1916, war of independance and civil war

kreuzberger wrote: »

[quote=Trapper86;55787257

But the RUC just carried on where the RIC left off ? They were exactly the same force , many southern RIC men even moved north to join it . In the current era they were armed with Ruger assault rifles , Ruger revolvers , SLR assault rifles , sterling submachine guns , Heckler and Koch submachine guns and HK assault rifles as a matter of course . They travelled in heavily armoured landrovers and bullet proof cars as ROUTINE . In areas like south armagh they dispensed even with armoured cars as the risk of ambush was too great and moved only by military helicopter accompanied by dozens of foreign troops .They most definitely were a paramilitary body




and also those civilians who collaborated with them , they were every bit as ruthless as the provos in this regard . Hundreds of informers , men and women , young and old were despatched with bullet to the head and dumped on the roadsides of Ireland as a warning to others . Women consorting with foreign troops had their heads shaved and were exiled . Youve obviously not heard of the southern reprisals for the British atrocities and pogroms in Belfast . You neglect to mention the burnings of the unionist owned stately homes in reprisal for British atrocities . Tom Barry , the most famous guerilla commander of all bluntly pointed out the British decided to go into the gutter and the IRA had to follow them down into it in order to fight them .

this is just one account of the activities of Frank Aikens north louth/south armagh 4th northern division


South Armagh became fertile killing ground with reprisal and counter reprisal killings between the IRA and the B-Specials. In June 1921, four Catholics were taken from their homes at Altnaveigh near Bessbrook, and shot dead on the roadside. Amid ambushes on Special patrols by large IRA units, Frank Aiken's men, as part of the overall burning campaign being carried out against Unionist property throughout May and June 1922, burned the homes and farms of Orange Order members in County Armagh. One date that stands out in the memory of Protestants is the 17th of June, 1922, the date of what is termed the 'Altnaveigh Massacre', when six Protestants and a Special were shot and killed, as the IRA, around 50 strong, raided selected Protestant homes killings residents and burning their houses. The killings were the result of four burnings, while five further homes were burned without fatalities.

The Altnaveigh raids had been proceeded by an ambush on a 14 man Special patrol at Drumintee in which a B-Special was killed and another wounded. The ambush was carried out from James McGuill's public house (himself a leading Republican in the area) which sat on a short steep hill with a turn which would necessitate a considerable slackening of speed in cars coming from Forkhill and was therefore well situated for an ambush. The bar was burned after the attack and its walls knocked down in what County Inspector W.S. Moore described 'as a matter of military necessity.' Another element of the War of Independence at that time was the abduction of RICmen, or suspected spy's and informants. In some cases these men were executed by the IRA and their bodies buried in bogs never to be seen or heard of again.

The family of a Protestant, William Frazer from Newtownhamilton, were fortunate in that following his shooting at the end of June 1922 in South Armagh, the RUC were told, in 1924, that his body was buried in a bog on the Ballard Mountain, about four miles from Camlough



Im not sure who these were actually reviled by except for a few bishops . I always thought they were quite popular operations . Id also point out to you the opinions of the late Dan Keating for example ,a Tan war veteran from Co Kerry . He claimed it was the same fight against the same enemy and if in his day hed had semtex hed have used it without hesitation .