Warrenpoint ambush

Warrenpoint ambush
	Part of The Troubles/Operation Banner
	; A British Army lorry destroyed in the ambush. The hills of the Cooley Peninsula in County Louth can be seen in the background, behind Narrow Water Castle.
Date	27 August 1979
Location	Narrow Water Castle near Warrenpoint, County Down, Northern Ireland54°06′42″N 06°16′45″W / 54.11167°N 6.27917°W
Result	Provisional IRA victory Deadliest attack on the British Army by the Provisional IRA;
Belligerents
United Kingdom	Provisional IRA
Commanders and leaders
Lt Col David Blair †; Maj. Peter Fursman †	Brendan Burns
Units involved
British Army	South Armagh Brigade
Strength
50 soldiers[citation needed]	Unknown
Casualties and losses
18 killed; Over 20 wounded ; 1 RAF Wessex helicopter damaged	None
	Civilian: 1 killed, 1 wounded by British Army gun fire
	class=notpageimage\| Location within Northern Ireland

The Warrenpoint ambush,^[5] also known as the Narrow Water ambush,^[6] the Warrenpoint massacre^[7] or the Narrow Water massacre,^[8] was a guerrilla attack^[9] by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) on 27 August 1979. The IRA's South Armagh Brigade ambushed a British Army convoy with two large roadside bombs at Narrow Water Castle outside Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland. The first bomb was aimed at the convoy itself, and the second targeted the incoming reinforcements and the incident command point (ICP) set up to deal with the incident. IRA volunteers hidden in nearby woodland also allegedly fired on the troops, who returned fire. The castle is on the banks of the Newry River, which marks the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Eighteen British soldiers were killed and over twenty were seriously injured, making it the deadliest attack on the British Army during the Troubles.^[3] An English civilian was also killed and an Irish civilian wounded, both by British soldiers firing across the border after the first blast. The attack happened on the same day that the IRA assassinated Lord Louis Mountbatten, a close relative of the British royal family.

^
- Barzilay, David. British Army in Ulster. Century Books, 1981. Vol. 4. p. 94. ISBN 0-903152-16-9
- Wood, Ian. Scotland and Ulster. Mercat Press, 1994. p. 170. ISBN 1-873644-19-1
- Geddes, John. Highway to Hell: An Ex-SAS Soldier's Account of the Extraordinary Private Army Hired to Fight in Iraq. Century, 2006. p. 20. ISBN 1-84605-062-6
- Forest, James J. F. (2006). Homeland Security: Critical infrastructure. Greenwood Publishing Group, 93. ISBN 0-275-98768-X
- Kennedy-Pipe, Caroline (1997). The origins of the present troubles in Northern Ireland. Longman, p. 84. ISBN 0-582-10073-9
^ English, Richard. Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA. Pan Macmillan, 2008. p.221
^ ^a ^b Moloney, Ed (2007). A Secret History of the IRA (2nd ed.). Penguin Books. p. 176. ISBN 978-0141028767.
^ Taylor, Steven (30 June 2018). Air War Northern Ireland: Britain's Air Arms and the 'Bandit Country' of South Armagh, Operation Banner 1969–2007. Pen and Sword. ISBN 978-1-5267-2155-6.
^
- Bowyer Bell, John: The IRA, 1968–2000: Analysis of a Secret Army. Taylor & Francis, 2000. p. 305. ISBN 0-7146-8119-9
- Faligot, Roger: Britain's Military Strategy in Ireland: The Kitson Experiment. Zed Press, 1983, p. 142. ISBN 0-86232-047-X
- Ellison, Graham, and Smyth, Jim: The Crowned Harp: Policing Northern Ireland. Pluto Press, 2000, p. 145. ISBN 0-7453-1393-0
^
- "Smithwick Tribunal to examine bomb attack that killed 18 soldiers". Belfast Telegraph, 5 December 2011.
- "Garda 'told not to aid ambush probe'". Irish Examiner, 13 March 2012.
- Moloney, Ed (2007). A Secret History of the IRA (2nd ed.). Penguin Books. p. 735. ISBN 978-0141028767.
^
- "1979: Soldiers die in Warrenpoint massacre". BBC News "On This Day"
- "Police net closes in on Omagh murder gang". Irish Independent, 5 January 1999.
^
- O'Brien, Brendan. The Long War: The IRA and Sinn Féin. Syracuse University Press, 1993. p. 205
- "Narrow Water para returns after 30 years". Belfast Newsletter, 24 August 2009.
- "Top diplomat thought Hume wanted return of internment". Belfast Telegraph, 30 December 2009.
^
- Carr, Matthew (2007). The infernal machine: a history of terrorism. New Press, p. 173. ISBN 1-59558-179-0. "...the assassination of Lord Mountbatten at his holiday home at southern Ireland on 27 March 1979, the same day that another IRA unit ambushed and blew up eighteen British soldiers at Warrenpoint in a more conventional guerrilla operation."
- Geraghty, Tony (1998). The Irish War: The Hidden Conflict Between the IRA and British Intelligence. JHU Press. pp. 212. ISBN 0801864569.

[1] 
Barzilay, David. British Army in Ulster. Century Books, 1981. Vol. 4. p. 94. ISBN 0-903152-16-9

Wood, Ian. Scotland and Ulster. Mercat Press, 1994. p. 170. ISBN 1-873644-19-1

Geddes, John. Highway to Hell: An Ex-SAS Soldier's Account of the Extraordinary Private Army Hired to Fight in Iraq. Century, 2006. p. 20. ISBN 1-84605-062-6

Forest, James J. F. (2006). Homeland Security: Critical infrastructure. Greenwood Publishing Group, 93. ISBN 0-275-98768-X

Kennedy-Pipe, Caroline (1997). The origins of the present troubles in Northern Ireland. Longman, p. 84. ISBN 0-582-10073-9

[2] Barzilay, David. British Army in Ulster. Century Books, 1981. Vol. 4. p. 94. ISBN 0-903152-16-9

[3] Wood, Ian. Scotland and Ulster. Mercat Press, 1994. p. 170. ISBN 1-873644-19-1

[4] Geddes, John. Highway to Hell: An Ex-SAS Soldier's Account of the Extraordinary Private Army Hired to Fight in Iraq. Century, 2006. p. 20. ISBN 1-84605-062-6

[5] Forest, James J. F. (2006). Homeland Security: Critical infrastructure. Greenwood Publishing Group, 93. ISBN 0-275-98768-X

[6] Kennedy-Pipe, Caroline (1997). The origins of the present troubles in Northern Ireland. Longman, p. 84. ISBN 0-582-10073-9

[2] English, Richard. Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA. Pan Macmillan, 2008. p.221

[moloney-3] Moloney, Ed (2007). A Secret History of the IRA (2nd ed.). Penguin Books. p. 176. ISBN 978-0141028767.

[4] Taylor, Steven (30 June 2018). Air War Northern Ireland: Britain's Air Arms and the 'Bandit Country' of South Armagh, Operation Banner 1969–2007. Pen and Sword. ISBN 978-1-5267-2155-6.

[5] 
Bowyer Bell, John: The IRA, 1968–2000: Analysis of a Secret Army. Taylor & Francis, 2000. p. 305. ISBN 0-7146-8119-9

Faligot, Roger: Britain's Military Strategy in Ireland: The Kitson Experiment. Zed Press, 1983, p. 142. ISBN 0-86232-047-X

Ellison, Graham, and Smyth, Jim: The Crowned Harp: Policing Northern Ireland. Pluto Press, 2000, p. 145. ISBN 0-7453-1393-0

[11] Bowyer Bell, John: The IRA, 1968–2000: Analysis of a Secret Army. Taylor & Francis, 2000. p. 305. ISBN 0-7146-8119-9

[12] Faligot, Roger: Britain's Military Strategy in Ireland: The Kitson Experiment. Zed Press, 1983, p. 142. ISBN 0-86232-047-X

[13] Ellison, Graham, and Smyth, Jim: The Crowned Harp: Policing Northern Ireland. Pluto Press, 2000, p. 145. ISBN 0-7453-1393-0

[6] 
"Smithwick Tribunal to examine bomb attack that killed 18 soldiers". Belfast Telegraph, 5 December 2011.

"Garda 'told not to aid ambush probe'". Irish Examiner, 13 March 2012.

Moloney, Ed (2007). A Secret History of the IRA (2nd ed.). Penguin Books. p. 735. ISBN 978-0141028767.

[15] "Smithwick Tribunal to examine bomb attack that killed 18 soldiers". Belfast Telegraph, 5 December 2011.

[16] "Garda 'told not to aid ambush probe'". Irish Examiner, 13 March 2012.

[17] Moloney, Ed (2007). A Secret History of the IRA (2nd ed.). Penguin Books. p. 735. ISBN 978-0141028767.

[7] 
"1979: Soldiers die in Warrenpoint massacre". BBC News "On This Day"

"Police net closes in on Omagh murder gang". Irish Independent, 5 January 1999.

[19] "1979: Soldiers die in Warrenpoint massacre". BBC News "On This Day"

[20] "Police net closes in on Omagh murder gang". Irish Independent, 5 January 1999.

[8] 
O'Brien, Brendan. The Long War: The IRA and Sinn Féin. Syracuse University Press, 1993. p. 205

"Narrow Water para returns after 30 years". Belfast Newsletter, 24 August 2009.

"Top diplomat thought Hume wanted return of internment". Belfast Telegraph, 30 December 2009.

[22] O'Brien, Brendan. The Long War: The IRA and Sinn Féin. Syracuse University Press, 1993. p. 205

[23] "Narrow Water para returns after 30 years". Belfast Newsletter, 24 August 2009.

[24] "Top diplomat thought Hume wanted return of internment". Belfast Telegraph, 30 December 2009.

[9] 
Carr, Matthew (2007). The infernal machine: a history of terrorism. New Press, p. 173. ISBN 1-59558-179-0. "...the assassination of Lord Mountbatten at his holiday home at southern Ireland on 27 March 1979, the same day that another IRA unit ambushed and blew up eighteen British soldiers at Warrenpoint in a more conventional guerrilla operation."

Geraghty, Tony (1998). The Irish War: The Hidden Conflict Between the IRA and British Intelligence. JHU Press. pp. 212. ISBN 0801864569.

[26] Carr, Matthew (2007). The infernal machine: a history of terrorism. New Press, p. 173. ISBN 1-59558-179-0. "...the assassination of Lord Mountbatten at his holiday home at southern Ireland on 27 March 1979, the same day that another IRA unit ambushed and blew up eighteen British soldiers at Warrenpoint in a more conventional guerrilla operation."

[27] Geraghty, Tony (1998). The Irish War: The Hidden Conflict Between the IRA and British Intelligence. JHU Press. pp. 212. ISBN 0801864569.

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