IRA Northern Command

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The Northern Command was a division in the Irish Republican Army (IRA, 1922-1969) and the Provisional IRA , responsible for directing IRA operations in the northern parts of Ireland .

IRA

After the outbreak of World War II , the IRA struggled with cross-border communication between Dublin and Belfast. This is why some members of the IRA in the north believed that a separate unit was needed. Charlie McGlade, a Belfast printer, was the architect of this idea. The IRA leadership agreed and in 1939 Northern Command was given responsibility for IRA operations in the six counties of Northern Ireland and County Donegal , while Southern Command assumed responsibility for the remaining 25 counties of Ireland. Charlie McGlade became the commanding officer (O / C) of the Northern Command, Jimmy Steele his adjutant, and Seán McCaughey the quartermaster . In 1940, McGlade resigned as O / C of Northern Command and appointed McCaughey as his successor.

In the early 1950s , the Northern Command and Southern Command were abolished, and sole command was transferred again to the south, so that all commands were again issued from Dublin.

Provisional IRA

In the mid- 1970s , a new Northern Command was proposed by Gerry Adams and Ivor Bell to operate in the six counties of Northern Ireland, as well as the adjacent counties of the Republic of Ireland : County Louth , County Cavan , County Monaghan , County Leitrim and County Donegal. These counties formed the so-called "war zone" in which paramilitary operations were planned and carried out. The role of Southern Command, responsible for the remaining 21 counties in the republic, was logistical support for the campaign in the north. This corresponded to a downright disempowerment of the then Dublin IRA elite around Ruairí Ó Brádaigh and Dáithí Ó Conaill . Some Northern Republican veterans, such as Joe Cahill and Billy McKee , were also against the idea, fearing a split in the movement, but then IRA chief of staff Seamus Twomey supported Adams' idea, and so a new Northern Command ended Founded in 1976.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Tim Coogan: The IRA . HarperCollins , 2000, ISBN 0-00-653155-5 , pp. 174-179.
  2. ^ A b Ed Moloney: A Secret History of the IRA . Penguin Books , 2002, ISBN 0-14-101041-X , pp. 157-160.
  3. ^ Brendan Anderson: Joe Cahill: A Life in the IRA . O'Brien Press, 2002, ISBN 0-86278-836-6 , p. 114.