You Think You Know About Éire (Ireland) in WWII? 1 Quiz

Answer: The British Commonwealth

The Irish Free State was established in 1922 as a Dominion of the British Commonwealth of Nations. The Irish Free State, and from 1937 Éire (Ireland), remained part of the Commonwealth until the Oireachtas Éireann, (the legislature of Ireland), passed the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 which came into force on 18 April 1949 declaring Éire a republic.

Therefore during World War II Éire was a member of the British Commonwealth and the only member of that organisation not to declare war on Germany.

Answer: The Emergency

A state of emergency was proclaimed by Dáil Éireann, the lower house of Oireachtas Éireann (the legislature of Ireland), on 2 September 1939. "The Emergency" is used figuratively in historical and cultural contexts to refer to the Irish state during World War II.

Answer: Yes, but....

"Yes," officially a camp at The Curragh, County Kildare, was used to intern Allied and Axis combatants who were found in Ireland.

"But..." there is evidence that sympathetic Irish civilians, and even members of the Garda Síochána (Police), escorted Allied combatants across the border into Northern Ireland, which as part of the UK, was at war.

US personnel were not interned due to an agreement between the Irish and US governments.

Answer: Allowed members of its armed forces to join the British armed forces.

Irish coast-watching stations deliberately reported to Dublin by radio enabling the British to listen in, the Germans were too far away to listen in effectively. Later in the war, all reports were encrypted in a code secretly supplied by the British.

The Royal Navy was allowed to station an armed tug, at Killybegs, Co. Donegal, for air-sea rescue, they were also offered facilities at Cobh (Cork) and Berehaven.

An "official" blind eye was turned to British aircraft using an "air corridor" over south Donegal out into the Atlantic thus extending their patrol range by 100 miles (160Km).

Answer: 40,000

This comprised an all-volunteer force of two infantry divisions and two brigades, coastal artillery and garrison units but this figure does not include the reserves. However it was realised that Éire could not be wholly successful in repelling an invasion from either side, so the underlying strategy was to put up a conventional defence before finally resorting to guerilla warfare, a strategy that had proved successful against the British in the War of Independence.

Answer: Joint Irish/British plan to repel German invasion.

The Germans did have a plan, Operation Green, to invade Ireland but fortunately Hitler's gaze turned from the British Isles to the USSR.

The British could not afford to let Ireland fall into German hands and a pre-emptive invasion of Éire, if not the whole island at least the Treaty Ports, was a distinct possibility. Although no official plan has yet come to light Field Marshal Montgomery noted in his memoirs: "I was told to prepare plans for the seizure of Cork and Queenstown."

German planning for Operation Green began in May 1940 with the British learning about it from radio intercepts. Although British-Irish co-operation was controversial, Ireland could not hope to repel a German invasion on her own and Britain knew that with Ireland in German hands they must lose the war. As a result the first meeting on a joint action plan, later codenamed Plan W, to repel a German invasion took place on 24 May 1940.

Answer: By breaking neutrality and sending humanitarian aid to a combatant nation.

By 4.00am, according to reports, all of Belfast seemed to be in flames and at 4.35am a telegram was sent to the Irish Taoiseach, Éamon de Valera requesting assistance. Within two hours firemen and fire tenders from Dundalk, Drogheda, Dublin, and Dún Laoghaire were on their way across the Irish border to assist their colleagues in Belfast. They remained for three days.

In 1995 on the fiftieth anniversary of the end of World War II an invitation was send to the Dublin Fire Brigade inviting any survivors to attend a function at Hillsborough Castle with Prince Charles. Of the four men known still to be alive only one was able to attended.

At the time the Taoiseach Éamon de Valera said "In the past, and probably in the present, too, a number of them did not see eye to eye with us politically, but they are our people - we are one and the same people - and their sorrows in the present instance are also our sorrows; and I want to say to them that any help we can give to them in the present time we will give to them whole-heartedly, believing that were the circumstances reversed they would also give us their help whole-heartedly."

Answer: 5,000

Many Irish people, though supporting their country's neutrality, wanted to actively fight against, what they saw as, German aggression. While the Irish government turned a blind eye to civilians enlisting in the British army they classed the 4,983 Irish soldiers that did so as deserters.

Answer: Court martial and imprisonment for desertion.

On their return to Éire these men were branded as traitors by many and found guilty of going absent without leave by a military tribunal. It was not until 2012 that the Second World War Amnesty and Immunity Bill 2012 was passed. The bill recognised the courage and bravery of the 4,983 soldiers court-martialled and dismissed from the Defence Forces for absenting themselves without leave.

Answer: Fear that if on the losing side Éire would, once again, become part of an empire British or German.

Many smaller nations attempted to remain neutral during World War II with varying degrees of success but few were vilified as much as Éire (Ireland). Yet in the end Éire did make its contribution to the Allied war effort. How significant that contribution was is a matter of debate but with tens of thousands of Irishmen joining the armed forces of Allied nations, and their determination to defend their neutrality in the face all comers, fear could not justifiably be given as a reason for Éire's neutrality.