War of Independence
The 3rd Tipperary Brigade was one of the most active during the War of Independence. The ambush led by Treacy, Robinson and Breen at Soloheadbeg is generally acknowledged as the opening engagement of that war. Two members of the Royal Irish Constabulary, James McDonnell and Patrick O'Connell were killed in the attack. Breen has left apparently conflicting accounts of their intentions that day. One implies that the purpose of the confrontation was merely to capture explosives and detonators being escorted to a nearby quarry. The other, that the group intended killing the police escort in order to provoke a military response.
"Treacy had stated to me that the only way of starting a war was to kill someone, and we wanted to start a war, so we intended to kill some of the police whom we looked upon as the foremost and most important branch of the enemy forces ... The only regret that we had following the ambush was that there were only two policemen in it, instead of the six we had expected."
As a result of the action, martial law was declared in South Tipperary. Tracey, Robinson and Breen relocated to Dublin and were associated with a unit known as The Squad. Tracey was eventually killed in an exchange of fire with a British secret service agent in Talbot Street, while Breen and Robinson would later alternate between Tipperary and Dublin as the conflict continued.
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