Bay River Houseboats

did the Irish republican army house German u boats during the second world war?

Public Comments

1. I doubt it very much Ireland was neutral
2. no - the gear required would be way to sophisticated...never mind the logistics required and lastly - it's pretty big to hide...
3. Not sure but Ireland offered Nazis refuge after the war before the atrocities of the holocaust were revealed
4. No - There are rumours of this happening but no real proof. I think there would have been by now some German U-boat crew who would have talked about this, had it taken place. There is evidence that the IRA were pro Nazi, in fact there were a few IRA members hung in Dublin for this. Ireland itself remained neutral throughout the War, though they did tend to lean toward the Allied side. A Neutral Country that did refuel the Nazi u-boats was Spain, by the way....
5. This seems MOST UNLIKELY, as the Irish Republic, - like SWITZERLAND, - was NEUTRAL during World War Two!
6. Yes they did
7. It would not surprise me at all if they had.
8. Yes and while they turned away US ships in trouble against policy for ships in distress. They also allowed a secret air base as well. This is a well suppressed bit of news, happy St. Paddy's day.................
9. There has been rumours of this circulating since the war but not the IRA but the Irish government were mentioned of breaching their neutrality by allowing U boats to enter their harbours.Ireland was neutral and their was some anti Irish feeling in UK mainland even though over 80 thousand of them volunteered and served in the British forces during WWII.
10. Initially the Irish president Eamonn De Valera offered to allow Hitler to use Dublin as a port for U-boats. This offer was rescinded when Winston Churchill informed De Valera that in the event of a U-boat docking in Dublin, the Royal Air Force would flatten Dublin. The IRA offered to assist the Nazis invading Britain in return for a united Ireland free from British influence, however the German intelligence officers who made the initial contact were unimpressed with the organisation of the IRA, describing them as 'drunken, incompetent idiots' Not much has changed since the second world war in this regard!!!
11. This story might help
12. I don't know, but they did support the Nazis. Hitler gave them weapons and parachuted German agents.
13. There used to be a public bathing centre down in County Cork harbour, but because of the long walk from the local towns and villages (bearing in mind the great potato famine had weakened folk considerably), it was decided by the IRA leadership, Gerry Adams father at that time, that the sheds should be extended out into the harbour and allow U-boats to slip in with arms etc: It held up to three at a time and one was used to bring potatoes from the Baltic, they came in packs of 1 cwt. and were cleverly frozen in oblong segments for easy storage and maximum use of storage space, they were the forunner of the McCains frozen oven chips, and a black market business between the US and Southern Ireland commenced, the second u-boat was used to smuggle guiness to IRA terrorists residing up the Mersey River in Liverpool public houses and safe houses. The third was used to sink British Ships on the Atlantic convoy run.
14. It was rumoured that the IRA were doing this, as well as re fuelling german U Boats.
15. I believe the story of Ireland refuelling German U-boats in WW2 maybe true. Also Eamonn De Valera the Irish premier DID send his condolences to the German people on the death of Hitler on behalf of the Irish people...!
16. there has always been a suspicion they did
17. No they did not,Ireland was a neutral country,they held German prisoners of war that crashed on Irish soil in a place called Glencree in the wicklow mountains, some of the German pilots and crew married into Irish families some died here that are buried in glencree and some returned home..UNLESS U-BOATS COULD FLY.. Mate the Irish army at the time of world war 2 was called (Oglaigh na hEireann) and not the Irish Republican Army..Some of the above answers are totally rubbish ,this maybe is the reason why your opinions are not given the time of day.. Grow up its 2007 not 1807...Steve