‘What beat us was the rain of bombs falling’
Here are first-hand accounts from four rebels who occupied the GPO on Easter Monday, as provided to the Bureau of Military History.
Some time on Thursday a barricade on the opposite side of the street took fire as a result of a direct shell hit…[this] caused the fire which wiped out the east side of O’Connell Street…when Hoyte’s [chemist shop] caught fire the whole block up to Earl Street became involved…I saw the fire spread to Clerys…I had the extraordinary experience of seeing the huge plate-glass windows of Clerys stores run molten into the channel from the terrific heat
– Oscar Traynor, Metropole Hotel outpost at GPO
The noise of the explosions, the bursting glass of the big windows, the falling walls etc, was terrific, and the heat was appalling
– James Kavanagh
Very heavy shelling continued all day Thursday and Friday…notwithstanding this I believe we could have successfully held these buildings for an indefinite period, but what beat us in the finish was the rain of incendiary bombs which kept falling all around
– Frank Thornton, Imperial Hotel outpost
I stood beside [Pearse] as he sat on a barrel looking intently at the flames… he suddenly turned to me with the question: “It was the right thing to do, wasn’t it?” ‘Yes’ I replied in astonishment…He spoke again: “When we are all wiped out people will blame us for everything…after a few years they will see the meaning of what we tried to do”
– Desmond Ryan