The Troubles 23

The

TROUBLES A CHRONOLOGY OF THE NORTHERN IRELAND CONFLICT

JULY - AUGUST

1973

It can often be a contentious issue of debate of when and how Northern Ireland’s ‘Troubles’ began, who and what is to blame, and even which event in case led us to where we are now.

You can go back 30 years, or even 300 years and beyond for in reality Ireland has been engaged in conflict with England for centuries.

Therefore, in order to compile a chronological record of the modern Troubles - the term usually given to the most recent conflict, we must mark a defining point of start, which we have taken as partition itself and from which we began in. In turn again, we feel it is equally important to give you the reader some understanding why events spiralled as they did into a bloody civil war.

This is not another view of the Troubles, this has been done and redone. This is the historical recording of events compiled by people from different parts of Belfast who lived through them. Our objective as local historians is to compile what we hope will be as near as possible a definitive reference to events as they unfolded through the last three decades.

In terms of research we have used as much material as possible and from diverse perspectives.

We are confident that we have covered events as they were reported at the time. If however you feel that we have either left something out or indeed got something wrong we are more than happy to hear from you. As mentioned above this series of publications is the historical recording of the Troubles and all corrections are more than welcome.

GLENRAVEL ASHTON CENTRE CHURCHILL STREET BELFAST BT15 2BP Tel: (028) 9020 2100 • Fax: (028) 9020 2227 E-Mail: glenravel@ashtoncentre.com This is designed to create a better historical understanding of what has become known as ‘The Troubles.’ Therefore for educational purposes you are more than welcome to use any material from them. All that we ask is that the source is acknowledged and a copy of the material sent to us after publication. We use material that has been placed in the public domain.

We try to acknowledge all the copyright holders but sometimes this is not possible. If you claim credit for something that has appeared in this publication then we will be happy to know about it so that we can make the appropriate acknowledgements.

For back issues of the single Troubles Magazine visit the Glenravel stall every Friday morning at St George's Market. You may also obtain them at our website at www.troublesmagazine.com where sold out issues can also be downloaded.

E-Mail: info@troublesmagazine.com

SOURCE MATERIAL BELFAST NEWSLETTER Various issues for period covered

BELFAST TELEGRAPH Various issues for period covered

IRISH NEWS Various issues for period covered

JULY 1973

Monday July 2nd 1973 Troubles have cost 160 lives 160 people more than a quarter of them soldiers died in the first six months of 1973 as a result of Northern Ireland’s continuing violence. The death toll includes 42 regular soldiers, five UDR men and seven policemen. On average one of every three people killed has been a member of the security forces. A total of 18 known IRA men died in the same period some of them blown up by their own bombs. The overall death toll now stands at 840. Of these 548 have died since direct rule was introduced last year.

Monday July 2nd 1973 Soldier is shot dead Private Reginald Roberts of the 2nd Battalion Light Infantry died when a sniper opened fire on a foot patrol in Ballymurphy’s Bull Ring area of Belfast. One of the bullets hit him in the chest killing him almost immediately. Fire was not returned by his companions.

He lived at Doncaster and his wife was expecting a baby.

Monday July 2nd 1973 UDA club bombed A UDA club at Buller Street in the Oldpark area of Belfast was bombed by a four-man gang who arrived by car. Three of them, two armed with pistols, entered the premises and left the explosives, made up in a gas cylinder, on a counter and gave a fifteen second warning. There were about 50 people in the club who rushed for the door. The bomb went off a few minutes later and some people were treated for cuts and shock.

The bomb estimated at between 20-50lbs badly damaged the club and surrounding houses suffered blast damage.

Monday July 2nd 1973 Boy shot A 13 year-old boy was struck in the right thigh when a gunman fired from a car speeding along the Shore Road area of Belfast. The boy was at Dandy Street in the Greencastle area, his condition is said not to be serious.

RIGHT - The burnt out remains of a bus which was hijacked on the Cliftonville Road. Five people were injured with one woman later dying of her injuries.

Monday July 2nd 1973 Derry bomb attacks In Derry there were three bomb blasts and Army experts defused three others. The blasts were at McDaid and McLaughlin’s furniture store in Foyle Street, Kiddies Corner, John Street and Canning’s Chemist, Carlisle Road. There had been a fifteen-minute warning and the bombs exploded over a seven-minute period.

Army experts defused a 50lb bomb, which had been planted at the Chopstick Restaurant in Foyle Street and a 20lb bomb, which had been planted in the café attached to the Ulsterbus Depot opposite. A 20lb bomb, which had been left at Gough’s Garage in Strand Road, was also neutralised.

An off-duty RUC man lifted a 5lb bomb, which had been planted at Long’s Supermarket on Strand Road and left it outside. It exploded later causing only slight structural damage. No one was hurt.

Monday July 2nd 1973 Bomb attacks An Army expert defused a 15lb bomb left at premises in Bridge Street, Portadown. A number of men were assisting police with their enquiries.

In Castlederg a bomb damaged a hardware shop in the town. A warning had been given and no injuries were reported although two soldiers were blown off their feet by the blast. A bomb had been planted at the same store in Ferguson Crescent a few days ago but was defused.

The British Customs House on the Newry-Dundalk road was damaged by an incendiary device. Armed men entered the hut ordered staff out and sprinkled inflammable liquid before setting the hut on fire. The fire service extinguished the blaze with comparatively slight damage to the interior Tuesday July 3rd 1973 Army denial An Army quartermaster told an inquest in Derry that the 45 year-old Pakistani, Noorbaz Khan, who was murdered in the Bogside area of Derry, was contracted to sell food and drink to the Army and was not employed by the Army authorities. The Provisional IRA who claimed responsibility for the killing had said Khan was a member of British Intelligence Forces in the city.

An open verdict was returned. The Coroner Mr. Hubert O’Neill, described the murder as another of "these seemingly endless senseless killings".

Tuesday July 3rd 1973 Police deny holding suspects Police today firmly discounted rumours that two men in custody were being questioned in connection with 31 sectarian murders, including the double killing of Senator Paddy Wilson and Miss Irene Andrews.

"Unfortunately this is the first we have heard of it", an RUC spokesman said today. "It is news to us".

Asked about the murders of Senator Wilson and Miss Andrews, the spokesman said: "There is nobody being held in connection with these at the moment. But enquiries are still being held".

Tuesday July 3rd 1973 Troops uncover massive bomb nears border Paratroopers found a huge 600lb bomb on the roadside not far from Keady. Wires led from it to a position in a field 100 yards away.

Soldiers checked out a wide area around the bomb before giving the all clear for an expert to move in and make the explosive harmless.

Tuesday July 3rd 1973 Arms finds in Belfast A find consisting of an M1 Carbine, 170 rounds of ammunition, a blast bomb and a detonator and three shoulder holsters were found in Stanfield Street in the Market’s area of Belfast.

A number of items were also found in Athens Street in the Woodstock area of East Belfast. The haul, included taxi-type radios, sodium chlorate and nitro benzene, an alarm clock and an Army type booby trap, a blasting machine, fuse, part of a rifle, cartridge shells, ammunition clips and a telescopic sight.

Tuesday July 3rd 1973 Gun attack In Strabane two shots were fired at an Army mobile patrol in Meetinghouse Street. There were no casualties. Troops returned fire but claimed no hits.

Wednesday July 4th 1973 Blind man brutally tortured Soldiers rescued a partially blind man after he was brutally tortured in a Protestant area of Belfast. He was rescued as he was being taken from a house after being told: "People will be reading about you in the newspapers in the morning."

Mr. Justice Kelly refused an application for bail from a 17 year-old from Malvern Street, alleged to have been involved in the incident and who is on remand on a charge of conspiracy to murder.

The man registered as blind was walking along North Queen Street, Belfast, when two men forced him into a car. The men said they were the IRA and brought him to a house on the left hand side of the Crumlin Road.

All his belongings were removed including his glasses and he was unable to see. He was also refused his heart pills. When the man was held an electricity charge from a machine was passed through him. This was particularly dangerous because of his heart condition.

Robert Clarke

Private Roberts

In his notebook was written: ‘this is one; two to follow.’ Just as the man was being taken from the house an Army patrol came on the scene, rescued him and arrested the men.

Wednesday July 4th 1973 Saved as solider spots a bomb A sharp eyed Army corporal saved the lives of office workers and other civilians in Belfast when he spotted a suitcase on an office landing. He immediately started Wednesday July 4th 1973 clearing people from the Waring Street area, and thanks Troops called in to quell Maze riot to his alertness, no one was hurt when the suitcase Troops in full riot gear were called in when prisoners exploded some minutes later. armed with makeshift truncheons made from smashed beds and chairs ran riot at the Maze Prison. 15 Wednesday July 4th 1973 prisoners and several soldiers and warders were injured Prayers of a hero’s wife in the clashes, which were confined to three compounds The wife of the Army officer who risked his life by occupied by three special category men. In the clashes driving a van loaded with a 150lb bomb into the Foyle prisoners in one of the compounds used ‘fire bombs’ says the people of all creeds in Derry are always in her made from boot polish and newspaper to hurl at the prayers. Mrs. Michael Kearon says: "I pray that the soldiers. Jagged pieces of broken mirrors were also day will soon come when they can live their normal thrown in the 10-minute riot, which started after lives in peace." prisoners refused to co-operate in a routine search of After Major Kearon drove the hijacked van and pushed themselves and their living quarters. it into the river where it exploded harmlessly, a group of 20 Derry Protestants and Catholics anonymously contributed to send flowers to his wife as a gesture, they Wednesday July 4th 1973 said to honour a brave man.

Eire frees wanted woman An Eire Magistrate released a Belfast woman after refusing to grant an extradition order against her for failing to answer bail in the North. The woman had been wanted by police in the North since she went South after failing to answer bail on a charge of attempting to murder an Army sergeant major in Belfast in October 1971.

RIGHT & BELOW - IRA bomb attack on the News Letter building in Lower Donegall Street

Wednesday July 4th 1973 Man shot A 32 year-old Protestant was walking along Lower Crescent, Belfast, when a youth fired one shot at him.

He was hit in the left hand and was taken to hospital where he was said not to be seriously hurt.

Thursday July 5th 1973 Blast hits Cahill’s house Parts of a mortar bomb believed to have been aimed at the McCrory Army post on the Whiterock Road, damaged houses in Beechview Park a short distance away including one owned by Provisional IRA leader Joe Cahill. Security forces believe that the mortar bomb Wednesday July 4th 1973 was fired to hit the centre of the camp, but it hit a Shots lead to bomb find perimeter fence. Part of it dropped to the ground where Five shots were fired at a car in the Crumlin Road area it exploded, blowing in a corrugated iron panel in the of Belfast. The shooting came from Silvio Street, and camp. The tail fin of the device ploughed into a house in a follow up search troops found an un-exploded bomb in Beechview Park and embedded itself in a dining room nearby at Jaffa Street, an expert defused it. wall where several children were sitting. The force of the explosion blew in windows of Joe Cahill’s house.

Wednesday July 4th 1973 Shot fired at house Thursday July 5th 1973 One shot was fired through the window of a house in UDA man in Eire court Rosevale Street in the Oldpark area of Belfast but no There was tight security by Eire troops and Civic Guards one was hurt. The house is believed to belong to a in Letterkenny when Robert William Taylor, the 18 yearProtestant. old Derry UDA man appeared at a local District Court charged with the double murder of a Donegal engaged Wednesday July 4th 1973 couple on the morning of January 1 last at Burnfoot in Station set on fire Donegal. Traffic entering the town was stopped and The unmanned temporary police station in Cushendall searched and two platoons of troops were on duty was set on fire but a local constable and other people outside the courthouse armed with semi-automatic managed to put it out. Only slight damage was caused weapons. A crowd of about 200 had gathered. A to the roof. further remand was forced and a next hearing set for a special court in Letterkenny on July 16.

Wednesday July 4th 1973 Fire bomb made safe Thursday July 5th 1973 Police were alerted after a suspicious looking barrel was Five burned as gang sets buses on fire spotted outside the school at Loop, Magherafelt. An Gangs of armed thugs went on the rampage in Roman Army expert was called in and discovered it was packed Catholic areas of Belfast, hi-jacking vehicles and with 100lbs of incendiary material. The beer barrel setting fire to seven Corporation buses. and its contents were taken away after the explosives On the Cliftonville Road, five people were burned, one had been made safe. of them seriously, when four youths set fire to a bus before they had time to get out. Security forces are Thursday July 5th 1973 convinced the violence was linked to the rioting at the UFF killers get a sixth victim Maze prison. Other hi-jackings followed quickly in Within an hour of the killing of a man on the Donegall different parts of the city, all of them either in or on the Road area of Belfast, the Ulster Freedom Fighter’s fringe of Catholic districts. The second was on the claimed him as their sixth victim. The killers had lain Antrim Road-Limestone Road junction and was in wait for their 50 year-old victim at a contractors yard followed by hi-jackings on the Falls area, Donegall at Pembroke Street, off Donegall Road. In a call to the Road, Dunville Park and Glenalina Road, Whiterock Belfast Telegraph, a man claiming to be a commander Road, the M1 and Short Strand. in the UFF, stated that his men had shot and killed a Roman Catholic at Pembroke Street. He said the man Thursday July 5th 1973 had been shot in the back of the head and chest and that Derry injuries ‘Captain Jones and a volunteer’ had carried out the Five people were taken to Altnagelvin Hospital murder. The caller said the killing had been "in following a number of incidents in Derry, although their retaliation for us being blamed for the bombing of the condition is said to be satisfactory. Two children, a UDA club in the Oldpark." boy and a girl, aged eight and ten, were taken to

hospital suffering from shock after a blast bomb had been thrown at an Army patrol in the Creggan area near where they were playing.

An elderly woman received gunshot wounds in her right leg when she was caught in the crossfire between troops and gunmen also in the Creggan area.

A soldier received minor injuries in a rocket attack on the Bligh’s Lane post. He was taken to hospital were his condition was satisfactory.

A patrol on the Lone Moor Road was fired on from three positions around the city cemetery. The troops returned fire. Later an 18 year-old youth was admitted to hospital with gunshot wounds in the neck.

Thursday July 5th 1973 Gun attack on publican’s house Four shots were fired at the home of publican Mr. John Boylan. One of the bullets was fired into the living room of the Macroom Gardens house, but no one was injured.

Thursday July 5th 1973 Arms find Police and troops searched a cellar beneath a Republican Club in Ogle Street, Armagh, and seized a quantity of guns and ammunition. The find consisted of a .22 rifle, a knife, 10 rounds of 9mm ammunition, two rounds of .45 and of .303, 14 .303 cases and three clips, 24 shotgun cartridges, 150 rounds of ammunition, four detonators, two lengths of fuse and some masking tape.

angry crowd gathered but nothing was thrown.

The two were jointly charged with the murder of the six people in the car bomb explosion at Railway Road on June 12. During the five-minute hearing the defence solicitor, Mr. Tony McCormick said that no words could describe what happened in Coleraine on June 12 and it was understandable that people were angered and shocked by the awful happening. "However, the instructions to me are that these charges will be strenuously denied by both accused", said Mr. McCormick.

Both were remanded in custody until July 20.

Friday July 6th 1973 Swoop on top Provos Several prominent members of the Provisional IRA were being questioned by gardai after a swoop on a caravan on the outskirts of Lifford town in Co.Donegal. It is believed that one of them is the Provisional IRA battalion commander for Fermanagh and Tyrone and that some of the men are from Strabane. Three men were living in the van which gardai said they found a revolver and a hand grenade. The area around the caravan was also searched.

The men were brought to Letterkenny Garda Station for questioning and it was expected that charges would be made.

Friday July 6th 1973 City centre bomb attack At 7.08 pm a warning was phoned to the Irish News that a bomb was left in Donegall Street Place, an entry off Donegall Street, not far from Belfast city centre.

Thursday July 5th 1973 The bomb containing up to 1001b of explosives, exLurgan riot ploded 20 minutes later. It caused extensive damage to Youths from the Shankill and Wakehurst estates in a furniture store and adjoining premises, including the Lurgan were involved in minor rioting but police and jobbing department of the Newsletter causing productroops broke up the trouble. tion of the paper to be held up for three hours following the blast because it was feared there was another bomb Friday July 6th 1973 in the area.

Mob pelts two accused of bomb killings The man and woman charged with the murders of the Friday July 6th 1973 six victims of the Coleraine bomb horror were pelted Young girl escapes death with eggs as they left court. A crowd of 150 people had A young girl missed death when a gunman ambushed gathered around the courthouse while the couple made an Army patrol at Andersonstown in Belfast. Two of their second court appearance and there were angry the shots crashed into the room where she was sitting at scenes when they were led out. As one of the accused, Slieveban Drive and another five hit the outside of her a 22-year-old female of Broagh Road Castledawson was home. brought out the crowd jeered, pelted her and a woman police officer with eggs and hurled abuse. The other Friday July 6th 1973 accused, a 19 year-old of Tamlaghtduff, Bellaghy, was Riddle of ‘innocent victim’ in gunfight led into a police van, which came under a hail of eggs Open verdicts were returned at Belfast’s Coroner’s Court as it drove away. On their first court appearance an on two men shot dead during a fierce gun battle in the

Ardoyne area of Belfast on July 13 last year.

They were Terence Toolan (36), an electrician of Ladbrook Drive, and James Reid (26), a labourer, of Brompton Park.

Two soldiers said in statements they were manning an observation post overlooking Etna Drive. There had been a lot of shooting in the area. One of the soldiers was armed with an SLR rifle fitted with a Star-light night-light and the other had a Bren gun. One of the soldiers said he saw a gunman in Etna Drive and about the same time an IRA spotlight was put into operation.

The soldier said the gunman fired at them and he and his comrade fired six shots each at the gunman, who was seen to fall. The IRA spotlight went out at the same time.

A taxi driver of Etna Drive told the court that minutes after the shooting three men stopped his taxi and put two bodies into it and ordered him to drive to the Mater Hospital. Toolan’s wife told the court that her husband left the house a short time before the shooting to see if her aunt, who lived nearby was all right. The aunt had a nervous complaint. Mrs. Toolan said her husband was away only a short time when a man came into her house and said her husband had been shot and taken the Mater.

The Coroner, Mr. James Elliott, told the jury there was only evidence of one gunman being fired at by the soldiers, and it was possible that one of the men killed was an innocent victim. He added, however, that the difficulty for the jury was to identify which one of the two men was an innocent victim.

Friday July 6th 1973 Pub patron’s blast death An open verdict was returned on a 54 year-old bank caretaker who was killed in a bomb explosion at the Capital Bar, Dublin Road, Belfast on October 5 last.

John Kenney Magee who lived at Ulster Bank House, Bradbury Place, was returning to his table after buying a round of drinks when the bomb ripped through the building. Mr Magee who was said to be a regular in the pub died instantly. The bomb blew up only minutes after it was planted at the side entrance of the pub.

The Coroner, Mr. James Elliott, described Mr. Magee as "yet another innocent victim of the indiscriminate terrorist attack."

Saturday July 7th 1973 Man is gunned down leaving café A young Roman Catholic joiner was shot and killed after leaving a café on the Falls Road. 27 year-old Mr. Patrick Bracken, who lived with his parents in McQuillan Street and received gunshot wounds to the chest and legs. He died in hospital half an hour after the incident. Six shots were fired and another man Mr. Harry McGill (24) was hit in the arm. Local people said that after the shooting a man in the back of the Hillman Minx shouted "Up the UVF", as it sped away.

Saturday July 7th 1973 Glenavy pub is wrecked by bomb Johnson’s pub at Glenavy was badly damaged after a bomb believed to have been about 50lb exploded shortly after 6.30am. The inside of the pub was wrecked and there was damage to surrounding property.

LEFT - Loyalist car bomb attack on the Sportsman Bar in Little Patrick Street.

BELOW - An injured woman being taken to an ambulance following the blast.

Saturday July 7th 1973 Belfast gun attack Seven shots were fired at a joint Army-police patrol at Tullymore Gardens in Andersonstown. There were no injuries and security forces did not return fire. Two of the shots smashed through the window of a house in Slieve Barrin Drive but nobody was hurt.

Saturday July 7th 1973 IRA truce – Vanguard say no to Fine Gael man’s idea An Eire TD has made approaches to various loyalist groups in the North with a view to getting an agreement between them and the Provisional IRA, which would lead to a truce. But one of the main groups, the Vanguard Unionist Party, has publicly rejected the approaches saying it would not deal with "murderers who are the enemies of Ulster."

It is not yet known whether the TD, who is a member of the Fine Gael, had the prior agreement of the IRA before he made the approaches or whether he made them himself. But in any case it seems unlikely that such approaches to Ulster Loyalists at this time could have any success.

and there were no injuries. Three masked gunmen left the suitcase in the building and gave the customers and staff a 15-minute warning before driving off in a dark Austin 1100. Most of the damage was to the interior of the bank.

Monday July 9th 1973 Murder victim Official IRA man The man shot dead outside a Falls Road café was a member of the Official IRA. Death notices in the Irish News described Patrick Bracken as a staff officer of C Company, third battalion. The death notices filled three columns and some of them stated that Bracken was ‘murdered by the UVF’.

Monday July 9th 1973 Eire bomb not work of Loyalists Eire police discounted suggestions that a 50lb bomb planted at, O’Connor Square Tullamore was the work of Northern Loyalists. The bomb was planted and cunningly concealed in a large metal toolbox beside a broken down truck in the town square. It was timed to explode during a speech by the Minister for Justice, Mr. Cooney, who was opening a summer festival organised by the local Tourist and Development Association.

Monday July 9th 1973 Police believe that the bomb was intended as a warning Victim of the bus blaze gang dies by republicans who are annoyed by the Taoiseach’s Mrs. Dorothy Lynn (47), of Fernagh Parade, London speech, which the Provisional IRA has said will Newtownabbey, who received serious wounds when a make them fight harder. bus on which she was travelling was set alight on Belfast’s Cliftonville Road died in hospital today. Mrs. Monday July 9th 1973 Lynn was a secretary of Oldpark Labour Association Two pubs bombed in Belfast and was on her way to a party meeting when the Two pubs were bombed in Belfast with the more arsonists struck. They did not give passengers on the serious of the two blasts at the Sportsman’s Arms in Corporation bus time to get clear of the flames and Mrs. Little Patrick Street where four people were injured.

Lynn was badly burned.

The bomb between 100 and 150lb of explosives was As well as her interests in the Labour Party, Mrs. Lynn left in a stolen car at the rear of the premises and no was one of only three full-time members of staff at the warning was given before the bomb exploded. Of the Northern Ireland Youth Hostel Association. Mrs. Lynn four injured, three were detained in hospital. The force was assistant organising secretary and had been of the blast caused extensive damage to the building employed by the YHA for 23 years. Only recently she and nearby houses. The other explosion happened at had seen years of hard work come to fruition with the the Bus Bar in Smithfield Square. The bomb 3 – 5lb, opening of the first permanent youth hostel in Belfast was thrown at the pub by two men on a motorcycle. on the Saintfield Road. The honorary Secretary of YHA, The explosives were packed into a gas cylinder.

Mr. Edward Henderson, said today: "She had worked Damage to the bar was slight. There were no injuries. tirelessly towards the opening of the hostel. She was extremely proud of it".

Monday July 9th 1973 Man shot at Ardoyne Monday July 9th 1973 An assassination attempt was made on Saturday night Bomb blasts town’s bank when a car pulled up at the Ardoyne shops on the A bomb caused extensive damage to the Northern Bank Crumlin Road. A gunman fired a shot, which struck a in Main Street, Strabane. The area had been sealed off 32 year-old man on the foot. The would-be killer got

back into the car, which drove off along Woodvale Road.

Monday July 9th 1973 Man abducted A car containing three men drew up beside a man walking along Manor Street, off the Cliftonville Road.

The man was bundled into the car and driven to the junction of Roseapenna Street and Mountview Street where he was thrown out. Then one of the occupants fired a shot at the man, hitting him in the arm, the car drove off. The injured man was taken to hospital and was described to be in a satisfactory.

Monday July 9th 1973 Belfast fire bomb attack Incendiary bombs caused extensive damage to a fashion store in Belfast’s City Centre on Saturday night.

The blaze at Petal Boutique in Lombard Street was discovered just after seven and while firemen were fighting it a second device exploded.

Monday July 9th 1973 Carrickfergus bomb attacks Two shops in Carrickfergus were damaged by firebombs. The first went off in a West Street hardware shop causing slight damage and a sports and hardware shop in High Street was severely damaged by an incendiary device 10 minutes later.

Monday July 9th 1973 Station attacked again Belcoo RUC station in Fermanagh, which came under rocket attack a few weeks ago, was again attacked on Saturday night. Gunmen opened fire from the direction of a river, which forms the border between Fermanagh and Cavan. The Garda at Blacklion, just across the border, also reported that their station had been fired on.

Monday July 9th 1973 Gun attack Security forces were fired on when they investigated a bomb scare on the Ballygawley Road, Dungannon. No one was injured Monday July 9th 1973 Bomber shot say army The Army claimed they shot a nail-bomber in the thigh during rioting in the Creggan Estate, Derry. The man,

RIGHT - Bomb attack on the Meeting of the Waters Bar in Manor Street

whose name has not been released, is in Altnagelvin Hospital. A soldier was slightly injured by flying nails during the incident. In several incidents in the Creggan, troops had to use CS gas and rubber bullets to break up stone throwers. In two occasions shots were fired at troops who returned fire once. Troops also prevented the hi-jacking of a bus.

Tuesday July 10th 1973 Man shot dead as he leaves quiet pub Detectives began a hunt for the killers of a Protestant man gunned down after a late night drink in a quiet border village pub.

The dead man, Isaac Scott, a 41 year-old labourer, from Mayobridge was single and lived alone. Another man injured in the shooting was said to be seriously ill. The killers struck outside Tully’s Bar at Beleeks, near Newtownhamilton, Armagh.

Tuesday July 10th 1973 New wave of letter bomb attacks in Fermanagh A member of the police authority was injured and taken to the Erne Hospital, Enniskillen in a new wave of letter bomb attacks in Fermanagh. Five of the deadly envelopes were posted one of them went to the injured man, farmer, Mr. Frank Gage, the three others to the homes of members of the Ulster Defence Regiment and the fifth to a solicitor. The wife of one of the UDR men carried the letter bomb to a police station a mile away.

Two of the letter bombs were blown up harmlessly and another was defused. Mr Gage, a 55 year-old father of three from Ardess, Kesh, was Chairman of the Public Works committee on the old Fermanagh County Council.

Tuesday July 10th 1973 Shock for the UDA Newtownabbey and Carrickfergus units of the Ulster Defence Association stopped patrolling activities because their men believe they no longer have the support of the public. In Belfast the association’s former vice-chairman, Mr. Tommy Herron, insisted that the South-East Antrim decision had been taken in isolation.

"We have a lot more support than we are given credit for," he added.

All patrols were stopped at the beginning of July 1973.

"We feel we were not appreciated. We don’t see any sense in walking the streets in all weathers if people don’t give us their backing. If people want us back they will know where to find us", commented a senior UDA officer of the area.

Finaghy Road North. One of the men received facial burns and was detained in hospital. A youth was also reported injured. Seven buses were set on fire in different parts of the city within an hour. The attacks began at Falls Road – Donegall Road and as three buses lay burned out on the Falls the gangs switched to the Glen Road, Shore Road and Antrim Road.

At the same time cars were seized by mobs on the Whiterock and Ballymacarrett districts and set alight.

Tuesday July 10th 1973 British troops come under heavy sniper fire Troops came under fire in six separate incidents in Ballymurphy, one soldier was slightly wounded when hit in the shoulder by a bullet, but in return fire his colleagues claimed to have hit a gunman. A fierce gun battle broke out at the lower end of Ballymurphy near Tuesday July 10th 1973 the Macrory Park Army post. The IRA snipers fired Bus burners again on rampage During the night rampaging mobs burned buses in over 60 shots. Observation posts at the nearby Henry Belfast only hours after a woman died from injuries Taggart Army billet also came under fire. received in lasts weeks arson attacks on Corporation Tuesday July 10th 1973 buses by IRA gangs.

Two firemen were injured fighting one of the blazes at Blast bomb attack Several families escaped injury when a blast bomb was BELOW - A burning bus at the junction of the thrown onto waste ground near their homes at Neill Street, off Shore Road, Belfast.

Donegall Road and Falls Road

Tuesday July 10th 1973 Derry riots In Derry rioting in the Creggan Estate lasted for more than four hours with several shooting incidents happening in the Bogside. A police patrol reported being fired on twice in the city. One man was arrested during the rioting in which groups of youths often Tuesday July 10th 1973 numbering 60 to 70 were involved. There were no Army Shopping centre bombed A police-Army patrol rushed to the High Street casualties in any of the shooting and fire was not Shopping Complex, Enniskillen, after an anonymous returned. bomb warning. The caller claimed that three bombs had been planted and were due to explode. Soldiers Wednesday July 11th 1973 discovered one bomb concealed in a duffle bag near a Top Labour men at blaze victim’s funeral grocers shop, while they were waiting for explosives Many prominent officials of the Northern Ireland experts to deal with it, another bomb blasted a nearby Labour Party were among the mourners at the funeral shoe shop. Damage was confined to the two premises in Belfast of Mrs. Dorothy Lynn, who died as a result and other shops within the Diamond escaped with of serious injuries received during a spate of bus burnings in the city. shattered windows.

Mrs Lynn who was an active member of the Oldpark Labour Association and a former secretary of the Tuesday July 10th 1973 organisation was on her way to a party meeting when Strabane bomb attack A bomb estimated at 10 – 20lb exploded in the Peerless the arsonists struck on the Cliftonville Road. Mrs. Lynn Dry Cleaners in Strabane. It had been planted by three (47), of Fernagh Parade, Newtownabbey, was trapped masked men who had given a thirty-minute warning. on the upper deck of the Corporation bus and received The premises had only recently been repaired follow- serious burns. Also at the funeral were representatives of the Northern Ireland Youth Hostel ing fire damage. No one was injured.

Association, Mrs. Lynn had worked for 23 years as one of three full-time members of staff in the association.

Tuesday July 10th 1973 Slight damage caused by bomb A 5lb bomb, which had been left at an electrical wholesalers warehouse in Franklyn Street, Belfast, exploded causing only slight damage. No one was injured.

Wednesday July 11th 1973 15 Republicans go on hunger strike at Belfast prison A Ministry spokesman confirmed that 15 Republican prisoners in Belfast jail are on hunger strike against the refusal of the authorities to grant political status to three men jailed recently for five years for armed robbery.

RIGHT & BELOW - Bomb attack on the Criterian Bar on Carlisle Circus

The spokesman said five of the men began their hunger strike on Friday and since then have been joined by ten others who are remand prisoners. He added that the remand prisoners are entitled to receive food parcels.

Mr. Malachy Toal, spokesman for the Six County Executive of the Republican Clubs, said he had been in contact with prison officials and he felt it was probable that the men’s claim would be granted before the weekend.

Mr Toal said he would be visiting the prison to see the men and added that in the meantime the hunger strike would continue. Mr. Frank McManus, MP, has made representations to the Secretary of State to have the PD leader, Michael Farrell and his companion, Tony Canavan, at present on hunger strike in Belfast jail, recognised as a political prisoners. He said that Mr. Farrell was being subjected to the most inhumane treatment and he expressed his support for the stand Mr. Farrel and his companion were taking.

Mr. McManus appealed to the recently elected Assemblymen to be big enough to overlook that Mr. Farrell was a political opponent and to at least raise their voices on his behalf. Mr McManus said the injustice of Mr. Farrell’s case was as blatant as anything that had happened in Northern Ireland in the past four years.

The clubhouse at Buncrana Road was under construction after a bomb blast in 1972, which destroyed the pavilion. An Army explosives expert said that the 10lb bomb had been planted in the club entrance and exploded without warning.

Nearby McLaughlin’s Garage was extensively damaged by a 10 – 20lb bomb planted by two armed men.

Before making their getaway the bombers gave staff a 15-minute warning. It was the second bomb attack on the garage.

Wednesday July 11th 1973 Bomb attacks on troops In the Bogside area of Derry two blast bombs were thrown at troops. The targets were the Army posts at the gasworks and a mobile patrol but there was no damage and no casualties.

Wednesday July 11th 1973 Shot fired at military patrol A single shot was fired at a foot patrol in Brook Street off Bishop Street area of Derry but no one was hurt and fire was not returned.

Wednesday July 11th 1973 RPG rocket attack For the second night in succession troops came under Wednesday July 11th 1973 fire in the Ballymurphy area of Belfast. A rocket attack Reason for bus attacks on the Army post at the Taggart Memorial Hall failed.

The Provisional IRA may have planned the attacks on A Russian-made RPG7 rocket was fired from SpringBelfast buses to force people living in the effected field Road but it struck the protective wiring around areas to use the ‘peoples taxis’ instead. This is one the post and exploded harmlessly. At the same time a theory being considered by the security forces after reports that the Provos have been putting the squeeze on some of the taxi men for more protection money.

There is now a strong suspicion that in a bid to increase the finances of the taxi shuttle service the Provos decided to burn a few buses and force public transport off the routes serviced by the taxis.

If this was the plan, then it has succeeded because buses are now off the Falls, Glen Road, Turf Lodge via West Circular routes, while diversions have been introduced in some other services in ‘danger’ areas.

Wednesday July 11th 1973 Bombers strike at rugby clubhouse The new clubhouse for the City of Derry Rugby Club was one if several targets for bombers.

RIGHT - Car bomb attack in Belfast’s Winetavern Street

sniper fired four shots at soldiers in an observation post Wednesday July 11th 1973 at the front of the hall. No one was injured and fire was Our men have been stood down – UVF not returned.

A battalion of the outlawed Ulster Volunteer force said it had stood its men down from active service and in Wednesday July 11th 1973 future will concentrate on promoting community House attacked projects. The headquarters staff officers of the 2nd Four shots were fired into the home of a Roman Battalion UVF, which operates in East Antrim held an Catholic family at Rushfield Avenue in the Ormeau all night meeting to discuss future tactics following the Road area. One bullet went through the upstairs Assembly elections. window while the others struck the brickwork at the front of the house. No one was injured.

Thursday 12th July 1973 Assassination victim is found in east Belfast Wednesday July 11th 1973 Detectives began the hunt for the killers of a young man Strabane blast believed to be in his 20’s who was found brutally Several people were treated for shock when a bomb assassinated in the east of the city. Two elderly women exploded in Abercorn Square, Strabane. A duffle bag made the grim find in the strongly Republican Seaforde containing a 30lb bomb was left in the Argosy, a Street area adjacent to St. Matthews Church. Police newsagent’s and confectionery shop. A customer and soldiers found the young mans body sprawled noticed the parcel and carried it into the street where it grotesquely in a back street alleyway. Marks on his exploded 30 minutes later after the area had been neck suggested he had been strangled. evacuated and sealed off.

Thursday 12th July 1973 Wednesday July 11th 1973 Fire bomb at bar Public house again bombed An incendiary type bomb damaged a bar at Lisburn’s For the second time in six months the Village Inn at market square. The device exploded at the rear of Killyclogher, Omagh, was damaged by a bomb. Two Neeson’s causing only slight damage. No one was armed men planted a suitcase bomb in the hallway and injured. before ordering staff and customers from the premises they gave a 10-minute warning. The bomb exploded Thursday 12th July 1973 20 minutes later and severely damaged the building but Rocket could have wrecked Bogside no one was injured.

The Army have revealed that an IRA rocket attack in Derry could have destroyed part of the city.

Wednesday July 11th 1973 This follows an IRA RPG7 rocket assault on the Army Exchange attacked post at the gasworks. Explosives experts claim that had A bomb blasted a new telephone exchange in Maghera the rocket struck the gasometer the resulting explosion but there was only slight damage. The exchange was would probably have destroyed the Bogside and many not manned at the time. other parts of the city. The rocket exploded on the perimeter fence and the tail fin hit the wall of the post Wednesday July 11th 1973 but failed to penetrate it. There were no injuries.

Lucky escape for British troops Soldiers narrowly escaped injury when a 100-200lb mine tore up the roadway in front of their vehicles in Thursday 12th July 1973 Castlederg.

12 people arrested in Antrim riot The Antrim riot began when a crowd of youths round a Wednesday July 11th 1973 bonfire at the Ballycraigy estate began smashing the Letter bomb made safe windows of Catholic Homes. One family was forced In Enniskillen, Miss Noreen Cooper, a solicitor in the to evacuate their home and police moved in and town, had a lucky escape when she opened a letter bomb attempted to disperse the crowd. Soldiers were called in her home at Algeo Drive. She was withdrawing a in after the mob grew larger and stoned the police. At book from inside it when she noticed something black one stage a low velocity shot was fired at a police vein the centre. She dropped it and called the police. They hicle but no one was injured. Twelve people were took the letter outside and it exploded. arrested.

Thursday 12th July 1973 Man injured in bomb attack In Belfast’s Shore Road area a Protestant man had his hand blown off and received leg and foot injuries when a blast bomb exploded. The incident occurred at Graymount Road.

Thursday 12th July 1973 Soldier hurt in mine blast One soldier was slightly injured when an Army Land Rover was damaged by a mine explosion in South Armagh. The vehicle, manned by members of the 2 nd Parachute Regiment, was travelling between Crossmaglen and Bessbrook when the mine exploded.

Friday 13th July 1973 Murder victim is identified Detectives have identified Ulster’s latest assassination victim as a Belfast Protestant. The name of the young man believed to be in his early twenties and single, has not yet been released. A post mortem revealed today that he had been strangled. He is the third assassination victim to die from strangulation.

Friday 13th July 1973 Woman maimed by letter bomb A woman lost four fingers and received other injuries when she opened a deadly letter bomb at her home in the Waterside area of Derry. The woman was opening the letter addressed to her 24 year-old son who is a prison warder at the Maze prison, when it suddenly exploded.

She was taken from her home in the Irish Street Estate to the Altnagelvin Hospital. There surgeons amputated four fingers of her left hand and she was treated for abrasions to her right eye. Following the attack police renewed their warning to members of the public to be on their guard against letter bombs.

Friday 13th July 1973 13 Republican prisoners end hunger strike Thirteen Republican prisoners at Belfast prison have ended their hunger strike after three armed robbers were granted special category status.

The three raiders, who were jailed for five years, have been transferred to the Maze Prison and are allowed special concessions such as wearing their own clothes.

The three men who went on hunger strike had not been denied ‘political status’ by the authorities. They began their fast before they received a reply to their applications. The strike was started by five men and later 10 others joined in.

The two prisoners still not taking food, PD leader,

Michael Farrell, and his companion, Tony Canavan, are also seeking political status, but, as yet, have not received the authorities reply to their applications.

Friday 13th July 1973 Derry rocket attack In Derry, for the second time this week a rocket was fired at the Army post at the Gas Works on Lecky Road.

A soldier returned fire and claimed a hit on one of the attackers. The rocket struck the roof of the Army post and an Army spokesman said if it had been aimed 6 to 12 inches higher it would have cleared the apex of the roof and exploded in occupied houses in the Bogside.

Troops fired at the rocket position, which the Army spokesman said was in the grounds of St. Column’s College and a hit was claimed. Blood was found on the ground at the firing position.

Friday 13th July 1973 Arms find Soldiers found a .303 rifle and 128 rounds of ammunition in a house at Beechmount Pass in the Falls Road area of Belfast after a patrol spotted a girl limping into a house and walking out again without a limp.

Friday 13th July 1973 Bus burned An Ulsterbus was hi-jacked by 10 or 12 youths on the Camlough Road near Derrybeg Estate, Newry, and set on fire. The youths boarded the bus and ordered the passengers off before sprinkling it with petrol.

Friday 13th July 1973 Bomb defused An Army bomb disposal expert defused a 100lb bomb found in a culvert under the Moy-Benburb Road, Moy. The explosives were found by an Army patrol.

Friday 13th July 1973 Explosives discovered In Glenavy, a young boy playing at Stead Road found 48lb of homemade explosives and 30lbs of commercial gelignite in a hedge. Security forces were informed and an Army bomb expert was called in to deal with the find.

Friday 13th July 1973 Rooftop demo at Jail Rubber bullets were fired by soldiers to force more than 20 Protestant remand prisoners down from the roof at Belfast Jail where their demonstration was not a

protest but in support of Twelfth celebrations. Waving an Ulster flag apparently made by themselves, they held their positions for some time after breaking through roofing at two wings of the prison. They came down before the Orangemen paraded back up Crumlin Road.

Crowds gathered to watch the unscheduled Twelfth demonstration as prison authorities called in the Army.

Saturday 14th July 1973 Troops open fire Soldiers fired several rounds at a gunman seen at the junction of Limehill Street – Ligoniel Road. No hit was claimed and a follow up search proved negative.

Saturday 14th July 1973 Loyalist RC is target for terror campaign A Roman Catholic ex-serviceman who describes himself as a loyalist, opposed to a United Ireland, has been subjected to a campaign of intimidation. The home of Mr. Joseph Haynes, of Ardcarn Drive, Dundonald was attacked on the 11th night. "The whole front of the house was battered with bottles. It is in a dreadful state at the moment with glass all over the place. I don’t see why it should be me", said Mr. Haynes

Monday July 16th 1973 Guns Ship held at Dublin Docks Eight boxes of arms, ammunition and military uniforms were seized in a dramatic swoop on a British registered ship in Dublin Port.

The seizure was made after a vital tip-off to Gardai who went on board the vessel, Manchester Vigour, immediately she docked at Ocean Pier. The arms and ammunition listed in the ship’s manifest as machinery parts were consigned to a fictitious Dublin firm.

Saturday 14th July 1973 Belfast families are evacuated Several families evacuated their home in Belfast’s Springfield Road after a bomb blasted a chemist shop without warning. Fears of a second bomb proved unfounded and the Army returned the families to their homes.

Monday July 16th 1973 Two hurt in car blast A policeman and a soldier were injured when a massive car bomb exploded outside the Belfast Savings Bank in Armagh.

An Army bomb disposal expert who was only a few

Saturday 14th July 1973 Bombers blast Customs post outside Derry Saturday 14th July 1973 A caravan being used as a temporary Customs post on Youth with a bomb is made to move it the Derry-Donegal border at Molenan was destroyed A 17 year-old youth was ordered by an Army foot by a bomb. Two bombers held up Customs staff before patrol to carry a bomb to waste ground after he was planting the explosives and then escaped to safety in caught trying to plant it in a Derry city centre chemist’s Eire by car. shop. The youth was first spotted by shop assistants who ordered him out as the Army arrived. He was then Saturday 14th July 1973 made to carry the 20lb of explosives, in a plastic Children play with death for two weeks shopping bag to nearby waste ground. An Army bomb An Army spokesman said that children could easily have been killed by mortar bombs they discovered a disposal expert was called to deal with it. fortnight ago near a riverbank at Enniskillen. The Saturday 14th July 1973 spokesman said the Army were concerned to learn that Strangled man’s mother tells how she heard news the children had been playing with the launcher for so A Belfast mother revealed how she discovered that the long before it was reported to the authorities. A police city’s latest assassination victim was her 28 year-old spokesman said "Had the kids handled those bombs they son. Like every mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Davis was hor- would have been killed". rified when she learned about the young man who was found strangled in an alleyway in East Belfast on the Saturday 14th July 1973 12th morning. Mrs. Davis said she was not worried IRA rocket hits house about her son Frederick, who was staying with former For the third time in recent days an IRA rocket attack neighbours in the Oldpark. But after detectives had has endangered the lives of innocent people. A worked for 48 hours to discover the victim’s identity, Russian made RPG7 missile was launched at Beleek Mrs. Davis learned the terrible truth from her former police station. The warhead missed its target by 200 neighbours. Freddie as he was known was last seen setting metres and lodged in the roof of a house, fortunately no off alone on foot to tour the eleventh night bonfires in the city. one was injured.

feet away from the stolen Hillman Imp miraculously escaped injury. A few minutes earlier he had examined the vehicle, opening both the passenger door and the bonnet. As he returned with the soldier and the policeman for a second look, the vehicle exploded and burst into flames. The bank, situated in Victoria Street, a residential area, is near Gough Military Barracks and just across the road from Armagh Prison.

Monday July 16th 1973 Teenage girls on gun charge Two seventeen-year-old girls were remanded in custody for a week when they appeared at the Magistrate’s court charged with possessing a .303 rifle under suspicious circumstances at St. Judes Walk in the Divis area of Belfast. The girls from Clonard Street and Cavendish Street, Belfast, refused to recognise the court and sat with their backs to the bench talking down to some friends during the proceedings. As they left the court one of the girls shouted, "Up the Company Second Battalion, up the Provos".

Monday July 16th 1973 Four injured as pub is bombed for third time Four people were injured when a pub in the Oldpark area of Belfast was bombed for the third time and more might have been hurt had a customer in The Meeting of the Waters bar in Manor Street not spotted the bomb and raised the alarm. The customer shouted for the 20 other people in the bar to lie down on the floor. A short time later the bomb went off. Two people were taken to hospital and treated for shock and two others were given treatment at the scene.

Private Geoffrey Breakwell

Monday July 16th 1973 Bomb defused Army experts defused a 10lb bomb at a garage in Kilrea, after a warning call to police at Magherafelt Monday July 16th 1973 Patrol fired on A single shot was fired at a patrol in the Creggan Estate in Derry but there were no casualties.

Troops used CS gas and rubber bullets to disperse a stone-throwing crowd during a follow up operation in the Rathlin Drive area of Derry.

A youth found bleeding from the mouth after troops returned fire at a gunman on the estate, was still in hospital, but his condition was not serious. An Army spokesman said a single shot was fired at the patrol from the direction of Clare Courts. A pool of blood was found near the gunman’s firing position and this led troops to the edge of the nearby playing fields where a youth who was bleeding was put into a car by a group of men. The spokesman said it was not known how the youth’s injuries were caused. They were not the result of a gunshot or rubber bullet injury.

Monday July 16th 1973 IRA book is seized in Eire swoops The seizure of about 8000 copies of the Provisional IRA book ‘Freedom Struggle’, from Drogheda Printers Ltd., in Bolton Street and the secret Press conference held by the organisation’s leaders near Dublin will be discussed in the Dial this week. A spokesman for the IRA said the book would be reprinted elsewhere and put on sale as soon as possible.

Private Christopher Brad

William John McIlveen

Tuesday July 17th 1973 Soldier dies in Divis flats booby trap explosion A soldier was killed and three others injured, one seriously, when a cleverly placed bomb exploded beside the lift shaft in Divis flats, Belfast.

A woman was also injured when the bomb exploded when the soldiers opened an electrical junction box, during a search of the building. All the injured where rushed to hospital. It is believed the bomb was about 20 or 30lb and Army experts are investigating whether it was detonated by the soldiers or by the bombers.

The woman injured was later named as Mrs. Mary McIlduff of Whitehall Road, Belfast. Scores of the flats were extensively damaged by the bomb, which, is thought to have been placed in a mattress in the junction box. The soldiers are all believed to be from the Gloucestershire Regiment.

seized aboard a ship in Dublin.

He was charged with conspiring with persons unknown to illegally import firearms and ammunition into Eire.

He was also charged that at Ocean Pier, Dublin, he imported illegally 17 rifles, 30,930 rounds of assorted ammunition, 60lbs of gunpowder and 1,800 blank ammunition cases.

Tuesday July 17th 1973 Gardai get orders to arrest top Provos The Republic’s Minister for Justice, Mr. Patrick Cooney, has promised that there will be no slackening in his Government’s campaign to suppress subversive organisations. He said the government believed that the Provisional IRA’s morale was at a low ebb and that the secret Press conference they held near Dublin was aimed at boosting morale.

Referring to criticism of the government for its failure Tuesday July 17th 1973 to arrest leaders of the Provisional IRA, Mr. Cooney Soldier shot said that with one exception, the people at the Press A soldier was injured when a high velocity shot was conference were from Northern Ireland. The fact was fired at a mobile patrol at the junction of Springfield that these people went underground and it was difficult Road and Whiterock Road, Belfast. to arrest them despite continuing efforts. "It is the government’s policy and the Gardai have been made Tuesday July 17th 1973 fully aware of it, that any persons engaged in illegal or Bank bombed subversive activities are to be arrested whenever and In Derry the Pennyburn branch of the Munster and wherever possible."

Leinster Bank was badly damaged by a bomb blast after two armed men held up the staff and got away with Wednesday July 18th 1973 an undisclosed sum. As the raiders ran they left the Man killed in pub blast bomb in a parcel. Staff raised the alarm, the area was A 60 year-old man was killed and 19 other people cleared and no one was injured. injured, none of them seriously when a massive car bomb wrecked a pub outside Belfast.

Tuesday July 17th 1973 The Silver Eel Pub at Aghadalgan, near Crumlin was Exile accused of shipping arms crowded when a car bomb wrecked the premises. 20 A Monaghan man living in Canada was charged in the people were injured, one of them, Mr. Owen Ruddy of Special Criminal Court in Dublin with illegally import- Legateriff, Upper Ballinderry, died three hours later. His ing a consignment of arms and ammunition, which was wife and son are believed to have been among the injured. Forensic experts were searching the wreckage to discover clues to the identity of the car used by the bombers.

A bomb, which blasted the Criteria Bar on the Crumlin Road, near Carlisle Circus, Belfast, failed to cause any casualties. The bomb of about 200lb was left outside the pub in a car stolen earlier outside Dunmore Stadium, on the Antrim Road. Only one man was treated for shock when the massive charge exploded without warning.

LEFT - The remains of a car bomb which exploded in Newcastle killing two people

Scores of nearby shops suffered blast damage and hundreds of windows were shattered.

Both mass murder attempts came only hours after a booby-trap bomb concealed in a lift shaft in Divis flats claimed the lives of two soldiers. The two dead soldiers, both members of the Gloucestershire Regiment have been named as Private Christopher Patrick Brady (21) from Plymouth, and Private Geoffrey Alan Breakwell (20), of Brierly, Staffordshire. Two other soldiers injured in the incident were still in a serious condition.

The vacant house in which the signalling equipment was found appeared to have been used as a base for the operation to break into Mountjoy.

Wednesday July 18th 1973 Shillington to give up Chief Constable’s job Sir Graham Shillington is to retire as Chief Constable at the end of October and the Police Authority is to advertise for a successor.

In a personal memorandum to the force, Sir Graham, who is 62, made it clear that his resignation had not been influenced in any way by political events or Wednesday July 18th 1973 political pressures, but solely by personal choice. His Soldiers injured in gun attack departure will bring some additional reorganisation at Two soldiers received gunshot wounds when their pa- the top of the RUC. trol was fired on at the junction of the Whiterock-Springfield Roads. They were able to return to duty after treat- Wednesday July 18th 1973 ment.

Bomb gang in attack number four A bomb damaged Strabane Labour Exchange - for the Wednesday July 18th 1973 fourth time in fourteen months. Three masked men, Top Provo is arrested in Dublin armed with sub-machineguns and a rifle, left a plastic One of the five leading Provisionals who held a defiant bag containing the bomb in the main entrance. The Press conference in Dublin has been arrested and ex- staff of about 70, most of them girls and work men who pected to appear in the Special Criminal Court. The man who manages the Provisionals magazine, An Phoblacht was arrested at his home in Ballymin.

Wednesday July 18th 1973 Soldier injured at border A soldier injured in a mine explosion on the border near Clogher was flown by helicopter to a Belfast hospital.

He was one of a foot patrol south east of Clogher on the Tyrone side of the border with Monaghan when he was caught by the explosion. The other members of the patrol were uninjured.

Wednesday July 18th 1973 Police foil Mountjoy escape bid Dublin police foiled what is believed to have been an attempt to free IRA leader, Joe Cahill from Mountjoy Prison.

Garda Paul Firth saw six men throwing ropes at the perimeter wall of the jail, touching on the wing where Cahill is held. The men escaped in a van. In an adjoining terrace house in Glengarrife Parade detectives found signalling equipment thought to have been used to communicate with prisoners in the jail. Gardai converged in strength on Mountjoy when the alarm was raised.

RIGHT - Gerry Adams, the most wanted man in the North who has now been captured by the military.

were carrying out repairs to the building following the sessing an Armalite rifle, a Thompson sub-machinegun last bomb attack four weeks ago, ran to safety. Some and a pistol under suspicious circumstances and being girls were shocked following the explosion, but it is members of the Irish Republican Army. understood no one needed treatment.

Wednesday July 18th 1973 Man set fire to buses – charge Wednesday July 18th 1973 A young man has appeared at Belfast’s Magistrate Court Training centre bombed At Nutt’s Corner, Templepatrick, the Ministry of Trans- accused of stealing three Belfast corporation buses and port training centre was slightly damaged by a car bomb. then burning them, causing £24,000 worth of damage.

The 10lb bomb had been placed against an outside wall. The man of Duncairn Parade, Belfast appeared on 11 charges, including robbery, having a firearm with intent to do robbery, putting people in fear of being Wednesday July 18th 1973 subjected to force and remaining a member of an Four go on trial for murder of policemen Four men appeared at a special court in Lisburn charged illegal organisation, namely, Na Fianna Eireann. with the murder of two policemen.

The court heard that the two RUC men, Constable Wednesday July 18th 1973 Raymond Wylie and Reserve Constable Ronald Boy (16) accused of blast Macauley – died in a hail of bullets when their car was A 16 year-old boy who absconded from a training school ambushed at Aghagallon, Co Antrim, on February 27. was re-arrested by police in Lisburn and when he Three of the accused, a 23 year-old driver of O’Neills appeared in court, he was remanded in custody and was Terrace, a 23 year-old storeman of Kilwilkie Gardens ordered to be held in prison. The boy was charged with and a 29 year-old steel fixer of Lurgantarry are from causing an explosion at Corrib Avenue, Suffolk, Belfast, the Lurgan district. The fourth man is a 25 year-old on July 25 1972. joiner of New Inn, Co. Tipperary. All four are charged with the capital murder of the two policemen, with pos- Wednesday July 18th 1973 RPG rocket discovered Two boys building a wooden hut at the side of the Enniskillen-Irvinestown Road discovered an RPG launcher and three rockets. The rocket launchers and missiles were said by the Army to be in good condition.

A mortar and three mortar bombs were found 100 yards from the same place a week ago.

In Strabane troops found a quantity of assorted ammunition in the cemetery. The haul included ammunition for .303 Armalite rifles, shotgun cartridges, detonators and some bomb making equipment.

Wednesday July 18th 1973 Patrol escapes injury A UDR patrol escaped injury when a mine in a culvert exploded as they were on their way to investigate a suspect bomb in a shop at Ballinderry Bridge, Tyrone.

A call was received at Magherafelt Telephone Exchange warning that there was a bomb at Kinnaird’s shop at Ballinderry Bridge. Security forces found a window had been broken in the shop and later an Army

LEFT - Buses and passengers are searched in East Belfast during a massive security operation.

FACING PAGE - Buses and cars being searched on the Albertbridge Road

explosives expert found a bomb in the shop.

Wednesday July 18th 1973 Patrol attacked A routine Army patrol found a .22 pistol, 200 rounds of assorted ammunition combat jackets and camouflage nets in the back yard of a house in Ballgawley Road.

Later 20 shots were fired at an Army patrol north west of the town. Troops returned fire, but there were no hits claimed and no injuries reported.

Brendan Hughes and Tom Cahill, brother of former Belfast Chief of Staff Joe Cahill.

Details of the security forces biggest coup were not being immediately released but it is understood the three were detained without a struggle. All three have been on the run in Eire for some time. This is the second in a series of major swoops by security forces on both sides of the border within 48 hours. A Provo leader, who had helped arrange last weekends Press conference, was detained by Gardai in Dublin.

Wednesday July 18th 1973 Tunnel found in Maze Prison The start of an escape tunnel was found under the floor of a hut occupied by Republican detainees during a search at the Maze Prison. The entrance to the tunnel was covered by four floor tiles and was discovered after prison staff became suspicious and noticed evidence of tunnelling. The tunnel was just big enough to take a small man. It was 3 and-a-half feet deep and a few yards in length, heading towards the perimeter fence.

It was thought that the would-be escapers had been digging for about three days.

Thursday July 19th 1973 Mountjoy row after escape bid Provisional IRA prisoners and prison officers grappled with each other at Mountjoy Jail, Dublin, after an escape bid had been foiled. The row arose when a ‘confined to cells’ order was made by the prison authorities.

Prisoners protested at the order, which deprived them of their evening round in the exercise yard. When prison officers moved in, and in a scuffle which followed, blows were exchanged between the prisoners and the prison staff. The prison authorities were not releasing any information concerning the disturbance.

Thursday July 19th 1973 Gerry Adams is held by troops Gerry Adams, the alleged chief of the IRA in Belfast, and two brigade officers, were arrested by security forces in the Falls Road area of Belfast. The two top Provos arrested with their leader are understood to be

Thursday July 19th 1973 Derry firm bombed A bomb extensively damaged McClean’s Auto Accessories firm in John Street, Derry. A two minute warning was given by two youths who planted the device.

There were no injuries but an elderly woman who was

evacuated from a nearby flat had to be treated for shock.

A second bomb, containing 25lb of explosives was found at McCall’s Electrical Shop and defused by an Army expert.

Thursday July 19th 1973 We did flats bombing – Provos The Provisional IRA has claimed responsibility for the booby-trap blast which killed two soldiers in Divis Flats, Belfast. Two other soldiers who were caught in the explosion were still seriously ill in a Belfast hospital.

The IRA’s Belfast Brigade in claiming the atrocity as their work, have denied that the lives of people in the flats were placed in jeopardy. The Provo statement also emphasised that all Army personnel were ‘legitimate targets’.

Thursday July 19th 1973 Pub raider shot as terror is stepped up Security forces began a hunt for two raiders who held up staff and customers in a pub at Magilliagan, near Coleraine. An off duty member of the security forces was in the bar, and opened fire, hitting one of the raiders. The armed men made their escape to a getaway car parked in front of the pub. A police spokesman said the raider who was shot was bleeding heavily as he made his way from the bar.

Thursday July 19th 1973 Troops injured Two soldiers injured in separate IRA attacks were described as seriously ill. The first Army casualty was in Derry’s Bogside. Sapper D. Easton was in the rear of a four-ton lorry on Lecky Road when a bullet from a high velocity weapon tore into his back. He was among a group of soldiers returning to base after strengthening the post at the gasworks.

A soldier injured when a landmine exploded in South Tyrone was undergoing further medical treatment at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast. He was flown there for an emergency operation after part of the mine exploded. Troops discovered that six bombs had been laid to trap an entire Army patrol 100 yards on the northern side of the border at Loughmore. The injured soldier has been named as Corporal Brian Criddle (34) of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps attached to the Royal Tank Regiment. He was using an Alsatian dog to sniff out explosives when the blast occurred. The dog was blown 30 feet away, but escaped injury.

Thursday July 19th 1973 RUC patrols attacked Troops sealed off a section of north Belfast after a police Land rover patrol was caught in a well planned ambush. The incident began after the police answered an anonymous phone call warning that a body was at Bennet Drive, in the Cliftonville area. As the patrol approached the drive, several gunmen opened fire with automatic weapons, hitting the Land Rover nine times.

As a second police vehicle went to the patrol’s aid, a burst of automatic fire was directed at it on the Cliftonville Road.

Thursday July 19th 1973 Provo was killed by own mine – RUC theory A young member of the Provisional IRA who was killed in an explosion on the Fermanagh-Monaghan border may have been laying mines to ambush the security forces, an inquest in Enniskillen was told. An open verdict was returned on the 18 year-old of St. Patrick’s Park, Mayfield, Cork City, whose body was found in a wood at Mullinahinch, Rosslea, on May 10. A search of the boys clothing revealed an Armalite magazine containing a number of rounds of ammunition.

LEFT - Women having they bags searched in Cromac Street.

FACING PAGE - The traffic queue on the Albertbridge Road during the searching.

Friday July 20th 1973 Soldier dies, one injured, in border mine blast A soldier was killed and another injured in a well prepared ambush on the Armagh-Monaghan border between Middletown and Keady. The injured soldier was flown by helicopter to the military hospital at Musgrave Park in Belfast. The two men were part of an Army patrol which went to the area after a mine had been spotted under a culvert in the roadway in Drumshambo. As the troops were examining the mine they came under fire from gunmen operating across the border in Eire.

Friday July 20th 1973 Family escape sniper ambush A family had a lucky escape when a gunman fired on their car in Tyrone. The gun attack on the family came when they stopped their car on the main DungannonBallygawley Road to see if their children were all right.

Eight shots were fired at the car, but none hit it.

Security forces think the car was mistaken for a police vehicle.

Friday July 20th 1973 Dead UDR man named Police have named the murdered UDR man as Sidney Watt (36), married with four children, two daughters aged 8 and 11 and two sons, six and five.

Mr. Watt, a Protestant, was ambushed on returning to his farm at Ballintemple, Newtownhamilton after visiting friends. Two gunmen who are thought to have been lying in wait for at least an hour, opened fire with a Thompson sub-machinegun and an M1 carbine. Mr. Watt was struck a number of times and his car was hit eight times. Mr. Watt, a Private in the UDR, died while being taken to the Daisy Hill Hospital at Newry. He was a member of the former Special Constabulary. The dead mans wife, Florence (28), told detectives she had heard the shots and when she looked out saw the gunmen’s car being driven off in the direction of the border.

Mr. Watt was the 35th member of the UDR to have been killed, since the troubles began. 192 regular soldiers and 38 policemen have died.

Friday July 20th 1973 Blow to Provos as 18 top men are held A severe blow was dealt to the Provisional IRA command structure when 18 men including some of the top brigade staff were detained in Army swoops. News of the coup broke after three top ranking IRA officers were caught in a house at Beechmount in the Falls area of Belfast. Acting on tip-offs, four military units swooped on houses in different parts of Belfast and arrested the men in one of the most successful operations since the terror campaign began in 1969.

Four more officers were detained while holding an IRA staff meeting in a house in Hillman Street, near New Lodge Road. Later two cars were stopped in Armagh and a number of men, among them a high-ranking officer, in the Belfast brigade were arrested. It is believed the men were making a run for it across the border.

An Army spokesman said, "It was a very satisfactory day, but only one step on the long road." The Army is said to have arrested the entire command structure of

Friday July 20th 1973 Bar bombed A car bomb attack on the Roe View Inn between Limavady and Dungiven came without warning. There Friday July 20th 1973 was one minor casualty and the blast caused slight Second UDR man comes under fire structural damage to the pub. Police said the car used As detectives began the hunt for the killers of a UDR in the attack, a red 1100, had been stolen in Coleraine. man ambushed at his home another attack was made on a part-time soldier on his Fermanagh farm.

Friday July 20th 1973 A hail of bullets was fired at the soldier as he stood at Youth shot an outhouse on his farm at Mullaghmeen, Kesh, but A 17 year-old Protestant was shot in the hand as he only one struck him in his right hand. It was the second walked across the playing fields at Ballysillan. After time that Lance Corporal William Barton had been fired treatment in hospital he was allowed home. He did not on. In February last he was hit by a gunman and spent know from where the shot was fired. some time in hospital.

Friday July 20th 1973 Two gunmen took part in the murder bid firing from Garage bombed the cover of a bank about 75 yards form the farm, they A small bomb, containing 2–3 lb of explosives, caused then ran off on foot across the border, about a mile away. slight damage to a garage at Mill Road, Whitehouse in Belfast. No one was injured.

the IRA’s crack unit, the third battalion which controlled the New Lodge district, and among them a ‘wanted’ man of C company who failed to return to jail following parole from Crumlin Road at Christmas 1972.

Friday July 20th 1973 Tried to kill eight – charged A Belfast teenager arrested by one of the Army’s SIB men attached to Lisburn RUC Station appeared at a special court in the town charged with attempting to murder eight soldiers. The 17 year-old painter of Cupar Street was remanded in custody to Belfast’s Magistrates Court.

Saturday July 21st 1973 Three Belfast pubs are blasted in 30 minutes In thirty minutes of terror in Belfast six people were injured when without warning three pubs owned by Roman Catholics were bombed.

Two of the pubs, Mooney’s, in Eliza Street and the Bus Bar were car bombed. The third pub, the College Arms, was blasted by a bomb made up in a cylinder and hurled into the premises. As the hunt for the bombers got underway, one theory detectives were investigating was that the explosions were the work of Protestant extremists.

At Mooney’s bar in the Cromac area the car contained 60-100lb of explosives, the blast damaged the bar and also shattered a large number of windows in surrounding houses and other property. A six year-old child and a 28 year-old woman had to be treated for shock.

While security forces were still at Mooney’s another car bomb wrecked the Bus Bar at Winetavern Street in the Smithfield district. The bomb in the car was again 60-100lb and four people were taken to hospital and treated for cuts and shock. The explosion caused extensive damage wrecking the bar and other property close by. The force of the blast hit the nearby Ulsterbus depot. A total of 20 buses were damaged, including six, which were complete write offs. The injured included a 55 year-old man, a girl aged 17, a 34 yearold man and a woman whose age is unknown.

No one was injured in the third bombing at the College Arms in Edward Street, although the blast caused extensive damage to the premises and surrounding property. Two youths were spotted throwing the cylinder type bomb – often used by Protestant bombers – into the bar and as in the other two attacks, no warning was given.

Saturday July 21st 1973 Woman’s naked body found in alleyway The naked body of a middle-aged Protestant housewife was found sprawled grotesquely in an alleyway, just yards from her home in a Protestant area of Belfast.

The woman, Mrs. Jean Williams, (53) of Lecale Street, off the Donegall Road, had been strangled and knifed in the chest and stomach.

Detectives are of the opinion that a late night drink in a pub in the nearby Catholic Grosvenor Road my have led to Mrs Williams’ death. Detectives think the murdered woman may have walked into the hands of her killers after leaving the pub.

A mother of two sons and an adopted daughter, detectives still have to establish whether Mrs Williams’ murder was sectarian. The dead woman had a habit of drinking in Catholic areas and was reported leaving a bar on the Grosvenor road on the night of her death.

Saturday July 21st 1973 Army clamp-down seals off Belfast Belfast motorists faced traffic chaos with miles of traffic jams and up to two-hour delays at some of the 50 road blocks set up by the Army in their biggest ever clamp down, on the anniversary of Bloody Friday. City centre shops were deserted as thousands of shoppers stayed at home – or turned back when they were faced with the traffic jams. The Army say the new stringent security measures will continue. There were fears that quantities of explosives may have been moved into the city area before today’s operation. The Army appealed to the public to report any cars parked suspiciously, any packages and parcels left unattended, and any people who appear to be moving packages in and out of cars in a suspicious manner.

Saturday July 21st 1973 Remembered – That Friday In pouring rain a small, solemn procession made it’s way along the Antrim Road to Somerton Road in Belfast. The walkers carried a cross – a grim reminder of the Bloody Friday explosion that took place just over a year ago at Cavehill Road, when three people died.

The cross was made out of the splintered wood and twisted metal left behind when the bomb had achieved its murderous work. The procession carried the cross from St. Peter’s Church of Ireland on the Antrim Road to St. Therese’s Roman Catholic Church half a mile away, where it will stay for a year.

Among those walking behind was the Rev. Joseph Parker, whose 15 year-old son, Stephen, was among those killed in the Cavehill blast. After the year the

cross will be transferred to another church. Taking part in the interdenominational services in memory of the dead were Rev. Will Harris, Church of Ireland and the Rev. Hilary Armstrong curate at St. Therese’s.

Saturday July 21st 1973 Shots fired at UDR man Attacks on the security forces continued when a reserve police constable had his home ransacked and a UDR man was fired on.

Two men wearing green anoraks, black gloves and hoods, entered the home of a reserve police constable in Warrenpoint, he was out but his wife and family were in. Both men appeared to be armed but later left behind a plastic gun. They ransacked the house damaging property and stole a .22 rifle. The two men made their escape in a blue Vauxhall Viva estate car Registration number 5980 TZ. Two shots were fired at a part-time soldier in the Ulster Defence Regiment. He was not injured. The incident happened as the man was putting his car into a garage at Newtownabbey. The shots are believed to have come from a passing car.

BELOW - Car bomb attack on the Bus Bar in Smithfield

Saturday July 21st 1973 Campaign to be intensified The 1st Battalion of the North Armagh Provisional IRA, who claimed responsibility for the death of Major Richard Parman (37), in a booby trap explosion near Middletown, said their campaign against the security forces would be intensified. Major Barman of 11 Field Squadron, Royal Engineers, who came from Ripon in Yorkshire, was married with four children.

He died and another soldier was injured when the booby trap bomb exploded as they checked a derelict cottage not far from the border. A 440lb mine had earlier been discovered and successfully defused. The injured solider has been named as Driver Todd of the Royal Corps of Transport. The Eire Army and police later carried out a search of the area and four men were detained.

Saturday July 21st 1973 Crowd jeers men on police murder charge A crowd of about 150 jeered and booed as four men accused of the capital murder of two policemen in February were being led out from a courtroom in the centre of Lisburn. As the men were getting in to a police tender one of them replied to the crowd’s shouts

with a clenched fist and a ‘V’ sign. Army and police reinforcements were standing by at the courtroom in the town’s Assembly rooms. But there was no trouble.

The four men are charged with the murder of Constables Raymond Wylie and Ronald Macauley in an IRA ambush at Aghagallon near Lurgan, on February 27.

More than 70 witnesses are making depositions to the special court which is expected to last for another two days.

Saturday July 21st 1973 Screw tightens along border Eire police and troops stepped up their patrols and checks along the border in a bid to crack down on the Provisional IRA. From early morning extra Garda cars were combing border areas and all suspicious vehicles were stopped and searched. Troops and police set up full-time checkpoints in some areas including Monaghan. The moves are being seen as an all-out move to tackle those responsible for causing trouble on the Eire side of the border in recent days. In two separate incidents Garda were threatened at gunpoint by men following dramatic car chases.

planned for the next few days they may be able to catch Bell who is regarded as an ‘elusive character’. Photos of him and details of his habits have been circulated to Army undercover squads and foot patrols. Security chiefs believe Bell was moved into the position of Brigade OC immediately after Gerry Adams and 17 other top Provos were arrested in one of the most successful Army swoops since the violence began.

Saturday July 21st 1973 Search party under fire Soldiers in Derry came under fire while they searched a social club near the Creggan estate. Three shots were fired at them during a search at Molin’s social club in Beechwood Avenue, but they were not injured. Fire was returned but they did not hit the gunman.

Saturday July 21st 1973 Panic bombing Two bombers, who panicked when they saw a snap Army checkpoint at the junction of Queen Street and Asylum Road, Derry, left a 50lb bomb at an opticians in Queen Street. No warning was phoned to the police but the bomb was spotted by an employee who raised Saturday July 21st 1973 the alarm. The bomb was later carried outside where it Army alert for new Provo boss exploded breaking windows over a wide area. No one Security chiefs in Ulster were briefed about the man was hurt. whom they now believe has been appointed the new Saturday July 21st 1973 Provo chief-of-staff in Belfast, Mr. Malachy Bell.

They hope that in the massive security operations Garda patrol held up Security forces along the border were alerted after six men armed with Armalite rifles held up a Garda patrol BELOW - A British soldier covering a protest.

BELOW RIGHT - One of Belfast’s oldest pubs, the car near the village of Glenties, County Donegal and College Arms, being demolished following a bomb removed the vehicles radio transmitter. The Gardai, none of whom was armed were released unhurt.

attack.

Saturday July 21st 1973 Helicopter attacked About 20 miles from Derry, a disused house at Skerryglass, Clady, Co. Tyrone, near the border was blown up. Shots were fired across the border in Donegal at an Army helicopter investigating the incident, but there were no hits.

Monday July 23rd 1973 Injured soldier dies A soldier died in hospital last night from injuries he received in a land mine blast last week in Co. Tyrone.

He was Corporal Brian Criddle (34), of the Royal Army Vetinerary Corps. He was married with three children and came from Blockley, Gloucestershire. Corporal Criddle was caught in the blast near Clogher.

Saturday July 21st 1973 Fund for UDA man A fighting fund has been set up to pay for the legal costs of the young UDA man from Derry charged in Eire with the murder of the Donegal couple earlier this year. The fund had been launched by Mr. Glennie Barr, the Vanguard Unionist Assembly member for Derry and the target is £10,000.

Monday July 23rd 1973 Family escape fire attack A Belfast family were burnt out of their home in Lilliput Street, off North Queen Street, Belfast. The man, his wife and two year-old-child managed to escape from the blaze, which gutted their home. They are Protestants and the fire is believed to have been started Saturday July 21st 1973 by an incendiary device.

Bomb is neutralised At Lurgan a Roman Catholic family’s home at New Troops dealt with a bomb planted in a supply shop in Forge Road, Magherlin, was badly damaged in a blaze, Great James Street, Derry. Two controlled explosions started by petrol bombers. The couple and their sixneutralised the 10lb bomb. The bomb didn’t explode month-old child were able to flee their house, the downand bomb disposal experts took it away. stairs of which was destroyed.

Monday July 23rd 1973 Three die in weekend of violence Among the dead were a young couple, who, were blown up when a bomb is thought to have exploded prematurely in their car in Newcastle. They were named as Alphonsus Cunningham (21), a plumber of Glassdrummond, Annalong, and Pauline Kane also 21, from Burrenreagh, Castlewellan.

The explosion happened while the car belonging to Cunningham’s brother was travelling along Causeway Road. A second man who was also in the car was injured.

Shortly after the car exploded in Newcastle, police at Banbridge received a warning that a bomb had been planted at a sweet and tobacco shop at Railway Street in the seaside town. The bomb made up of 30lb of explosives, went off about 30 minutes later wrecking the shop. The third person to die a violent death was a young man whose body was found in an entry on the Shankill Road, Belfast.

Monday July 23rd 1973 Victim not known Detectives were still trying to identify the body of a man found assassinated in the Shankill area of Belfast.

The man aged about 30, was shot three times. His body was discovered in an entry off Alaska Street. Detectives investigating the killing believe the man was shot in the entry a short time before his body was found.

Monday July 23rd 1973 Bomb attacks A series of bomb attacks in the East Down started with an explosion at Rea’s Pub, Market Street, Downpatrick.

Police were at the pub in connection with another matter when they noticed a box in a passage at the rear of the premises. They raised the alarm and cleared the area. When the bomb exploded a short time later, no one was injured. A warning call about the bomb plant was received after the device had exploded.

Half an hour later another bomb in the town went off, this time at the Steak Inn at Scotch Street. A few minutes warning was given and the area was evacuated before the explosion took place.

Meanwhile, some eight miles away at Dundrum, a bomb was carried out of the Bay Inn and left on waste ground near the pub. It caused only blast damage when it exploded and no one was injured. A warning call was made about the bomb.

Monday July 23rd 1973 Bomb defused In Belfast, Army experts defused a bomb in a beer keg found in a stolen car in the Shankill district of the city.

The car was parked in Haldane Street in the Agnes Street area and was discovered by police.

Monday July 23rd 1973 Derry bomb attacks Bombers made attempts to blow up two Derry shops at the weekend. The bombing attempts were made at a drapery store in Abercorn Road and a supermarket at Park Avenue near the Creggan Estate. Four men walked into the Asian owned drapery store in Abercorn Road and placed a bomb, but it was carried outside and placed in the street. Around the same time a 15 minute warning was telephoned to the RUC and the bomb estimated at 10-15lb exploded half an hour later causing extensive blast damage.

About an hour later two youths placed a bomb in a supermarket in Park Avenue and gave a warning that it was fitted with an anti-handling device. It took Army experts four hours to neutralise the bomb, which was found to be made up of a half pound of explosive and a gallon of petrol.

driver , was seriously injured and has not yet been identified. Within the past year four Downpatrick people have died in premature explosions. In August last two men, one of whom was later described as the commanding officer of the South Down Brigade, Provisional IRA, lost their lives when a bomb exploded prematurely at Downpatrick racecourse and it was believed a third bomber could also have died. A young teacher and a student died in February last in a bomb explosion near Castleward, Strangford, earlier that same week three members of the IRA died and four civilians were also killed when a bomb was accidentally detonated at the Newry customs clearing station. One of the first IRA casualties in the South Down area came on January 26 when a bomb attack was made on the police station at Castlewellan. On that occasion a man from Burrenreagh lost his life and another was seriously injured.

Monday July 23rd 1973 Army grip is a bit looser The Army’s anti-terrorist clampdown on Belfast, involving more than 400 troops continued, more than 48 hours after coming into operation. For the thousands returning to work after the Twelfth holidays, delays were not as great as on Saturday, when intensive searching of all vehicles entering the city meant, in some cases, hold ups of up to two hours. The improvement on Saturday was because troops seemed to be carrying out only selective searches of vehicles. The security operation is the biggest since Motorman. An Army spokesman said that because of increased traffic troops were adopting a ‘more flexible approach’.

Monday July 23rd 1973 Six held in swoops by Garda Special Branch Intense activity by Eire’s Special Branch resulted in the arrest of six people believed to be members of illegal organisations. In swoops in five different areas of Dublin, armed detectives picked up four men and two women. All were held in the Bridewell Garda station under the Offences Against the State Act. Under this Act, they may be held for 48 hours before being charged.

But it is expected they will be brought before a specially convened Special Criminal Court. It is believed that arrests were made in connection with the attempt to rescue Republican prisoners from Mountjoy jail last week with the finding of weapons.

Monday July 23rd 1973 Customs van bombed A temporary customs caravan on the Derry-Donegal border was badly damaged by a bomb. The bomb, in a parcel, had been left by two men, who with a third man, had driven up to the border. They parked their car on the Donegal side, got out, planted the bomb and warned that it was due to go off in 15 minutes. The bomb exploded more than two hours later, but no injuries were reported.

Monday July 23rd 1973 Man held Following a big swoop by civic guards in West Donegal, one man was picked up in Greenore and taken to Letterkenny where he was being questioned.

Monday July 23rd 1973 At least ten killed by their own bombs At least ten bombers have died in premature bomb explosions in the South Down area, including the two who died at the weekend. Two people, a man and a girl, died in Newcastle when car in which they were travelling blew up. An older man, thought to be the

Monday July 23rd 1973 Shots fired at patrol Two shots were fired at an Army patrol in Westland Street in Derry. There were no casualties and fire was not returned.

Tuesday July 24th 1973 Murder victim was a German seaman The city’s latest assassination victim was identified as a German seaman. The dead man, believed to be in his early 30’s, was found shot through the head and chest in an alleyway on the Shankill Road. Mystery

surrounded the man’s identity until a close examina- Belfast, spotted a suspicious parcel. The parcel was tion of his clothing revealed German trademarks. He tied up and had a stamp on it. It could have been a was the second foreign seaman to die in Belfast. bomb, thought an alert soldier, so, the bomb disposal squad, was called in. The experts examined it for half Tuesday July 24th 1973 an hour from long range, then a marksman fired three Man shot in pub raid dies shots into it, but the pie didn’t explode. The troops A Belfast publican shot in an attempted robbery on then moved in and discovered the ‘bomb’ was indeed a Saturday night has died of his injuries. He was Mr. rhubarb pie, which had been dumped. Said a spokesLeonard Rossborough (38), of Hillside Crescent, man for the 42 Regiment, Royal Artillery, who Templepatrick, Co. Antrim. He was married with two discovered the abandoned pie: "We can’t take any children. Mr Rossborough was shot as he attempted to chances with this sort of thing. But it’s a pity we grapple with three armed raiders at the Horseshoe Bar, destroyed a good pie. It looked delicious and it was a in the Shankill Road. sin to waste it."

Tuesday July 24th 1973 Man and boy hurt by pub keg bomb A four year-old boy and an elderly man were injured when a beer keg bomb exploded without warning in a Belfast pub. The man injured in the blast at the Earl Inn in York Street was reported to be seriously injured.

He received head injuries when the beer keg bomb, which had been left at the front door of the bar, exploded without warning. It is understood that a man got out of a car in which there were two other people and walked with the 20lb bomb to the bar. Little structural damage was caused to the premises.

Wednesday July 25th 1973 Two unarmed Red Caps shot in the back Two unarmed military policemen were shot in the back in the Bogside, Derry. Both were rushed to Altnagelvin Hospital where a hospital spokesman said they were ‘seriously hurt’. The incident happened as the two man patrol was passing the junction of Harvey StreetWaterloo Street. Unarmed military police patrols have come under fire on three previous occasions since operating in the Bogside. In one of these an RMP was wounded in the arm. Army officers were shocked at the savagery of this incident.

Tuesday July 24th 1973 Sniper shot Sentries at the Creegan Army camp, Derry, spotted a gunman on the balcony of Clare Court flats and opened fire on him before he had time to aim his gun. In the follow up operation soldiers found blood on the balcony but no trace of the gunman. People in the area hindered soldiers in taking part in the follow up and rubber bullets and CS gas cartridges were fired.

Wednesday July 25th 1973 Bloody Friday death squads in the Maze All the men believed to have been responsible for the Bloody Friday explosions in Belfast are now being held in detention without trial at the Maze. There are perhaps eight or nine men being detained whom the security authorities are convinced were involved in planting the bombs that killed nine people.

Wednesday July 25th 1973 A night out led to death Murder squad detectives now believe a night ‘on the town’ led to the slaying of a 24 year-old German sailor.

After exhaustive enquiries, detectives can now trace the movements of the city’s latest assassination victim until shortly before he was picked up and shot through the head and chest.

Paul Peter Linaeur, from Dorchtersen, in West Germany left the Rodich grain cargo ship with two other crewmen. They went for a drink in Corporation Street and met three girls who they left the bar with and accompaTuesday July 24th 1973 nied them to a flat. Peter Linaeur left the flat possibly Army claims hit on rhubarb pie at 4 am and began the trip to his boat on foot. Beyond The Army filled a rhubarb pie full of lead today. The this nothing is known of the young man’s movements drama started when a routine patrol in Queen’s Square, until his body was found two hours later.

Tuesday July 24th 1973 Man in hospital charged A County Down man who was injured when a car blew up in Newcastle appeared before a Special Court on an explosives charge. The court was held at the hospital bedside of the man from Glassdrummond, Annalong.

He was charged with having explosives on July 21st with intent to endanger life and was remanded to a further court in Belfast, which, will be held when he is medically fit.

Wednesday July 25th 1973 Patrol finds 100lb. beer barrel bomb The find by an Army patrol was at Conlig Street in the Shankill area. It included a 100lb beer barrel bomb, similar to one used in an attack on the Earl Inn at York Street.

Wednesday July 25th 1973 Arms find A .38 revolver and 19 rounds of .38 ammunition found in a garden of a house in the Limestone Road, Belfast were handed over to the Army and a police-Army search patrol discovered an SLR rifle, three magazines, 388 rounds of ammunition and a .45 revolver.

Wednesday July 25th 1973 IRA gives warning to parents The West Tyrone Command of the Provisional IRA has warned parents in the border village of Clady to keep their children away from Army patrols. They say that at least on three separate occasions they have had to abandon operations because of the risk of injuring children, something that could no longer be tolerated as volunteers were risking their lives in the operations, which were being messed up unnecessarily by the children. "The British are just using the children as

cover." The statement said. "Make sure your child is not being used in such a manner by keeping them away from the patrols."

Thursday July 26th 1973 Shootings stop Bogside patrol Within hours of an Army announcement that they had suspended unarmed military police foot patrols in the Bogside, Derry a gunman opened fire on an unarmed RMP Land Rover. The gunman fired three shots, which was in the Westland Street area of the Bogside. There were no casualties. The Land Rover was on a normal mobile patrol and is painted a distinctive white to distinguish it from normal and military vehicles. This followed the shooting in the Bogside area of two unarmed Red Caps. Both were shot in the back by two teenage gunmen, one is believed to be around 14.

Thursday July 26th 1973 Flats blast: Three boys charged Three youths aged 15, 16 and 17 appeared at Belfast Magistrate’s Court charged with murdering the two soldiers who died in the booby trap blast at Divis flats. All three were remanded in custody in Crumlin Road Jail for a week after the magistrate overruled objections by the defence council that the two juveniles should not BELOW - IRA car bomb attack in Little Victoria Street, go to prison.

Belfast.

Thursday July 26th 1973 Gardai search British ship after tip-off Armed Special Branch detectives were at Dublin Port supervising the unloading of containers from the British registered vessel Solway Fisher. Gardai received a tip-off that flashing lights were seen from the vessel, as it was about to dock at Alexander Basin. Security precautions were immediately minted in case another attempt was being made to import arms illegally.

Thursday July 26th 1973 Newry bomb defused An Army explosives expert defused a 25 – 30lb bomb in council offices in Monaghan Row, Newry. An anonymous call to the telephone exchange gave warning of its presence.

The bomb had been under the stairs in the main block of offices, which includes the council chamber in which the Newry No.1 (County Down) Rural Council were meeting. Entrance was gained by breaking a window.

The offices have been badly damaged on two previous occasions by bombs.

Friday July 27th 1973 Five hurt in pub blast Five people were slightly injured when a bomb blast ripped through a pub in the Markets area of Belfast.

The injuries consisted mainly of cuts, bruises and lacerations from flying glass. The explosion was caused

by a 5-10lb bomb thrown from a car at the Joy Arms at the junction of Joy Street-Henrietta Street. An Army spokesman claimed that the injuries would have probably been more serious but for the fact that the bomb rolled when it hit the ground. Most of the blast caught a car accessories firm’s premises adjacent to the pub.

Friday July 27th 1973 Blast bomb attack In the Grosvenor Road area of Belfast a blast bomb was thrown at an military personnel carrier. No one was injured in the explosion.

Friday July 27th 1973 Shankill shots: three charged with murder Three men in custody on attempted murder charges have now been charged with murder after Belfast’s Magistrates Court was told that one of two men shot in a Shankill Road pub has since died. The three men, a 19 year-old of Woodvale Avenue, a 22 year-old of Silvio Street and a 19 year-old of Glencairn Way pleaded not guilty when the new charged of murdering Leonard Rossborough was put to them.

Friday July 27th 1973 Missing soldier found safe A soldier who became separated from his patrol and was reported missing in the Bogside area of Derry, was found fit and well. Troops mounted a large search

operation and a convoy of armoured vehicles took up position in Fahan Street and in the vicinity of Free Derry Corner after a foot patrol had been operating in Westland Street reported that one of it’s men had become separated. A helicopter was called in and after a search lasting over one and a half-hours, the Army reported that the missing soldier had been found with his arms and equipment intact.

Saturday July 28th 1973 Bomb attacks Five men pistol-whipped a man who tackled them when they left a bomb in a bar at Grange, Cookstown. The raiders, who wore khaki uniforms and were masked, gave the publican three minutes warning about the bomb after robbing the till. The bomb exploded demolishing the building but no one was hurt.

In Belfast a bomb went off at the rear of Sloan’s Friday July 27th 1973 newsagents at the junction of Alliance Avenue and Belfast to be sealed off again Alliance Road in Ardoyne. A civilian was slightly The Army set up random roadblocks throughout Belfast injured in the blast, which demolished a wall. The bomb in what was regarded as a prelude to a massive security of about 20lbs was in a metal cylinder. clamp down in the city for the second week in succession. All over the city soldiers set up the Saturday July 28th 1973 ‘roving’ blocks searching cars and buses and their Arms discovered passengers before moving on to other locations.

Police and soldiers searching a building site at Clonduff It is believed that operation City Sea Mark Two will Drive, Cregagh, Belfast found two shotguns and some start in earnest as troops in reserve battalions are on cartridges. While in the Markets area troops found an standby to move and in some cases their state of FN automatic pistol and eight rounds on waste ground readiness has been brought forward to 30 minutes. in Stewarts Street.

Friday July 27th 1973 Ship leaves Dublin after arms search The British owned container ship Solway Fisher, suspected of carrying an illegal consignment of arms has left Dublin after a fruitless search of the vessel and it’s cargo by Special Branch detectives.

Saturday July 28th 1973 Four soldiers injured by blast in Derry house The four soldiers were hurt when a bomb went off without warning in an unoccupied house in the Brandywell.

For the second morning in succession troops were carrying out a search and arrest operation in the former no-go areas.

The four men were all taken to hospital with facial injuries and one was said to be seriously ill. The bomb in Brandywell Avenue was between 5 and 10lbs. The Army said that as a result of this operation six men were handed over to the RUC for questioning.

FACING PAGE - Members of the fire briage fighting a blazing lorry on the Falls Road after it had been set alight by rioters.

TOP RIGHT - Rioters clash with British troops on the Falls Road.

BOTTOM RIGHT - Troops clearing barricades on the Falls Road.

Saturday July 28th 1973 Soldiers lucky escape In Moy, Co. Tyrone a mobile Army patrol was fired on and one member was hurt. A bullet grazed his head and his colleagues returned the fire but claimed no hit.

In Fermanagh, bombers planted an elaborate booby trap for soldiers with about 800lbs of explosives. But the Army waited until the bombs went off harmlessly before moving into the area. The first explosion destroyed a hi-jacked car at Corragunt about 50 yards from the Monaghan border. Nearly five hours later a succession of five bombs exploded around the car and on investigation the Army found five craters in the shape of a horseshoe.

Saturday July 28th 1973 Patrol attacked Shots were fired from a passing car in Second Avenue in the Derrybeg Estate in Newry, but none of them hit their target – an Army foot patrol. Fire wasn’t returned.

Saturday July 28th 1973 Controled explosion A Civic Guard patrol at Drumkilty, Clougher, Co. Leitrim, saw a suspicious box at Booard Bridge on the Fermanagh-Leitrim border. Later a British Army bomb disposal team used a controlled charge to destroy the bomb. The bridge was slightly damaged.

Monday July 30th 1973 2 mothers speak out after blast Parents of a young County Down engaged couple who died when a bomb exploded prematurely in their car at Newcastle were insisting that the young man and his girlfriend did not belong to an illegal organisation. They are placing notices in the weekly newspaper dissociating themselves and their children from illegal groups.

21 year-old Alphonsus Cunningham from Annalong and Pauline Kane of Castlewellan, died in the blast, which came as they were driving along Causeway Road.

Security forces believe they were on a bombing mission, which went wrong.

Monday July 30th 1973 Riot follows PD march down Falls West Belfast was the scene of the biggest protest march, called by the People’s Democracy to demonstrate in support of the demands of the organisations jailed leaders. Michael Farrell and Anthony Canavan, to be treated as special category prisoners. Several hundred strong, the marchers moved off from Andersonstown and made their way down the Falls Road, fronted by people carrying the Starry Plough flags and placards and accompanied by a band.

With its ranks now swollen to round the 2000 mark, the crowd was addressed by a number of speakers including Mrs Bernadette McAliskey, MP. As the crowd began heading back up Divis Street, unruly members broke ranks and started to attack the police-Army post at Hastings Street and later Andersonstown RUC stations with stones and other missiles. Troops had to fire almost 50 rubber bullets to disperse the rowdy elements, and an Army water cannon was used to disperse a mob near Hamill Street.

One soldier was injured when he was struck by a bottle and attacked by a crowd of angry women and two injured civilians were seen being taken out of the area.

Monday July 30th 1973 Sniping in the Bone Three Army observation posts in the Bone area of Belfast came under sporadic sniper fire but there were no casualties.

Monday July 30th 1973 Arms find RUC men found 231 rounds of assorted ammunition and 200 airgun pellets at the rear of a block of flats at Greencastle. They later searched a house in the area and found a .303 rifle and an airgun.

BOTTOM LEFT - Troops and rioters clash in the Lenadoon Estate in West Belfast.

BELOW - Troops use a water cannon to clear the rioting

Monday July 30th 1973 Derry parade In Derry, about 800 people took part in a march through the Creegan and Bogside to the city cemetery to commemorate the death of Seamus Bradley, an IRA man shot during Operation Motorman.

The march itself passed off quietly but later troops were stoned by gangs of youths and there was one minor military casualty. Troops fired CS gas and rubber bullets to break up the youths.

Monday July 30th 1973 Bomb defused An Army bomb disposal expert defused a 20lb bomb on Saturday night four hours after it had been planted at the Ulsterbus waiting room in Foyle Street, Derry.

Monday July 30th 1973 Sniper attack In the Bogside, Derry, a single shot was fired at a patrol in Fahan Street. A patrol came under attacks while investigating reports of an obstruction in Westland Street.

Blast bombs were thrown in rioting, which followed.

single shots thudded into the ground beside the vehicle as the two men crew dived for safety. Neither was hurt and they managed to return fire before their attackers escaped.

Monday July 30th 1973 Church bombed An explosion caused considerable damage to a Roman Catholic Church at Killyman between Dungannon and Portadown. Police said it appeared the device had been planted inside the building.

Monday July 30th 1973 Homemade pistol discovered Police seized a homemade pistol and 10 rounds of ammunition after they stopped a suspicious car in Rathcoole, Newtownabbey.

Monday July 30th 1973 Shots fired in Republic Gardai rushed to an Army field camp near Cootehill, Cavan after reports that a number of shots had been fired at it from nearby woods. Roadblocks were set up in the area and all vehicles were stopped and checked but nothing suspicious was found.

Monday July 30th 1973 Attack on RUC station Gunmen opened fire from two positions as an RUC BELOW - British troops enjoying the sunshine at patrol vehicle pulled up outside the police station in Hastings Street Barracks.

Maghera. Several bursts of automatic fire and some

was not returned. Another single shot was aimed at the Bligh’s Lane post but again there were no casualties and the soldiers did not fire back. Troops were heavily stoned in the Creegan, Bogside and Brandywell by large numbers of youths. One soldier was slightly hurt when he was struck by a brick and the troops fired CS gas and rubber bullets to break up the crowds. Six blast bombs were thrown in the Lecky Road area but security forces were not involved and it was not clear what the target was. About 300 people took part in a protest outside the Creggan Army camp around 4am Tuesday July 31st 1973 when they banged bin-lids and blew whistles. A single Hi-jacked cars blaze in a violent night Burning cars were used as barricades and troops came shot was fired at a police Land Rover at Newbuildings, under fire twice in Derry as mobs celebrated the first near Derry, but there were no casualties. anniversary of Operation Motorman when the Army moved into the former no-go areas. The Army Tuesday July 31st 1973 estimated that 17 obstructions were erected on roads in Bomb attack the Bogside, Creggan, Brandywell and Shantallow A small bomb in a cylinder caused blast damage to the areas. A number of cars were turned into blazing Sheepbridge Inn, about three miles from Newry on the barricades and bonfires were also lit in some districts. main Belfast Road. No warning was given but there In most cases the obstacles were removed by residents were no casualties. and the remainder by the Army. Troops claimed a possible hit on a gunman seen taking up a firing Tuesday July 31st 1973 position at a house in Brandywell Avenue, but it was Catholic home attacked not possible to hunt the gunman because of a large crowd A shot was fired through the window of a Roman Catholic occupied house at Tynan Drive, Monkstown which gathered in the area.

A single shot was fired at an Army patrol in the Creegan but none of the occupants was hurt. A van parked outduring the evening but there were no casualties and fire side the house was set on fire.

Tuesday July 31st 1973 Ranger Best - man accused A man appeared at Belfast Magistrate’s Court accused of murdering Ranger William Best in Derry in 1972.

The 23 year-old of Beechwood Street, Derry denied the charge. He was remanded in custody until August 7.

Ranger Best (19) was shot on waste ground in the William Street area of Derry on May 21 1972. The Official IRA claimed responsibility for the killing.

Troops prevent Catholic families moving into the Lenadoon Estate

AUGUST 1973 Wednesday 1st August 1973 Patrols attacked In Derry four shots were fired at a military patrol in the Creggan but there were no casualties and the soldiers returned the fire. Two explosions heard before midnight in the Lone Moor Road area are believed to have been caused by blast bombs hurled at unknown targets.

Youths attempted to build obstructions on Lone Moor Road and, in the Creggan two buses were hi-jacked and used to block the road for a time. Troops cleared the obstructions and recovered the buses, firing rubber bullets to break up the youths. Obstacles placed across Creggan Road were also removed. 2nd Lieutenant Richard Michael (21), of the second Royal Anglian Regiment who was struck by a brick during incidents in the Creggan earlier in this week is now said to be very seriously ill.

In Newry gunmen in a hi-jacked car shot at members of a police patrol who chased them but there were no casualties. Security forces were on the lookout for the car after it was hi-jacked by two armed youths. The police patrol spotted it on the Tandragee Road and gave chase. The gunmen, in a Mini, realising they were being pursued, opened fire with an automatic weapon.

Several shots hit the police vehicle as the gunmen sped away. The car was later found abandoned at Drumantree, about six miles away.

Wednesday 1st August 1973 Arm finds Security forces found a rifle and almost 900 rounds of ammunition after a search at Forth River Road, Belfast.

A man was reported to be helping police with their enquiries. Troops had to fire rubber bullets to disperse rioters after they detained two people and seized a rifle in the New Barnsley area of Belfast and a small quantity of explosives and detonating devices were found during a search at Fairfield Street in the Oldpark area.

Wednesday 1st August 1973 Security forces attacked A policeman was hit in the neck and leg but not seriously injured when stone throwers attacked security forces after a number of arrests were made in the Killylea Road area of Armagh.

Thursday 2nd August 1973 What’s your religion? – Then man is shot The latest assassination bid occurred as a 52 year old Protestant man made his way home on the Cliftonville Road, Belfast. As he reached the Manor Street junction a car with three men in it approached him and one of the men got out and asked his religion. It was when he replied he was shot in the mouth. His condition was described as satisfactory.

Thursday 2nd August 1973 Bomb defused An Army explosives expert defused a 40lb bomb found planted beside a 500 gallon fuel drum in a shirt factory Wednesday 1st August 1973 at Alfred Street-May Street, Belfast. The bombers had Army wait on bomb got in by smashing a rear window. An anonymous Soldiers kept watch on a 400lb land mine for a week warning was phoned to the Irish News. before detonating it, the Army ambush had been laid in the hope that the bombers would return to the scene in Thursday 2nd August 1973 Newtownbutler-Wattlebridge Road. The bomb was in Arms find a culvert under the road and had wires leading to the Ammunition and other materials were found during a border about three quarters of a mile away. It was dealt routine search of derelict houses in the Servia Streetwith by a controlled explosion which uprooted a tree Osman Street area of the lower Falls. The find, spread and blew a large crater in the road but the road was throughout the houses, included more than 2000 rounds reported to be still passable to traffic. of ammunition, flares, explosives, two magazines, a shotgun and a short-wave radio.

Wednesday 1st August 1973 Bomb defused Two men planted a bomb in a lounge at the Lakeside Inn at Ballydougan, Downpatrick. An Army expert blew the lid off the 25lb bomb and managed to defuse the charge.

Thursday 2nd August 1973 Women treated for shock An Army expert defused a 10lb bomb placed in the lavatory of the Ulsterbus Depot at Foyle Street, Derry and a warning phoned to the Derry Journal.

In a separate incident two youths dropped a duffle bag

containing a 5-10lb bomb when they realised an Army patrol had spotted them. Two elderly women were treated for shock when it exploded, shattering windows in the area. In the Brandywell area troops uncovered 250lbs of explosives and a large quantity of bomb making equipment in the Hamilton Street area.

Thursday 2nd August 1973 Controlled explosion A 250lb bomb in two milk churns was blown up by Army experts after soldiers spotted it on the KeadyMonaghan border. The churns, one with wires leading from it had been left at the side of a road. The patrol spotted the bomb before it had been primed.

Thursday 2nd August 1973 Woman may have been shot instead of husband The Protestant wife of a Roman Catholic man living in a predominately Protestant area of Belfast, may have been killed in mistake for her husband. An opened verdict was returned on 27 year old Mrs Sandra Muriel Meli, of Flora Street, who was shot through the head when six pistol shots were fired through the kitchen window of her home on December 2 last. The inquest heard that the husband Mr Maserati Meli, a motor engineer, who was in the house at the time of the murder, is still in a very distressed condition. A statement by the husband said he was in an adjoining room when he heard shots and caught his wife as she fell shot through the head. As more shots were fired he grabbed his young son and ran upstairs. Because of previous pipe bomb attacks on the home front windows were protected by grills outside and hardboard on the inside. A witness told of hearing shots and seeing a man running away from the Meli home.

years since the permanent post was wrecked. Three armed men in a car arrived from the northern direction and ordered the three customs officers out at gunpoint.

Thursday 2nd August 1973 Woman was killed at her own front door A shot which killed a 64 year old woman as she stood at her front gate on July 14 1972 may have been aimed at a nearby Army post, a Belfast inquest heard.

Mrs Jane McIntyre, a housewife, died when she was hit by a single bullet as she stood outside her home in Highpark Drive, Belfast. A man who lived with the McIntyre family at the time said he was watching television in the living room. When he heard the shot he shouted to Mrs McIntyre but there was no reply. He then found her lying in the hall with her feet on the doorstep. After the fatal bullet was fired two more shots were fired from the same direction. The predominantly Protestant area was constantly under fire from the Springfield Road and a number of houses bore bullet marks. More than 100 families had already left the area.

A detective constable said that there was an Army post situated near the scene at Black Mountain Primary School, which may have been the target. An open verdict was returned.

Thursday 2nd August 1973 Inquest on shot soldier A Royal Marine Commando was shot through the head while on duty at Unity Flats waiting for the passing of a Protestant march from Shankill Road. The Marine, Leonard David Allen, was killed on July 26 by a snipers bullet at unity Place. A detective said an immediate search was made of a house from which it was believed the shot was fired, but nothing was found. An open verdict was returned.

Friday 3rd August 1973 Policemen escape booby-trap Two policemen escaped death when a hi-jacked van blew up near the border. The van was hi-jacked by a group of six armed men at Crossmaglen. A short time later the van stopped outside the home of a Protestant family and the gunmen fired a number of shots at the house. No one was injured for the family was out. Later the van was spotted on the Dundalk-Newtownhamilton Road and the policemen went to the scene. There was no one in the vehicle and they were looking at a flat wheel when suddenly the van exploded. One of the policemen was detained in hospital for observation and his colleague was treated for shock, cuts and bruises.

The bomb was made up of 100lb of explosives and an RUC spokesman said, "There is no doubt that the van was parked close to a wall so that the booby trap would inflict on the victims the full force of the blast". The explosion wrecked the van and a derelict house nearby was also badly damaged.

Thursday 2nd August 1973 Blast at caravan The Customs caravan blown up at Belleek, Co. Fermanagh, is believed to have been the 24th destroyed on the Fermanagh-Donegal border over the past few

Friday 3rd August 1973 House shot at At Killeeven, Rathfern, outside Belfast, a couple of shots were fired into the home of a Catholic family, no one was hurt.

Friday 3rd August 1973 Bomb attacks A store bombed at Bangor was at Kilcooley. A small bomb of 2-5lb was left outside the VG shop and the front of the building was damaged and a number of windows broken.

A bomb badly wrecked a garage at Adavoyle, Newry.

There were no reports of any injuries.

A 10lb bomb badly damaged the Tavern Bar at Foyle Street, Derry. The bomb was left on the bar counter by two men, one of them armed. They told customers in the bar they had 20 minutes to get out and warned that the bomb had an anti-handling device fitted.

A young girl received cuts to her arms and legs from flying glass after a blast bomb exploded in the Lisfannan Park area of the Bogside, Derry. An Army spokesman said security forces were not involved in the incident.

The girl was treated on the spot by an Army doctor and later received treatment in Altnagelvin Hospital but she was not admitted.

Friday 3rd August 1973 Troops fired on Five minutes after the Army had removed a small obstruction at Foyle Road, Derry, they came under fire from the Anne Street-Hamilton Street area. Five shots were fired at the troops who returned fire, but there were no casualties. In the follow up operation another gunman fired two shots at the patrol but there were no casualties.

Friday 3rd August 1973 Provo paper editor is jailed for 15 months The managing editor of the Provisionals’ newspaper, An Phoblacht, was convicted in the Special criminal Court in Dublin of being a member of the IRA. He was jailed for 15 months. Eamonn MacThomais of Clonmel Road, Ballymun, Dublin refused to recognise the court, and refused to plead. A plea of not guilty was entered on his behalf. MacThomais in an un-sworn statement said that the freedom struggle would go on until every vestige of British influence had been driven from BELOW - The farmhouse where the Mullans were Ireland. There was applause from the public gallery found murdered. and Mr. Justice Finlay ordered that the demonstrators

be removed and not allowed to return for any other trial.

The court rejected evidence from the newspaper. However the court accepted Superintendent Flemming’s evidence, which had not been denied by the accused, and therefore, they convicted him.

Friday 3rd August 1973 Man stabbed and beaten to death A Protestant man who left work in Newtownabbey to go home to Newtownards was found nine hours later in a Belfast entry, stabbed to death and severely beaten, a Belfast inquest was told. Mr. Samuel White (32), an engineer, of Carrickbeg Avenue, Newtownards, was found by a military patrol in an entry off Lisbon Street on December 6 1972. A detective sergeant said that when he was called to the scene he found a hooded body of a man lying on his back about five yards inside the entry, off Lisbon Street, in a Roman Catholic area of Belfast. The coroner, Mr. James Elliott, described the "most dastardly murder" as "another of these senseless sectarian killings". The jury returned an open verdict.

through crowded streets.

The RUC men drew their pistols but the gunman got through the shoppers to a getaway car. Horrified Saturday morning shoppers rushed to the injured mans aid and comforted him before he was rushed to hospital where he was said to be seriously ill.

Saturday 4th August 1973 Shots at home of RUC man Shots were fired at the home of an RUC Reserve Constable in the Dungannon area but no one was hurt.

The shots came from a passing car. The identity of the policeman and the location of his home were not revealed for security reasons.

Saturday 4th August 1973 Night of the fire-raiser in Belfast Fire bombers continued their attacks on Belfast businesses planting incendiary devices in two fashion shops. Both devices were found before they ignited and were taken away to be destroyed by an Army expert. The attacks were in Royal Avenue and Gresham Street in the city centre. Last night two other clothes shops have also been damaged by incendiaries and other devices were dealt with before they went off. The first device was discovered in Etam’s shoe store in Donegall Place it was dealt with by an Army expert. The SwingWing Boutique in Ann Street, inside the central

Saturday 4th August 1973 Man shot four times at shop A shop assistant was shot four times by a man he had been chatting to in the doorway of George Cuddy’s a Dungannon drapery store. The gunman, who was not wearing a mask, fired four times hitting the man in the neck, arm, legs and chest. As the assistant, believed to be a member of the UDR, fell to the ground a police BELOW & FACING PAGE - Hi-jacked vehicles burn patrol who heard the shots chased his would-be killer on the Lower Falls Road

security zone, was a smouldering ruin. Also badly damaged was McMurray’s drapery store in Upper North Street. Woodhouses Furniture store in Donegall Street escaped with only minor damage, as did McMullan’s Bookshop in Donegall Place, where one of two incendiaries ignited.

Police believe those found today were not planted during last night’s wave of attacks. A spokesman said all city centre shops were searched, and any devices planted should have been found. The RUC appealed to business owners to step up searches of their property.

"If only casual searches are made there is little chance of finding these small packets. Thorough searches must be made throughout business hours as well as at closing time".

While he was being removed to Navan hospital explosive experts blew up the vehicle, which, had been reported stolen at Warrenpoint, Co. Down. Nothing was found inside the car.

Saturday 4th August 1973 Portadown – No murders for years, then eleven Chief Inspector Samuel Harkness of Portadown, told the coroner for Co. Armagh, Mr Noel Anderson, at a Portadown inquest on an 18 year-old local youth shot dead on July 12 1972, said this was the first murder in the Portadown area for 40 years. Unfortunately since then, said the officer, ten other persons had been murdered in the Portadown area.

An open verdict was recorded by the coroner and jury on Paul Leslie Alexander Beattie, of Castle Avenue, Portadown, who was shot dead in Churchill Park, Portadown.

Saturday 4th August 1973 Troops return fire in gunman Troops returned fire on a gunman who shot at them from the direction of the City Cemetery, Belfast, but did not Saturday 4th August 1973 claim any hits.

Murder charge A 20 year-old unemployed labourer of Leeson Street, Saturday 4th August 1973 Belfast charged with the murder of 16 year-old Belfast youth wounded by Eire troops near border mentally retarded son of a prison warder, appeared again A 16 year-old Andersonstown youth was seriously ill at Belfast Magistrate’s court. The man is charged with in hospital after being shot by Eire troops. The wounded murdering David Martin Walker, who lived on the youth, whose name has not yet been released, is Belvoir Estate, on June 21. He was remanded in believed to have been shot when he failed to stop at a custody until August 10. Another man, a 17 year-old police-Army checkpoint in Co. Meath. labourer, of Monagh Drive, Belfast, was charged with A Gardai spokesman said a dark blue Austin Cambridge the murder of the boy. registered 8710 LZ was spotted approaching the checkpoint at Stackallen Bridge on the Boyne. But the Saturday 4th August 1973 car reversed into a northerly direction and stopped. A Murder case man faces 50 charges youth ran from it towards a wood at the side of the road A Dungiven farmer already returned for trial on charges and ignored calls to stop. At this point the troops opened of murdering three soldiers in a landmine explosion near fire and he fell wounded.

Dungiven, and with attempted murder, had appeared at a depositions court in Limavady on a total of 50 other charges.

The 24 year-old farmer of Tamniarin, Dungiven, was accused of five attempted murders, causing explosions, possession of explosives, explosive substances, firearms and ammunition on various dates. All the alleged offences took place in the Dungiven area. After the marathon hearing the man was returned for trial on the attempted murder charges to the next Derry Assizes Court and on other offences to the county court on September 9th.

Saturday 4th August 1973 Death at booby-trapped house A mother told a Portadown inquest of her last moments with her son who died instantly in an explosion at a booby-trapped cottage at Selshion, Moy Road, Portadown, on the evening of Friday, May 11.

An open verdict was returned on 30 year-old Robert David (Roy) Rutherford, of Derrycorry, Portadown. His mother, Mrs Jean Rutherford, of Mahon Road, Portadown said she went to the cottage with her younger son (14), and saw Roy cutting trees beside the cottage.

They helped him until it was near dark and Roy took a torch out of his car and returned to the orchard to gather up tools with which he had been working. There was a loud bang and the electric wires at the road went on fire. The cottage was demolished except for one gable wall. It was formerly occupied by a family named Madden. The body of Roy Rutherford was discovered partially buried in the rubble.

Saturday 4th August 1973 Protests but few turn up Members of the Co. Antrim executive of Republican Clubs picketed four Army posts in Belfast but apparently only a small number of people turned up. An Army spokesman said 11 people turned up outside Girwood Barracks on the Antrim Road and under 30 at Springfield Road. Other pickets in protest against internment were held at Glen Road, Andersonstown and Varna Street in the Lower Falls.

The only incident reported was at Springfield Road where some pickets tried to stop traffic. An Army spokesman there said, "They got a very poor reception from drivers. Overall their support was pretty feeble."

RIGHT - Joseph and Mary Murphy on their wedding day

Saturday 4th August 1973 Derry youth charged A Derry teenager was charged at a special court with causing an explosion in the city. The 19 year-old of 30 Circular Road, Derry, was charged at the special court in Limavady with unlawfully and maliciously causing an explosion at the Casbah public house in Orchard street on April 22.

The accused was remanded in custody to Belfast magistrate’s court on August 7. Refusing to recognise the court, the accused said, "As this is a British court it has no place in Ireland at this time".

Monday 6th August 1973 Farm double killing linked to another attack Detectives investigating the murder of a Co. Tyrone farmer and his wife are looking at the theory that the double killing may be connected with a gun attack on the home of another Catholic family in the Dungannon area.

Weapons containing 9mm ammunition were used in both attacks and it is understood that forensic experts will examine spent cartridges found at both houses to see if they were fired from the same gun. 17 year-old Adrian Mullen made a grim discovery when he returned to the family’s two-storey farmhouse at Gorestown, near

Moy. His two year-old brother, Michael, was lying bleeding on the floor, crying over the bullet riddled bodies of his parents, who were lying together in pools of blood in the scullery floor. Michael was the sole survivor of the brutal incident. He too, had been shot, but was not seriously injured, despite bullet wounds to his legs.

Adrian, whose visit to friends almost certainly saved his life, ran panic stricken from the house to a neighbour’s where he phoned the police. Later, suffering from severe shock he was taken to the South Tyrone Hospital in Dungannon, where his young brother was also being treated. As detectives examined the murder scene, they were trying to piece together the last minutes in the lives of 59 year-old Mr. Francis Mullen and his 39 year-old Wife, Bernadette. Local people told of hearing shots coming from the direction of the house and then a car speeding off.

Several cartridges of the same calibre, a type used in submachine guns and many pistols, were found by police after 15 were fired at a Roman Catholic family’s home. No one was injured in this incident and the shots are thought to have come from a passing car.

Monday 6th August 1973 Raid brothers may be moved Jail switch likely for Littlejohns: IRA reprisals feared.

The jailed Littlejohn brothers, who claim that they work in Eire as British spies, are expected to be moved from Mountjoy Prison because of the fear of IRA reprisals.

Their solicitor said that he understood they were to be taken to Portlaoise Jail. The intended move by the prison authorities follows an attempt some time ago by IRA prisoners to hang Keith Littlejohn. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister, Mr. Heath, will be flying back from the Commonwealth Conference to a mounting political storm over the affair.

Kenneth Littlejohn (31) and his brother Keith (27) were jailed for armed robbery but they said they were working for the British Secret Service in an attempt to discredit the Official IRA. They were convicted of the armed robbery of £67,000 from a Dublin Bank. Kenneth was jailed for 20 years and Keith for 15.

Already two MP’s are demanding an inquiry. They want a full explanation about Kenneth Littlejohn’s claim that he met Mr. Geoffrey Johnson Smith when he was Parliamentary Secretary for the Army. Mr. David Stoddard, Labour MP for Swindon, has described the Littlejohn’s allegations as a fantastic series of episodes smacking of 007 stuff."

Monday 6th August 1973 Huge bomb destroyed Army experts blew up 600lb of explosives found concealed near Ballyronan, close to the shores of Lough Neagh. Security forces went to the area after receiving information a spokesman said. They found a massive 400lb charge contained in four milk churns and four other anti-personnel devices, each estimated to contain 50lb of explosives hidden by the roadside.

The controlled explosion blew a 10 foot wide crater but no one was injured although there were reports of slight blast damage to some nearby buildings.

Monday 6th August 1973 Firebomb alert in Belfast 5000 posters were delivered to every shop and office in the centre of Belfast. They were issued by the Army following a wave of firebomb attacks in Belfast. The campaign to warn business owners was spearheaded by men of 42 Regiment, Royal Artillery, who delivered the posters in the city centre.

Thousands more are to be distributed throughout the North in an effort to defeat the terrorists who have renewed their incendiary attacks. The leaflet shows how a firebomb can be concealed in any small packet and just what damage it can do if it is not found quickly.

Monday 6th August 1973 Accused couple ignore court A man and a woman appeared at Belfast Magistrate’s Court charged with possessing IRA intelligence documents. The woman aged 45 of Jamaica Street and the 29 year-old male, of Holmdene Gardens, Belfast, were charged under the Special Powers Act of possessing the documents, which might be useful to persons opposed to the preservation of peace. The woman refused to recognise the court and stood chatting with the male throughout the proceedings with her back turned to the court. A Detective Constable said that both accused declined to make any statements.

They were remanded in custody.

Monday 6th August 1973 Bombers foiled as two take away bombs A customer picked up a 15lb bomb shortly after it was planted in the Tavern bar at Edenderry Square, Portadown, and carried it out into the street. The bomb, packed into a carton, had been left in the side entrance of the bar, which is surrounded by a barrier to prevent car bomb attacks. An hour after the bomb was carried from the premises the detonator exploded, but fortunately failed to ignite the main charge.

Security forces would not identify the person who carried a bomb out of a supermarket in Park Avenue, Derry, shortly before it went off. The blast outside the supermarket caused only slight damage, shattering few windows and there were no casualties.

Monday 6th August 1973 Petrol bombs thrown at Protestant homes Two petrol bombs were thrown at a protestant occupied house at Ritchie Street in the York Road area of Belfast. No one was injured. One of the missiles was thrown at a rear bedroom window, scorching a window and carpet but the other exploded harmlessly against the house wall.

Monday 6th August 1973 Post Office damaged by bomb Another bomb in Derry slightly damaged a Post Office at the junction of Academy Road and Park Avenue. An elderly woman was treated for shock after the two blasts. Monday 6th August 1973 Shots fired through front door Two shots were fired through the front door of a house Monday 6th August 1973 in Shamrock Street off the Ravenhill Road, Belfast, but Gunman fired on by sentry An Army sentry fired at a gunman he spotted near the there were no casualties.

Buncrana Road-Strand Road junction in Derry, but did not claim any hits.

Monday 6th August 1973 .303 rifle seized Monday 6th August 1973 Mystery explosion, three females treated for shock At Ashton Street in the Antrim Road area of Belfast A mystery explosion, which happened on waste ground security forces seized a .303 rifle and a quantity of in the Ballymurphy Drive area of Belfast, damaged roofs medical drugs. and windows in some nearby houses, but no one was injured. Police said three females were treated for shock after the blast, the cause of which has still not been BELOW - Police search for clues on the motorway where Hanry Cunningham was shot dead established.

following up a tip-off that two top IRA men were in the building.

Eighty-five men of the First Light Infantry took part in the operation, which lasted for two hours. No one was detained.

In the statement from Army HQ, it said the operation was carried out in the interests of security and that alleMonday 6th August 1973 gations of severe beating and harassment by the troops Halfway House bombed were "the usual fantasy."

Damage was caused to the Roman Catholic owned "Inconvenience to the hotel patrons is regretted but reHalfway House at Whiteabbey when a small bomb sponsibility for it rests firmly with the terrorists, not exploded. No warning was given before the blast but the security forces whose task it is to eliminate them there were no injuries. for the common good."

Monday 6th August 1973 Woman chained to railings A woman was chained to railings outside McCrory Park in the Whiterock area of Belfast for a time during an anti-internment protest. After about five minutes she was freed and the protest continued without incident.

Monday 6th August 1973 Motor showroom bombed for third time Only slight damage was caused to the CARS motor showroom on the Warrenpoint Road, Newry. An office and passageway at the showrooms, which have been badly damaged in two previous attacks, suffered the effects of the blast. Fortunately only part of the bomb exploded and the rest was removed by Army experts.

Monday 6th August 1973 Incendiary device found and thrown out of window An incendiary device was found in the Spinning Mill store at Bow Street, Lisburn, and thrown out of the building by an employee. The device was later defused by an Army expert.

Monday 6th August 1973 Shooting of youth: inquiry sought No comment was available from Eire Army sources on the demand of an independent inquiry into the shooting of a 16 year-old Belfast youth by a soldier, near Navan, Co. Meath.

The youth, whose home is at Carmeen Park, was shot after he abandoned a car he was driving and ran away from an Army checkpoint. He is critically ill in Our Lady’s Hospital, Navan. An Army spokesman claimed he was called on to halt several times and a soldier shot him after he thought he saw a weapon in his hand. In fact the youth was unarmed.

Monday 6th August 1973 Hotel Search: Army gives its view Army headquarters at Lisburn issued a statement about the large-scale search of a Warrenpoint hotel during which, the management claimed, several bedroom doors were broken down. More than 150 men, including those present at a Tommy Makem folk music concert in the Osborn hotel, were screened by the troops who were

Monday 6th August 1973 Marine defuses bomb in pub A Royal Marine bomb expert defused a 15lb bomb planted by three armed men in Conway’s Bar at Greencastle, just beside the M2 motorway.

The gunmen had planted the bomb in the Roman Catholic owned bar. They lit the fuse and gave the staff two minutes to get out. Half an hour later after troops had sealed off the area and diverted traffic, the bomb still hadn’t gone off.

A robot fitted with a camera was sent in but could not get near the bomb. After two and a half hours the bomb expert himself went in and tied a rope round the bomb and dragged it to the front of the bar and defused it.

Tuesday 7th August 1973 Police ram car carrying bomb Police rammed a car with a ready primed bomb on board during a high speed chase in Belfast’s city centre.

Eventually they succeeded in stopping the blue Hillman Hunter and quickly evacuated the area before the 75lb bomb blew up, badly damaging at least a dozen houses.

The drama began when members of the RUC Special Patrol Group spotted the suspicious car in Bedford Street. As they moved in to investigate, the car, with three occupants on board, sped-off towards Dublin Road. The RUC men gave chase in their Land Rover, and were following close behind when the Hillman touched a van in trying to over take it on the inside.

The car came to a halt and the police car rammed it.

A girl jumped out of the back seat of the car and ran off up Dublin Road throwing away a pistol. She was chased and caught by a policeman from the Land Rover. Meanwhile the Hillman drove off again and the pursuit was resumed. Other police and Army mobiles in the central area had been alerted and they were closing in. Security forces quickly cornered the car in Bruce Street, off Dublin Road as it crashed into a house. Two men ran

An injured boy is searched and arrested by British troops

from the car, but were caught by the security forces.

It was discovered there was a bomb in the car and police and troops evacuated the surrounding area. At one house in the street, only 20 yards from the bomb laden car, three people, including a bed-ridden old lady, refused point blank to leave and took refuge at the back of their home. Twenty minutes later the car exploded damaging houses in Bruce Street and Little Victoria Street scattering debris over a wide area.

Nobody was hurt in the blast and the three people who stayed in their house were reported to be only slightly shocked. A police spokesman said later that three people, a girl and two men, were helping with enquiries. He added that a pistol had been seized.

Tuesday 7th August 1973 Surprise ‘Yes’ from Paisley The Reverend Ian Paisley announced his surprise acceptance of an invitation to serve on the standing orders committee of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

This follows the refusal of the other joint chairman of the Loyalist Coalition, Mr. William Craig, to join the committee on the invitation of the Assembly’s presiding officer, Mr. Nat Minford. Mr. Paisley said he appreciated Mr. Craig’s reasons for refusing but he, with the full backing of his party, would take a very active part in the work of the committee. This was in order to get standing orders, which would help the loyalist members of the Assembly defeat, enforced power sharing with republicans, a council of Ireland and a united Ireland.

Mr. Paisley claimed that it was a united Ireland, which was the long-term aim of the White Paper and the Constitution Act.

Tuesday 7th August 1973 Heath may act in spying row There were further dramatic developments in the Littlejohn case with mounting speculation that the Prime Minister, Mr. Edward Heath, will leave the Commonwealth Ministers’ Conference in Ottowa a day early to deal with the Opposition’s call for an independent enquiry into the affair.

Also the Eire Government said that it had contacted the British authorities, through diplomatic channels, about the matter.

It is understood that the Dublin Government sought assurances that Britain was not financing subversive activities in Eire. And Eire has asked Britain for ‘further details’ of its admission of involvement with the Littlejohn brothers.

Mr. Johnson Smith’s meeting with Kenneth Littlejohn was authorised by Defence Secretary Lord Carrington, who, it was revealed, did not tell Mr. Heath about the clandestine meeting. The Prime Minister’s permission was not sought but he was told later that a meeting had taken place. It is thought Mr. Heath and Mr. Wilson will have a private talk on the Prime Minister’s return from Ottowa, which is the usual procedure when matters of high security are involved.

Tuesday 7th August 1973 Firebombs in office block The latest incendiary attacks on business premises in the city started two minor fires in a printing firm’s office block in Corporation Street, Belfast. The flames were quickly dealt with and an Army expert was brought in to deal with a suspicious suitcase found lying nearby.

But it contained nothing more than a suspicious bundle of clothes.

Tuesday 7th August 1973 High velocity shots Tuesday 7th August 1973 Hugh velocity shots were heard in the Ballymurphy and Firebomb attack foiled Glencairn areas of West Belfast but security forces were An Army bomb disposal expert dismantled an not involved and there were no known targets. incendiary device found in a Belfast knitwear shop after a policeman carried it out of the building on a shovel. The owner of the Scotch Knitwear shop at Tuesday 7th August 1973 Upper North Street, Mr. Jamal Deane, found the device 45 shots fired at Army patrol under a pile of children’s anoraks. Afterwards he said, Troops claimed to have hit a gunman after about 45 "There were too many people in and out of the shop so shots were fired at an Army patrol carrying out a I did a check. I check the shop regularly but I do not screening operation at the Telstar Bar in the Creggan know whether or not it was left there last night." area of Derry.

The fire raiser was found only hours after two An Army spokesman said the gunmen opened fire from incendiary devices went off in an office block in the area of Rinmore Drive, St. Mary’s Church, Iniscarn Corporation Street, but only slight damage was caused Road and Bligh’s Lane. No soldiers were hurt. Four to the building. men detained during the screening were later released.

Tuesday 7th August 1973 Shot in the leg for foiling a bomb attack An IRA revenge squad stopped and shot in the leg a man who foiled one of their bomb attacks. Three men stopped the man in Ballycolman Avenue and one shot him in the calf. The man was taken to hospital after the attack but his condition was reported not to be serious.

The man, whose name is not being released for security reasons, carried a bomb out of a shop in the town last month. The local IRA warned recently that those who took bombs out of buildings could face ‘retaliatory action.’

Tuesday 7th August 1973 ‘Hunger’ protest marches threat Protest groups threatened further demonstrations as the two PD leaders went into their 33 rd day of hunger strike.

Michael Farrell and Tony Canavan were transferred to separate Belfast hospitals from Belfast Prison. They began their hunger strike at the beginning of July to demand political prisoner status. Reports from the hospitals indicated the men’s condition was not serious.

The Civil Rights Association, Peoples Democracy and other groups have planned a series of marches and meetings in support of the two men and to demand the release of men from the Maze. The first protest has been planned to take place at the Lower Falls. A similar demonstration there resulted in rioting.

Meanwhile the Provisional Sinn Fein in Belfast called for a public enquiry by the Eire Government into the ‘role played by the elite Special Branch and leading politicians in the Littlejohn affair.’

Wednesday 8th August 1973 A parcel of wood causes traffic jam Hundreds of people were late for work after a suspicious parcel was found near Belfast city centre.

Long queues of cars and buses built up on the city’s eastern approaches after an Army patrol spotted the suspicious package on waste ground at Victoria Street.

The immediate area was hurriedly sealed off as an Army bomb disposal team rushed to the scene. Taking no chances the soldiers fired four low velocity shots at the parcel – but nothing happened. It was then opened and found to contain nothing more sinister than pieces of wood wrapped up in paper.

An Army spokesman said about the bomb scare, "We did our best to keep Belfast moving, but, unfortunately, it just happened at the worst time of day possible."

Wednesday 8th August 1973 Police charge three with blast Three people appeared at Belfast Magistrate’s Court and were charged in connection with an explosion in Belfast city centre.

A 22 year-old female of Westrock Drive along with a 22 year-old male of Divismore Park and an 18 year-old of Glenalina Park, were jointly charged with causing Wednesday 8th August 1973 an explosion at Little Victoria Street.

Jailed spies ‘have more to reveal’ All three refused to recognise the court and sat with Provo chief Joe Cahill was among the top IRA men their backs towards the magistrate. who met self-confessed British spy Kenneth Littlejohn, it was stated in Dublin by the 31 year-old Englishman’s Wednesday 8th August 1973 legal advisor.

Security men begin inquiry into escape bid at jail Kenneth Littlejohn and his brother Keith (27) received Belfast Prison authorities began an inquiry to discover prison terms totalling 35 years for their part in a how four remand prisoners managed to reach the outer military style robbery of £67,000 from a bank in Grafton wall of Crumlin Road jail in an escape bid.

Street in Dublin. At their trial both men told the Dublin Security Chiefs investigating the incident are anxious Criminal Court that the robbery was sanctioned by to discover how the four men managed to obtain a British Intelligence. The legal advisor could not say grappling hook. The remand prisoners reached the outer when the meeting with Cahill took place or the purpose wall and tried to scale it using a blanket rope attached of it. to a grappling hook. They were spotted by prisoner It is expected that the brothers may reveal further officers and soldiers who overpowered them. startling details about their clandestine role as British The prisoners are believed to have been on a recreation spies. break when they attempted the escape. Security at the British Labour leaders were still angry over the prison has been strengthened since similar incidents last Government’s treatment of the Littlejohn affair and it year. The investigators want to know how the men was expected that Mr. Harold Wilson would ask the reached the outer wall section of the prison. Other parts Prime Minister to set up a committee of Privy of the complex are surrounded by a double perimeter Counsellors to investigate the matter. wall, with a heavy sheeting of barbed wire.

Wednesday 8th August 1973 Pub hit by bombers A public house at Moneynick, between Randalstown and Toomebridge was damaged by a car bomb.

An Army spokesman said that first reports indicated that no one was injured in the blast. Shortly before the explosion three men were seen running to a second car in which they made their getaway. The area was cleared before the blast, but the public house known as the Elver Inn, was extensively damaged.

Wednesday 8th August 1973 Two in hospital after Newry blast A man suffering from a heart condition and a pregnant woman were detained in hospital at Newry with injuries received when a bomb planted by a bogus postman wrecked the front of the police station.

Ten people were taken to hospital after the blast, but eight were later released. Many of them were waiting in a doctor’s surgery opposite the police station when the bomb went off, but more people were saved from injury by a detective who saw the bogus postman leave the parcel outside the station, light the fuse and sprint off. The detective was leaving the station when he saw the bomber. Nearby was a mail van hi-jacked earlier at Camlough by three armed men. He raised the alarm and people were being moved from the front of the station to the back when the device went off.

Thursday 9th August 1973 Army families escape death in huge blast Three pregnant women were among 16 soldiers’ wives and children slightly injured when a massive van bomb exploded without warning outside marriage quarters at Omagh’s Lisanelly Army barracks.

The 350lb bomb was smuggled in after a Post Office van was hi-jacked outside the town. The van driver was forced to help load the explosives into the van by the bombers. Some of those injured had to have stitches inserted into wounds while others were treated for shock, cuts and bruises. About 50 houses were damaged by the explosion, 12 of them seriously.

Attention of the security forces had been diverted to another part of the town by an anonymous telephone warning that there was a 600lb bomb in Churchill House, but there is no such area in Omagh and police and troops sealed off the area around the telephone exchange.

Nothing was found.

Thursday 9th August 1973 Releases followed SDLP lobby As the first of the 100 short-term prisoners to be freed on the orders of Secretary of State Mr. Whitelaw were released today. It was disclosed that a nine-man SDLP team had been negotiating with Government officials for remission of their sentences into the early hours of

BELOW - A hi-jacked train moments before it exploded Wednesday 8th August 1973 Residents evacuated Residents in the village of Tempo had to evacuate their homes in their night-clothes after a car bomb was left outside a public house in the main street. A warning had been received by a local publican about the bomb and the area had been cleared. There were no casualties and little damage.

the morning. The party’s representatives began two weeks ago when demands for political status were being made by People’s democracy hunger strikers Michael Farrell and Tony Canavan – among the prisoners now being given their freedom and both transferred to hospital.

Thursday 9th August 1973 The violent Anniversary A soldier and a young girl were taken to hospital after blast bombs were thrown at an Army patrol last night.

The soldier was slightly injured and the eight year-old girl, badly shocked after two blast bombs were thrown at a mobile patrol in Westland Street, Derry.

50 workers at the North Ulster Bacon Company’s plant Thursday 9th August 1973 in Foyle Street, Derry managed to get out of the buildDouble drama after tanker is hi-jacked ing unhurt before a bomb exploded. The same bombTroops faced a double dose of danger after a petrol ers also left a bomb at Kelly’s coal offices, which is tanker with 400 gallons of fuel was hi-jacked near further along Foyle Street. A passing motorist was Newry. At one stage the road to Camlough was blocked treated for shock after the two blasts. by hi-jacked and burned out cars.

Drama one began when a fire started in the cab of the Thursday 9th August 1973 tanker after it had been found on the outskirts of the Bomb and fire attacks hit shops and bars town. Drama two came after an Army robot put the fire The owner of Andy Joe’s Bar in Bridge Street, out for a suspect parcel bomb was found under the Banbridge was taken to hospital after he fell downstairs vehicle. The tanker was hi-jacked by a number of men, while fleeing from the building after a fire started. It is one armed with a Thompson sub-machinegun, on the thought the blaze, which destroyed the ground floor, Camlough Road and later abandoned near the bridge.

The parcel spotted underneath the tanker turned out to be a hoax.

Meanwhile as demonstrations continued, to mark the second anniversary of internment, protesters mounted pickets outside several police and Army posts. The trouble in Newry started after at least six cars were set alight by youths.

Thursday 9th August 1973 Hoax bomb disrupts traffic Two hoax dustbin bombs disrupted traffic for two hours at Whitewell on the outskirts of Belfast. The bins were found to contain bricks. One of them was placed under the bridge at the M2 motorway interchange and the other at the gates of Hyde and Entwhistle’s wholesale chemical plant near the junction of Shore Road and Mill Road. Two masked men were seen leaving the bins at the gates of the plant by a caretaker who alerted security forces. Marine Commandos fired shots at the first dustbin and an Army bomb disposal expert set off a controlled explosion at the second.

Within half an hour the Commandos were back on the scene and the Mill Road was sealed off after a telephone warning that a bomb had been placed in Felden Industrial Training Centre. The Centre was evacuated.

TOP - Car bomb attack on Conway’s Bar in Little Patrick Street.

RIGHT - One of the injured being taken from the bar

may have been started by an incendiary.

Earlier another incendiary exploded at a bar in Scarva Street, severely damaging a ceiling and a carpet, but no one was hurt.

Jail, were told by British Intelligence to assassinate IRA leaders. The report names the Provisional IRA former chief of staff, Sean McStoifain, as one of the targets on the ‘death list’. In the wake of this report, Dublin politicians have been lashed in a statement by the Thursday 9th August 1973 Provo’s, which stated, "The whole corrupt web of Mines discovered political intrigue being woven between Dublin and In Dungannon two deadly contact mines were found at London must be uncovered once and for all."

Tullyodonnell, near Donaghmore, after a tip-off to police. The mines each containing 30lb of explosives, Friday 10th August 1973 were in a field and would have exploded if anyone Dogs used in search for M2 killers touched them. Police said that several children, Tracker dogs were used by police hunting the gang of including some on holiday from England, were at houses assassins who sprayed a van full of construction in the immediate area and it may have been someone workers from Eire with bullets on the M2 near concerned about their safety who gave the information. Templepatrick, killing one and injuring another.

A 10lb bomb exploded in a container behind the Intex 17 year-old Henry Cunningham, a Protestant, of Collon, factory at Ballyloran, Larne. No one was injured.

Carndonagh, died instantly when a hail of machine-gun and pistol fire tore into the van as it sped along the Thursday 9th August 1973 northbound carriageway. He was a front seat Fire attacks passenger in the green Bedford van which was taking A fire believed malicious, caused slight damage to the him and five workmates including two of his brothers premises of H. A. C. Catherwood & Sons at Hopefield to their homes across the border from the Avenue in the Antrim Road area of Belfast.

Newtownabbey construction site where they worked.

Not far away another fire thought to be malicious, The assassins firing from a bridge over the motorway, slightly damaged a joiners yard at Newington Street. also hit another passenger in the face, but he was not And again in the Antrim Road area, an explosion seriously hurt. Badly shocked, the vans driver was able followed by fire extensively damaged a paint store at to keep going for about half a mile before a puncture Castleton Gardens, extensively damaging two vehicles brought the bullet riddled vehicle to a halt. and building materials inside.

Detectives believe three gunmen were involved in the attack, one using a sub-machinegun and the others Thursday 9th August 1973 firing pistols. At least six shots hit the van and one hit Littlejohn’s story names Provo chief as being on the windscreen, tearing off the driving mirror. This is ‘death list’ the bullet, which is believed to have killed the Donegal As the Littlejohn brothers began to prepare a detailed teenager. Four of the people in the van were dossier on their spying activities in Ireland, the British Protestants and the other two Roman Catholics.

Defence Secretary, Lord Carrington, received a formal request from the Shadow Secretary, Mr Fred Peart, to Friday 10th August 1973 set up an independent inquiry to investigate the affair. I tried to set up sergeant – girl British Ministry of Defence officials were studying a An attractive 22 year-old girl was sent to prison for three report that the Littlejohn brothers Kenneth (31), and years after she confessed to a Belfast court that she tried Keith (27), now serving lengthy sentences in Mountjoy to set up a soldier who she met at a city pub. The

bookies’ clerk of Owenvarragh Park in Andersonstown, decided at the last minute that she couldn’t go through with it. The Belfast Recorder’s Court heard how she joined the IRA and was given the task of gathering information of the movements of soldiers. She was told by a man named Joe to meet soldiers at hotels, collect intelligence by talking with them and then discover their movements for the purpose of setting them up.

A British Army sergeant who fell for her charms had a drink with her then arranged a date. When he later rang her she cancelled the date with the excuse she was, ‘back with her boyfriend’. The court was told the reason for the cancellation was that she didn’t want any harm to come to the sergeant. As the story was being unfolded the Crown Prosecutor, Mr. Frank Russell, QC, said there was no doubt that the information the girl was gathering could have led to a crime such as the murder of three Army sergeants in an Antrim Road flat in March of this year.

Her defence council, Mr. Anthony Cinnamond, said that when she realised the sergeant was being set up to be killed by the IRA she went to great trouble to protect him by resolutely refusing the date. "When she realised the name of the game she was determined not to go through with it," he claimed.

Friday 10th August 1973 Britain shakes up Eire spy network Anglo-Irish relations have not been damaged by the implications of the Littlejohn affair, but Secret service operations in the Irish Republic have had to be drastically altered, said sources in London. The Irish Government is apparently satisfied with the assurances which were given to the Irish Ambassador, Dr. Donal O’Sullivan, when he called at the Foreign Office to ‘reiterate’ it’s deep concern about the affair. The visit

by Dr. O’Sullivan is regarded as more of a public relations exercise by the Irish Government than an angry protest, for both Governments are anxious not to allow the disclosures to cloud the real issues of Northern Ireland.

Friday 10th August 1973 Internment Day rallies are violent Violence again followed many of the anti-internment protest rallies and marches attended by an estimated

FACING PAGE - The mutilated bodies of two IRA members being taken away after they were killed in a premature motar explosion.

RIGHT - Patrick Duffy

7000 people throughout the North of Ireland. Security forces estimated that at least 3000 people took part in the Belfast protest. After a rally at Falls Park itself marred by some violent scuffles among supporters of different wings of the republican movement, about a third of the demonstrators broke away on the return march and attacked Andersonstown police station.

Using bottles and stones, the mobs smashed windows and damaged a number of private cars and three RUC Land Rovers parked outside the station. But there were no casualties.

The Army post at Casement Park also came under attack from a crowd but again there were no reports of injuries.

Friday 10th August 1973 Mob on rampage In Toomebridge a mob of youths went on the rampage after an anti-internment rally attended by about 300.

At one stage, a group of youths stoned the RUC station but were dispersed by police. A number of windows in the station were broken and a constable had to be taken to hospital for treatment to a cut on the head. Shop windows were also smashed and an attempt was made to set fire to a new bank building. Troops fired two shots an identified gunman but did not claim any hits.

Friday 10th August 1973 400 parade through Enniskillen Almost 400 people paraded through the main street in Enniskillen to a meeting in a car park near the RUC station. Police headquarters said stones were thrown at RUC men but there were no casualties.

Friday 10th August 1973 Newry protests Two thousand people, many with placards, marched from various housing estates and streets to converge on Margaret Square in Newry. After several speakers at the meeting appealed to the crowd to disperse peaceably a group of youths stoned a police patrol. Stewards intervened and the attack was broken up. A hut in the council yard at Francis Street and two derelict houses were set alight.

Cars and a haulage lorry were hi-jacked and set on fire and when the fire service tried to get to the vehicles at the junction of Kiln Street and Francis Street they were forced to leave by a hostile crowd.

Windows in buses were broken by stone throwers in several parts of the town. Snatch squads were moved in and several people were taken to the police station.

Shots were fired at one stage during the disturbances but there were no reports of casualties.

Friday 10th August 1973 Marchers stoned Two parades started from Levine Road –Taghnevin Estate and marched to Davitt Park, Lurgan, where a crowd of 1,500 gathered. Part of the returning crowd was stoned at Thompson’s Court while they were marching along Edward Street. Part of the crowd of Republican supporters attacked a bus depot at Brownlow terrace. Police who went to the scene also came under attack from the crowd and one RUC man was taken to Craigavon Hospital with a suspected broken nose.

Stones were thrown by a small group of youths at an Army ‘pig’ in the Ogle street area of Armagh at the end of a protest meeting. The ‘pig’, which had been parked near the Thomas Street junction, was moved away and there was no confrontation between the stone throwers and the soldiers.

About 150 chanting demonstrators marched through 12 mainly Roman Catholic housing estates before holding their meeting, organised by the local Political Hostages Relief Committee, at Irish Street Corner.

Saturday 11th August 1973 Taxi killers radio depot after crime Two teenage gunmen used a hi-jacked taxi for last night’s murder mission in Andersonstown, Belfast, then cooly radioed the taxi firm to tell them where they left the car. This was learned by detectives who were continuing their hunt for the two youths involved in the killing of Mr. Joseph Murphy on Kennedy Way as he and his pregnant wife were walking home after visiting a relative in hospital.

Two youths wearing dark blue bomber jackets and jeans got into the silver blue Ford Corsair taxi on the Donegall Road. They told the driver to take them to a firm on the Upper Malone Road. When they got there, one of the youths pushed a gun into the drivers back, told him to get out and warned him not to raise the alarm.

The taxi was driven to Kennedy Way where the killers found their target. The car pulled up beside the Murphys and one of the youths aimed the pistol out of the window and opened fire, hitting Mr. Murphy on the chest. As the injured man’s wife looked on helpless, the youth stepped out of the car and pumped more bullets into Mr. Murphy’s head.

Mrs Murphy and two women bystanders who saw the shooting had to be taken to hospital, suffering from severe shock.

LEFT - Bomb attack on the Club Bar in University Road.

FACING PAGE - Mr Charles O’Donnell and his wife Brigid

a Special Criminal Court in Dublin on charges of IRA membership.

The second man found was named as Gerry McGlynn (20), a motor mechanic, of Castlefin Road, Castlederg.

Garda detectives and forensic experts were trying to establish exactly what caused the car, owned by another Castlederg man, to blow up a few yards inside Eire near Saturday 11th August 1973 the Kilclean customs post which is about three miles Belfast family hit by double tragedy It was a double tragedy for the family for the dead mans from Castlederg. One theory is that the dead men were father, who suffered from a heart condition, collapsed transporting explosives, which went off prematurely. and died at his home after hearing of his son’s death.

Grief stricken neighbours and relatives comforted the Murphy family at their Ballymurphy home, the dead Saturday 11th August 1973 man’s mother told how she waited anxiously for Mr. Soldiers injured in mine ambush Murphy, who was in his late twenties, to return home The two-Land Rover patrol was ambushed near Eglish, safely. Sobbing, Mrs. Vera Murphy said, "My son is about seven miles from Dungannon. A burst of gunfire dead, what am I going to do? I will never get over this. heralded the start of the attack then the bombers He never did anyone any harm and neither did my detonated the hidden Claymore mine from a hillside nearby. husband."

On the late night news she and her husband heard that a The blast caught one of the vehicles and injured four young man had been shot dead in Kennedy Way soldiers in it. It left a 12 ft wide crater. returning from Musgrave. They then feared the worst.

The tragic news was later confirmed by a sister of the dead man’s wife.

Saturday 11th August 1973 Belcoo village hit by rockets Saturday 11th August 1973 In Belcoo three of four rockets fired at Belcoo police Second man in border blast car named station in Fermanagh missed their targets and hit the A second badly mutilated male body was found in the nearby village, but there were no casualties. First wreckage of a car which blew up during the night near reports stated that two of the rockets failed to explode, a customs post on the Donegal-Tyrone border. The first but it was later learned they landed in the village, man was named as Seamus Harvey (23), of Corgary narrowly missing houses. There were reports of wideRoad, Castlederg, who was acquitted a fortnight ago at spread damage.

Meanwhile the taxi driver had contacted his depot and was collected from the spot where he had been left by the youths. He was sitting in the depot when he heard the voice of one of the youths come over the taxi radio, "You can pick up your car at Bentham Street."

Saturday 11th August 1973 More than 150 shots fired at troops in Strabane There were no Army casualties and troops returned fire after more than 150 shots were fired at them. Twentyeight shots were fired at a foot patrol in the Ballycolman housing estate and between 100 and 150 rounds were aimed at the vehicle checkpoint on the Lifford Road.

Monday 13th August 1973 Policeman’s son latest victim of the gunmen A Belfast teenager gunned down in the Ormeau Road area was a policeman’s son. Norman Hutchinson (17), a Protestant, who lived in Cregagh, was walking along the Ormeau Road with two girls when the killer struck.

He died later in hospital.

Detectives think the killer walked up to the group, fired a single shot, which hit the teenager in the stomach and made his getaway in a waiting car. Neither of the two girls was injured in the attack but both witnessed the shooting and were badly shocked.

After the shooting, an anonymous caller phoned the Sunday News and claimed the Ulster Freedom Fighters had carried it out.

Monday 13th August 1973 Gunmen plant bomb in Newry pub Considerable damage was caused to the interior of Kelly and Calvert’s pub at Water Street, Newry. Four armed men walked into the bar carrying a parcel. They held up one of the owners and a traveller who were the only people in the building at the time. The gunmen ordered

them into a room at the rear. The men then sprinkled an inflammable liquid on the seat and ground floor of the three-story building. Then one of them shouted to Mr. Harold Graham and the traveller that they had three seconds to get out.

The men made off in a car before Mr. Graham and the traveller got out. They had moved a short distance when the bomb went off. There was slight damage to buildings nearby.

Monday 13th August 1973 RUC station hit by rocket barrage A large number of troops continued a widespread search in the South Armagh area for those who mounted the weekend attack on Crossmaglen RUC station, one of the heaviest in any IRA campaign.

Seven soldiers were slightly hurt in the attack during which close on a thousand shots were exchanged between troops and the gunmen. Seven rockets and seventeen mortar bombs were fired at the border station. At least 20 IRA men are thought to have been involved. They were held at bay by 40 members of the security forces inside the station during the half-hour attack.

One unusual aspect of the raid, apart from it’s intensity, was the fact that almost all the Russian made missiles and mortar bombs exploded near their target. But although there was extensive damage to the police station, the worst injury sustained by any of the soldiers was a leg wound requiring two stitches.

Monday 13th August 1973 Downpatrick families flee as bomb is defused Families were hurriedly evacuated from St. Patrick’s Estate, Downpatrick, after an anonymous telephone warning stated that a bomb had been left in the livestock market yard on the main Newcastle Road.

Long queues built up as traffic was diverted away from the area and the Ulsterbus depot was closed for a time.

Unsuccessful attempts were made by an Army robot to defuse the bomb but it was finally dealt with by an Army expert.

Monday 13th August 1973 Ambush victim buried Several hundred mourners attended the funeral of the 17 year-old Co. Donegal building worker who was killed in a machinegun ambush on a worker’s van on the M2

LEFT - The scene at Grampian Avenue in Holywood Road shortly after a fatal explosion

near Antrim.

Clergy of all denominations and members of the Dial for Co. Donegal walked in the cortege from the home of the dead youth, Henry Cunningham, at Collon, Carndonagh, to the local Presbyterian Church where the service was conducted by the Reverend H. M. McNeilly.

Monday 13th August 1973 Double funeral of father and son The joint funeral took place today of Mr. Joseph Murphy, who was shot dead by gunmen as he walked home with his wife and his father, also called Joseph, who died of a heart attack after hearing of his son’s assassination.

The funeral was from Whitecliff Drive, Belfast, to Corpus Christi Church, where a short Requiem Mass was held, and then on to Milltown cemetery.

Monday 13th August 1973 Ambush attempt on UDR Several shots were fired at a UDR mobile patrol on the Coalisland-Stewartstown Road, but none of the part time soldiers was hurt in the ambush attempt.

Monday 13th August 1973 Three men escape UDR vehicle checkpoint Three men jumped out of a car after it stopped short of a UDR vehicle checkpoint on the Castlecaulfield Road, Dungannon, and opened fire on the soldiers. There were no casualties. The UDR patrol later searched the area and detained two men. The men were later helping police with their inquiries.

Monday 13th August 1973 500lb bomb found at Crosscavan Army experts blew up a 500lb milk churn bomb found at Crosscavan near Dungannon. The bomb had been spotted on Saturday night and had been surrounded by soldiers until the bomb disposal team arrived in case the men who planted it would return.

spokesman said it looked as if the bombers had been disturbed because the device had not been properly primed.

Monday 13th August 1973 Car bomb explodes in car breakers yard Spare motorcar parts stored in a shed at the car breakers premises of Francis McGuigan, Carrive, Forkhill, were blown over a wide area when a car bomb exploded in it. No one was hurt by the blast.

Monday 13th August 1973 Bomb blast destroys public house Fire, which followed a bomb blast, destroyed a public house at Magheralin, Lurgan. Two armed and masked raiders planted the bomb in Nelson’s bar and stole the day’s takings before making their getaway.

Monday 13th August 1973 Rubber bullets at the Curragh Irish Army troops fired rubber bullets at civilians for the first time when they clashed with Republican demonstrators at the Curragh Detention Centre. About 600 people marched from Newbridge to the Curragh to protest against internment in Northern Ireland and the detention of Republicans in Eire under the Offences Against the State Act. A large force of troops blocked the entrance to the camp.

Some of the marchers fired bottles and stones at them while others set fire to bushes and an Army hut. After the demonstrators ignored a warning from an officer with a loud hailer to disperse, troops opened fire with rubber bullets. About eight rubber bullets were fired and there were no reports of injuries.

Monday 13th August 1973 600 in London protest A Provisional IRA ‘colour party’ headed a march through central London in protest against internment.

An estimated 600 people took part, including about 60 relatives of internees. They marched from Speakers Monday 13th August 1973 Corner, Hyde Park, to the Temple. The demonstration Raid on UDR man’s home was supported by more than a dozen separate A gang of men who raided the house of a UDR man organisations. stole a sub-machinegun. The man was not at home but the raiders tied up his wife and family before making Tuesday 14th August 1973 their getaway.

Death ends guard’s last check-up A 36 year-old police reservist shot dead at an Armagh Monday 13th August 1973 factory where he was employed as a security guard was Army experts neutralise bomb in pub gunned down just five minutes before he was due to go Army experts neutralised a 10lb bomb planted in the off duty. William John McIlveen, a Protestant of lounge of the Hayloft Bar in Bridge Street, Derry. A Lisdown, Newry Road, Armagh, is believed to have

been making his final check on the premises of Ulster Crown Cork at Cathedral Road when he heard a car pull into the forecourt. As he opened the factory door to investigate he was hit by two bullets from a high velocity weapon.

Children playing around the factory entrance ran screaming towards the Duke’s Grove housing estate just opposite as Mr. McIlveen fell to the ground with stomach wounds. People raised the alarm but Mr. McIlveen died almost immediately.

Tuesday 14th August 1973 Seven injured by pub car-blast Seven people, most of them women, were slightly hurt when a 100lb car bomb exploded without warning outside a bar in Belfast’s dock-land area.

A 60 year-old woman was detained in hospital for observation after the blast. It happened at Maguire’s Bar in Garmoyle Street.

Tuesday 14th August 1973 Mystery blast There were no casualties in a mystery blast followed by fire in a munitions store at Ebrington Barracks, head-

quarters of the Army’s 8 Infantry Brigade. An Army spokesman said that the fire and blast were not thought to have been the work of terrorists and a full investigation was being held into the incident.

Wednesday 15th August 1973 Children have close escape in mortar attack Four soldiers were slightly injured and dozens of children playing nearby had a narrow escape when bombers launched a mortar attack on an Army post at Andersonstown.

Four mortar shells were aimed at the heavily guarded ‘Silver City’ fort in the Glasdrumman area. One of them struck a building inside the camp and another hit a Land Rover, resulting in the injuries.

A third rocket failed to go off but landed in the middle of a children’s playground just outside the camp perimeter.

Wednesday 15th August 1973 Rockets in Donegal arms haul A large quantity of arms and explosives were found by civic guards in Co. Donegal in searches of the border area. The finds are believed to include a rocket launcher

and rockets, six rifles, several thousand rounds of ammunition and a quantity of explosives. The arms and explosives were removed to Rockhill Army Barracks near Letterkenny.

The searches, which were concentrated in the LiffordCastlefin area, began following a cross border shooting. A large number of police assisted by tracker dogs took part. A Gardai spokesman confirmed that the finds had been made but declined to give details of the quantities seized.

state, Mr. William van Strubenzee, who was touring Belfast with the RUC special patrol group.

It was one of the worst explosions in the city for some time and fleets of ambulances took the injured to two hospitals. Police, troops, firemen and civilians dug in the rubble for more than an hour after the blast looking for survivors.

The car carrying the bomb was stolen on August 10, from outside the Chester Park Hotel. The bombers used a white car to make their getaway but they abandoned it in Rowan Street, off North Queen Street. Police say that three youths were seen running away.

The pub was owned by a Roman Catholic, Mr. Barney Conway. As usual it was crowded with men and women when the bombers left the car at the side. Premises within 200 yards of the blast were damaged and parts of the car landed on buildings in Lancaster Street.

Wednesday 15th August 1973 Blast at barracks explained The explosion at Ebrington Barracks, headquarters of 8 Infantry Brigade in Derry, is believed to have been caused when an unstable home-made explosive uncovered in recent Army searches blew up spontaneously.

The blast caused no casualties and apart from shattered Thursday 16th August 1973 windows, there was little damage.

Huge train bomb rocks wide area Two huge bombs exploded on board a hijacked freight Thursday 16th August 1973 train, which was abandoned on the Belfast-Dublin line Man killed as bomb blasts pub One man was killed and twelve others injured when a after a bizarre hold up by gunmen in South Armagh. huge car bomb wrecked a York Street public house. The 200lb bomb in a Ford Cortina went off without warn- BELOW - Bomb attack on a Roman Catholic Church ing wrecking the Sportsman’s Inn on the corner of York at Braid, near Ballymena.

Street and Little Patrick Street.

FACING PAGE - Bomb attack at a Catholic Church One of the first people on the scene was Minister of at Crebilly

The explosion was triggered off by an Army marksman firing at the bombs to cut the fuse connecting them. As the blast rocked the countryside for half a mile around, a fierce fire broke out in the engine, but the train appeared to stay on the tracks.

The marksman had taken up his position near the train but was well protected. He fired carefully aimed shots at the fuse on the bombs, but on his ninth shot there was a sheet of flame followed by a heavy explosion.

Observers more than 600 yards away felt their clothes plucked by the blast.

It had been a long night for Army experts but even after the explosion they did not approach for fear of booby traps or landmines around the train. An elaborate operation was mounted against any attacks and no one was allowed near the empty train as it lay in the fogshrouded countryside.

petrol near Rosscommon. The four hostages, two young Dublin men and their Waterford girlfriends were released after a morning of terror.

Thursday 16th August 1973 Guns grabbed on raid on Eire barracks An armed gang, who held up part time soldiers at Waterford and took their guns, took hostages with them on a zigzag trail across the country.

Thursday 16th August 1973 Four Derry ambushes – but no hits Troops came under fire in four separate incidents in the Bogside and Creggan areas of Derry, but there were no casualties. Fire was returned on all four occasions but no hits were claimed.

One shot was fired on a patrol in Bligh’s Lane and two shots at troops near the city cemetery. A patrol operating in the Cattle Market area had five shots fired at them and at about the same time a gunman fired four shots at the Bligh’s Lane post.

They were being hunted by Gardai, armed Special Branch and the Irish Army. Special cordons were thrown up in the west and north west of the country.

The men had hijacked a second car taking its driver hostage at gunpoint, when the first vehicle ran out of

Thursday 16th August 1973 Funeral of reserve policeman The funeral of the 36 year-old reserve policeman, gunned down in Armagh, passed the furniture factory where he was shot dead on it’s way to Drumsollen Parish Churchyard, six miles from Armagh.

William John McIlveen, a Protestant of Lisdown, Newry Road, Armagh, was assassinated about five minutes before he was due to go off security duty at Ulster Crown Corks on Cathedral Road. Since the killing the Roman Catholic owned factory, where bar fittings and furniture are manufactured, has been closed as a mark of respect.

Thursday 16th August 1973 Bomb hoax ties up the traffic Traffic in the centre of Newry was badly disrupted because of a bomb hoax. A stolen car was discovered on Ballybot Bridge and the area was sealed off when security forces spotted a box on the rear seat. An expert using a robot placed a charge under the car and blew it up and later, after the owner of the car was brought to the scene, he examined it more closely. Eventually, eight hours after the car was found, the area was given the all clear.

Friday 17th August 1973 Two IRA men die by own bomb The badly mutilated bodies of two young IRA volunteers killed by their own mortar bomb were found on a lonely road in Tyrone. The two who died were members of an active service unit, which launched a fierce attack on Pomeroy RUC station. They were about to fire their deadly missile when it blew up in their faces.

Their bodies were found 10 miles away near Ballygawley, where they had evidently been dumped by their colleagues.

The mid-Ulster brigade of the Provisional IRA admitted in a brief statement that two died in the attack when a missile blew up. They were not named.

Friday 17th August 1973 Girl is shot at office door A girl, due to be married in six weeks, was seriously injured when gunmen fired at staff entering Srabane employment exchange. Miss Francis Boggs, who is in her twenties and works in the exchange, was hit in the chest when the gunmen opened up on staff among whom, was a member of the RUC Reserve as they made their way into the building. Miss Boggs was rushed to Altnagelvin Hospital, where her condition was later described as serious.

Friday 17th August 1973 Execution victim not in our pay: RUC Derry police denied that a 37 year-old Creggan man whom the Provisional IRA claim to have executed as ‘a self confessed informer’, was in the pay of the RUC’s Special Branch.

A police spokesman said that the man, Mr. Patrick Duffy, of Rathlin Drive, was unknown to them until he was reported as a missing person. So far the Army has not commented on the IRA claim that he was working for the RUC and military intelligence.

The Derry brigade of the Provisionals in a statement last night said that they had executed Mr. Duffy, father

of seven children, the youngest of them only six weeks old, because he had been passing information to the Special Branch and British Intelligence.

Friday 17th August 1973 Dungannon pub blasted by bomb in doorway A duffle bag left in the doorway of O’Neill’s Bar in Church Street, Dungannon, exploded after a customer opened the door. The proprietor’s wife, son and a woman customer were taken to hospital but were released after being treated for shock. One man suffering from spinal injuries was detained.

Earlier a 10lb bomb discovered at Dungannon Golf Club temporary clubhouse was defused by an Army expert.

Friday 17th August 1973 Firebomb in Gresham Street A firebomb damaged the Clorane Bar in Gresham Street, in the Smithfield area of Belfast. Police said the blaze started after a window in the pub was broken and inflammable liquid placed inside. The fire caused some interior damage but no one was in the building at the time.

BELOW - Troops search a house in Elaine Street which they believe was being used as a bomb factory.

FACING PAGE - Materials being removed from the house

Saturday 18th August 1973 Man shot dead in Portadown A 36 year-old Protestant, Mr Trevor Holland, died in the Craigavon Area Hospital, an hour after he had been gunned down in the Edgarstown area of Portadown.

Mr. Holland, a married man with two children, lived with his parents in Westland Road. He was standing outside a café in West Street when a Hillman Imp car drove up from the Loughall direction. There was a burst of gunfire and Mr. Holland fell fatally wounded. He was alone at the time. People who were in the vicinity rushed to his aid and stayed with him until an ambulance arrived.

Saturday 18th August 1973 Shot girl ‘very ill’ Miss Frances Boggs of Main Street, Strabane, is still very ill in Altnagelvin Hospital with gunshot wounds.

Miss Boggs who is in her twenties and due to be married in three weeks, was shot by gunmen outside Strabane Labour Exchange where she works.

Saturday 18th August 1973 Bomb defused A 300lb bomb left in a hijacked van in an entry off Main Street, Strabane, was defused by the Army. The area was sealed off after a telephone warning and the bomb was finally defused after an Army bomb disposal officer had blown off the door.

Saturday 18th August 1973 Border Post Office blast Middletown Post Office, three miles from the border in Co.Armagh was badly damaged by an explosion, half an hour after it opened for business. The bomb was planted inside the sub-office by three armed men, who gave Miss Marian Crawford and her sister, Edith, who run the office, a three-minute warning.

People who live close to the premises, which are in the Diamond, were evacuated. When the bomb went off five minutes later, no one was injured.

Monday 20th August 1973 Pubs and hotel hit in Belfast The Stagecoach Inn at Derriaghy, near Dunmurry, Belfast, was extensively damaged by a fire started by an incendiary device planted inside the building. It was the third attack on the Inn in recent months.

A 10-20lb bomb packed inside a fire extinguisher caused moderate damage to the Regency Hotel at the junction of Botanic Avenue and Lower Crescent. A house next door to the hotel was also damaged, but a couple living in a flat nearby escaped without injury. Three people were treated for shock after the blast. Police said the bomb was hurled from a passing car.

Bombers also tried to blast a public house not far from the hotel last night. A 70lb bomb was left at the side wall of a private house beside the Club Bar at

University Road by a youth who escaped on a motorbike. Twelve people were treated for shock after the explosion, which blew out windows over a wide area and damaged part of the interior of the bar. An hour later two pipe bombs exploded at a house used as an office in Windsor Street in the Sandy Row area. No damage was caused.

Monday 20th August 1973 Gunfights in New Lodge The Army claimed a number of hits in gun battles in the New Lodge Road area of Belfast when mobile patrols came under fire on four occasions and a pipe bomb was thrown. Two youths were later admitted to hospital with gunshot wounds.

An Army spokesman said that soldiers returned fire on three occasions and that in the follow up operations Armalite bullet cases were found beside a pool of blood on the Antrim Road.

Monday 20th August 1973 Holidaymakers escape death Armagh holidaymakers missed death by inches when their car was fired on from the main StewartstownMoneymore Road at Drumullen, Stewartstown. One bullet pierced the windscreen and just missed the driver, who accelerated from the scene. Police said that the attack appeared to be without motive and it was unlikely that the gunmen had mistaken the holidaymaker’s car for a security forces vehicle.

Monday 20th August 1973 24 shots fired at Roman Catholic Club One man received bullet wounds and two others were cut by flying glass when 24 shots from an automatic weapon were fired at a Roman Catholic Club in Thomas Street, Portadown.

The shots from a passing car were directed at the St. Patrick’s Catholic Young Men’s Association hall.

the road, which is used as a by-pass route for the town had to be operated on the road.

Monday 20th August 1973 Market Hall bombed Bombers planted a bomb at the local Market Hall in Castlewellan. The blast caused extensive damage but luckily there were no casualties.

Monday 20th August 1973 Provos return dole money Giro payment orders for unemployment benefit, which were part of the haul from an armed raid at Bridgend Post Office in Strabane, were handed in at Clady Post Office – by the Provisional IRA. A police spokesman said the orders, made out in the names of people in the Strabane area, were returned to the Post Office with an apology from the Provos, who said they hoped no one had been inconvenienced by their loss.

Tuesday 21st August 1973 Army and Eire blasts sensation A dossier compiled by the Eire Special Branch shows that members of a British Army undercover group were connected with Dublin car bomb attacks in which two people died, a Dublin evening newspaper claimed.

In a shock article by Jim Cartwell, The Evening Herald says the report was drawn up by the Garda Special Branch and was given to the Eire Government.

It claims that four men wanted in connection with the Dublin bombings stayed under codenames in a Belfast flat rented by the Army and were members of a highly secretive Special Air Service.

The report says there is proof that the men, using code names Thompson and Fleming, were stopped on the day before the bombings at a security forces’ checkpoint outside Newry. After a conversation, the car and its occupants were taken over by troops who drove it and it’s occupants away.

The report says the Garda were suspicious about who caused the bombings on December 1 last year, while the Dail was debating tough new measures against the IRA.

Monday 20th August 1973 100lb car bomb made safe A 100lb car bomb at Sugar Island was made safe by an Army explosives expert. A controlled explosion was set off and it caused slight damage to business and residential properties. A warning about the bomb was Tuesday 21st August 1973 telephoned to the local Post Office exchange.

Murder – three sought Detectives issued detailed descriptions of three people Monday 20th August 1973 they want to interview in connection with the East Massive 300lb bomb explodes in culvert in Maghera Belfast bomb attack in which a 61 year-old man died Part of a massive 300lb bomb charge exploded in a and his wife was injured. The bomb was tossed through culvert at Mullagh Road, Maghera, blowing a hole in the front door of Mr. Charles O’Donnell’s home in

Grampian Avenue near Holywood Arches, and killed him almost instantly. The killers ran off down the street and were almost hit by two cars as they went across the busy Holywood Road. One man fell on the pavement but all three escaped before security forces ringed the area. As fears of further attacks grew, a police spokesman said, "Security forces will give the utmost protection to all families in the area".

Tuesday 21st August 1973 Bloody Sunday – Paras not at inquests Soldiers of the first Paras, who were involved in the events of Bloody Sunday in Derry’s Bogside on January 30 1972, when 13 people were shot dead after a Civil Rights march, will not be giving evidence at the inquests which opened in Derry’s Courthouse.

Mr. Robert Carswell, QC, who is appearing for the Ministry of Home Affairs, told the jury that the soldiers involved in the shooting could not be compelled to give evidence and would not be called. "The evidence we will call will be sufficient to establish that each of the 13 people who died that day received fatal gunshot wounds and to establish where and when that happened", Mr Carswell said.

but were later released.

Two young anglers fishing at Eskragh Lough made an unusual catch when they found more than 500 rounds of assorted ammunition at the side of the lake.

Tuesday 21st August 1973 Rioters out again Opposing gangs of youths, each 20-30 strong, confronted each other in the Shankill Street-Wakehurst areas of Lurgan and a shot was fired during the disturbances. Police said stones and bottles were exchanged and, at one stage, a youth clambered on top of a wall in the Wakehurst area and fired a single shot in the direction of Shankill Street.

The bullet went through the window of a house but the occupant, although shocked, was not hurt.

Police and troops moved into the area and dispersed the rioters.

Tuesday 21st August 1973 Protests continue over detention of women For the fourth night in succession around 100 women blocked the Loughgall Road, Armagh, as a protest over continued detention of women suspects in the city jail.

Police diverted traffic away from the area but their task Tuesday 21st August 1973 was complicated by the fact that a group of Protestant Rubber bullets fired at crowd youths staged a counter demonstration at Albert Place, Troops had to fire rubber bullets to disperse a hostile into which the diverted traffic was being directed. crowd in the Shantallow area of Derry before the Army could work at a bomb in a petrol station on the Race- Tuesday 21st August 1973 course Road. Fitted with an anti-handling device the Free this woman plea 30lb charge was left in the forecourt of McGeady’s The Secretary of State, Mr. Whitelaw, is being urged to petrol station by three armed men. It was almost four release the 20 year-old Armagh mother of two who is hours before the Army expert succeeded in defusing it. being held under an interim custody order.

Police said that half an hour after the warning about the The plea comes from Mr. Seamus Mallon, an SDLP bomb was raised, they received an anonymous call Assembly member for Armagh, who wants the release warning them not to touch it. of Mrs. Brenda Cassin ‘on humanitarian grounds’.

His request follows the fourth successive night of Tuesday 21st August 1973 demonstrations against Mrs. Cassin’s detention.

Bomb defused An Army expert defused a 20lb bomb in a plastic bag Tuesday 21st August 1973 left in a forecourt at Maxwell’s petrol station at Beech We shot at club, say UFF Valley, Dungannon. Police said a youth attached the A man purporting to be Captain Williams of the Ulster bomb to petrol pumps and shouted a five-minute warn- Freedom Fighters rang the Belfast Telegraph saying that ing but it failed to explode and the Army expert worked the UFF accepted responsibility for the shooting at a for almost four hours to make it safe.

Roman Catholic club in Portadown.

A petrol bomb was thrown at a Housing Executive build- One man was hit by a bullet and two others hurt by ing on the Ballygawley Road, Dungannon, but it failed flying glass when shots were fired at the club in Thoto ignite and there were no reports of damage. mas Street.

About 40 youths who blocked the road at Moygashel, The caller also warned that there would be reprisals and checked traffic passing through, were dispersed by against police for their "brutality against Protestants in the Army. Four youths were detained for questioning Portadown."

Wednesday 22nd August 1973 Provos send their best wishes to girl victim IRA gunmen have sent their best wishes to an innocent victim of one of their attacks. Miss. Frances Boggs, who is in her late twenties and is due to marry in three weeks, is still seriously ill in Derry’s Altnagelvin Hospital. She was shot in the chest while she and workmates were making their way into Strabane employment exchange. In what police describe as ‘a completely indiscriminate attack’ gunmen opened up on the group, which included a part-time policeman.

Wednesday 22nd August 1973 Bombs damage two Roman Catholic Churches Bombs caused extensive damage to two Roman Catholic Churches near Ballymena. The first blast was at Braid Chapel where the bomb went off without warning causing considerable damage, but no one was hurt.

Two hours later a bomb ripped through the Roman Catholic Church at Crebilly, not far away. Again no warning was given, and a number of people in a nearby house, which was also damaged, were treated for shock after the blast.

Wednesday 22nd August 1973 Bomb attack on petrol station A 30lb bomb was left at the Fina petrol station near the top of the Oldpark Road, Belfast. The area was quickly cordoned off and an Army bomb expert worked for well over an hour to defuse the device.

BELOW - Bomb attack on the A1 Taxi office next to the Albert Clock in Belfast.

BELOW RIGHT - Firefighters at the A1 blast

Wednesday 22nd August 1973 Shots and blast bombs in Belfast Security forces reported that a shot was fired at an Army mobile patrol in Elswick Street in the Springfield Road area of Belfast but there were no casualties.

In the Lower Falls area a blast bomb apparently thrown at an Army vehicle missed its target and exploded harmlessly.

Two mortar bombs fired at the Army post in Casement Park also missed their intended target and landed close to nearby houses. No one was hurt.

Wednesday 22nd August 1973 Drivers injured in fifth night of protests 40-50 people, including many women, blocked the road at the Shambles for the fifth night running as a protest against continued detention of women suspects in the city jail. Security forces diverted traffic away from the area for a time but later a group of youths started stoning passing cars. One motorist reported to police that his vehicle had been damaged and there reports that a number of drivers were slightly injured.

Wednesday 22nd August 1973 Shots ring out through Derry Five shots were fired at an Army working party at Fulton Place in the Long Tower area of Derry. There were no casualties. Fire was returned but no hits were claimed.

Six to eight shots were heard in the Waterside area of about killings at other inquests, I have held on soldiers Derry but security forces were not involved and it is shot in the city, and I will continue to do so in the future." The coroner’s attack came at the end of a day not known what the target was. long sitting at which open verdicts were returned by In the Bogside about 50 youths erected a small the jury on all 13 victims. obstruction across the road at the junction of Lecky Road and Quarry Street. While troops were removing it a Wednesday 22nd August 1973 blast bomb was thrown, but there were no casualties. Exchange has to go after No.4 bombing Strabane is to lose it’s Labour exchange after a result of Rubber bullets were fired to disperse the youths. terrorist attacks, but the Ministry has assured that a full Another group stoned troops at the junction of Hamilton service will be provided in the area.

Street and Foyle Street about half an hour later and one The Exchange in Melmount Road has been bombed four times in the last 18 months. The latest attack was when arrest was made. a female member of staff was seriously injured when In Creggan Estate about 20 youths stoned an Army gunmen opened fire on a group of employees. patrol at the junction of Fanad Drive and Central Drive.

Thursday 23rd August 1973 One rubber bullet was fired.

Death came after wedding plan chat As detectives investigated the murder of a young Wednesday 22nd August 1973 Roman Catholic in Co.Down, the victim’s fiancé told Bloody Sunday coroner flays Army Derry city coroner Mr. Hubert O’Neill, defended his how the assassins kidnapped him while they sat sensational attack on the Army at the Bloody Sunday making their wedding plans. inquests. Mr. O’Neill who accused the Army of ‘sheer Police on the case believe the murder of 20 year-old unadulterated murder’ in the Bogside said, "I detest killing of every kind, I have spoken out forthrightly

BELOW - Car bomb attack in Gresham Street.

BELOW RIGHT - One of the lucky ones . . . a puppy from the Greaham Pet Stores survived the blast but many other animals were killed.

Charles McDonnell was a reprisal killing. The girl he was to have married wept as she recalled the words a masked gunman spoke to her. As the murderers took Mr. McDonnell from his car one of them told 18 yearold Agnes O’Hare – "This is for Isaac Scott."

Mr Scott, a 41 year-old Protestant labourer from Benagh, Mayobridge, was shot dead by gunmen on July 10 as he left a pub in Belleeks, Newtownhamilton.

The murder of Mr. McDonnell who lived at Carrowmannon, Belleeks, took place close to Miss O’Hare’s home in Mayobridge, not far from where Mr. Scott lived.

Detectives have no reason to believe that it was anything more than a sectarian reprisal. A man calling himself ‘Captain Black of the UFF’ rang the Belfast Telegraph to say that his organisation " Accepted responsibility for the murder in Mayobridge".

Thursday 23rd August 1973 Tommy Herron is held by police Police were keeping silent about the arrest in East Belfast of former UDA vice-chairman Tommy Herron.

Herron, who was detained by troops on the Albertbridge Road, is reported to have had several thousand pounds in his possession when stopped.

A senior member of the UDA, Mr. Sammy Doyle, claimed that the money had been raised by UDA sympathisers to help pay for the defence of Derry teenager Robert Taylor, who has been extradited to the Republic to face a double murder charge.

Another UDA spokesman said, "The money did not belong to the UDA. It was collected by the loyalist people of East Belfast to help the defence of Taylor."

Thursday 23rd August 1973 British officer fired on in Eire A British Army officer on holiday at his wife’s home in Eire narrowly escaped death when three shots were fired at him. One of the bullets struck the padding in the shoulder of his jacket. The attack on the officer, who is stationed at Aldershot, was made during a farewell party at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Michael Cusack, near Athboy, Meath. It sparked off an intensive manhunt throughout the area and later Gardai found a stolen car, crashed nearby, which they believe was used by the attackers. The target of the assassination attempt was Captain Quartermaster Timothy Best (43), of the Catering Corps. He had been holidaying with his inlaws from August 7.

Later Captain Best said the incident would not deter him from coming back to Ireland.

He said, "I never served in Northern Ireland."

Thursday 23rd August 1973 Derry bakery bombed The centre of Derry was rocked by an explosion when Reid’s Bakery at Waterloo Place was badly damaged by a bomb. The bomb had been placed at the front of the building beside the door, which is almost opposite Victoria RUC barracks on Strand Road.

Later a warning was phoned to the Post Office, shortly before the bomb exploded. The Army estimated the bomb at between 5 and 10lb. An Army spokesman said later that a boy was helping police with their inquiries into the blast.

Earlier in the Waterside area of Derry a civilian found a mortar bomb and handed it to police.

Thursday 23rd August 1973 Troops grab mortar after gunfight Troops captured a mortar after an attempt on an electricity sub-station near Belfast. Troops mounted a rapid counter attack after a group of men had fired five mortars at the electricity sub-station in Hannahstown.

Soldiers on guard fired back and the men were put to flight by troops who advanced towards their position.

The Army seized the mortar, it’s pad and 11 bombs.

Police say a number of men were helping them with their enquiries.

Thursday 23rd August 1973 Seven fire appliance tackle mystery fire Fire destroyed two storeys of W. S. Mercer and Son’s electrical wholesale warehouse on the Ormeau Road, Belfast. Seven fire appliances tackled the blaze at its height and saved two other floors from fire damage.

However, there was extensive water damage.

Thursday 23rd August 1973 Two bombs explode in Downpatrick |The first bomb exploded at Stewart’s filling station on the Newcastle Road. The 10-20lb device damaged a store but no one was hurt.

Near Raholp, the Slaney Inn was damaged by a bomb of a similar size. It exploded without warning causing extensive damage, but there were no casualties.

Thursday 23rd August 1973 Women on protest again in Armagh About 15 women protesting against the detention of women blocked the ring road again. Traffic was diverted for a time.

Thursday 23rd August 1973 Supermarket owner shot as bombers stage another attempt to blow it up Bombers made yet another attempt to blow up a supermarket in Park Avenue, on the fringe of Creggan Estate in the Rosemount area of Derry. Two men, one of them armed, planted two 25lb bombs and when the owner attempted to carry them out he was shot in both legs.

He was taken to Altnagelvin Hospital where he was said to be pretty comfortable. The bombs were later made safe by Army experts.

Thursday 23rd August 1973 Four held in swoop Four Provisional IRA suspects – including a man who the Army claim is a battalion commander - have been detained by troops in West Belfast.

They were picked up in a swoop by men of the 2 nd Battalion Royal Regiment of Fusiliers and the 3 rd Battalion Royal Green Jackets in Andersonstown and the Springfield Road district.

All four were said by Army sources to be Provisionals, one a commander and another a member of the battalion staff.

Friday 24th August 1973 Hunt is on for killers of widow Detectives were hunting the cold-blooded killers who machine-gunned a 52 year-old widow near Newtownhamilton, the second murder in South Armagh in 24 hours. Mrs. Rita Meeke, whose late husband Stanley was a former Unionist councillor, died instantly in a hail of bullets, which tore into her car at McGuffin’s Cross on the main Newtownhamilton-Castleblayney Road. Mrs. Meeke was returning home after visiting her brother-in-law who is seriously ill in hospital. Bullets shattered the windscreen of the blue Hillman car and struck Mrs. Meeke several times in the head.

Friday 24th August 1973 Heavy guard for 2 after house blast - Man ‘critical’ and woman is ‘serious’ The couple injured in the ‘Bomb Factory’ explosion in Elaine Street, Belfast, are under heavy security guard in the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast. They have not yet been named but the 29 yearold man and the 19 year-old woman are known to be from west Belfast.

The man is said to be in a critical condition after having a hand blown off, the woman is described as seriously ill. Both were injured after a number of incendiary devices exploded in the back room of a house in the quiet Friday 24th August 1973 street.

Taxi office wrecked by 100lb bomb Troops and police found the injured couple in the house, A massive bomb shook Queen’s Square in Belfast’s city both of who were said to be suffering from severe burns, centre, completely demolishing a taxi firms premises apart from other injuries. When the bombs exploded a and badly damaging nearby buildings. Two Army bomb sheet of flames shot through the back of the small house. disposal experts had a narrow escape when they were setting up the robot device when the 100lb bomb sud- Friday 24th August 1973 denly went off. Debris was flung hundreds of yards Bar bomb – six injured - now residents want street sealed around them and they were enveloped in a thick blan- off ket of grey smoke but they escaped without a mark.

Angry residents of a Portadown street called for it to be They were shielded from the main force of the blast by sealed off following a massive car bomb attack on a the Albert Memorial Clock, which suffered only slight public house. Six people were injured in the blast. damage. One of the clock faces was shattered, but the Widespread damage was caused to the Parkside Bar in mechanism continued to function.

Obins Street and property in the surrounding area when The bomb was left in Gloucester’s taxi firm in Queen’s the bomb, estimated at over 200lbs, went off without Square by two men and a girl, at least one of who was warning. The huge blast was heard up to five miles away. armed. They held up staff and carried in a small suit- Six people were rushed to Craigavon Area Hospital case and a small tin, placing them at the back of the after the explosion and three are still detained there, office. They told staff they had plenty of time to get including Mr. Aidan Hagan, son of the bar owner. Two out and the alarm was immediately raised. The bomb of the injured were discharged after treatment but one exploded half an hour later after soldiers had cleared man, Mr. Frank McCann, was transferred to Belfast’s Royal Victoria Hospital, suffering from an eye injury the area.

As well as demolishing the taxi premises the blast and facial lacerations. wrecked the corner building next door. Dozens of win- The Parkside Bar is at the entrance to the Roman dows in the area were shattered and the whole scene Catholic area of the town known as the Tunnel. resembled that of a blitz.

Friday 24th August 1973 RUC patrol stoned Two military policemen were injured when a stone shattered the windscreen of their patrol car near Dee Street in East Belfast. An RUC spokesman said one had a cut to his eye but neither was seriously injured.

About five minutes later the windscreen of an RUC patrol vehicle was shattered in the same area, slightly injuring two of the policemen inside. Again in the Newtownards Road area another police vehicle was stoned by 20-30 youths. A short time later, troops fired baton rounds to disperse 40 – 50 hostile youths.

Then just before 2am, a police vehicle was fired on by gunmen in a speeding car on the Sydenham by-pass.

No one was injured.

Friday 24th August 1973 Herron is released after 18 hours The former UDA vice-chairman, Mr. Tommy Herron, was released after being questioned for 18 hours by police. He took with him the money estimated at £3,000 which the UDA claimed was to help the defence of Derry teenager Robert Taylor.

Mr. Sammy Doyle, a senior UDA member, said that the money had now been handed over to Taylor’s lawyers.

He said the UDA were very angry that Mr. Herron had been held for so long.

Saturday 25th August 1973 Three killed in mystery blast Three people, two of them understood to be brothers, died when a huge explosion ripped through a car repair workshop on the Cliftonville Road in north Belfast.

Friday 24th August 1973 But three hours after the blast security forces had not Arms found during searches During searches security forces found a .22 rifle, a pis- established what caused it. Some local people had heard tol and 65 rounds of ammunition in the Lower Falls what sounded like shots before the explosion and saw a area and two pistols and a sawn-off shotgun at Donegall suspicious car.

First reports were that the three dead in the explosion Avenue on the Donegall Road. worked in the garage, and that one of them was a

BELOW - Firemen prepare to break into a car repair garage off the Cliftonville Road where three were killed in an explosion

fifteen year-old apprentice. Firemen found two of the bodies lying beside a car, which appeared to have exploded. The torso of the third victim was flung into a nearby field. Troops who rushed to the scene used a Land Rover to pull down doors of the blazing building.

Exploding paint and gas cylinders added to the confusion. Security forces said there had been reports of a suspicious car on the Cliftonville Road a short time before the blast.

Saturday 25th August 1973 Traffic chaos as Loyalist women stage protest Traffic in East Belfast was thrown into chaos as groups of women and children blocked the two main roads through the area as a protest against the detention of loyalists at the Maze prison.

The women, mostly wives of loyalist prisoners and internees formed up across the busy Newtownards and Albertbridge Roads at their junctions with Templemore Avenue. At first the blockade was only across the Newtownards Road but within 20 minutes it had been Saturday 25th August 1973 extended to the Albertbridge Road along which police Duffy’s body is found in a coffin A coffin found inside a hijacked car on the Derry– had been diverting most of the traffic.

Donegal border contained the body of 37 year-old Creggan man Mr. Patrick Duffy, father of seven, executed by the IRA who claimed he was an informer. Saturday 25th August 1973 Covered with sacking the coffin was placed across seats Bomb tied to a car is made safe in the stolen estate car abandoned on a stretch of no- An Army expert was called in after a pipe bomb device man’s land between an Army checkpoint and the Eire was found strapped to the exhaust of a car parked outside the Strathearn Hotel in Holywood. Police are not Customs post on the Buncrana Road.

The body, which an Army spokesman said appeared to revealing who the car belonged to, but the 1lb bomb have been in water for some time, was later removed to may well have been meant to explode when the vehicle Derry’s Altnagelvin Hospital for post mortem was in motion, being set off by the heat of the exhaust pipe. Fortunately, though, the expert carried out a examination and positive identification. controlled explosion and dealt with the bomb.

BELOW - Bomb attack on the Hayloft Bar at the junction of High Street and Victoria Street

Saturday 25th August 1973 50lb bomb in cardboard box A 50lb bomb in a cardboard box was found at the Forest Inn, Castlewellan, near closing time. A warning phone call was made to a local resident but the device had already been found and the area cleared. An Army bomb expert worked for almost four hours before successfully defusing the charge.

Saturday 25th August 1973 Large bomb explodes in Gresham Street One person was treated for cuts and two for shock after a large bomb exploded in a stolen car at Gresham Street in the Smithfield area of Belfast. The green BMC 1100

was abandoned outside the Gresham Lounge bar and the blast badly damaged several buildings, including a pet shop opposite where some animals were killed and others injured.

Police said a phone warning had been given. The car was stolen from Melbourne Street in the Townsend Street area and the anonymous caller claimed to be from the Ulster Freedom fighters.

Saturday 25th August 1973 Final tribute to shot woman The President of the Ulster Farmers’ Union, Mr. Wallace Perry, and other senior officials of the union attended the funeral of Mrs. Rita Meeke, a union official, who was shot by gunmen while driving in her car in Newtownhamilton.

There was a brief service at Daisy Hill Hospital Rest Room, Newry, before the removal of the remains to Second Newtownhamilton Presbyterian Church of which Mrs. Meeke was a member.

LEFT - Troops fire rubber bullets during rioting on the Falls Road.

BELOW - Car bomb attack in Ballycastle

A 14 year-old girl on holiday from England was one of the casualties of the double bombing. The Vauxhall Victor and Morris Oxford cars containing the bombs were parked less than a hundred yards apart, one outside a draper shop and the other at Walls public bar.

One minute later an anonymous caller warned Omagh telephone exchange that there were two bombs in Castlederg and security forces rushed to the area. The second bomb exploded almost 20 minutes later.

Monday 27th August 1973 The English girl, Rosanna Roulston, of Birmingham, Three seriously injured by huge bomb at Church sustained facial injuries and the other casualties included A special collection at a church service probably saved a two year-old child and it’s mother. They were treated the lives of dozens of people when a 600lb car bomb at the Derg Valley Hospital. exploded without warning close to a Roman Catholic Church in Ballycastle.

Monday 27th August 1973 Three people, including a BBC film editor on a day trip Blast dead may have been shot beforehand to the town, were seriously injured when the blast went Three people who died in a mystery blast at the weekoff without warning in Moyle Road. But the casualty end on Belfast’s Cliftonville Road could have been shot toll would have been much greater if the 800 people in before the explosion. Although the painstaking task of the congregation in St. Patrick’s Church had been examining the badly mutilated bodies is still going on, making their way home. As it was the congregation it is understood that preliminary tests show marks were delayed for a few minutes while a special similar to those made by bullets. The three who died collection for a Belfast home was taken up. were brothers Sean McDonald (50), of Slievetoye Park Two Ballycastle sisters, Patricia and Susan Gallagher, and Ronnie McDonald (55) of La Salle Park, and a 16 of the Diamond, were taken to Coleraine Hospital with year-old apprentice, Tony McGrady, of St. James Place. serious injuries. The BBC man, Mr. Fred Tullen, presently working in Northern Ireland had to have an Monday 27th August 1973 arm amputated in the Route Hospital in Ballymoney Missing man found dying in house after the blast.

Detectives are hunting the killers of 24 year-old Owen Devine of Distillery Street, who was found dying in a Monday 27th August 1973 house in McClure Street in the Ormeau Road area. The Eight hurt as two car bombs rock a village fact that he was a Catholic apparently shot in a Catholic Eight people were hurt when two massive car bombs area has led detectives to believe it was not a sectarian exploded in the centre of a quiet Tyrone village. No killing. Devine had been missing from his home since adequate warning was given before the blasts rocked last Wednesday and it is believed he may have been Castlederg, and it appeared that the bombers wanted to held captive by the IRA for some time before being cause maximum damage and injury. shot.

Saturday 25th August 1973 Army sentry attacked for second time in one week Shots were fired at an Army sentry near the electricity sub-station at Hannahstown near Belfast, where troops were attacked earlier this week. No one was hurt in the latest attack and troops detained five men in a quick follow-up operation. A number of people are reported to be helping police with their enquiries.

Monday 27th August 1973 Soldier in civilian clothes gunned down A soldier in civilian clothes gunned down in an assassination attempt outside the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast, is still seriously ill.

He has been named by the Army as Corporal Richard Millar, from Peterlee, Co.Durham. A spokesman said he was attached to the Army headquarters at Lisburn and was on ‘normal administrative duties’ when he was shot.

Monday 27th August 1973 Raiders bomb High Street Bar A Belfast city centre bar and wine market were wrecked by another huge bomb. Two armed men left a bomb in a suitcase on the first floor of the Hayloft Bar in High Street. They told the staff to get out but gave no time warning. Police had to direct staff down the stairs past the bomb after the alarm had been raised.

When the explosion went off half an hour later, it wrecked the bar and the Victoria Wine Market beside it on the corner of High Street and Victoria Street. Only a pile of rubble was left.

Monday 27th August 1973 Trouble flares after anti-internment rally Trouble flared after an anti-internment rally sponsored by the Political Hostages’ Relief Committee at Dunville Park. After the rally a group of 50 youths broke away and began stoning the nearby Springfield Road RUC station.

Troops fired several rounds of rubber bullets to disperse the youths and there were no serious clashes.

Tuesday 28th August 1973 UDR man dies in ambush A young UDR man was killed and two other members of the security forces were injured in an ambush in Armagh’s Culdee housing estate. The part-time soldier who died in the shooting was named as 25 yearold Private Kenneth Hill, a bachelor from Drumherrif, Loughall. Another UDR man and a policeman were slightly hurt.

Tuesday 28th August 1973 Derry siege monument crumbles after blast One of Derry’s most famous landmarks – the Walker Monument on the city’s walls, was reduced to a pile of rubble by a bomb blast. Bombers are believed to have used long ropes to scale the walls and carry the explosives to their target, which was inside an area constantly patrolled by troops.

The monument to George Walker, a governor during the siege in 1689 has always been regarded as an important symbol by Loyalists and was closely associated with Apprentice Boys’ Commemorations.

Monday 27th August 1973 Bomb store found A bomb store was found by security forces when they carried out a planned search of East Belfast. In a garage on Beersbridge Road, troops and police found a ready primed 100lb bomb in a beer keg, three 30lb gas cylinder bombs, one of them ready primed and three bags of chemicals. The haul also included a shotgun, a rifle, 250 feet of fuse wire and a quantity of assorted ammunition.

Tuesday 28th August 1973 400lb bomb meant for security forces A 400lb bomb in a culvert at Cavenkeeran, on the main Monday 27th August 1973 Carrickmore-Pomeroy Road was defused by an Army Youth attacked expert. The bomb is believed to have been meant as an A police patrol found an 18 year-old Protestant tied to a ambush for security forces. lamppost and with his hair cut off in Roden Street. The teenager from the Sandy Row area was beaten up and a Tuesday 28th August 1973 placard accusing him of an alleged offence was tied Blast at customs post round his neck. He was freed by the RUC men and At Aughnacloy a temporary customs post was damaged taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital where his condi- by a late night explosion. Only slight damage was tion is not thought to be serious. caused.

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An amry snatch squad

Tuesday 28th August 1973 Troops quell Belfast jail riot Riot troops and warders quelled a ‘mini’ riot at Crumlin Road Jail after 40 remand prisoners barricaded themselves in their cells. The trouble flared up after warders told the prisoners in C Wing that they would be locked in their cells until damage caused in a riot yesterday was repaired.

tory on the Donegall Road, Belfast. Apart from the RPG7 launcher, the soldiers found three missiles, a rifle, 200 rounds of .22 ammunition among other items.

Wednesday 29th August 1973 Ammunition and training manuals found Police found a quantity of ammunition when they carried out a search of Love Lane in Carrickfergus. The find included 14lb of assorted explosives and a twopound bomb in a tin, as well as almost 100 rounds of Wednesday 29th August 1973 ammunition, some blanks and explosives training Big border blast - but soldiers just slightly hurt Four soldiers were slightly injured when a huge land manuals. mine exploded in front of two armoured vehicles in Wednesday 29th August 1973 South Armagh.

Bombers detonated the 300-400lb landmine from high Shots fired ground across the border as the two Army Saracens In Magherafelt four shots were fired at an electricity sub-station at Ballymoghan but there were no reports approached a bridge at Contygora, Killeen.

The blast blew a crater 20 feet wide and five feet deep. of damage.

Unable to stop the first Saracen ploughed into the crater, slightly injuring four occupants. The second ve- Thursday 30th August 1973 hicle, also crewed by men of the First Light Infantry, Army expert dies in bomb raid An Army bomb disposal expert was killed in what is was able to stop in time. believed to have been an attempt to defuse a bomb at the Post Office at the little border village of Wednesday 29th August 1973 Tullyhomman in Fermanagh. The fatal blast came Rocket launcher discovered A rocket launcher and various other equipment were after three bombs had been planted during a thirtyfound during a search of a disused Maguire match fac- minute reign of terror in which a part-time UDR man took on the raider single-handed.

People were held at gunpoint as the bombers planted bombs in the local garage, Customs post and Post

LEFT - All that is left of the 90ft high Walker Monument on Derry’s city walls after it was destroyed by an IRA bomb.

BELOW - The scene of devastation at Ballycastly where many church goers were seriously injured after the left morning Mass.

FACING PAGE - Artist Ken Howard makes sketches of British troops for the Imperial War Museum

Office, which they also robbed. Two of the bombs went off a short time later wrecking the Customs post and the garage. A 13 year-old Eire boy was hit in the arm during a gunfight.

It was a couple of hours later that the bomb expert died in the Post Office explosion. He had entered the building several times beforehand.

Thursday 30th August 1973 Killing foiled A part-time soldier took on raiders at his home at Russell Park and, it is believed, shot and wounded one of them.

Two youths arrived at a house claiming that they were post office engineers calling to repair the telephone. The woman who had answered the door to them immediately became suspicious, as there was not a telephone in the house. As she tried to close the door, one of the youths pulled out a gun.

At this stage the UDR man rushed from the house and grappled with the raider, who ran off with his accomplice. As they drove off in a van he opened fire.

A short time later the van was found abandoned not far away. It had bullet holes and the seats were badly bloodstained.

Thursday 30th August 1973 Two hurt by car bomb blast at Bessbrook pub Two people were hurt when a Protestant owned pub in Co. Armagh was damaged by a car bomb.

The bomb was left outside the Pit Inn, Millvale Road, Bessbrook, and exploded about closing time. Police say only a six minutes warning was given to them by an anonymous caller and that two people were slightly hurt by flying glass. The Army estimated the bomb at about 20lb.

Thursday 30th August 1973 Fire extinguisher injures soldier Half a dozen shots were fired at an Army patrol in Craigavon, where one bullet entered the Land Rover hitting a fire extinguisher, which exploded injuring a soldier.

Thursday 30th August 1973 Woman injured In one of a number of shooting incidents in Belfast a 50 year-old woman was treated for a gunshot wound after a youth fired a pistol into a pub.

The middle-aged woman was taken to the Royal Victoria by a bomb. Two women working in a nearby factory Hospital with a bullet graze on the foot after the shots were taken to hospital and treated for shock, but no one were fired into a pub on the Springfield Road. was hurt. The line was closed for some hours while men worked to clear rubble from the track. It was the third attack on railway lines in less than 24 hours.

Friday 31st August 1973 Last night two bombs damaged tracks at Greencastle, Signal box blast near Belfast and at Holywood on the Bangor line.

Train services were halted on the Belfast to Dublin railway line when a signal box at Dunmurry was wrecked Friday 31st August 1973 Bomb is defused after four hours – expert saves pub A 100lb car bomb left outside a Glengormley public house was defused after an Army bomb expert had worked at it for several hours. The car bomb inside a Ford Cortina, with false number plates, was left outside the Crown and Shamrock bar without warning.

LEFT - traffic congestion in Victoria Street following an IRA bomb attack (BELOW) FACING PAGE - The scene at the Post Office in Pettigo where an army bomb disposal expert was killed trying to defuse it

Friday 31st August 1973 Pipe bomb explodes in coat In Omagh a pipe bomb exploded in a coat left on a seat in a hotel bar. Only minor damage was caused at the Silverbirch Hotel on the Gortin Road.

An Army spokesman said the pipe bomb was in the pocket of a coat left on a seat at the bar. No one was hurt.

Friday 31st August 1973 Explosives find In Derry, troops found home made explosives behind a false wall in an unoccupied house in the Creggan Estate after troops became suspicious of a strong smell nearby.

Fearing booby-traps the soldiers carried out a controlled explosion to enter the house. Inside, behind a newly plastered wall, they found 50-100lbs of home-made explosives. Because of their unstable condition the explosives were set on fire.

"It was lucky for the people next door that we found this because it was most definitely not in a stable condition," an Army spokesman said.

Friday 31st August 1973 Cookstown bomb attack A 20lb duffle bag bomb left in an entry in William Street, Cookstown, caused superficial damage to surrounding buildings when it exploded. There were no casualties.

Friday 31st August 1973 Women protest outside Crumlin Road prison About 20 women protested outside Crumlin Road Prison, protesting against the conditions of Loyalist prisoners inside the jail and about 40 women protested at Shankill Road-Agnes Street in a similar protest. There were no incidents and both groups later dispersed peacefully.

An RUC man is struck by a petrol bomb