A first-hand account of the fight for freedom in West Cork from 1916-21. It chronicles the social and military aspects of the Irish War of Independence and describes the IRA's activities in the area. Micheal O Suilleabhain joined the armed struggle for freedom at the age of thirteen and describes attacks on armed police patrols, barracks, and a large-scale engagement against the infamous Auxiliaries, an elite British force. This is a personal record of ambushes, etc., carried out by young Volunteers, who did not wait to be confronted, but went on the attack against better armed and trained men, and emerged victorious.