THE BATTLE for the Strand Barracks in Limerick between the Republicans and the Frees State forces is bought to life in an account by the grandson of the man at the centre of it all.
The book written by Jim Corbett, Not while I have Ammo, is due to be re-released on August 28, 2025, by the History Press, with significant additional detail.
Jim originally hails from Limerick City. He wrote the book in 2008 about his grandfather, Connie McNamara, to document his adventures during the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War.
Now, History Press are re-releasing a paperback edition and an ebook 103 years after the Siege of the Strand Barracks in Limerick, or what some people have called “Irelands Alamo”.
During the Irish Civil War between July 15 and 20 1922, the Republican-held Strand Barracks in Limerick, on what is now Clancy’s Strand, came under constant ferocious attacks from Free State troops.
They attacked the barracks repeatedly with armoured cars and a non-stop bombardment of sniper, machine gun, and mortar fire. All attempts to capture the barracks were resisted fiercely by the men inside.
Finally, when everything else failed to dislodge the besieged men, the Free State turned an 18-pounder artillery gun on the barracks. This was the only time a siege gun was used in Limerick since the siege of 1691.
The officer in charge – Captain Cornelius McNamara of ‘A’ Company, 2nd Battalion, Mid-Limerick Brigade, known to his men as Connie Mackey – was told to surrender the barracks or be held responsible for the loss of life. His response was “he would not surrender while he had still had ammunition”.
The new paperback edition takes advantage of information that was not available at the time of first writing and rounds out the story of the siege and Connie Mackey’s deeds in the fight for freedom and the subsequent Civil War.
Said Jim, “I am very happy to see since it was written it has become a reference work itself and it is being used as source material in other historical works and documentaries of the period”.
“My original aim in writing the original book in 2008 was I wanted to give my grandfather the place in history that I felt he deserved. It is heart-warming to see my original aim has been accomplished”.
