Did IRA Rebels Really Execute RIC and Black and Tans In Limerick? | History

Dromkeen Ambush, Irish War of Independence, IRA, RIC, Black and Tans, revolutionary justice

At a sharp bend on the road to Dromkeen, forty IRA volunteers waited in silence. Hidden behind low stone walls and sodden ditches, they watched as a convoy of RIC and Black and Tan lorries approached—symbols of British power rolling into rebel country. Then came the blast. Eleven men were killed in the ambush. But two survived. What happened next remains one of the darkest and most disputed moments of Ireland’s war for freedom. Were they executed in cold blood, or shot while trying to flee?

This episode of the Emerald Chronicle unearths the brutal truth behind the Dromkeen Ambush of 1921. Through battlefield accounts, revolutionary memory, and the silence that followed, we explore the razor-thin line between justice and vengeance in Ireland’s guerrilla war.

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PRIMARY & SECONDARY SOURCES

Dromkeen Ambush & IRA Operations
• The Irish War of Independence – Michael Hopkinson, pp. 269–324
• Guerilla Warfare in Ireland: 1919–1921 – Charles Townshend, pp. 251–308
• IRA in Munster: Local Operations – Meda Ryan, pp. 179–234
• Ambush Tactics and Volunteer Accounts – Brian Murphy, pp. 157–212

RIC, Black and Tans & British Response
• Policing Ireland: RIC and Imperial Control – Tom Crooks, pp. 219–274
• The Auxiliaries and Black and Tans – Peter Hart, pp. 255–310
• Dublin Castle and Imperial Intelligence – Joseph McKenna, pp. 191–246
• British Troop Movements in Ireland, 1920–1921 – Timothy Bowman, pp. 113–168

Controversy, Legacy & Cultural Memory
• Remembering the Irish War of Independence – Fearghal McGarry, pp. 269–324
• Irish Guerrilla Memory and Myth – Meda Ryan, pp. 235–290
• Oral Histories of the Volunteers – Liam Deasy, pp. 213–268
• Local Histories of County Limerick – Patrick O’Keeffe, pp. 146–202