Crossbarry Ambush

Crossbarry Ambush
Part of the Irish War of Independence
Crossbarry memorial
Date 19 March 1921 Location Crossbarry, County Cork Result IRA victory Column escapes encirclement
Belligerents
British Army (Essex Regiment) Royal Irish Constabulary	Irish Republican Army (Third Cork Brigade)
Commanders and leaders
Arthur Percival	Tom Barry Charlie Hurley†
Strength
1,200 British Army 120 RIC	~104 volunteers
Casualties and losses
10 dead (British sources) 40 dead (IRA sources)	3–6 dead, 3 wounded
Location within island of Ireland

The Crossbarry Ambush occurred on 19 March 1921 and was one of the largest engagements of the Irish War of Independence. It took place at the rural crossroads of Crossbarry in County Cork, about 20 km south-west of Cork city. About a hundred Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteers escaped an attempt by more than 1,300 British troops to encircle them. During the hour-long battle, between 10 and 40 British troops and three to six IRA volunteers were killed. The ambush is one of the few rare large battles during the war where the British forces, rather than the IRA, initiated the engagement.

The increasing success of the IRA's 3rd Cork Brigade led to a spate of arrests and interrogations of suspected IRA volunteers in West Cork, in an effort to discover the identities and headquarters of the guerrillas. At this point the column had a total of 104 volunteers. On 15 February 1921, the IRA mounted an abortive ambush of a troop train at Upton, in which six civilians and three IRA volunteers died. Several other volunteers were captured. The British succeeded in breaking an IRA volunteer under interrogation and discovered that the West Cork Brigade had its headquarters in Ballymurphy. The British also learned that the Brigade had recently returned to this area after several days waiting for an ambush on the Kinsale–Bandon road.

The British commanders thus planned a major operation to capture the IRA column, mobilising about 1,200 troops, to converge on the area from several different directions. According to Tom Barry, 400 British troops came from Cork, 200 from Ballincollig, 300 from Kinsale and 350 from Bandon. Later in the day about 120 Auxiliaries also left Macroom. The British sweep was mounted early on the morning of 19 March. At Crossbarry, some of the troops descended from their lorries to proceed on foot or bicycle to try and catch the IRA unaware.