The political impact of the Kilmichael ambush outweighed its military significance . Republicans had been shocked by the ferocity of the British reaction to the events of Bloody Sunday ( 1920 ) but the success of the ambush steadied nerves and boosted morale . While the British forces in Ireland , over 30,000 strong , could easily absorb 18 casualties , the fact that the IRA had been able to wipe out a whole patrol of elite Auxiliaries was for them deeply shocking . The British forces in the West Cork area took their revenge on the local population by burning several houses , shops and barns in Kilmichael , Johnstown and Inchageela , including all of the houses around the ambush site . On 3 December , three IRA volunteers were arrested by the British Essex Regiment in Bandon , beaten and killed , and their bodies dumped on the roadside
Bloody Sunday ( 1920 )
Bloody Sunday (1920)
Kilmichael Ambush