Kilmichael Ambush ( ) was an ambush near the village of Kilmichael in County Cork on 28 November 1920 carried out by the Irish Republican Army ( IRA ) during the Irish War of Independence . Thirty-six local IRA volunteers commanded by Tom Barry killed seventeen members of the Royal Irish Constabulary 's Auxiliary Division . The Kilmichael ambush was politically as well as militarily significant . It occurred one week after Bloody Sunday , marking an escalation in the IRA 's campaign
Bloody Sunday
Bloody Sunday (1920)
Kilmichael Ambush