for arms possession. In March 1936, Barry was involved in the shooting dead of Vice-Admiral Henry Somerville. Four men burst into Somerville's family home at Castletownshend, Cork and fired a revolver. Somerville was targeted for recruiting local men to join the Royal Navy. In 1937, he succeeded Seán MacBride as chief of staff. Barry made preparations for a planned IRA offensive in Northern Ireland, but the plan was ultimately cancelled days before it was set to commence as a result of leaks and the infiltration of the IRA by the Royal Ulster Constabulary. Barry would assert in later life that he opposed both the 1930s bombing campaign in England and IRA contacts with Nazi Germany. In fact, in January 1937 he had taken a trip to Germany seeking German support, which was assured to him subject to the condition that the IRA limit its actions to British military installations once war was declared. Financing was to be arranged through the Clann na Gael in the United States. The Army Convention in April 1938 adopted Seán Russell's S-Plan instead. Barry resigned as chief of staff as a result, but remained in contact with German agents at least to February 1939. Irish Army career In 1940, Barry was made responsible for Intelligence in the Irish Army's Southern Command, a position he held, with the rank of Commandant, for the duration of World War II (see The Emergency). In 1941, he was denounced by the IRA for writing for An Cosantóir, the Irish Army's official magazine. In 1942, following the fall of Singapore to the Imperial Japanese Army, Barry purportedly sent a telegram to the British commander Arthur Percival, who was his opponent during the war of independence, "congratulating" him on the defence. Later life He was an unsuccessful candidate at the 1946 Cork Borough by-election, running as an Independent and finishing last out of the four candidates with 8.7% of the first preference votes. In 1966, Barry was invited to a number of events commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising but declined each one of them, expressing that he felt it wouldn't be appropriate to partake in any commemoration as he was serving in the Middle East at the time of the rising. On 10 July the same year, Barry attended the unveiling of the monument to the Kilmichael ambush along with other surviving participants, where they formed a guard