Free Wales Army
The Free Wales Army ( FWA , Army Free Wales, welsh Byddin Rhyddid Cymru) was a paramilitary nationalist organization which for the independence of Wales ' from England came in.
The FWA was founded in 1963 by Cayo Julian Evans , Tony Lewis and Dennis Coslett and never had more than 20 members. The organization, which never carried out an attack, was mostly viewed by the security forces, the media and the public as an association of bizarre eccentrics that posed no danger. The FWA became known for parading in fantasy uniforms in historically important places in Wales (such as Machynlleth , the seat of the Welsh parliament Owain Glyndŵrs 1404) and above all for its communiques, in which, for example, it was said that there were only thousands of independence fighters in the Welsh mountains waiting for a signal to revolt against England, or that dogs equipped with magnetic mines would be used against English tanks. The FWA acquired some weapons from the IRA in the mid-1960s .
The FWA came into the focus of the security forces when, in the run-up to the investiture of Prince Charles as Prince of Wales on July 1, 1969, bombs in several places in Wales in Caernarfon (which probably did not come from the FWA, but from the Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru ) exploded. Subsequently, nine members of the FWA were arrested, two members - Julian Cayo Evans and Dennis Coslett - tried in Swansea and sentenced to 15 months in prison on July 1, the day of the investiture, for disturbing public order and conspiracy to cause explosions.
After the Swansea trial, the FWA disintegrated in a short time. Cayo Julian Evans (1937–1995), who, according to contemporary assessments from documents of the British security authorities, was at the mental level of a twelve-year-old, took 33rd place in the online vote " The 100 Welsh Heroes " in 2003/2004 and was thus for example placed ahead of Anthony Hopkins and the national saint, Saint David .
Web links
- Short biography of Cayo Julian Evans
- Obituary for Tony Lewis in the Guardian Nov. 16, 2005
- BBC article on government documents on the FWA
- Link to a film report (01'10 min) by the BBC from 1968 about the FWA
literature
- Roy Clews: To Dream of Freedom. The Story of the MAC and the Free Wales Army . Y Lolfa, Talybont / Ceredigion 2001 ISBN 0862435862