RETREAT OF REBELS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18173, 19 August 1922, Page 9

RETREAT OF REBELS.

„ 4r _ FLEEING TO BOGS AND HILLS SOUTHERN FRONT BREAKING. LAST STAND POSSIBLE. RECAPTURE OF DUNDALK. By Telearar>h— Press Association— Copyright(Received 8.20 p.m.) A. and N.Z. LONDON. Aug. 17. The Irish rebels are retreating without offering to fight on the whole Southern front. They are falling back to the bogs and hills. De Valera has fled to Kilpeddar, where it is reported he is lying ill at a farmhouse, a broken man. His more moderate, friends assert that he never wanted the irregulars to fight, but Rory O'Connor forced his' handThe irregulars in the South are expected to make a last stand on a front of 20 miles along the River Blackwater from Millstrcet to Mallow. The rebels' only alternative is to fight to the end or surrender. All the roads are strongly held by the Free State forces. Meanwhile "the chief indication of the downfall of the rebellion is the recruiting of the National Army, to which many thousands are flocking. ' Miss Mary McSwiney is with the rebels holding Waterfall village, in County Cork. The Fres State troops have captured Mallow, Mitchelstown, and Fermoy, in County Cork. The irregulars captured Carlingford, County Louth. Cardinal Logue, who was there on holiday, escaped in a motor-car. The Free State troops have recaptured Dundalk, in Louth County. 'She Clifden wireless station has also been reoccupied by the Free State forces. Many rebels were taken prisoner at Dundalk, but the majority retreated to the mountains, wrecking the post office and mining the streets before leaving. The rebels have also evacuated Carlingford and Greenore. The Free State forces used aeroplanes and an armoured train-in the recapture of Dundalk. Aviators circled over the town and observed the disposition of the rebels. They dropped leaflets directing the inhabitants to remain indoors. Three different forces took part in the attack. One came from Drogheda in an armoured train, the others from Carricfemacross and Navan. They used machine-guna against the rebel strongholds, and finally the town was taken at the bayonet point. About 300 rebels were captured. The townspeople welcomed the Free Stat© troops with wild enthusiasm. DE VALERA IN COMMAND. REQUISITIONING HORSES. United Service. LONDON, Aug. 17. The Daily Mail states that Eamonn do Valera has now definitely been appointed commander-in-chief of tho rebels. Realising the impossibility of success in a pitched battle, he is heading his men for tho Cork hills, with the intention of waging intensified guerilla warfare on a large scale. They recently raided tho stables of farms for light horses, .which they are employing for cavalry. The Drogheda district has been completely cleared of the rebels. SENTIMENT OP COUNTRY. AiO IN SAVING A BRIDGE. A. and N.Z. LONDON, Aug- 17. Evidence of the changed feeling in the Irish country districts is afforded by an incident in the flight of the irregulars from the Mallow district. Erskino Childers' detachment wished to destroy a bridge on the road of the retreat, but the people of tho district, headed by the parish priest and the Protestant rector, watched day and night and prevented injury. ______________