The Irish Civil War Part Two: The Free State Offensive

Many moons ago a young man called Conor began exploring the outbreak and initial stages of the Irish Civil War. Unfortunately he was ambushed by a squad of Anti-Treaty IRA and hauled all the way down south to the (real capital) city of Cork. Luckily for him he managed to escape, but not before witnessing the newly formed Irish Free State take the fight directly to the IRA who ran from Dublin down to the province of Munster. Our war hero has returned to tell us all about the events of the first proper campaign of the Free State Army. (For legal reasons all of this is a joke. Remember folks, despite being the youngest of the three it's actually Granda Keego who is the oldest and of course was there to witness all of these events firsthand.) From troubles in training the new army, to parking 18-pounder artillery guns right outside post offices and one of the first amphibious landings in modern military history, join Conor this week as we look at the Munster Offensive - the decisive military stroke of the Civil War that would see much of the Anti-Treaty IRA scattered and any hope for their victory in this conflict was quickly and decisively destroyed. This episode was hosted by Conor Daly and joined by Arron Keegan and Hayley O'Connor. The intro and outro music - Strollin' Along - was recorded by David Renda. Make sure to follow us on our social media pages! Just search for "That's Old News" on Tiktok, Instagram, and Twitter/X! (00:00) Intro (01:08) Recap (06:52) The IRA and the Munster Republic (11:50) The Free State Offensive Begins (13:13) Battle of Limerick (23:24) Taking Waterford (33:00) Battle of Killmallock (56:15) The National Army Conduct Amphibious Landings (01:12:57) Post Show Banter