1916/War of Independence weapons.

FACECUTTR

Hi guys does anybody have any information on weapons used in the 1916 Rising/War of Independence. Mainly Chinese Jingal wall guns.

Stovepipe

Weapons used were mostly European, such as Enfield, Mauser, FN Colt, Webley and the odd American Colt.

FACECUTTR

Stovepipe wrote: »

Weapons used were mostly European, such as Enfield, Mauser, FN Colt, Webley and the odd American Colt.

Thank you for the reply. I'm specifically looking for information on a Chinese Jingal wall gun which was used against the black and Tans.

Ascendant

There are a trio of good articles on The Irish Story that deal with that specific topic:

Weapons of the Irish Revolution – part I 1914-16

Weapons of the Irish Revolution, Part II, The War of Independence 1919-21

Weapons of the Irish Revolution Part III – The Civil War 1922-23

BalcombeSt4

About 250 Thompson sub machine guns were shipped in from America (they wanted about 600 but some were caught) in the last few months of the war. Tom Barry was the first person to test them out in the presence of Collins.

Landmines and other explosives were used a lot more towards the end of the war also.
On the 2nd March 1921 Volunteers from the 2nd Cork Brigade and 2nd Kerry Brigade laid landmines near Millstreet. Thirteen British soldiers were killed and fifteen wounded when the mines were exploded under their lorry.

On the 31st May 1921 Volunteers exploded a remotely detonated mine under a British Military band at Youghall county Cork. Seven British soldiers (military bandsmen from Hampshire regiment) were killed, twenty more were wounded in the explosion.

Kinda reminds you of the Warrenpoint and the Hyde Park attacks by the Provos.

http://www.cairogang.com/soldiers-killed/youghal/youghal.html

whisky_galore

FACECUTTR wrote: »

Thank you for the reply. I'm specifically looking for information on a Chinese Jingal wall gun which was used against the black and Tans.

A very odd and outdated weapon, where would they have got those? From a 'big house' with a collection of antique weapons brought back from past campaigns or somewhere like that?

FACECUTTR

whisky_galore wrote: »

A very odd and outdated weapon, where would they have got those? From a 'big house' with a collection of antique weapons brought back from past campaigns or somewhere like that?

As far as we know it was smuggled into the country along with other weapons. No idea how something from China made it all the way to Ireland at that time.

riffmongous

Those guns are huge, would they not have been impractical for actual use by a guerilla force? I mean they are 'wall guns'. It could have been brought back a spoil from the Boxer Rebellioin I guess

Del.Monte

Just the job to hide under your raincoat.

FACECUTTR

That guy is doing well to hold it up. I'm a big guy and I'd struggle. It was mounted on the back of a truck for a time.

whisky_galore

FACECUTTR wrote: »

That guy is doing well to hold it up. I'm a big guy and I'd struggle. It was mounted on the back of a truck for a time.

Can you tell us where in the country it was used?

riffmongous

FACECUTTR wrote: »

That guy is doing well to hold it up. I'm a big guy and I'd struggle. It was mounted on the back of a truck for a time.

On a truck? Are you sure it wasn't being used by the Black the Tans? :P

I'm definitely not an expert but I don't know any stories of trucks being used by the rebels, if you can tell us the county it should be possible to check the written stories from the area, something like that would probably have been noted. Another possibility is the civil war where both sides had access to lorries at the start

FACECUTTR

riffmongous wrote: »

On a truck? Are you sure it wasn't being used by the Black the Tans? :P

I'm definitely not an expert but I don't know any stories of trucks being used by the rebels, if you can tell us the county it should be possible to check the written stories from the area, something like that would probably have been noted. Another possibility is the civil war where both sides had access to lorries at the start

Offaly/Galway border. Along the Shannon

whisky_galore

riffmongous wrote: »

On a truck? Are you sure it wasn't being used by the Black the Tans? :P

I'm definitely not an expert but I don't know any stories of trucks being used by the rebels,

Thought a gun of that size might be of more use mounted on a vehicle.

As an aside, the anti Treaty IRA used a stolen Rolls Royce car with Lewis machine guns mounted on it in the Cork area. Known locally as the 'Moon Car', it still exists and has been restored to running order recently. I sure there may have been other civilian and military vehicles stolen and used during the WOI and CW by the IRA but usually ended up being abandoned or burned out.

http://www.jamesblackrestorations.com/1919-rolls-royce-silver-ghost-chassis-no-5pp-the-moon-car/

riffmongous

whisky_galore wrote: »

Thought a gun of that size might be of more use mounted on a vehicle.

As an aside, the anti Treaty IRA used a stolen Rolls Royce car with Lewis machine guns mounted on it in the Cork area. Known locally as the 'Moon Car', it still exists and has been restored to running order recently. I sure there may have been other civilian and military vehicles stolen and used during the WOI and CW by the IRA but usually ended up being abandoned or burned out.

http://www.jamesblackrestorations.com/1919-rolls-royce-silver-ghost-chassis-no-5pp-the-moon-car/

But I have never heard of the rebels using trucks during the WOI have you?I would have thought any truck, particularly a weaponised truck would have been more of a liability due to its uncommonness back in that conflict

whisky_galore

riffmongous wrote: »

But I have never heard of the rebels using trucks during the WOI have you?I would have thought any truck, particularly a weaponised truck would have been more of a liability due to its uncommonness back in that conflict

After a brief spell on the google machine....A Peerless armoured car was hijacked to get Sean MacEoin out of Mountjoy in 1921.

Not very useful once they run out of petrol and most of them were pretty ponderous vehicles anyway on the best of roads, let alone the poor Irish roads of the era.
Also, not many rebels would know how to drive one in the first place, captured vehicles were usually wrecked or burned out.