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Joe Doherty
Joe Doherty (born 20 January 1955) is an Irish former volunteer in the Belfast Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) who escaped during his 1981 trial for killing a member of the Special Air Service (SAS) in 1980. He was arrested in the United States in 1983, and became a ''cause célèbre'' while fighting an ultimately unsuccessful nine-year legal battle against extradition and deportation, with a street corner in New York City being named after him. Background and IRA activity The son of a docker, Doherty was born on 20 January 1955 in New Lodge, Belfast. He was born into an Irish republican family, his grandfather was a member of the Irish Citizen Army which fought against British rule in the 1916 Easter Rising. Doherty left school aged 14 and began work on the docks and as an apprentice plumber, before being arrested in 1972 on his seventeenth birthday under the Special Powers Act. Doherty was interned on the prison ship HMS ''Maidstone'' and Long Kes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Volunteer (Irish Republican)
Volunteer, often abbreviated Vol., is a term used by a number of Irish republican paramilitary organisations to describe their members. Among these have been the various forms of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) and the Irish People's Liberation Organization (IPLO). ' is the equivalent title in the Irish language. Background The Irish Volunteers were formed in 1913, in reaction to the formation of the Ulster Volunteer Force earlier that year, to protect the interests of Irish nationalists during the Home Rule Crisis. The Volunteers took part in the 1916 Easter Rising and—as the Irish Republican Army (IRA)—in the Irish War of Independence. The title "Volunteer" or "Vol." was used for members of the Volunteers, such as Michael Malone and Charles Monaghan, who were involved in the 1916 Rising, and in the War of Independence. A number of witness statements given to the Bureau of Military History make frequent use of "Volunteer" as a title ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
HMS Maidstone (1937)
HMS ''Maidstone'' was a submarine depot ship of the Royal Navy. It operated in the Mediterranean Sea, Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean during the Second World War. It was later used as a barracks ship and then a prison ship in Northern Ireland. Facilities It was built to support the increasing number of submarines, especially on distant stations, such as the Mediterranean Sea and the Pacific Far East. Its equipment included a foundry, coppersmiths, plumbing and carpentry shops, heavy and light machine shops, electrical and torpedo repair shops and plants for charging submarine batteries. It was designed to look after nine operational submarines, supplying over 100 torpedoes and a similar number of mines. Besides large workshops, there were repair facilities for all materiel in the attached submarines and extensive diving and salvage equipment was carried. There were steam laundries, a cinema, hospital, chapel, two canteens, a bakery, barber shop, and a fully equipped operating ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herbert Westmacott
Captain Herbert Richard Westmacott (11 January 19522 May 1980) was a British Army officer who became the first person to be awarded a posthumous Military Cross. As an officer of the Grenadier Guards (2nd Battalion) on extra regimental employment to the Special Air Service (SAS), he died in an encounter with the Provisional Irish Republican Army. He was in command of an eight-man plainclothes SAS patrol that had been alerted by the Royal Ulster Constabulary that an IRA gunmen had taken over a house on Antrim Road, Belfast.Bowyer Bell, pp.487–488 A car carrying three SAS men went to the rear of the house, and another car carrying five SAS men went to the front of the house.Murray, p.256 As the SAS arrived at the front of the house the IRA unit, nicknamed the "M60 gang", opened fire from a window with an M60 machine gun, hitting Westmacott in the head and shoulder and killing him instantly. The remaining SAS men at the front returned fire but were forced to withdraw. One member ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mercier Press
Mercier Press is a publisher based in Cork, Ireland. It is the longest established independent Irish publishing house. History The company was founded in 1944 by Seán Feehan, and initially published religious books. In 1946 they published ''This Tremendous Lover'' by Dom Eugene Boylan which sold over a million copies. At the Frankfurt Book Fair Feehan secured the translation rights of German books on philosophy and religion that sold well. In the 1960s they launched a successful range of paperbacks on Irish literature, culture, religion and history. Feehan remained chairman until his death in 1991, after which John Spillane took over until 2003, when Clodagh Feehan was appointed manager director. In the 1960s and 1970s the Mercier paperback books had a distinctive cover style.John M. Feehan. An Irish Publisher and His World. Mercier Press, Cork, 1969 This usually consisted of an illustration, in both pen & ink and brush & ink, and always in two colour. The format and back cover ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antrim Road
The Antrim Road is a major arterial route and area of housing and commerce that runs from inner city north Belfast to Dunadry, passing through Newtownabbey and Templepatrick. It forms part of the A6 road, a traffic route which links Belfast to Derry. It passes through the New Lodge, Newington and Glengormley areas of Northern Ireland amongst others. History The Antrim Road was initially a much shorter road than it is now and this smaller exit from the city centre was originally known as Duncairn Street. It took its present name from the fact that it links to Antrim town, a role that was previously filled by what is now the Shankill Road, which lies west of the Antrim Road. The road was one of the areas of the city to suffer sustained bombardment by the Luftwaffe as part of the Belfast Blitz of April and May 1941 and was amongst those hit the hardest resulting in a high number of casualties. The Waterworks on Antrim Road, Belfast's principal source of water, was one of the Luftwaf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Ulster Constabulary
The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC)Richard Doherty, ''The Thin Green Line – The History of the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC'', pp. 5, 17, 27, 93, 134, 271; Pen & Sword Books; following the partition of Ireland. At its peak the force had around 8,500 officers, with a further 4,500 who were members of the RUC Reserve. The RUC policed Northern Ireland from the aftermath of the Irish War of Independence until after the turn of the 21st century, and played a major role in the Troubles between the 1960s and the 1990s. Due to the threat from the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), who saw the RUC as enforcing British rule, the force was heavily armed and militarised. Officers routinely carried submachine guns and assault rifles, travelled in armoured vehicles, and were based in heavily-fortified police stations.Weitzer, Ronald. ''Policin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Irish Examiner
The ''Irish Examiner'', formerly ''The Cork Examiner'' and then ''The Examiner'', is an Irish national daily newspaper which primarily circulates in the Munster region surrounding its base in Cork, though it is available throughout the country. History 19th and early 20th centuries The paper was founded by John Francis Maguire under the title ''The Cork Examiner'' in 1841 in support of the Catholic Emancipation and tenant rights work of Daniel O'Connell. Historical copies of ''The Cork Examiner'', dating back to 1841, are available to search and view in digitised form at the Irish Newspaper Archives website and British Newspaper Archive. During the Irish War of Independence and Irish Civil War, the ''Cork Examiner'' (along with other nationalist newspapers) was subject to censorship and suppression. At the time of the Spanish Civil War, the ''Cork Examiner'' reportedly took a strongly pro-Franco tone in its coverage of the conflict. As of the early to mid-20th century, th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Magee
Paul "Dingus" Magee (born 30 January 1948) is a former volunteer in the Belfast Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) who escaped during his 1981 trial for killing a member of the Special Air Service (SAS) in 1980. After serving a prison sentence in the Republic of Ireland, Magee fled to England where he was imprisoned after killing a policeman in 1992. He was repatriated to the Republic of Ireland as part of the Northern Ireland peace process before being released from prison in 1999, and subsequently avoided extradition back to Northern Ireland to serve his sentence for killing the member of the SAS. Background and early IRA activity Magee was born in the Ballymurphy area of Belfast on 30 January 1948. He joined the Belfast Brigade of the IRA, and received a five-year sentence in 1971 for possession of firearms. He was imprisoned in Long Kesh, where he held the position of camp adjutant. In the late 1970s and early 1980s he was part of a four-man active service ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Angelo Fusco
Angelo Fusco (born 2 September 1956) is a former volunteer in the Belfast Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) who escaped during his 1981 trial for killing a Special Air Service (SAS) officer in 1980. Background and IRA activity Fusco was born in west Belfast in 1956, to a family with an Italian background who owned a fish and chip shop. He joined the Belfast Brigade of the IRA and was part of a four-man active service unit, along with Joe Doherty and Paul Magee, which operated in the late 1970s and early 1980s nicknamed the "M60 gang" due to their use of an M60 machine gun. On 9 April 1980 the unit lured the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) into an ambush on Stewartstown Road, killing one constable and wounding two others. On 2 May the unit were planning another attack and had taken over a house on Antrim Road, when an eight-man patrol from the SAS arrived in plain clothes, after being alerted by the RUC. A car carrying three SAS members went to the rear of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
M60 Machine Gun
The M60, officially the Machine Gun, Caliber 7.62 mm, M60, is a family of American general-purpose machine guns firing 7.62×51mm NATO cartridges from a disintegrating belt of M13 links. There are several types of ammunition approved for use in the M60, including ball, tracer, and armor-piercing rounds.The M60 Federation of American Scientists. It was adopted in 1957 and issued to units beginning in 1959. It has served with every branch of the U.S. military and still serves with the armed forces of other states. Its manufacture and continued upgrade for military and commercial purchase continues into the 21st century, although it has been replaced or supplemented in most roles by other designs, most notably the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Active Service Unit
An active service unit (ASU; ) was a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) cell of four to ten members, tasked with carrying out armed attacks. In 2002, the IRA had about 1,000 active members of which about 300 were in active service units. The name “Active Service Unit” dates from the War of Independence as the official army name of the “Flying Columns” to distinguish between Volunteers who acted as support troops versus those “on the run” and actively involved in military attacks. In 1977, the IRA moved away from the larger conventional military organisational principle owing to its perceived security vulnerability. In place of the battalion structures, a system of two parallel types of unit within an IRA Brigade was introduced. Firstly, the old "company" structures were used to supply auxiliary members for support activities such as intelligence-gathering, acting as lookouts or moving weapons. The bulk of attacks from 1977 onwards were the responsibility of a s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
An Phoblacht
''An Phoblacht'' (Irish pronunciation: ; en, "The Republic") is a formerly weekly, and currently monthly newspaper published by Sinn Féin in Ireland. From early 2018 onwards, ''An Phoblacht'' has moved to a magazine format while remaining an online news platform. Editorially the paper takes a left-wing, Irish republican position and was supportive of the Northern Ireland peace process. Along with covering Irish political and trade union issues the newspaper frequently featured interviews with celebrities, musicians, artists, intellectuals and international activists. The paper sells an average of up to 15,000 copies every week. During the 1981 Irish hunger strike its sales soared to over 70,000 per week. History Earlier publications The original ''An Phoblacht'' was founded as the official organ of the Dungannon Clubs in Belfast in 1906 and its first edition was printed on 13 December 1906 under the English-language version of the title ''The Republic''. In the first ed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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