As one of the most influential artists in the Hip-Hop genre of music, rapper Eminem was born in October 1972. If you’ve watched the movie 8-Mile, which is seen as a watered-down version of Eminem’s life in Detroit, you see that a lot of recognition for your rapping skills in those early days was garnered by competing in ‘Rap Battles’. It’s strange how the word battle can be used in different contexts; on one hand, rappers battle it out for their love of the music, while across the pond in Northern Ireland, we had battles not driven by love, but rather hatred for the opposing side of the conflict.
There were some quite interesting political developments in October 1972. It all began with Irish Prime Minister Jack Lynch’s Government closing the Sinn Fein office in Dublin. That was before a trial for an armed robbery took a strange turn.
On the 12th of October, there was an armed robbery at the Allied Irish Bank on Grafton Street, Dublin. The thieves stole £67,000 which, at the time, was the largest such theft in Ireland. On the 19th of July 1973 two brothers, Kenneth and Keith Littlejohn were convicted of the robbery. At their trial, the men had claimed that they were working for the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). The robbery and subsequent events became known as the Littlejohn affair. We’ll cover this in more detail once we get to July 1973. Stay tuned!
As if the Littlejohn affair wasn’t enough of a curve ball for October, we also saw a more ambitious approach from paramilitaries who decided that robbing UDR and RUC stations would be a good idea.
On the 14th of October, Loyalist paramilitaries carried out a raid on the Headquarters of the Ulster Defence Regiment at Lislea Drive in Belfast and stole 14 British Army issue self-loading rifles and a quantity of ammunition. The camp guard claimed that they were 'overpowered' by the Loyalists.
If you remember the Ulster Vanguard that I talked about back in February 1972, well, they were back in the headlines in October with a shocking declaration from their leader William Craig. He spoke at a meeting of right-wing Members of Parliament (MPs) at Westminster on the 19th of October. He said that he could mobilise 80,000 men to oppose the British government, stating;
"We are prepared to come out and shoot and kill. I am prepared to come out and shoot and kill. ... I am prepared to kill, and those behind me will have my full support."
Loyalists carried out another raid on the 23rd of October on an Ulster Defence Regiment/Territorial Army base, King's Park camp, in Lurgan, County Armagh, and stole 85 British Army issue self-loading rifles and 21 Sterling sub-machine Guns. As with the first raid, the camp guard claimed that they were 'overpowered' by the Loyalists. Within a few hours of the raid, 63 SLRs and 8 SMGs were recovered close to an abandoned Land Rover vehicle.
As if two raids weren’t quite enough, they struck again on the 30th of October, raiding a Royal Ulster Constabulary station in Claudy, County Derry, and stole 4 British Army issue Sterling sub-machine Guns that had been issued to Ulster Defence Regiment soldiers. An interesting development in these raids was that on the 21st of July 1973, one of the Sterling SMGs stolen on the 30th was recovered in the possession of Loyalist paramilitaries in Belfast. A confidential report later indicated that this weapon alone had been used in at least 12 Loyalist attacks which resulted in one civilian killing and seven attempted killings.
As was now the norm in Northern Ireland in 1972, we had a series of shootings and stabbings, as well as people dying by being run over.
02/10/72 - Undercover British soldier Edward Stuart, 20, was shot dead by the IRA while driving a laundry van, in Juniper Park, Twinbrook, Belfast.
02/10/72 - The IRA kidnapped three alleged informers (Edward Bonner (50), Kevin McKee (17) and Seamus Wright (25)), who were later killed and buried. Bonner was shot while inside Grosvenor Homing Pigeon's Club, Iveagh Street, Falls, Belfast. Wright was abducted from his home, Bombay Street, Falls, Belfast. His remains were eventually found, on general information supplied by the IRA, buried in farmland, formerly bogland, Coghalstown, near Navan, County Meath, on 25 June 2015. McKee was abducted somewhere in Belfast. His remains were eventually found, on general information supplied by the IRA, buried in farmland, formerly bogland, Coghalstown, near Navan, County Meath, on 25 June 2015.
04/10/72 - The UDA shot dead James McCartan, 21, a Catholic civilian. His body was found on waste ground, beside Connswater River, off Mersey Street, Belfast.
06/10/72 - IRA volunteer Daniel McAreavey (21), was killed during an IRA attack on a British Army base, Osman Street, Lower Falls, Belfast.
10/10/72 - Off-duty UDR soldier John Ruddy (50), was shot dead by the IRA outside his home, in Dromalane Park, Newry, County Down.
13/10/72 - Off-duty RUC officer Robert Nicholl (22), was shot dead by the British army while driving his car along Castle Street in Belfast.
14/10/72 - Catholic man Terence Maguire (23), was found shot dead in an alley off Clandeboye Street, Belfast. It is believed the UDA was responsible.
14/10/72 - Two Catholic civilians (Leo John Duffy (45) and Thomas Marron (59), were killed in a gun attack on a Catholic-owned shop, Northern Wine Company, Tate's Avenue, off Lisburn Road, Belfast. It is believed the UDA was responsible.
16/10/72 - A 15-year-old Protestant youth member of the Ulster Defence Association, and a 26-year-old UDA member were killed when run over by British Army vehicles during riots in east Belfast. The UDA said that following the incidents the British Army and British government are "now our enemies".
16/10/72 - Two members of the Offical IRA were shot dead by the British Army. Patrick Mullan (34) and Hugh Herron (38), were shot while travelling in a car at a British Army Vehicle Check Point, outside St Patrick's Hall, Coagh, County Tyrone.
17/10/72 - In response to the deaths of the previous day, the UDA opened fire on the British Army in some parts of Belfast, shooting an RUC officer (Gordon Harron, 32) on Shore Road, by Mount Vernon, Belfast. Harron died of his injuries on the 21st of October. A UDA volunteer was later convicted of the killing.
17/10/72 - The British Army shot dead a UDA volunteer, who was also an off-duty UDR soldier (John Todd, 23) during street disturbances, Wilton Street, Shankill, Belfast.
18/10/72 - British soldier Anthony David (27), died four weeks after being shot by an IRA sniper while on mobile patrol, Falls Road, Belfast.
22/10/72 - Off-duty UDR soldier John Bell (21), was shot dead by the IRA on his farm, Derrydoon, near Newtownbutler, County Fermanagh.
24/10/72 - Two Catholic men were found dead at a farm at Aughinahinch, near Newtownbbutler, County Fermanagh. They had been killed the previous evening. The incident was referred to as 'the pitchfork killings' and was initially thought to have been carried out by Loyalists. However, it was later discovered that a patrol of British soldiers had carried out the killings, and the actual weapon was believed to be a knife. In 1981 two serving British soldiers, who had been members of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, were jailed for the killings. A third defendant, a former soldier, was jailed for manslaughter. A fourth defendant, a captain, was given a one-year suspended sentence for withholding information about the killings.
24/10/72 - British soldier Robert Mason (19), was shot by an IRA sniper while on British Army foot patrol, Naples Street, off Grosvenor Road, Belfast.
28/10/72 - British soldier Thomas McKay (29), was shot dead by an IRA sniper while on foot patrol on Bishop Street, Derry.
29/10/72 - The UVF killed a Catholic civilian (Michael Turner, 16) in a drive-by shooting on Cliftonville Road, Belfast.
31/10/72 - British soldier Richard Sinclair (19), was shot dead by an IRA sniper while on foot patrol, Antrim Road, New Lodge, Belfast.
31/10/72 - The "Red Hand Commandos" shot dead a Catholic civilian (James Kerr, 17) at his garage workplace on Lisburn Road, Belfast.
Twenty shooting incidents in the same month in any part of the world during a conflict would be insane, but that’s not where the violence stopped. There were also eleven bombings in October 1972, causing even more deaths and devastation.
04/10/72 - A Catholic civilian, Patrick Connolly (23), was killed when the UVF threw a grenade into his home on Deramore Drive, Portadown, County Armagh. His mother and brother were wounded. The grenade was of a type made in the United Kingdom "for use by the British Armed Forces" and the attack has been linked to the Glenanne gang.
05/10/72 - The UDA detonated a bomb at the Capitol Bar in Belfast, killing a Protestant civilian (John Magee, 54).
07/10/72 - The UVF exploded a car bomb at the Long Bar on Leeson Street, Belfast, which killed a Catholic civilian, Olive McConnell (23).
10/10/72 - Three IRA volunteers died (John Donaghy (19), Patrick Maguire (24) and Joseph McKinney (17)) when a bomb they were assembling exploded in a house, on Balkan Street, Lower Falls, Belfast.
13/10/72 - The UVF firebombed several public houses including the Ballyhackamore Inn, the Balmoral Inn and the Rosetta Bar.
16/10/72 - The UDA claimed responsibility for a bomb attack on a fertiliser factory at Carrigans in County Donegal. A UDA spokesman stated it was not the first attack carried out by the group in the Republic of Ireland. The spokesman declined to say whether the UDA was responsible for a bomb attack on Buncrana police station the previous week.
16/10/72 - A car bomb exploded in Clones, County Monaghan, seriously injuring one man and causing significant damage. The device detonated within minutes of a UDA bomb in Carrigans, County Donegal, and the group was believed to be responsible.
22/10/72 - Two barges were bombed and sunk by the IRA at Lough Neagh with a loss of £80,000.
24/10/72 - Two British soldiers were killed in separate IRA sniper and bomb attacks in Belfast and Armagh.
28/10/72-29/10/72 - A 12lb bomb was planted in Connolly Station, Amiens Street by Loyalists but defused by the Irish Army before it went off. They were also responsible for leaving firebombs in bedrooms in four Dublin hotels (Wynns, The Gresham, The Skylon and The Crofton).
31/10/72 - The UDA detonated a car bomb outside Benny's Bar in Sailortown, Belfast. The blast killed two Catholic children, Paula Strong (6) and Clare Hughes (4), who were celebrating Halloween outside the pub. Twelve other people were injured.
As always, thanks very much for reading this and I hope you enjoyed it enough to come back on Sunday to read the next instalment. Don’t forget to click on the share button below to send it to any of your friends who you think would also enjoy reading my work.
Some recommended reading based on research for this instalment of Tales of The Troubles.