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The Squad: and the Intelligence Operations of Michael Collins
In 1919, Michael Collins conceived of a scheme to knock out the eyes and ears of the British Administration at Dublin Castle by undermining and terrorising the police so that the British would react blindly and drive the Irish people into the arms of the Irish Republican Army. The Bureau of Military History interviewed those involved in this scheme in the early 1950s with the assurance that the material would not be published in their lifetimes. A few of the contributions were made available by the families of those involved, but the bulk of them have only recently been released. This is the first book to make use of those interviews. It makes fascinating, almost unique reading, because they contain first-hand descriptions in which men speaking candidly of their involvement in killing selected people at close range. As a result it throws a considerable amount of new light on the activities of the Squad and the intelligence operations of Michael Collins.
272 pages, Paperback
First published April 17, 2005
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About the author
T. Ryle Dwyer
26Ìýbooks9ÌýfollowersThomas Ryle Dwyer was reared in Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland, from an early age. After going to primary and secondary school in Tralee, he returned to the United States to attend St. Ambrose College, Davenport, Iowa, and North Texas State University (now the University of North Texas), where he received B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Modern History.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 5, 2009
A thorough, if dry at times, history of the IRA's intelligence and counterintelligence branch as it was organized and directed by Michael Collins, from the time of its formation through its absorption into a larger unit with the same functions. I appreciate the thoroughness of the research that went into this, but at times I got lost among all the names of the people involved on both sides. Also, some photos of those people would have been an improvement. Still, this was an informative read for me, as I didn't know much about that piece of history or the prominent people involved. Now I intend to watch the film with Liam Neeson and see how closely it lines up with this narrative.
July 8, 2010
Irish history is full of revolutionaries and failed rebellions, of informers giving information to the English, and spies infiltrating Irish organisations. Michael Collins recognised the importance of the intelligence network and so in 1919 he formulated a plan to blind the eyes of Dublin Castle by ensuring that the police force were as terrorised and demoralised as possible.
In the early 1950′s The Bureau of Military History interviewed many volunteers and IRA participants, including many of the Squad. There interviews were conducted with the assurance that their stories would not be published in their lifetimes. This is the first book to make use of these interviews for this period, and so contains first-hand accounts of the killings carried out by the Squad.
Full review:
In the early 1950′s The Bureau of Military History interviewed many volunteers and IRA participants, including many of the Squad. There interviews were conducted with the assurance that their stories would not be published in their lifetimes. This is the first book to make use of these interviews for this period, and so contains first-hand accounts of the killings carried out by the Squad.
Full review:
April 26, 2020
It is easy to get lost in the number of names that are in the book. It is clear there was a lot of research that went into the writing of this book. It gives a very detailed record of the intelligence operations during the Irish War of Independence. It starts when The Squad was started through til when it was absorbed into a larger organization. In any war, there are large networks of spies and intelligence. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in intelligence networks or Michael Collins and his work.
January 9, 2014
A look in detail at an aspect of recent history shrouded in myth and falsehoods. This is a gripping yarn that could be fiction and is all the more entertaining for being mainly factual.
June 16, 2019
This is the third of three books this year I have read on the subject - Tim Pat Coogan's "The Twelve Apostles" and Michael Foy's "The Intelligence War of Michael Collins" being the other two.
From the point of view of simple reading enjoyment, this is the best. The copy-editing, on the other hand, was nakedly poor but the book's accessibility made up for that.
If you are to read one of the three, read this one. That said, Coogan's book is only slightly behind, whilst Foy's book is probably the most academically complete - to be expected, he's a professional historian - although Foy is a little too indulgent at times in his criticisms of other researchers on the topic.
From the point of view of simple reading enjoyment, this is the best. The copy-editing, on the other hand, was nakedly poor but the book's accessibility made up for that.
If you are to read one of the three, read this one. That said, Coogan's book is only slightly behind, whilst Foy's book is probably the most academically complete - to be expected, he's a professional historian - although Foy is a little too indulgent at times in his criticisms of other researchers on the topic.
March 28, 2020
This book proves the saying "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter".
Squad formed by Michael Collins during the Irish War of independence was formed with sole purpose in mind - execute British intelligence and police personnel in order to sow terror and scare the British authorities and most importantly (or most frighteningly - depends on how much you think that means justify the end) push British government into spiral of blood and huge civilian casualties all resulting in increase of popular support for IRA.
Did the British make wrong moves - absolutely and they made not one but numerous errors. Inclusion of paramilitary forces that went tit-for-tat against the IRA and Collins' Squad, indiscriminate shootouts, burning and pillaging of entire cities, atrocities against civilian population (targeted killings, kidnaps, torture and disappearances) all pushed public support not only in Ireland but in rest of the world to IRA side.
But to instigate all of the above and watch your people literary burn to achieve common goals but through your means (since Collins seems to considered others incapable) is mark of a cynic and in my opinion not a patriot. Because what makes any fight against oppression count? People, not land. For all means and purposes Collins was more a gang leader. Was he audacious? Sure. Was he loyal to his friends? Sure. Was he loyal to his people - for me this is questionable. If you are willing to sacrifice your folk knowingly to gain public support through actions that are more akin to gang-style murders against public officials and their families makes you [definitely] a scary man but very very cynical and narcissist person that sees oneself as one and only messiah while all the others are just incompetent buffoons. And even worse he never ceased with killings until he was finally relieved of command of Squad in late 1921, early 1922.
Events described in the book don't give much insight into Collins' own death but I think all parties wanted him gone. For a simple reason - man wielding this much power, running assassination squad that worshiped him and was ready to go through hell and back for him, could never find his place in peace-time and in debates with people he always considered inferior in both political views and approaches. He would be a dangerous person to keep around and most definitely his violence would surface again in such a way that new Irish republic would always be on a brink of internal strife.
And yet with all being said Collins was not different from any radical revolutionary of the period - they all ended more or less in a same way as Collins did. In the shadows, under not very clear circumstances.
Collins and his squad were product of their times, tools of war that lost their humanity while engaged in constant guerilla war against British forces, fighting a battle where everyone is a eligible target. While their actions were terrorist in the nature (no doubt about it) - very cold and intentional yanking of the chains of a huge lion [British military and police] in order to provoke disproportionate response and backlash against civilians - they did fight bravely for their country and most definitely played a huge role in wearing down British forces in a way that finally brought peace to Ireland (at least the Republican part, Northern Ireland remained troubled land for long years after).
They just could not survive move to the peace-thriving era because it would be completely unnatural for them.
Excellent book and very important for our times (together with excellent by ) because it shows that constant irregular conflict and militarization of population and police apparatus can have far reaching consequences - in civilian casualties that could be averted and most importantly because basic humanity gets lost very soon in all the participants of the conflict because having it is considered as sign one is "weak" in actions against ones enemies.
Squad formed by Michael Collins during the Irish War of independence was formed with sole purpose in mind - execute British intelligence and police personnel in order to sow terror and scare the British authorities and most importantly (or most frighteningly - depends on how much you think that means justify the end) push British government into spiral of blood and huge civilian casualties all resulting in increase of popular support for IRA.
Did the British make wrong moves - absolutely and they made not one but numerous errors. Inclusion of paramilitary forces that went tit-for-tat against the IRA and Collins' Squad, indiscriminate shootouts, burning and pillaging of entire cities, atrocities against civilian population (targeted killings, kidnaps, torture and disappearances) all pushed public support not only in Ireland but in rest of the world to IRA side.
But to instigate all of the above and watch your people literary burn to achieve common goals but through your means (since Collins seems to considered others incapable) is mark of a cynic and in my opinion not a patriot. Because what makes any fight against oppression count? People, not land. For all means and purposes Collins was more a gang leader. Was he audacious? Sure. Was he loyal to his friends? Sure. Was he loyal to his people - for me this is questionable. If you are willing to sacrifice your folk knowingly to gain public support through actions that are more akin to gang-style murders against public officials and their families makes you [definitely] a scary man but very very cynical and narcissist person that sees oneself as one and only messiah while all the others are just incompetent buffoons. And even worse he never ceased with killings until he was finally relieved of command of Squad in late 1921, early 1922.
Events described in the book don't give much insight into Collins' own death but I think all parties wanted him gone. For a simple reason - man wielding this much power, running assassination squad that worshiped him and was ready to go through hell and back for him, could never find his place in peace-time and in debates with people he always considered inferior in both political views and approaches. He would be a dangerous person to keep around and most definitely his violence would surface again in such a way that new Irish republic would always be on a brink of internal strife.
And yet with all being said Collins was not different from any radical revolutionary of the period - they all ended more or less in a same way as Collins did. In the shadows, under not very clear circumstances.
Collins and his squad were product of their times, tools of war that lost their humanity while engaged in constant guerilla war against British forces, fighting a battle where everyone is a eligible target. While their actions were terrorist in the nature (no doubt about it) - very cold and intentional yanking of the chains of a huge lion [British military and police] in order to provoke disproportionate response and backlash against civilians - they did fight bravely for their country and most definitely played a huge role in wearing down British forces in a way that finally brought peace to Ireland (at least the Republican part, Northern Ireland remained troubled land for long years after).
They just could not survive move to the peace-thriving era because it would be completely unnatural for them.
Excellent book and very important for our times (together with excellent by ) because it shows that constant irregular conflict and militarization of population and police apparatus can have far reaching consequences - in civilian casualties that could be averted and most importantly because basic humanity gets lost very soon in all the participants of the conflict because having it is considered as sign one is "weak" in actions against ones enemies.
Read
August 5, 2011"He spoke with much vehemence and emphasis, saying that the sooner fighting was forced and a general state of disorder created through the country (his words in this connection are too well printed in my memory ever to be forgotten), the better it would be for the country. Ireland was likely to get more out of a state of general disorder than from a continuance of the situation as it then stood. The proper people to take decisions of that kind were ready to face the British military, and were resolved to force the issue. And they were not to be deterred by weaklings and coward."
May 16, 2020
An engrossing read that concentrates on the operations of Michael Collins and his notorious "Squad" during the Irish War of Independence. Even a few minor typos will not take you out of this exciting story of insurgency and espionage.
May 29, 2008
Good book to explain how Michael Collins' squad was formed and how they operated . . . good book on THE SQUAD. . . not a biography of Michael Collins specifically
December 4, 2016
Absorbing book which has used the actual site members interviews which were kept to be released later. Extraordinary views and roles taken by the members and the interaction with Michael Collins.
August 9, 2013
Fascinating new information. On this well researched tone even if the on the dry side.
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