Glasdrumman ambush

Glasdrumman ambush
Part of The Troubles
Date 17 July 1981 Location near Crossmaglen, County Armagh Result British Army operation thwarted IRA retained ability to set up roadblocks[1]
Belligerents
Provisional IRA	British Army
Commanders and leaders
Unknown	Lance Corporal Gavin Dean †
Strength
Up to 7 IRA members	1 undercover team
Casualties and losses
None	1 dead 1 wounded

The Troubles Timeline – Directory Ireland Battle of the Bogside – August 1969 riots – Battle of St Matthew's – Falls Curfew – Scottish soldiers' killings – Operation Demetrius – Ballymurphy massacre – McGurk's bombing – Bloody Sunday – Abercorn bombing – Springhill massacre – Bloody Friday – Operation Motorman – Claudy bombing – Four Square Laundry – Ulster Workers' Council strike – Dublin & Monaghan bombings – Miami Showband killings – Bayardo Bar attack – Drummuckavall ambush – Reavey & O'Dowd killings – Kingsmill massacre – Flagstaff incident – Chlorane Bar attack – Jonesborough Gazelle shootdown – La Mon bombing – Warrenpoint ambush – Dunmurry explosion – Nellie M attack – Hunger strike – Glasdrumman ambush – St Bedan attack – Ballykelly bombing – Maze Prison escape – Newry barracks – Ballygawley barracks – Loughgall ambush – Enniskillen bombing – Milltown Cemetery attack – Corporals killings – Ballygawley bus bomb – 1989 Jonesborough ambush – Derryard checkpoint – Derrygorry Gazelle shootdown – Operation Conservation – RFA Fort Victoria – Proxy bomb attacks – 1991 Cappagh killings – Glenanne barracks – Coagh ambush – Clonoe ambush – Cloghoge checkpoint – Coalisland riots – South Armagh sniper campaign – 1993 Castlerock killings – 1993 Shankill bombing – Greysteel massacre – Crossmaglen Lynx shootdown – Loughinisland massacre – Drumcree conflict – 1997 Coalisland attack – July 1997 riots – Omagh bombing England Aldershot bombing – M62 coach bombing – Guildford bombings – Birmingham bombings – Marylebone siege – Hyde & Regent's Park bombings – Harrods bombing – Brighton bombing – Deal bombing – Downing Street attack – Warrington bombings – Bishopsgate bombing – Docklands bombing – Manchester bombing Elsewhere Operation Flavius, Gibraltar 1988 – Osnabrück barracks 1996

The Glasdrumman ambush was an attack by the South Armagh Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) against a British Army observation post. It took place on 17 July 1981 at a scrapyard southwest of Crossmaglen, County Armagh.

Contents 1 Background 2 The attack 3 Aftermath 4 See also 5 Notes and references 6 Further reading

Background

The crisis triggered by the Hunger strikes of IRA and INLA prisoners in 1981 led to an increase of militant republican activity in Northern Ireland.^[2] Intelligence reports unveiled the IRA intentions of mounting illegal checkpoints and hijacking vehicles on the IRA-controlled roads in South Armagh, near the border. To counter it, the British army deployed the so-called COPs (close observation platoons), small infantry sections acting as undercover units, which was introduced by Major General Dick Trant in 1977.^[3]

On 6 May 1981, a day after the death of hunger-striker Bobby Sands, one IRA member from a three-men unit was arrested while trying to set up a roadblock east of the main Belfast-Dublin highway by twelve members of the Royal Green Jackets divided in three teams. A second volunteer crossed the border, only to be arrested by the Irish Army. The third IRA man escaped, apparently injured. A total of 689 rounds had been fired by the soldiers.^[4]

The attack

After this initial success, the army continued these tactics. On 16 July, another operation was carried out by 18 members of the Royal Green Jackets. That night, four concealed positions – Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta – were inserted into the Glassdrumman area, around a scrapyard along the border. The plan was that another unit – called the triggering team – would ambush any IRA unit on sight, while the other four would block the expected escape routes. On 17 July the commanders in charge of Alpha and Delta teams, suspecting that the operation had been compromised by the presence of local civilians, ordered the withdrawal of his men. Shortly thereafter, Bravo team was suddenly engauged by automatic fire from an M60 machine gun and AR-15 rifles fired by six or seven IRA members. The concealed position, emplaced inside a derelict van, was riddled by more than 250 bullets. The team's leader, Lance Corporal Gavin Dean, was killed instantly, and one of his men, Rifleman John Moore, seriously wounded. Moore was later awarded the Military Medal. The IRA members fired their weapons from 160 yards away, across the border.^[5]

Aftermath

British army commanders concluded that risking lives in order to prevent the IRA from mounting roadblocks was untenable.^[1] The incident also exposed the difficulties of concealing operations from local civilians in South Armagh, whose sympathy with the IRA was manifest.^[6] Several years later, the IRA would repeat its success against undercover observation posts in the course of Operation Conservation in 1990.^[7]

See also

• Timeline of Provisional Irish Republican Army actions
• Drummuckavall Ambush
• Operation Conservation
• Attack on Cloghogue checkpoint

Notes and references

Further reading

• Harnden, Toby: Bandit Country:The IRA & South Armagh. Coronet Books, London, 1999. ISBN 0340717378.

• English, Richard: Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA. Oxford University Press, 2005. ISBN 0195177533.

The Troubles History of Ireland · History of Northern Ireland · History of the United Kingdom · Irish nationalism · Irish republicanism · Irish unionism · Ulster loyalism Participants in the Troubles Chronology Political Parties Republican paramilitaries Security forces of the United Kingdom Northern Ireland Republic of Ireland Loyalist paramilitaries • Provisional IRA • Official IRA • Irish National Liberation Army • Continuity IRA • Real IRA • IPLO • British Army • Royal Air Force • Royal Navy • Ulster Defence Regiment • Royal Irish Regiment • Royal Ulster Constabulary • Ulster Special Constabulary • Garda Síochána • Irish Army • Ulster Defence Association • Ulster Volunteer Force • Loyalist Volunteer Force • Red Hand Commandos • Young Citizen Volunteers • Ulster Young Militants • Ulster Resistance • UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade Linked to • Some RUC and British Army members • Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association formed (1967) • Battle of the Bogside (1969) • Riots across Northern Ireland (1969) • Beginning of Operation Banner (1969) • Social Democratic and Labour Party formed (1970) • Internment without trial begins with Operation Demetrius (1971) • Bloody Sunday by British Army (1972) • Northern Ireland government dissolved. Direct rule from London begins (1972) • Bloody Friday by Provisional IRA (1972) • Power sharing Northern Ireland Assembly set up with SDLP and Ulster Unionist Party in power (1973) • Mountjoy Prison helicopter escape. Three Provisional IRA prisoners escape from Mountjoy Prison by helicopter (1973) • Ulster Workers' Council strike causes power-sharing Northern Ireland Assembly to end (1974) • Dublin and Monaghan bombings by UVF with alleged British Army assistance (1974) • Kingsmill massacre by South Armagh Republican Action Force (1976) • Warrenpoint Ambush by Provisional IRA (1979) • 1981 Irish hunger strike by Provisional IRA and INLA members (1981) • Hunger striker Bobby Sands elected MP. Marks turning point as Sinn Féin begins to move towards electoral politics (1981) • Maze Prison escape. 38 Provisional IRA prisoners escape from H-Block 7 of HM Prison Maze (1983) • Brighton hotel bombing by Provisional IRA (1984) • Anglo-Irish Agreement between British and Irish governments (1985) • Remembrance Day bombing by Provisional IRA (1987) • Peace Process begins (1988) • Operation Flavius, Milltown Cemetery attack and Corporals killings (1988) • Bishopsgate bombing (1993) • Downing Street Declaration (1993) • First Provisional IRA ceasefire (1994) • Loyalist ceasefire (1994) • Docklands bombing (1996) • 1996 Manchester bombing (1996) • Second Provisional IRA ceasefire (1997) • Good Friday Agreement (1998) signals the end of the Troubles • Assembly elections held, with SDLP and UUP winning most seats (1998) • Omagh bombing by dissident Real IRA (1998) • Unionist parties: • Democratic Unionist Party • Northern Ireland Unionist Party • Ulster Unionist Party • Progressive Unionist Party • Conservative Party • UK Unionist Party • Traditional Unionist Voice • Nationalist parties: • Democratic Left • Fianna Fáil • Fine Gael • Labour Party • Progressive Democrats • Sinn Féin • Social Democratic & Labour Party • Workers' Party of Ireland • Irish Republican Socialist Party • Republican Sinn Féin • Cross-community parties: • Alliance Party • Historically important parties: • Nationalist Party • Northern Ireland Labour Party • Protestant Unionist Party • Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party • Northern Ireland Women's Coalition • People's Democracy • Republican Labour Party • Anti H-Block • Irish Independence Party  The Troubles at Wiktionary ·  The Troubles at Wikibooks ·  The Troubles at Wikiquote ·  The Troubles at Wikisource ·  The Troubles at Commons ·  The Troubles at Wikinews