27 April 1916: The Insurrection continued in Dublin on this day.
The British commenced a bombardment of the GPO from close range. Buildings on the street were soon on fire and many were engulfed by the flames. . While supervising the erection of a barricade in a nearby street, James Connolly was wounded in the ankle and had to be helped back into the GPO.
Supplies in the City began to run short and many civilians became desperate for food.
"Thursday, April 27th, after lunch - In the forenoon I was down at Morehampton Road shop. All there was normal but supplies somewhat limited. Afterwards down at Baggot St. (Upper). Many shops were closed and supplies in many were running out. No meat. Got the last Oxtongue and 2 Mutton Kidneys at Butchers, all meat commandeered by military. Carried home, 2 stone Potatoes and meat, everybody out carrying home their own stores."
Alfred Fannin Letters from Dublin, Easter 1916
In North King Street there was intense house to house fighting and armoured cars were used to back up the British assaults. Further up the river the Four Courts, held by Commandant Edward Daly and his men, came under attack from the British artillery. Over at the South Dublin Union Cathal Brugha was wounded in the continued fighting.
At about 10 pm that Thursday evening, an oil depot opposite the GPO exploded sending flames high into the night sky.
This night also was calm and beautiful, but this night was the most sinister and woeful of all those that have passed. The sound of artillery, of rifles, machine guns, grenades, did not cease for a moment. From my window I saw a red flare that crept to the sky, and stole over it and remained there glaring; the smoke reached from the ground to the clouds, and I could see great red sparks go soaring to enormous heights; while always, in the calm air, hour after hour there was the buzzing and rattling and thudding of guns, and, but for the guns, silence.
James Stephens The Insurrection in Dublin
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