Glasdrumman ambush

Glasdrumman ambush
	Part of the Troubles
Date	17 July 1981
Location	Glasdrumman, County Armagh54°3′26.76″N 6°31′37.84″W / 54.0574333°N 6.5271778°W
Result	IRA victory
Belligerents
Provisional IRA	United Kingdom; British Army;
Commanders and leaders
Unknown	Lance Corporal Gavin Dean †
Strength
Up to 7 IRA members	18 soldiers
Casualties and losses
None	1 killed; 1 wounded
	class=notpageimage\| Location within Northern Ireland

The Glasdrumman ambush was an attack by the

scrapyard southwest of Crossmaglen was itself ambushed, resulting in the death of one British soldier and the IRA retaining the ability to set up checkpoints in South Armagh.^[1]

Background

The crisis triggered by the

Major General Richard Trant in 1977.^[3]

On 6 May 1981, a day after the death of hunger-striker Bobby Sands, one IRA member from a three-man unit was arrested while trying to set up a roadblock east of the main Belfast-Dublin road by 12 members of the Royal Green Jackets, who had been divided into three teams. A second volunteer crossed the border, only to be arrested by the Irish Army. The third IRA man escaped, apparently injured. A total of 689 rounds had been fired by the soldiers.^[4]

Ambush

After this initial success, the British Army continued these tactics. On 16 July, another operation was carried out by 18 Royal Green Jackets soldiers. That night, four concealed positions – Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta – were inserted into the Glassdrumman area, southwest of

Lance Corporal Gavin Dean, was killed instantly and one of his men, Rifleman John Moore, was seriously wounded. Moore was later awarded the Military Medal. The IRA members fired their weapons from across the border, 160 yards (150 m) away.^[5]

Aftermath

The British Army's follow up investigation concluded that Dean's team had been seen on the first day, allowing the IRA to carry out detailed reconnaissance of the area and to select a firing position for their ambush.[6]

British army commanders concluded that "it was not worth risking the lives of soldiers to prevent an IRA roadblock being set up."^[1] The incident also exposed the difficulties of concealing operations from local civilians in South Armagh, a region of Northern Ireland heavily sympathetic to the IRA.^[7] Several years later, the IRA in South Armagh repeated its success against undercover British observation posts in the course of Operation Conservation in 1990.^[8]

References

^ ^a ^b "After Dean was killed, some Army commanders concluded that it was not worth risking the lives of soldiers to prevent an IRA roadblock being set up." Harnden, page 172
^ English, pp. 207–208
^ Harnden, page 169
^ Harnden, pp. 169-170
^ Harnden, pp. 170-171
^ Harnden, pp. 124
^ "The small, tight-knit communities in South Armagh meant it was almost impossible for undercover troops to remain unseen or pass themselves off as locals." Harnden, page 172
^ Harnden, pp. 394-395

External links

Youtube - IRA South Armagh brigade Glasdrumman ambush, in middle of Hunger Strike, 17 July 1981

[irakaforro-1] "After Dean was killed, some Army commanders concluded that it was not worth risking the lives of soldiers to prevent an IRA roadblock being set up." Harnden, page 172

[2] English, pp. 207–208

[3] Harnden, page 169

[4] Harnden, pp. 169-170

[5] Harnden, pp. 170-171

[6] Harnden, pp. 124

[7] "The small, tight-knit communities in South Armagh meant it was almost impossible for undercover troops to remain unseen or pass themselves off as locals." Harnden, page 172

[8] Harnden, pp. 394-395

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