On 27th August 1979 an army convoy of three-ton
lorries and land Rovers from the 2nd Battalion the Parachute Regiment
(2 Para) drove into a well-planned IRA ambush.
The first explosion (IED) is thought to have been a device weighing half a ton which was concealed under hay on a flat bed lorry. The explosion killed six members of 2 Para travelling in a lorry at the rear of the convoy.
Warren point Searching the area
Immediately after the explosion other members of 2 Para cordoned off the area, called for reinforcements and soldiers from the Queens Own Highlanders flew to the scene in helicopters from their base at Bessbrook in county Armagh.
The dead and injured were
being air lifted from the scene when a second explosion killed a further ten soldiers
from 2 Para, a lance corporal from the Queens Own Highlanders and his
commanding officer.
After this explosion one eyewitness said they heard heavy
automatic fire from the other side of the
canal which forms the border and soldiers returned fire.
RUC Inspector Error McDowell said, “We were patrolling in South Armagh at the time and we got the call to come to Narrow Water… It was just complete devastation, bodies everywhere… The second device detonated as troops raced to those killed and injured by the first…”
One member of 2 Para who survived the attack, Tom Caughey,
later told the Irish Sun, “I was in the last wagon and I remember we just
came through the roundabout and onto the dual carriageway and it went up… I
remember it as a flash and a rumble, the sensation of flying… jettisoned from
the three-ton truck…. I found myself coming around and seeing my legs on fire,
not really taking it in. Sitting up and looking about… There was carnage
everywhere, I couldn’t see anybody actually moving… I kept looking at my legs which
were on fire, burning and suddenly a switch went off and I thought to myself,
your legs are burning…”
18-year-old Tom Caughey was being evacuated by helicopter when the second large IED exploded.
The eighteen soldiers killed at Warren Point
Roll of honour Warren
Point 27 AUGUST 1979
Andrews- Corporal Nicholas J, age 24 (2 Para) Married
Barnes -Private Gary I, age 18 (2 Para) Single
Beard- Warrant Officer Walter, age 31 (2 Para)
Blair- Lieutenant Colonel David, age 40 (Queen’s Own Highlanders)
Married with two children
Blair- Private Donald F, age 23 (2 Para)
Dunn- Private Anthony G, age 20 (2 Para) Single
England- Private Robert N, age 23 (2 Para) Married with one
child
Fursman- Major Peter, age 35 (2 Para)
Giles- Corporal John C, age 22 (2 Para) Married
Jones- Private Jeffrey A, age 18 (2 Para)
Jones, Corporal Leonard, age 26 (2 Para) Married with
18-month-old daughter
Jones- Private Robert D.V, age 18 (2 Para) Single
MacLeod- Lance Corporal Victor, age 24 (Queen’s Own Highlanders)
Rogers- Sergeant Ian A, age 31 (2 Para) Married
Vance – Private Thomas R, age 23 (2 Para)
Wood- Private Anthony G, age 19 (2 Para) Single
Woods- Private Michael, age 18 (2 Para) Single
Ireland- Lance Corporal Chris G, age 25 (2 Para) Married
with one child
(Unless otherwise stated all photographs are Public domain/common licence)
Hannie Schaft was born in Haarlem northern Holland on 16
September 1920.
After the German occupation of the Netherlands Hannie Schaft started providing stolen and forged identity papers to Jewish families to prevent them being deported to concentration camps. This first act of resistance by 20-year-old Shaft came to the attention of the Council of the Resistance which was a group closely linked to the Communist Party of the Netherlands and they decided to recruit her.
The leadership wanted her to become a courier but Schaft refused and said she wanted to fight the Germans.
Schaft with Sten Gun
Shortly after completing her
firearms and other training a member of the resistance pointed out a senior
Gestapo officer and told her to kill him.
Schaft walked behind the officer then put her pistol to his head and pulled the trigger but all she heard was a click. Unbeknown to Schaft the Gestapo officer was a member of the resistance, she had been given an unloaded pistol and this was a test to ensure she was capable of assassinating members of the occupying forces and collaborators.
The pistol of Hannie Schaft (Haarlems Vertzts Museum)
One of several assassinations took place on 15 March 1945 when Hannie and 16-year-old Truus Oversteegen whose sister was also with the resistance shot dead Ko Langendisk who was a paid German informer. Truus later said, after the assassination they both hid in a hotel and Hannie put on face powder because she wanted to die pretty.
Sisters (L) Freddie (R) Truus Oversteegen. Former members of the Resistance
Hannie Schaft had distinctive red hair and after being involved in acts of sabotage and several assassinations she was high on the German wanted list and was known as ‘the girl with the red hair’. Aware the Germans had her description and were looking for her Schaft dyed her hair black and continued her resistance work.
Apart from assassinations and
sabotage including her part in blowing up a power station near Haarlem she also
transported and distributed weapons.
On 25 March 1945 Schaft was
arrested at a routine German checkpoint in Haarlem but only after her
interrogators noticed the red roots of her hair did the Gestapo suspect she was
the woman on their wanted list. It has also been alleged another member of the
resistance identified her after they had been tortured.
Three weeks before the end of the
war Hannie Schaft was shot but the first bullet did not kill her. It has been widely
claimed although seriously injured Schaft said to her executioner, “I shoot
better than that”, after which she was killed by a second bullet to the
head.
On 27 November 1945 Hannie was reburied during a state funeral along with 421 other members of the Dutch resistance who had served with various organisations.
Stamp dated 1962 issued by the DDR (Communist East Germany)
During the Cold War East Germany
used Hannie Schaft in their propaganda and printed a postage stamp in her
memory and due to increasing tensions between the Soviet Union, the Warsaw Pact
and western Europe the history of the Communist
section of the Dutch resistance became politically unpopular. Only after the
fall of the Berlin Wall did the communist resisters who fought for the
liberation of the Netherlands once again
start to be recognised for their
sacrifices and bravery.
In March 2010 Andrée Peel died of pneumonia at a British nursing home at the age of 105 and was buried at All Saints Church in Long Ashton near Bristol.
A casual observer seeing the honour guard from the Royal
British Legion with their banners marching ahead of the funeral procession
would be aware she had connections with the British military but it is unusual
for the deceased to be honoured by two nations: her coffin was covered with
both the French and British flags.
Andée Virot was born on 3 February 1905 in Brest and when Germany occupied France in 1940, she was running a beauty salon in Brest and immediately started to resist the German occupation by distributing clandestine newspapers calling for patriots to resist the German forces.
After coming to the attention of the Gaullist Free French based in Dorset Square London, Andree was given command of the Breton clandestine circuit and used the field name ‘Rose’.
Her resistance activities quickly expanded and included gathering
intelligence on the German navy and their submarine pens, German troop
movements and the effects of allied bombing and her reports were sent to London
by wireless.
She also organised weapons, sabotage stores and agents from
the Special Operations Executive (SOE) as well as the Free French Section (RF) to
be dropped by parachute onto remote farmland
but she always said her greatest achievement was helping 102 allied
aircrews shot down over France to evade capture and return to England and later
said this was the contribution she was most proud off.
By May 1944 Andrée Virot was high on the Gestapo wanted list and after obtaining forged identity papers she left Brittany and travelled to Paris where she was less well known by the Gestapo and the Abwehr (German military intelligence).
On 9 June, three days after D-day she was arrested and sent to Buchenwald Concentration Camp and later transported to the equally notorious Ravensbrück camp in Germany. The day she was due to be executed by the SS the camp was liberated by American forces.
Andrée kept the infamous blue-and-white striped pyjama suit issued to her at Buchenwald.
After the war Andree ran a restaurant in Paris where she met an Englishman named John Peel who she later married, and the couple moved to Long Ashton near Bristol and in 1999 she published her memoirs, Miracles do Happen. After the death of her husband in 2003 Andrée moved into the care home where she later died peacefully in her sleep.
Her work with the resistance and the rescue of 102 British
and American aircrews was honoured by several decorations including the King’s
Commendation for Bravery presented to her by George VI, the US Medal of
Freedom, the French Croix de Guerre and the Legion of Honour which in 2004 was
upgraded to Chevalier of the Legion. She
also received a personal letter from Winston Churchill thanking her for saving
the lives of British aircrews.
Thank you for the encouraging messages
I continue to receive regarding the content of this website. I would like to take this opportunity to answer
a regular question regarding my academic activities with Narrative Strategies.
I am still a member of the Washington DC based
think tank and consultancy Narrative Strategies and continue to work with
subject matter experts from various disciplines researching and identifying new
developments in the field of information warfare which is being conducted by state and non-state players.
This is my personal blog and has
no connection with Narrative Strategies but further information regarding the ongoing research in this field of non-kinetic warfare
including the weaponization of information can be found by visiting the link
below.
Robert Nairac was born in British
Mauritius in 1948, not in Ireland as some journalists have stated, and his only
connection with Ireland before joining the army was during his time as a postgraduate student at
Trinity College Dublin where he studied Irish
history.
Nairac was not an SAS officer, as some journalists have also wrongly stated, he was a Captain in the Grenadier Guards and served at least three tours of duty in Northern Ireland with his regiment before volunteering to undertake selection and training for intelligence work.
Taken in Northern Ireland before joining intelligence
As the disappearance and murder of
Robert Nairac continues to be surrounded by myths, conspiracy theories and speculations
the following is based on what is generally regarded as facts.
Robert Nairac was an intelligence liaison officer based at Bessbrook Mills which like Forkhill and Crossmaglen were the most dangerous parts of Northern Ireland where roadside bombs were common and travelling in and out of the area had to be by helicopter. In these remote areas near the border with the Irish Republic strangers were not welcome and were viewed with suspicion.
Left- taken whilst working under cover
Whilst travelling alone in this hostile area and meeting contacts Robert Nairac was using the name Danny Mcalevey from the Ardoyne in Belfast which was also an IRA stronghold. According to several writers he was happy with his cover identity and was seen visiting various places in South Armagh and the surrounding area which journalists at the time called Bandit Country because of the bombs and snipers who sometimes operated from the safety of the Republic.
Bessbrook
On Saturday 17 May 1977, it is
thought Nairac planned to meet a contact at the Three Steps Inn at Drumintee
which was another dangerous area close to the Irish border and some writers
claim he had made several visits to this bar.
Robert Nairac was wearing a black
donkey jacket, a pullover, flared grey trousers and scuffed down suede shoes
and took with him his Browning 9mm pistol and two additional full magazines.
Although he also had an SLR and 80 rounds of ammunition he left this in the
armoury.
Whilst signing out of the base he
said he would only be going out for a few hours and would return by 23.30 hrs. He then drove out of Bessbrook
Mill in a red Triumph Toledo at 21.30 hrs.
His car had a radio concealed under the seat and using his call sign ’48 Oscar’ he told the operations room at Bessbrook he was travelling towards Drumintee.
The Three Steps
At 21.58 hrs he reached the pub
and told the operations room he was closing down radio contact.
Several eyewitnesses recall Nairac
drinking and speaking to customers but how his cover was blown may never be
known.
Several customers recall Nairac fighting in the carpark with five to seven men and was holding his own before eventually being overpowered, thrown into the back of a car and driven away at speed.
Taken prior to is abduction by the IRA
It is known Robert Nairac was
driven over the border and tortured for several hours but refused to divulge any
information and stuck to is cover story of being Danny Mcalevey from the
Ardoyne.
Later the IRA said he was a brave
man till the end and never spoke and was eventually shot in the head. Robert Parker in his book Death of A Hero, makes
the valid point that if Robert Nairac had talked all his contacts would have been
killed by the IRA and they owe their lives to his bravery.
According to a report by the Irish Times the Garda (Irish Police in the Republic) found blood, teeth and hair but could not find his body and after the Good Friday Agreement the IRA refused to tell the Garda where the remains of Captain Robert Nairac are buried.
Robert Nairac’s GC and GSM with Northern Ireland Clasp
Citation for the award George Cross
“The Queen has been
graciously pleased to approve the posthumous award of the George Cross to:
Captain Robert Laurence Nairac (493007), GRENADIER GUARDS.
Captain Nairac served for four tours of duty
in Northern Ireland totalling twenty-eight months. During the whole of this
time he made an outstanding personal contribution : his quick analytical brain,
resourcefulness, physical stamina and above all his courage and dedication
inspired admiration in everyone who knew him. On his fourth tour Captain Nairac
was a Liaison Officer at Headquarters 3 Infantry Brigade. His task was
connected with surveillance operations.
On the night of 14/15 May 1977 Captain Nairac
was abducted from a village in South Armagh by at least seven men. Despite his
fierce resistance he was overpowered and taken across the border into the
nearby Republic of Ireland where he was subjected to a succession of
exceptionally savage assaults in an attempt to extract information which would
have put other lives and future operations at serious risk. These efforts to
break Captain Nairac’s will failed entirely. Weakened as he was in
strength-though not in spirit-by the brutality, he yet made repeated and
spirited attempts to escape, but on each occasion was eventually overpowered by
the weight of the numbers against him.
After several hours in the hands of his
captors Captain Nairac was callously murdered by a gunman of the Provisional
Irish Republican Army who had been summoned to the scene. His assassin subsequently
said: “He never told us anything”. Captain Nairac’s exceptional
courage and acts of the greatest heroism in circumstances of extreme peril
showed devotion to duty and personal courage second to none.”
Further reading:
John Parker, Death of a Hero:
Captain Nairac GC and the undercover war in Northern Ireland
John Parker, Secret Hero: The
Life and mysterious death of Captain Robert Nairac
Albert Willingham was living in Drayton Hampshire before
enlisting into the Dorset Regiment.
After volunteering for Airborne Forces and successfully passing selection and parachute training he was posted to Headquarters Company 10th Battalion The Parachute Regiment and in September 1944 was killed in action during the Battle of Arnhem. It took 74 years for his bravery and self-sacrifice to come to public notice.
Private Albert willingham
According to Dilip Sarker (Arnhem 1944: The Human Tragedy of
the Bridge Too Far, published in 2018)
Whilst under enemy fire Willingham managed to drag an injured officer to a cellar which was full of wounded Airborne soldiers and around twenty Dutch civilians hiding from the fighting. After German forces started clearing surrounding buildings a stick grenade was thrown down the steps to the cellar and landed in front of a young mother, Mrs Bertje Voskuil and her 8-year-old son Henri. Without hesitation Private Albert Willingham showed a total disregard for his life as he stood between the grenade and the young family to shield them from the blast and was killed.
George Peachment was the son of a barber and lived with his parents in Bury Lancashire. He
wanted to join the army and fight in the
war but was aware the minimum age for overseas service was 19 so decided to lie about his age. According to figures
compiled by the British Legion George Peachment was one of 250,000 young men
under the age of 19 who served in the Great War after claiming to be over 19
years of age.
On 19 April 1915, at the age of 17, he told the recruiting
sergeant he was 19 years old and one
month and wore his father’s bowler hat to make him look older and successfully
enlisted into the Rifle Corp, but his military service got off to a bad start.
Private Peachment was charged for being absent without leave
from 0700 hrs on 2 July 1915 until 0810 hrs 5 July and was fined seven days
loss of pay. Two months later he was confined to barracks for three days for
having a dirty bayonet whilst on parade. Six days later he was fighting during
the opening Battle of Loos, the largest British offensive on the western front
during 1915.
After four-days of artillery bombardments against German
lines at 0630 hrs on 25 September 1915 George Peachment took part in this major
offensive but the preliminary artillery bombardment had not silenced the German
machine guns, barbed wire defences were still intact and once in no man’s land
many British soldiers were cut down by machine gun and rifle fire from the
German trenches creating a scene of mass slaughter common throughout the Great
War.
Due to the large number of dead and dying caught up in
barbed wire defences and scattered across the battlefield, the line was retiring so it could be
reorganised when private George Peachment saw his company commander, Captain
Dubs lying wounded near the German trenches. Instead of falling back or taking
cover with other men in a shell hole, Peachment whilst under intense machine
gun fire crawled towards Captain Dubs.
In 1996 Lord Ashcroft bought Peachment’s Victoria Cross at auction along with a remarkable letter from Peachment’s company commander to his mother which tells the story of how her son died saving his life. Captain Dubs wrote:
“I cannot tell you how sorry I am that your brave son was
killed, but I hope it may be some consolation to you to know how bravely he
behaved and how he met his end…
When we reached the {barbed} wire we found it absolutely
untouched by our artillery fire and an almost impossible obstacle as a result.
However, we had to push on and I gave the order to try and get through it and
over it. Your son followed me over the wire and advanced with me about 20 yards
through it till we were only about 15 yards from the German trenches. None of
the other men of the line were able to get as far and he was the only man with
me. As a matter of fact, I had not noticed your son with me, but at this point
a bomb hit me in the eye blowing it and part of my face away.
I fell to the ground, but on sitting up found your son
kneeling beside me. The German fire at this time was very intense but your son
was perfectly cool. He asked me for my field dressing and started bandaging my
head quite oblivious to the fire. His first thought was to help me, and
although there was a shell hole nearby where he might have got cover, he never
thought of doing so.
Of course, the Germans were bound to see us sitting up,
and one of them threw a bomb which hit your son in the chest whilst at the same
time I received a bullet in the chest. Your son was beyond feeling any pain
though still alive. I tried to drag him into the shell hole and at the same
time keep him from moving, but at that moment a bullet hit him in the head and
killed him.
After his first wound he was bound to die, in fact he was
already, immediately after he received it unconscious of any pain. I lay beside
him there all day, and eventually we were picked up in the late afternoon when
the trench was taken by a flank attack.
I can’t tell you how much I admired your son’s bravery
and pluck. He lost his life in trying to help me and no man could have been
braver than he was… I have recommended him for the Victoria Cross and have
heard the commanding officer has seen the recommendation.
If he gets it, it is sad to think he is not in this world to receive all the congratulations he would get, but perhaps it may be of comfort to you… Your son died the finest death that man can die, he showed the greatest gallantry a man could show, and I hope these facts help you in your sad loss together with the fact he was spared all pain and suffering.”
IWW
Official Citation
published in the London Gazette 18 November 1915
“During heavy fighting when our
front line was compelled to retire to reorganise, Private Peachment, seeing his
company commander Captain Dubs lying wounded crawled to assist him. The enemy
fire was intense but though there was a shell hole quite close in which men had
taken cover, Private Peachment never thought of saving himself.
He knelt in the open by his
officer and tried to help him but while doing this he was first wounded by a
bomb and a minute later mortally wounded by a rifle bullet.
He was one of the youngest men in his battalion and gave this splendid example of courage and sacrifice. “
Pte Peachment’s medals (Ashcroft Collection)
On 29 November 1916 the Victoria Cross
was awarded to his mother by King George V at Buckingham Palace. His body was
never recovered but he is commemorated on the Loos memorial which lists the
names of more than 20,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers who died during the
battle.
Third Supplement to The London Gazette of 16 November 1915.
18 November 1915, Numb. 29371, p. 11450
Name: George Stanley PEACHMENT
D.O.B: 5th May, 1897
D.O.A: 25th September, 1915
D.O.D: 25th September, 1915
Award: Victoria Cross
Occupation at time of action: Private, 2nd Battalion The
King’s Royal Rifle Corps, 2nd Brigade, 1st Division
Barbara Harrison wanted to travel the world and was excited
after successfully completing her training as a flight attendant for the British
Overseas Airways Corporation (now part of British Airways).
On 8 April 1968, 22-year-old Barbara Harrison was a flight
attendant on a BOAC Boeing 707 which took off from London Heathrow Airport at
16.27 bound for Sydney Australia and the citation for her GC describes what
happened immediately after take-off.
CENTRAL CHANCERY OF THE ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD
ST. JAMES PALACE, LONDON SW1
8TH AUGUST 1969
THE QUEEN HAS BEEN GRACIOUSLY PLEASED TO MAKE
THE UNDERMENTIONED AWARD
GEORGE CROSS
Miss Barbara Jane Harrison (deceased) stewardess,
British Overseas Airways Corporation
No.
2 engine of B.O.A.C. Boeing 707 G-ARWE caught fire and subsequently fell from
the aircraft, leaving a fierce fire burning at No. 2 engine position. About two
and a half minutes later the aircraft made an emergency landing at the airport
and the fire on the port wing intensified.
Miss Harrison was one of the stewardesses in this aircraft and the duties assigned to her in an emergency were to help the steward at the aft station to open the appropriate rear door and inflate the escape chute and then to assist the passengers at the rear of the aircraft to leave in an orderly manner. When the aircraft landed, Miss Harrison and the steward concerned opened the rear galley door and inflated the chute, which unfortunately became twisted on the way down so that the steward had to climb down it to straighten it before it could be used. Once out of the aircraft he was unable to return; hence Miss Harrison was left alone to the task of shepherding passengers to the rear door and helping them out of the aircraft. She encouraged some passengers to jump from the machine and pushed out others. With flames and explosions all around her, making an escape from the tail of the machine impossible, she directed her passengers to another exit while she remained at her post. She was finally overcome while trying to save an elderly cripple who was seated in one of the last rows and whose body was found close to that of the stewardess. Miss Harrison was a very brave young lady who gave her life in her utter devotion to duty.
According to witnesses, after the escape chute had been burnt away Harrison continued to force passengers to safety by pushing them out the door and continued to do this even as flames and smoke were licking {sic} around her face. She then seemed to be preparing to jump but instead turned back to help the remaining passengers. There was another explosion and she was not seen again. Her body was found with four others near the rear door; all had died from asphyxia.
Her George Cross was presented to her
father and was eventually sold at auction and purchased by British Airways. It is now on display at the British Airways’
Speedbird Centre in Harmondsworth, Middlesex.
Barbara Harrison is buried at Fulford Cemetery, York.
In 1940 Daphne Pearson was serving as a medical corporal
(WAAF) with 500 Squadron Coastal Command at RAF/RNAS Detling in Kent.
The following are extracts from her obituary published in the Telegraph and the Times both dated 26 July 2000.
It was around 1 am on 31 May 1940 when Daphne was woken by
the sound of an aircraft which appeared to be in distress: one engine was
cutting out and the aircraft appeared to be approaching the airfield. She
quickly dressed, put on her tin hat and dashed outside in time to see the
aircraft crash through trees and hit the ground. After the war Pearson said, “A sentry told me to stop but I said no and
ran on and opened a gate to allow an ambulance to get through… and there was a
dull glow where the plane had come to rest “
After scrambling over a fence, falling into a ditch and running across a long field she eventually reached the crash site and saw a small group of people starting to drag the pilot clear. Running towards them she shouted: “Leave him to me – go and get the fence down for the ambulance”.
Daphne Pearson IWW
On her own she dragged the pilot from the burning aircraft before stopping to give him a quick examination
during which she was concerned he may have a broken neck. The pilot then mumbled there were bombs on the aircraft and after hearing this
she began dragging him further away and had just reached a small dip in the
ground when the fuel tanks exploded. Pearson immediately threw herself on top
of the pilot to protect him from the blast and placed her helmet over his head.
As they lay on the ground, she was holding his head still to prevent further injury
to his neck when one of the 120 lb bombs
on the aircraft exploded.
She later recalled, “There was a lot of blood around the
pilot’s mouth and a tooth was protruding from his upper jaw and I was about to
examine his ankle when the plane exploded again… The force of the blast and the
shock wave caused the air around them to collapse and their breath was sucked
out of them whilst being showered with debris from the aircraft”. She also recalled seeing other rescuers running towards the field being blown to the
ground by the hurricane-force wind of the explosion.
Daphne Pearson was aware of the dangers from other unexploded bombs as she broke cover, ran across open ground and helped the medical officer over a fence with a stretcher.
Shortly after the pilot was removed by ambulance there was another huge explosion but still undeterred by the dangers she ran to the burning wreck to look for the wireless operator but found he was already dead. At 0800 hours Daphne Pearson reported for her regular duties as if nothing had happened a few hours earlier.
In July 1940 the King awarded Joan Daphne Pearson the Medal
of the Military Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for
Gallantry. After the revocation of the Empire Gallantry Medal, on 31 January
1941 the King invested her with its replacement, the George Cross and Daphne
Pearson became the first woman to be awarded the medal.
In 1969 Daphne Pearson emigrated to Australia and eventually
settled in Melbourne where she died in July 2000 at the age of 89.
Alan Malcher 