
Sean Keane
9K posts




Irish troops marching during "The Emergency”. At the outbreak of the Second World War, known as "The Emergency" in Ireland, the Defence Forces were very small in numbers, less than 20,000. This resulted in a massive recruitment campaign that boosted the Army's numbers to over 40,000 by 1941 and the Reserve's numbers to over 100,000 by 1943. The Army was mobilized into two divisions: First Division, under Michael Joseph Costello, was based in Cork, while the Second Division, commanded by Hugo McNeill, was based in Maynooth. One thing the Defence Forces did lack, however, was up to date equipment, and did not stand much of a chance against a well-armed invader, such as the British or the Germans. During this period, around 5,000 Irish soldiers deserted the Defence Forces to join the British Army to fight the Germans. When they returned after the war, they were branded deserters and most were shamed and shunned by the population… These soldiers were later pardoned in 2013.







No 5 US/UK WW2 propaganda Myth was that “Nazi spies & infiltrators were everywhere, helped by the IRA in Éire🇮🇪.” All but one of the German spies were arrested immediately, 1,130 Republicans were interned without trial, 800 were jailed, 5 were executed & 2 died on hunger strike.























