The Official IRA's Belfast Brigade was founded in December 1969 after the

Official IRA The Official Irish Republican Army or Official IRA (OIRA; ) was an Irish republican paramilitary group whose goal was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and create a "workers' republic" encompassing all of Ireland. It emerged ...

itself emerged in December 1969, shortly after the beginning of

the Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an " ...

, when the

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various paramilitary organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dedicated to irredentism through Irish republicanism, the belief th ...

split into two factions. The other was the

Provisional IRA The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, fa ...

. The "Officials" were Marxist-Leninists and worked to form a

united front A united front is an alliance of groups against their common enemies, figuratively evoking unification of previously separate geographic fronts and/or unification of previously separate armies into a front. The name often refers to a political ...

with other Irish communist groups, named the Irish National Liberation Front (NLF). The Brigade like the pre-split IRA brigade before the split had three battalions, one in West Belfast, one in North Belfast and the third in East Belfast. The Belfast Brigade was involved in most of the biggest early confrontations of the conflict like the

Falls Curfew The Falls Curfew, also called the Battle of the Falls (or Lower Falls), was a British Army operation during 3–5 July 1970 in the Falls district of Belfast, Northern Ireland. The operation began as a search for weapons in the staunchly Irish ...

in 1970, the battles that followed after the introduction of Internment without trial in 1971 and Volunteers joined forces with the Provisional brigade to fight the British Army and UVF during the

Battle at Springmartin The Battle at SpringmartinCusack, Jim & McDonald, Henry (1997). ''UVF''. Poolbeg. p.101 was a series of gun battles in Belfast, Northern Ireland on 13–14 May 1972, as part of The Troubles. It involved the British Army, the Provisional Irish R ...

in 1972. The first Commanding Officer (CO) of the brigade was veteran Billy McMillen who fought during the IRA Border Campaign. Shortly after the death of Official IRA Belfast "Staff Captain"

Joe McCann Joe McCann (2 November 1947 – 15 April 1972) was an Irish republican paramilitary. A member of the Irish Republican Army and later the Official Irish Republican Army, he was active in politics from the early 1960s and participated in the ear ...

in April 1972, the battalion structure of the brigade was done away with and command centralized under McMillen.

The Falls Curfew Battle

The Brigades first action against the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

was during the defense of the Lower Falls during the

of July 1970. The British soldiers carrying out the

Curfew A curfew is a government order specifying a time during which certain regulations apply. Typically, curfews order all people affected by them to ''not'' be in public places or on roads within a certain time frame, typically in the evening and ...

orders were extremely hostile and threatening to the local people. Second in command of the Belfast Brigade Jim Sullivan organized a company of about 80 - 90 Volunteers to do battle with the British soldiers, they joined forces with a small unit from the Provisional IRA led by

Brendan Hughes Brendan Hughes (June 1948 – 16 February 2008), also known as "The Dark", and "Darkie" was a leading Irish republican and former Officer Commanding (OC) of the Belfast Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). He was the leader ...

's cousin Charlie Hughes. In the battle four civilians were killed by the British army and about 60 civilians were hurt in the crossfire. 18 British soldiers were injured in the battle, 12 from gunshot wounds and 6 from grenades. A number of Officials were injured also, and a number were arrested including Commander Billy McMillen.McKittrick, David. ''Lost Lives: The Stories of the Men, Women and Children who Died as a Result of the Northern Ireland Troubles''. Random House, 2001. pp.53–54 This was the largest engagement between the IRA and British Army since the Irish War of Independence of 1919 - 1921.

Notable actions and events

*11 January 1970 - The Irish Republican Movement split into Provisional & Official wings. The Officials controlled most of Belfast immediately after the split. *3 - 5 July 1970 - Between 80 - 90 Volunteers from the Belfast Brigade engaged 3,000 British soldiers. See:

*8 March 1971 - Volunteers shot dead Provisional IRA Commander Charles Hughes at Lesson Street on the Lower Falls while he was leaving his house. Tom Cahill the son of

Joe Cahill , birth_date = , death_date = , birth_place = Belfast, Ireland , death_place = Belfast, Northern Ireland , image = Joe Cahill.png , caption = Cahill, early 1990s. , allegiance = Provisional Irish Republican ...

was injured in the attack. *22 May 1971 - The first British soldier to die at the hands of the Official IRA, Robert Bankier of the Royal Green Jackets was killed by a unit led by Joe McCann. McCann's unit opened fire on a passing British mobile patrol near Cromac Square, hitting the patrol from both sides. He was the fourth British soldier to die on active service & the seventh overall since the conflict began. *9 - 10 August 1971 - During the introduction of Internment without trial OIRA Staff Captain

led a small unit that held of a large number of British troops for a day to let people escape arrest in the Markets area of Belfast. *14 August 1971 - An Official IRA sniper shot dead British soldier John Robinson (21) while he was on mobile patrol in Butler Street,

Ardoyne Ardoyne () is a working class and mainly Catholic and Irish republican district in north Belfast, Northern Ireland. It gained notoriety due to the large number of incidents during The Troubles. Foundation The village of Ardoyne was founded in ...

, Belfast during riots in the aftermath of internment. *23 September 1971 - Official IRA Volunteers Curry Rose (18) and Gerard O'Hare (17) were both killed in a premature bomb explosion while preparing a bomb in a house in Merrion Street, along the Lower Falls. *25 February 1972 - Volunteers from the Official IRA Belfast Brigade tried to kill Unionist politician and the then Minister of State for Home Affairs, John Taylor. He was hit a number of times, but survived *20 February 1975 - A feud between the OIRA and the newly formed Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) began when OIRA Volunteers from the Belfast Brigade shot dead Hugh Ferguson (19), then chairman of Whiterock IRSP. The feud lasted until 5 June 1975 and all the killings by both sides happened in Belfast. Six people were killed during the feud, three OIRA Volunteers and three IRSP/INLA Volunteers, the most prominent victim of the feud was former OIRA Belfast Brigade Commander Billy McMillen who was shot dead on the 28 April by rising INLA Volunteer Gerard Steenson who was just 18 at the time. Another IRA veteran Sean Garland was shot and injured on the 1 March 1975 in an estate in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

by an INLA hit team, this was the only attack that did not occur in Belfast.Jack Holland & Henry McDonald - INLA: Deadly Divisions p.68-69

The Falls Curfew Battle

Notable actions and events

See also

References

Further reading