IFI Irish Film Archive

Irish National Army Sweeping On

Year1922 Duration46s ProducerTopical Film Company
In this newsreel scenes of fighting in Limerick are shown, with National Army men firing field guns and rifles in the open countryside and Lancia armoured cars and Omnibuses parked outside a burnt-out with a partially painted out sign “Vote Sinn Féin IRA..” The Battle of Kilmallock took place between July 25th and August 5th 1922 in County Limerick. It was one of the largest engagements of the Irish Civil War. It consisted of ten days of fighting in the countryside round Kilmallock in County Limerick, in which Irish Free State Army forces, advancing south from Limerick city, found their path blocked by anti-Treaty IRA troops, dug into a number of villages at Bruff, Bruree and Patrickswell. The fighting ended with the retreat of the anti-Treaty fighters and the occupation of Kilmallock by Free State forces.