Uncommon Valour (7 page)

Cathal Brugha, from his vantage point at the window on the first floor of the Nurses' Home, directed fire into the advancing British troops. From their vantage point overlooking a warren of side streets, alleyways, windows and rooftops, the Volunteers fired on any soldier who moved into range.

A squad of eight British soldiers moved across the square reaching the Bakehouse (18) between the Nurses' Home and the Boardroom (14). One soldier was shot dead as he entered the building and another was severely wounded. Leaving two men to hold that position and provide covering fire, the remaining four crept out into a courtyard that flanked the Nurses' Home. They gained cover by moving along the wall of the yard until they came to a barred window that was eight feet from the ground. Removing the pin from a hand grenade they dropped it through the window into the dormitory building that was adjacent to the Nurses' Home. Unknown to the soldiers a number of patients had taken refuge from the fighting there and as the missile exploded one Union patient was killed and eight others were wounded.

Major Vane soon realised that a frontal assault on the Nurses' Home was hopeless, as the building had been well barricaded. He ordered Captain Martyn to outflank the defenders by entering the long series of buildings (9) to the left of the Volunteer headquarters. This building housed a number of wards for the elderly. Entering the cold stone building he led his section into a labyrinth of corridors until they reached the dividing wall between the buildings. They were separated from the Nurses' Home by a brick wall nine inches thick. Captain Martyn sent some of his men for tools to breach the wall and they returned with a small coal pick (an implement with a hammer at one end and pick at the other). The wall was soon breached and two soldiers began crawling through the narrow entrance. This action went unnoticed due to the din of battle.

From their vantage point on the landing within the Nurses' Home, the Volunteers saw a khaki cap appear through the hole in the wall. Jack Doherty opened fire and the British soldier slumped as he was hit. The other Volunteers opened fire, the intensity of their actions causing their rifles to overheat. Spent cartridges littered the floor.

James Coughlan discarded his rifle and emptied the contents of his Webley revolver into the barricade. He shouted to fFrench Mullen to throw a grenade. The captain lit the fuse on a canister grenade, leaned over the landing and loudly counted ‘one, two, three' before tossing the grenade towards the barricade. Coughlan cursed fFrench Mullen for unintentionally warning the enemy of the grenade. Both men took cover behind their sandbags as the grenade exploded.
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Major Vane shouted: ‘Who is there? I am Major Vane.'

The only reply was: ‘Go to hell.'
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During a pause in the firing, Captain Martyn, Corporal Walker and another soldier removed the body of the dead Sherwood Forester who was blocking the breach and crawled through the opening in the wall into the Nurses' Home. They found themselves in the porch area facing a large barricade that almost reached the ceiling. The concussive thud of an exploding grenade showered Captain Martyn and the hallway with debris. The intervening ground between the breached wall and the barricade was swept by rifle fire from the landing. Cover could only be obtained immediately under the barricade. Captain Oates shouted through the breach, ‘Are you all right there?'

‘Yes, but we will need some bombs,' came the reply.

A satchel of hand grenades was handed through the breached wall. As Captain Oates came through the breach he could see an office doorway. Suddenly the soldier who had entered with Captain Martyn and Corporal Walker bolted and ran out from the doorway near the porch and back towards the hole in the wall. Captain Oates thought the soldier was running away, but as he turned to follow the man, the soldier stumbled and fell near the gap in the wall. Oates bent down and rolled the soldier over; the man had been shot through the heart and must have been dead as he came through the doorway.

The scene Captain Oates stepped into was one of utter chaos. As his eyes grew accustomed to the smoke and dust of the battle he saw he was standing in a lobby. To his right side was the main door of the Nurses' Home that had been barricaded shut. To his left was a wide doorway with an ornamental archway at its top that divided the lobby. Erected in the archway was a barricade that almost reached the apex of the arch. It was constructed of sandbags, stones, bedsteads, mattresses and office furniture. The top of this obstruction was almost in line with the lower landing of the stairway. Opposite to where he stood, he could see a doorway that led into an office. Captain Martyn and Corporal Walker lay on the floor just under the barricade, near the office door. Corporal Walker lobbed a grenade, but the missile failed to clear the top of the barricade and rolled back amongst the British soldiers. The grenade rolled across the floor, its seven-second fuse burning profusely. Martyn rushed forward, seized the bomb and threw it. The grenade cleared the barricade and exploded in the small hallway beyond with a deafening blast.

Captain Oates armed with a Colt automatic pistol opened fire towards the Volunteer position on the landing. Plaster dust choked the men as defenders and attackers opened fire in the small hallway. The smell of cordite was suffocating. In an attempt to outflank the Volunteers' barricade, Captains Martyn and Oates and Corporal Walker crawled on their stomachs into the room beside the lobby. Here Captain Martyn broke the window with his revolver but found it was barred from the outside. They realised they would have to crawl back to the hole in the wall and work their way around the outside of the building. The British officers loaded their weapons before attempting to move back to the breach in the wall.

On the ground floor, Lieutenant Cosgrave opened fire on the British soldiers crouching behind the barricade. Grenades exploded inside the building showering the defenders with bricks and plaster. Cathal Brugha was on the second floor, in the front rooms of the Nurses' Home. The Volunteers hung tenaciously to their position while Brugha urged them on. Walking between the rooms and the landing he continuously risked his life with the casual abandon of those who think they are invincible.

Commandant Ceannt had seen the military occupy the Bakehouse (18) and knew that his line of retreat was in danger of being cut off. Hurrying out the rear door of the Nurses' Home, Ceannt's intention was to call up the sixteen Volunteers positioned over the James's Street entrance (14) as reinforcements. As he left the building, panicky shouts of ‘the British are in' filled the air, causing many of the Volunteers to withdraw from their positions. Explosions tore gaps in the roof and amidst the din of battle, the shouts of soldiers and Volunteers echoed throughout the building. These shouts were mistaken for an order to retreat and the Volunteers began to withdraw. In disbelief some retreated down the stairs, firing as they went. As he attempted to cross the hall, a bomb splinter hit Captain fFrench Mullen, wounding him in the leg. Assisted by the other Volunteers, fFrench Mullen and the section withdrew to the back rooms of the Nurses' Home and then on towards the boardroom to join forces with Ceannt. They met in the dormitory between the two buildings and prepared for what they believed would be the final assault on their position.

The barricade at the front door of the Nurses' Home had been left without cover when the Volunteers began to retreat. However, Cathal Brugha had not heard the shouts and he remained on the second floor. Gun at the ready, Brugha moved out onto the landing on the second floor and began to descend the stairway towards the hall.

Chapter 8

Thursday, 27 April 1916
The Final Hours

Lying on the floor behind the barricade on the ground floor of the Nurses' Home, Captain Martyn pulled the pin on a hand grenade and catapulted it over the top towards the Volunteers' now vacated position. The grenade landed on the stairway and began to roll. He could hear it amidst the din of battle as it rolled down the wooden stairs. As the fuse expired, Cathal Brugha, crossing the lower landing, walked into the explosion. His body convulsed as he was thrown against the wall by the force of the blast. He started to collapse on the stairs, his body torn by pieces of shrapnel. Captain Oates then opened fire with his automatic pistol, hitting Brugha as he fell.

Dazed and confused, Brugha began to crawl down the remaining steps in an attempt to get out of range of the British. The smoke and plaster dust covered his descent. He dragged his shattered body down the remaining steps and across the hallway, leaving a trail of blood smeared on the floor. He hauled himself into a small kitchen off the hallway, propping himself against the wall directly facing the barricade. He raised his ‘Peter the Painter' automatic pistol and fired wildly into the barricade and at the ceiling. Bullets ricocheted off the walls. From his position, Brugha prepared to hold off the military single-handed.

Captain Martyn could hear a scraping on the other side of the barricade as Brugha dragged himself along the floor. This was followed by a tremendous blast of gunfire that forced the British officers to lie prone. Pinned down by Brugha's inaccurate but intense fire, Captain Martyn was unable to breach the barricade.

The Volunteers who had withdrawn into the dormitory at the rear of the Nurses' Home prepared for the final assault on their position and a fight to the death. From the top floor of the Nurses' Home, Volunteer J.V. Joyce fired into the ranks of the British soldiers who had taken up position in the Bakehouse. Running short of ammunition he moved from room to room in order to replenish his bandolier. He was amazed to find that he was the last Volunteer on the top storey of the building. As Joyce descended the stairs, he saw Brugha lying on the ground, a mass of wounds, firing at the British soldiers on the other side of the barricade. Joyce moved to Brugha's side and exclaimed, ‘Good God, what's happened?' Brugha extracted his pocket watch and requested that it be given to his wife. He then asked for a drink of water. Pocketing the watch, Joyce entered the small kitchen and brought a cup of water back to Brugha. The wounded vice-commandant sipped the water and then told Joyce to get back to the others.
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A shout of ‘Surrender' came from the far side of the barricade. Brugha said, ‘Tell Ceannt I will hold out as long as I can.' Brugha raised his gun and opened fire on the barricade shouting defiantly to the British to come forward and attack. Crouching low, Joyce moved around the foot of the stairs and out into the open courtyard at the rear of the Nurses' Home. Across the yard, a hole had been bored through the wall that led to the offices over James's Street (14). Entering the breach, Joyce found the remainder of the 4th Battalion gathered there.

Lieutenant Cosgrave was arguing with Ceannt that the British had failed to take the Nurses' Home and that they should return and continue the fight. Joyce reported the situation to Ceannt and told him that Brugha was holding the building. The Volunteer commandant was dispirited and his men felt for the first time that defeat and death were possible. The men knelt and said a decade of the Rosary. In the distance they could hear the crack of gunfire. The sound of singing wafted through the air: ‘God Save Ireland' could be heard in broken snatches.
God
save Ireland, say we proudly, God save Ireland say we all,
whether on the scaffold high or the battlefield we die …
The voice was that of Vice-Commandant Brugha.

Realising that Brugha was managing to hold the position, Ceannt shouted, ‘Come on boys.' Rushing back to the barricade in the Nurses' Home, Ceannt and the Volunteers commenced firing at the British troops. The rattle of rifle fire, the smoke and the dust was overwhelming. Ceannt knelt by Brugha's side and spoke in Gaelic. Brugha was then carried out to a small yard at the rear of the building where Lieutenant Cosgrave and Volunteer Joe Doolan attempted to dress his injuries. Both men spent between five and six hours attempting to stem the flow of blood. Brugha was bleeding profusely from a number of wounds and becoming delirious.

As the military threw hand grenades across the barricade, the Volunteers replied with canister bombs. The building was shaken to its foundations after each grenade exploded, threatening to bring the ceiling down on both defender and attacker. However, the Volunteers stood their ground.

Captain Martyn's position was now untenable – he was pinned down and could not advance – so he ordered his remaining troops to withdraw. Captain Martyn and Corporal Walker scrambled across the floor to the hole in the wall where they turned and gave covering fire so that Captain Oates could make his way to them. They crawled back through the breach and rejoined Major Vane and the remainder of the section. Major Vane and Captain Martyn decided to return to the main force to report. Captain Oates ordered his men to cover the hole in the wall as intense gunfire broke out in the lobby from which they had just come. The sound was deafening in the confined area and the British expected an assault on their position. To the dismay of Captain Oates, the untrained recruits of the Sherwood Foresters bolted, leaving him on his own.
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The officer decided to take the remaining hand grenades and hold his position until his fellow officers returned. Every two to three minutes, he lobbed a grenade through the breach into the lobby beyond. The noise was deafening and after each explosion the Irish Volunteers opened fire in order to repulse any attempt by the British to storm their position. Captain Oates was almost out of bombs when Martyn returned and ordered him to fall back. Word had been sent down the line that the transport column was no longer under fire and that an attempt to cross the bridge was underway. Before the two officers left their position they decided to throw the remaining grenades through the breach. Retreating through the wards full of terrified elderly patients, the two officers met an embarrassed Corporal Walker and another soldier who, having realised that Captain Oates was alone, were returning to lend him assistance.