Headford Ambush

Background

The guerrilla war in Kerry escalated rapidly in the spring of 1921. The county was occupied by the British Army, Auxiliary Division and Black and Tan paramilitary police, as well as the Royal Irish Constabulary. From the autumn of 1920, they had been burning suspected Republicans' property and shooting suspected IRA sympathisers. By early 1921, they had begun rounding up male inhabitants of nearby towns and villages and searching for IRA suspects. This began in Tralee on 11 January.

On 23 January, in response to the assassination by the IRA of RIC District Inspector Sullivan (who was shot while walking with his five-year-old son), 1,000 soldiers and armed police surrounded Ballymacelligott, arrested 240 men and marched them to Tralee for questioning. British forces, especially the Auxiliaries, also carried out a number of reprisal shootings on local civilians. In response to the Crown Forces initiatives, the IRA set up full-time guerrilla units (known as flying columns), to avoid arrest and to assemble units capable of taking on British patrols. IRA GHQ in Dublin also sent an organizer Andy Cooney to Kerry to supervise the setting up of flying columns. On 2 March, under Cooney's direction, the Second Kerry Brigade set up its own flying column under Dan Allman and Tom McEllistrim. On 5 March, McEllistrim led 20 volunteers from the column to a successful ambush at Clonbanin, in which they co-operated with Cork IRA units, killing four British soldiers (including Brigadier General Cumming).

The ambush

Buoyed by their success in Cork, the Second Kerry Brigade tried on a number of occasions to ambush British forces in Kerry itself. On 21 March, an IRA party was billeted around four miles from the Headford railway junction when they heard that British troops were returning by train from Kenmare to Tralee. As the train did not go directly, the British would have to change at Headford, making them vulnerable to ambush. Allman, commanding 30 volunteers, reached the junction only 12 minutes before the train, carrying 30 soldiers of the First Royal Fusiliers, arrived. The railway staff just had time to flee before the train pulled into the platform, where its passengers had to change trains for Tralee. Alongside the soldiers, the train was packed with cattle and pig farmers, on their way back from the market in Kenmare. Most of the civilians had already got off when the British soldiers began to disembark. Allman himself tried to disarm the first Fusilier but shot him when he resisted. Other accounts say the soldier was shot dead as he tried to use the lavatory. This was the signal for the IRA to open fire on the British troops.

One of the first British casualties was Lieutenant CE Adams DCM, who was shot dead when he appeared at the carriage door, as were several other soldiers who were standing in front of the engine. The surviving British troops opened fire from the train, while those who had got off scrambled underneath it for cover. In the ensuing close-quarter firefight, conducted at a range of just 20 yards, three civilians and two IRA volunteers (including Allman) were killed. Two-thirds of the British force is estimated to have been killed or wounded. Most of those killed were hit in the initial firing. Afterwards, the IRA gunmen had no direct field of fire into the troops who were hidden under the train.

MacEllistrim called on the survivors to surrender and when they refused, the IRA began to move in to finish off those who kept shooting, by throwing hand grenades under the train. Just as they were doing so, another train pulled into the junction, carrying another party of British troops. The IRA column had used most of its ammunition and was forced to retreat, escaping toward the hills in the south.

Casualties

The British Army reported that seven soldiers were killed outright and that two more were fatally wounded. There were a further twelve non-fatal injuries among the troops. The IRA however thought there were far more British casualties. One of the attackers recalled, 'twelve coffins left Killarney later and that wasn't all'. Tom McEllistrim reported to his superiors that as many as 25 British soldiers had been killed. Allman and another IRA guerrilla, Lt Jimmy Bailey, were killed in the ambush. One civilian was killed outright and two mortally wounded, with two others (a father and daughter) seriously wounded. In the immediate aftermath of the ambush, McEllistrim shot dead a suspected spy whom his men had captured.