Sorry folks tried to write about the Britsh build - up Aden Ireland etc but I had to cut it.


Belfast in 1971 to 72 a small city by comparison, ;;;;;;



As terrorists the IRA were in a class of their own and they were to become the grand masters of urban guerrilla warfare.
Operating on the streets there was the constant apprehension, was your cover being exposed, then a phobia of passing a potential bomb or booby trap, hidden explosives in cycle frames, rubbish bins, prams, drain pipes, and under pavements waiting for you to pass then the remote was depressed. The car bomb was said to be initiated in the province by the then Belfast Brigade commander; Seamus Toomey a devastating terror tactic that also killed many civilians as well as soldiers. Other terror tactics evolved, nails imbedded in lumps of gelignite, pipe bombs, blast bombs and the petrol bomb, all made regular appearances.
Then there was the prospect of getting shot, from a rifle or submachine gun, from close range from a pistol as you walked down the street with the mussel less than an inch away from the back of the head. Shootings were never straightforward never a high noon shoot out, and no quick draw with double taps at multiple targets; it was ambush and counter ambush. One form of IRA urban attack in built-up streets would be the ‘cowboy’ attack where a lookout would signal the right moment and a gunman would stick his machinegun around a corner and blaze away and hope for a hit without even having to expose his own body. At other times snipers would shoot through several sets of windows in adjacent houses just as the target passed the furthest away window bearing a small marking cross made of tape at head height. The sniper would get a signal as the soldier passed the marker and fire. A guy you knew, worked and trained with would go down with half his head missing. Sometimes a gunman would loose off a magazine at a target, and then a back up would snatch the weapon and move it away sometimes even hidden in a baby’s pram. The back-ups were kids, wives, mother, and all terrorists. Sometimes a gunman would drop the weapon and make his escape by dashing to an open ‘friend's’ house and sit down to a ‘prepared’ half eaten meal. It looked like he had been there for hour, a ready made alibi.
Then you had the traps; most of these were set for the infantry; the foot patrols. Walking around at night the grunts got bored one trick they used to snare the patrol was to find a house with a good ambush site then get a young good-looking girl to make believe she lived there and to undress in a well-lit window with the knowledge she would attract the attention of the patrol. The word would get around then eventually at one of her acts a burst of machine gun fire or a bomb aimed at the patrol would cut short the performance.
But you had to learn; you learnt to spot the signs between the traps and the tricks, the real and the hoax bombs that ran in a ratio of 20 hoax’s to every real bomb. You knew the signs that meant a shooting was about to happen and you learn when you could be the target. You had to learn the tricks and you had to learn quickly, you learnt that when they let of an explosive devise in an empty street if you did the obvious then you headed straight into an ambush. If you didn’t recognise the signs you died. . But most of all you learnt that in places like Belfast you never become complacent, complacency was not recommended as an operational technique for this type of warfare.

Riots became a twin problem; you could handle the bricks, rock or the bottles, but mainly you listen for the audio signal that would tell the crowd to dispel instantly. This was the time you took cover and looked for the sniper who was about to fire. You had times when the mob suddenly close in on a security patrol as they entered a street, the mob would bang dustbin lids and made a noise loud enough to cause confusion; it broke command and disorientated the six man uniformed patrol; the mob would hide the gunman then help him escape.

At times you found the bodies, the kidnap victims who had been tortured, the unlucky ones that died a horrifying death and ended up stuffed in a car boot along with a booby trap. The news the next day simple said “a body of a man was found dead in central Belfast police are treating it as murder” the politicians preferred it that way. The lucky ones got away with kneecapping a term to describe punishment shootings, a bullet though each kneecap it allowed them to live but to limp about for the rest of their lives. For us it was another learning phase it taught don’t get caught, no surrender.
These tactics weren’t described in British Army training manuals, we learnt the hard way and this meant some people dying.
Another thing you notice, Soldiers who have tried to stop there friends from bleeding to death will never again fall asleep during first aid lectures.
When the shooting start you know you have been continually trained for what is happening but for some people it is hard for them to accept, a street that looks like any other street in England, the people are dressed the same and speak the same language but they are people acting with a psychopathic insanity. You have two options when it happens and the first thing you may see is one of your guys blown apart; you either freeze or try to believe it’s not happening and you die or your training clicks in and natural reactions follow and you engage; if it is a single sniper you do a fast follow up to get close enough to retaliate you never stand still. If it is an ambush you consolidate find better cover even if it means kicking the door or a house in and throwing the occupant out. You radio for a quick reaction force. If you hear the banging of garbage can lids. You know that this is what calls the ghetto occupants onto the streets a riot made to order designed to stop help getting to you. If you’re in Uniform you may have a chance with the rifle to keep them away, undercover you have to shoot civilians, women and teenage kids to get out. There is no hands up, no surrender, no prisoners of war if you are caught you are murdered. Since the seventies we have came to Belfast and went operation after operation, the IRA has changed from terrorists to ‘freedom fighters’, and we conveniently overlook their record of the past 32 years with 1,700 people murdered, including 600 innocent people who just happened to be in the way! For the security forces 720 deaths have been sustained with many thousands injured, many of who will never recover fully! Belfast was the place where you learnt the rules.