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Operation Banner: A day of infamy.
Operation Banner (Northern Ireland). On 19 March 1988 Corporal Derek Wood, aged 24, and Corporal David Howes, aged 23, both serving with the Royal Signals, were wearing civilian clothes and driving a silver Volkswagen Passat with civilian number plates after completing repairs of signal equipment at a military base and were returning to their barracks. After taking a wrong turning they came…
Operation Banner (Northern Ireland). On 31 January 1984 RUC (Royal Ulster Constabulary) officers Thomas Bingham and William Savage were among the 319 officers killed by terrorists (9,000 injured) during the 'Troubles'.
From the BBC Archives. Thomas John Bingham aged 29 and William Richie Savage from East Belfast were travelling in an unmarked police car on Newry Road when they were killed by a 1000 lb bombed detonated 600 yard away.
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Mark "Billy" Billingham talks about selection for the Parachute Regiment and service in Northern Ireland.
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Operation Banner (Northern Ireland) a news report from Belfast during the 1970s.
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The First and Last Soldiers Killed During Operation Banner (Northern Ireland)
The number of military and police casualties during Operation Banner (14 August 1969 to 31 July 2007) vary according to sources with one source stating 1,400 soldiers and 319 Royal Ulster Constabulary Officers were killed and 6,100 members of the security forces injured. Above Robert Curtis, below Stephen Restorick The first soldier killed during Operation Banner was 20 year old Robert Curtis…
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50th Anniversary of Operation BANNER
50th Anniversary of Operation BANNER
British Forces Mark Anniversary of Start of Operation in Northern Ireland
HM Armed Forces marked 50 years since the start of operations in Northern Ireland, with serving personnel joining veterans at the Armed Forces Memorial in Staffordshire to commemorate 50 years since the start of Operation Banner.
The event to commemorate Op Banner took place on 14 August at the National Memorial Aboretum in…
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Captured IRA Weapons
The cache of weapons photographed were captured by men of the Royal Anglian Regiment in the Londonderry area of Northern Ireland during a period between 1981 and 1982.
The weapons include an M60 general purpose machine gun, with three belts of 7.62x51mm ammunition. A Spanish-made .357 Magnum Star revolver and six rounds. And three Colt AR-15 sporters complete with a collection of loaded 20 and 30 round magazines and two 10-round stripper clips.
Of the opposing paramilitary forces in Northern Ireland, the IRA were invariably better armed than their Ulster Loyalist counterparts in the UVF and UDA. The M60 pictured is likely part of a shipment of six M60s, that were stolen from a US Army depot, that was reportedly smuggled in from the US in 1977. Some sources suggest the guns were stolen from a National Guard armoury in Massachusetts. Some of these were used in attacks by the IRA, including during an ambush of officers of the Royal Ulster Constabulary on the 9th April, 1980. The ambush killed one officer and wounded two more. A month later the Active Service Unit that had ambushed the RUC officers with the M60 were cornered in a house by the SAS and the M60 was again used in the ensuing gun battle, during which an SAS captain was killed. The IRA unit eventually surrendered after a brief siege.
Sources:
Image Source
Lost Lives: The Stories of the Men, Women and Children Who Died as a Result of the Northern Ireland Troubles, C. Thornton & S. Kelters (2001) [source]
'Inside The Ira - Weapons & Technology’, PBS Frontline, S. Boyne (source)
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We were going down Cyprus Street one evening and we suddenly heard a couple of shots, fairly low velocity. Then all hell let loose. I was third in line on the right-side and somebody on my left went down…within seconds I had fired something like thirty rounds. I'd changed magazines without even realising it.
A corporal from the Royal Green Jackets remembers a contact during a foot patrol in Belfast in the early 1970s.
A soldier with an L7 General Purpose Machine Gun covers a street corner (source)
Source: Northern Ireland: Soldiers Talking, M. Arthur (1987)
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