Warrenpoint ambush
Encyclopedia
The Warrenpoint ambush or the Warrenpoint massacre was a guerrilla
assault by the Provisional Irish Republican Army
(IRA) on 27 August 1979. The IRA attacked a British Army
convoy with two large bombs at Narrow Water Castle
(near Warrenpoint
), Northern Ireland
. It resulted in the British Army's greatest loss of life in a single incident during the Troubles
in Northern Ireland, with 18 soldiers being killed.
and two four-ton trucks was driving past Narrow Water Castle on the A2 road
. As it passed, a 500 pounds (227 kg) fertiliser bomb, hidden in a lorry loaded with strawbales and parked close to the castle, was detonated by remote control
. The explosion caught the rear truck in the convoy, killing six members of 2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment
.
After the first explosion, the soldiers, believing that they had come under attack from the IRA, began firing across the narrow maritime border with the Republic of Ireland
, a distance of only 57 m (187 feet). An uninvolved civilian, Michael Hudson (an Englishman whose father was a coachman
at Buckingham Palace
) was killed as a result, and his cousin Barry Hudson wounded. According to RUC
researchers, the soldiers may have mistaken the sound of ammunition cooking off
from the destroyed Land Rover for enemy gunfire from across the border. The hands, however, of two IRA members arrested by the Gardaí and suspected of being behind the attack, Brendan Burns and Joe Brennan, showed traces of firearms. Author Peter Taylor asserts that there was sniper fire on the soldiers after the first bomb ripped through the truck.
On hearing the first explosion a Royal Marine unit alerted the Army of an explosion on the road and reinforcements from other units of the Parachute Regiment were dispatched to the scene by road. A rapid reaction unit
, consisting of medical staff and senior commander Lieutenant-Colonel David Blair (the commanding officer of the Queen's Own Highlanders), together with his signaller Lance Corporal Victor MacLeod, were sent by Gazelle
helicopter; another helicopter, a Wessex
, landed to pick the wounded up. Col. Blair assumed command once at the site.
The second explosion, caused by an 800 pounds (363 kg) fertiliser bomb, killed twelve soldiers: ten from the Parachute Regiment and the two from the Queen's Own Highlanders. Mike Jackson
, then a major in the Parachute Regiment, was at the scene soon after the second explosion and later described seeing pieces of human remains over the area and the face of his friend, Major Peter Fursman, still recognisable after it had been completely ripped away from his head by the explosion and blown into the water. Only one of Colonel Blair's epaulette
s remained to identify him as his body had been vapourised in the blast
The epaulette was taken from the scene by Brigadier David Thorne to a security briefing with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to illustrate the 'human factor' of the attack.
Warrenpoint happened on the same day as Lord Louis Mountbatten
, a cousin-once-removed of HM Queen Elizabeth II
, was killed by an IRA unit near Sligo
along with several others.
According to Toby Harnden
, the attack "drove a wedge" between the Army and the RUC
. Lieutenant-General Sir Timothy Creasey
, General Officer Commanding
Northern Ireland, suggested to Margaret Thatcher
that internment
should be restored and that liaison with the Gardaí should be left in the hands of the military. Sir Kenneth Newman, the RUC Chief Constable, claimed instead that the Army practice, already in place since 1975, of supplying their garrisons in south Armagh by helicopter
, gave too much freedom of movement to the IRA. One tangible security outcome was the appointment of Sir Maurice Oldfield
to a new position of co-ordinator of security intelligence in Northern Ireland. His role was to co-ordinate intelligence across the security forces and the RUC. The other was the expansion of the RUC by 1,000 members. Tim Pat Coogan
asserts that ultimately, the death of these 18 soldiers increased the move to Ulsterisation
.
Lt-Col Blair is remembered on a memorial at Radley School.
Brendan Burns was killed in 1988 when a bomb he was transporting exploded prematurely.
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...
assault by the Provisional Irish Republican Army
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
(IRA) on 27 August 1979. The IRA attacked a British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
convoy with two large bombs at Narrow Water Castle
Narrow Water Castle
Narrow Water Castle is a famous tower house near Warrenpoint in Northern Ireland, located on the County Down bank of the Clanrye River, which enters Carlingford Lough a mile to the south. Narrow Water Castle was given into state care in 1956 and is one...
(near Warrenpoint
Warrenpoint
Warrenpoint is a small town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies on the northern shore of Carlingford Lough and is separated from the Republic of Ireland by a narrow strait. The town sprang up within the townland of Ringmackilroy...
), 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...
. It resulted in the British Army's greatest loss of life in a single incident during 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...
in Northern Ireland, with 18 soldiers being killed.
First explosion
At 16:40, an Army convoy consisting of one Land RoverLand Rover
Land Rover is a British car manufacturer with its headquarters in Gaydon, Warwickshire, United Kingdom which specialises in four-wheel-drive vehicles. It is owned by the Indian company Tata Motors, forming part of their Jaguar Land Rover group...
and two four-ton trucks was driving past Narrow Water Castle on the A2 road
A2 road (Northern Ireland)
The A2 is a major road in Northern Ireland, a large section of which is often called the Antrim Coast Road because it follows the scenic coastline of County Antrim....
. As it passed, a 500 pounds (227 kg) fertiliser bomb, hidden in a lorry loaded with strawbales and parked close to the castle, was detonated by remote control
Remote control
A remote control is a component of an electronics device, most commonly a television set, used for operating the television device wirelessly from a short line-of-sight distance.The remote control is usually contracted to remote...
. The explosion caught the rear truck in the convoy, killing six members of 2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment
2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment
The Second Battalion, The Parachute Regiment is a battalion-sized formation of the British Army's Parachute Regiment and subordinate unit within 16th Air Assault Brigade whose Commanding Officer was Lieutenant Colonel Joseph O'Sullivan....
.
After the first explosion, the soldiers, believing that they had come under attack from the IRA, began firing across the narrow maritime border with the Republic of Ireland
Republic 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,...
, a distance of only 57 m (187 feet). An uninvolved civilian, Michael Hudson (an Englishman whose father was a coachman
Coachman
A coachman is a man whose business it is to drive a coach, a horse-drawn vehicle designed for the conveyance of more than one passenger — and of mail — and covered for protection from the elements...
at Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...
) was killed as a result, and his cousin Barry Hudson wounded. According to RUC
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...
researchers, the soldiers may have mistaken the sound of ammunition cooking off
Cooking off
Cooking off refers to ammunition exploding prematurely due to heat in the surrounding environment. It can also refer to a technique used when throwing grenades to achieve a controlled, predictable explosion....
from the destroyed Land Rover for enemy gunfire from across the border. The hands, however, of two IRA members arrested by the Gardaí and suspected of being behind the attack, Brendan Burns and Joe Brennan, showed traces of firearms. Author Peter Taylor asserts that there was sniper fire on the soldiers after the first bomb ripped through the truck.
On hearing the first explosion a Royal Marine unit alerted the Army of an explosion on the road and reinforcements from other units of the Parachute Regiment were dispatched to the scene by road. A rapid reaction unit
Rapid reaction force
A rapid reaction force is a military or police unit designed to respond in very short time frames to emergencies. When used in reference to police forces such as SWAT teams, the time frame is minutes, while in military applications, such as with the use of paratroops or other commandos, the time...
, consisting of medical staff and senior commander Lieutenant-Colonel David Blair (the commanding officer of the Queen's Own Highlanders), together with his signaller Lance Corporal Victor MacLeod, were sent by Gazelle
Aérospatiale Gazelle
The Aérospatiale Gazelle is a five-seat light helicopter, powered by a single turbine engine. It was designed and manufactured in France by Sud Aviation . It was also manufactured under licence by Westland Aircraft in the United Kingdom , by SOKO in Yugoslavia and ABHCO in Egypt...
helicopter; another helicopter, a Wessex
Westland Wessex
The Westland Wessex is a British turbine-powered version of the Sikorsky S-58 "Choctaw", developed under license by Westland Aircraft , initially for the Royal Navy, and later for the Royal Air Force...
, landed to pick the wounded up. Col. Blair assumed command once at the site.
Second explosion
At 17:12, thirty-two minutes after the first explosion, a second device concealed in milk pails exploded against the gate lodge on the opposite side of the road, destroying it. The IRA had been studying how the Army acted after a bombing and correctly assessed that the soldiers would set up an incident command point (ICP) in the nearby gatehouse.Mike Jackson
General Sir Michael David "Mike" Jackson, is a retired British Army officer and one of its most high-profile generals since the Second World War. Originally commissioned into the Intelligence Corps in 1963, he transferred to the Parachute Regiment, with whom he served two of his three tours of...
, then a major in the Parachute Regiment, was at the scene soon after the second explosion and later described seeing pieces of human remains over the area and the face of his friend, Major Peter Fursman, still recognisable after it had been completely ripped away from his head by the explosion and blown into the water. Only one of Colonel Blair's epaulette
Epaulette
Epaulette is a type of ornamental shoulder piece or decoration used as insignia of rank by armed forces and other organizations.Epaulettes are fastened to the shoulder by a shoulder strap or "passant", a small strap parallel to the shoulder seam, and the button near the collar, or by laces on the...
s remained to identify him as his body had been vapourised in the blast
The epaulette was taken from the scene by Brigadier David Thorne to a security briefing with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to illustrate the 'human factor' of the attack.
Aftermath
Two men arrested after the bombing, Brendan Burns and Joe Brennan, were later released on bail due to lack of evidence.Warrenpoint happened on the same day as Lord Louis Mountbatten
Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma
Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas George Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, KG, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, DSO, PC, FRS , was a British statesman and naval officer, and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...
, a cousin-once-removed of HM Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
, was killed by an IRA unit near Sligo
Sligo
Sligo is the county town of County Sligo in Ireland. The town is a borough and has a charter and a town mayor. It is sometimes referred to as a city, and sometimes as a town, and is the second largest urban area in Connacht...
along with several others.
According to Toby Harnden
Toby Harnden
Toby Harnden is an Anglo-American journalist and author. He has been US editor of The Daily Telegraph since 2006.-Background:...
, the attack "drove a wedge" between the Army and the RUC
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...
. Lieutenant-General Sir Timothy Creasey
Timothy Creasey
General Sir Timothy May Creasey KCB OBE was a British Army officer who became General Officer Commanding of the British Army in Northern Ireland, as well as the commander of the Sultan of Oman's Armed Forces....
, General Officer Commanding
General Officer Commanding
General Officer Commanding is the usual title given in the armies of Commonwealth nations to a general officer who holds a command appointment. Thus, a general might be the GOC II Corps or GOC 7th Armoured Division...
Northern Ireland, suggested to Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
that 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...
should be restored and that liaison with the Gardaí should be left in the hands of the military. Sir Kenneth Newman, the RUC Chief Constable, claimed instead that the Army practice, already in place since 1975, of supplying their garrisons in south Armagh by helicopter
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
, gave too much freedom of movement to the IRA. One tangible security outcome was the appointment of Sir Maurice Oldfield
Maurice Oldfield
Sir Maurice Oldfield GCMG, CBE , was a British intelligence officer and espionage administrator.-Early life:...
to a new position of co-ordinator of security intelligence in Northern Ireland. His role was to co-ordinate intelligence across the security forces and the RUC. The other was the expansion of the RUC by 1,000 members. Tim Pat Coogan
Tim Pat Coogan
Timothy Patrick Coogan is an Irish historical writer, broadcaster and newspaper columnist. He served as editor of the Irish Press newspaper from 1968 to 1987...
asserts that ultimately, the death of these 18 soldiers increased the move to Ulsterisation
Ulsterisation
Ulsterisation refers to one part 'primacy of the police' of a three part strategy by the British Government to pacify Northern Ireland during the conflict known as The Troubles...
.
Lt-Col Blair is remembered on a memorial at Radley School.
Brendan Burns was killed in 1988 when a bomb he was transporting exploded prematurely.
See also
- Timeline of Provisional Irish Republican Army actions
- Attack on Derryard checkpointAttack on Derryard checkpointThe attack on Derryard checkpoint was a raid carried out on 13 December 1989 by a Provisional Irish Republican Army unit against a British Army permanent vehicle checkpoint manned by soldiers of the King's Own Scottish Borderers . It occurred near the Northern Ireland–Republic of Ireland border at...