The Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) was an

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and marine i ...

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscripted ...

of 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 ...

established in 1970, with a comparatively short existence ending in 1992. Raised through public appeal, newspaper and television advertisements,Potter p25 their official role was the "defence of life or property in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

against armed attack or sabotage" but unlike troops from

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

they were never used for "crowd control or riot duties in cities". At the time the UDR was the largest infantry regiment in the British Army, formed with seven

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are ...

s plus another four added within two years. It consisted mostly of part-time volunteers until 1976, when a full-time

cadre Cadre may refer to: *Cadre (military), a group of officers or NCOs around whom a unit is formed, or a training staff *Cadre (politics), a politically controlled appointment to an institution in order to circumvent the state and bring control to th ...

was added. Recruiting in

at a time of intercommunal strife, some of its (mostly

Ulster Protestant Ulster Protestants ( ga, Protastúnaigh Ultach) are an ethnoreligious group in the Irish province of Ulster, where they make up about 43.5% of the population. Most Ulster Protestants are descendants of settlers who arrived from Britain in the ...

) members were involved in sectarian killings. The regiment was originally intended to more accurately reflect the

demographics of Northern Ireland Demography () is the statistical study of populations, especially human beings. Demographic analysis examines and measures the dimensions and dynamics of populations; it can cover whole societies or groups defined by criteria such as edu ...

, and began with Catholic recruits accounting for 18% of its soldiers; but by the end of 1972, after the introduction of internment this had dropped to around 3%.Potter, page 67 It is doubtful if any other unit of the British Army has ever come under the same sustained criticism as the UDR. Uniquely in the British Army, the regiment was on continuous active service throughout its 22 years of service. It was also the first infantry regiment of the British Army to fully incorporate women into its structure. In 1992, the UDR was amalgamated with the

Royal Irish Rangers The Royal Irish Rangers (27th (Inniskilling), 83rd and 87th) was a regular infantry regiment of the British Army with a relatively short existence, formed in 1968 and later merged with the Ulster Defence Regiment in 1992 to form the Royal Irish ...

to form the Royal Irish Regiment. In 2006, the regiment was retroactively awarded the

Conspicuous Gallantry Cross The Conspicuous Gallantry Cross (CGC) is a second level military decoration of the British Armed Forces. Created in 1993 and first awarded in 1995, it was instituted after a review of the British honours system to remove distinctions of rank in ...

Background

The UDR was raised in 1970, soon after the beginning of the Northern Ireland "Troubles". Before then, the main security forces were the

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 ...

(RUC) and the

Ulster Special Constabulary The Ulster Special Constabulary (USC; commonly called the "B-Specials" or "B Men") was a quasi-military reserve special constable police force in what would later become Northern Ireland. It was set up in October 1920, shortly before the par ...

(USC), otherwise known as the "B Specials". Catholics were reluctant to join what they saw as unionist militias that lacked impartiality leading to the forces becoming almost entirely Protestant. Large scale intercommunal rioting in 1969 stretched police resources in

, so the British Army was deployed to assist the police. On 28 August 1969 security in Northern Ireland, including the USC, was put under the direct control of the General Officer Commanding in Northern Ireland, General

Ian Freeland Lieutenant General Sir Ian Henry Freeland (14 September 1912 – 2 July 1979) was a senior British Army officer, who served with distinction during World War II and most notably served as General Officer Commanding (GOC) and Director of Operat ...

. The USC, which had no training in riot control, was mobilised to assist the RUC. A catalogue of incidents ensued, such as Specials from

Tynan Tynan (PlaceNamesNI - Tynan
) is a

shooting dead an unarmed civil rights demonstrator in

Armagh Armagh ( ; ga, Ard Mhacha, , "Macha's height") is the county town of County Armagh and a city in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the Pri ...

on 14 August 1969. While the Northern Ireland cabinet remained supportive of the USC, it was put to them at a London meeting on 19 August that disbanding the USC was top of the British Government's agenda. The

Hunt Report The Hunt Report, or the Report of the Advisory Committee on Police in Northern Ireland, was produced by a committee headed by Baron Hunt in 1969. An investigation was performed into the perceived bias in policing in Northern Ireland against Catho ...

commissioned by the

Government of Northern Ireland The government of Northern Ireland is, generally speaking, whatever political body exercises political authority over Northern Ireland. A number of separate systems of government exist or have existed in Northern Ireland. Following the partitio ...

published on 3 October 1969, recommended that the RUC "should be relieved of all duties of a military nature as soon as possible". Further; a "locally recruited part-time force, under the control of the G.O.C., Northern Ireland, should be raised" ... and that it "together with the police volunteer reserve, should replace the Ulster Special Constabulary". The new force was to be "impartial in every sense" and "remove the responsibility of military-style operations from the police". The

British Government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

accepted the findings of the Hunt Report and published a

Bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...

and

white paper A white paper is a report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. A white paper ...

on 12 November 1969 to begin the process of establishing the UDR. Parliamentary debate in

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...

highlighted concerns that members of the USC were to be allowed to join the new force. A working party was set up at Headquarters Northern Ireland (HQNI) chaired by Major General A.J. Dyball of the

Royal Ulster Rifles The Royal Irish Rifles (became the Royal Ulster Rifles from 1 January 1921) was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army, first created in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 83rd (County of Dublin) Regiment of Foot and the 86th (Royal County ...

, then the deputy director of operations in Northern Ireland. The team included a staff officer from the Ministry of Defence (MOD), a member of the

Ministry of Home Affairs An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

(Stormont) and Lieutenant Colonel S Miskimmon, the USC staff officer to the RUC. After discussions, they advocated a strength of 6,000 men (2,000 more than the Hunt recommendations), combat dress for duties, a dark green parade uniform, county shoulder titles, and a "

red hand of Ulster The Red Hand of Ulster ( gle, Lámh Dhearg Uladh), also known as the Red Hand Uí Néill, is a symbol used in heraldry to denote the Irish province of Ulster and the Northern Uí Néill in particular. However, it has also been used by other Ir ...

" cap badge. The rank of "

volunteer Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...

" was suggested for private soldiers. They recommended that each battalion should have a mobile force of two

platoon A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two or more squads, sections, or patrols. Platoon organization varies depending on the country and the branch, but a platoon can be composed of 50 people, although specific platoons may range ...

s, each equipped with a

Land Rover Land Rover is a British brand of predominantly four-wheel drive, off-road capable vehicles, owned by multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), since 2008 a subsidiary of India's Tata Motors. JLR currently builds Land Rovers ...

s fitted for radio plus three "manpack" radio sets. After the presentation to the Ministry of Defence, a Government White Paper confirmed the agreed aspects of the new force and its task as:

Name

When the Ulster Defence Regiment Bill, the legislation establishing the regiment, was being debated in Parliament there was considerable discussion about its proposed name. An Amendment to the legislation was proposed that would have given the Regiment the name "Northern Ireland Territorial Force". Proponents of this Amendment were concerned to ensure that the word "

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

" be removed from the name of the regiment. They argued that the name "Ulster" evoked emotive resistance from many Catholics in Northern Ireland and that the term "Ulster" had been associated with the

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

organisations and other organisations perceived as excluding Catholics e.g. the

Ulster Protestant Volunteers The Ulster Protestant Volunteers was a Ulster loyalism, loyalist and Reformed fundamentalism, Reformed fundamentalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. They were active between 1966 and 1969 and closely linked to the Ulster Constitution Def ...

, the

Ulster Constitution Defence Committee The Ulster Constitution Defence Committee (UCDC) was established in Northern Ireland in April 1966. The UCDC was the governing body of the loyalist Ulster Protestant Volunteers (UPV). The UCDC coordinated parades, counter demonstrations, and pa ...

, the

Ulster Volunteer Force The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group. Formed in 1965, it first emerged in 1966. Its first leader was Gusty Spence, a former British Army soldier from Northern Ireland. The group undertook an armed campaig ...

and the Ulster Special Constabulary. They argued "Ulster" had strong party political and partisan connotations and would deter Catholic participation in the new regiment. One speaker said the name "Ulster" would "frighten the Catholics away". They also argued that as three of Ulster's nine counties were not in Northern Ireland, the title was inaccurate, especially given that persons from outside of Northern Ireland would be prohibited by law from joining the regiment. For the Government's part, those defending the proposed name argued that the term "Ulster" should still be included because of precedent; in the past, it had been attached to certain regiments in Northern Ireland. Another opponent of the amendment disagreed that Catholics would be put off joining because of the force. He pointed to the

Ulster Unionist Party The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule movem ...

as an example of an organisation that included the word Ulster and had many Catholic members. The Under-Secretary of State for the British Army said "the Government considered that the use of the word 'Ulster' is, frankly, unimportant". Another speaker said a majority in Northern Ireland prefer the word "Ulster". The proposed Amendment was defeated and the UDR got its name.

Formation and recruitment

Soldiers of 1 UDR on parade at Steeple Camp, Antrim

The Ulster Defence Regiment Act 1969 received

Royal Assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in other ...

on 18 December 1969 and was brought into force on 1 January 1970. General Sir

John Anderson John Anderson may refer to: Business *John Anderson (Scottish businessman) (1747–1820), Scottish merchant and founder of Fermoy, Ireland * John Byers Anderson (1817–1897), American educator, military officer and railroad executive, mentor of ...

GCB, KCB DSO (

5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards The 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards was a cavalry regiment of the British Army formed in 1922 by the amalgamation of the 5th Dragoon Guards (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) and the 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons. It served in the Second World W ...

) was appointed as the first Colonel Commandant.
He came to be known as the "Father of the Regiment". The first regimental commander was a WW2 veteran of some distinction,

Brigadier Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. In ...

Logan Scott-Bowden Major general (United Kingdom), Major General Logan Scott-Bowden, (21 February 1920 – 9 February 2014) was a British army officer. A Royal Engineers officer during World War II, he was the first commander of the Ulster Defence Regiment. Reti ...

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

DSO MC & Bar. Regimental Headquarters was set up in a small bungalow behind the

NAAFI The Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI ) is a company created by the British government on 9 December 1920 to run recreational establishments needed by the British Armed Forces, and to sell goods to servicemen and their families. It runs c ...

shop at

Thiepval Barracks Thiepval Barracks in Lisburn, County Antrim, is the headquarters of the British Army in Northern Ireland and its 38th (Irish) Brigade. History The barracks were built in 1940. They are named after the village of Thiepval in Northern France, an i ...

Lisburn Lisburn (; ) is a city in Northern Ireland. It is southwest of Belfast city centre, on the River Lagan, which forms the boundary between County Antrim and County Down. First laid out in the 17th century by English and Welsh settlers, with ...

. Recruitment began on 1 January with a press conference. Advertisements appeared in local newspapers informing the Northern Ireland public that: "There's a new regiment in the army. We want you to help us form it." A coupon was provided for applicants to fill in, alternatively, those interested could pick up an information leaflet and application form from their local army barracks, TA Centre, Post Office, police station or library. A one-minute television commercial was produced which included a personal appeal by Brigadier Scott-Bowden. Recruiting was open to all "male citizens of good character" between the ages of 18–55.Ryder p37 Application forms were sent to all members of the USC,'Northern Protestants' pg. 212, Susan McKay which was soon to be wound up. Vetting was carried out by a Regular Army team of mostly retired officers from outside Northern Ireland including a vice admiral and a number of

major generals Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

. Each applicant had to provide two references and the referees would be interviewed by a vetting officer. Applicants were divided into three categories: those who were immediately deemed acceptable, those who were to be immediately rejected, and those whose applications threw up doubt about their suitability. All applications were supposed to be submitted to the

RUC Special Branch RUC Special Branch was the Special Branch of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, and was heavily involved in the British state effort during the Troubles, especially against the Provisional Irish Republican Army. It worked closely with MI5 and the Int ...

and

Criminal Investigation Department The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is the branch of a police force to which most plainclothes detectives belong in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth nations. A force's CID is distinct from its Special Branch (though officers of b ...

, but in practice, this didn't always happen because of the initially high number of applicants. On 13 January 1970 seven "training majors" from the regular army reported for duty. None had served in Northern Ireland previously. Their job was to raise each battalion and have it ready for duty on 1 April. These came to be known as TISOs (training, intelligence, and security officers). Each was assisted by a regular army

quartermaster Quartermaster is a military term, the meaning of which depends on the country and service. In land armies, a quartermaster is generally a relatively senior soldier who supervises stores or barracks and distributes supplies and provisions. In m ...

, a corporal clerk, a

civil service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

Clerical Officer to act as Chief Clerk, and a typist.Potter p26 Premises were acquired from diverse sources including wooden huts in army training centres, USC huts or whatever accommodation could be found in regular army barracks or Territorial Army Centres. Seven battalions were formed initially: 1st (County Antrim); 2nd (County Armagh); 3rd (County Down); 4th (County Fermanagh); 5th (County Londonderry); 6th (County Tyrone) and 7th (City of Belfast). On 1 April 1970 the regiment joined the British Army's Order of Battle and became operational.

Commissioned officer recruitment

For each battalion there was a minimum requirement of: * 1

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

* 6

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

s * 7

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

s * 25 lieutenants (including 2nd lieutenants) To recruit

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...

and

officers, Scott-Bowden and his subordinates were obliged to award instant commissions to people deemed suitable. The ideal candidates were sought in the USC, reserve forces, university Officers' Training Corps and Army Cadet Force. In various battalions officers of company and platoon rank could be found who had served in the USC, the Regular and Territorial Army, the Royal Navy, the Royal Air Force, the

Royal Marines The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marine ...

, the Indian Army and even the United States Army. In addition to the problem of finding officers there had to be observant of the Protestant/Catholic ratio but by March 1971, 18 Catholic officers had been recruited and the total number of officers was just enough for battalions to function at their current strengths. This rose to 23.Potter p58 All seven battalions were led by former commandants of the USC.

Non-commissioned officer recruitment/appointment

For each battalion there was a minimum requirement of: * 1 Regimental Sergeant Major ( Warrant Officer 1st Class (WO1)) * 7 Warrant Officers 2nd Class (WO2) * 25

Sergeant Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other uni ...

s * 25 Corporals * 25 Lance Corporals The appointment of

non-commissioned officer A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is a military officer who has not pursued a commission. Non-commissioned officers usually earn their position of authority by promotion through the enlisted ranks. (Non-officers, which includes most or all enli ...

s (NCOs) was carried out in a variety of ways too. In most cases, men were selected who had previously held non-commissioned rank in any of the armed forces or the USC. In at least one case ( 2 UDR) they were chosen by the men themselves. In some battalions, men were appointed as lance corporals (l/cpl) on a duty-by-duty basis to assess their worth. In the Newry (C) company of 3 UDR, many of the recruits had formerly been soldiers in the local territorial company of the

Royal Irish Fusiliers The Royal Irish Fusiliers (Princess Victoria's) was an Irish line infantry regiment of the British Army, formed by the amalgamation of the 87th (Prince of Wales's Irish) Regiment of Foot and the 89th (Princess Victoria's) Regiment of Foot in ...

, including the company commander. It was a simple matter to appoint men who had previously been his NCOs and he supplemented these with former

sergeant Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other uni ...

s from the USC. The filling of senior NCO posts in this manner did have a drawback in that many men of comparatively young ages who had considerable years of service before retirement or promotion created a "promotion block".

USC recruitment

The response from the B Specials was mixed. Some felt betrayed and resigned immediately, while others made application to join the UDR as soon as forms were available. Others joined the newly formed RUC Reserve instead, especially in Belfast, where during the first month of recruiting, only 36 Specials applied to join the UDR compared to an average of 29% – 2,424, one thousand of whom were rejected, mainly on the grounds of age and fitness. Around 75% of the men of the Tyrone B Specials applied, of whom 419 were accepted and, as a result, the

6th Battalion, Ulster Defence Regiment The 6th (County Tyrone) Battalion, Ulster Defence Regiment (6 UDR) was formed in 1970 as part of the seven original battalions specified in The Ulster Defence Regiment Act 1969, which received Royal Assent on 18 December 1969 and was brought in ...

started life as the only battalion more or less up to strength, and remained so during its history. In five of the seven battalions, former Specials made up more than half of personnel; in the

4th Battalion, Ulster Defence Regiment 4th (County Fermanagh) Battalion, Ulster Defence Regiment (4 UDR) was formed in 1970 as part of the seven original battalions specified in The Ulster Defence Regiment Act 1969, which received Royal Assent on 18 December 1969 and was brought into ...

, it reached 87%. The story was different in Belfast (10%) and the rest of Antrim (42%), where the figures were more balanced, with a correspondingly higher proportion of Catholic recruits.Potter, p29 Some former B Specials felt so aggrieved at the loss of their force that they booed and jeered passing UDR patrols. Most anger seemed to be in

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...

, where the USC District adjutant actively campaigned to persuade his men not to apply.

Catholic recruitment

The ''

Belfast Telegraph The ''Belfast Telegraph'' is a daily newspaper published in Belfast, Northern Ireland, by Independent News & Media. Its editor is Eoin Brannigan. Reflecting its unionist tradition, the paper has historically been "favoured by the Protestant po ...

'' stated on 18 February 1970 that the first two soldiers reported as signing up were a 19-year-old Catholic and a 47-year-old Protestant. The regiment began with Catholic recruits accounting for 18% of the membership. Many were ex-regular soldiers, "eager to get back into uniform". By 1987 Catholic membership was 4%.

Recruitment summary

By March 1970, there had been 4,791 applications to join, of which 946 were from Catholics and 2,424 from current or former members of the B-Specials. 2,440 had been accepted, including 1,423 from current or former B-Specials. As the percentage of recruits from both communities did not reflect the religious

, it never became the model Lord Hunt intended.Potter, p376 Catholics continued to join the regiment, but the numbers were never representative. They were highest in 3 UDR, which had the highest percentage of Catholics throughout the Troubles, beginning with 30%, although this was a much lower percentage than that of the battalion area. Some

sections Section, Sectioning or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section sig ...

were staffed entirely by Catholics, which led to protests from the B Specials Association that in 3 UDR "preference for promotion and allocation of appointments was being given to Catholics". This was partially explained by the fact that in the mostly Catholic town of Newry, the Territorial Army company of the

had been disbanded in 1968 and the vast majority of its soldiers had joined the UDR en masse.Potter, p35 The company commander of C Company, (Newry), 3 UDR, was the former commander of the TA unit and was pleased to see that virtually all of his TA soldiers were on parade, in the TA Centre, in exactly the same drill hall as they had previously used, for the first night of the new regiment. He noted there were some former B Specials in the room and observed they did not initially associate with the others – not on the grounds of religion but because the former TA soldiers all knew each other socially and sat together on canteen breaks whereas the former specials kept to their group of comrades, but within a week both had melded together. By 1 April 1970, only 1,606 of the desired 4,000 men had been enlisted, and the UDR began its duties much under strength.Potter, p31 The regiment continued to grow, however. In 1973 numbers peaked at 9,100 (all part-time) and at the time of amalgamation had stabilised its numbers at 2,797 permanent cadre soldiers and 2,620 part-time.

Structure

Command structure

Unlike the USC, who were controlled by the Stormont government in Belfast, the UDR was under the direct command of the General Officer Commanding Northern Ireland (GOCNI), the commander of the British Army in Northern Ireland. A six-man UDR Advisory Council (three Protestant and three Catholic) was formed and chaired by the colonel commandant. Its brief was "to advise the GOCNI on policy for the administration of the Ulster Defence Regiment, in particular on recruitment; and on such specific matters as the GOCNI might refer to the council." The regiment would be commanded by a regular army brigadier. Battalions were to be commanded by "local members of the force". Commanding officers were initially former County Commandants from the disbanded USC. All were men of previous military experience, such as Dublin-born Desmond Woods who had at one time been the youngest winner of the Military Cross (serving with the

) and

Michael Torrens-Spence Captain Frederick Michael Alexander Torrens-Spence, (10 March 1914 – 12 December 2001) was a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm pilot in the Second World War. Torrens-Spence earned the distinction of holding commissions in the Royal Navy, the Royal Air F ...

DSO,

DSC DSC may refer to: Academia * Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) * District Selection Committee, an entrance exam in India * Doctor of Surgical Chiropody, superseded in the 1960s by Doctor of Podiatric Medicine Educational institutions * Dalton State Col ...

, AFC. All were appointed

on a one-year contract. However, some of these men were already past retirement age and after their year's contract was up they were replaced by lieutenant colonels from the regular army, the first of these being Lt Col Dion Beard of the

1st Royal Tank Regiment The 1st Royal Tank Regiment (1 RTR) was an Armoured warfare, armoured regiment of the British Army. It is part of the Royal Tank Regiment, itself part of the Royal Armoured Corps and operationally under 12th Armoured Infantry Brigade (United Kingd ...

(1 RTR) who took over at 3 UDR on 15 February 1971.Potter p45 The policy of appointing regular officers was not universally popular within the regiment, with the public or with some politicians, but the British Army persisted in replacing former USC commanding officers and by the time of amalgamation, around 400 regular army officers had served in these posts, some of whom went on to achieve

general officer A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED O ...

rank. A newspaper for the regiment was published, called "Defence".Ryder p66 Commanders were able to communicate their views through this as well as through Part 2 Orders (routine orders) which, as with every British Army unit, were displayed on company noticeboards and were compulsory reading.

Battalion structure

The first seven

s raised made the UDR the largest infantry regiment in the British Army at that time. Two years later, four more were added, taking the total to eleven – 8th (County Tyrone); 9th (Country Antrim); 10th (City of Belfast) and 11th (Craigavon). The regiment was described in 1972 as:

Organised into 11 Battalions (59) companies: two in Belfast and the remainder cover county or sub-county areas. Seven of the eleven are commanded by regular commanding officers. In addition the training majors, quartermaster, regimental sergeant majors, chief clerks, and signaller NCOs are also regulars. There are a number of 'conrate' (full-time UDR) posts in each unit, including adjutants, permanent staff instructors, security guards, etc. Many of the officer and senior rank conrates are ex-regulars. The remainder are part-timers. Their main tasks are guarding key points, patrolling, and surveillance, and manning vehicle checkpoints. They do not operate in the 'hard' areas of Belfast, and are not permitted to become involved in crowd confrontations anywhere. Men are armed with self-loading rifles or sub-machine guns. The current strength of the Regiment is 7910.

Until 1976 the full-time cadre were "conrates" (so called because they had a "consolidated rate of pay") whose duties consisted of guarding bases and carrying out administrative tasks. The role of the regiment was expanded by raising full-time

s, known as "Operations Platoons", to perform duties on a 24-hour basis. The first of these was raised at 2 UDR under the command of a

. By the end of the 1970s, the permanent

had been raised to sixteen platoons. These were then increased to company strength with the conrate role being phased out and full-time UDR soldiers undertaking their own guard duties and administration. 11 UDR March Past

The full-time element eventually increased to more than half the total personnel. In 1990, the regiment's numbers stood at 3,000 part-time and 3,000 full-time soldiers, with 140 attached regular army personnel in key command and training positions. The standard of training of the permanent cadre made them suitable to be used in much the same way as regular soldiers and it was not uncommon for regular army units to then come under local command and control of a UDR Battalion Headquarters. The dispersal of UDR soldiers into their areas of responsibility was through sub-barracks of platoon or company size. Battalion headquarters would usually be located in the

county town In the United Kingdom and Ireland, a county town is the most important town or city in a county. It is usually the location of administrative or judicial functions within a county and the place where the county's members of Parliament are elect ...

, but not always as some counties had two battalions. Guarded by conrate soldiers, these barracks would become doubly active after 6 as part-time soldiers arrived for evening duties. After Ulsterisation began in 1976, many battalion headquarters had full-sized permanent cadre companies and these would maintain a 24-hour presence in the battalion's " tactical area of responsibility" (TAOR). An example of this structure can be seen in the make-up of 2 UDR based at Drumadd Barracks in Armagh: Sub-headquarter units would maintain contact with their own patrols and HQ by radio. In many cases the radios were operated by Greenfinches (female soldiers), whose husbands or sons and/or daughters were on one of the active patrols, which led to tense moments when mobile units or foot patrols came under attack and submitted a "contact report" by radio.

Uniform, armament and equipment

Uniform

The early image of the regiment, due to equipment and uniform shortages, was of a rag-tag bunch using World War II weaponry, old army uniforms and carrying pockets full of loose change in order to make reports from public telephone boxes. Many of the soldiers were veterans of earlier campaigns with the British Army or had been in the Special Constabulary and were middle-aged; this earned them the public nickname of " Dad's Army" – the sobriquet given to the Home Guard during World War II. Royal Irish and UDR badges side-by-side

After equipment shortages were resolved, male soldiers dressed in a similar fashion to regular army units. Camouflage jackets were worn and headgear was a distinctive dark green beret with a gold coloured "Maid of Erin" style harp, surmounted by St Edward's Crown (in later years this was dulled down by blackening, a common practice for units of the British army when wearing

cap badges A cap badge, also known as head badge or hat badge, is a badge worn on uniform headgear and distinguishes the wearer's nationality and/or organisation. The wearing of cap badges is a convention commonly found among military and police forces, as w ...

on operational duties). The badge was a direct copy of the

cap badge with the Latin motto removed from its base. Female "Greenfinch" soldiers wore combat jackets and rifle green skirts with the UDR beret and cap badge. For ceremonial occasions men wore a rifle green version of British Army ( No.1 Temperate ceremonial). Female "best dress" was a rifle green jacket and skirt. The beret was retained as headgear for men and women in best dress. On the formation of operations platoons, narrow coloured slides were adopted and worn on the shoulder straps in battalion colours. These indicated to the trained eye that the wearers were full-time soldiers. They were dispensed with as the operations platoons expanded into full-time rifle companies and were replaced by battalion-specific epaulette slides. Rank badges were as for infantry NCOs and officers and worn in the same fashion.

Armaments

Initially, the weapons issued were of WW2 vintage such as Lee–Enfield rifles and Sten submachine guns. In early 1972 the rifles were replaced with the standard issue

L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle The L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle, officially "Rifle, 7.62mm, L1A1", also known just as the SLR (Self-Loading Rifle), by the Canadian Army designation C1A1 (C1) or in the US as the "inch pattern" FAL,Especially on the American surplus market. is a Br ...

(SLR).Potter p77 Other weaponry became available too: 9 mm

Browning pistols Browning Arms Company (originally John Moses and Matthew Sandefur Browning Company) is an American marketer of firearms and fishing gear. The company was founded in Ogden, Utah, in 1878 by brothers John Moses Browning (1855–1926) and Ma ...

(Browning 9mm), the

Sterling submachine gun The Sterling submachine gun is a British submachine gun (SMG). It was tested with the British Army in 1944–1945 as a replacement for the Sten but it did not start to replace it until 1953. A successful and reliable design, it remained as stan ...

s (SMG), the L4A4 Light Machine Guns (Bren LMG) and L7A2 General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG)s. Small stocks of Federal Riot Guns (FRG) were kept and used to fire plastic bullets to knock down doors and other obstacles during search operations. A number of Carl Gustav (Charlie G) 84 mm recoilless rifles were stocked but rarely deployed as the weapon was unsuited to most operations. (see Boat Sections below). SLRs were replaced in 1988 by the SA80 and at the same time machine guns were superseded by the Light Support Weapon.Potter p312 Metal caltrops were used at vehicle check points to puncture tyres on cars trying to escape roadblocks. For personal protection off duty, some soldiers were issued with a Walther PP. Major

Ken Maginnis Kenneth Wiggins Maginnis, Baron Maginnis of Drumglass (born 21 January 1938), is a Northern Irish politician and life peer. Since December 2020, he has been suspended from the House of Lords, where he formerly sat for the Ulster Unionist Party ( ...

acquired permission for some to purchase

Browning 9mm The Browning Hi-Power is a single-action, semi-automatic pistol available in the 9×19mm Parabellum and .40 S&W calibers. It was based on a design by American firearms inventor John Browning, and completed by Dieudonné Saive at FN Herstal. Br ...

pistols at £200 each. These were deemed to be more effective. In the late 1980s the Walther PP was replaced by the Walther P5, considered a more practical weapon because of its size and ballistic capabilities. Any soldier considered to be at particularly high risk would be permitted to keep his rifle at home. This policy was known as "weapons out" and was reduced by 75%, when SLRs replaced Lee–Enfields in 1972, due to the high number of rifles stolen by paramilitaries. The weapons out policy was eventually discontinued on the introduction of the SA80 rifle by that time only a small number were held at home by soldiers of 6 UDR.

Weapons used by the Ulster Defence Regiment

Firearms File:No 4 Mk I.JPG, No4 Rifle File:SLRL1A1.jpg, L1A1 SLR (Rifle) File:SA-80 rifle 1996.jpg, SA-80 L85A1 rifle File:Sterling SMG.JPG, Sterling SMG File:Browning High-Power 9mm IMG 1526.jpg, Browning 9mm

Equipment

Transport

The standard patrol vehicle was the 3/4 ton Land Rover used extensively throughout the British armed forces. Following withdrawal from police service, a number of

Shorland armoured car The Shorland is an armoured patrol car that was designed specifically for the Royal Ulster Constabulary by Frederick Butler. The first design meeting took place in November 1961. The third and final prototype was completed in 1964 and the fir ...

s were allocated to the regiment.Potter p48 Rarely used after initial service because the turret weapon was a GPMG and deemed unsuitable for urban use due to its rapid rate of fire. The Shorland was not generally popular due to its instability on the road. This was due to the heavy turret. However, some battalions continued to use them into the 1980s in high-risk area because of the increased protection plate armour gave over Makrolon

polycarbonate Polycarbonates (PC) are a group of thermoplastic polymers containing carbonate groups in their chemical structures. Polycarbonates used in engineering are strong, tough materials, and some grades are optically transparent. They are easily work ...

armour fitted to Land Rovers. The tough Shorlands saved the lives of a number of people on patrol. Units were sometimes deployed by Royal Air Force and Army Air Corps helicopters for rapid insertion or for duties in areas of greatest threat where it was unwise to use "green transport" (wheeled).Potter p224

Boat patrols

Several battalions were supplied with rigid

Dell Quay Dory Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies. Dell sells personal computers (PCs), Server (computin ...

craft for patrolling waterways shared with the Republic of Ireland in an attempt to prevent gun-running across these narrow channels such as

Carlingford Lough Carlingford Lough (, Ulster Scots: ''Carlinford Loch'') is a glacial fjord or sea inlet in northeastern Ireland, forming part of the border between Northern Ireland to the north and the Republic of Ireland to the south. On its northern shore i ...

. Assisted by land-based Decca Marine radar mounted on a Land Rover, deployed at Killowen Point. These boats were armed with Bren light machine guns and carried a Carl Gustav 84mm anti-tank weapon in addition to the rifles and sub-machine guns normally carried by soldiers. The shore-based dories proved inadequate and a paper was submitted by 3 UDR in 1972, recommending a naval vessel to be stationed in the centre of Carlingford Lough to assist with the suppression of gun-running. This suggestion was adopted and to the end of the security situation a small warship was on station off the coast of the Warrenpoint/ Rostrevor shoreline. This intervention was called Operation Grenada. Gun-running across these coastal estuaries ceased as a result. 3 UDR continued to dories and the radar stretches of the coast. The radar was withdrawn from use and later dispatched to the south Atlantic during the Falklands War on board the

SS Atlantic Conveyor ''Atlantic Conveyor'' was a British merchant navy ship, registered in Liverpool, that was requisitioned during the Falklands War. She was hit on 25 May 1982 by two Argentine air-launched AM39 Exocet missiles, killing 12 sailors. ''Atlantic ...

and lost when the ship was sunk after being hit by two Argentine Exocet missiles. The 4th Battalion also carried out waterway patrols on upper and lower

Lough Erne Lough Erne ( , ) is the name of two connected lakes in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is the second-biggest lake system in Northern Ireland and Ulster, and the fourth biggest in Ireland. The lakes are widened sections of the River Erne, ...

Communications

At first there were not enough radios to issue to each patrol and those available were of the PYE "Bantam" type used by the police, which did not have sufficient range.Potter p37 As a result, UDR patrols were issued with pockets of small change to use in telephone boxes in order to effectively report back to base. When radios were issued they were of the type used by the regular army such as Larkspur A41 manpacks, B47 and C42 vehicle mounted sets. Over time these were replaced with ''Stornophones'' as vehicle sets with preselected frequencies which operated on the NINET rebroadcast system, working through masts strategically placed on various high points throughout Northern Ireland such as Slieve Croob. Pyephones continued to be used for foot patrols but the range of these sets gradually improved. Each battalion was able to communicate with other battalions using C42's and B47's installed in the battalion or company Operations room (Ops Room) or Communications Centre (Comcen) as well as the BID 150 system of cryptic coding and

scrambler In telecommunications, a scrambler is a device that transposes or inverts signals or otherwise encodes a message at the sender's side to make the message unintelligible at a receiver not equipped with an appropriately set descrambling device. Wher ...

telephone system.

Dogs

Search dogs were originally provided by the regular army but eventually a UDR dog section was formed to provide more immediate assistance in search operations. One of the dog handlers, Corporal Brian David Brown of 3 UDR together with his Labrador dog Oliver was killed in

Kilkeel Kilkeel () is a small town, civil parish and townland (of 554 acres and 6521inh) in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is the southernmost town in Northern Ireland. It lies within the historic barony of Mourne. Kilkeel town is the main fishing ...

by an IRA bomb in 1986. Cpl Brown was posthumously awarded the

Queen's Gallantry Medal The Queen's Gallantry Medal (QGM) is a United Kingdom decoration awarded for exemplary acts of bravery where the services were not so outstanding as to merit the George Medal, but above the level required for the Queen's Commendation for Braver ...

The Yellow Card

All members of the British Armed Forces, including the UDR, carried a number of small information cards to assist in the execution of their duties in Northern Ireland. These were generally referred to by their colour. The most important of these was the Yellow Card which contained the rules for opening fire. This content of this information card was seen as vitally important and all soldiers were taught to be entirely familiar with it as it contained specific instructions to be followed when opening fire on a suspected enemy. Requiring, "total understanding and instantaneous recall of the provisions...." Warnings were to be issued to allow suspects to surrender. Soldiers could only shoot without warning "if there is no other way to protect themselves or those whom it is their duty to protect from the danger of being killed or seriously injured." The card was amended in 1980 to carry the words "Firearms must only be used as a last resort". The use of the card was debated in Parliament.

Personnel

Training

25% of the new recruits in 1970 had no previous military or special constabulary experience. Training was done by a team of regular soldiers attached to each unit headed up by a training major, assisted by former instructors from the armed forces who were recruits themselves. The annual training commitment for each part-time soldier was twelve days and twelve, two-hour training periods. Part of which included attendance at annual training camp. As an incentive, any soldier who fulfilled his training was given an annual bounty of £25-£35, later increased to £150 for the first year, £250 for the second and £350 for the third and subsequent years. This bounty in modern terms would be worth £1674 per year. Pay was also given for training days but this was less than the rate for operational duty. As with all British military recruits, training started with an introduction to basic battle skills and the book of the same name, which, where possible, was issued to each individual soldier. Instruction was also given on the Army marksmanship pamphlet ''Shoot to Kill''. Part-time (and later, permanent cadre) soldiers were required to attend an annual camp for a seven-day period. Camps were located at: These camps not only provided intensive training but they included days out and social events where soldiers could relax and drop their guard, well away from the troubled areas they normally patrolled.Ryder p89 From 1975 onwards specially trained search teams were created to comb the countryside and derelict buildings for illegal stashes of weapons and explosives. Some of these dumps were

booby trap A booby trap is a device or setup that is intended to kill, harm or surprise a human or another animal. It is triggered by the presence or actions of the victim and sometimes has some form of bait designed to lure the victim towards it. The trap m ...

ped and particular care and alertness was needed. Training continued to be done at each battalion's own HQ until 2 July 1979 when the UDR Training Centre opened at the old weekend training camp at Ballykinlar, Co Down.Potter p200 The first recruit courses as the centre for permanent cadre troops were four weeks long and the subjects included physical training, foot drill, assault course, range firing, foot and mobile patrol procedures (including vehicle stops), map reading, signals, first aid and a grounding in legal responsibilities. The first recruit course passed out on 28 July 1979 and the salute was taken by Brigadier David Miller, Commander UDR. Courses were not just for permanent cadre and included training for:platoon commanders, platoon sergeants, potential NCOs, skill-at-arms, surveillance, intelligence, photography and search updating. In 1990 the UDR Training Centre became responsible for all military training in Northern Ireland. Under the command of a regular army lieutenant colonel seconded to the UDR. The centre then ran courses for the regular army and

RAF Regiment The Royal Air Force Regiment (RAF Regiment) is part of the Royal Air Force and functions as a specialist corps. Founded by royal warrant in 1942, the Corps carries out soldiering tasks relating to the delivery of air power. Examples of such ta ...

individual reinforcements on search team training, combat medics, skill-at-arms, and NCO training; as well as the management of the extensive weapon ranges at Ballykinlar.

Family

In some cases several members of a family would join the same unit. This led to husbands, wives, sons and daughters, even grandparents serving together.Potter p381 Whilst this did create a good ''

esprit de corps Morale, also known as esprit de corps (), is the capacity of a group's members to maintain belief in an institution or goal, particularly in the face of opposition or hardship. Morale is often referenced by authority figures as a generic value ...

'' there were problems created. Once anyone in a family joined the Ulster Defence Regiment the entire household, even children, had to be educated on personal safety. The hours were long and soldiers had to forfeit a normal family life. On duty too there were issues. Family members had to be split into different patrols and vehicles so that if one unit was attacked an entire family would not run the risk of being killed or wounded at the same time. In 1975 there were eighty four married couples serving and fifty three family groups of three or more. UDR soldiers lived in their own civilian homes, (except for attached regular army personnel who were given "quarters"). Many lived in Protestant or Catholic enclaves which put them within easy reach of local paramilitary or community groups. The years 1972–73 saw paramilitary threats from loyalist and republican sources. Of the 288 incidents of intimidation reported, all but twelve were from Protestants who had been threatened from within their own community. Sometimes this was to gain information or to persuade soldiers to join (or remain within) loyalist organisations.Potter 2001, p. 94 The intimidation included: threatening letters and phone calls, abduction, shots fired from passing cars and off-duty soldiers being assaulted. In the early days some even lived in what would later become known as "hard line areas" such as Private Sean Russell of 7 UDR who lived in the

New Barnsley The Springfield Road ( ga, Bóthar Chluanaí) is a residential area and road traffic thoroughfare adjacent to the Falls Road in west Belfast. The local population is predominantly Irish nationalist and republican. Parts of the road form an int ...

Estate in Belfast. This led to many UDR soldiers becoming targets for various paramilitary groups whilst off duty and indeed Sean Russell was subsequently targeted and killed whilst at home, in front of his family.

Resignation of Catholic soldiers

In 1970–71, Catholics made up about 36% of the population and about 18% of the UDR. By the end of 1972 the number of Catholics in the UDR had dropped to 3% and never rose above that figure again. There are a number of reasons for this. In the early years of the conflict, relations soured between the Catholic community and the Army. This was mainly due to incidents such as the Falls Curfew,

internment Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...

, Bloody Sunday and Operation Motorman. There were also frequent claims of UDR soldiers abusing Catholics at checkpoints and during house searches.Brett Bowden & Michael T. Davis.
Terror: From Tyrannicide to Terrorism
'. University of Queensland Press, 2008. p. 234 Many Catholic soldiers left the regiment due to pressure and intimidation from their own community, and the IRA's policy of singling out Catholic soldiers for assassination. Catholics within the regiment also reported being intimidated by Protestant fellow soldiers.Ryder, pp.45-46 Other Catholics resigned in protest at what they saw as the Army's harsh and biased treatment of their community, especially after Operation Demetrius (the introduction of internment). The ''Belfast Telegraph'' reported that 25% of the regiment's Catholics resigned in 1971, half of those in the months following Operation Demetrius. By the end of 1972, the vast majority had resigned or simply stopped turning up for duty. Senior officers attempted to halt the exodus of Catholics, allowing battalion commanders to appear on television (not usually permitted for the rank of lieutenant colonel in those days). Appeals were made to religious and political leaders and extra personal security measures were introduced. Brigadier Scott-Bowden's successor in 1972 was Brigadier

Denis Ormerod Denis Leonard Ormerod CBE (February 17, 1922 – February 11, 2005) was a career soldier in the British Army. He was appointed Brigadier Ulster Defence Regiment in July 1971. He was the first Roman Catholic commander of the regiment, which was d ...

, a Catholic whose mother's family came from the Republic of Ireland. His second-in-command (Deputy Commander UDR), Colonel Kevin Hill, was also Catholic, as was his successor Colonel Paddy Ryan. Ormerod admitted in his memoirs that his religion and appointment as the senior Catholic Army officer in Northern Ireland helped him considerably in his rapport with religious leaders of his own faith but that these appointments created unease with Protestants leading to meetings with concerned unionist politicians including, notably,

Ian Paisley Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, (6 April 1926 – 12 September 2014) was a Northern Irish loyalist politician and Protestant religious leader who served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) from 1971 to 2008 and First ...

Operational role

Although an integral part of the British Army the UDR's duties did not require it to be called upon to serve outside Northern Ireland. This type of engagement was subsequently referred to as "Home Service" and was similar to the model adopted by the short-lived

Home Service Force The Home Service Force was a Home Guard type force established in the United Kingdom in 1982. Each HSF unit was placed with either a Regular Army or Territorial Army regiment or battalion for administrative purposes and given that formation’s ...

raised in the UK in 1982. The primary function of the regiment was to assist the

by "guarding key points and installations, to carry out patrols and to establish check points and road blocks against armed guerrilla-type attacks". Patrols and vehicle

checkpoints Checkpoint may refer to: Places * Border checkpoint, a place on the land border between two states where travellers and/or goods are inspected * Security checkpoint, erected and enforced within contiguous areas under military or paramilitary cont ...

on public roads were designed to hinder the activities of paramilitary groups and to reassure the law-abiding general public. Writing in 1991, Ken Maginnis recounted that the Regiment had originally been formed as a "sop to Unionism" and it was never intended to have a "serious" operational role, with UDR soldiers at first being assigned to "demeaning" and pointless posts such as guarding water reservoirs. The first operational deployment of the regiment was by the 2nd and 6th battalions, deploying 400 soldiers in an 8th Infantry Brigade operation along the border with the Irish Republic in Armagh, Tyrone and Fermanagh to intercept the movement of munitions into Northern Ireland. As the force was initially part-time the presence of its soldiers was mostly felt during evenings and weekends. It was expected to answer to general call-outs, and was mobilised on a permanent basis on several occasions such as Operation Motorman to provide assistance to the police and army. As the regiment acquired more full-time soldiers it assumed duties previously assigned to the police or Army in support of Operation Banner. By 1980, the full-time element had matched the numbers of part-timers and the regiment's role had expanded to include tactical responsibility for 85% of Northern Ireland, supporting the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

1974 Ulster Workers Council Strike

The first Ulster Workers' Council strike took place between 15 and 28 May 1974. This is arguably the greatest test of integrity and loyalty the UDR had to endure, along with the RUC. The regiment was not called out but 3 (Co Down) UDR, then at annual camp in Magilligan was deployed on Sunday 19 May by road and air to the south Tyrone and south Fermanagh areas usually patrolled by 4 (Co Fermanagh) UDR and 6 (Co Tyrone) UDR. Two days previously on 17 May loyalist paramilitaries had carried out a series of bombings in Dublin and Monaghan. The authorities believed the Provisional IRA would retaliate so had provided the 3rd Battalion as reinforcements to the local battalions. Despite there being no call out UDR soldiers flocked to their bases for duty.Potter p130 They were frustrated in not being able to take any direct action against the strikers but the only orders they got were to "stand back and observe". A patrol from 7 UDR was able to prevent loyalists from throwing stones and bottles at regular troops in the

Ballybeen Ballybeen (), also known as Ballybeen Housing Estate, is the second-biggest housing estate in Northern Ireland. It is in the village of Dundonald, on the outskirts of east Belfast. It lies within the townlands of Ballybeen and Carrowreagh, betwee ...

estate in Dundonald. Barricades preventing soldiers from the Newtownabbey company of 10 UDR who lived in Monkstown from getting to their base were lifted when the platoon commander and platoon sergeant went down and warned the people manning the barricades that they would "regret it in the future" if they continued to prevent the UDR from getting out on patrol. Some soldiers took their turn manning the barricades alongside the UDA. These were men who lived in UDA dominated housing estates and had been threatened. Those soldiers in such areas who did not take a turn on duty were not allowed to get out of the estates to report for duty and had their cars and homes damaged and in some cases they and their wives were refused service in local shops following the strike. There were two reported instances of loyalists trying to subvert the loyalty of UDR units. One was against an entire company of 3 UDR and one against a platoon from the 8th battalion. Both failed.Potter p131 Units from 7 UDR took up positions around key points at the shipyards, an oil refinery in Sydenham and an electricity sub station in the Castlereagh hills. Forty drivers were drafted in from 1, 9 and 10 UDR battalions to assist the

Royal Corps of Transport The Royal Corps of Transport (RCT) was a British Army Corps established to manage all matters in relation to the transport of men and material for the Army and the wider Defence community. It was formed in 1965 and disbanded in 1993; its units and ...

. Eventually 10 UDR and regular units forcibly dismantled the barricades in Monkstown. Prior to the strike some army commanders and the Brigadier UDR had expressed doubts about who the UDR was loyal to and who they would support in the event of such an action by loyalists. Brigadier Baxter later commented: "During the strike the UDR came of age".

Ulsterisation

Ulsterisation was the

's policy to reduce regular Army troop numbers in Northern Ireland and bring local forces into the front line. This was as a result of international opinion about British soldiers being used in what many viewed as a "colonial occupation". It was also called "normalisation", or "police primacy". The term "Ulsterisation" was coined by the media. The then Assistant Chief Constable of the RUC,

Jack Hermon Sir John Charles Hermon (23 November 1928 – 6 November 2008) was the Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary from 1980–1989. Early life 'Jack' Hermon was born in Castletown, Islandmagee, County Antrim, to William Rowan Hermon, a b ...

, summed it up when he said, "Ulstermen need to learn to live together and be policed by Ulstermen. If they have to kill, let them kill each other, not English soldiers." A report commissioned in 1976 recommended: * An increase in the establishment of the RUC and RUC Reserve * Creation of RUC "mobile support units" * An increase in the conrate establishment of the UDR so it could take over from the regular Army * A 24-hour military presence by the UDR The scheme was hampered by the shortfall of conrate officers in the UDR who could take on the role of operations officers. It also placed heavier demands upon senior NCO "watchkeepers" in the operations rooms, or and communication centres (comcens). The main outcome of Ulsterisation was the creation of the "Province Reserve UDR" (PRUDR) whereby each of the 56 available companies would take it in turns to operate anywhere in the province, although in practice this normally meant in South Armagh.

Women's UDR (Greenfinches)

In the early days of the regiment female members of the Royal Military Police accompanied patrols when available to enable female suspects to be searched. There were never enough of these RMP searchers so in 1973 an act was passed in Parliament to recruit women into the regiment. On 16 August 1973 a regular army officer from the Women's Royal Army Corps, Major Eileen Tye, took up the post of "Commander Women" at HQUDR.Potter p115 By September 352 women had been enrolled and the first enlistments were carried out at 2 UDR's HQ in Armagh on the 16th. This use of women as an integrated part of the regiment preceded similar usage in the regular army by 20 years, and paved the way for the disbandment of the Women's Royal Army Corps in 1992.Potter p120 The only available clothing was mostly

ATS ATS or Ats may refer to: Businesses * ATS Wheels, or ''Auto Technisches Spezialzubehör'', a German wheel manufacturer and sponsor of a Formula One racing team * ATS Automation Tooling Systems, an Ontario, Canada-based factory automation company ...

surplus from WWII. Many women were unhappy with the semi-formal skirts and knee length boots they had to wear in all weathers. Eventually the regulations were relaxed and by the time of the merger women were wearing full combat uniform.Potter p119 The women soldiers also wore a silk cravat in their battalion colour. A team of WRAC instructors led by WO2 Brooker was assigned to train the women in a one-week course consisting of drill, army organisation, map reading, searching of women and vehicles, radio procedure and basic first aid. Their assignment finished after one year when Greenfinches with the relevant experience were assigned to take over as instructors. The first recruits were largely from the executive and professional classes.Potter 2001, p. 116 Some were wives of serving UDR soldiers and others were married to soldiers on long-term (accompanied) posting to Northern Ireland, including the wives of some commanding officers.Ryder p105 Some soldiers (male and female) were inclined to settle in Northern Ireland after their time in the army was finished and for female ex-soldiers and the wives of male ex-soldiers being a Greenfinch seemed to be an attractive and familiar career. The country and border battalions welcomed the use of women as essential in the searching of women and children but the city based battalions were slower to see the advantages and to some extent resented the presence of Greenfinches at first.Potter 2001, p. 117 In the short-term all came to appreciate the value of having females with patrols. Through time the role of women was expanded as it was realised that their higher pitched voices were more suited to radio transmission than men. Tasked to relieve RMP women at the Belfast city centre segment gates they learned how to accept abuse from the public and how to avoid traps that could be set for them while they searched other women; i.e., razor blades placed in pockets. Some women were trained in the use of "Sea Watch" radar to assist seaborne patrols in those battalions with fast boats. Initially a part-time female officer was appointed in each battalion to supervise the women soldiers but through time the women came under command of the Officer Commanding (OC) of the company they were assigned to. In later years some women became battalion

adjutant Adjutant is a military appointment given to an officer who assists the commanding officer with unit administration, mostly the management of human resources in an army unit. The term is used in French-speaking armed forces as a non-commission ...

s or company commanders and a few were attached to brigade staffs throughout Northern Ireland. Accommodation for changing and toilet facilities was another problem faced early on and it took several years for the all-male environments of UDR bases to adapt to suit female needs. The name ''Greenfinch'' applied to the women's UDR comes from the system of radio "appointment titles" (codewords) used by the army to identify certain people or branches of the service. Male soldiers in the regiment were identified as "Greentop" and women were given the codeword "Greenfinch" with female commanders being referred to as "Goldfinch". This became their working nickname. It is still applied today to women in the Royal Irish Regiment. The recruitment of women soldiers peaked in 1986 with 286 permanent cadre and 530 part timers but the establishment never dropped below 700 from 1978 onwards.

Women's operational role

Greenfinches were used to deny terrorists the use of women and children in paramilitary activities.Gamble p151 On patrol they were used to search for explosives, weapons, ammunition and documents, as well as driving patrol vehicles, operating radios and acting as interviewers. The use of females in barracks included clerical, catering and store-keeping duties in addition to staffing "Operations Rooms" and "Intelligence Cells", released male soldiers for operational duties.

Training

Women soldiers were required to pass annual skills tests to qualify for grades and pay increments.Gamble p152 If these tests were failed the Greenfinch concerned would be downgraded and suffer a drop in wages. They received regular "role specific" training which included: person and vehicle searching, map reading, first aid, signals, personal security and terrorist recognition; as well as regimental history, military etiquette, rank structure and dress regulations, and also fitness training. They were advised to maintain a high degree of fitness. Although not armed on duty Greenfinches were trained to fire a full range of weapons and taught how to make a weapon "safe" as part of the training on dealing with casualties. HQUDR ran a

.22 .22 caliber, or 5.6 mm caliber, refers to a common firearms bore diameter of 0.22 inch (5.6 mm). Cartridges in this caliber include the very widely used .22 Long Rifle and .223 Remington / 5.56×45mm NATO. .22 inch is also a popular ...

shooting competition. Some Greenfinches were issued with (or purchased) personal protection weapons (PPW's) if considered to be at high risk.

Pregnancy, marriage and pay

Issues which affected other servicewomen also applied to Greenfinches. Rules regarding pregnancy, marriage, and pay. To join, married women were required to submit written permission from their husbands and those with children were obliged to sign a declaration confirming childcare arrangements. Ministry of Defence regulations concerning women soldiers meant that Greenfinches would be discharged in the fourth month of pregnancy.Gamble p153 If they returned to their unit after maternity leave they were required to retake the basic recruits course. Their previous service did not count towards medal entitlement or promotion. Some sympathetic battalion commanders avoided putting female soldiers through this by sending them on extended, long term leave but keeping them "on strength". The European Court ruled against the Ministry of Defence in 1990 and awarded compensation to 78 former Greenfinches totaling £370,000. Regulations then changed and all British servicewomen were subsequently allowed 48 weeks unpaid maternity leave, following which they could return to duty without preconditions. A study in 1988 showed that half the women serving were married and 42% were mothers, with two thirds of their children being infants or of school age.

Women casualties

Four Greenfinches were killed as active servicewomen between 1974 and 1992. The first was Private Eva Martin, age 28, fatally wounded by rocket fragments on 3 May 1974 during a PIRA attack on 6 UDR's outlying base at the Deanery, Clogher. She was also the first female from the security forces to die in the Troubles.

Opposition forces

During the concept stage of the UDR the major armed threat to the state was the Irish Republican Army (IRA). Following a split in this organisation the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) was formed in December 1969, just days before recruiting was to begin for the regiment. PIRA became and remained the priority for the UDR, although threats to life and property also existed from other organisations. The Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA) (the remnants of the "old IRA") continued to commit acts of violence as did the

Irish National Liberation Army The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA, ga, Arm Saoirse Náisiúnta na hÉireann) is an Irish republican socialist paramilitary group formed on 10 December 1974, during the 30-year period of conflict known as "the Troubles". The group seek ...

(INLA), another offshoot from the "old IRA". Threats to the public peace also came from loyalist organisations such as the

(UVF), the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) which used the ''

nom de guerre A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

'' Ulster Freedom Fighters when killing, and a selection of other groupings who emerged during the Troubles. As the PIRA campaign continued throughout the 1970s and 1980s, it and other groups increasingly targeted Ulster Defence Regiment soldiers as well as others from the forces of law and order." Methods of attack included sniping, bombs and other tactics used by guerrilla armies when facing an enemy with superior forces. There were however open actions between the regiment and the IRA, which varied in style and tactics between the urban setting of Belfast and rural areas. There were few conventional attacks, but notably, on 2 May 1974, up to forty IRA men attacked the isolated 6 UDR Deanery base at

Clogher Clogher () is a village and civil parish in the border area of south County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It lies on the River Blackwater, 5.8 miles from the border crossing to County Monaghan. It stands on the townlands of Clogher Demesne and C ...

, Co. Tyrone. A sustained assault lasted for around twenty minutes, during which it was hit by rockets, mortars, and small-arms fire. F/Private Eva Martin was fatally wounded during this attack, the first female UDR soldier to be killed by enemy action.Ryder p75 The IRA developed home-made mortars referred to as " barrack-busters". Normally fixed to the back of a commercial vehicle such as a builder's lorry, the vehicle would be parked in position near a barracks and the devices fired by timing device or remote controlled sending missiles made from gas cylinders into the barracks compound. The largest of these was twelve tubes fired at 3 UDR's

base "The Abbey" in 1992. Bases were also attacked in other ways such as the truck bomb which destroyed 2 UDR's Glenanne Barracks killing three soldiers and wounding many more. Some mortars could also be fired horizontally. The first recorded use of this weapon was against a mobile patrol from 2 UDR on 1 March 1991.Potter p350 Two soldiers died. The funeral of one, Private Paul Sutcliffe, an Englishman, was held in Barrowford, Lancashire – the only UDR funeral to be held outside Northern Ireland. The second casualty, Private Roger Love, from Portadown died after three days. On 8 November 1987 the Provisional IRA bombed the cenotaph at Enniskillen in what became known as the Remembrance Day bombing. 200 UDR soldiers were about to march onto the square beside the memorial when the bomb exploded. Because the UDR did not live in barracks like other soldiers but lived at home (in many cases with families), they were vulnerable to attack when off-duty.Ripley, Chappell p. 48 A number of soldiers were issued with personal weapons. Some of these were stolen from soldiers homes.Potter 2001, p. 79. Part-time soldiers were most at risk as they had day jobs which often took them to unsafe areas. Most UDR soldiers killed in the Troubles were attacked off-duty. Forty-seven former soldiers were killed after their service finished. Others, especially in the Fermanagh border area, were forced to move to safer areas, had to sell their homes and, sometimes, their land as a result of imminent threat. In February 2010 "about a dozen" former UDR soldiers in Mid-Ulster were warned by the PSNI that they were under threat from dissident Republicans.

Casualties

Between 1 April 1970 and 30 June 1992, a total of 197 soldiers were killed as active servicemen. Another 61 were killed after they had left the UDR. Three members of the UVF and one UDA member killed during the conflict were also soldiers of the regiment at the time of their deaths.Sutton Chronology, 27 and 31 July 1975

CAIN Cain ''Káïn''; ar, قابيل/قايين, Qābīl/Qāyīn is a Biblical figure in the Book of Genesis within Abrahamic religions. He is the elder brother of Abel, and the firstborn son of Adam and Eve, the first couple within the Bible. He wa ...

website Two UDR soldiers were killed by the regular army, three by

loyalist Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cro ...

paramilitaries, and the remaining 192 by republican paramilitaries (mainly the Provisional IRA). 22 died "by their own hand" and 220 died of natural causes, mostly heart attack. Four Greenfinches were killed during the Troubles, Private Eva Martin, L/Cpl Jean Leggett, Cpl Heather Kerrigan and Pte Margaret A. Hearst. During this time soldiers of the UDR were responsible for the killing of six civilians and two members of the IRA.Ryder 1991, The first UDR soldier to be killed was Private Winston Donnell, aged 22, from the

Strabane Strabane ( ; ) is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Strabane had a population of 13,172 at the 2011 Census. It lies on the east bank of the River Foyle. It is roughly midway from Omagh, Derry and Letterkenny. The River Foyle marks ...

Company of 6 UDR, who was Killed in action on 9 August 1971 at a vehicle checkpoint (as part of the internment call-out) close to the Clady Bridge border crossing. The first serving Catholic to be killed was 32-year-old part-time Private Sean Russell of 7 UDR, who was shot dead on 8 December 1971, in front of his wife and children, by members of the Irish Republican Army who burst into his home in the predominantly Catholic area of New Barnsley, Belfast.Potter 2001, p. 60. The last was part-time Private William Megrath of 11 UDR who was shot dead in July 1987 as he drove through the Twinbrook area of west Belfast on his way home from his civilian job. The last UDR soldier to be killed was L/Cpl Ken Newell of 4/6 UDR who was kidnapped and shot on 26 November 1991 in South Armagh. Another soldier kidnapped with him was set free near

Crossmaglen Crossmaglen (, ) is a village and townland in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 1,610 in the 2011 Census and is the largest village in South Armagh. The village centre is the site of a large Police Service of Northern Irel ...

not far from where Cpl Newell's body was found. Attacks did not stop after amalgamation. Six soldiers who had served with the UDR were killed on active duty with the Royal Irish Regiment (Home Service Battalions).

Paramilitary infiltration of the UDR

Members of extremist groupings managed to join the UDR despite the vetting process. Their purpose in doing so was to obtain weapons, training and intelligence. Several stolen weapons were used in the commission of

sectarian Sectarianism is a political or cultural conflict between two groups which are often related to the form of government which they live under. Prejudice, discrimination, or hatred can arise in these conflicts, depending on the political status quo ...

killings, attempted killings and robberies. Vetting procedures were carried out jointly by Army Intelligence and the RUC's Special Branch and if no intelligence was found to suggest unsuitability individuals were passed for recruitment and would remain as soldiers until the commanding officer was provided with intelligence enabling him to remove soldiers with paramilitary links or sympathies.CAIN Archive:Public Records: Subversion in the UDR
Although initially written in 1973, the report was only opened to the public in 2004.

Loyalist infiltration

When the regiment was formed, the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) did not yet exist; it would not be established until September 1971. Dual membership was initially acceptable to the military authorities as the UDA was not seen as a threat to the state. This changed when on 29 November 1972, the GOCNI, on instructions from Westminster, announced that dual membership of UDR and paramilitary organisations would not be tolerated and began a purge which saw 171 soldiers with links to the UDA discharged by the end of 1975. Lt Col Dion Beard ( 1RTR) commander of 3 UDR issued a battalion order: A similar statement was issued by the commanding officer of 11 UDR when Ian Paisley's Third Force was established in 1981. The media reported that he had issued a battalion order to the effect that any soldier who became involved in the Third Force would be dismissed. During the regiment's 22-year history, loyalist raids were mounted against 3 UDR, 5 UDR, 7 UDR, 10 UDR, and 11 UDR. Subsequent to a raid against 11 UDR's C company, Lurgan on 20 October 1972, the guard commander, Sgt.

Billy Hanna William Henry Wilson Hanna MM (c.1929 – 27 July 1975) was a high-ranking Ulster loyalist who founded and led the Mid-Ulster Brigade of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) until he was killed, allegedly by Robin Jackson, who took over comma ...

MM, was convicted of supplying arms and information to loyalist paramilitaries. Most were recovered in follow up operations, but some were later proven to have been used by loyalist organisations to carry out crimes, including murders. Most stolen weapons were taken by loyalist organisations, but a number of soldiers were killed by members of the IRA who attacked their homes to steal rifles.Ryder pp73, 75, 77–80 An article on the newly-established regiment published in '' Fortnight'' magazine in October 1972 noted several court cases involving UDR soldiers in the preceding weeks.''

Fortnight Magazine ''Fortnight'' was a monthly political and cultural magazine published in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

'', No. 47, p. 4. Fortnight Publications, 1972. On 18 September a member of the UDR, William Wright, of Portadown, was granted bail after appearing on an arms charge at Hillsborough. Wright reportedly shouted "no surrender" as he left the court with two other men who had been similarly charged. The following day a former member of the UDR, John Haveron, was remanded in a Belfast court after being charged with the attempted murder of three men outside the Imperial Hotel on 17 September. On 23 September an instructor in the UDR, Peter Wally, was cleared of a murder charge but later received 18 months imprisonment on a charge of wounding with intent in relation to an incident at a taxi depot on June 1st. On 28 September two members of the UDR were charged with assault and possession of arms. Neither Private Robert Lawrence nor Private Reginald Jamieson were prosecuted. A day later another UDR member, Alexander Thompson, appeared before the same court on a charge of possession of arms and ammunition. The author warned that the regiment was being increasingly perceived as an organisation similar to its “B-Specials” predecessor and it would “only take a few more charges similar to the ones outlined above to discredit the UDR completely”. In May 1974 a Catholic couple, James and Gertrude Devlin, were shot dead outside their home near Donaghmore, County Tyrone.Sutton Chronology

website The UVF claimed responsibility and a UDR soldier was later sentenced to life imprisonment for the murders."Murder in the ranks: 17 soldiers convicted", ''Sunday Tribune'', 28 July 1991. In November 1974 Catholic man Kevin Regan died five days after being shot during a UVF gun attack on Maguire's Bar in Larne, County Antrim. A serving UDR soldier was later sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder. In February 1975 Catholic woman Colette Brown, a mother of four, was shot dead by Loyalists in Larne, County Antrim.Sutton Chronology

website No specific group claimed responsibility. A UDR soldier was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder. Two soldiers from the 11 UDR's C Company (also UVF members) were convicted of the 1975 killing of three musicians from The Miami Showband. This attack was led by

Robin Jackson Robert John Jackson (27 September 1948 – 30 May 1998), also known as The Jackal, was a Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary and part-time soldier. He was a senior officer in the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) during the period of violen ...

, a former UDR soldier who had been discharged for "undisclosed reasons"."Net is closing in on Dublin car bombers". ''Sunday Independent''. Joe Tiernan. 2 November 2003
Retrieved 12 April 2012 Two soldiers from 11 UDR's E Company, Portadown (also UVF members), died in the premature explosion of their own bomb. The Miami Showband killings were carried out by the

Glenanne gang The Glenanne gang or Glenanne group was a secret informal alliance of Ulster loyalists who carried out shooting and bombing attacks against Catholics and Irish nationalists in the 1970s, during the Troubles.

; a secret informal Loyalist alliance that included members of the UDR, RUC, and UVF. According to ''Lethal Allies: British Collusion in Ireland'', by Anne Cadwallader, permutations of the group killed about 120 people – almost all of whom were Catholic civilians with no links to Irish republican paramilitaries. The Cassel Report investigated 76 killings attributed to the group and found evidence that British soldiers and RUC officers were involved in 74 of those. Another key figure was Robert McConnell, a serving corporal in the UDR's 2nd Battalion. The report by Justice Henry Barron into the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings which killed 33 people lists him as a suspect; UDR Captain John Irwin was identified by John Weir in his affidavit as providing the explosives for the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. Former Glenanne Gang members named him as being involved in numerous other attacks, including the Reavey and O'Dowd killings. Several other UDR soldiers participated in terrorist attacks attributed to the Glenanne Gang. In October 1975 a UDR soldier from Islandmagee, County Down, William Workman, was accused in court of being an active member of the UVF who had for two years instructed UVF members in the usage of firearms. In an alleged police statement Workman had admitted to being a member of the UVF. In October 1976 UDR soldier Samuel Farrell from County Fermanagh was charged in the Special Criminal Court in Dublin with conspiracy and causing an explosion in relation to a loyalist car bomb attack at Pettigo, County Donegal, in September 1973. Farrell admitted to acting as getaway driver on the night of the bombing. In 1977, the Army investigated D and G companies of 10 UDR based at Girdwood Barracks, Belfast. The investigation concluded that 70 soldiers had "links" to the UVF. Following this two were dismissed on security grounds."British army 'covered up' UDR units links to UVF"
''The Detail'', 31 July 2011. 30 NCOs from D Company were suspected of fraudulently "siphoning off" between £30,000 – £47,000. A large percentage of this was suspected of going to the UVF. It was also alleged that UVF members socialized with soldiers in their

mess The mess (also called a mess deck aboard ships) is a designated area where military personnel socialize, eat and (in some cases) live. The term is also used to indicate the groups of military personnel who belong to separate messes, such as the o ...

. The investigation was halted after a senior UDR officer claimed it was harming morale. Details of the investigation were discovered in 2011. In 1979 UDR soldier Benjamin Redfern was convicted of three sectarian murders in County Londonderry; Catholic farmer Liam Chivers near Ballymoney on 21 November 1972 and another Catholic man Joseph McAuley the following night, and John Bolton in October 1975. In November 1979 full-time UDR soldier James Gordon Murdock was refused bail on charges of membership of the UVF. Police believed Murdock was "deeply involved" in the organisation and if he was released on bail he would regroup remnants of the Markethill-based UVF unit. In June 1980 the UDA shot dead Irish nationalist politician John Turnley in Carnlough, County Antrim. A Protestant who came from a unionist background, Turnley had been a member of the SDLP before helping to found the Irish Independence Party, which he later served as chairman. Three men were later convicted of his murder and that of Catholic man Rodney McCormick in Larne in August 1980. In 2016 it emerged that one of the three had been a member of the UDR. In November 1980 UDR Private David Jameson was charged with loaning his legally-held pistol to the UVF and also robbery and hijacking. Jameson was seriously injured in an IRA bomb attack in April 1991. Jameson's brother, Richard Jameson, was a senior member of the UVF who was killed in a Loyalist feud in January 2000. In August 1981 a Catholic man, Liam Canning (19) was shot dead while walking along Alliance Avenue in the Ardoyne area of Belfast. The killing was initially claimed by the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF), the UDA's cover name, but UDR soldier Brian Roberts was later convicted. Roberts had used his UDR-issue

Walther Walther is a masculine given name and a surname. It is a German form of Walter, which is derived from the Old High German ''Walthari'', containing the elements ''wald'' -"power", "brightness" or "forest" and ''hari'' -"warrior". The name was fir ...

pistol. Roberts was also convicted of shooting and wounding two Catholic men in July 1981. During 1982 and 1983 a UVF cell operated from a base operated by the 9th Battalion in Ballymena, County Antrim. Security was so lax a local UVF commander had access to a bar inside the base for several months even though he had "known terrorist connections" and a firearms conviction. Seven serving UDR soldiers of the Ballymena platoon were convicted of a range of terrorist offences in 1987, including involvement in the murder of a Catholic man by " Shankill Butcher"

Lennie Murphy Hugh Leonard Thompson Murphy (2 March 1952 – 16 November 1982) was a Northern Irish loyalist and UVF officer. As leader of the Shankill Butchers gang, Murphy was responsible for many murders, mainly of Catholic civilians, often first kidnap ...

in September 1982. The rest of the platoon claimed they never suspected any paramilitary infiltration despite them being on duty together regularly. A BBC ''

Panorama A panorama (formed from Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography, film, seismic images, or 3D modeling. The word was originally coined in ...

'' documentary broadcast in 1990 alleged that an officer in the regiment said after the arrests "Ulster will one day be grateful to these men". The Panorama investigative team confirmed the remark with the soldier to whom it was made; the soldier was so appalled he reported the officer to his superiors but no action was taken. The officer was still serving in the UDR at the time the documentary was broadcast. In December 1983 serving UDR soldier Private Geoffrey Edwards was charged with the murder of Sinn Féin election worker Peter Corrigan in Armagh in October 1982 and six other attempted murders. In all, he admitted nineteen terrorist offences, although he refused to name his UVF accomplices. In 1985 Edwards was sentenced to life in prison, with six concurrent twenty-year sentences for attempted murder. In 1984 an arms haul of twenty-eight firearms that included several rifles, revolvers, and home-made submachineguns as well as 5,000 rounds of ammunition was uncovered on the County Antrim farm of a serving UDR soldier. In court it was alleged he was hiding the weaponry on behalf of a member of Ian Paisley's Third Force paramilitary group who had also been a member of the UDA and Tara. Both men pleaded guilty to arms charges in 1987. In April 1985, the UFF/UDA claimed responsibility for shooting Catholic man Edward Love in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh. A serving UDR soldier and member of the regular British Army were later found guilty of murder and both men served thirteen years in prison before being released under the Belfast Agreement. In January 1988 Loyalist paramilitaries shot dead Catholic businessman Jack Kielty (father of comedian Patrick Kielty) in Dundrum, County Down. A serving UDR soldier was suspected of involvement in the killing yet continued to serve in the British army, even after a RUC investigating officer requested that he be discharged. Although he was eventually discharged a Police Ombudsman report released in 2016 revealed the suspect continued to attend RUC/UDR briefings despite being questioned by police in connection with the murder of Jack Kielty. The RUC also uncovered British army maps and a UDR photograph album containing montages of IRA suspects; fingerprints belonging to the soldier were later found to be on the recovered montage. An investigating officer said it became apparent at the time that the UDR soldier was the driver during an earlier attempt to murder another man, John O'Rourke, at Dundrum in January 1986. He was also arrested by police investigating the

Loughinisland massacre The Loughinisland massacre O'Brien, Brendan. ''The Long War: The IRA and Sinn Féin''. Syracuse University Press, 1999. Page 314. took place on 18 June 1994 in the small village of Loughinisland, County Down, Northern Ireland. Members of the U ...

in August 1994 and he was later identified in an anonymous message on the police confidential telephone line as one of the gunmen at Loughinisland. Solicitor Niall Murphy, who represented the families of the Loughinisland victims commented that "at least three individuals and their families directly associated with the UVF unit in south Down were members of the UDR and also had close family members working locally at RUC establishments and within the police force itself." In February 1989 solicitor Pat Finucane was murdered by Loyalist paramilitaries from the UDA acting in collusion with British security services. The 9mm Browning handgun used in the murder of Finucane had been stolen from a UDR armoury at Malone Barracks, Belfast by a serving UDR soldier. The same weapon had been linked to the attempted killing of a Catholic man in September 1988. Several other weapons were taken from the same armoury. In August 1989 the UDA claimed responsibility for the murder of Catholic man Loughlin Maginn in County Down; it later emerged two of the UDA gunmen had also been serving UDR soldiers. When Maginn's family denied he was a member of the IRA, the UDA attempted to justify the murder by releasing a twenty-minute video, shot by soldiers from the UDR, which showed the wall of a police briefing room covered with photographs of IRA suspects. This incident prompted the

Stevens Inquiries The Stevens Inquiries were three official British government inquiries led by Sir John Stevens concerning collusion in Northern Ireland between loyalist paramilitaries and the state security forces. While Stevens declared in 1990 that collusion wa ...

concerning alleged security forces collusion with loyalist paramilitaries. Twenty-eight UDR soldiers were arrested as part of the investigation. Twenty-six belonged to the same company of 7/10 UDR.Potter 2001, pp. 329–33 Six were later awarded damages. One was charged with activities linked to loyalist paramilitaries. The Stephens team caused "intense anger" as three hundred police had been used to surround the homes of suspects. This had identified them as UDR soldiers to their neighbours, potentially putting their lives at risk. Eleven moved house as a result, while the homes of eighteen others were provided with "additional security measures" at a cost of £25,000. In December 1991, three serving UDR soldiers and a close associate were arrested and questioned for several days about the murder of four men in a gun attack by the UVF in Cappagh, County Tyrone in March 1991 before being released without charge. The RUC and British Army examination of intelligence relating to several murders and attempted murders between 1988 and 1991 "highlighted concerns in relation to several members" of the UDR's 8th Battalion based in County Tyrone. A Historical Enquiries Team (HET) report released by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) claimed the UDR men "were also named as responsible for other murders". Minutes of a 2012 meeting between HET officials, Cappagh families and representatives of campaign group

Relatives for Justice The Relatives For Justice (RFJ) are a support group formed in the mid-1990s in Dungannon, Northern Ireland. The group are involved with providing support and working with relatives of people bereaved, injured or affected by conflict related viole ...

recorded that the HET believed there were "probably four or five cases where UDR soldiers are linked to killings". Other members of the UDR were also questioned about the murder of Sinn Féin member Tommy Casey near Cookstown in October 1990, before being released without charge. An intelligence report indicated the murder was carried out by south Tyrone UVF and that three men named as being involved were UDR soldiers. The suspects were arrested along with two others, also in December 1991. In 1999, David Jordan, a former UDR soldier, allegedly broke down in a bar and admitted to being part of a patrol that killed nationalist Councillor Patsy Kelly in 1974. In January 2022, the Police Ombudsman published a report examining the RUC's handling of paramilitary attacks by the UDA/UFF between 1989 and 1993 in the north west of Northern Ireland which included 19 murders and multiple attempted murders. The report summarised that a "significant number of serving and former UDR members had links with loyalist paramilitaries" in the region and this included senior figures within the North West UDA/UFF. This overlap in membership gave loyalist paramilitaries access to weapons, training, intelligence, and uniforms which "added to their effectiveness in carrying out sectarian attacks." A leaked British military document that was posted to a local newspaper in 1992, claimed to have been sent by the UVF, contained the details of a number of republicans and also had the names of 28 UDR members named as being linked to loyalist paramilitaries. The Ombudsman's report was of the opinion that the RUC was not proactive enough in pursuing serving UDR members who were also actively involved in loyalist paramilitary violence; in one example two UDR soldiers linked to loyalist paramilitaries attended several security force briefings where they had access to sensitive information. The report found "no indications" that police investigated one of the soldiers links to the UDA/UFF despite RUC Special Branch's assessment that he had provided the intelligence for a murder in 1989. The other serving UDR soldier attended security force briefings at the same time as police were in possession of intelligence identifying him as having links to loyalist paramilitaries.

IRA infiltration

At the start of June 1987 three attacks were made against soldiers of the same company of 7/10 UDR including Private Joe Tracey who was shot dead as he started a new job on apartments off the Lisburn Road, Belfast. The ''Belfast Newsletter'' reported that 7/10 UDR had been infiltrated by the IRA. The commanding officer accepted that someone must have informed on him but denied that the IRA had been able to penetrate the battalion calling the allegation a "wild rumour". Another incident involved William Bogle of 6 UDR who was ambushed and killed on 5 December 1972 at

Killeter Killeter () is a small village and townland near Castlederg in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 147. Killeter has a yearly August fair, which celebrates the diversity and richness of rural life. The vil ...

near the Tyrone/Donegal border. It was alleged that he was targeted by a former member of his own company "possessed of strong republican views" who moved across the border after the killing and is not known to have returned to Northern Ireland.

Measures against infiltration

* The Bray reforms Brigadier Michael Bray adopted a

zero-tolerance A zero tolerance policy is one which imposes a punishment for every infraction of a stated rule.zero tolerance, n.' (under ''zero, n.''). The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Ed. 1989. Retrieved 10 November 2009. Italy, Japan, Singapore China, Indi ...

policy for any activity related to loyalism from the beginning of his tenure as Commander UDR. He instituted a number of safeguards including monitoring of entire battalions and six-month security reviews of all UDR personnel. An out of bounds list was compiled which included pubs and clubs known to be frequented by loyalist paramilitaries.Ryder 1991 p. 215 Soldiers were cautioned as to whom they should socialise with. This was a concerted effort to remove anyone with dual membership from the regiment and to prevent peer pressure being applied. * The Stevens Enquiry The

Stevens Report The Stevens Inquiries were three official British government inquiries led by Sir John Stevens concerning collusion in Northern Ireland between loyalist paramilitaries and the state security forces. While Stevens declared in 1990 that collusion ...

resulted in a tightening of control on even the most low-rated intelligence documents and heightened accountability. For the first time the RUC were given access to UDR vetting procedures and many soldiers found themselves under police observation for extended periods of time, in some cases resulting in their discharge. Stevens agreed there had been collusion between a small number of UDR soldiers who had "gravely abused their positions of trust" but that the issue was not "widespread or institutionalised".

The 1973 "Subversion in the UDR" report

A draft document, entitled ''Subversion in the UDR'', was amongst many released in 2005 and discovered in the Public Record Office. Some content appeared in '' The Irish News'' on 2 and 3 May 2006. Believed to have been prepared by British military intelligence in August 1973, it examines the issue of overlapping membership between the UDR and subversive organisations in the first three years of recruiting. ''

Subversion Subversion () refers to a process by which the values and principles of a system in place are contradicted or reversed in an attempt to transform the established social order and its structures of power, authority, hierarchy, and social norms. Sub ...

'' was considered to be a "strong support for, or membership of, organisations whose aims are incompatible with those of the UDR" and attempts by soldiers to use their "knowledge, skills, or equipment to further the aims of such organisations." It speculated that "perhaps" 5–15% of UDR soldiers were, or had been, directly linked to "Protestant extremist groups". That the "best single source of weapons, and the only significant source of modern weapons, for these groups was the UDR" and that the British Government knew UDR weapons were being used by loyalist paramilitaries, including the killing of a Roman Catholic civilian and other attacks. The report illustrated how over 200 UDR weapons were lost or stolen by the end of 1972, although the rate of loss had decreased to 56 by 1973 when the report was written. This was suggested to be partially due to increased security and also that "the reduced credibility of Protestant extremist groups in the eyes of the majority community, has made the subversion of UDR members more difficult." During 1973 the most successful loyalist extremist arms raids took place at the Department of Industrial and Forensic Science, and at firearms dealers in Belfast, Newtownards and Armagh, rather than on UDR locations. The report suggested there was no substantial threat of subversion from republican extremists in the regiment as the number of Catholics had decreased to under 4%. There were isolated incidents where Catholic UDR soldiers 'lost' weapons in suspicious circumstances, but "neither the number of weapons nor the threat is thought to be great". The report concluded that except in limited circumstances subversion in the UDR has not compromised its ability to carry out its duties.

Criminal convictions

18 UDR soldiers were convicted of murder and 11 for manslaughter. Between 1970 and 1985, 99 were convicted of assault, whilst others were convicted of armed robbery, weapons offences, bombing, intimidation and attacks on Catholics, kidnapping, and membership of the UVF. Only a small proportion of the 40,000 individuals who served with the regiment were convicted of criminal activities, but the proportion was higher than for the regular British Army or RUC.Weitzer 1990, p. 208

Political controversy

The Ulster Defence Regiment commanded uncritically fierce support from most Protestants in Northern Ireland but never gained the confidence of the Roman Catholic minority.Ryder p.xvii This can partially be explained by the failure to attract and retain Catholics, and partially by the sectarian culture and character of the regiment, which became explicit following the introduction of internment without trial of suspected Irish Republicans after 1971. Initially, the Nationalist political parties at Stormont encouraged Catholics to join. The first notable change to this was caused by the Parliament of Northern Ireland's decision to introduce

. None of those initially interned were Protestant, which led Catholics to understand that this was a measure directed entirely against their community.Potter p56 For the UDR it meant an increase in Republican propaganda against the regiment. After the introduction of internment, Catholic support for the regiment plummeted and the few Catholic soldiers that remained faced intimidation from their own communities. The Ballymurphy Massacre in August 1971 and Bloody Sunday in January 1972, when innocent Catholic civilians were murdered by the British Army, also served to convince Catholics that the UDR was a sectarian force. In 1971 25% of Catholic soldiers resigned from the UDR. During 1972 another 108 resigned. The SDLP's Ivan Cooper said in a 1972 statement that the regiment "should be disbanded". The Alliance Party's chairman Oliver Napier expressed concern about "undesirables" in the regiment in a statement in November 1972. The Social Democratic and Labour Party called for full disbandment of the regiment as early as 1974 through the media and by applying pressure through the Irish government and became the major conduit for complaints against the UDR from Catholics. The SDLP remained opposed to the regiment and continually called for its disbandment "due to the failure of the GOC to address the issue of Catholic recruiting and the regimental image". Although no official support was evident from the party leaderships various members (for example Seamus Mallon), condemned the killing of UDR soldiers and attended funerals, such as in the case of James Cochrane, a Catholic soldier from 3 UDR in Downpatrick who was killed in a culvert bomb attack on 6 January 1980. After the Hillsborough Agreement the

Democratic Unionist Party The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a unionist, loyalist, and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, who led the party for the next 37 years. Currently led by J ...

(DUP) began a campaign with the apparent motive of reducing morale in the regiment and causing mass resignations by undermining the confidence of soldiers in their officers. During this period

announced to the press that soldiers in

Ballymena Ballymena ( ; from ga, an Baile Meánach , meaning 'the middle townland') is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is part of the Borough of Mid and East Antrim. The town is built on land given to the Adair family by King Charles I i ...

had been requested to report to barracks to be disarmed prior to the part-time cadre being disbanded. The DUP press office claimed that the use of English officers and senior NCOs was "London and Dublin insisting the UDR could not be trusted".Potter 2001, pp. 290–91 and

Peter Robinson Peter Robinson may refer to: Entertainment * Peter Robinson (sideshow artist) (1873–1947), American actor and sideshow performer, known for his appearance in film ''Freaks'' (1932) * J. Peter Robinson (born 1945), British musician and film score ...

, the deputy DUP Leader, advised soldiers not to co-operate with policemen who were attached to their patrols as they were there on the directions of the Anglo-Irish Council. A military assessment in 1981 had concluded there was no long-term requirement for the UDR except for possibly a role in home defence. Any British government doubts about the future viability of the regiment were kept secret for fear of provoking a Unionist backlash and prompting the formation of new Unionist paramilitary groups. Ulster Unionist MP Ken Maginnis interviewed for a BBC

documentary in 1990 opined that disbanding the UDR would lead an increase in Loyalist paramilitary activity and the setting up of other paramilitary organisations. The UDR's sectarian image received corroboration from an unlikely source in February 1985 when Ulster Unionist leader James Molyneaux privately informed a Northern Ireland Office official of his "concern about the way in which some UDR patrols abused their position in relation to members of the Catholic community". The weekly republican newspaper

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 ...

carried reports highlighting what it saw as naked state oppression. In its editorials An Phoblacht referred to the UDR as, "not Dad's Army but a sectarian militia". To help emphasise their message they produced posters which supporters pasted over walls in Republican areas such as "The Loyalist Murderers" and "Blood Money," referring to the redundancy payments received by former UDR soldiers still serving with the Royal Irish Regiment at the end of Operation Banner (The official army title for operations in Northern Ireland). An Phoblacht claimed that the UDR had secret "death squads" (See:

) sponsored by United Kingdom Special Forces and that members of the UDR (in collusion with British Intelligence) were behind the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. When Gerry Adams (the Sinn Féin president) was wounded in an assassination attempt by three members of the UFF it was an off-duty full-time

Non-commissioned officer A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is a military officer who has not pursued a commission. Non-commissioned officers usually earn their position of authority by promotion through the enlisted ranks. (Non-officers, which includes most or all enli ...

of 10 UDR who gave chase to their car and arrested them, assisted by an off-duty policeman. This is not noted in Adams' Sinn Féin biography and the BBC still insists the assailants were arrested by "plain clothes policemen". The UDR NCO received the

for arresting the gunmen. In the long term however the soldier was intimidated out of his home and the UDR as a direct result of these arrests. Journalist

Ed Moloney Edmund "Ed" Moloney (born 1948–9) is an Irish journalist and author best known for his coverage of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, and the activities of the Provisional IRA, in particular. He worked for the ''Hibernia'' magazine and ''Magill ...

, author of several books on The Troubles, described the UDR as a "largely Protestant militia".

Music

Each battalion had a number of pipers who also participated in a centralised pipe band formally called the Pipes & Drums of the Ulster Defence Regiment. Its uniform followed the traditional military dress for Irish pipers, consisting of a saffron kilt, bottle-green "Prince Charlie" jacket, bottle-green cape and bottle-green caubeen adorned with a double-size cap badge. Unlike other Irish regiments in the British Army, UDR pipers did not wear a hackle and the lining colour of the cloaks was unique to the regiment. In June 1986, the regiment held its only tattoo which ran over a period of two days in good weather at Ravenhill rugby ground, Belfast.Potter p291 Some of the attractions for the 12,000 people who attended were: * the Red Devils parachute team; * Greenfinches abseiling from the top of one of the grandstands; * UDR dogs; * a mock ambush; * Beating Retreat with the Pipes & Drums of the UDR plus the bands of the Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment and the RUC. The crowd is reported to have created a "deeply moving" moment by humming the evening hymn "The Day Thou Givest". At the end of the performance Brigadier Roger Preston and his wife were piped out of the arena on their way to retirement. Only one UDR Pipes & Drums recording was publicly released: the 5 UDR Pipes & Drums "Irish & Scottish Pipe Music", which includes recordings of the regimental and battalion marches as well as other popular tunes.

''Options for Change'' and amalgamation

After the fall of the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...

the United Kingdom began to reduce the size of its armed forced under the working title of Options for Change. Army strength was to be reduced from 160,000 to 110,000; the infantry to reduce from 55 battalions to 38. The GOC saw this as a perfect opportunity to streamline the UDR and also remove some of the more "intractable problems" with regards to image and career prospects. In a revolutionary plan he decided to merge the UDR with the

; incorporating part-time soldiers into the regular army for the first time in history.Potter 2001, pp. 359–62 The hope of the British Army's commander was that the process of amalgamation with the Rangers, coupled with the change of name, would be a fresh start for what he says was a "discredited UDR". The Rangers recruited from the South of Ireland, including many Catholics, and this would aid the process.

"Project Infancy" would also ensure that the Royal Irish Rangers, the last Irish infantry battalion of " the line" did not lose their training facilities and presence in Northern Ireland. The UDR, which was not regular line infantry was, in the words of one commander, "like a fish without feathers". Incorporation as infantry of the line might provide UDR officers with career prospects which mirrored those of the regular army and hopefully resolve the problem of recruiting junior officers. To the GOC the prospect of having a larger number of Catholic officers and NCOs in the UDR would dampen much of the political furore surrounding the regiment. In a private memo to

John MacGregor John MacGregor, John Macgregor or John McGregor may refer to: Sportsmen * John McGregor (footballer, born 1851), Scottish international football player * John McGregor (footballer, born 1900) (1900–1993), English football player * John McGrego ...

Lord President of the Council The lord president of the Council is the presiding officer of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom and the fourth of the Great Officers of State (United Kingdom), Great Officers of State, ranking below the Lord High Treasurer but above the ...

in John Major’s government, then Defence Secretary Tom King emphasised that the merger was primarily motivated by the political controversy surrounding the UDR locally and in Anglo-Irish relations, and it was hoped the move would do away with the UDR's "sectarian stigma." The plan was approved by early summer 1991 and proposed: * The 2 battalions of the Royal Irish Rangers would amalgamate to create a single "General Service" battalion. * The existing nine UDR battalions would be reduced to seven and designated "Home Service". * The part-time element would remain in the Home Service element but the new structure provided for general reduction when the time was right. * The new regiment would be called the Royal Irish Regiment, reusing a name which had been lost on the disbandment of many famous Irish infantry regiments after

partition Partition may refer to: Computing Hardware * Disk partitioning, the division of a hard disk drive * Memory partition, a subdivision of a computer's memory, usually for use by a single job Software * Partition (database), the division of a ...

in 1922. In return the UDR would receive: * A royal title. * A direct line of succession through the regimental name to the Battle of the Boyne and other battles of the Williamite Wars. The proposals were generally welcomed at senior level but there was predictable worry amongst the ranks that this was a precursor to disbandment. Unionist political parties protested, particularly the DUP who immediately relaunched their 1989 "Hands Off the UDR" campaign. When it merged in 1992 the UDR had been on active service longer than any regiment since the Napoleonic Wars, having remained on operations from the day it was created to the day it was amalgamated.

Awards, honours and decorations

The most notable award to the Ulster Defence Regiment was the

made by The Queen on 6 October 2006. The unit citation confers the right of the regiment to be known as "The Ulster Defence Regiment CGC".Order of Wear
During the award ceremony in Belfast the Queen paid tribute to the regiment: :''"Your contribution to peace and stability in Northern Ireland is unique." "Serving and living within the community had required "uncommon courage and conviction". "The regiment had never flinched despite suffering extreme personal intimidation. Their successes had "come at a terrible price, many gave their lives. Today you have cause to reflect on the fine achievements, while remembering the suffering". "The Home Service Battalions of the RIR and the UDR which had preceded them won the deepest respect throughout the land." So that their actions would always be remembered, the CGC was awarded to the RIR/UDR "as a mark of the nation's esteem" with the citation, "This award is in recognition of the continuous operational service and sacrifice of the Ulster Defence Regiment and the Royal Irish Regiment in Northern Ireland during Operation Banner."'' In total 953 individuals received awards through the British honours system including: 12

s; 2 Military Medals; 88 BEMs; 108 OBEs and 276

Mentions in Despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

, however for most UDR soldiers the presentation of decorations assumed the form of "service" or "campaign" medals including: * The General Service Medal with "Northern Ireland" bar. (Awarded after 28 days service in the Operation Banner campaign) * The Ulster Defence Regiment Medal * Northern Ireland Home Service Medal * The Accumulated Campaign Service Medal (Awarded after 1,000 operational (not training) days service in the campaign) * The Medal for Long Service and Good Conduct (Ulster Defence Regiment) The award of "UDR specific" long service medals had complex rules which meant that not very many were ever issued. The UDR medal was only issued to 1,254 of the 40,000 who served. Only 1,416 Accumulated Campaign Service medals were issued. Officers who are awarded the Ulster Defence Regiment medal may use the post-nominal letters UD. The most decorated UDR soldier was Corporal Eric Glass of 4 UDR who received both the

and Distinguished Conduct Medal for bravery. Despite being gravely injured in an IRA ambush Glass managed to survive, killing one of his attackers, Joseph McManus in the process. An account of this (second) attack on Corporal Glass was carried in the Belfast News Letter. In 1987, the regiment submitted a request for the issuing of colours to the Queen which was given consent. This was granted in 1991, when the Queen decided to present the colours herself: an honour which is normally reserved only for those regiments of which she is Colonel in Chief. * 29 June 1991 – The first colours were presented by the Queen to five battalions at Thiepval Barracks,

. * November 1991 – 6 UDR was presented at St Lucia Barracks, Omagh by The Duke of Abercorn. * April 1992 – The last colours were presented by

The Duke of York Duke of York is a title of nobility in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Since the 15th century, it has, when granted, usually been given to the second son of English (later British) monarchs. The equivalent title in the Scottish peerage was D ...

in a ceremony near Edinburgh in April 1992, to 2/11 UDR, 7/10 UDR and 8UDR. Up to May 2010, 232

Elizabeth Cross The Elizabeth Cross is a form of recognition given to the recognised next of kin of members of the British Armed Forces killed in action or as a result of a terrorist attack after the Second World War. It bears the name of the late British monar ...

es and Memorial Scrolls have been issued to the families of UDR personnel whose deaths are officially attributed to their military service. File:Conspicuous Gallantry Cross obverse.jpg, The Conspicuous Gallantry Cross File:GSM-ACCM and miniatures.jpg, Medal group of the GSM and ACSM plus dress miniatures. File:Ulster Defence Regiment Medal.png, UDR Medal ribbon File:Long service and good conduct ulster defense.png, UDR Long Service and Good Conduct Medal ribbon File:The Elizabeth Cross MOD 45152211.jpg, The Elizabeth Cross and dress miniature in presentation case

Freedoms

The City of Belfast and a number of boroughs throughout Northern Ireland paid their own tribute to the regiment by granting freedoms including: North Down, Larne, and

Newtownards Newtownards is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies at the most northern tip of Strangford Lough, 10 miles (16 km) east of Belfast, on the Ards Peninsula. It is in the Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish of Newtownard ...

Wilkinson Sword of Peace

The community relations work of 7th/10th (City of Belfast) Battalion was recognised by the award of the

Wilkinson Sword of Peace The Firmin Sword of Peace (previously known as the Wilkinson Sword of Peace) is an award given to units of the British Armed Forces for activities above and beyond the unit's normal role that improve relations with the community, either within the U ...

for 1990.

UDR Memorials

The UDR Memorial, Lisburn

A memorial to the UDR was erected in

, to "recognise the self sacrifice of the soldiers, both men and women, from all traditions of the UK". The Memorial is "a 19-foot 'heroic scale' bronze sculpture" featuring "bronze figures of a male UDR soldier and a female 'Greenfinch' on operational duty...set upon an equally impressive Mourne granite plinth.". Lisburn City Council leased the site to the UDR Memorial Trust at Market Square, Lisburn. Under the terms of the lease, the UDR Memorial Trust are permitted to use this for the erection of a memorial. The planning, erection and maintenance of the memorial is the responsibility of the UDR Memorial Trust. The UDR Memorial is in addition to the UDR Roll of Honour situated beside Lisburn War Memorial, Castle Street, Lisburn that commemorates UDR personnel from the Lisburn area who died in the conflict. The memorial group of statues was unveiled on 12 June 2011 by

Viscount Brookeborough Viscount Brookeborough, of Colebrooke in the County of Fermanagh, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1952 for the Ulster Unionist politician and Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, Captain The Rt. Hon. Sir B ...

, one of the trustees of the UDR Memorial Trust. At the ceremony, Trust chairman Wesley Duncan said, "It was unfortunate that there were members who did bad things and we're not trying to hide that. But what we would say is that there's almost 50,000 people who didn't do bad things – who did good things, who were ordinary decent people who wanted to do the best they could for their country."

National Arboretum

On Saturday, 28 April 2012 a memorial to the UDR was unveiled at the National Memorial Arboretum by Colonel Sir

Dennis Faulkner Colonel Sir James Dennis Compton Faulkner (22 October 1926 – 31 December 2016) was a Northern Irish officer, who served in the Royal Navy and British Army. He was the Regimental Colonel of the Ulster Defence Regiment from 1982 to 1992. Life ...

CBE (Patron of the Regimental Association) along with Memorial Trees in memory of those UDR Soldiers who were murdered after having left the Regiment. Memorial Trees in memory of all those who were killed while serving had already been planted some years ago. The memorial takes the form of a 6-foot Mourne granite monument. The event was attended by around 100 UDR families, joined by the Northern Ireland Minister of State, Hugo Swire, DUP Junior Minister Jonathan Bell and UUP deputy leader

John McCallister John McCallister (born 20 February 1972) is a Northern Irish Unionist politician. In 2007, he was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly as an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) member for South Down. On 14 February 2013, McCallister announced tha ...

. A parade to the monument was led by the band of the 1st Battalion Royal Irish Regiment. File:UDR Memorial 20110612 0920.jpg, UDR Memorial Statue, Lisburn, June 2011 File:UDR Memorial, Lisburn, November 2010 (01).JPG, Roll of Honour Memorial, War Memorial, Lisburn. File:UDR Memorial - National Arboretum.jpg, UDR Memorial at the National Arboretum. File:UDR Memorial Seat - National Arboretum.jpg, Memorial seat at the National Arboretum. File:Cenotaph, Belfast City Hall, November 2012 (07).JPG, Poppy crosses for the fallen,

Belfast Cenotaph The Belfast Cenotaph is a war memorial in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in Donegall Square West, to the west of Belfast City Hall. Like the City Hall, it was designed by Sir Alfred Brumwell Thomas. The cenotaph was unveiled in 1929. It became a ...

Commanders of the UDR

(Also known by the title "Brigadier UDR") * Brigadier

CBE DSO MC and

Bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

;

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

(first Commander UDR) * (1970–1971) * Brigadier

CBE

, (First Roman Catholic Commander UDR) (1971–1973) * Brigadier

Harry Baxter Brigadier (United Kingdom), Brigadier Henry Joseph Patrick Baxter (8 April 1921 – 10 January 2007) was an Irish born fourth generation soldier who overcame the handicap of being blind in one eye to join the army and rose to command one of the ...

CBE GM (First Irish Commander, also 2nd Colonel Commandant)

Punjab Regiment Punjab Regiment may refer to the following existing units: *Punjab Regiment (India) *Punjab Regiment (Pakistan) From 1922 to 1947, the British Indian Army included 6 numbered Punjab Regiments: *1st Punjab Regiment * 2nd Punjab Regiment *8th Punj ...

(1973–1976) * Brigadier

Mervyn McCord Brigadier Mervyn Noel Samuel McCord, CBE, MC, ADC (25 December 19298 February 2013) was a decorated Irish officer of the British Army who served with distinction during the Korean War and rose to be Commanding Officer of the Ulster Defence Reg ...

CBE, MC, ADC (1976–1978)

. * Brigadier David Millar

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

Border Regiment (joint author of "The Way ahead" Ulsterisation document) (1978–1980) * Brigadier Pat Hargrave (1980–1982) Royal Warwickshire Regiment/ Royal Regiment of Fusiliers * Lieutenant General Sir Peter Graham (1982–1984) Gordon Highlanders * Brigadier Roger St Clair Preston (1984–1986) The Light Infantry * Brigadier Michael Bray CBE (author of the Bray Reforms) Duke of Wellington's Regiment (1986–1988) * Brigadier Charles Ritchie CBE Royal Scots (1988–1990) * Brigadier

Angus Ramsay Major General Angus Iain Ramsay, (born 1946) is a former British Army officer who served as Commander British Forces Cyprus from 1998 to 2000. Military career Ramsay was commissioned into the Royal Highland Fusiliers in 1964.

CBE, DSO Royal Highland Fusiliers (1990–1992)

Colonels Commandant

* General Sir

GCB, KCB DSO (1969–1977) (

) (1st Colonel Commandant). * Brigadier

CBE GM (1977–1986). * General Sir David Young (1986–1991) Royal Scots. * General Sir Charles Huxtable (1991–1992) Duke of Wellington's Regiment. Huxtable continued as Colonel Commandant of the Royal Irish Regiment until 1996.

Regimental Colonel

Colonel Sir

CBE VRD UD Royal Naval Reserve/

3rd Battalion, Ulster Defence Regiment 3rd (County Down) Battalion, Ulster Defence Regiment (3 UDR) was formed in 1970 as part of the seven original battalions specified in The Ulster Defence Regiment Act 1969, which received Royal Assent on 18 December 1969 and was brought into forc ...

(1982–1992)

Notable personnel

* :Ulster Defence Regiment soldiers * :Ulster Defence Regiment officers

Bibliography

* Dillon, Martin. ''The Dirty War'', Arrow 1991, * Ellison, Graham: Smyth, Jim. ''The Crowned Harp: Policing Northern Ireland'', Pluto Press, 2000, * English, Richard. ''Armed Struggle;– A History of the IRA'', MacMillan, London 2003, * Gamble, Ronnie. ''Echo Company'', The History of E Company 5th Battalion of the Ulster Defence Regiment, 2007. The Regimental Association of the Ulster Defence Regiment, * Gamble, Ronnie. ''My Service Life'', 1939-1979: William (Bill) Balmer, 2009, Causeway Museum Service, * Hezlet. Sir Arthur''The B-Specials: A History of the Ulster Special Constabulary'' (1972) * Human Rights Watch. ''Human Rights in Northern Ireland'', Yale University Press, (1993), * Larkin, Paul. ''A very British Jihad: Collusion, Conspiracy & Cover-up in Northern Ireland'', Beyond the Pale Publications, Belfast 2004, * McKitterick, David. ''Lost Lives'', Mainstream Publishing, 2004, * McKtterick, David: McVea, David. ''Making Sense of the Troubles'', Penguin Books 2001, * Potter, John Furniss. ''A Testimony to Courage – the Regimental History of the Ulster Defence Regiment 1969 – 1992'', Pen & Sword Books Ltd, 2001, * Ripley, Tim: Chappell, Mike. ''Security Forces in Northern Ireland 1969–92'', * Ryder, Chris. ''The Ulster Defence Regiment: An Instrument of Peace?'', 1991 * Weitzer, Ronald. ''Transforming Settler States: Communal Conflict and Internal Security in Northern Ireland and Zimbabwe'', University of California Press, 1990, * Wood, Ian S.''Crimes of Loyalty: A History of the UDA'',

Edinburgh University Press Edinburgh University Press is a scholarly publisher of academic books and journals, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. History Edinburgh University Press was founded in the 1940s and became a wholly owned subsidiary of the University of Edinburgh ...

, 2006,

References

External links

*
Palace Barracks Memorial Garden – Roll of Honour

Regimental Association of the Ulster Defence Regiment CGC

Regimental Association of the Royal Irish Regiment

Long Kesh Documents – UDR

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ulster Defence Regiment Infantry regiments of the British Army Irish regiments of the British Army The Troubles (Northern Ireland) Military units and formations established in 1970 Recipients of the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross Military history of Northern Ireland Military units and formations disestablished in 1992 Defunct Irish regiments of the British Army 1970 establishments in the United Kingdom 1992 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Irish regiments