Good read. There's a fascinating video of Vincent Kelly, Paddy's father, meeting with the son of a British soldier who was killed. It isn't at all amicable. You've probably seen it. John Crawley in his book The Yank provides some interesting commentary on Jim Lynagh. It's well-known he was a very effective operator and Volunteer. But Crawley's comments are still interesting. He says that Lynagh would have made an excellent special forces officer, which Crawley would know a lot about, being a former US Marine.
What's the source for the bit about the SAS taking Paddy Kelly's tooth? Abhorrent stuff. And yes, I also find it odd that Donaldson was present at that meeting, given Lynagh, Paddy Kelly etc presumably would have known Donaldson was associated with the Adams and McGuinness 'faction'.
Apologies if this comes across as terribly pedantic, but it's Gerard O'Callaghan that was found shot dead face down heading towards the church/car and not Declan Arthurs as stated on the photo (taken from tv footage). There's a photo of Declan (from Peter Taylors Provos documentary series) which shows him lead on his back in grass clutching the zippo lighter. Declan had cleared a gate or a wall just to the left of the barracks and was cut down by gunfire there.
Tony Gormley was hit by gunfire between the van and fence along with Seamus Donnelly and both died there together.
Declan and Gerard had been on the digger and were killed slightly further away than the rest of the Volunteers, who were all killed in and around the Toyota van.
Ive seen it stated more than once that Seamus made it over the fence and onto the football pitch. This isnt true. No volunteer was getting over that fence. He fell between the fence and the van.
The statements the SAS soldiers gave in relation to the ambush are full of contradictions and holes. They couldnt even get their stories lined up with oneanother as to whether Patrick Kelly was lying on the floor before the bomb went off or not. He was, as there was a piece of rubble on his G3 rifle. The SAS also took a tooth from Patrick as a macabre souvenir, as per their twisted and perverse practice of taking something from the leader of an opposing force.
In recent times a story has appeared which seems to confirm they (the SAS) had leading members of the unit under heavy surveillance for weeks, if not months, before the ambush took place in Loughgall. When the Hiace van was hijacked from the snooker hall premises, the state were already aware of this despite it not being reported to the police, so one can only assume they had them under surveillance the whole time. Which of course feeds more & more into that an arrest operation was never once considered or contemplated.
When Jim, Padraig & others met in January 1987 to discuss breaking away from the Provisionals to form their own independent fighting unit, it was Denis Donaldson that was at that meeting (why, i have absolutely zero idea). Donaldson is the person Ed Moloney alludes to in his Secret History book.
Your writeup was absolutey brilliant by the way! Please dont think i was being overly critical and i hope i didnt come across as a "know it all". It's just simply bits ive pieced together over the years myself.
I recently learnt that Collete O'Neil had been on the ETB command staff for over 10 years at by the time she was abducted and questioned by the PIRA in relation to her role as the Loughgall informer. This again points to a deep penetration of the inner workings of the PIRA, higher up than volunteer level. Jim Lynagh used to work with a female intelligence officer for the ETB based in the north, but i dont think it was Collette.
Seeing as very little informing went on against the units in South Armagh, how were the security services able to break apart and wreck the ETB? There had to be an informer(s)/British agent(s) highly placed to be able to recieve information about forthcoming operations and divulge that information to the British security services.....someone on Northern Command?
The Nutting Squad wouldve only had information afterwards wouldnt they, following a botched and compromised operation. Ive never really believed any kind of theory that it was Scap or John Joe Magee informed about the Loughgall attack to the British ahead of time.
The adjutant general Patrick O'Callaghan was the PIRA volunteer which lead to investigation into the compromised Loughgall attack.
Good read. There's a fascinating video of Vincent Kelly, Paddy's father, meeting with the son of a British soldier who was killed. It isn't at all amicable. You've probably seen it. John Crawley in his book The Yank provides some interesting commentary on Jim Lynagh. It's well-known he was a very effective operator and Volunteer. But Crawley's comments are still interesting. He says that Lynagh would have made an excellent special forces officer, which Crawley would know a lot about, being a former US Marine.
What's the source for the bit about the SAS taking Paddy Kelly's tooth? Abhorrent stuff. And yes, I also find it odd that Donaldson was present at that meeting, given Lynagh, Paddy Kelly etc presumably would have known Donaldson was associated with the Adams and McGuinness 'faction'.
I think the source about the SAS taking vol Patrick Kellys tooth comes from the Loughgall Truth and Justice campaign.
They still have a functioning website aswell as social media pages. Well worth a visit.
There's still a staggering amount of intelligence documents relating to Operation Judy. We're talking in the millions here apparently.
Yes. I have never heard that.
Apologies if this comes across as terribly pedantic, but it's Gerard O'Callaghan that was found shot dead face down heading towards the church/car and not Declan Arthurs as stated on the photo (taken from tv footage). There's a photo of Declan (from Peter Taylors Provos documentary series) which shows him lead on his back in grass clutching the zippo lighter. Declan had cleared a gate or a wall just to the left of the barracks and was cut down by gunfire there.
Tony Gormley was hit by gunfire between the van and fence along with Seamus Donnelly and both died there together.
Declan and Gerard had been on the digger and were killed slightly further away than the rest of the Volunteers, who were all killed in and around the Toyota van.
Ive seen it stated more than once that Seamus made it over the fence and onto the football pitch. This isnt true. No volunteer was getting over that fence. He fell between the fence and the van.
The statements the SAS soldiers gave in relation to the ambush are full of contradictions and holes. They couldnt even get their stories lined up with oneanother as to whether Patrick Kelly was lying on the floor before the bomb went off or not. He was, as there was a piece of rubble on his G3 rifle. The SAS also took a tooth from Patrick as a macabre souvenir, as per their twisted and perverse practice of taking something from the leader of an opposing force.
In recent times a story has appeared which seems to confirm they (the SAS) had leading members of the unit under heavy surveillance for weeks, if not months, before the ambush took place in Loughgall. When the Hiace van was hijacked from the snooker hall premises, the state were already aware of this despite it not being reported to the police, so one can only assume they had them under surveillance the whole time. Which of course feeds more & more into that an arrest operation was never once considered or contemplated.
When Jim, Padraig & others met in January 1987 to discuss breaking away from the Provisionals to form their own independent fighting unit, it was Denis Donaldson that was at that meeting (why, i have absolutely zero idea). Donaldson is the person Ed Moloney alludes to in his Secret History book.
Thank you for this, it's much appreciated and welcomed. I will review this properly, in due course.
Your writeup was absolutey brilliant by the way! Please dont think i was being overly critical and i hope i didnt come across as a "know it all". It's just simply bits ive pieced together over the years myself.
I recently learnt that Collete O'Neil had been on the ETB command staff for over 10 years at by the time she was abducted and questioned by the PIRA in relation to her role as the Loughgall informer. This again points to a deep penetration of the inner workings of the PIRA, higher up than volunteer level. Jim Lynagh used to work with a female intelligence officer for the ETB based in the north, but i dont think it was Collette.
Seeing as very little informing went on against the units in South Armagh, how were the security services able to break apart and wreck the ETB? There had to be an informer(s)/British agent(s) highly placed to be able to recieve information about forthcoming operations and divulge that information to the British security services.....someone on Northern Command?
The Nutting Squad wouldve only had information afterwards wouldnt they, following a botched and compromised operation. Ive never really believed any kind of theory that it was Scap or John Joe Magee informed about the Loughgall attack to the British ahead of time.
The adjutant general Patrick O'Callaghan was the PIRA volunteer which lead to investigation into the compromised Loughgall attack.
Patrick O'Callaghan