Read on....quote from Tola Collier, a noted Irish historian and specialist of Irish military history.
'The firearms legend that almost was the Ryan gun, Thomas Fortune Ryan was a second generation Irish American millionaire and member of Clan na Gael who financed the Auto Ordinance Corporation at its inception in 1916. Ryan’s investment paid all the research and development costs for what became the submachine gun .45 calibre, Model 1919. Ryan was born in Virginia on the 17th of October 1851 and made his money through a franchise to supply & run trams for the New York Metropolitan Traction Company. He became a Wall Street millionaire through his investments in the American Tobacco company between 1890 and 1908. In 1916 Ryan was invited by General John T, Thompson to invest in the fledgling Auto Ordnance Corporation which Thompson had set up to develop a hand held machine gun. Between 1917 and 1919 the weapon evolved through several prototypes becoming at various times the Persuader then the Annihilator Mk I, II & III and briefly in late 1918 it became the Ryan gun. Thomas Ryan disliked the name saying he knew nothing about guns and so he suggested it be called the Thompson gun which it became in 1919. Ryan passed information on the Thomson to Michael Collins through Clan na Gael. It was described as ideal for guerrilla warfare due to its removable stock and powerful .45 calibre round as well as it high rate of fire. Collins was very interested, although perhaps not so pleased by the guns potential ammunition consumption; however he agreed to finance the project and channelling funds through Ryan. To that end Harry Boland met with Ryan while in America in June 1919 and as a result the Irish Republican Army became both financiers and customers for the Thompson sub machine gun. The Production rights for the guns were bought by the Colt Patent Fire Arms Company of Hartford, Connecticut in August 1920 and production began in March 1921. In May the first three Thompson submachine-guns were sent to Ireland and were test-fired at a demonstration attended by Michael Collins, Richard Mulcahy and Gearóid O’Sullivan on the 24th of May. On the 16th of June the IRA also became the first to use the Thompson submachine-gun in combat when two were used by Charles Dalton and another Volunteer to attack a train carrying the West Kent Regiment in Drumcondra. Only 60 rounds were fired by one gun as the second jammed, neither of the Thompson gunners had been briefed or trained on the weapon prior to the attack. However the attack resulted in the wounding of three soldiers, one seriously. IRA GHQ subsequently instructed its agents in America to increase its order for the weapons to 653 effectively becoming Colt’s largest customer for the Thompson, an option for 1000 more was also discussed. The board or the Auto Ordnance Corporation sold the weapons to agents for front companies but undoubtedly knew the final destination of the sub-machine guns. The first order was placed by Frank Ochsenreiter for a company run by an Irish American Republican, Daniel Fitzgerald. Clan na Gael arranged for the guns and other arms including Maxim noise suppressors to be transported to Ireland on the freighter East Side. In June 1921 the ship docked at pier number 2 in New York harbour, 493 guns which arrived in batches were stored in a warehouse in the Bronx. Customs procedures were circumvented thanks to a sympathetic Irish America customs officer who cleared the paperwork for the shipments. Due to a strike by marine engineers seven ‘’Irish’’ engineers were signed on as crewmen on the East side and all went well until two other crew men opened some of the boxes labelled machine parts only to discover they contained weapons. The men reported the find to the ship’s captain and the police who alerted US customs who in turn informed the FBI. The US Customs impounded the guns but 158 did eventually reached Ireland via trans-Atlantic Liners landing at Cork and Liverpool.' Back in America an lengthy legal case resulting from an investigation headed up by J,Edger Hoover. The case and its resulting political scandal engulfed Auto ordinance, but there was insufficient evidence against Thomas Fortune Ryan. When the case finally came to court it was discovered that the law forbidding the private export of arms to belligerent stated had in fact been repealed in 1921. The guns remained impounded until 1923 when a New York Judge ordered the remaining Thompsons returned to their rightful owners as it was not illegal to buy, sell or possess fully automatic weapons in the United States at the time. More Thompsons Model 1921’s were purchased for the IRA in America after the July 1921 truce and imported into Ireland were they saw action in the Civil War. Other Thompson guns did arrived in Ireland before the end of the Anglo Irish War. These were 30 preproduction hand finished 1919 guns from an un-serial numbered test batch produced by Auto Ordinance. They were landed in Cork from the SS Honolulu concealed in a consignment of furniture. An additional 50 Model 1920’s were also smuggled into Ireland in June 1921 a month before the Truce. Later studies claimed that the Thompsons produced casualties in a third of the actions in which they were used in Ireland. On the 23rd of November 1928, Thomas Fortune Ryan by then Americas 10th Richest man and the man whose name was almost applied to the Iconic 1919 to 1928 sub machine gun died leaving a fortune of more than $200 million. Tola Collier is a historian specialising in Irish military and revolutionary history.
Posts: 11472 | Location: UK, OR, ONT | Registered: July 10, 2003
