Belfast Brigade | |
---|---|
Active | December 1969 – May 1972 (sporadic actions occur after 1972 until the mid 70's) |
Allegiance | Official Irish Republican Army |
Size | 500 - 1,000 |
Area of operations | Belfast, Northern Ireland |
Nickname(s) | Irish National Liberation Front (NLF) |
Main actions | |
Commanders | |
Notable commanders | Jim Sullivan Joe McCann Billy McMillen [2] |
The Official IRA's Belfast Brigade was founded in December 1969 after the Official IRA itself emerged in December 1969, shortly after the beginning of the Troubles, when the Irish Republican Army split into two factions. The other was the Provisional IRA. The "Officials" were Marxist-Leninists and worked to form a united front with other Irish communist groups, named the Irish National Liberation Front (NLF). The Brigade like the pre-split IRA brigade before the split had three battalions, one in West Belfast, one in North Belfast and the third in East Belfast. The Belfast Brigade was involved in most of the biggest early confrontations of the conflict like the Falls Curfew in 1970, the battles that followed after the introduction of Internment without trial in 1971 and Volunteers joined forces with the Provisional brigade to fight the British Army and UVF during the Battle at Springmartin in 1972. [3] [4] The first Commanding Officer (CO) of the brigade was veteran Billy McMillen who fought during the IRA Border Campaign. Shortly after the death of Official IRA Belfast "Staff Captain" Joe McCann in April 1972, the battalion structure of the brigade was done away with and command centralized under McMillen. [5]
The Brigades first action against the British Army was during the defense of the Lower Falls during the Falls Curfew of July 1970. The British soldiers carrying out the Curfew orders were extremely hostile and threatening to the local people. Second in command of the Belfast Brigade Jim Sullivan organized a company of about 80 - 90 Volunteers to do battle with the British soldiers, they joined forces with a small unit from the Provisional IRA led by Brendan Hughes's cousin Charlie Hughes. In the battle four civilians were killed by the British army and about 60 civilians were hurt in the crossfire. 18 British soldiers were injured in the battle, 12 from gunshot wounds and 6 from grenades. A number of Officials were injured also, and a number were arrested including Commander Billy McMillen. [6] [7] [8] [9] This was the largest engagement between the IRA and British Army since the Irish War of Independence of 1919 - 1921.
The Irish National Liberation Army 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 seeks to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and create a socialist republic encompassing all of Ireland. With membership estimated at 80–100 at their peak, it is the paramilitary wing of the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP).
The Official Irish Republican Army or Official IRA was an Irish republican paramilitary group whose goal was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and create a "workers' republic" encompassing all of Ireland. It emerged in December 1969, shortly after the beginning of the Troubles, when the Irish Republican Army (IRA) split into two factions. The other was the Provisional IRA. Each continued to call itself simply "the IRA" and rejected the other's legitimacy.
The Irish People's Liberation Organisation was a small Irish socialist republican paramilitary organisation formed in 1986 by disaffected and expelled members of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA), whose factions coalesced in the aftermath of the supergrass trials. It developed a reputation for intra-republican and sectarian violence and criminality, before being forcibly disbanded by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) in 1992.
Joe McCann was an Irish republican paramilitary. A member of the Irish Republican Army and later the Official Irish Republican Army, he was active in politics from the early 1960s and participated in the early years of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. He was shot dead during a confrontation with RUC Special Branch members and British paratroopers in 1972.
William "Billy" McMillen, aka Liam McMillen, was an Irish republican activist and an officer of the Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA) from Belfast, Northern Ireland. He was killed in 1975, in a feud with the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA).
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