Ideology Irish Republicanism Area of operations Mainly London | Headquarters safe houses in London Part of the Troubles | |
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Active October 1974–December 1975 Strength No more than 4 at any one time | ||
This article is about a Provisional IRA unit called the Balcombe Street Gang (also known as the Balcombe Street Four or the Balcombe Street Unit) who carried out a bombing campaign in England in particular London and the immediate areas surrounding London. Between October 1974 and December 1975 they carried out approximately 40 bomb and gun attacks, sometimes attacking the same target twice. They were caught at the Balcombe St siege thus ending their campaign.
Contents
Active Members
The six members of the Balcombe Street Gang's Active Service Unit (ASU) were – Hugh Doherty, Joseph O'Connell, Eddie Buttler and Harry Duggan – these four Volunteers were captured at the Balcombe St siege. Liam Quinn (a US-born Volunteer) and Brendan O'Dowd were also active Volunteers within the unit.
O'Connell and fellow ASU member Brendan Dowd flew from Shannon Airport, County Clare to Heathrow in early August 1974, under the guise of looking for work in London. They rented a flat in Fulham (west London) for both living quarters and the storage of nitroglycerine and other equipment.
O'Connell, as the bomb-maker of the group, was responsible for making the first devices the ASU let off in their campaign, in the Guildford pub bombings on 5 October 1974. This was the beginning of a wide-ranging and peripatetic number of attacks O'Connell was involved in, ranging from the kidnapping of a bus inspector and the bombing of the Kings Arms, Woolwich, to throwing hand bombs into Sir Edward Heath's club and the Harrow School and the assassination of an insurance broker.
Background
The Balcombe Street Unit was the most successful, ruthless and notorious IRA unit ever to carry out a bombing campaign in England, in particular London and even more particular London's "West End" where they hit many pubs, clubs and restaurants. They attacked several of their targets twice. Within the space of five days they had planted their first five devices.
In 1973, the IRA extended its bombing campaign to mainland Britain, attacking military and symbolically important targets to both increase pressure on the British government, via popular British opinion, to concede to their demand to withdraw from Northern Ireland and to maintain morale for IRA supporters & Volunteers as well. The bombing campaign by the IRA in England began on 8 March 1973 when an 11-person Active Service Unit that included now well known people like the Price Sisters and Gerry Kelly bombed the Old Bailey courthouse causing devastation to central London. Despite warnings, one person died of a heart-attack and about 200 were injured some seriously. The IRA always believed that one bomb in England was worth about 30 in Belfast and the huge media response and discussion it had created by the Old Bailey bombing was massive and seemed to prove the IRA's theory.
The 11-member IRA ASU was caught that day trying to leave England by plane to Ireland. Although the IRA achieved its objective, it was naive to try and leave the same day as the bombing, as British security forces would be all over escape routes from England to Ireland. The IRA GHQ realized this mistake and decided instead of sending over a large 10 -person active service unit for just one day of large spectacular bombing, they would use smaller sleeper-cells of between 3–4 Volunteers to carry out several bombings over a number of months. IRA attacks in England for the rest of 1973 started to become more professional and sophisticated, the next IRA attack on London happened on 18 August 1973 when two IRA firebombs exploded at Harrods Department store in London, causing some damage but no injuries or deaths. This was the start of a prolonged bombing campaign in England as just four days later an IRA book bomb exploded at the Conservative Party Central Office in London, injuring several people but none seriously.
By 1974, mainland Britain saw an average of one attack—successful or otherwise—every three days. These attacks included five explosions which had occurred in Birmingham on 14 July which were possibly the first main attacks on the English Mid-Lands. It is believed veteran hardline Republican Brian Keenan was in charge of the IRA bombing campaign in England from 1974–1976. After the Balcombe Street unit was arrested in 1975 Keenan visited the unit in Crouch Hill, London, to give it further instructions. In follow-up raids after the siege, police discovered crossword puzzles in his handwriting and his fingerprints on a list of bomb parts. A warrant was issued for his arrest. He was arrested by the RUC at Banbridge in March 1979 on charges relating to the London campaign in the mid-1970s.
August
Sometime in August 1974 the first members of the Balcombe Street Provisional IRA active service unit (ASU) moved into its first safe house, a London home in Fulham, in Waldemar Avenue SW6. O'Dowd & O'Connell start drawing up plans with a list of targets for the campaign to start in Autunm.
October
November
December
January
This was the end of "phaze one" of the campaign.
February
August
September
October
November
December
Type of Attacks
Most of the attacks carried out by the unit where various arrays of bombings, they were also involved in several shooting incidents.
The gang used several different methods to deliver and explode their bombs. The units most favorite method was using throw bombs. The unit made and used a series of these grenade-like devices. These were small devices with around 2–5 pounds (0.91–2.27 kg) of gelignite in them with a short fuse attached that was lit and then thrown at its target by one Volunteer while another Volunteer would keep lookout for anybody passing by. This method was used in the Woolwich pub bombing of November 1974 and the Waltons bombing of November 1975.
Another common method was making either a time bomb or an incendiary device with a timer on it which would then be planted inside a pub, club, hotel etc. This method was used in the Guildford pub bombings of October 1974 and the Hilton bombing of September 1975. They also detonated a car bomb at Selfridge's department store on Oxford Street in December 1974. On one occasion they placed a booby-trap bomb under a car in an assassination attempt on a Conservative MP but the bomb killed a different person. They also placed letter bombs into post boxes. During these attacks they also placed a hidden second bomb with a timer nearby to try and kill or injure security services reacting to the initial bombing.
On several occasions they fired shots from rifles and machine guns into hotels and restaurants, as in the attacks on the Carlton Tower Hotel and the Portman Hotel in January 1975. The gang also shot-dead several people, the most famous of whom was Guinness Book of Records founder Ross McWhirter in November 1975.
19 people were killed from the ASU's campaign: 16 from bombings and three from gun attacks. Six of the dead were British military personnel, one was a London police officer, one was a member of the bomb squad and 11 were civilians.