Hugo MacNeill (Irish Army officer)

Lieutenant General Hugo MacNeill (1900-1963) was a twentieth-century Irish soldier and first president of the Organisation of National Ex-Servicemen in Ireland.

Portrait of MacNeill, between 1914-1923

Life and military career

Born in 1900,[1] he was the nephew of politician Eoin MacNeill (1867–1945).[2][3]

Hugo MacNeill was member of Fianna Éireann and the Irish Volunteers before becoming an officer of the National Army during the Irish Civil War.[3] In 1923 he was promoted to Colonel after an intelligence windfall allowed him to prevent a series of Irish Republican Army (IRA) attacks in Dublin. In 1924 he was promoted to Major General and appointed assistant Chief of Staff of the National Army.[4][5]

In 1926 MacNeill attended the US Army Command and Staff Course in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.[6] He was in command of the Irish Army's Second (Northern) Division during The Emergency (1939-1945).[7]

He was promoted to Lieutenant General in 1946, although without appointment.

MacNeill's main activity following retirement was the co-ordination of An Tóstal festivals in the 1950s. He was also the first president of the Organisation of National Ex-Servicemen.[8] He died in 1963.[9]

Controversies

MacNeill was reputedly sympathetic to German interests,[10][11][12] and some sources suggest he approached the German diplomatic legation in the early 1940s[13], without apparent authorisation. These approaches were reputedly to seek German assistance in the event that Britain invaded neutral Ireland.[14] Playing both sides, he accepted the covert aid of the British Army in training his division, notably in the establishment of a "battle school" at Gormanston and secret training of selected Irish troops in commando techniques in Northern Ireland.

References
  1. John P. Duggan (1985). Neutral Ireland and the Third Reich. Gill and Macmillan. p. XIV. ISBN 9780717113842.
  2. Turtle Bunbury. "Kevin O'Higgins and Rory O'Connor - A Fatal Friendship". Turtlebunbury.com. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
  3. "The Irish Crises". The Catholic Press (Sydney, NSW). 12 June 1924.
  4. Eunan O'Halpin (1999). Defending Ireland: The Irish State and its Enemies since 1922. Oxford University Press. p. 178. ISBN 9780191542237.
  5. John P. Duggan (1991). A History of the Irish Army. Gill and Macmillan. p. 298. ISBN 9780717115822.
  6. Seán Cronin (1987). Washington's Irish policy 1916-1986: independence, partition, neutrality. Anvil Books. p. 66. ISBN 9780947962142.
  7. Salt: Army Education Journal, Volumes 3-4. Australian army education service. 1942.
  8. "Óglaigh Náisiúnta Na hÉireann - History". Organisation of National Ex-Servicemen and Women. Archived from the original on 16 February 2015.
  9. "Irish Defense Forces Commanders 1939 - 1945". Dennis 'Dan' Burke. Archived from the original on 1 January 2013. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
  10. Ciaran Concliffe (9 May 2016). "Hermann Goertz, Nazi Spy In Ireland". History»1900-Present. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
  11. John P. Duggan (1985). Neutral Ireland and the Third Reich. Gill and Macmillan. ISBN 9780389205982.
  12. Paul McMahon (2008). British Spies and Irish Rebels: British Intelligence and Ireland, 1916-1945. Boydell Press. p. 365. ISBN 9781843833765.
  13. "LOT - Letter to Le Roux from Curragh Military College". Adams Auction House. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
  14. "Behind a secret web of spies". Irish Times. 3 January 2004. Retrieved 19 June 2016. Maj Gen Hugo MacNeill [...] inquired about German help if Britain should invade [.. at ..] a time when Germany had conquered most of Europe and seemed unstoppable


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