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The Soloheadbeg Ambush
The Irish Volunteers lighted the fuse of the powder keg by attacking a convoy transporting explosives on 21 January 1919. Nine members of the Third Tipperary Brigade of the Irish Volunteers ambushed the convoy near Soloheadbeg in County Tipperary. In the ensuing gunfight two escorts, both officers of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC), got killed.
Among the participants were Seán Treacy, who was killed in 1919 and memorised in the song Tipperary So Far Away, Daniel Dan Breen, the future Teachta Dála, Member of Parliament, and Seán Hogan.
The Soloheadbeg Ambush was the first engagement of the War of Independence, or Anglo-Irish War. The British retaliations in the counties Tipperary and Cork were severe. The south of County Tipperary was placed under martial law.
Many rural barracks of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) were attacked by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) throughout 1919 and 1920 and the police was forced into the larger towns, leaving parts of the country under control or the Republicans.
Veterans of the First World War, with tan uniforms, were sent to Ireland to support the police, with black uniforms. These Black and Tans could not distinct between members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), who in contrast with the song The Broad Black Brimmer rarely wore uniforms, and bystanders.
A guerrilla type of warfare emerged in which members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) easily blended with the local population after an ambush and the Black and Tans responded by burning houses and arbitrary killing people.
The support for the Irish Republican Army (IRA) strengthens with each civilian killed by the Black and Tans. The hate and fear for the Black and Tans is reflected in many songs: Come Out Ye Black And Tans, The Black And Tan Gun, The Bold Black And Tan and The Rifles Of The IRA.
The Squad
In 1920 the leader of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) Michael Collins, who was also the Minister of Finance and Director of Intelligence, decided to intensify the war by forming The Squad. The Squad was a special force aimed at killing informers and Dublin Castle detectives, the so-called G-Men. In response the British sent Auxiliary Cadets (Auxiliaries or Auxies) to Macroom Castle in County Cork to reinforce the Black and Tans. These Auxies, all commissioned officers, were well trained, well paid, well armed, tough and highly experienced.
Unfortunately some articles and lyrics are sloppy with names: Auxies are often called Black and Tans and the Irish Republican Army (IRA) is often confused with the Irish Volunteer Force (IVF) or even with the Irish Citizens Army (ICA).