Talk:Artillery Corps (Ireland)

History

It would be beneficial to this article to have an expanded history section. Which explains how the Artillery Corps initially had 3 sections (Field Artillery , Air Defence, Coastal Defence Artillery). It would be good to include some details on when the CDA for instance was "retired" and elements of the CDA were transferred in the 1970s from Spike Island and subsumed into other Artillery Corps regiments. (The CDA was a significant part of the Artillery Corps after the transfer of the treaty ports, and was quite large during the Emergency and afterwards, but was more and more redundant in later decades before the remaining elements were subsumed into other artillery brigades.) If sourced, this detail would make an interesting addition to article. Guliolopez (talk) 13:47, 19 February 2014 (UTC)

I would be interested in expanding the corps history but I can't seem to find any reliable sources online. Tomh903 (talk) 15:28, 19 February 2014 (UTC)

Hi Tom. Thanks for the resp. Apart from a few scant sources online, the odd hansard debate, and a few scraps in a Google Books online search, anyone researching this properly might have to read "actual" books :) If you do pursue, you might find "Irish Artillery Corps since 1922" at your library, or possibly the more general "Irish Defence Forces since 1922". If you stretch your military historian creds and make it a bigger project, you could go to the Military Archives in Cathal Brugha Barracks (you just need an appt) and look at the actual records :) Anyway, it was just a thought in case you were looking for a new project. (In the interim what I can say is that the Coast Defence Artillery (CDA) evolved from the 1938 relinquish of the treaty ports/defences, and survived through to the 1970s, when the remaining remnants were merged into other elements of the Artillery Corps. It had its height during the Emergency when was organised under: Southern Command with a HQ [at Spike] and 5 fort artillery detachments [at Forts Davis, Templebeedy, Berehaven, Shannon, & Camden]. And Western Command with a HQ and 2 fort artillery detachments [at Forts Dunree & Lenan].) Cheers. Guliolopez (talk) 17:23, 19 February 2014 (UTC)

As a matter of fact I do have a copy of "Irish Defence Forces since 1922" available to me. Unfortunately, the only information I can find in the book that could be used in a history section is 'Since 1962 the Artillery Corps has supported each Irish UN contingent with a heavy mortar troop.' Tomh903 (talk) 17:48, 19 February 2014 (UTC)

I managed to find another piece of information that could be used in a history section from another book I own called "That Neutral Island". It mentions that the Artillery Corp first got an Air Defence regiment in efforts to modernise the Irish Defence Force in 1940. Tomh903 (talk) 12:02, 20 February 2014 (UTC)