If you want to research how to wage a guerilla war against a super power and win, read this book.The technology may change but the tactics are solid

I find the narrator to be a little unreliable, but the book is important to read if you want to understand (1) The IRA and its structure, (2) attitude of the IRA conducts their attacks, and (3) the transition of fighting from a non-permissive to a permissive environment.

(1) This book captures how the IRA as a "military" is a misnomer. Page 160, "Indeed the Divisional Unit and the Guerilla Army of the Irish Republic were... a contradiction in terms. The functions of a divisional staff, if it were to be an instrument of control and direction, should be to make new appointments, [promote, demote, and relieve officers, plan military operations], ensure suffiecient supply of arms and ammunition, and coordinate operations." This was not the case as (1) each echelon elected their officers democratically and were not appointed, (2) there were no communications equipment so no orders could be issued from "higher", (3) each locality was so unique that central planning could not have had as timely and accurate information as the guerilla fighters on the ground, and (4) there was no budget with which to purchase arms, clothing, or food and each IRA member spent much time begging, borrowing, and stealing from Irish and British civilians in order to operate.

(2) The attitude of the IRA attacks were almost on a personal/honor level. Targets for attack and execution were not "strategic", they were based on that unit or that persons actions. Judges, policeman, etc. were assissinated or kidnapped and executed after compiling "evidence" of their crimes against the Irish. This method of warfare is targeted and reduces civilian casualities and apparently highly effective.

(3) The author recounts stories of the transition from fighting in a non-permissive environment to a permissive environment.

Obviously this is a personal memoir and recounting a war at that, so I understand that there would be no sympathy for the British, however, I did find the lens a bit too far lop-sided in favour of the IRA in this book. The book acts like partial history and partial memoir account, with a good amount of tactical detail included. Barry's stories are engaging and brief enough to keep the attention of the reader.

Recommended to us as students in school by our Leaving Cert history teacher, this is the story of the Irish War of Independence as related by General Tom Barry, one of the most accomplished I.R.A. guerrilla war commanders. The text is well written, visual and flows with considerable pace throughout. Barry had served in Iraq with the British Army against Turkish-German forces during W.W.I. and this experience aided his organisational and strategic ability to become a fearsome adversary in West Cork during 1920-21. The book provides an account of the most important I.R.A. Flying Column engagements against the British Army and the mercenary Auxiliary Division of the R.I.C. (The Auxiliaries and Black and Tans were referred to as mercenaries by the Archbishop of Tuam, Dr. Gilmartin, a noted pacifist but also anti-republican). Barry’s account of the organisation and training of his Column with meagre resources is not propaganda but realistic and grim. This is reflected in the subsequent confrontations in Cork in which neither side gave any quarter. Cork, along with Tipperary, Limerick and Clare were placed under martial law in 1920 and bore the brunt of the War of Independence against, as Barry describes, the crown forces. Barry’s men could not have survived were they not resolute, determined and well led. Many of them were only teenagers. Some did not make it through the conflict and were killed in action. Others were mortally wounded and died in great pain of their wounds and were buried secretly at night. Historians have raised doubts about some of Barry’s testimony especially at Kilmichael. The men themselves never spoke about it except for one of the O’Sullivans who wrote an account of the ambush for his son before he died. The account has never been published. To anyone who has been out in the mountains in Ireland in the cold winter rain of November, Barry’s account of his Flying Column lying in the heather, thoroughly soaked and chilled to the bone while awaiting the arrival of the 'Auxies’ deports one back in time to the hillsides of West Cork. Analysing a battle in the relaxed atmosphere of peace and free thought is very different to the atmosphere in the heat of bitter conflict. All war is bloody and assumes a momentum of its own once engaged. Barry’s account brings that home. As a volunteer army, ill equipped and short on ammunition the I.R.A. achieved the impossible in the departure of an occupation force from most of Ireland in 1921. This book is a must read written a man who led one of the units in the witch’s cauldron which was West Cork 1920-21.

Just finished this great read.Tom Barry seems like he was a great bloke,loved his people & fought for them.This book is no stuffy read but a great account of how the Irish who were willing to fight finally got free after 750 years.Well at least in the South.Highly recommended.

recommend tom barry had an advantage being a ww1 veteran fighting FOR the crown

Didn't finish.

A bit dry, but incredibly insightful.

Excellent! Really enjoyed it but some of the descriptions are a little hard to picture; could have done with a few explanatory photos or maps

An outstanding first-hand account of the lives and times of the 3rd (West) Cork Brigade's "Flying Column" during the 1919-1921 Irish War of Independence (here and often referred to as the Anglo-Irish War), in which (most of) Ireland finally won full independence from English rule.

Tom Barry, the commander of the Flying Brigade -- a constantly on-the-move guerrilla strike force -- proves to be as good a writer as he was a rebel commander. Even though written a quarter of a century after the events, Barry's vivid descriptions bring his readers into the center of the action, and often convey the fear, anger, exhaustion and exhilaration that he and members of his unit felt at different points of their struggle.

In addition to being a compelling personal history, Barry's book also serves as a lesson in leadership. Barry -- who was only in his early 20's during these times -- is courageous in taking risks, generous in distributing credit, and motivational in focusing his forces on the larger objectives of the IRA during their fight for independence. Anyone seeking a position of leadership would do well to learn Barry's lessons.

A few of my favorite passages:

On Imperialism: "The British Imperialists down the ages owe in the main, their successful conquests of many peoples to the technique of "Divide and Conquer." They have consistently urged class against class, district against district, creed against creed, and in the resultant chaos of warring sects and factions, they established themselves and maintained their rule of exploitation. So in 1920 and 1921, they fanned the flame of religious intolerance between Catholics and Protestants." [Reviewer's addition: In so doing, the British exacerbated the tensions that led to the ongoing conflict between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland. And this technique is of course not theirs alone; conservatives in the U.S. practice it with great success today, tragically.]

On the Essex Regiment of the British Army: "Their brutalities when killing defenceless I.R.A. prisoners were incredible. They never showed mercy to the wounded, the sick or the unarmed. There was never a unit in any army in any campaign which had disgraced the profession of arms as did those vulgar monsters who were the dregs of the underworld of London." [Reviewer's note: this is not likely true, as there have been all too many disgraceful armies ... but I appreciate the passion nonetheless. ;)]

On the need for guerrilla tactics: "Excluding naval personnel, approximately twelve thousand, six hundred armed British troops, Auxiliaries and Black and Tans occupied the County of Cork seven weeks before the Truce between Ireland and Britain. Standing against this field force was that of the Irish Republican Army, never at any time exceeding three hundred and ten riflemen in the whole of the County of Cork, for the very excellent reason that this was the total of rifles held by the combined three Cork Brigades."

On the importance of taking up arms against oppressors: "Since the Treaty of Limerick in 1691 down to and including 1916 the British terms to the defeated Irish soldiers had always been unconditional surrender followed by a massacre of the Irish leaders. But now they had to deal with an Army that was capable, not alone of fighting back but of actually threatening to smash their military power in Ireland in the not far distant future. While the Army survived and fought on, nothing under God could have broken the Nation's will to victory. Patriotic and brave men might die on the scaffold, on hunger strike or endure in British jails; mass meetings might demand our freedom; electors vote for a Republic; writers and poets cry aloud of British tyranny and of Ireland's sufferings, but none of those would have induced the lords of the Conquest to undo their grip or even discuss our liberation. The only language they listened to or could understand was that of the rifle, the revolver, the bomb and the crackling of flames which cost them so dearly in blood and treasure."

As these excerpts show, this book is not an unbiased account of these times ... but if an impartial history is what you're looking for, you ought not be looking in the Memoir section. If instead you want to read a true and stirring account of a ragtag band of rebels challenging the mighty British Empire, pick up this book!

I think I was looking for an insight into the story behind the war. The motivations, the politics and what drove people to such extremes, although this is all touched upon, this book is more a military and tactical record. And for this, it's quite a success.

Tom Barry played an important part in the War of Independence for Ireland, and essential to read his story. It does not cover much about the Irish civil war where he fought on the anti-treaty side, and the internal frictions on that side.