16 June 2022
By Mary Bermingham
mary@TheCork.ie

Cork History

The Battle for Cork July-August 1922 by John Borgonovo; an historian and lecturer in University College Cork was published in September 2011 and is now was reprinted in May 2022 and is on sale again.

This fascinating history tells the full story of the battle for Cork for the first time, showing all the chaos, bravery, and misery of the largest engagement of the Irish Civil War and the final defeat of Republican Cork. It describes the three days of stubborn fighting that was required for the National Army to secure the city. The retreating IRA left destruction in their wake, setting the stage for Michael Collins’ fatal final visit to his home county.

By the sixth week of the Irish Civil War in 1922, all eyes turned to Cork, as the National Army readied its climactic attack on the ‘rebel capital’. At 2 a.m. on a Bank Holiday Monday, Emmet Dalton and 450 soldiers of the National Army landed at Passage West, in one of the most famous surprise attacks in Irish military history. Their daring amphibious assault knocked the famed Cork IRA onto the back foot, though three more days of stubborn fighting was required for the National Army to secure the city. The retreating IRA left destruction in their wake, setting the stage for Michael Collins’ fatal final visit to his home county.

The book is published by Cork-based Mercier Press and spans 160 pages. It can be had for €14.99 from https://www.mercierpress.ie/irish-books/the_battle_for_cork_july_august_1922/

Listen to an interview with the author John Borgonovo on TheIrishStory.com.