Did the PIRA have an official uniform

tadcan

I met someone who claimed that the official uniform of the PIRA was an army jacket, jeans, balaclava and gardening gloves.

Google has results but, with this being a very emotional issue, its hard to get a straight answer.

By official I mean is there any paperwork from the army council or similar that stated this is what volunteers should wear on operations. Or did it just become a defacto standard which developed out of the situation at hand.

PatsytheNazi

[Edited by Mod]

tadcan

Is it not a legitimate question? I understand that the issue is emotive, but what is wrong with a legitimate inquiry about history.

Glenshane Pass

The answer to your question is no. Camoflauge overalls (US Army) would have been worn in Derry and Tyrone, and you will notice British DPM also. Basically mix and match.

Manic Moran

tadcan wrote: »

Is it not a legitimate question? I understand that the issue is emotive, but what is wrong with a legitimate inquiry about history.

I agree. The question stands. Post by Patsy edited.

NTM

tadcan

Thanks for the answer. Next time I hear that kind of statement I'll ask if the person has some sources to check out.

Wolfe Tone

Maybe what they wore at funerals could be regarded as a uniform, albeit one of a "formal" nature?

But when they carried out operations I would imagine they just wore either military surplus or just ordinary clothes. Along with a balaclava of course. Considering they were conducting a guerrilla operation I doubt they would wear uniforms, the presumed plan being to blend back into the population, bit hard if wearing military style clothing. Interesting topic though.

R.Dub.Fusilier

tadcan wrote: »

I met someone who claimed that the official uniform of the PIRA was an army jacket, jeans, balaclava and gardening gloves.

Google has results but, with this being a very emotional issue, its hard to get a straight answer.

By official I mean is there any paperwork from the army council or similar that stated this is what volunteers should wear on operations. Or did it just become a defacto standard which developed out of the situation at hand.

i never heard of the provos having an offical uniform but i would imagine when an attack was planed they wore clothes that were going to be disposed of after the operation , so i would guess clothes worn in an urban area would differ from an rural area.
in the 50s during the border campaign there was a uniform worn , similar to the irish and british armies but with a tri-colour on the arm/shoulder. Sean South was wearing one when he died.

BigDuffman

Well different branches of the Provisionals had their interpretations of an official uniform they would wear on "official" events (funerals/ shows of strength etc). A mix match of Ballys, Green Jumper, Black combats, sun glasses, jeans, BA Smocks, OG gear.

PatsytheNazi

Apologies to the OP and Manic Moran. To be honest I thought it was a troll but I forget that the troubles ended ( well offically anyway ) in the mid 1990's, about 15 years ago. So I forget that younger people did not grow up watching nightly the seemingly endless funerals - Civilians, Republicans, Brits, Police, loyalists etc

Anyway, as BigDuffman says, it was a mix match of Ballys, Green Jumper, Black combats, sun glasses, jeans, BA Smocks, OG gear. As Mussolini says, they were conducting a guerrilla operation I doubt they would wear uniforms, the presumed plan being to blend back into the population.

CokaColumbo

During many operations in the country side, IRA volunteers would wear boiler suits. I can only assume that this was to protect the clothes underneath from ballistic evidence and dirt. If you look at the photo footage of the assassinated Loughall volunteers for example, they were all wearing boiler suits.

Actually, if I remember correctly, the civilian who was killed and whose brother was also seriously injured by the SAS in that same incident were targeted because they were coincidentally wearing boiler suits also.

Perhaps, for typical ceremonial duties, the uniform of IRA members was dictated by local commanders/propagandists?

Wolfe Tone

Anyone know if there are any legitimate copies of the "Green Book" online? Might be some details in that.

biko

I think the only piece of clothing the PIRA used was the balaclava, the rest was mix and match.

Unless they was at a funeral, then this seems to have been the general uniform:

From Sands' funeral

Fuinseog

OP the IRA uniform varied from decade to decade. there is a book out on the subject, though the name elludes me at the moment.

I am not sure if posters have already mentioned it but they wore Irish army walking out jackets (a version of what was worn in 1916) with the irish flag on the left shoulder, especially at funerals.

Fuinseog

MUSSOLINI wrote: »

Anyone know if there are any legitimate copies of the "Green Book" online? Might be some details in that.

the 1957 edition is available online but it does not contain any such information

paky

op if you contact the irish republican army museum in belfast they might be able to help

Wolfe Tone

Fuinseog wrote: »

the 1957 edition is available online but it does not contain any such information

I got a PDF which claims to contain both volumes but I am not too sure. Fascinating read though.

Poccington

Thread re-opened.

The OP created an interesting topic which could turn into a decent discussion. Anymore of the nonsense that cause this thread to be locked originally will result in bannings.

cyrusdvirus

I can't remember if it was in one of the removed posts in this thread (apologies, mods, if i'm skating on thin ice, but there is a point here somewhere!! ) but the boiler suit to protect the civvie clothes from forensics seems to be the most logical 'uniform'. The 'operative' would be able to dump the boiler suit and then blend into the civilian populace without any great danger.

Maybe for a 'dress' occasion, such as their roadblocks or funerals etc they'd be in a more military gear, as evidenced in the photograph, but as an underground operation they would need an easy escape route and boiler suit over civvies seems (to me) to be the most logical 'operational' uniform.

tadcan

PatsytheNazi wrote: »

Apologies to the OP and Manic Moran. To be honest I thought it was a troll but I forget that the troubles ended ( well offically anyway ) in the mid 1990's, about 15 years ago. So I forget that younger people did not grow up watching nightly the seemingly endless funerals - Civilians, Republicans, Brits, Police, loyalists etc

Thanks. I'm not unfortunately that young. I remember as a teenager the grim news from N.I and the relief people felt when the first good friday agreement was signed. In fact my dad took me on holidays to N.I when I was about ten, though we spend most of our time outside of the cities.

Later I was part of an exchange program to Derry where we met people from all sides. There was a particular rule in the agreement which both sides hated because they believed it would be an unfair advantage to the otherside. Which is to say the situation was up was viewed in very different ways to both sides.

I don't claim to be completely impartial. That doesn't stop me wanting to see things as objectively as I can. So far their have been great responses, thanks for keeping on topic.

paky wrote: »

op if you contact the irish republican army museum in belfast they might be able to help

Thanks, I have sent an email to the museum and will let you know if I get a reply.

xflyer

Whoo, reopened, I reiterate my (now deleted) comments about boiler suits. Which was the combat uniform of choice at one point. However oddly enough the IRA once used RAF surplus blue uniform for some ceremonial situations..

Interestingly when I served on the bordrer. A regular NCO told me of a situation where there was a foot pursuit of an IRA man wearing British army rain gear carrying a GPMG through a plantation. He had been shooting at a Brit helicopter. He escaped because the British plastic rain gear didn't snag in the trees. Whereas the issue combats of the Irish army did. Ironic don't you think?