Kerry Brigade Humphry Murphy, writing that "I hope that now that Kerry No.2 is definitely beginning to throw itself properly into the war, that no opportunity, however, small will be lost to show that Kerry is not going to be behind any other Brigade in a matter of initiative and in the matter of ability to strike a blow." The ambush On 21 March, an IRA party of the 2nd Kerry Brigade commanded by Tom MacEllistrim and Dan Allman were billeted about four miles from the Headford railway junction when they heard that British troops were returning by train from Kenmare to Tralee. As the train did not go directly, the British would have to change at Headford, making them vulnerable to ambush. Allman, commanding 30 volunteers, reached the junction only 12 minutes before the train, which was carrying 30 soldiers of the 1st Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers. The railway staff just had time to flee before the train pulled into the platform, where its passengers had to change trains for Tralee. Alongside the soldiers, the train was packed with cattle and pig farmers, on their way back from the market in Kenmare. Most of the civilians had already got off when the British soldiers began to disembark. Allman himself tried to disarm a Fusilier but shot him when he resisted. Other accounts say the soldier was shot dead as he went to use the lavatory. This was the signal for the IRA to open fire on the British troops. One of the first British casualties was Lieutenant CE Adams DCM, who was shot dead when he appeared at the carriage door, as were several other soldiers who were standing in front of the engine. The surviving British troops opened fire from the train, while those who had got off scrambled underneath it for cover. Dan Allman moved to the end of the platform and knelt down to fire at the soldiers under the train but was shot in the heart. In the ensuing close-quarter firefight, conducted at a range of just 20 yards, three civilians and two IRA volunteers (Allman and Volunteer Jimmy Baily who was killed while throwing a grenade under the train) were killed. Two-thirds of the British force is estimated to have been killed or wounded. Most of those killed were hit in the initial firing. British casualties were limited because the IRA gunmen had