The Border Campaign (Irish: Feachtas an Teorann) (December 11, 1956–February 26, 1962) was a campaign of guerrilla warfare (codenamed Operation Harvest) carried out by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) against targets in Northern Ireland, with the aim of overthrowing that state and creating a United Ireland. The campaign was a failure. December 11 is the 345th day of the year (346th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 57th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... A map of Ireland (the majority of the United Kingdom is not shown), showing the Republic of Ireland-United Kingdom border. ... Casus belli is a modern Latin language expression meaning the justification for acts of war. ... Following the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty on 6 December 1921, the Irish Republican Army in the 26 counties that were to become the Irish Free State split between supporters and opponents of the Treaty. ... The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was name of the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. ... The Ulster Special Constabulary (USC) was a reserve force of the Royal Ulster Constabulary. ... The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. ... The IRA Army Council is the decision-making body of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, more commonly known as the IRA, a paramilitary group dedicated to bringing about the end of the Union between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom. ... This biography does not cite any references or sources. ... Ruairí Ó Brádaigh Ruairí Ó Brádaigh (born 1932) is an Irish republican. ... December 11 is the 345th day of the year (346th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 57th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... “Guerrilla” redirects here. ... A code name or cryptonym is a word or name used clandestinely to refer to another name or word. ... Following the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty on 6 December 1921, the Irish Republican Army in the 26 counties that were to become the Irish Free State split between supporters and opponents of the Treaty. ... Northern Ireland (Irish: ) is a part of the United Kingdom lying in the northeast of the island of Ireland, covering 5,459 square miles (14,139 km², about a sixth of the islands total area). ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

Background

The Border Campaign was the first major military undertaking carried out by the IRA since the 1940s, when the harsh security measures of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland governments had almost destroyed the organisation. In 1939 the IRA had tried a bombing campaign in England to try to force British withdrawal from Northern Ireland. From 1942-1944 it also had an ineffective campaign in Northern Ireland. Internment on both sides of the border as well as internal feuding and disputes over future policy all but destroyed the organisation. These campaigns were officially called off on March 10, 1945. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Northern Ireland (Irish: ) is a part of the United Kingdom lying in the northeast of the island of Ireland, covering 5,459 square miles (14,139 km², about a sixth of the islands total area). ... The Sabotage Campaign was a bombing campaign directed against English cities by the Irish Republican Army. ... Northern Campaign 1942 - 1944 is a term used to describe attacks involving volunteers of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) during the period September 1942 - December 1942. ... This article is about the usage and history of the terms concentration camp, internment camp and internment. ...

By 1947, the IRA had only 200 activists according to its own general staff.^[1]

In theory, the IRA wished to overthrow both "partitionist" states in Ireland, which it deemed to be illegitimate entities, imposed by Britain at the time of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1922. However, in 1948, the Chief of Staff, Tony Magan issued General Order Number 8, prohibiting "any armed action whatsoever" against the forces of the Republic of Ireland. This amounted to a de facto recognition of the Southern Irish state. From now on, armed action would be focussed on Northern Ireland, which was still part of the United Kingdom and which was dominated by Protestant unionists. The idea of a campaign launched from the Republic against Northern Ireland, first mooted by Tom Barry in the 1930s, gained currency within IRA circles as the 1950s went on. Signature page of the Anglo-Irish Treaty The Anglo-Irish Treaty, officially called the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was a treaty between the Government of the United Kingdom and representatives of the extra-judicial Irish Republic that concluded the Irish War of Independence. ... Tony (Anthony) Magan was an Irish republican and chief of staff of the Irish Republican Army. ... In the context of Irish politics, Unionists are people in Northern Ireland, who wish to see the continuation of the Act of Union 1800, as amended by the Government of Ireland Act 1920, under which Northern Ireland, created in that latter Act, remains part of the United Kingdom of Great... Tom Barry is also the name of an Academy Award-nominated screenwriter. ...

By the middle of this decade, moreover, the IRA had substantially re-armed. This was achieved by means of arms raids launched between 1951 and 1954, on British military bases in Northern Ireland and England. Arms were taken from Derry, Omagh, Essex, Berkshire and Armagh. At the latter raid on Gough barracks in Armagh in June 1954, the IRA seized 250 Lee Enfield rifles, 37 submachine guns, 9 Bren guns and 40 training rifles. For other places with similar names, see Derry (disambiguation) and Londonderry (disambiguation). ... , Omagh (from the Irish: An Ómaigh meaning The Sacred Plain) is the county town of County Tyrone in Northern Ireland, situated where the rivers Drumragh and Camowen meet to form the Strule. ... For other meanings of Essex, see Essex (disambiguation). ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 54. ... The Lee-Enfield was, in various marks and models, the British Armys standard bolt-action, magazine-fed, repeating rifle for over 60 years from (officially) 1895 until 1956, although it remained in British service well into the early 1960s and is still found in service in the armed forces... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Bren is also a commune of the Drôme département in France. ...

By 1955, splits were occurring in the IRA, as several small groups, impatient for action, launched their own attacks in Northern Ireland. One such activist, Brendan O'Boyle blew himself up with his own bomb in the summer of that year. Another, Liam Kelly founded a breakaway group Saor Uladh ("Free Ulster") and in November 1955, attacked a Royal Ulster Constabulary barracks at Roslea in county Fermanagh. One RUC man was badly injured and a Republican fighter was killed in the incident. In August of the following year, Kelly and another IRA dissident, Joe Christle, burned down some customs posts on the border. Liam Kelly was an Irish republican, who was elected both to House of Commons of Northern Ireland (1953 - 1958) (as an abstentionist) and as a member of Seanad Éireann (1954 - 1957) (which he did attend). ... Saor Uladh - (Irish for Free Ulster) were a short lived paramilitary organisation in Northern Ireland in the 1950s. ... The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was name of the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: , Statistics Province: Ulster County: District: Fermanagh UK Parliament: Fermanagh and South Tyrone Dialling Code: 028, +44 28 Population (2001) 554 Website: www. ... Statistics Province: Ulster County Town: Enniskillen Area: 1,691 km² Population (est. ...

In November 1956, the IRA finally began its own border campaign. They were partly motivated by a desire to prevent any more splits in their organisation. They were also encouraged by the results of the British General Election of 1956, in which two Sinn Fein (since 1949, the IRA’s political wing) candidates were elected in Northern Ireland, with a total of 152,310 votes. This appeared to show that there was a substantial Irish Republican support base within Northern Ireland. Sinn Féin (in the Irish language ourselves or we ourselves; not as sometimes incorrectly translated, ourselves alone) is an Irish political party. ... Fianna Fáil - The Republican Party (Pronounced fee-na fall.) (English: Soldiers of Destiny) is the largest political party in the Republic of Ireland. ...

Planning the Campaign

The plan for the Border Campaign — codenamed, "Operation Harvest" — was devised by Seán Cronin. It envisaged the use of guerrilla units called flying columns, initially four units of about 50 men each. They were to operate from within the Republic of Ireland and to attack military and infrastructure targets within Northern Ireland. In addition, another twenty organisers were sent to various locations within Northern Ireland to train new units, gather intelligence and report back to the leadership in Dublin. An IRA document seized in the Republic in 1956 stated that the aim of the campaign was to: "break down the enemy’s administration in the occupied area until he is forced to withdraw his forces. Our method of doing this is guerrilla warfare within the occupied area and propaganda directed at its inhabitants. In time as we build up our forces, we hope to be in a position to liberate large areas and tie these in with other liberated areas — that is areas where the enemy’s writ no longer runs"^[2]. This biography does not cite any references or sources. ... A Flying column, in military organization pre-dating World War I, is an independent corps of troops usually composed of all arms, to which a particular task is assigned. ...

The reference to "liberated areas" shows that IRA leaders had been influenced to some degree by Maoist guerrilla ideas. For further discussion of IRA military thinking see The Green Book (IRA training manual). Maoism or Mao Zedong Thought (Chinese: 毛澤東思想, pinyin: Máo Zédōng Sīxiǎng), also called Marxism-Leninism–Mao Zedong Thought or Marxism-Leninism-Maoism (MLM), is a variant of communism derived from the teachings of Mao Zedong (1893&#8211... The IRA Green Book is a training and induction manual issued by the Irish Republican Army to new volunteers. ...

No actions were to take place in Belfast, the capital and biggest city in Northern Ireland. There were two reasons for this. Firstly, the IRA in the city was believed to have been infiltrated by informers. Secondly, it was implicitly recognised that IRA actions in Belfast would provoke reprisals by loyalists against the Catholic/nationalist population there. This had happened on a large scale in 1920-22, during and after the Irish War of Independence. This article is about the city in Northern Ireland. ... For the township in Canada, see Loyalist, Ontario In general, a loyalist is an individual who is loyal to the powers that be. ... Combatants Irish Republic United Kingdom Commanders Michael Collins Richard Mulcahy Cathal Brugha Important local IRA leaders Henry Hugh Tudor Strength Irish Republican Army c. ...

The Campaign

The campaign was launched with simultaneous attacks by around 150 IRA men on targets on the Border on the night of 11 December 1956. A BBC relay transmitter was bombed in Derry, a courthouse was burned in Magherafelt, as was a B-Specials post near Newry and a half built Army barracks at Enniskillen was blown up. A raid on Gough barracks in Armagh was beaten off after a brief exchange of fire. December 11 is the 345th day of the year (346th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: , Statistics Province: Ulster County: District: Magherafelt UK Parliament: Mid Ulster European Parliament: Northern Ireland Dialling Code: 028, +44 28 Post Town: Magherafelt Postal District(s): BT45 Population (2001) 8,372 Magherafelt (from the Irish: Machaire Fiolta meaning Plain of Fioghalta) is a town in County Londonderry... The Ulster Special Constabulary (USC) was a reserve force of the Royal Ulster Constabulary. ... , Newry (from the Irish: Iúr Cinn Trá meaning The Yew Tree at the Head of the Strand, short form An tIúr, The Yew) is the fourth largest city in Northern Ireland and eighth on the island of Ireland. ... , Enniskillen (from the Irish: Inis Ceithleann meaning Kathleens Island) is the county town (and largest town) in County Fermanagh and the west of Northern Ireland. ...

The IRA issued a statement on 12 December announcing the start of the Campaign, "Spearheaded by Ireland’s freedom fighters, our people have carried the fight to the enemy…Out of this national liberation struggle a new Ireland will emerge, upright and free. In that new Ireland, we shall build a country fit for all our people to live in. That then is our aim: an independent, united, democratic Irish Republic. For this we shall fight until the invader is driven from our soil and victory is ours"^[3]

On December 14, an IRA column under Seán Garland detonated four bombs (one of which blew in the front wall) outside Lisnaskea RUC station before raking it with gunfire. Further attacks on Derrylin and Roslea RUC barracks on the same day were beaten off. Seán Garland (born 7 March 1934) is president of the Workers Party of Ireland. ... Lisnaskea (Lios na Scéithe in Irish) is a large village and the second largest settlement in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, and is the former seat of the ancient Maguire Kings. ... Derrylin is a village in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, located in Irelands border region. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: , Statistics Province: Ulster County: District: Fermanagh UK Parliament: Fermanagh and South Tyrone Dialling Code: 028, +44 28 Population (2001) 554 Website: www. ...

In response, on December 21, 1956, the government of Northern Ireland under Basil Brooke used its Special Powers Act to intern several hundred Republican suspects without trial. This, in time, severely limited the IRA’s capacity to build up units within Northern Ireland. Basil Stanlake Brooke, 1st Viscount Brookeborough, KG, CBE, MC (June 9, 1888-August 18, 1973) was an Irish Unionist politician. ... The Special Powers act enabled the Protestants of Ireland to lock up the Catholics without trial. ...

On January 1, 1957, an IRA column under Noel Kavanagh attacked the Derrylin RUC barracks again, killing RUC constable John Scally, the first fatality of the campaign. The following day, Seán Garland and Dáithí Ó Conaill led an attack on the Police station at Brookeborough. Two IRA men, Seán South and Fergal O'Hanlon, were killed in the abortive attack. Garland was seriously wounded in the raid. He and the remainder of the group were pursued back over the border by 400 RUC, B Specials and British soldiers. Dáithí Ó Conaill (1938 – 1 January 1991) was an Irish republican, a member of the IRA Army Council, vice-president of Provisional Sinn Féin and Republican Sinn Féin. ... Brookeborough is a village in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. ... Seán South. ... Fergal OHanlon (1939 – 1 January 1957) was a member of the Irish Republican Army from County Monaghan, Republic of Ireland. ... The Ulster Special Constabulary (USC) was a reserve force of the Royal Ulster Constabulary. ...

The funerals of South and O’Hanlon in the Republic produced a strong emotional reaction among the general public there. The two men are still considered martyrs in Irish Republican circles ^[4]. Up to 50,000 people attended their funerals.^[5] However, the Republic’s government, led by John Costello of Fine Gael, feared that the IRA’s action would drag it into a diplomatic confrontation with Britain and in January 1957, it used the Offences Against the State Act to arrest most of the IRA’s leadership, including its Chief of Staff, Seán Cronin. Fine Gael’s coalition partner, Clann na Poblachta (led by former IRA Chief of Staff Seán MacBride) resigned from government in protest over this policy. In the ensuing Irish general election, 1957, Sinn Féin won four seats and polled 65,640 votes (c. 5% of those cast). John Aloysius Costello (20 June 1891 - 5 January 1976), a successful barrister, was one of the main legal advisors to the government of the Irish Free State after independence, Attorney-General of Ireland from 1926-1932 and Taoiseach from 1948-1951 and 1954-1957. ... Fine Gael (IPA: , though often anglicised to ) (approximate English translation: Family or Tribe of the Irish) and officially, Fine Gael - The United Ireland Party, is the second largest political party in the Republic of Ireland, presently forming the largest opposition party in the Dail (Irish Parliament), and claims a membership... The Offences Against the State Act 1939-1998 form a series of laws passed by the Irish Parliament relating to the suppression of terrorism. ... Clann na Poblachta (literally meaning Family of the Republic) was an Irish republican political party founded by former IRA Chief of Staff Sean MacBride in 1946. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The Irish general election of 1957 was held on March 5, 1957, just over three weeks after the dissolution of the Dáil on February 4. ...

However, the new government, of Fianna Fáil, led by Éamon de Valera proved even more hostile to the IRA than its predecessor. In July 1957, after the killing of an RUC man, de Valera introduced wholesale internment without trial for IRA suspects. The use of internment on both sides of the Irish border made it impossible for the IRA, most of whose leadership was imprisoned, to maintain the momentum of their campaign. Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party (Irish: ), commonly referred to as Fianna Fáil (IPA ; traditionally translated by the party into English as Soldiers of Destiny, though the actual meaning is Soldiers [Fianna] of Ireland[1]), is currently the largest political party in Ireland with 55,000 members. ... Éamon de Valera (born with the name Edward George de Valera, IPA: [1][2]) (14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975) was one of the dominant political figures in 20th century Ireland. ...

The year 1957 was the most active year of the IRA's campaign, with 341 incidents recorded. In the summer of 1958, two IRA men (James Crossan and Aloysius Hand) were killed in separate gun battles with the RUC. In November 1958, the IRA suffered its worst loss of life in the period when four of its members died preparing a bomb in a farm house at Edentubber, county Louth, which exploded prematurely. The civilian owner of the house was also killed. In 1959, only 77 incidents were recorded in the campaign and in 1960, this fell to just 26. Moreover, many of these actions consisted of minor acts of sabotage, for example the cratering of roads. Statistics Province: Leinster County Town: Dundalk Code: LH Area: 820 km² Population (2006) 110,894 Website: www. ...

The final fatality of the conflict came in November 1961, when an RUC officer, William Hunter, was killed in a gun battle with the IRA in south county Armagh. Statistics Province: Ulster County Town: Armagh Area: 1,254 km² Population (est. ...

End of the Campaign

By late 1961, the campaign was over. It had cost the lives of eight IRA men, four republican supporters and six RUC members. In addition, 32 RUC members were wounded. A total of 256 Republicans were interned in Northern Ireland in this period and another 150 or so in the Republic. Of those in Northern Ireland, 89 had signed a pledge to renounce violence in return for their freedom.

That the IRA’s campaign had run its course by 1960 is testified by the fact that the Republic of Ireland's government released its internees (judging them to be no further threat) in that year. The Northern Irish government followed suit on the 25 April 1961.

Although it had petered out by the late 1950s, the Campaign was officially called off on February 26, 1962. In a press release issued that day, widely believed to have been composed by Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, the IRA Army Council stated: is the 57th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... A news release or press release is a written or recorded communication directed at members of the news media for the purpose of announcing something claimed as having news value. ... Ruairí Ó Brádaigh Ruairí Ó Brádaigh (born 1932) is an Irish republican. ... The IRA Army Council is the decision-making body of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, more commonly known as the IRA, a paramilitary group dedicated to bringing about the end of the Union between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom. ...

Implicit in the statement was a recognition that the IRA, after a promising start in 1957, had failed to mobilise much popular support behind its campaign.

Aftermath

The Border Campaign was considered a disaster by the IRA, not least because it enjoyed practically no support from the nationalist population of Northern Ireland. This failure pushed some within the organisation to consider other avenues in pursuit of the organisation's goals. Many of those involved with the Border Campaign felt that their lack of support was due to a failure to address the social and economic issues face by ordinary people. Irish nationalism refers to political movements that desire greater autonomy or the independence of Ireland from Great Britain. ...

Cathal Goulding, who became IRA Chief of Staff in 1962, tried to move the IRA away from pure militarism and towards left wing and ultimately Marxist politics. This process ended with the 1969/70 split in the republican movement between the Official IRA and Provisional IRA wings. The Officials, under Goulding wanted to transform the movement into a revolutionary party involved in both parliamentary and street politics, while the Provisionals under Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, wanted to maintain the movement's traditional goals. More immediately, the Provisional faction wanted to use armed force to defend the Catholic community in Belfast from loyalist attacks in the civil strife that had broken out in Northern Ireland (the start of the "The Troubles"). Ultimately the Provisionals also wanted to re-build the IRA's military capacity to launch a new armed campaign. Cathal Goulding (January 1922 - December 28, 1998) was Chief of Staff of the IRA and the Official IRA. Born into a Republican family, Goulding was involved as teenager in Na Fianna (the Junior IRA) and joined the IRA at the age of 17 in 1939, the earliest age at which... Marxism is the political practice and social theory based on the works of Karl Marx, a 19th century philosopher, economist, journalist, and revolutionary, along with Friedrich Engels. ... The term Official Irish Republican Army or Official IRA refers to one of the two organisations - the other being the Provisional Irish Republican Army - that emerged from the split in the then Irish Republican Army in 1969-70. ... The Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) is a paramilitary group which aimed, through the use of violence, to achieve three goals: (i) British withdrawal from Ireland, (ii) the political unification of Ireland through the merger of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland , and (iii) the creation of an all... Ruairí Ó Brádaigh Ruairí Ó Brádaigh (born 1932) is an Irish republican. ... For other uses, see Troubles (disambiguation) and Trouble. ...

The two sides went their separate ways in 1969, but both were drawn into the communal conflict within Northern Ireland. The Official IRA maintained armed actions up until 1972, but characterised them as "defensive". Feuds between the two IRAs in the 1970s claimed about twenty lives. The Provisional IRA launched what turned out to be a much more sustained and destructive campaign than the Border Campaign — the Provisional IRA campaign 1969–1997, which was to claim up to 1,800 lives. The term Official Irish Republican Army or Official IRA refers to one of the two organisations - the other being the Provisional Irish Republican Army - that emerged from the split in the then Irish Republican Army in 1969-70. ... Propaganda poster of the Provisional IRA. From 1969 until 1997, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (Provisional IRA) conducted an armed campaign (or guerrilla war) in the United Kingdom aimed at overthrowing British rule in Northern Ireland to create a united Ireland. ...

References

1. ^ Patrick Bishop, Eamonn Mallie, the Provisional IRA, p.37
2. ^ Bishop, Mallie, the Provisional IRA, page41
3. ^ Bishop, Mallie, page 41
4. ^ Richard English Armed Struggle, 'two newly minted martyrs killed in the assault and subsequently celebrated in balladry and romantic imagination ' p.74
5. ^ Bishop, Mallie, Provisional IRA, p.43
6. ^ Bishop, Mallie, page45, M.E. Collins, Ireland 1968-1966, page 464, Richard English, Armed Struggle page 75

External links

• An Phoblacht article on the campaign http://www.anphoblacht.com/news/detail/17159
• Republican website, Ireland's Own article http://irelandsown.net/bordercamp.html