List of attacks on the Ulster Defence Regiment

This page is a record of notable attacks by paramilitary organisations on Ulster Defence Regiment personnel during the Troubles resulting in two or more fatalities, or notable firsts:

YouTube Encyclopedic

1/5
Views:
668
1 436
635
502
751

Transcription

1971

9 August - a patrol from 6 UDR's Strabane company came under fire from the Provisional IRA using a Thompson sub-machine gun at a checkpoint near Clady Bridge border crossing, County Tyrone. Private Winston Donnell was killed instantly. He was the first UDR soldier to be killed in action.^[1]
8 December - the first Catholic UDR soldier to die, Private Sean Russell, is shot dead in his home in New Barnsley, Belfast by the IRA.^[2]

1972

4 March - Captain Marcus McCausland, formerly of D Coy 5 UDR is abducted and killed by the Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA). He was the first UDR officer to be killed.^[3]
21 September - a member of C Coy, 4 UDR and his wife are shot dead by the Provisional IRA as they watched TV at home near Derrylin.^[4]

1974

10 April - Major George Saunderson (Brevet Lt Col), until the previous year second-in-command of 4 UDR, was killed in the kitchen of the school in Derrylin where he worked by gunmen who then crashed through a Garda checkpoint to escape into the Republic of Ireland.
2 May - attack at the Deanery base of C Coy, 6 UDR in Clogher. Opening fire using mortars then continuing with small arms and rockets, the estimated 40-man IRA team ^[5] mounted a sustained attack lasting for 25 minutes against the small contingent in the base who reply with automatic rifle fire, supported by Ferret armoured personnel carriers from the 1 Royal Tank Regiment. During the attack, Private Eva Martin was hit by a rocket fragment and died shortly after. She was the first woman UDR soldier to be killed. Sean O'Callaghan was later convicted of murder after confessing his participation in the assault.^[5]
28 October - a bomb attack at the joint 3 UDR and regular army barracks at Ballykinlar destroys the Sandes soldiers canteen on the base, killing two members of the Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment.

1991

1 March - A mobile patrol from the 2nd Battalion was the subject of the first recorded use of the Mk12 horizontal mortar^[6]^[7] Two soldiers were killed as a result of the attack. The funeral of one of them, Private Paul Sutcliffe, an Englishman, was held in Barrowford, Lancashire - the only UDR funeral to be held outside Northern Ireland.^[7] The second casualty, Private Roger Love, from Portadown died after three days. His kidneys were donated to the NHS.^[7]
31 May - At 11:30 PM a driverless truck loaded with 2,000 lb (1,100 kg) of a new type of home made explosive was rolled down a hill at the rear of the barracks and crashed through the perimeter fence, coming to rest against a corner of the main building.^[8]^[9] Automatic fire was heard by witnesses just before the explosion.^[9] The blast left a deep crater^[8] and it could be heard over 30 miles away, as far as Dundalk.^[9] Three UDR soldiers – Paul Blakely (30), Robert Crozier (46), Sydney Hamilton (44) – were killed and ten were wounded.^[9] Four civilians were also wounded.^[9] The Provisional IRA claimed responsibility two days later.^[9]

1992

17 January - Two off-duty UDR soldiers, working in the rebuilt of a British Army barracks at Omagh were seriously wounded when a civilian van carrying them and 12 others back home was struck by an improvised explosive device at Teebane, a rural crossroads between Omagh and Cookstown in County Tyrone. Eight other workers, one of them a member of the Royal Irish Rangers, were killed in the blast.^[10]
17 June - In one of the last attacks on the regiment as an operational unit, a bomb in central Belfast wounded five UDR soldiers and two RUC constables.^[11]

Sources

A Testimony to Courage - the Regimental History of the Ulster Defence Regiment 1969 - 1992, Major John Furniss Potter, Pen & Sword Books Ltd, 2001, ISBN 0-85052-819-4
The Ulster Defence Regiment - An Instrument of Peace?, Chris Ryder, Methuen 1991, ISBN 0-413-64800-1

References

^ Sutton Index 1971
^ A Testimony to Courage - the Regimental History of the Ulster Defence Regiment 1969 - 1992, Major John Furniss Potter, Pen & Sword Books Ltd, 2001, ISBN 0-85052-819-4 (1971)
^ Sutton Index of Deaths - 1972
^ A Testimony to Courage - the Regimental History of the Ulster Defence Regiment 1969 - 1992, Major John Furniss Potter, Pen & Sword Books Ltd, 2001, ISBN 0-85052-819-4 (1972)
^ ^a ^b "First female UDR soldier killed by IRA. | Royal Irish - Virtual Military Gallery". www.royal-irish.com. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
^ McKittrick p565
^ ^a ^b ^c Potter p350
^ ^a ^b Oppenheimer, A.R. (2009). IRA: The Bombs and the Bullets. Dublin: Irish Academic Press. p. 123. ISBN 978-0-7165-2895-1.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Whitney, Craig. "I.R.A. Says It Planted Truck Bomb That Killed 3". The New York Times, 2 June 1991.
^ Potter, p. 357
^ Fortnight, Issues 302-312, p. 22

Provisional Irish Republican Army

General

Organisation

Actions

1970–1979	Battle of St Matthew's Falls Curfew 1970 Crossmaglen bombing Scottish soldiers' killings Red Lion bombing Balmoral showroom bombing Abercorn bombing Donegall Street bombing Battle at Springmartin Battle of Lenadoon Bloody Friday Claudy bombing Newry customs bombing Old Bailey bombing Honey Trap killings King's Cross & Euston bombings Coleraine bombings 1973 Westminster bombing M62 bombing Clogher attack Houses of Parliament bombing Tower of London bombing Guildford pub bombings Harrow School bombing Brooks's Club bombing Woolwich pub bombing British Airways bombing attempt Birmingham pub bombings London pillar box bombings Talbot Arms bombing Bristol bombing Telephone exchange bombings 1974 Oxford Street bombing Carlton Tower & Portman Hotel shootings Mountainview attack Bayardo Bar attack Forkhill attack Caterham Arms bombing Tullyvallen massacre London Hilton bombing Piccadilly bombing Trattoria Fiore bombing Scott's Oyster Bar bombing Walton's Restaurant bombing Drummuckavall ambush Balcombe Street siege Kingsmill massacre West Ham station attack Olympia bombing Store bar shooting Stag Inn attack Garryhinch ambush Jonesborough Gazelle downing La Mon restaurant bombing Crossmaglen ambush Warrenpoint ambush Brussels bombing Dungannon attack
1980–1989	Dunmurry train bombing Lough Foyle attacks Glasdrumman ambush 1981 Bessbrook attack Chelsea Barracks bombing Hyde Park & Regent's Park bombings Harrods bombing Royal Artillery Barracks bombing Brighton hotel bombing Ballygawley land mine attack Newry mortar attack Ballygawley attack Enniskillen mortar attack RUC Birches barracks attack Rheindahlen bombing Loughgall ambush Operation Flavius Corporals killings Lisburn bombing Aughanduff Lynx shootdown 1988 Netherlands attacks Glamorgan barracks bombing Inglis Barracks bombing Ballygawley bus bombing Jonesborough ambush Clive Barracks bombing Deal barracks bombing Mayobridge attack Derryard attack
1990–1991	Derrygorry Gazelle downing South Armagh sniper Downpatrick roadside bomb Operation Conservation 1990 Wembley bombing Carlton Club bombing London Stock Exchange bombing Honourable Artillery Company bombing Lichfield gun attack RFA Fort Victoria bombing Proxy bombings Downing Street mortar attack Paddington & Victoria station bombings Mullacreevie ambush Glenanne barracks bombing Coagh ambush Musgrave Park Hospital bombing Crumlin Road Prison bombing
1992–1997	Teebane bombing Clonoe ambush London Bridge bombing Staples Cnr bombing Baltic Exchange bombing Sussex Arms bombing Cloghoge attack Coalisland riots Forensic Science Laboratory bombing Stoke Newington Road bomb 1992 Manchester bombing Night of the Long Knives 1993 Harrods bombing Warrington bombings Cullaville occupation Camden bombing Bishopsgate bombing Finchley Road bombings Battle of Newry Road Shankill Road bombing 1993 Fivemiletown ambush Heathrow attacks Crossmaglen Lynx downing Drumcree conflict Docklands bombing Aldwych bus bombing 1996 Manchester bombing Hammersmith Bridge bombing Osnabrück mortar attack Thiepval barracks bombing Coalisland attack 1997 Northern Ireland riots