The British Army in Northern Ireland 1975-77

by Ken Wharton

  On the 14th, the Provisionals killed another policeman – this time in the RUCR – after they had planted a booby-trap (UVBT) underneath his car in a small village near Portglenone in Co Antrim north of Lough Beg. James Greer (27) served as a part-time policeman and worked also as a butcher in a bacon factory at Ahoghill. He was en-route and had only travelled a matter of yards when the device exploded just as he was about to turn onto the main Portglenone to Maghera road. The blast tore his car to pieces and the first person on this scene was his devastated father who lived nearby. Within hours, another RUCR officer came inches from death after a safety check saw the discovery of a UVBT attached to his car at Garvagh, Co Londonderry.

  Two days after the murder of the part-time policeman, a member of the IRA was killed in a shoot-out with the Army. As was usual, the Sinn Fein apologists spoke of ‘controversial’ circumstances and that a ‘shoot-to-kill’ policy was in effect and within weeks, the Republicans had another hero and about whom they were singing a song. As winter dusk fell on the area around Crossmaglen, South Armagh, an armed gang of PIRA men were examining an abandoned car just outside the town. Unknown to them, an undercover unit of the Army – reputed to be SAS – was dug in nearby and challenged the armed gunmen. The unit was in a field at Coolderry, some two miles from the Irish border and came under fire from the armed men. Seamus Harvey (20) and armed with a shotgun was hit over a dozen times by the soldiers – and in all likelihood by his own side as well – who were operating under standard ROE. He died instantly and his lifeless body was found next to a loaded shotgun and a bandolier of cartridges. This author will not refer again to the IRA’s summary execution of its enemies whilst claiming the benefits of the Geneva Convention when they are under threat of death themselves.

  On the same day that the apologists for the IRA were bleating about ‘shoot-to-kill’ and the songsmiths were already penning lyrics to one of their ‘volunteers’ two more policeman came perilously close to death. At Derriaghy, an off-duty policeman was sitting in his car at a supermarket when armed men approached his car and before he could draw his service pistol, they shot him three times; thankfully, he survived. Another off-duty policeman fired at the gunmen as they sped off in a waiting car, but no hits were claimed. At Ballymena, an RUC officer on foot patrol on the Harryville Estate was stabbed in his stomach by a gang of Republican youths after being separated from his comrades; although badly hurt, he survived. On the same day, PIRA attempted attacks on petrol filling stations in Enniskillen and Brookeborough, Co Fermanagh. The unit, likely to have been the same one who bombed Lisnaskea, 48 hours earlier also destroyed a drapers’ store in the latter town.

  The sickening hypocrisy of the Provisional IRA and their mouthpieces, Provisional Sinn Fein, was never more ably demonstrated than in their attempt to kill a policeman and his wife and small children. Their reckless efforts to kill a member of the RUC also jeopardised the lives of some 30 schoolchildren who were caught up in the incident. On the 18th, a PIRA unit, knowing full well that a woman and two children were in their police house, booby-trapped the premises by connecting a bomb to a fishing line, in the knowledge that when the door was opened, it would detonate a 5lb device and kill all present. To add to this, a bus with 30 schoolchildren on board was trapped opposite the bomb. The Army EOD managed to evacuate the family through the back and successfully defused the device. Shortly afterwards, they were in action again, as they were called to defuse another front door bomb at an RUCR man’s house in nearby Aghadowey. The concept of the front door bomb was a terrifying new departure in their campaign of terror.

  On Wednesday 19th, a concentrated two-day bombing blitz killed just one person but injured others and caused major disruption to traffic and commerce in Belfast and Londonderry, as PIRA stepped up their so-called ‘economic war.’ In one of the incidents, a bomb exploded at the Mace Superstore in Ballysillan Road in North Belfast after two armed IRA men planted a device. There were no injuries but extensive damage was caused. In Newry, Co Down, a hoax device was planted underneath the car of an RUC officer but it turned out to be a hoax. On the 20th, the Co-op store in York Street, Belfast which was nearing completion after an earlier IRA bomb, was damaged again. Only the prompt action of the fire brigade and a new more sophisticated sprinkler system prevented the store from burning to the ground again. The blaze was limited to the stockrooms on the third floor. An IRA bombing unit had planted three large devices and the explosions tore huge chunks of masonry which rained down into Frederick Street ripping holes in the distinctive façade of the old building. Two members of staff were injured in the attack.

  On the 21st, the IRA’s continued tactic of attempting to disassociate Northern Ireland from the UK continued, and as it had done so in the past, claimed the life of a civilian. They hit John Frazer’s shop in Castle Street with incendiary devices, causing a massive blaze. Sadly for security guard James McColgan (55), he was trapped in the flames and was overcome by fumes. Despite heroic efforts by firemen in breathing apparatus who pulled him from the flames, he died of smoke inhalation. The Provisionals intended to make the North ungovernable and financially untenable and in doing so, killed a man nearing retirement and who had a family to support. One wonders if Sinn Fein were able to satisfactorily explain their tactics to the widow of James McColgan. One wonders if they condoned this and then condemned the murder of one of their own, later that day. The same sickness which also pervaded the Loyalists, then caused the death of a Catholic; this time, Michael McHugh (32) a father of two, and a member of the aforementioned Sinn Fein. He lived between Castlederg, Co Tyrone and the Irish border at Co Donegal and was a lorry driver. Mr McHugh was driving in the Corgary area when he was ambushed by UFF gunmen who shot him dead as he sat in the cab of his lorry.

  That fateful day was still not over, when a PIRA mortar unit again endangered the lives of their own community on the Glen Road, Turf Lodge. Five mortars were fired at the Army base at Fort Monagh, Turf Lodge, after they had taken a family hostage in Bingnian Drive. Three of the explosive devices fell short and landed within yards of St Teresa’s youth club, causing the evacuation of 200 teenagers. At the same time, another PIRA unit attempted to kill a prison officer as he finished work at the Crumlin Road Jail. Fortunately he spotted an explosive device under his car as he prepared to drive home, and EOD were called to defuse the UVBT. However, shortly before they could commence operations, the device detonated and the PO’s car was wrecked.

  On the 23rd, the UFF carried out a sickening and depraved sectarian killing of two men in the Shankill Road area, believing their two victims to be both Catholics. With a touch of tragic irony, Thomas Boston (45), a father of two was a Protestant and a man who was probably his best friend – John Lowther (40), father of four – was a Catholic. The two men had been drinking together in a Loyalist club when they were picked up by Loyalist thugs from the UFF and taken into the street where they were stabbed and then shot; their lifeless bodies were dumped into a car and the car set alight. The blazing car was discovered on Downing Street and the RUC and fire brigade were called to the scene at around 04:00. Earlier in the evening, the IRA had tried to kill a policeman and his wife and they had booby-trapped the house in Coagh, Co Tyrone. The policeman’s wife triggered off the device which exploded and blew in the back door and most of the windows; she escaped with cuts and bruises. A fishing line bomb was also attached to the underneath of another Crumlin Road Jail PO’s car and defused by the Army. On the same day in Kilrea, Co Londonderry, a large explosive device was left close to the home of an RUCR officer, but it was fortunately detonated by accident. An Army armoured vehicle triggered the device as it passed close by but the armour was sufficient to cause only minor damage instead of the death and maiming which was the intention.

  GUNNER ALLEN MAW, 25 FIELD REGT ROYAL ARTILLERY

  Eventful Foot Patrol

  It was during the ’77 tour and there was one particular day which will always stick in my mind which occurred in what the aut
hor referred to as ‘Bloody Belfast.’ We set off on a ‘footsie’ (foot patrol) out of Grand Central Hotel (GCH) and trotted off down Royal Avenue towards City Hall. We were only minutes into the patrol, when we got a shout to ‘hot foot’ it to Marks & Spencer (M&S) in the Corn Market. Someone had spotted a suspect package, but as we were on the way there, a little old lady came out of a sweet shop and walked up to me. Without hesitation or preamble, she said to me: ‘Soldier, soldier; there is a bag on the floor in there!’ So in I went, and sure enough, there was a duffle bag in the middle of the shop. My first instinct was to look in the bag and so I did, and sure enough, a device was clearly inside.

  Crumlin Road Jail, or the ‘Crum’ as it was known. (Mark ‘C’)

  There was a young mother and a little boy buying some sweets in the shop and, fearing for their lives, I shouted: ‘Get out; bomb!’ but she just looked at me and informed me that we was paying for her child’s sweets as though the device were invisible and bombs really weren’t going off every day in her city. I screamed at her: ‘No you’re not; get out; that is a bomb!’ With that, she shot out with the terrified little boy hanging on for grim death but still clutching some free sweets.

  I was nervous but remained calm and professional and I remember asking the shopkeeper if there was anyone in the back and he told that his elderly mother was there. I informed him that we were going to get her out and without any further fuss, we got everyone to safety then me and a couple of the lads went back to check that it was clear before we called for Felix (Bomb Disposal). But, just as we walked away, ‘Boom!’ it went off. Minutes later, after all the glass and rubble had settled there was an eerie silence. We were relieved, but of course we had forgotten about M&S hadn’t we? Boom! Up goes M&S as well and we could hear women and kids screaming and crying; others were just stunned by the blast and the smoke and the sounds of breaking glass. I just remember thinking ‘God almighty!’

  It just so happens that another patrol had dealt with that one, but a total of six bombs had gone off in the City Centre that morning. It was only later that day, having a smoke back at GCH that I had time to reflect on how close I had come to death.

  The Royal Artillery (motto: Ubique) was used in the foot soldier role during the Troubles; as a consequence, the Regiment suffered the highest number of fatalities of any mainland unit. Their losses were surpassed only by those of the UDR. On the 23rd, a foot patrol of the 49th Field Regiment was operating in the Markets area of Belfast; close to the City Centre. As the footsie reached the corner of New Bond Street and Eliza Street, an INLA gunman, secreted in the upper floor of the nearby St Colman’s Primary School fired one single shot, possibly from an American Garand rifle. The round hit Gunner George Mitchell Muncaster (19) in the chest. The young soldier from Bootle, Liverpool died within minutes; his funeral was held in Bootle cemetery.

  Crumlin Road jail back in 1977. (Mark ‘C’)

  The following tribute to the young Scouser soldier appeared in his regimental magazine:

  Gunner George Muncaster – It was just past 10 o’clock on Sunday night 23rd January that one of our best known and best liked friends was callously murdered whilst patrolling with his section on the hard line Republican streets of the Markets. ‘Scouse’ was a man who smiled well and whose contribution to the happiness and welfare of our community was always large. His discos were a regular success, generally noisy and always jolly. Our Battery dances will never be the same again. Coming from the Junior Leader’s Regiment in 1974 he immediately became one of the Regiment. Football was his great love and on a number of occasions he played for the Regiment as goalkeeper. During his Northern Ireland tour he was a rifleman in 1 Troop based on the Mission Hall. To his parents, brother, sisters and friends, we join in deep sympathy and sorrow. We are proud to have served alongside him.’

  The Provisionals were also involved in two other incidents earlier in the day. In the first, one of their murder gangs lay in wait outside the home of a UDR soldier in Maghera, Co Londonderry. As the off-duty soldier returned with his wife from a night out, armed men opened fire on them from behind a hedge. The pair had just opened the front door when several shots were fired; the full-time soldier’s wife was unscathed, but he was hit in both wrists and in his thigh. The gunmen who had used a shotgun then made good their escape. Experts felt that had they used automatic weapons, it is likely that both would have been killed. In the second of the earlier incidents, IRA gunmen opened fire on an RUC patrol car travelling along Hill Street in Newry. Gunmen hiding in Market Street fired at the car as it passed an innocent 12-year old girl who was walking in the opposite direction. The girl was hit and slumped wounded to the ground. The gunmen ran off through a pedestrian precinct and the unharmed police officers gave chase on foot but were unable to arrest them. The wounded girl recovered after hospital treatment, a victim of the utter irresponsibility of the Republican terror groups.

  As the first month of 1977 drew to a close, the Provisionals killed another policeman, this time in Londonderry. On the 27th, by prior arrangement, Detective Constable Patrick McNulty (30) drove his car to Desmond’s Garage on Strand Road for a routine service. As he drove in, two masked gunmen stepped up to his car windows and fired automatic weapons at point-blank range at him; he died instantly. There is speculation as to whether the IRA were tipped off by either an employee or someone with connections to the garage. There is absolutely no doubt that the gunmen were waiting and knew the precise time of his arrival. The killing took place at 09:00 and he had waved goodbye to his two young sons shortly before that. The killers escaped in a stolen car which was later found abandoned in the nearby Nationalist Bogside. On the same day, a bomb attack on a police vehicle on the Nationalist Twinbrook area of Belfast and a machine gun attack on the RUC at Duncairn Gardens and North Queen Street, Belfast all failed to injure officers. For good measure in Innirush, Portglenone, four shots were fired at the police at point blank range and miraculously no officers were hit.

  A UFF murder gang attacked a Catholic home in Belfast’s Short Strand on the 29th with the intention of killing a suspected IRA member. Their intelligence was entirely wrong and they succeeded in destroying part of the man’s house and injuring him, his wife and their two young children. Later that day, several people were injured when a Loyalist bomb ripped through a paint and wallpaper shop at Lynch’s in the Ardoyne; a woman and several young children were rushed to hospital. There were also lucky escapes for two off-duty UDR soldiers in different parts of the Province as PIRA continued their avowed tactics of killing the part-time soldiers at their homes and places of work. In Portadown, shots were fired at a UDR man walking his dog in fields and at Dungiven the IRA tried to shoot another soldier as he came out of his house.

  On the mainland, despite the setbacks at Balcombe Street and the emasculation of their England team, the IRA launched a bombing blitz on the 29th throughout London. A total of seven devices went off, but injuries were light and there were no deaths.

  The final death of the month, that of a UDA ‘officer’ bore none of the hallmarks of the Shankill Butchers, but two of the members of the gang were involved in the murder. The UDA man – James ‘Nigger’ Moorhead (30), father of four young children – was out drinking on the night of the 31st of the month. He had visited several bars, including the Bayardo on the Shankill Road looking for a friend. Having consumed several beers during the evening, he went to another bar on the Shankill – the Windsor Bar – to have more drinks and continue to look for his friend. The Windsor was a UVF haunt and he was spotted by several UVF members including ‘Basher’ Bates and ‘Big Sam’ McAllister (both from the Shankill Butchers) and they plotted to kill him. When Moorehead went into the toilets, he was seized and brutally assaulted by several UVF men. A knife and a large spanner were sent for and his throat was cut, before his skull was crushed by at least a dozen heavy blows from the spanner. His body was then dragged outside and driven to Adela Street, Carlisle Circus where it was dumped on the interface wi
th the Nationalist New Lodge Road.

  Deaths had remained low for the second month in a row, but were still unacceptably high with 14 people killed. A total of six soldiers and two policemen had been killed, most at the hands of the IRA. Civilian losses were four; three Protestants and a Catholic, with three of the deaths being overtly sectarian. The Republicans had lost two and one Loyalist had been killed. Of the deaths this month, eight were carried out by Republicans and four by Loyalists. One statistic is unmeasurable however; the number of Security Force near-misses.

  26

  February

  Deaths would continue on the lower side, certainly when compared with the appalling toll of the early to mid-70s, but a further four soldiers would die this month and a former soldier would die because of his past association with the Army. Four policemen would also die this month taking the total to over 30 in just 14 months. The IRA assassinated a member of the Judiciary and the Shankill Butchers struck again.

  On the 2nd, an RUCR officer’s life was almost forfeit and his name was close to being added to the already unacceptably high toll of policemen’s lives. His life was saved thanks to the vigilance of his ever-watchful wife as something about her husband’s van parked outside their house in the Whitecross village of Co Armagh caused her to be suspicious. The Army was alerted and the surrounding area evacuated. Upon examination, EOD found an explosive device (UVBT) strapped to the vehicle’s wheel arch. The device was primed to go as soon as the van was started, or indeed, even if someone had simply sat on the front seat. Eight sticks of gelignite were used and experts later stated that even a person walking past could have detonated what was an incredibly large amount of explosives to simply kill one man.