Parliament of Northern Ireland.

The Anglo-Irish Treaty was narrowly approved by a slim majority in the Dáil Éireann, otherwise known as the Assembly of Ireland, but the Irish Republican Army had split between those who supported the treaty and those who rejected it as a betrayal of the republican ideal. This split would lead to these two sides becoming the National Army, or Free State Army, and the Anti-Treaty IRA respectively, with civil war following soon after. The heartland of the IRA’s resistance to the National Army was the ‘Munster Republic’ of Cork and Kerry counties, with a weakly held defensive line established by IRA troops from Limerick city to the west, through the town of Tipperary, to Waterford city in the east. However, the IRA was soon dislodged from Tipperary while Limerick and Waterford both fell to National Army forces on the 21st of July 1922, who possessed a superiority in British arms and equipment, as well as having access to armoured cars and artillery.

After the fall of Limerick city to the National Army, the Anti-Treaty IRA retreated south towards the town of Kilmallock where they would attempt to make a stand. The town of Kilmallock was an unexceptional location, a span of agrarian land split up by some towns and villages, for the retreating IRA units to reorganise and link up with reinforcements from Cork county. Kilmallock was seen as a symbolic but not unimportant border town with Cork just south of it and major roads and railways nearby, while the town was also large enough to host a sizable garrison capable of halting the advance of the National Army.

The IRA could muster around 2,000 troops to defend Kilmallock, however, in comparison to the National Army, they lacked much of the support equipment needed to bolster the defensive positions around the town, namely they only had three improvised armoured cars, a few mortars and heavy machine guns but completely lacked any artillery. IRA units in Kilmallock were also a mixture of local, Cork and Kerry volunteers who had not fought together before, so differences in communication and co-ordinate caused issues for Liam Deasy, the overall commander of Anti-Treaty forces in the town. Despite these challenges, the IRA forces holding the town had positioned themselves on a series of small hills that dominated the approaches to the town, which would make any attempts of storming the town difficult for an attacking force.

On the other hand, the National Army, initially outnumbered by the IRA troops in the area, had around 1,500 men deployed to the cordon surrounding the town, however, the commander of Free State forces, General Eoin O'Duffy, complained that his men were inexperienced and unreliable, describing them as “a disgruntled, undisciplined and cowardly crowd”, in comparison to the IRA defending Kilmallock, many of whom were veterans of the fighting during the Irish War of Independence. National Army forces also struggled with the scarcity of supplies available to them initially, which was further frustrated by the lack of training and poor quality of the junior officers under O'Duffy’s command. However, despite the shortcomings of the National Army force surrounding Kilmallock, they were led by experienced senior officers who were able to effectively plan the advance on the town, for example, O'Duffy’s second-in-command, Major General William Murphy, served as a lieutenant colonel in World War One, and the attackers were able to rely on its material superiority in the coming battle, possessing a number of armoured cars, machine guns and mortars, most critically to the striking power of the National Army was the several 18 pounder field guns available to them.

The actual battle for Kilmallock was quite unique, being one of the few occasions during the Irish Civil War where both opposing forces had squared off against each other in a, albeit small scale, demonstration of positional warfare, reminiscent of the trench warfare seen during the Great War. Both sides had occupied a number of outposts at crossroads and on hilltops, which over time had established a well defined front line, with a ‘No-Man’s Land’ varying in width between 100 yards and a mile running through these positions.

On Sunday, the 23rd of July 1922, initial skirmishes took place as National Army forces began their advance on Kilmallock, securing the village of Bruff, however, they were forced to abandon their main effort of storming the town after twice being repulsed by determined resistance from IRA units inside the town. The next day, the IRA launched a counterattack against Free State forces, managing to recapture Bruff and securing 76 prisoners as a result. Due to this setback, General O'Duffy called off the advance on Kilmallock until more reinforcements arrived.

Once reinforcements had arrived, the National Army was back on the offensive, however, progress was slow and casualties were gradually increasing. On the 25th, a section of the Dublin Guard, an elite unit used as shock troops, was ambushed on a narrow road, resulting in four men dead. On the 30th, Major General Murphy launched an attack against the village of Bruree. The Dublin Guard stormed the village from the southeast, supported by armoured cars and an 18 pounder field gun, with IRA forces holding out for five hours until Free State artillery began shelling the town. At least 13 men of the National Army and 9 IRA fighters were killed in this action.

The loss of Bruree was of great concern to Commandant General Deasy, who in response drew up plans to recapture the village using armoured cars, mortars and machine guns. On the 2nd of August, Anti-Treaty troops launched another counterattack against Free State Army positions, taking them by surprise, with the headquarters building and a garrison being attacked by armoured cars. However, with National Army reinforcements arriving alongside armoured car support, the IRAs counterattack stalled. Having failed to secure the village of Bruree, the remnants of the IRA that had attacked the village retreated back towards Kilmallock.

With the initiative back in the hands of the National Army following the IRAs failed counterattack, a force of 2,000 men, supported by armoured cars and artillery, now advanced on Kilmallock once more on the 3rd of August, through the villages of Bruree, Dromin and Bulgaden with mixed results. By the 5th, the town was surrounded by Free State forces, with elements of the Dublin Guard holding the flanks to prevent IRA fighters from escaping. National Army artillery was then brought up to shell IRA positions on Kilmallock Hill and Quarry Hill, which soon fell to Free State forces.

By the evening of the 5th, forward elements of O'Duffy’s force had entered Kilmallock. To the surprise of the Free State soldiers clearing the town, it was mostly deserted, with only light resistance encountered from an IRA unit that had been left behind in the town as a rearguard. Unknown to the units actively fighting for Kilmallock, the National Army had opened a second front in the rear of the ‘Munster Republic’ by landing troops by sea near Tralee on the 2nd of August. This was a significant development for the defenders of Kilmallock who, as mentioned previously, were volunteers from throughout southern Ireland, which had resulted in much of the Kerry county contingent disengaging from the fighting to prioritise the defense of their home county. This was also the case for the volunteers from Cork county who, in anticipation of more naval landings on the southern coast, had also slipped away. With many of his remaining combat effective fighting units abandoning the battlefield, Deasy had no choice but to retreat from Kilmallock to Charleville or face the complete destruction of his unit, a small unit had been left in the town to cover their retreat, the same unit Free State forces encountered when they stormed the supposedly heavily defended town. As a result of this, the town of Kilmallock would be under the control of the National Army by the end of the 5th.

To conclude, as mentioned previously, the Battle of Kilmallock is quite unique, being one of the few occasions during both the earlier Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War where the Irish Republican Army had entered itself into a pitched battle against an opposing force, which after this battle would never be seen again, the IRA would revert back to exclusively guerrilla warfare tactics which favoured the experience IRA fighters had already gained from previous fighting. The IRA fighters in Kilmallock, unless they happened to be veterans of the Great War, had no training or experience in positional warfare and certainly should not have been expected to stand firm against artillery fire, the situation elsewhere on the front had also led to the weakening of the IRAs defence of the town, ultimately leading to them abandoning their positions. On the other hand, despite its poor performance in the initial skirmishes around Kilmallock, the National Army had achieved its objectives with relatively light casualties and was able to secure the rest of Limerick county in the following days. All in all, it is estimated that at least 20 men died serving the National Army in its capture of Kilmallock, with the IRA losing at least 21 men in its defence of the town.