British Voices by William Sheehan Page B

1914, and was appointed a temporary Lieutenant in October 1914, and a temporary Captain in November 1914. By 1917, he was a temporary Lieutenant Colonel, commanding the 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment. During the First World War, he also held battalion command of an Essex Battalion and of a battalion of the Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire Regiment. He served in Russia in 1919, as a Major with the Royal Fusiliers, and returned to the Essex Regiment for service in Ireland from 1919 to 1921. He later served with the Cheshire Regiment during 1924. From 1925 to 1929, he served with the Royal West African Frontier Force, returning to the Cheshire Regiment in 1929. He taught at the Staff College, Camberley, from 1931 to 1932. From 1936 to 1938, he served in Malaya, as a General Staff Officer, Grade 1, returning in 1938 to England to Staff Command at Aldershot as a Brigader-General. During World War Two, Percival served as a Brigadier with 1st Corps BEF in France from 1939 to 1940. He served also in 1940 as Assistant Chief of Imperial Staff. He was appointed as GOC Malaya in July 1941, and as the commander of British forces at Singapore surrendered the city to the Japanese Army in 1942, and was imprisoned in Manchuria for the remainder of the Second World War. He retired in 1946.
    Guerrilla Warfare, Ireland 1920-1921
Introduction
    M Y OBJECT IN the two lectures which I am going to give you on Guerrilla warfare in Ireland during 1920 and 1921 is firstly to give those of you who did not take part in the Irish War, an idea of the conditions prevailing there and of the various problems with which we as soldiers were confronted and, secondly, to explain to you how we solved these problems, and to give you the reasons which influenced our solutions. The problems I shall deal with will be in the main tactical problems, and I shall, as far as possible, avoid all political and religious questions, though it will be necessary to touch on these briefly as they had such an important influence on the conduct of military operations.
    In my first lecture I propose to give you a general outline of the conditions prevailing in the South of Ireland at the commencement of 1920, and then to trace step by step the evolution of the struggle from that date till the Spring of 1921. I shall deal with the various problems as they arose and explain to you how they were influenced by changing conditions.
    In my second lecture, I shall deal with the operations during the final period (April-July 1921) and shall give you my conclusions as to the best methods to be employed in warfare of this nature. I shall also deal with the organisation of intelligence within the battalion – a very important subject – and shall conclude with what I consider were some of the outstanding lessons from a military point of view.
    Personal Experiences
    In the course of my lecture I shall give you a few personal experiences; this I shall do, not in any spirit of self-aggrandisement, but purely with a view to illustrating the type of warfare in which we were engaged.
    Appointments held and Area dealt with
    I went to Ireland in January 1920 and served with my Regiment there till the Truce. The Battalion was stationed at Kinsale with a number of outlying Detachments, and was responsible for a large tract of country in west Cork, probably one of the most disturbed areas in the whole of Ireland. I was first placed in command of the Bandon Detachment and was subsequently given a special position as Intelligence Officer and organiser of operations in the battalion area.
    General Description of Country
    I will now give you a short description of the conditions which prevailed in County Cork at the beginning of 1920.
    The country is generally wild with large uncultivated tracts. There are a few small towns e.g. Kinsale, Bandon, Clonakilty, Bantry and Macroom and a number of villages, mostly situated in the valleys between the hills. The industry of the country is almost entirely