especially in Dundalk!
Did you have the pleasure of being posted there ?
especially in Dundalk!
Don’t believe everything that you hearI had anecdotally heard that the Reserves were largely populated by anti-treaty types. Accepted as a sort of de facto balance to the Regulars.
No word on the standard of regulation though.
A brief visitDid you have the pleasure of being posted there ?
Oh, ok. 1984ish. Ptl returns, tired and mucky, gunner fails to do something he should do, and the sand in the trap sprayed out absolutely all over the driveway at front of t'mill. Bn ops instantly stood everyone to, much scuttling around, consultation of maps showing mortar baseplate analyses, orders barked with Military Precision and Authority, troops deployed at fast double, Bessbrook village wonders whether it should panic. Sheepish gunner raises hand. BBK Coy gets another rocket. QM furious about sandy mess. W'breath and pals disappear to t' Pot Belly for stiff snifters.Oh, go on...
Were they of a certain mafia of colour persuasion by any chance?It was certainly carried by people out of BBK, and one bn spectacularly used it to clear out the 1m range at the front gate there.
It fits with the political history of Ireland. The two dominant parties in the Republic emerged from a pro-treaty background while Sinn Fein and PIRA evolved from an anti-treaty ancestry. The IDF have always leaned towards the pro-treaty side of the equation and would thus be regarded as 'traitorous' by the predominantly Republican population around the border areas.
The civil war was far more polarised than that. You had brothers fighting on opposing sides in many many cases.It sounds a bit like the way the RIC were treated during the 'War of Independence' between 1919 - 1921 with police boycotts and the subsequent divisions after the Civil war with which side did your Grandad fight on - Pro-Treaty Free State Army or the Anti-Treaty rebels.
As the Free State Army?more than that, the DF (IDF are the Israelis) are the pro-treaty side. They fought a very bloody if short Civil War and won for the pro Treaty side
But that happened in 1926I tried to give the easy version - but of course you are correct albeit that Dev was then regarded as a traitor by the remaining Shinner representatives who stood by the proclamation (2nd Dail) went on to sign away their allegiance to the IRA. It's complicated I guess.
ETA easier to understand than to explain - shorter at least![]()
Officially “National Army”As the Free State Army?
There was at least one Garda station that came under fire from British Army (which was incorrectly identified as a firing point) probably in the 70s.
I want to say Lifford (across the border from Strabane) but not 100% sure
Camels Hump,Would the return fire have come from the "Camels Back"? Google tells me that the Garda Station in Lifford is currently on the north side of "Foyle View" which would have been obscured from there by the houses on the south side. The Customs Post would have been in full view of the Camels Back but I don't remember a Garda presence there.
A brief visit
confined barracks for security reasons (and that was post GFA)
come to think of it there are many parts of RoI where “Free Stater” aren’t popular
The Shankill Road, Belfast?Besides Dundalk, where else are Garda and Army treated as the enemy ?
Don’t believe everything that you hear
Besides Dundalk, where else are Garda and Army treated as the enemy ?
Camels Hump,IIRC the favoured PIRA firing point was a church tower which had direct line of sight to the SF PVC on the Strabane side of the bridge.
Ooh!you’d get a like but there is only one Oglaigh na hEireann and that is the Defence Forces as allowed for under Bunreacht na hEireann (Irish Constitution) and the (Irish) Defence Acts.
Others illegally claim the name