IRISH WARFARE.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 July 1922, Page 5

IRISH WARFARE.

LULL BEFORE THE STORM. ANXIOUS SITUATION. CLASHES PENDING. By Telegraph.—Pre*a Amu.—Copyright. Received July 14, 8.30 p.m. London, July 13. Mr. Collin? has been appointed Command er-in-Chief of the army, and with Mr. Muk-ahy. Minister for Defence, together with three others, will constitute the aupreme Irish War Council. The establishment of a Free State Army Council leads to the belief that large operations are imminent end the situation is regarded with Bom_- itpprohen&ion. It is recognised that the task of cleaning up south and south-west Ireland is more difficult than in Dublin. The first operations will probably be in Tuliamore, where thousands of rebels are cut off and the Free Staters are enveloping the town. Rebels are massing southward of Sligo, where a clash is inevrtale. Two hundred rebels ambushed a party of Free Staters at Ballintogher, killing three, wounding ten and capturing five. BATTLE OF FOUR COURTS. COMPARED WITH VERDUN. AMAZING VERSION OF REBELS. ed July 14, 830 p.m. London, July 14. The Irish rebel publicity department publishes in a commandeered newspaper, the Cork Examiner, an amazing and blasphemous version of the Four Courts battle as follows: “Our flag folds are emblematic of varying and various aims and the interests of */ie nrftion are unified in their adhesion to the flagstaff, which typifies an unyielding and indomitable spirit of determination in our soldiers. The thnwe colors ehbsen pre emblematic of three divine -erson.- i the one God, to Whom our cau e ’ - crated, and under Whose protection it has been placed. “At the moment of the attack on the Pour Courts, when the war was suddenly forced upon us. the first thought of our brave defenders was to fall on their knee* in solemn prayer, consecrating! themselves to their cause and country through the Blessed Virgin to the Sacred j Heart. They then manned the para- I pets mid shot and shell and continued to defy the might and main of the Empire attackers until nothing was left to defend. “Never vra. seen, even at Verdun, a sterner and braver defence against a sudden attack by overwhelming odds. Never was known greater dismay and consternation amonz the at tack ere when • all their plans bad hopelessly miscarried. I g The lightning stroke of budding fieldmarehals, planned by McCready and approved by Wilson, before he took his departure from Ireland, were for ever- • more shattered before the desperate resistance of true men of Ireland. Man pro Doses, but God dispose*. * —Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. DE VALERA STILL MISSING. SUCCESS OF NATIONAL TROOPS. London, July 13. Mr. de Valera has been missing for ■sore than a week. The Free State Government do not regard him as a flghting rebel. They say he i* a bankrupt statesman and still undischarged.

The National forces are sweeping ■head in the west of Ireland. The ■■regulars have been driven out of Galway town, leaving large quantities of equipment and munitions. The Irregulars made elaborate preparations for the ■Mfe of Wexford. New Roa*, and Gorey. tat swcuated them before the Nationals ■irived. A Cork Republican communique states that a Free State post was captured ■satr Clonmel, and Brigadier-Generals ■byes and Connolly taken prisoner. A FIERCE FIGHT. REBELS FIRE ON REBELS. Received July 14, 53 p.m. London. July 13. A fierce fight occurred between rebels at Timahoe following an ultimatum by Free State troops that the rebels should evacuate the police barracks in fifteen minute*. Half the rebel garrison walked out and the other half immediately fired upon those surrendering, while the latter dropped to their knee* and returned the j fire. The exchange of shots lasted two hours, when the rebels in the barracks I were forced to retire. The Free State troops, who had j watched the engagement, then entered ; the barracks. They found two men dead and four wounded.—Aua.-N Z. I Cable Assn. A PLOT IN DUBLIN. MOVE TO RELEASE PRISONERS. Received July 14, 53 p.m. London. July 13. Dublin authorities have discovered a plot to rescue republican prisoners from Mountjoy gaol. They raided a house twenty yards from the walla and arrested thirteen men found in a tunnel >n course of construction between the house and the prison. A store of tunnelling implements was also seized. RAIDS FOR FOOD. THEFT LEADS TO FAMINE. Received July 14, 53 pm. London, July 13. Five rebel women, armed with rifles, raided Churchill station* near Derry, and cleared trucks of a ton of sugar, much food, tobaero, and rum. The continuous rifling of trains is resulting in famine condftious in the district.