REPEATED FIRE

Subsequently the position was captured by the troops, as recorded in the official version given above. It is the story of a very interesting little operation. The Republicans fired away till they tasted shell fire, and then they scuttled into the hills of Donegal. The infantry, moving in parallel columns on each side of the lake, the Lincolns having sent a detachment from Pettigo, got to within two miles of the town unmolested. Armoured cars reconnoitring a point were fired on repeatedly from a ridge near the town. The infantry were ordered ahead, and were fired on so freely from the Free State that artillery were called on to shell the enemy positions, chief of which was the old post beyond the town. Twentythree shells in all were fired, and of these six were direct hits on the fort, which was practically destroyed. The enemy cleared after the first couple of shells, and when the infantry marched in there was not a trace of them. A platoon of the Lincolns was detailed to capture the fort, which was a conspicuous feature of the landscape, on high ground. They met with no opposition, and at once hauled down the tricolour which had floated there since the Republican occupation. It was replaced by the Union Jack.