Chapter 552 Crosbary Ambush

As of now, the change in the world situation has been very obvious.

At present, Soviet Russia's domestic views on this war are divided into two groups. One group believes that the struggle should be continued resolutely and the pursuit of the unification of the entire Russia.

The other group believes that a short-term peace should be pursued. Soviet Russia itself was established relatively recently. It is currently in a mess industrially and the economy is even more miserable.

Agriculture, which is slightly better, has also experienced a big blow. At present, the domestic food gap is relatively serious, and a period of recuperation is urgently needed. First, ensure agricultural production.

This group of forces believes that no matter what the price, if they can gain 5 to 10 years of development time, the situation they face will be completely different.

In addition to the domestic situation in Russia, the Anglo-Irish War in the British Empire is also currently being fought very anxiously.

Strangely enough, the current rebel forces in Ireland are nothing compared to the strength of the British Empire, but the British government is unwilling to deploy more regular British troops in Ireland.

In addition to the two regular divisions sent at the beginning of the conflict, the British only organized a military police organization to assist these two regular divisions, and no other actions were taken.

This also turned the British Civil War into an espionage operation on both sides. Today, the Irish Republican Army killed 18 British agents in Dublin. Tomorrow, the British military police organization will go to the square where the parade crowd gathered to attack the crowd.

Such back-and-forth retaliatory actions caused casualties on both sides to rise rapidly in a short period of time. Hundreds of innocent people have even been shot dead.

However, most of the targets of the IRA were British officials and military figures, which also directly transferred the hatred of the Irish people to the British army.

Even though the British martial law executed dozens of IRA soldiers, it still could not prevent frequent conflicts between the two sides and the rising death toll.

1. The British casualties were 432 and 435 respectively; the Irish casualties were 577 and 577 respectively).

As the time arrives in March, the situation in the UK and Ireland is already on the same level.

As one of the leaders of the Irish Republican Army, Tom Barry decided to take his less than 100 men to do something big.

Tom Barry's so-called big deal was actually to ambush a small detachment of the British army.

Of course, the size of this small team is not small. The total number is about one regiment, more than 1,200 British soldiers.

Well, besieging 1,200 British soldiers with less than 100 people was indeed Tom Barry's whim, and he really took action for it.

1. Under the command of Tom Barry, the Irish Republican Army launched a large siege against the British regiment.

Although the early siege and raid went smoothly, the disadvantages in numbers and equipment soon caused Tom Barry's army to be defeated instantly.

Fortunately, not all of this Republican army was stupid, and they knew the importance of avoiding being surrounded by British troops as much as possible.

As long as they are not surrounded by British troops, no matter how heavy the casualties are, they still have a chance to escape.

But if they are completely surrounded by British troops, judging from the current grim situation in Ireland and the British, these IRA soldiers will only end up being executed.

The result is also obvious. This Irish army of about 100 people, named the West Cork Republican Army, suffered nearly 50 casualties, and also caused more than 20 deaths to the British army opposite. The record is It can be said to be quite impressive.

It is not easy to inflict such large casualties on the British army when they are completely backward in numbers and equipment.

This attack seemed to open Pandora's box. The Irish Republican Army targeted the British army one after another and launched multiple attacks on the British army in a short period of time.

First, two days later on March 13, the Irish Republican Army in County Kerry attacked a train at Headford Crossing, derailing the train and causing the deaths of more than 20 British soldiers and hundreds of British soldiers. Injuried.

Because of the surprise attack, the IRA suffered less than ten casualties. Coupled with the casualties of individual civilians, it was considered the most beautiful victory in the Irish War of Independence so far.

Still in March, in the town of Mill Street, the Irish Republican Army launched another attack on the British army, causing dozens more casualties to the British army.

Although the scale of most such attacks is relatively small, the casualties they can cause are only dozens of people.

However, the Irish army was very fond of this kind of attack. Frequent attacks made the British army unprepared, and their hatred of the Irish Republican Army also rose to the extreme.

Of course, every success in a surprise attack will inevitably lead to failure.

In the two attacks at Upton and Colonmart, the IRA did not cause casualties to the British troops. Instead, they were caught off guard by the British troops who had prepared in advance, causing dozens of casualties.

In January, the number of attacks launched by the Irish Republican Army against British troops suddenly increased sharply.

The largest operation took place in Dublin, the largest city in Ireland. Hundreds of republican soldiers occupied the center of Dublin and burned down the Customs House.

Customs House is the administrative center of Irish local government and also symbolizes British rule in Ireland.

The IRA burned down the Customs House as a symbol of the fragility of British rule in Ireland.

The attacks in Ireland have given the British government a headache. The IRA's guerrilla behavior also led the British government to mistakenly estimate that it was a force that could not be defeated militarily.

In addition, the Irish Republican Army was no longer content to fight in Ireland and took the flames of war to British ports, which also caused an even greater headache for the British government.

However, the IRA was not a cohesive force. Although the nominal Republic of Ireland has been established, the IRA is still managed by various small bosses, and the powers of Ireland's nominal Chief of General Staff and Minister of Defense are too restricted.

There is also an advantage to this, that is, the whole of Ireland is not as united as imagined.

Unlike Southern Ireland, which pursues independent status, some regions in Northern Ireland want autonomy rather than independence.

This also caused a ideological conflict between the Northern Republican Army and the Southern Republican Army. The Irish Republican Government required the Northern Republican Army to launch a surprise attack on the British army and maintain a consistent position with the Southern Republican Army.

However, since the conflict broke out, the Irish Republican Army in the north has not had any armed conflict with the British government.

This gave the British government hope of dividing the Irish forces. The British government promoted the IRA as an anti-Protestant force and encouraged the royalists among Irish Protestants to support Britain and draw a clear line between the IRA and the anti-Protestant IRA.

With the encouragement of the British government, various British media outlets will also involuntarily mention the religious beliefs of British soldiers killed by the IRA.

Of course, the religious beliefs of these soldiers who were killed were all Protestant, while most of those who survived were Catholic.

The British wanted to use this method to awaken the dissatisfaction of Irish Protestants against Catholics and win their sympathy for the IRA's brutal tactics against the British army.

What is somewhat surprising is that the British government gave up the option of escalating the conflict in Ireland. The British government has never vigorously requested war since the conflict broke out.

Winston Churchill, the future Prime Minister of the British Empire and now a member of the British Cabinet, expressed his stance directly when faced with this situation: "What is the alternative? In the past, it was an iron fist-like suppression of a small corner of the Empire. You come We go there and there are corpses everywhere. Only when the country needs to protect itself can we condone the consequences of this strategy. But now, no reasonable person can conclude that this is about self-preservation.”

There is also bad news for the British Empire, that is, the atrocities of the British Empire were exposed by the Irish Republican Army, and were even secretly printed and distributed to a large number of domestic and foreign media newspapers and politicians in many powerful countries.

This also caused some countries to begin to favor the Irish Republican Army, believing that British rule in Ireland was inhumane.

Even Pope Benedict XV, in a recent letter, encouraged both Britain and Ireland to think calmly and come to an agreement to end the current dispute.

Benedict XV's speech made the British a little angry, because the British government had previously asked the Pope to speak out words condemning the Irish rebellion to influence Catholics in the Irish Republican Army.

But unexpectedly, Pope Benedict XV actually publicly chose to support Ireland and encouraged fair exchanges between the rebellious Ireland and the British government. This made the British angrily declare: "The Pope is giving equal status to His Majesty's government and the Irish murderer gang." .”

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