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 "Bandit Country"

South Armagh 1988


Sources:

Bennett, Huw. Uncivil War: The British Army and The Troubles, 1966-1975.  (Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press), 2024. pp 427.

Arthur, Max.  Northern Ireland Soldiers Talking: 1969 To Today.  (London, UK, Sidgwick & Jackson Limited), 1987. pp 271.

Coogan, Tim Pat.  The IRA.  (New York, USA, Palgrave Publishing), 2002, pp. 808.

Harnden, Toby.  Bandit Country:  The IRA and South Armagh.  (London, UK, Hodder and Stoughton), 1999, pp. 404.

Morton, Peter, Brigadier.  Emergency Tour 3 Para in South Armagh.  (Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, UK, William Kimber & Co), 1989, pp. 240.

Taylor, Steven.  Air War Northern Ireland: Britain's Air Arms and the Bandit Country of South Armagh, Operation Banner 1969-2007.  (Barnsley, Yorkshire, UK, Pen and Sword Books), 2018, pp. 157. 

 Wharton, Ken.  A Long Long War: Voices from the British Army in Norther Ireland 1969-1998.  (Solihull, England, Helion & Company Limited), 2008, pp. 

Wharton, Ken.  Wasted Years Wasted Lives Vol 2  The British Army in Northern Ireland 1978-79.  (Solihull, England, Helion & Company Limited), 2014, pp.

https://youtu.be/YEbYb7tSeEw?si=f-O2uPgOtBB3xcaF

Rough draft notes:

Summer time 1988: southwest of Crossmaglen (XMG) village in South Armagh, a British RAF Lynx helicopter reports that it has been hit and the pilot attempts to land before losing communication with Crossmaglen barracks.  On board is the Lt. Colonel and Sergeant Major of the battalion with three crew of the Lynx.  This is "Bandit Country" where the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) hold the initiative in a war that started in 1969.  By the early 1970s, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and the British Army have been forced to abandon using the roads due to IEDs and mines destroying security forces' vehicles and inflicting casualties. As a result, all operations and resupply of police/Army barracks is conducted by helicopters.  Police and Army patrols into the countryside are dropped and picked up by helicopter.  

In time, the Army erected large watch towers along the border with the Irish Republic to conduct surveillance, inserted troops in concealed observation posts (OPs) to gather intelligence, and deployed the Special Air Service (SAS).  The downing of the Lynx compelled the security forces to quickly respond using the roads, and an Airborne Reaction force is deployed to find the crash site and rescue their CO and colleagues. At Bessbrook Barracks, the battalion HQ, (14 miles to the east of Crossmaglen) additional helicopters take off in response to the emergency.  Information is non-existent, but time is limited, and the crash site is close to the border (XMG is 1.3 miles from the border on the Dundalk Road, and to the southwest the border is just beyond Cullaville 2.2 miles on the B30).

The IRA have excellent intelligence on the ground, and have prepared for any military movement by road.    



Crossmaglen RUC/Army Barracks
Slieve Gullion
The narrow Moybane Road
 
Creggan (near Crossmaglen)  A 500lb Culvert landmine flipped the Saracen APC (10.5 tons) killing one soldier (Corporal Edward Gleeson), wounding four of the Third Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, and one RUC officer, on  October 9, 1975. As a result, Army Commanders decided the roads in South Armagh were too dangerous, and switch to airborne movement.






A Westland Lynx helicopter was one of the work horses for the Army operating in South Armagh.  As time went on, the IRA tried to down helicopters, and in the 1990s it was decided to arm them with GPMGs.  
A Gazelle hovering over a Lynx that has landed to pick up a patrol.

The 1st Battalion of the Cheshire Regiment on patrol in South Armagh.  The soldier on the right is carrying a GMPG.
A joint RUC/Army mobile Vehicle Check Point (VCP) in South Armagh.  Helicopters would drop and pick up the party at predetermined locations.  Sometimes, the IRA planted IEDs having observed the patrol patterns, and successfully inflicted fatalities.

June 12, 1976.  A mine was exploded around 11:15pm as an eight man patrol was moving between Meigh (through Drumintee) to Forkhill barracks.  There were no army casualties, but Liam Price was killed while driving his car.  The Army claimed he failed to stop after the explosion, and was shot.


Two miles from XMG, a part time OP was booby trapped, and although it was cleared by the army a mine detonated killing two soldiers and wounding two others.  A helicopter landed to evacuate the dead and wounded while the other troops provided security.



A Lynx (XZ664) crashed after being hit by IRA heavy machine gun fire, near Aughanduff Mountain on June 23, 1988.  The three crew and two passengers survived the crash and a ARF from Bessbrook were immediately dispatched.  The IRA later claimed to have used AK47s, three GPMgs and two heavy MGs.

28mm a crash landed Lynx helicopter


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