Border Campaign (IRA)
Encyclopedia
The Border Campaign was a campaign of guerrilla warfare
(codenamed
Operation Harvest) carried out by the Irish Republican Army
(IRA) against targets in Northern Ireland
, with the aim of overthrowing British rule there and creating a united Ireland
.
Popularly referred to as the Border Campaign, it was also referred to as the "Resistance Campaign" by some republican activists. The campaign was a military failure, but for some of its members, the campaign was justified as it had kept the IRA engaged for another generation.
This was the third republican campaign against the Northern Ireland polity. The first took place during the Irish War of Independence
, the second took place from 1942–1944
, and a fourth was to take place from 1969–1997.
and Northern Ireland
governments had severely weakened the IRA. In 1939 the IRA tried a bombing campaign in England
to try to force British withdrawal from Northern Ireland. From 1942-1944 it also mounted an ineffective campaign
in Northern Ireland. Internment
on both sides of the border as well as internal feuding and disputes over future policy all but destroyed the organisation. These campaigns were officially called off on 10 March 1945. By 1947, the IRA had only 200 activists according to its own general staff.
In principle, the IRA wished to overthrow both "partitionist" states in Ireland, both Northern Ireland and the government in Dublin, both of which it deemed to be illegitimate entities, imposed by Britain at the time of the Anglo-Irish Treaty
in 1922. However, in 1948 a General Army Convention issued General Order No. 8 prohibiting "any armed action whatsoever" against the forces of the Republic of Ireland. This amounted to a de facto recognition of the Southern Irish state. Under the new policy, IRA volunteers who were caught with arms in the Republic of Ireland were ordered to dump or destroy them and not to take defensive action.
From now on, armed action would be focussed on Northern Ireland, which was still part of the United Kingdom and which was dominated by Protestant unionists. The idea of a campaign launched from the Republic against Northern Ireland, first mooted by Tom Barry
in the 1930s, gained currency within IRA circles as the 1950s went on. In 1954, after an arms raid at Gough Barracks in Armagh
, a speaker at the Wolfe Tone commemoration at Bodenstown
repeated that IRA policy was directed solely against British forces in Northern Ireland.
IRA Chief of Staff Tony Magan
set out to create "a new Army, untarnished by the dissent and scandals of the previous decade," according to J. Bowyer Bell
. One of its advisers was a retired British Major-General, Eric Dorman-Smith
. The IRA was officially "apolitical," existing only to overthrow the "British-imposed political institutions" in Ireland. However Mangan believed that a degree of political mobilization was necessary and the relationship with Sinn Féin
which had soured during the 30's was improved. At the 1949 IRA Convention, the IRA ordered its members to join Sinn Féin, which would become the "civilian wing" of the IRA.
, Omagh
, Essex
, Berkshire
and Armagh
. At the latter raid on Gough barracks in Armagh in June 1954, the IRA seized 250 Lee Enfield rifles, 37 submachine gun
s, 9 Bren guns and 40 training rifles.
By 1955, splits were occurring in the IRA, as several small groups, impatient for action, launched their own attacks in Northern Ireland. One such activist, Brendan O'Boyle blew himself up with his own bomb in the summer of that year. Another, Liam Kelly
founded a breakaway group Saor Uladh
("Free Ulster") and in November 1955, attacked a Royal Ulster Constabulary
barracks at Roslea in County Fermanagh
. One RUC man was badly injured and a Republican fighter was killed in the incident. In August of the following year, Kelly and another IRA dissident, Joe Christle, burned down some customs posts on the border.
In November 1956, the IRA finally began its own border campaign. They were partly motivated by a desire to prevent any more splits in their organisation. They were also encouraged by the results of the UK general election of 1955
, when Sinn Féin
(since 1949, the IRA's political wing) candidates were elected MPs for the Mid-Ulster and Fermanagh and South Tyrone constituencies in Northern Ireland, with a total of 152,310 votes. This appeared to show that there was a substantial Irish republican
support base within Northern Ireland. However as the mainstream Nationalist Party
had decided not to take part in the election, its supporters had voted for Sinn Féin instead.
. It envisaged the use of guerrilla units called flying column
s, initially four units of about 50 men each. They were to operate from within the Republic of Ireland and to attack military and infrastructural targets within Northern Ireland. In addition, another twenty organisers were sent to various locations within Northern Ireland to train new units, gather intelligence and report back to the leadership in Dublin. An IRA document probably seized in Dublin in a raid on Cronin's flat, on 8 January 1957, stated that the aim of the campaign was to:
"break down the enemy’s administration in the occupied area until he is forced to withdraw his forces. Our method of doing this is guerrilla warfare within the occupied area and propaganda directed at its inhabitants. In time as we build up our forces, we hope to be in a position to liberate large areas and tie these in with other liberated areas – that is areas where the enemy’s writ no longer runs".
No actions were to take place in Belfast
, the capital and biggest city in Northern Ireland. It was excluded because Paddy Doyle, the Belfast O/C and a member of the Army Council, was arrested and the unit was disorganized, although Hanley and Millar attribute the non-participation of the Belfast IRA to fears that informers had access to the IRA's plans. There was also a desire not to provoke reprisals by loyalists
against the Catholic/nationalist population there. This had happened on a large scale in 1920-22, during and after the Irish War of Independence
.
relay transmitter was bombed in Derry, a courthouse was burned in Magherafelt
by a unit led by an 18-year-old Seamus Costello
, as was a B-Specials post near Newry
and a half-built Army barracks at Enniskillen
was blown up. A raid on Gough barracks in Armagh was beaten off after a brief exchange of fire.
The IRA issued a statement on 12 December announcing the start of the Campaign, "Spearheaded by Ireland’s freedom fighters, our people have carried the fight to the enemy…Out of this national liberation struggle a new Ireland will emerge, upright and free. In that new Ireland, we shall build a country fit for all our people to live in. That then is our aim: an independent, united, democratic Irish Republic. For this we shall fight until the invader is driven from our soil and victory is ours". Despite formal condemnation of the IRA by the Roman Catholic
hierarchy, many units were given absolution before going out on operation.
On 14 December, an IRA column under Seán Garland
detonated four bombs (one of which blew in the front wall) outside Lisnaskea
RUC station before raking it with gunfire. Further attacks on Derrylin
and Roslea RUC barracks on the same day were beaten off.
In response, on 21 December 1956, the government of Northern Ireland under Basil Brooke
used the Special Powers Act
to intern several hundred republican suspects without trial. Over 100 men were arrested on 12 January 1957. This, in time, severely limited the IRA’s capacity to build up units within Northern Ireland.
On the evening of 30 December 1956, the Teeling Column
under Noel Kavanagh attacked the Derrylin RUC barracks again, killing RUC constable John Scally, the first fatality of the campaign. Others involved in that attack included two prominent IRA men, Charlie Murphy and Ruairí Ó Brádaigh
. On 1 January 1957, Seán Garland and Dáithí Ó Conaill
planned an attack on the Police station at Brookeborough
, but assaulted the wrong building. Two IRA men, Seán South
and Fergal O'Hanlon
, were killed in the abortive attack. Garland was seriously wounded in the raid. He and the remainder of the group were pursued back over the border by 400 RUC, B Specials and British soldiers.
The funerals of South and O’Hanlon in the Republic produced a strong emotional reaction among the general public there. The two men are still considered martyrs in Irish Republican circles. Up to 50,000 people attended their funerals.
The year 1957 was the most active year of the IRA's campaign, with 341 incidents recorded. In November of that year, the IRA suffered its worst loss of life in the period when four of its members died preparing a bomb in a farm house at Edentubber, County Louth
, which exploded prematurely. The civilian owner of the house was also killed.
By 1958, however, the campaign's initial impetus had largely dissipated. Certain IRA activities produced public hostility and by 1958, there were already many within the IRA in favour of calling the campaign off. The Cork IRA, for instance, had effectively withdrawn.
In the summer of 1958, two IRA men (James Crossan and Aloysius Hand) were killed in separate gun battles with the RUC.
By mid-1958, 500 republicans were in gaol or interned, North and South. The decline in activity meant that the Fianna Fáil government in the South felt confident enough to end internment in March 1959.
Following their release, some of the interned leaders met Sean Cronin in a farmhouse in County Laois
and were persuaded to continue the campaign "to keep the flame alive". In 1960, the number of incidents fell to just 26. Moreover, many of these actions consisted of minor acts of sabotage, for example the cratering of roads.
The final fatality of the conflict came in November 1961, when an RUC officer, William Hunter, was killed in a gun battle with the IRA in south County Armagh
.
, led by John Costello
of Fine Gael
, feared that the IRA’s action would drag it into a diplomatic confrontation with Britain and in January 1957, it used the Offences Against the State Act
to arrest most of the IRA’s leadership, including its Chief of Staff, Seán Cronin. Clann na Poblachta
(led by former IRA Chief of Staff Seán MacBride
) withdrew its support for the government in protest over this policy. In the ensuing Irish general election, 1957
, Sinn Féin won four seats and polled 65,640 votes (c. 5% of those cast), while Clann na Poblachta's vote dropped sharply. However it should be noted that Clann na Poblachta were very weak originally in the constituencies where Sinn Féin
fielded candidates.
The new government, of Fianna Fáil
, led by Éamon de Valera
proved even more hostile to the IRA than its predecessor. In July 1957, after the killing of an RUC man, de Valera introduced wholesale internment without trial for IRA suspects. Then in November 1961 his Minister for Justice, Charles Haughey
established military courts which handed down long prison sentences to convicted IRA men. The use of internment on both sides of the Irish border made it impossible for the IRA, most of whose leadership was imprisoned, to maintain the momentum of their campaign.
That the IRA’s campaign had run its course by 1960 is testified by the fact that the Republic of Ireland's government closed the Curragh camp, which housed internees in the South, on 15 March 1959 (judging them to be no further threat). The Northern Irish government followed suit on 25 April 1961.
Although it had petered out by the late 1950s, the Campaign was officially called off on 26 February 1962. In a press release issued that day, drafted by Ruairí Ó Brádaigh
who consulted with several other persons including members of the Army Council, the IRA Army Council
stated:
The statement was released by the Irish Republican Publicity Bureau and signed "J. McGarrity, Secretary."
Implicit in the statement was a recognition that the IRA, after a promising start in 1957, had failed to mobilise much popular support behind its campaign.
population of Northern Ireland. Even before the campaign ended some within the organisation had begun to consider other avenues in pursuit of the organisation's goals. Many of those involved with the Border Campaign felt that their lack of support was due to a failure to address the social and economic issues faced by ordinary people. The early seeds of addressing such issues are found in Sinn Féin election materials in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
The larger unionist population in Northern Ireland was further alienated from Irish republicanism by the campaign, and considered that its internment policy had worked. However, the policy was to fail when it was repeated in the 1970s.
Cathal Goulding
, who became IRA Chief of Staff in 1962, tried to move the IRA away from pure militarism and towards left wing and ultimately Marxist politics. This process ended with the 1969/70 split in the republican movement between the Official IRA
and Provisional IRA wings. The Officials, under Goulding wanted to transform the movement into a revolutionary party involved in both parliamentary and street politics, while the Provisionals under Ruairí Ó Brádaigh
, wanted to maintain the movement's traditional refusal to engage in parliamentary politics. More immediately, the Provisional faction wanted to use armed force to defend the Catholic community in Belfast from loyalist attacks in the civil strife that had broken out in Northern Ireland (the start of the "The Troubles
"), but it must be noted that the Official IRA
, as led by Goulding, also engaged as Belfast defenders. A key difference is that, ultimately, the Provisionals also wanted to re-build the IRA's military capacity to launch a new armed campaign.
The Officials and Provisionals went their separate ways in 1969. The Official IRA
maintained armed actions up until 1972, but characterised them as "defensive". Feuds between the two IRAs in the 1970s claimed about twenty lives. The Provisional IRA launched what turned out to be a much more sustained and destructive campaign than the Border Campaign – the Provisional IRA campaign 1969–1997
, which was to claim up to 1,800 lives.
Guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...
(codenamed
Code name
A code name or cryptonym is a word or name used clandestinely to refer to another name or word. Code names are often used for military purposes, or in espionage...
Operation Harvest) carried out by the Irish Republican Army
Irish Republican Army (1922–1969)
The original Irish Republican Army fought a guerrilla war against British rule in Ireland in the Irish War of Independence 1919–1921. Following the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty on 6 December 1921, the IRA in the 26 counties that were to become the Irish Free State split between supporters and...
(IRA) against targets in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, with the aim of overthrowing British rule there and creating a united Ireland
United Ireland
A united Ireland is the term used to refer to the idea of a sovereign state which covers all of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. The island of Ireland includes the territory of two independent sovereign states: the Republic of Ireland, which covers 26 counties of the island, and the...
.
Popularly referred to as the Border Campaign, it was also referred to as the "Resistance Campaign" by some republican activists. The campaign was a military failure, but for some of its members, the campaign was justified as it had kept the IRA engaged for another generation.
This was the third republican campaign against the Northern Ireland polity. The first took place during the Irish War of Independence
Irish War of Independence
The Irish War of Independence , Anglo-Irish War, Black and Tan War, or Tan War was a guerrilla war mounted by the Irish Republican Army against the British government and its forces in Ireland. It began in January 1919, following the Irish Republic's declaration of independence. Both sides agreed...
, the second took place from 1942–1944
Northern Campaign (IRA)
Northern Campaign is a term used to describe attacks involving volunteers of the Irish Republican Army during the Second World War between September 1942 and December 1944. It was a plan conceived by the then IRA Northern Command to launch attacks within Northern Ireland during this period...
, and a fourth was to take place from 1969–1997.
Background
The Border Campaign was the first major military undertaking carried out by the IRA since the 1940s, when the harsh security measures of the IrelandRepublic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
and Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
governments had severely weakened the IRA. In 1939 the IRA tried a bombing campaign in England
S-Plan
The S-Plan or Sabotage Campaign or England Campaign was a campaign of bombing and sabotage against the civil, economic, and military infrastructure of the United Kingdom from 1939 to 1940, conducted by members of the Irish Republican Army . It was conceived by Seamus O'Donovan in 1938 at the...
to try to force British withdrawal from Northern Ireland. From 1942-1944 it also mounted an ineffective campaign
Northern Campaign (IRA)
Northern Campaign is a term used to describe attacks involving volunteers of the Irish Republican Army during the Second World War between September 1942 and December 1944. It was a plan conceived by the then IRA Northern Command to launch attacks within Northern Ireland during this period...
in Northern Ireland. Internment
Internment
Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people, commonly in large groups, without trial. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the meaning as: "The action of 'interning'; confinement within the limits of a country or place." Most modern usage is about individuals, and there is a distinction...
on both sides of the border as well as internal feuding and disputes over future policy all but destroyed the organisation. These campaigns were officially called off on 10 March 1945. By 1947, the IRA had only 200 activists according to its own general staff.
In principle, the IRA wished to overthrow both "partitionist" states in Ireland, both Northern Ireland and the government in Dublin, both of which it deemed to be illegitimate entities, imposed by Britain at the time of the Anglo-Irish Treaty
Anglo-Irish Treaty
The Anglo-Irish Treaty , officially called the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was a treaty between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and representatives of the secessionist Irish Republic that concluded the Irish War of...
in 1922. However, in 1948 a General Army Convention issued General Order No. 8 prohibiting "any armed action whatsoever" against the forces of the Republic of Ireland. This amounted to a de facto recognition of the Southern Irish state. Under the new policy, IRA volunteers who were caught with arms in the Republic of Ireland were ordered to dump or destroy them and not to take defensive action.
From now on, armed action would be focussed on Northern Ireland, which was still part of the United Kingdom and which was dominated by Protestant unionists. The idea of a campaign launched from the Republic against Northern Ireland, first mooted by Tom Barry
Tom Barry
Thomas Barry was one of the most prominent guerrilla leaders in the Irish Republican Army during the Irish War of Independence.-Early life:...
in the 1930s, gained currency within IRA circles as the 1950s went on. In 1954, after an arms raid at Gough Barracks in Armagh
Armagh
Armagh is a large settlement in Northern Ireland, and the county town of County Armagh. It is a site of historical importance for both Celtic paganism and Christianity and is the seat, for both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland, of the Archbishop of Armagh...
, a speaker at the Wolfe Tone commemoration at Bodenstown
Bodenstown
Bodenstown is a townland on the outskirts of Sallins in County Kildare, Ireland.The most notable local features are a golf club and the parish cemetery for Sallins. The cemetery is best known as the gravesite of Theobald Wolfe Tone, the eighteenth century Irish revolutionary and leader of the...
repeated that IRA policy was directed solely against British forces in Northern Ireland.
IRA Chief of Staff Tony Magan
Tony Magan
Tony Magan was an Irish republican and chief of staff of the Irish Republican Army .Magan was a son of farmer James Magan and his wife Elizabeth, of Kilmore, County Meath....
set out to create "a new Army, untarnished by the dissent and scandals of the previous decade," according to J. Bowyer Bell
J. Bowyer Bell
J. Bowyer Bell was an American historian, artist and art critic.-Background and early life:Bell was born into an Episcopalian family on 15 November 1931 in New York City. The family later moved to Alabama, from where Bell attended Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, majoring in...
. One of its advisers was a retired British Major-General, Eric Dorman-Smith
Eric Dorman-Smith
Eric Edward Dorman-Smith , later de-Anglicised to Eric Edward Dorman O'Gowan, was a British Army soldier who served with distinction in World War I, and then seems to have become something of a bête noire to the British military establishment because of his lively mind, and unorthodox...
. The IRA was officially "apolitical," existing only to overthrow the "British-imposed political institutions" in Ireland. However Mangan believed that a degree of political mobilization was necessary and the relationship with Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
which had soured during the 30's was improved. At the 1949 IRA Convention, the IRA ordered its members to join Sinn Féin, which would become the "civilian wing" of the IRA.
Re-arming
By the middle of this decade, moreover, the IRA had substantially re-armed. This was achieved by means of arms raids launched between 1951 and 1954, on British military bases in Northern Ireland and England. Arms were taken from DerryDerry
Derry or Londonderry is the second-biggest city in Northern Ireland and the fourth-biggest city on the island of Ireland. The name Derry is an anglicisation of the Irish name Doire or Doire Cholmcille meaning "oak-wood of Colmcille"...
, Omagh
Omagh
Omagh is the county town of County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is situated where the rivers Drumragh and Camowen meet to form the Strule. The town, which is the largest in the county, had a population of 19,910 at the 2001 Census. Omagh also contains the headquarters of Omagh District Council and...
, Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
, Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
and Armagh
Armagh
Armagh is a large settlement in Northern Ireland, and the county town of County Armagh. It is a site of historical importance for both Celtic paganism and Christianity and is the seat, for both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland, of the Archbishop of Armagh...
. At the latter raid on Gough barracks in Armagh in June 1954, the IRA seized 250 Lee Enfield rifles, 37 submachine gun
Submachine gun
A submachine gun is an automatic carbine, designed to fire pistol cartridges. It combines the automatic fire of a machine gun with the cartridge of a pistol. The submachine gun was invented during World War I , but the apex of its use was during World War II when millions of the weapon type were...
s, 9 Bren guns and 40 training rifles.
By 1955, splits were occurring in the IRA, as several small groups, impatient for action, launched their own attacks in Northern Ireland. One such activist, Brendan O'Boyle blew himself up with his own bomb in the summer of that year. Another, Liam Kelly
Liam Kelly (Irish republican)
Liam Kelly was an Irish republican, who was elected both to House of Commons of Northern Ireland and as a member of Seanad Éireann...
founded a breakaway group Saor Uladh
Saor Uladh
Saor Uladh - was a short-lived paramilitary organisation in Northern Ireland in the 1950s.Seen as a splinter group of the Irish Republican Army, it was formed in County Tyrone by Liam Kelly and Phil O'Donnell in 1953...
("Free Ulster") and in November 1955, attacked a Royal Ulster Constabulary
Royal Ulster Constabulary
The Royal Ulster Constabulary was the name of the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2000. Following the awarding of the George Cross in 2000, it was subsequently known as the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC. It was founded on 1 June 1922 out of the Royal Irish Constabulary...
barracks at Roslea in County Fermanagh
County Fermanagh
Fermanagh District Council is the only one of the 26 district councils in Northern Ireland that contains all of the county it is named after. The district council also contains a small section of County Tyrone in the Dromore and Kilskeery road areas....
. One RUC man was badly injured and a Republican fighter was killed in the incident. In August of the following year, Kelly and another IRA dissident, Joe Christle, burned down some customs posts on the border.
In November 1956, the IRA finally began its own border campaign. They were partly motivated by a desire to prevent any more splits in their organisation. They were also encouraged by the results of the UK general election of 1955
United Kingdom general election, 1955
The 1955 United Kingdom general election was held on 26 May 1955, four years after the previous general election. It resulted in a substantially increased majority of 60 for the Conservative government under new leader and prime minister Sir Anthony Eden against Labour Party, now in their 20th year...
, when Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
(since 1949, the IRA's political wing) candidates were elected MPs for the Mid-Ulster and Fermanagh and South Tyrone constituencies in Northern Ireland, with a total of 152,310 votes. This appeared to show that there was a substantial Irish republican
Irish Republicanism
Irish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic.In 1801, under the Act of Union, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
support base within Northern Ireland. However as the mainstream Nationalist Party
Nationalist Party (Northern Ireland)
The Nationalist Party† - was the continuation of the Irish Parliamentary Party, and was formed after partition, by the Northern Ireland-based members of the IPP....
had decided not to take part in the election, its supporters had voted for Sinn Féin instead.
Planning the Campaign
The plan for the Border Campaign – codenamed, "Operation Harvest" – was devised by Seán CroninSeán Cronin
Seán Cronin was a journalist and former Irish Army officer and twice Irish Republican Army chief of staff.Cronin was born in Dublin in 1920 but spent his childhood years in Ballinskelligs, in the County Kerry Gaeltacht....
. It envisaged the use of guerrilla units called flying column
Flying column
A flying column is a small, independent, military land unit capable of rapid mobility and usually composed of all arms. It is often an ad hoc unit, formed during the course of operations....
s, initially four units of about 50 men each. They were to operate from within the Republic of Ireland and to attack military and infrastructural targets within Northern Ireland. In addition, another twenty organisers were sent to various locations within Northern Ireland to train new units, gather intelligence and report back to the leadership in Dublin. An IRA document probably seized in Dublin in a raid on Cronin's flat, on 8 January 1957, stated that the aim of the campaign was to:
"break down the enemy’s administration in the occupied area until he is forced to withdraw his forces. Our method of doing this is guerrilla warfare within the occupied area and propaganda directed at its inhabitants. In time as we build up our forces, we hope to be in a position to liberate large areas and tie these in with other liberated areas – that is areas where the enemy’s writ no longer runs".
No actions were to take place in Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
, the capital and biggest city in Northern Ireland. It was excluded because Paddy Doyle, the Belfast O/C and a member of the Army Council, was arrested and the unit was disorganized, although Hanley and Millar attribute the non-participation of the Belfast IRA to fears that informers had access to the IRA's plans. There was also a desire not to provoke reprisals by loyalists
Ulster loyalism
Ulster loyalism is an ideology that is opposed to a united Ireland. It can mean either support for upholding Northern Ireland's status as a constituent part of the United Kingdom , support for Northern Ireland independence, or support for loyalist paramilitaries...
against the Catholic/nationalist population there. This had happened on a large scale in 1920-22, during and after the Irish War of Independence
Irish War of Independence
The Irish War of Independence , Anglo-Irish War, Black and Tan War, or Tan War was a guerrilla war mounted by the Irish Republican Army against the British government and its forces in Ireland. It began in January 1919, following the Irish Republic's declaration of independence. Both sides agreed...
.
The Campaign
The campaign was launched with simultaneous attacks by around 150 IRA members on targets on the Border in the early hours of 12 December 1956. A BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
relay transmitter was bombed in Derry, a courthouse was burned in Magherafelt
Magherafelt
Magherafelt is a small town in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 8,372 people recorded in the 2001 Census. It is the biggest town in the south of County Londonderry and is the social, economic and political hub of the area...
by a unit led by an 18-year-old Seamus Costello
Seamus Costello
Seamus Costello was a leader of Official Sinn Féin and the Official Irish Republican Army and latterly of the Irish Republican Socialist Party and the Irish National Liberation Army ....
, as was a B-Specials post near Newry
Newry
Newry is a city in Northern Ireland. The River Clanrye, which runs through the city, formed the historic border between County Armagh and County Down. It is from Belfast and from Dublin. Newry had a population of 27,433 at the 2001 Census, while Newry and Mourne Council Area had a population...
and a half-built Army barracks at Enniskillen
Enniskillen
Enniskillen is a town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is located almost exactly in the centre of the county between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of 13,599 in the 2001 Census...
was blown up. A raid on Gough barracks in Armagh was beaten off after a brief exchange of fire.
The IRA issued a statement on 12 December announcing the start of the Campaign, "Spearheaded by Ireland’s freedom fighters, our people have carried the fight to the enemy…Out of this national liberation struggle a new Ireland will emerge, upright and free. In that new Ireland, we shall build a country fit for all our people to live in. That then is our aim: an independent, united, democratic Irish Republic. For this we shall fight until the invader is driven from our soil and victory is ours". Despite formal condemnation of the IRA by the Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
hierarchy, many units were given absolution before going out on operation.
On 14 December, an IRA column under Seán Garland
Seán Garland
Seán Garland is a former President of the Workers' Party in Ireland.-Early Life:Born at Belvedere Place, off Mountjoy Square in Dublin, Garland joined the Irish Republican Army in 1953. In 1954, he briefly joined the British Army as an IRA agent and collected intelligence on Gough Barracks in...
detonated four bombs (one of which blew in the front wall) outside Lisnaskea
Lisnaskea
Lisnaskea is the second-biggest settlement in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 2,739 people in the 2001 Census. The town is built around the long main street, which bends at almost 90 degrees along its course.- History :...
RUC station before raking it with gunfire. Further attacks on Derrylin
Derrylin
Derrylin is a small village and townland in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is on the A509 road between Enniskillen and the border with County Cavan . It had a population of 423 in the 2001 Census.-History:...
and Roslea RUC barracks on the same day were beaten off.
In response, on 21 December 1956, the government of Northern Ireland under Basil Brooke
Basil Brooke, 1st Viscount Brookeborough
Basil Stanlake Brooke, 1st Viscount Brookeborough, Bt, KG, CBE, MC, PC, HML was an Ulster Unionist politician who became the third Prime Minister of Northern Ireland in 1943 and held office until 1963....
used the Special Powers Act
Civil Authorities (Special Powers) Act (Northern Ireland) 1922
The Civil Authorities Act 1922, often referred to simply as the Special Powers Act, was an Act passed by the Parliament of Northern Ireland shortly after the establishment of Northern Ireland, and in the context of violent conflict over the issue of the partition of Ireland...
to intern several hundred republican suspects without trial. Over 100 men were arrested on 12 January 1957. This, in time, severely limited the IRA’s capacity to build up units within Northern Ireland.
On the evening of 30 December 1956, the Teeling Column
Teeling Column
The Teeling Column was one of the four armed units devised by Seán Cronin for the Border Campaign in the west of Ulster.On 30 December 1956, the Column's inaugural operation involved an attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary barracks in Derrylin, County Fermanagh. The object was to obtain the...
under Noel Kavanagh attacked the Derrylin RUC barracks again, killing RUC constable John Scally, the first fatality of the campaign. Others involved in that attack included two prominent IRA men, Charlie Murphy and Ruairí Ó Brádaigh
Ruairí Ó Brádaigh
Ruairí Ó Brádaigh is an Irish republican. He is a former chief of staff of the Irish Republican Army , former president of Sinn Féin and former president of Republican Sinn Féin.-Early life:...
. On 1 January 1957, Seán Garland and Dáithí Ó Conaill
Dáithí Ó Conaill
Dáithí Ó Conaill was an Irish republican, a member of the IRA Army Council, vice-president of Sinn Féin and Republican Sinn Féin. He was also the first chief of staff of the Continuity IRA.-Joins IRA:...
planned an attack on the Police station at Brookeborough
Brookeborough
Brookeborough is a village in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It lies between Enniskillen and Belfast just off the A4 trunk road, about five miles from the County Tyrone boundary....
, but assaulted the wrong building. Two IRA men, Seán South
Seán South
Seán South was a member of an IRA military column led by Sean Garland on a raid against a Royal Ulster Constabulary barracks in Brookeborough, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland on New Year's Day, 1957...
and Fergal O'Hanlon
Fergal O'Hanlon
Feargal O'Hanlon Feargal O'Hanlon Feargal O'Hanlon (Irish: Feargal Ó hAnnluain (b. 2 February 1936, Ballybay, County Monaghan, Ireland – d. 1 January 1957, Brookeborough, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland) was a member/volunteer in the Pearse Column of the Irish Republican Army....
, were killed in the abortive attack. Garland was seriously wounded in the raid. He and the remainder of the group were pursued back over the border by 400 RUC, B Specials and British soldiers.
The funerals of South and O’Hanlon in the Republic produced a strong emotional reaction among the general public there. The two men are still considered martyrs in Irish Republican circles. Up to 50,000 people attended their funerals.
The year 1957 was the most active year of the IRA's campaign, with 341 incidents recorded. In November of that year, the IRA suffered its worst loss of life in the period when four of its members died preparing a bomb in a farm house at Edentubber, County Louth
County Louth
County Louth is a county of Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Louth. Louth County Council is the local authority for the county...
, which exploded prematurely. The civilian owner of the house was also killed.
By 1958, however, the campaign's initial impetus had largely dissipated. Certain IRA activities produced public hostility and by 1958, there were already many within the IRA in favour of calling the campaign off. The Cork IRA, for instance, had effectively withdrawn.
In the summer of 1958, two IRA men (James Crossan and Aloysius Hand) were killed in separate gun battles with the RUC.
By mid-1958, 500 republicans were in gaol or interned, North and South. The decline in activity meant that the Fianna Fáil government in the South felt confident enough to end internment in March 1959.
Following their release, some of the interned leaders met Sean Cronin in a farmhouse in County Laois
County Laois
County Laois is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Midlands Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It was formerly known as Queen's County until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. The county's name was formerly spelt as Laoighis and Leix. Laois County Council...
and were persuaded to continue the campaign "to keep the flame alive". In 1960, the number of incidents fell to just 26. Moreover, many of these actions consisted of minor acts of sabotage, for example the cratering of roads.
The final fatality of the conflict came in November 1961, when an RUC officer, William Hunter, was killed in a gun battle with the IRA in south County Armagh
County Armagh
-History:Ancient Armagh was the territory of the Ulaid before the fourth century AD. It was ruled by the Red Branch, whose capital was Emain Macha near Armagh. The site, and subsequently the city, were named after the goddess Macha...
.
Internment policy in the South
The Republic’s governmentGovernment of the 15th Dáil
The 15th Dáil was elected at the 1954 general election on 18 May 1954 and first met on 2 June when the 7th Government of Ireland was appointed. The 15th Dáil lasted for 1,022 days.-7th Government of Ireland:...
, led by John Costello
John A. Costello
John Aloysius Costello , a successful barrister, was one of the main legal advisors to the government of the Irish Free State after independence, Attorney General of Ireland from 1926–1932 and Taoiseach from 1948–1951 and 1954–1957....
of Fine Gael
Fine Gael
Fine Gael is a centre-right to centrist political party in the Republic of Ireland. It is the single largest party in Ireland in the Oireachtas, in local government, and in terms of Members of the European Parliament. The party has a membership of over 35,000...
, feared that the IRA’s action would drag it into a diplomatic confrontation with Britain and in January 1957, it used the Offences Against the State Act
Offences against the State Acts 1939-1998
The Offences Against the State Acts 1939–1998 form a series of laws passed by the Irish Parliament relating to the suppression of terrorism.-Offences under the Act:The Act criminalises many actions detrimental to state security...
to arrest most of the IRA’s leadership, including its Chief of Staff, Seán Cronin. Clann na Poblachta
Clann na Poblachta
Clann na Poblachta , abbreviated CnaP, was an Irish republican and social democratic political party founded by former Irish Republican Army Chief of Staff Seán MacBride in 1946.-Foundation:...
(led by former IRA Chief of Staff Seán MacBride
Seán MacBride
Seán MacBride was an Irish government minister and prominent international politician as well as a Chief of Staff of the IRA....
) withdrew its support for the government in protest over this policy. In the ensuing Irish general election, 1957
Irish general election, 1957
The Irish general election of 1957 was held on 5 March 1957, just over three weeks after the dissolution of the Dáil on 4 February. The newly elected members of the 16th Dáil assembled at Leinster House on 20 March when the new Taoiseach and government were appointed.The general election took place...
, Sinn Féin won four seats and polled 65,640 votes (c. 5% of those cast), while Clann na Poblachta's vote dropped sharply. However it should be noted that Clann na Poblachta were very weak originally in the constituencies where Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
fielded candidates.
The new government, of Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party , more commonly known as Fianna Fáil is a centrist political party in the Republic of Ireland, founded on 23 March 1926. Fianna Fáil's name is traditionally translated into English as Soldiers of Destiny, although a more accurate rendition would be Warriors of Fál...
, led by Éamon de Valera
Éamon de Valera
Éamon de Valera was one of the dominant political figures in twentieth century Ireland, serving as head of government of the Irish Free State and head of government and head of state of Ireland...
proved even more hostile to the IRA than its predecessor. In July 1957, after the killing of an RUC man, de Valera introduced wholesale internment without trial for IRA suspects. Then in November 1961 his Minister for Justice, Charles Haughey
Charles Haughey
Charles James "Charlie" Haughey was Taoiseach of Ireland, serving three terms in office . He was also the fourth leader of Fianna Fáil...
established military courts which handed down long prison sentences to convicted IRA men. The use of internment on both sides of the Irish border made it impossible for the IRA, most of whose leadership was imprisoned, to maintain the momentum of their campaign.
End of the Campaign
By late 1961, the campaign was over. It had cost the lives of eight IRA men, four republican supporters and six RUC members. In addition, 32 RUC members were wounded. A total of 256 Republicans were interned in Northern Ireland in this period and another 150 or so in the Republic. Of those in Northern Ireland, 89 had signed a pledge to renounce violence in return for their freedom.That the IRA’s campaign had run its course by 1960 is testified by the fact that the Republic of Ireland's government closed the Curragh camp, which housed internees in the South, on 15 March 1959 (judging them to be no further threat). The Northern Irish government followed suit on 25 April 1961.
Although it had petered out by the late 1950s, the Campaign was officially called off on 26 February 1962. In a press release issued that day, drafted by Ruairí Ó Brádaigh
Ruairí Ó Brádaigh
Ruairí Ó Brádaigh is an Irish republican. He is a former chief of staff of the Irish Republican Army , former president of Sinn Féin and former president of Republican Sinn Féin.-Early life:...
who consulted with several other persons including members of the Army Council, the IRA Army Council
IRA Army Council
The IRA Army Council was the decision-making body of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, more commonly known as the IRA, a paramilitary group dedicated to bringing about the end of the Union between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom. The council had seven members, said by the...
stated:
The statement was released by the Irish Republican Publicity Bureau and signed "J. McGarrity, Secretary."
Implicit in the statement was a recognition that the IRA, after a promising start in 1957, had failed to mobilise much popular support behind its campaign.
Aftermath
The Border Campaign was considered a disaster by some IRA members, not least because it enjoyed practically no support from the nationalistIrish nationalism
Irish nationalism manifests itself in political and social movements and in sentiment inspired by a love for Irish culture, language and history, and as a sense of pride in Ireland and in the Irish people...
population of Northern Ireland. Even before the campaign ended some within the organisation had begun to consider other avenues in pursuit of the organisation's goals. Many of those involved with the Border Campaign felt that their lack of support was due to a failure to address the social and economic issues faced by ordinary people. The early seeds of addressing such issues are found in Sinn Féin election materials in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
The larger unionist population in Northern Ireland was further alienated from Irish republicanism by the campaign, and considered that its internment policy had worked. However, the policy was to fail when it was repeated in the 1970s.
Cathal Goulding
Cathal Goulding
Cathal Goulding was Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army and the Official IRA.One of seven children born into a republican family in East Arran Street in the north inner city of Dublin, Goulding was involved as teenager in Fianna Éireann, the IRA youth wing which he joined with his...
, who became IRA Chief of Staff in 1962, tried to move the IRA away from pure militarism and towards left wing and ultimately Marxist politics. This process ended with the 1969/70 split in the republican movement between the Official IRA
Official IRA
The Official Irish Republican Army or Official IRA is an Irish republican paramilitary group whose goal was to create a "32-county workers' republic" in Ireland. It emerged from a split in the Irish Republican Army in December 1969, shortly after the beginning of "The Troubles"...
and Provisional IRA wings. The Officials, under Goulding wanted to transform the movement into a revolutionary party involved in both parliamentary and street politics, while the Provisionals under Ruairí Ó Brádaigh
Ruairí Ó Brádaigh
Ruairí Ó Brádaigh is an Irish republican. He is a former chief of staff of the Irish Republican Army , former president of Sinn Féin and former president of Republican Sinn Féin.-Early life:...
, wanted to maintain the movement's traditional refusal to engage in parliamentary politics. More immediately, the Provisional faction wanted to use armed force to defend the Catholic community in Belfast from loyalist attacks in the civil strife that had broken out in Northern Ireland (the start of the "The Troubles
The Troubles
The Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. The duration of the Troubles is conventionally dated from the late 1960s and considered by many to have ended with the Belfast...
"), but it must be noted that the Official IRA
Official IRA
The Official Irish Republican Army or Official IRA is an Irish republican paramilitary group whose goal was to create a "32-county workers' republic" in Ireland. It emerged from a split in the Irish Republican Army in December 1969, shortly after the beginning of "The Troubles"...
, as led by Goulding, also engaged as Belfast defenders. A key difference is that, ultimately, the Provisionals also wanted to re-build the IRA's military capacity to launch a new armed campaign.
The Officials and Provisionals went their separate ways in 1969. The Official IRA
Official IRA
The Official Irish Republican Army or Official IRA is an Irish republican paramilitary group whose goal was to create a "32-county workers' republic" in Ireland. It emerged from a split in the Irish Republican Army in December 1969, shortly after the beginning of "The Troubles"...
maintained armed actions up until 1972, but characterised them as "defensive". Feuds between the two IRAs in the 1970s claimed about twenty lives. The Provisional IRA launched what turned out to be a much more sustained and destructive campaign than the Border Campaign – the Provisional IRA campaign 1969–1997
Provisional IRA campaign 1969–1997
From 1969 until 1997, the Provisional Irish Republican Army conducted an armed paramilitary campaign in Northern Ireland and England, aimed at ending British rule in Northern Ireland in order to create a united Ireland....
, which was to claim up to 1,800 lives.
Further reading
Soldiers of Folly - The IRA Border Campaign 1956-1962, by Barry Flynn, published by The Collins Press, October 2009External links
- Article on the campaign from An PhoblachtAn PhoblachtAn Phoblacht is the official newspaper of Sinn Féin in Ireland. It is published once a month, and according to its website sells an average of up to 15,000 copies every month and was the first Irish paper to provide an edition online and currently having in excess of 100,000 website hits per...
- Republican website, Ireland's Own article
- "The Patriot Game" on TG4TG4TG4 is a public service broadcaster for Irish language speakers. The channel has been on-air since 31 October 1996 in the Republic of Ireland and since April 2005 in Northern Ireland....
's Anamnocht