Christmas Raid - The Raid

The Raid

On the evening of the Raid the officer responsible for the defence of the fort, the same man who had filled the post for twenty-four years, had the following at his disposal for guard duty:

• one Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO),
• six men armed with rifles and one Lewis gun,
• one Military Policeman (MP)
• a fire picket (one NCO and four men also equipped with rifles).

The guard party were warned for duty on the evening of 22 December and given precise instructions as to their duties for the next morning. The Magazine Fort did not have its own troops, these were supplied from infantry units stationed in the Command area. That particular night the 7th (Dublin) Infantry Battalion, a reserve battalion stationed at Portobello Barracks (now Cathal Brugha Barracks), was responsible for supplying the guard whilst the fire picket was supplied by a unit stationed in Islandbridge Barracks (now Clancy Barracks).

Around 2000 hrs that night, according to the statements of the guards, the officer commanding left his post to go into the city. To do this the MP guarding the gates had to switch on the outer lights illuminating the entrance, open the inner gate, then open the outer gate. This was all against standard operating procedure, but seemed to be a regular occurrence for visitors arriving and people leaving the fort. Once the officer had cleared the gate the MP closed both gates and went back to his post. A little later the son of the officer-in-charge appeared at the gate and he was let in. Around 2030 the gate bell rang again and the MP saw a civilian who said he had a parcel to deliver to the officer-in-charge. At his court martial, the MP said he would take the parcel and claims he bent down to unbolt the gate, and when he stood up straight again he saw the muzzle of a revolver pointed in his face. The unidentified man told the MP to open the gate fully and put his hands up. At this point the IRA team appeared from both inside and outside the fort, confiscating the weapons of the sentry and MP. The sentry on guard at the time claimed that the MP had left both gates open and when the MP had the gun pointed in his face he had run in the other direction crying for help. At that point another man appeared from inside the fort and disarmed him.

The two hostages were then forced to act as human shields for the two intruders to the guardroom where the remaining soldiers were caught by surprise and surrendered without a fight. Whilst this was happening a second IRA team overcame and disarmed the fire picket troops. At this point all the troops attached to the fort and the gatekeeper were held prisoner until around 2210 hrs that evening and made no attempt to resist their captors. During this time the captives heard 'many' heavy lorries coming and going from the depot. At 2210 hrs the IRA locked the prisoners in the so called 'C' Magazine area which the raiders had completely emptied of weaponry. They were warned not to give away details to the authorities that could identify them.

By this time, an alarm had been raised at Islandbridge Barracks after a lorry failed to stop when driving through the gate. It was 2250 by the time a party of soldiers was dispatched from Portobello Barracks to investigate what was happening at the fort. They managed to capture two of the raiders, who were seen hiding near the fort's entrance. In the meantime the duty officer at Portobello had raised the general alarm. Around midnight a new guard was ordered posted at the Magazine Fort and orders were issued for the arrest of the old guard.

A total of 1,084,000 rounds of ammunition had been taken and removed in thirteen lorries with no casualties or hindrance.