Ambush at Clonmult - County Cork 1921

[V]

Dear Mother,

Hope you and Father are well. Things have been a little more exciting of late for us here in Ireland. Yesterday we were involved in a tremendous fight with men from the IRA. It was a close run affair but we finally got the better of them, although we lost a number of men killed and wounded.



Major Hart of the Royal Irish Constabulary Reserve Force was leading a force through County Cork. He was tipped off that the IRA had hidden a large quantity of weapons and ammunition near the old Mulcahy farm just outside Clonmult. As he was gathering men to search the area his men captured a young IRA lad and after subjecting him to a horrible beating he told them that the IRA planned to ambush them on the road to the farm. Major Hart decided to call in extra troops and strike against the IRA. Captain Hanning was called in with his Peerless Armoured Car and our section was asked to accompany them in our Lancia truck. They also brought in a few Auxies too. We made quite the sight heading out of Clonmult that morning!

We approached the farm from the east late in the morning with Captain Hanning's Peerless leading the way. As we moved forward, the Auxies fanned out on our left flank and the RIC moved off to our right. Us regulars drove along behind the Peerless in the comparative safety of our Lancia. The Auxies seemed to know their stuff and Corporal Gaunt said he had served with one of them in the war. The RIC, or Black & Tans as the Irish call them, were a different kettle of fish. They crashed through the countryside and would have woken a sleeping giant!



All was quiet for a while as we moved cautiously down the road. For a while it seemed that perhaps the information was wrong but just as we began to relax, the shooting started. On our left flank the Auxies got into a brisk fight with a few IRA men hidden in a small wood. While on our right the RIC became pinned down behind the hedgerows by accurate fire from a few IRA men located in some trees. Our two vehicles stopped on the road and Captain Hanning's Peerless opened fire with its two Vickers and Corporal Gaunt opened up with our Lewis gun. It was during this little dalliance that Private Waits noticed something odd under the armoured car in the road. Our section bailed out of the Lancia and added our fire to the proceedings as Captain Hanning moved the Peerless forward.

As he did so the RIC on the right ran into a serious spot of bother. While trying to shoot at the group of IRA firing at them, they were surprised by another group who opened fire at them at close range with rifles and shotguns. Within a few seconds, three RIC men were dead and two seriously wounded. On our left the Auxies ran into another group of IRA and despite killing two from the first group they had encountered, they too had a man killed. A few moments later they were fired upon by what I think was a Lewis gun from the old ruined church steeple.



Things began to get rather exciting at this point, with Major Hart bellowing orders as several of his RIC men making a dash back towards Clonmult. Things got a little tense at this point and we were worried that the IRA had turned the tables on us. Luckily Captain Hanning heard all the commotion and the Peerless came flying back up the road. In a blaze of fire his gunners killed five IRA men on the right flank and quite possibly saved us from a very sticky end! Just then we came under fire from the rear. It turned out that two of the IRA men who had been fighting the Auxies had doubled back to the road and were now shooting us as we took cover behind the Lancia. Corporal Gaunt ordered us to charge the two brazen fellows and we did so, although Waits and Tibbs were shot as we ran towards them. Gaunt and myself closed with the two IRA men and despatched them with our bayonets. Just as we did so a loud explosion eruoted from the Peerless and an IRA mine went off under the front of it. It sat their immobile, but with its guns still chattering away.

This seemed to be the end of things as the Auxies pushed the remaining IRA men back to the farm. We exchanged a few more shoots with them and we lost another man to fire from the church but the remaining RIC managed to repair the damaged wheel on the Peerless and once that started moving down the road the last few IRA men scuttled off and dissapeared.



It was a jolly exciting day all told and Major Hart and the Auxies found the hidden weapons in an old stone tomb. We lost 13 men killed and wounded but we counted 9 IRA dead and 5 more seriously wounded that we loaded onto the Lancia and took back to Clonmult. Corporal Gaunt sat in the Lancia with them keeping the Lewis trained on the RIC men who seemed keen to make sure they didnt make it back to the village. Luckily everyone was exhausted and we returned to Clonmult without further incident.

Try not to worry, I doubt we will have many more days like that. It was almost as bad as the war!

Your loving son,

George




Tonights game was our clubs first Irish War of Independance game. We had the forces of the Crown running into an IRA ambush and an IRA force finding itself facing far more than they had expected! It was a very close game with both sides having their share of luck and misfortune, but it finally ended in a victory for the Crown despite serious losses.

Figures from Flyer115's collection with terrain by Flyer and myself. Figures by Liberation, vehicles by Reverisco.



The Table










The Forces






The Forces of the Crown move in...










The IRA spring their ambush...










The battle rages...










...and finally Flyer115's flukiest roll of four dice ever...




Great game, really interesting and it felt historically right. All involved certainly enjoyed it and Skip finally got his first win at a game!  :thumbsup:

[Gallowglass]

Good stuff!!!

[DFlynSqrl]

Very nice V.  I like the letter-to-the-folks-back-home style intro.

[carlos marighela]

Excellent report, nice toys 'n' terrain too.

[Hammers]

What a cool setup! For some reason I would be a bit iffy about playing out an IRA/British conflict but I have no good rationale for it. The era shoudl not be any worse than the SCW, I guess.

[Doomhippie]

What a cool setup! For some reason I would be a bit iffy about playing out an IRA/British conflict but I have no good rationale for it. The era shoudl not be any worse than the SCW, I guess.

I know how you feel and there is no rationale explanation for it. But lots of ideas come to my mind (we don't expect these attrocities in two countries with a liberal deomcratic system, the IRA has been active way into our lifetime etc.).

I love the table! It has a very Irish feeling to it (execpt all those trees - then again Southern Ireland does have more trees than the Westcoast). Nice scenario, too! It proves you can have a lot of exitement without hundreds of dead. And the letter gives us as the reader the chance to wonder if the writer actually told all the truth. You know - eye witnesses see things they want to see.

Nicely done!

[Geudens]

Absolutely outstanding, sir!

Rudi

[argsilverson]

Congratulations, very nice figures and terrain!

[Malamute]

Excellent looking terrain. It looks just like the Emerald Isle

[Ray Rivers]

 

Great table!  Excellent mini's and game.  Really enjoyed that writeup!

[Svennn]

Love it. Love it all. Some of the close ups look just fantastic. The vehicles are excellant too.

[1ngram]

Very nice indeed.  What rules did you use?

[postal]

very nice you dont see much with the black and tan.

[V]

Excellent looking terrain. It looks just like the Emerald Isle

Well we have no excuse for it not... We are a club in Ireland!


 

Rules were Warhammer Moderns Lite...

[Poliorketes]

Excellent! Where to get those Minis? Which Scale do they have? And the most urgent question - can you tell us more about the Reviresco ACs? Their range is awesome, but they are stated as 1/72. Is that correct? If it's not asked to much, could you do a comparison shot with 28mm Minis or perhaps give us length/heigths/Width for one? I'd like to use it for the WW1-Miniatures thread.