ABSTRACT
The struggle of the Anglo-Irish War is inevitably one-sided, given the military might of Britain and its Empire, necessitating the Irish strategy of spasmodic guerrilla warfare. However, the struggle is turned by Michael Collins’ superiority in waging the Intelligence War. Collins is Director of Intelligence in the IRA, and establishes and develops a near nationwide intelligence network, aided by the majority of the population and by the trade unions, especially Post Office and railway workers. British plans and strategies are almost always known to the IRA in advance. Collins also establishes a paid, full-time, élite force of intelligence operatives based in Dublin, “The Squad”. Informers and would-be informers recruited by the British are ruthlessly dealt with, and the Squad successfully carries out assassinations of British agents.
