quartermaster general in 1927 and held that position until 1936. From 1929 to 1931, he travelled widely throughout Ireland, reorganising the IRA. Russell was due to give the oration at the 1931 Bodenstown commemoration but was arrested on its eve. He visited the United States in the autumn of 1932. During the Northern Ireland rail strike of 1933, he organised IRA intervention from Belfast. Russell remained aloof from the IRA's political debates and, following the split of 1934, chaired the court-martial of Mick Price and Peadar O'Donnell who had left the IRA to form the left-wing Republican Congress. He met Éamon de Valera, President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State at Government Buildings during 1934, to discuss potentially uniting the IRA and Fianna Fáil. In return for political support, De Valera asked for the IRA to lay down their arms and cease any overt actions. Russell was open to the idea, but would only agree to IRA inactivity for 5 years, believing that sufficient time for Fianna Fáil to declare an outright Irish Republic. De Valera turned down the time-bound offer. In October 1936 Russell wrote to the German ambassador to the United States, and apologised on behalf of the Irish people for the refusal of the de Valera government to grant landing rights to the German air service. In the same communication, Russell informed the ambassador that he would be willing to cooperate with the Germans in any future military conflicts they found themselves in. While in the United States during 1936, he seems to have conceived, along with Joseph McGarrity, the plan for the bombing campaign in England. In January 1937, Russell was accused by the IRA leadership of misappropriating funds and was court martialled. He had also embarked on his American tour without Army Council permission. He stayed out of Dublin until October 1937, when he approached the IRA leadership in an attempt to convince them that the campaign in England should go ahead. Chief of Staff of the IRA In April 1938, an IRA General Army Convention was held, and Russell and his supporters, including McGarrity and IRA members from Northern Ireland, secured enough support to get a majority on the IRA Army Executive and to have him re-instated in the organisation and elected to the Army Council in what has been described as a takeover by historian Brian Hanley. Following Russell's election,