Seán Russell
Seán Russell (13 October 1893 – 14 August 1940) was an
Irish republican who participated in the
Easter Rising of 1916, held senior positions in the
Irish Republican Army during the
Irish War of Independence and
Irish Civil War, and was
Chief of Staff of the IRA from 1938 to April 1939 upon the onset of
World War II. It was under Russell's leadership that the IRA began the
Sabotage Campaign, in which the group began bombing civil, economic and military infrastructure in the
United Kingdom, primarily
England, between 1939 and 1940. In the same period, Russell actively collaborated with
Nazi Germany; in early 1940 he travelled to Germany, where he personally met with German foreign minister
Joachim von Ribbentrop and spent three months training in the use of explosives. In August 1940 Russell was to return to Ireland as part of a joint IRA/German plan entitled
Operation Dove, however, Russell died aboard a
Kriegsmarine U-boat transporting him home following a sudden stomach illness and he was subsequently
buried at sea.
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