morning /his/, I am doing another once-every-several-months dumping of photographs (and a webm or two, maybe) of belligerents from the troubles.ITT I will dump:>Irish RepublicansProvisional IRA mostly, but also INLA, OIRA, some other organisations>Ulster LoyalistsMostly UDA/UVF, but also Red Hand Commando or Ulster Resistancefeel free to enquire about any photos/groups, I will give info if I can.
Kicking things off with a photo of the Ulster Resistance in 1986, with Ian Paisley present.
A video of the PIRA in "Free Derry." Part of an old documentary called "Secret Army" I believe.
"Free Derry" refers to an area of the city of Derry (or Londonderry, if you're a pervert) which at various stages throughout the early years of the Troubles was locked down by Irish Nationalists and patrolled by either civilians or the IRA.
UDA (officially at the time "Ulster Freedom Fighters", the cover name they used to avoid getting the UDA banned) checkpoint on the Shankill, 1972.
PIRA rally in Andersontown, 1980.
Finally gathered a few decent photos of Cumann na mBan, the "women's IRA."
This one is quite rare; a meeting of Republicans (and IRA members) in Milltown Cemetary in Belfast, 1968; the IRA had not split at this point.Within a year they'd find themselves a the fateful 1969 IRA Convention where the Provisional IRA rejected the leadership's call for a shift to Marxist strategy and split away to form their own group.
Here's a snippet of Seán Seán Mac Stíofáin (picrel, 2nd from right), first Chief of Staff of the Provisional IRA. Many later Sinn Féin leaders disavowed him because he quite accurately predicted the ultimate fate of the IRA if left to the likes of Gerry Adams and Co; a lack of discipline and direction would eventually lead to sectarianism, which would lead to infighting, which would lead to infiltration and ruination.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdSrEgHsiT4
UVF, unsure of the year.
William Smith (left, I think) known also as "Plum" participating in Red Hand Commando close quarters combat training. He was named Plum after "Little Plum", an old native american character in the British comic "The Beano" on account of his rumoured native american ancestry.I've never found any other paramilitary in the Troubles do have done this; the RHC held these strange little martial arts demonstrations at their meetins regularly. Not a particularly large or impactful group, but probably one of the most interesting within Loyalism's many splinters.
Here's Plum (left) and Winkie Rea (Winston Churchill Rea, right), both wearing Red Hand Commando Gear.Plum died in 2016, Winkie died in 2013. At the time of Winkie's death, he was still on trial for the murder of 2 civilians (along with other RHC related charges). Plum, comparitively, was called a champion of peace-Sinn Féin attended his funeral.
Another rare one; a photo of an INLA gathering.>but OP, those are police in the background!This is in Dundalk, in the Repblic of Ireland. While the Irish Government and Guards did work hard to suppress Irish Republian Paramilitaries with the help of the UK and US governments, there were always sympathetic towns and neighbourhoods where stuff like this could happen without issue.What's interesting is that the INLA claim no descendance from the IRA; they were the first "new" Irish Republican militia since the creation of the IRA back in the 1920s, and claimed no loyalty or links to previous groups or governments.
Members of a San Francisco branch of Na Fianna Éireann, an Irish nationalist youth group. It was founded in 1909, but still exists today.
>>18286642Here are some lads in the fianna in Westpot, 1915. Posting this so it can be compared with the same organisation during the Troubles.
>>18286643Members of the London Fianna, in Hyde Park.
>>18286644Here's a member of the Fianna being greeted by Tom Maguire in 1985.>who?Maguire was a veteran of the Irish War of Independence; he was born in 1892, and was Commander of the IRA's South Mayo Brigade. He died in 1993.
>>18286645BARELY within the 25 year rule, but here are some Longford Fianna lads around 2000.
Alright, back to Loyalism. Here's the UVF.
Members of the UDA, 1973.I love this photo for the sheer variety of headgear.
UDA march in 1972, central Belfast.
The RHC have caught a housebreaker!
RHC in "Long Kesh", better known as HMP Maze; the "most escape proof prison in Europe."You can spot Winkie and Plum again in this pic.
More RHC martial arts carry on.
Another Free Derry post. PIRA fella.
>>18286632>Provisional IRA rejected the leadership's call for a shift to Marxist strategy QRD? thought they were all commies
Video of the PIRA in Ardoyne, 1972.>>18286663>QRD? thought they were all commiesThey were certainly all socialist at the very least.The main disagreements at the 1969 Convention were;>IRA futureLeadership wanted to unite a shitload of fringe Marxist groups under a big "Left-Bloc" umbrella to build a gigantic left wing super alliance. Nobody other than the IRA had any serious strength, but the hope was that the IRA would become one cog in a larger machine.>AbstentionismLeadership thought that participating in electoral politics in NI was essential for any change, opponents argued that the IRA didn't recognise the authority of NI's government on principle and that betraying that was pointless.>Lack of ActionMany believed the IRA's leadership had failed completely to respond to campaigns started years prior by Loyalist Paramilitaries+the arrival of the British Army. It was argued they were letting Irish people be killed/oppressed while the IRA bickered about whether Marxism was worth it or not.In the end, a group of influential people within the IRA split away to form a new "Provisional Army Council", which grew into the Provisional IRA. The more outwardly Marxist group became known as the "Official IRA."
From a series of pictures/interviews with the PIRA in 1979.
>>18286669>even the irish are making threadsBeen here from the start, anon. I dunno if you're an /int/ tourist or what but there are far more threads made by non-Irish people crying about Ireland than there are Irish threads.This thread is mostly a historical photodump, though.
Fianna parade in Derry, Easter 1983.
More Fianna. Dublin, 1984.
Brendan Hughes and Kevin Mallon were on active service at the time of this photo, where they posed for a propaganda pic. It's somewhere in County Tyrone, 1972.>Brendan Hughes?If you watched that show "Say Nothing" on Disney Channel, he's played by Anthony Burch. He was Officer Commander of the Belfast Brigade of the PIRA.>Kevin MallonFamously involved in the 1973 IRA escape from Mountjoy Prison in Dublin; a hijacked helicopter landed in the prison's exercise yard and extracted key IRA Commanders who had been imprisoned.
A believe a member of Cumann na mBan (right) and a PIRA volunteer on the left.
Another Cumann na mBan member.
Rose Dugdale is someone people often forget.Born in Devon, England, she grew up the daughter of a millionaire. Her family owned Yarty Farm, and Rose was educated at Miss Ironside's School for Girls in Kensington. She was every bit the millionaire Englishman's daughter...until she went to St Anne's College in Oxford, moved in with a socialist, then headed to Northern Ireland and joined the IRA.She was involved in multiple IRA attacks, in one of which she met her future husband-Eddie Gallagher. She was also famously involved in the IRA's theft of the famous painting, "Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid." She was imprisoned in 1974, and while in Limerick Prison she gave birth to her son-named Ruairí. She died in 2024, age 82.
KAT ATATVTOT
Another RHC photo, this time in Ards.
Gets posted often but whatever, OIRA "patrol."
Probably still my favourite photo from the era; Joe McCann, holding his M1 Carbine, crouched beneath his flag.This is the aftermath of his unit successfully repelling the British Army from his neighbourhood during the infamous Falls Curfew in 1970. McCann was among the best the OIRA had; in one famous story his unit captured several members of the UVF who had raided an IRA arms cache. The OIRA leadership wanted them executed, McCann instead released them as in his view they were simply working class lads like thim-just on the other side.
PIRA in the 1970s. Not all women joined Cumann na mBan, some simply joined the IRA.
One of the many odd improvised firearms used during the Troubles. This one from the UDA.
UDA Pirate Radio station. Can't remember which year.There were many Loyalist-run radio stations; Radio Free Nick on 244m MW was a famous one. It opened in 1972 and used a transmitter operated by the UDA; they could broadcast roughly 12 miles and did so for 12-16 hours a day. Similarly to Republican radios such as Armagh Resistance Radio or Radio Free Derry, the radio would broadcast messages to the area about Police/Army movements, needs for barricades, and so on.
