The Warrenpoint ambush, also known as the Narrow Water ambush, the Warrenpoint massacre or the Narrow Water massacre, was a
guerrilla attack by the
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reun ...
(IRA) on 27 August 1979. The IRA's
South Armagh Brigade
The South Armagh Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) operated during the Troubles in south County Armagh. It was organised into two battalions, one around Jonesborough and another around Crossmaglen. By the 1990s, the South Ar ...
ambushed a
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 ...
convoy with two large
roadside bomb
An improvised explosive device (IED) is a bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action. It may be constructed of conventional military explosives, such as an artillery shell, attached to a detonating mechan ...
s at
Narrow Water Castle
Narrow Water Castle ( ga, Caisleán an Chaoil; Ulster-Scots: ''Narra Wattèr Castle'') is a 16th-century tower house and bawn near Warrenpoint in Northern Ireland. It is beside the A2 road and on the County Down bank of the Clanrye (Newry) ...
outside
Warrenpoint
Warrenpoint ( ga, An Pointe) is a small port town and civil parish in County Down, Northern Ireland. It sits at the head of Carlingford Lough, south of Newry, and is separated from the Republic of Ireland by a narrow strait. The town is beside t ...
,
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 ...
. The first bomb was aimed at the convoy itself, and the second targeted the incoming reinforcements and the incident command point (ICP) set up to deal with the incident. IRA
volunteers
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 ...
hidden in nearby woodland also allegedly fired on the troops, who returned fire. The castle is on the banks of the
Newry River
Newry River and River Clanrye ( ga, An Rí; Ulster-Scots: ''Clanrye Wattèr'') are names for one of the rivers of Ireland. The river passes through the city of Newry and empties into Carlingford Lough near Warrenpoint.
Course
The river, whi ...
, which marks
the border between Northern Ireland and the
Republic of Ireland
Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...
.
Eighteen British soldiers were killed and over twenty were seriously injured, making it the deadliest attack on the British Army during
the Troubles
The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "i ...
.
An English civilian was also killed and an Irish civilian wounded, both by British soldiers firing across the border after the first blast. The attack happened on the same day that the IRA assassinated
Lord Louis Mountbatten
Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979) was a British naval officer, colonial administrator and close relative of the British royal family. Mountbatten, who was of Germa ...
, a close relative of the
British royal family.
Ambush
The ambush took place on the
A2 road at
Narrow Water Castle
Narrow Water Castle ( ga, Caisleán an Chaoil; Ulster-Scots: ''Narra Wattèr Castle'') is a 16th-century tower house and bawn near Warrenpoint in Northern Ireland. It is beside the A2 road and on the County Down bank of the Clanrye (Newry) ...
, just outside
Warrenpoint
Warrenpoint ( ga, An Pointe) is a small port town and civil parish in County Down, Northern Ireland. It sits at the head of Carlingford Lough, south of Newry, and is separated from the Republic of Ireland by a narrow strait. The town is beside t ...
, in the south of
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 ...
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 ...
. The road and castle are on the northern bank of the
Newry River
Newry River and River Clanrye ( ga, An Rí; Ulster-Scots: ''Clanrye Wattèr'') are names for one of the rivers of Ireland. The river passes through the city of Newry and empties into Carlingford Lough near Warrenpoint.
Course
The river, whi ...
(also known as the Clanrye River), which marks
the border between Northern Ireland and the
Republic of Ireland
Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...
. The Republic's side of the river, the
Cooley Peninsula
The Cooley Peninsula (, older ''Cúalṅge'') is a hilly peninsula in the north of County Louth on the east coast of Ireland; the peninsula includes the small town of Carlingford, the port of Greenore and the village of Omeath.
Geography
The ...
in
County Louth
County Louth ( ; ga, An Lú) is a coastal county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of Meath to the south, Monaghan to the west, Armagh to the north and Down to the ...
, was an ideal spot from which to launch an ambush: it was thickly wooded, which gave cover to the ambushers, and the river border prevented British forces giving chase.
First explosion
On the afternoon of 27 August, a British Army convoy of one
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 ...
and two four-ton lorries—carrying soldiers of the
2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment—was driving from
Ballykinler Barracks to
Newry
Newry (; ) is a city in Northern Ireland, divided by the Clanrye river in counties Armagh and Down, from Belfast and from Dublin. It had a population of 26,967 in 2011.
Newry was founded in 1144 alongside a Cistercian monastery, althoug ...
.
[McKittrick, David. ''Lost Lives: The stories of the men, women, and children who died as a result of the Northern Ireland Troubles''. Mainstream, 1999. pp. 796–797][Sanders, Andrew. ''Times of Troubles: Britain's War in Northern Ireland''. Edinburgh University Press, 2012. pp.139–140] The British Army were aware of the dangers of using the stretch of road along the Newry River and often declared it out of bounds. However, they would sometimes use it to avoid setting a pattern.
At 16:40, as the convoy was driving past
Narrow Water Castle
Narrow Water Castle ( ga, Caisleán an Chaoil; Ulster-Scots: ''Narra Wattèr Castle'') is a 16th-century tower house and bawn near Warrenpoint in Northern Ireland. It is beside the A2 road and on the County Down bank of the Clanrye (Newry) ...
, an
fertiliser bomb, hidden among
strawbales on a parked
flatbed trailer
A semi-trailer is a trailer without a front axle. In the United States, the term is also used to refer to the combination of a truck and a semi-trailer; a tractor-trailer.
A large proportion of a semi-trailer's weight is supported by a tracto ...
, was detonated by remote control by IRA members watching from across the border in County Louth.
The explosion caught the last lorry in the convoy, hurling it on its side and instantly killing six paratroopers, whose bodies were scattered across the road. There were only two survivors amongst the soldiers travelling in the lorry; they both received serious injuries. The lorry's driver, Anthony Wood (aged 19), was one of those killed. All that remained of Wood's body was his pelvis, welded to the seat by the fierce heat of the blast.
According to the soldiers, immediately after the blast they were targeted by rifle fire from the woods on the Cooley Peninsula on the other side of the border,
[ and this view was supported by two part-time firefighters assisting the wounded, who were "sure they had been fired on from the Omeath side of the water". Shortly afterwards, the two IRA members arrested by the ]Garda Síochána
(; meaning "the Guardian(s) of the Peace"), more commonly referred to as the Gardaí (; "Guardians") or "the Guards", is the national police service of Ireland. The service is headed by the Garda Commissioner who is appointed by the Irish Gover ...
(the Republic of Ireland's police force) and suspected of being behind the ambush, were found to have traces of gunsmoke residue on their hands and on the motorbike they were riding. The IRA's first statement on the incident, however, denied that any shots had been fired at the troops, and according to 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) researchers, the soldiers might have mistaken the sound of ammunition cooking off
Cooking off (or thermally induced firing) is unfired weapon ammunition exploding prematurely due to heat in the surrounding environment. The term is used both for detonation of ammunition not loaded into a weapon, and unintended firing of a lo ...
for enemy gunfire. Nevertheless, at the official inquiry the soldiers declared on oath that they had been fired on.
The surviving paratroopers radioed for urgent assistance, and reinforcements were dispatched to the scene by road. A rapid reaction unit was sent by Gazelle
A gazelle is one of many antelope species in the genus ''Gazella'' . This article also deals with the seven species included in two further genera, ''Eudorcas'' and ''Nanger'', which were formerly considered subgenera of ''Gazella''. A third f ...
helicopter, consisting of 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 colonel. ...
David Blair, commanding officer of the Queen's Own Highlanders
The Queen's Own Highlanders (Seaforth and Camerons), officially abbreviated "QO HLDRS," was an infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Scottish Division. It was in existence from 1961 to 1994.
History 1961–1970
The regiment was f ...
, his signaller Lance Corporal Victor MacLeod, and army medics. Another helicopter, a Wessex
la, Regnum Occidentalium Saxonum
, conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the West Saxons
, common_name = Wessex
, image_map = Southern British Isles 9th century.svg
, map_caption = S ...
, landed to pick up the wounded. Colonel Blair assumed command once at the site.
Shooting of Hudson cousins
William Hudson, a 29-year-old from London, was killed by the British Army and his cousin Barry Hudson, a 25-year-old native of Dingle
Dingle (Irish language, Irish: ''An Daingean'' or ''Daingean Uí Chúis'', meaning "fort of Ó Cúis") is a town in County Kerry, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The only town on the Dingle Peninsula, it sits on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coas ...
, was wounded when shots were fired across the Newry River into the Republic of Ireland about 3 km from the village of Omeath
Omeath (; or ''Uí Meth'') is a village on the Cooley Peninsula in County Louth, Ireland, close to the border with Northern Ireland. It is roughly midway between Dublin and Belfast, very near the County Louth and County Armagh / County Down bo ...
, County Louth.[McKittrick, David. ''Lost Lives: The stories of the men, women, and children who died as a result of the Northern Ireland Troubles''. Mainstream, 1999. p. 799]
The pair were partners in 'Hudson Amusements' and had been operating their amusements in Omeath for the duration of the Omeath Gala. When the first explosion was heard across the Lough, the pair went down to the shore to see what was unfolding. The pair made their way to Narrow Water on the southern side of the border to get a better view of what was happening on the northern side. Barry Hudson was shot in the arm and as he fell to the ground he saw his cousin, who was the son of a coachman at Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...
, fall to the ground, shot in the head. He died almost immediately.
Second explosion
The IRA had been studying how the British Army behaved after a bombing and correctly predicted that they would set up an incident command point (ICP) at the stone gateway on the other side of the road. At 17:12, thirty-two minutes after the first explosion, another bomb hidden in milk pails exploded at the gateway, destroying it and hurling lumps of granite through the air. It detonated as the Wessex helicopter was taking off carrying wounded soldiers. The helicopter was damaged by the blast but did not crash.[
]
The second explosion killed twelve soldiers: ten from the Parachute Regiment and the two from the Queen's Own Highlanders. Lt.Colonel Blair was the second Lt.Colonel to be killed in the Troubles up until then, following Lt.Colonel Corden-Lloyd of the 2nd Battalion Royal Green Jackets in 1978. Only one of Colonel Blair's epaulette
Epaulette (; also spelled epaulet) is a type of ornamental shoulder piece or decoration used as insignia of military rank, rank by armed forces and other organizations. Flexible metal epaulettes (usually made from brass) are referred to as ''sh ...
s remained to identify him as his body had been vaporised in the blast. The epaulette was taken from the scene by 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 ...
David Thorne to a security briefing with prime minister Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...
to "illustrate the human factor" of the attack. Mike Jackson, then a major in the Parachute Regiment, was at the scene soon after the second explosion and later described seeing human remains scattered over the road, in the water and hanging from the trees. He was asked to identify the face of his friend, 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 ...
Peter Fursman, still recognisable after it had been ripped from his head by the explosion and recovered from the water by divers from the 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 ...
.
Press photographer Peter Molloy, who arrived at the scene after the first explosion, came close to being shot by an angry paratrooper who saw him taking photographs of the dead and dying instead of offering to help the wounded. The soldier was tackled by his comrades. Molloy said, "I was shouted at and called all sorts of things but I understood why. I had trespassed on the worst day of these fellas' lives and taken pictures of it."["These are the last pictures I ever took... I went home & threw out my camera; I was so sickened. Warrenpoint Massacre: 25 Years On We Revisit Horror of IRA Bombings"](_blank)
''The Mirror (London, England)''. Jilly Beattie. 17 June 2004
Aftermath
The Warrenpoint ambush was the deadliest attack on the British Army during the Troubles and the Parachute Regiment's biggest loss since World War II, with sixteen paratroopers killed.[ ]General
A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry.
In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...
Sir James Glover, Commander of British forces in Northern Ireland, later said it was "arguably the most successful and certainly one of the best planned IRA attacks of the whole campaign".[ The ambush happened on the same day that ]Lord Mountbatten
Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979) was a British naval officer, colonial administrator and close relative of the British royal family. Mountbatten, who was of German ...
, a prominent relative and close confidant of the British royal family, was killed by an IRA bomb aboard his boat at Mullaghmore Mullaghmore may refer to the following places in Ireland:
General
* Mullaghmore, County Clare, a limestone hill
* Mullaghmore Peninsula, a peninsula in County Sligo
** Mullaghmore, County Sligo, a village on the Mullaghmore Peninsula
* Mullaghmore, ...
, along with three others.
Republicans portrayed the attack as retaliation for Bloody Sunday
Bloody Sunday may refer to:
Historical events Canada
* Bloody Sunday (1923), a day of police violence during a steelworkers' strike for union recognition in Sydney, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia
* Bloody Sunday (1938), police violence aga ...
in 1972 when the Parachute Regiment shot dead 13 unarmed civilians during a protest march in Derry
Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...
. Graffiti appeared in republican areas declaring "13 gone and not forgotten, we got 18 and Mountbatten". The day after the Mountbatten and Warrenpoint attacks, 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 ...
retaliated by shooting dead John Patrick Hardy (43), a Catholic civilian, at his home in Belfast's New Lodge New Lodge may refer to:
*New Lodge, Winkfield near Windsor, Berkshire, England
*New Lodge, South Yorkshire, England
*New Lodge, Belfast, an area of North Belfast, Northern Ireland
*New Lodge, Billericay, association football ground in Billericay, E ...
estate. Hardy was allegedly targeted due to the mistaken belief that he was an IRA member.[Taylor, Peter (1999). ''Loyalists''. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. pp. 163–164]
Very shortly after the ambush, IRA volunteers Brendan Burns and Joe Brennan were arrested by the Gardaí. They were stopped while riding a motorbike on a road opposite Narrow Water Castle. They were later released on bail due to lack of evidence. Burns died in 1988 when a bomb he was handling exploded prematurely. In 1998, former IRA member Eamon Collins
Eamon Collins (1954 – 27 January 1999) was a Provisional Irish Republican Army member in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He turned his back on the organisation in the late 1980s, and later co-authored a book called ''Killing Rage'' detailing h ...
claimed that Burns had been one of those who carried out the Warrenpoint ambush.[ No one has ever been criminally charged.
According to ]Toby Harnden
Toby is a popular, usually male, name in many English speaking countries. The name is from the Middle English vernacular form of Tobias. Tobias itself is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew טוביה ''Toviah'', which translates to ''Good i ...
, the attack "drove a wedge" between the British Army and the RUC. Lieutenant-General
Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...
Sir Timothy Creasey, General Officer Commanding Northern Ireland, suggested to Margaret Thatcher that 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 ...
should be brought back and that liaison with the Gardaí should be left in the hands of the military. Sir Kenneth Newman, the RUC Chief Constable, claimed instead that the British Army practice, since 1975, of supplying their garrisons in South County Armagh
County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and ha ...
by helicopter gave too much freedom of movement to the IRA. One result was the appointment of Sir Maurice Oldfield
Sir Maurice Oldfield (16 November 1915 – 11 March 1981) was a British intelligence officer and espionage administrator. He served as the seventh director of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), from 1973 to 1978.
Early life
Oldfield was ...
to a new position of Co-ordinator of Security Intelligence in Northern Ireland. His role was to co-ordinate intelligence between the military, MI5
The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), G ...
and the RUC. Another was the expansion of the RUC by 1,000 members. Tim Pat Coogan asserts that the deaths of the 18 soldiers hastened the move towards Ulsterisation
Ulsterisation refers to one part – "primacy of the police" – of a three-part strategy (the other two being "normalisation" and "criminalisation") of the British government during the conflict known as the Troubles.Kevin Kelly, ''The Longest Wa ...
.
Lieutenant-Colonel Blair is remembered on a memorial at Radley College
Radley College, formally St Peter's College, Radley, is a public school (independent boarding school for boys) near Radley, Oxfordshire, England, which was founded in 1847. The school covers including playing fields, a golf course, a lake, and ...
, Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...
.
References
*
*
Footnotes
External links
*
Warrenpoint falls silent as soldiers’ families recall IRA massacre
{{DEFAULTSORT:Warrenpoint Ambush
Warrenpoint
The Troubles in County Down
Provisional Irish Republican Army actions
1979 in Northern Ireland
Conflicts in 1979
British Army in Operation Banner
Parachute Regiment (United Kingdom)
Improvised explosive device bombings in Northern Ireland
Car and truck bombings in Northern Ireland
Deaths by firearm in the Republic of Ireland
Military history of County Down
Military actions and engagements during the Troubles (Northern Ireland)
20th century in County Down
August 1979 events in Europe
Ambushes in Northern Ireland
Accidents and incidents involving helicopters