Attack on Derryard checkpoint

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict = Attack on Derryard PVC
partof= The Troubles


caption=
date=13 December 1989
place= Rosslea, County Fermanagh
territory=
result= British checkpoint complex severely damaged; eventually closed by 1991
combatant1=flagicon|IrelandProvisional Irish Republican Army
combatant2=flagicon|UKBritish Army
(King's Own Scottish Borders)
commander1= Michael Ryan
commander2= "Unknown"
strength1= 11 in attacking unit plus 9 providing tactical support and back-up
strength2= Approx 6 in the checkpoint plus an 8 man patrol nearby.
1 Helicopter
strength3=
casualties1= None
casualties2= 2 dead
1 wounded
casualties3=
notes=The Attack on Derryard checkpoint was a large guerrilla assault carried out on 13 December 1989 by a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) unit against a British Army permanent vehicle checkpoint near the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland at Derryard, near Rosslea, County Fermanagh. The action left two British Army soldiers dead and one seriously wounded.

Planning

According to journalist Ed Moloney, the IRA Army Council, suspecting a large degree of penetration by informers at the grassroots level of the organisation, decided to form an experimental flying column instead of the usual Active Service Unit (ASU) in order to mount a large scale operation against a British Army Permanent Vehicle Checkpoint (PVC) along the border. The idea was to find an effective way to prevent any leak which could result in another fiasco like the Loughgall ambush in 1987.

The planning was in the charge of "Slab" Murphy, alleged leader of the South Armagh Brigade, and was to be conducted by East Tyrone Brigade member Michael "Pete" Ryan.

The unit would be composed of around 20 members, but the action properly was to be the responsibility of 11 men.Moloney, page 333]

The attack

The assault would involve the use of two 12.7 mm DShK machine guns, 11 AK-47s, different kinds of grenades and a flamethrower. To assure widespread destruction, the column eventually decided to detonate a van-bomb after the initial surprise assault. The chosen target, a vehicle checkpoint at Derryard, near Rosslea, was manned by soldiers of the King's Own Scottish Borderers regiment. After launching a number of grenades (either RPGs or horizontal mortar rounds), the IRA men managed to break into the compound from a lorry, supported by automatic fire and the flamethrower’s stream of fire. In the process they killed two soldiers, Private James Houston and Lance Corporal Michael Patterson. Another serviceman was severely wounded and later airlifted for treatment. The IRA unit left a van loaded with 400-lb (182 kg) of Semtex, which failed to explode. The attack was finally repulsed by a "Borderers" section patrolling nearby, with the support of a "Wessex" helicopter. The IRA column, at risk of being surrounded, then fled in the truck, possibly toward the border. [cite web | title = Tribute Paid To Soldiers Killed In IRA Attack | author = Anne Palmer | url = http://web.archive.org/web/20041225202231/http://www.newsletter.co.uk/story/17138 | publisher = "The News Letter" | date = 14 December, 2004 | accessdate = 2007-03-30]

Aftermath

There was outrage in Parliamentary and Unionist circles. A supposedly well-defended army border post had been overrun by the IRA and two soldiers killed. On the other hand, there was also some disappointment among Republicans. Indeed, despite the positive propaganda effect, the quick and strong reaction from the British Army troops convinced some top level members that the Army council was infiltrated by a mole. [Moloney, page 334]

Two British soldiers, Corporal Robert Duncan and Lance Corporal Ian Harvey both received the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM). The checkpoint was finally dismantled in 1991. [ [http://www.emigrant.ie/article.asp?iCategoryID=200&iArticleID=53791#prof "The Irish Immigrant", March 1991 issue] :
*Quote: "Northern Secretary Peter Brooke announced that two permanent cross-border checkpoints in Co.Fermanagh (Boa Island and Derryard) are to be dismantled. This is seen partly as a result of recent "proxy" attacks on such posts, but Mr Brooke made the apparently valid point that increased mobile patrols and random checkpoints are more effective."]

Notes

References

*Moloney, Ed: "A secret story of the IRA". W.W. Norton & co. (2003).
*"The News Letter" newspaper, 12/14/2004 edition.