Germaniac
Donor
POD: Eoin Macneill, on his way to the Sunday Independent to deliver the message that all Irish Volunteers are to countermand their orders for the following day, is hit by a R.I.C. vehicle in the late hours of night. Macneill is killed, and the message is never delivered. While this message is never sent, the dispatch sent earlier to commanders outside Dublin are received and the volunteers, outside the city, believe the rising to be canceled. Easter rising in Dublin goes on as planned, the Blood sacrifice of the Irish Republican Brotherhood is more thorough and most of the established hierarchy of the IRB is wiped out.
Chapter One: Easter Sunday
The day was April 23th, Easter Sunday, the weather was fine and there was a distinct calm over the city of Dublin. An early spring day, which made, was a day to pray and spend time with family. That relative calm came to an abrupt and violent end by midday. At 11:30 in the morning small detachments of volunteers took up positions around the city. The plan was to take key sections of the city quickly then fully mobilize and reinforce their positions before the British could consider a counter attack. At 12:00, midday, the detachment at the magazine fort at Phoenix Park would detonate main magazine, the massive explosion would be heard throughout the city and signal the start of the rising. At exactly 11:30 the detachment led by Garry Holohan stormed the fort, set the charges and ran out of the fort into the surrounding area. At exactly twelve a massive shock wave rippled through the streets of Dublin, as a monstrous roar of the explosion disrupted prayer services and Easter Sunday meals.
A partially rebuilt section of the Magazine Fort
Within the first few minutes Seán Connolly's company of the Citizens Army stormed though the gates of the castle, causing the first casualty of the day a policeman at his castle guardhouse. At first Connolly considered doubling back to the Dublin City Hall, but upon word of Volunteer reinforcements, he reconsidered and pressed the attack. To his surprise there was only a few unprepared guards, who where taken hostage. While the capture of the castle was important, the two men captured along with it were more so. When Connolly burst in the office two men stared back surprised and shaken, Sir Mathew Nathan and Lord Wimborne the Under-Secretary for Ireland and the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland respectfully, both men had just minutes before been discusses what they thought had been the cancellation of a rising. Nathan and Wimborne became the first prisoners of war taken by the Provisional Republic of Ireland.
Prisoners being marched into the Castle after the rebels took it.
Within an hour much of the city was under the control or the rebels. Ned Daly's first Battalion, numbering at about 1000 men, took the northwest part of the city, specifically setting up headquarters at the Four Courts. The second battalion under Thomas MacDonagh, numbered at about 850 men, captured the main telephone exchange, St. Stephen's Green, and made an HQ at Trinity College. The third battalion was under the command of Eamon De Valera, the smallest contingent with only 250 men, took Boland's Bakery and the surrounding area. The Fourth Battalion mustered to the south west at dolphins barn, with about 300 men, and took control of Emerald Square. In the headquarters of the rising, the General Post Office, there were a total of about four to five hundred Volunteers, with another 300 Citizens Army men led by Connelly. The City was for the most part under the control of the rebels, and from the GPO Patrick Pearse, read the Proclamation of the Irish Republic.
Without the accesses to the telephone exchange and the Castle, the RIC and British response on Sunday didn't come until the mid afternoon. Their first response was disorganized and haphazard. A detachment from the Portobello and Richmond barracks were sent to relieve the castle, which was thought to be under siege, in actuality it was under the control of the rebels. Troops from the Richmond barracks were attacked by an outpost of the 1st battalion and retreated back to the barracks. The force from the Portobello barracks made their way as far north as the biscuit factory, but were turned back by a detachment led by Constance Markiewicz, the only female commander. By the end of Easter Sunday the British had only been able to retake the South Dublin Union, and only after extremely hard fighting in which most of the rebels were able to retreat back further into the city.
Chapter One: Easter Sunday
The day was April 23th, Easter Sunday, the weather was fine and there was a distinct calm over the city of Dublin. An early spring day, which made, was a day to pray and spend time with family. That relative calm came to an abrupt and violent end by midday. At 11:30 in the morning small detachments of volunteers took up positions around the city. The plan was to take key sections of the city quickly then fully mobilize and reinforce their positions before the British could consider a counter attack. At 12:00, midday, the detachment at the magazine fort at Phoenix Park would detonate main magazine, the massive explosion would be heard throughout the city and signal the start of the rising. At exactly 11:30 the detachment led by Garry Holohan stormed the fort, set the charges and ran out of the fort into the surrounding area. At exactly twelve a massive shock wave rippled through the streets of Dublin, as a monstrous roar of the explosion disrupted prayer services and Easter Sunday meals.
A partially rebuilt section of the Magazine Fort
Within the first few minutes Seán Connolly's company of the Citizens Army stormed though the gates of the castle, causing the first casualty of the day a policeman at his castle guardhouse. At first Connolly considered doubling back to the Dublin City Hall, but upon word of Volunteer reinforcements, he reconsidered and pressed the attack. To his surprise there was only a few unprepared guards, who where taken hostage. While the capture of the castle was important, the two men captured along with it were more so. When Connolly burst in the office two men stared back surprised and shaken, Sir Mathew Nathan and Lord Wimborne the Under-Secretary for Ireland and the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland respectfully, both men had just minutes before been discusses what they thought had been the cancellation of a rising. Nathan and Wimborne became the first prisoners of war taken by the Provisional Republic of Ireland.
Prisoners being marched into the Castle after the rebels took it.
Within an hour much of the city was under the control or the rebels. Ned Daly's first Battalion, numbering at about 1000 men, took the northwest part of the city, specifically setting up headquarters at the Four Courts. The second battalion under Thomas MacDonagh, numbered at about 850 men, captured the main telephone exchange, St. Stephen's Green, and made an HQ at Trinity College. The third battalion was under the command of Eamon De Valera, the smallest contingent with only 250 men, took Boland's Bakery and the surrounding area. The Fourth Battalion mustered to the south west at dolphins barn, with about 300 men, and took control of Emerald Square. In the headquarters of the rising, the General Post Office, there were a total of about four to five hundred Volunteers, with another 300 Citizens Army men led by Connelly. The City was for the most part under the control of the rebels, and from the GPO Patrick Pearse, read the Proclamation of the Irish Republic.
Without the accesses to the telephone exchange and the Castle, the RIC and British response on Sunday didn't come until the mid afternoon. Their first response was disorganized and haphazard. A detachment from the Portobello and Richmond barracks were sent to relieve the castle, which was thought to be under siege, in actuality it was under the control of the rebels. Troops from the Richmond barracks were attacked by an outpost of the 1st battalion and retreated back to the barracks. The force from the Portobello barracks made their way as far north as the biscuit factory, but were turned back by a detachment led by Constance Markiewicz, the only female commander. By the end of Easter Sunday the British had only been able to retake the South Dublin Union, and only after extremely hard fighting in which most of the rebels were able to retreat back further into the city.