Historian’s ambush account comes under fire

THE controversial revisionist historian Dr Peter Hart is to speak on political violence at the Irish Historical Society in UCC on Tuesday next. One of the events in Irish history on which Dr Hart made his reputation is the Kilmichael ambush of November 1920.

He accused the IRA and ambush leader Gen Tom Barry of engaging in “lies and evasions” by stating that British Auxiliaries engaged in a false surrender during the ambush. He alleged that Barry simply killed unarmed British combatants without cause.

In the accepted version, after the false surrender and in the lull that followed, Auxiliaries killed IRA soldiers standing in plain sight to take the surrender. This caused Barry to issue an order to recommence firing until all the Auxiliaries were killed.