'Aodh Mac Neill' (Major General Hugo MacNeill) An important 13-page ALS to Le Roux dated 31.3.1938, from the Curragh Military College of which MacNeill was then head, on embossed Defence Forces...

'Aodh Mac Neill' (Major General Hugo MacNeill) An important 13-page ALS to Le Roux dated 31.3.1938, from the Curragh Military College of which MacNeill was then head, on embossed Defence Forces notepaper, setting out MacNeill's views on a wide range of military and other issues, including possible threats to Irish neutrality from England, options for defence against same, strategies to end partition, need for motivation of Irish youth, etc. etc. - on the face of it a highly indiscreet statement from a senior serving military officer at a time of international tension and preparations for war. The letter apparently was written in response to a publication of LeRoux entitled 'Leaves'. * MacNeill is an interesting and controversial figure. It appears that he made contact with the German legation in Dublin in the early 1940s, when he was the Army's Assistant Chief of Staff and head of its Northern Command, to enquire about German arms supplies in case of conflict between Ireland and Britain; he may also have been in touch with the German spy Goertz. It is not clear whether he had political approval for these contacts, which would have caused major diplomatic upheavals and possibly a threat to Irish neutrality if they had been detected and exposed (see Duggan, Neutral Ireland & the Third Reich).

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