Winston Churchill had plans to invade Ireland in Second World War --- Unionist leader believed De Valera was pro Hitler
Posted on Saturday, October 15, 2011 at 10:40 PM
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It took me me a while to get around to a remarkable book ‘Britain, Ireland and the Second World War’ written by the Scottish historian Ian S. Wood and published by Edinburgh University Press.
The book is extraordinary in its detail of how the poisoned relationship between the two countries almost led to a second British invasion during the Second World War.
Indeed Northern Prime Minister Lord Craigavon, AKA James Craig, actively encouraged such an invasion.
He wrote to Churchill in 1940 to request that Scottish Highland troops be used to install a new government in Dublin that would allow access to Irish ports for British ships.
Craigavon, a rock ribbed unionist, believed that Eamon De Valera, the Irish prime minister, had fallen under Nazi sway and a new invasion was needed.
“To meet the susceptibilities of the south the British forces might best be composed chiefly of Scottish and Welsh divisions,” he wrote in a memorandum to Churchill.
“A military governor should be then be appointed for the whole of Ireland with his HQ in Dublin.”
The British government indeed drew up such plans.
Field Marshal Montgomery noted in his memoirs: “I was told to prepare plans for the seizure of Cork and Queenstown in southern Ireland so the harbours could be used as naval bases.”
The book draws on previously classified files, obtained at the UK National Archives in London and the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland in Belfast.
Wood says a new British invasion would have backfired and resulted in a bitter war.
“British forces could have taken control with very little difficulty, but it would have an absolute gift to the IRA who would have launched waves after wave of guerrilla attacks,” he said. “Occupying Eire would have been an extremely messy and costly undertaking.”
Dr Eamon Phoenix, a political historian at Queen’s University, Belfast, also stated that it would have backfired.
“Many of the Black and Tans, the British auxiliaries sent to suppress Irish independence, were Scots and they had an appalling reputation,” he said.
Of course it has already been revealed that wily old Churchill offered De Valera a United Ireland if Ireland entered the war.
De Valera refused believing it would have created another civil war.
Who knows what might have happened in either scenario?
It certainly makes for fascinating reading.
42 comments
Kilsally | Oct 16, 2011, 05:34 PM EDT
hmm there is a great deal ore to it than that - the US President and Churchill were on record as stating that Ulster was essential to the war effort due to it`s ports. Pretty sure there are articles on the USA and UK Airforces ignoring Irish neutrality and flying over Donegal and other parts in order to save fuel. Pretty sure I read elsewhere of the US & UK seeking use or considering taking over ports in the Republic despite the Republics `neutrality`. Let`s not forget Martin McGuinness`s Sinn Fein were involved with the Nazi`s at this time with Sean Russell dying at the bottom of the sea in a Nazi u-boat and SF helping guide German bombers towards the Belfast Blitz. Infact it is only in recent years people in the Republic have begun to pay their respects to the dead of the World Wars. The War Memorial in Londonderry / Derry city is almost 50/50 Unionist / Nationalist (Protestant / Catholic) yet until very recently only the Unionists commemorate the war dead. Sinn Fein were noticably by their absence at the Irish war memorial in slandbridge during the queens visit recently.
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Realist | Oct 16, 2011, 05:27 PM EDT
kinvara7: Lol....please point out anything I have written that is not correct.
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kinvara7 | Oct 16, 2011, 04:12 PM EDT
Realist: You need to change your username because it doesn’t suit you. Ireland provided the ‘Donegal corridor’ to the Allies allowing flights over neutral Ireland crucial for transatlantic flights which secured vital communications between England and the United States throughout the war. Irish Military Intelligence (G2) provided the British with information on German activities in Ireland. While German pilots who crash-landed in Ireland were interned, British, US and Canadian pilots who crashed were usually allowed to cross the border into Northern Ireland. What of the Rathduff aerodrome? Indeed the Irish Marine Service took part in the Dunkirk evacuation [BBC’s Peoples War Homepage, A5920102]. Furthermore, Viscount Cranborne, the British Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, wrote a letter to the British War Cabinet regarding Irish-British collaboration during the war. It details how pro-Ally Ireland was. Finally, what about all the Irishmen who lost their lives in the Second World War? A war that America tried to stay out of.
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Realist | Oct 16, 2011, 03:48 PM EDT
The day Nazi Germany surrendered to the Allies in 1945, Irish student stoned the American Consulate General in Dublin. Can anyone explain this, especially to US visitors to this site with relatives who gave their lives in World War II?
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Realist | Oct 16, 2011, 03:44 PM EDT
"Despite the declared desire of the Irish Government that its neutrality should not operate in favour of either of the belligerents, it has in fact operated and continues to operate in favour of the Axis powers". US State Department correspondence with De Valera, 1944.
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kinvara7 | Oct 16, 2011, 03:22 PM EDT
However, the British were more intent on appeasing Italy. Winston Churchill declared that "It would be a dangerous folly for the British people to underrate the enduring position in world history which Mussolini will hold; or the amazing qualities of courage, comprehension, self-control and perseverance which he exemplifies." Later de Valera lamented: "There was never a better chance for the League of Nations to be successful against a great power as there was in this case," de Valera said in June 1936. "If it failed in the case of Italy it was bound to fail in the case of other powers. "Despite our judicial equality here, in matters such as European peace the small states are powerless," he told the league’s assembly the following month. "Peace is dependent upon the will of great states. All the small states can do, if the statesmen of the greater states fail in their duty, is resolutely to determine that they will not become the tools of any great power and that they will resist with whatever strength they may possess every attempt to force them into a war against their will." This was the basis for staying out of the coming world war, nevertheless Ireland provided the Allies with a great deal of assistance.
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kinvara7 | Oct 16, 2011, 03:21 PM EDT
Mussolini ignored his country’s obligations under the covenant. He had his troops invade Ethiopia on October 3, 1935. The next day de Valera told the Irish people in a radio broadcast that Japan’s invasion of Manchuria had shaken the league to its foundation. "If a second similar successful violation takes place," he warned, "the League of Nations must disappear as an effective safeguard for individual members. The obligations of the covenant should be enforced. That was our position in the case of the Sino-Japanese conflict. That is our position in the present case." When Britain proposed economic sanctions against Italy, de Valera backed them but he warned that military action should be taken if sanctions failed. A declaration of war would have been a matter for the Oireachtas, and he warned his cabinet that it would "be contrary to the spirit of the covenant" to refuse to take part in any "collective military actions to be taken by the league."
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kinvara7 | Oct 16, 2011, 03:21 PM EDT
In anticipation of some of the comments that might follow, I have set out matters Ryle Dwyer has raised in articles and his book: Behind the Green Curtain: Ireland’s Phoney Neutrality during World War II. Look at the position de Valera took in the 1930's. As president of the council of the League of Nations, de Valera sought action against Facist Italy. In 1935, as Italian troops were massing to invade Ethiopia, Anthony Eden, then Britain’s representative at the league and a future prime minister, warned London that de Valera was a "firebrand" who wished to attack Italy. "The final test of the league and all that it stands for has come," de Valera told the assembly on September 16, 1935. "Our conduct in this crisis will determine whether it is better to let it lapse and disappear and be forgotten. Make no mistake, if on any pretext whatever we were to permit the sovereignty of even the weakest state amongst us to be unjustly taken away, the whole foundation of the league would crumble into dust. By our own choice and without compulsion we entered into the obligations of the covenant," he said. "We shall fulfil these obligations in the letter and in the spirit. We have given our word and we shall keep it."
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kinvara7 | Oct 16, 2011, 03:17 PM EDT
TomSwinford: Certainly, it was a serious political mistake however you are reading far too much into it. Compare it with his actions on the 13th of April, 1945 when he eulogised Roosevelt in a speech to the Dáil and adjourned it “as a mark of respect and of sympathy with the American people” You should also keep in mind the 1937 Constitution specifically recognised and gave protection to the "the Jewish Congregations" in Ireland (I believe it was the only written constitution in Europe which made express reference to the existence of Jewish congregations). My understanding is that de Valera specifcally wanted to assert Jewish civil rights in the Constitution; an important statement in the atmosphere of 1930s Europe. Professor Dermot Keogh cites an oral source that attributes the inclusion of the Jewish Congregations to consultations with Isaac Herzog, then Chief Rabbi of Ireland, and a personal friend of de Valera. As regards the signature itself, as I have already said it was primarily a personal gesture to Hempel and strict adherence to protocol. I believe the British Representative, Sir John Maffey, commented that de Valera's actions were "unwise but mathematically consistent" with Ireland's neutrality. I think you should examine de Valera's contribution to the League of Nations, in particular his stance regarding the actions of Japan and Italy during the 30s. Finally, it might interest you to note that there is a forest in Israel named after de Valera. Think about it, just two decades after signing the book, Ireland's Jews considered the incident an aberration in the Taoiseach's overall record. And they honored de Valera by planting a forest of 10,000 trees in Israel in his name. Finally, which signature(s) should we criticize most Dev’s or those of the statesmen who tried to appease Hitler?
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Realist | Oct 16, 2011, 03:16 PM EDT
slainte9: My friend, I rather think it is you who is trying, unsuccessfully I might add, to divert attention from De Valera's and Eire's shame during this period. I haven't even mentioned Sean Russell yet....oops.
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slainte9 | Oct 16, 2011, 03:10 PM EDT
Now there's a reliable source: a Scots historian speculating about Ireland. That DeValera and Churchill disliked each other is no secret. On the other hand DeValera was no friend of fascism. And Ireland's "neutrality" was pro-British and pro-American. GERMANY DID NOT HAVE THE MILITARY CAPABILIITY TO INVADE IRELAND, and the ports in the Irish Republic were of little or no value for guarding convoys. This matters little to British sources intent on diverting attention from their own miscalculations that handed over Czechoslovakia over to Hitler without a fight, and failed to send a large and effective force to France to stop Hitler. Indeed the British force in northern France when it fell was smaller than the Belgium army, a mere 13 divisions compared to 104 French and 22 Belgium, with the British deploying virtually no armor. The "credibility" of British and Scots writers concerning Ireland and World War II depends a lot on the prejudices of the readers and their inability to read maps and understand the actual military capability of Germany. British tanks performed well against the Germans in France in 1940; there just weren't nearly enough of them. The air Battle of Britain proved that the Germany and its air force did not have the ability to invade the British Isles... ANY OF THEM. And for those who don't know anything about the war in the east, it may come as a surprise that the German air force vary rapidly lost its numerical and technical advantage culminating in its failure to maintain an air bridge to the surrounded German forces at Stalingrad.
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Realist | Oct 16, 2011, 02:59 PM EDT
On De Valera, "....there is no record of his having done what was generous or noble or wise, only what he believed served 'the 'Cause'". David Gray, United States Ambassador to Eire, 1940-47.
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Realist | Oct 16, 2011, 02:44 PM EDT
"Eire's neutrality must be respected. A neutral Irish Free State is of greater value to us than a hostile Ireland .We must be glad that Ireland has remained neutral up to the present." Adolf Hitler, 1940.
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warrenpoint00 | Oct 16, 2011, 02:33 PM EDT
Thirty years later though Churchill finally got his wish with a british invasion of Ireland
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