Winter In Dublin...Lynch's Gamble

"There are two sides to being a soldier. There is the rational, military side who analyses the situation and comes up with proposals.

Then there is the human side. The side that wants peace and no bloodshed. As a soldier I had that and knew the Taoiseach knew that as well. I think if it had been left up to myself and my colleagues we would have made progress...but unfortunately the 'Salisbury factor' destroyed that"

Seán Mac Eoin Fomer Chief of Staff of The Irish Army 1979
 
I presume this is in relation to Exercise Armageddon? If so there was no way the Defence Staff were ever going to go with it.
 
20th August 1969: Ministry Of Defence, Co Kildare.

Charles Haughey leaned back in his chair and looked at his visitor. A man the same age as him with a thick beard, dark cold eyes and a tan.

" So what do I call you?" said Haughey

"Just call me Mr Winter" The stranger replied in a strong Rhodesian accent.

Haughey reflected. The last week had gone by so quickly, he had fulminated at Lynch for his weakness in not sending troops across the border and had flinched when he saw RTE reporting on the nationalists being treated like scum by the British and the B Specials.

Those feeling led him to call someone, someone he knew, someone he knew that may help. That someone called someone else and before he knew it the gentleman from Salisbury had flown to Dublin via London.

Winter continued. "Mr Haughey, I am not a man who doesn't like been taken for a fool. I know why I'm here. I'm here because I can give you what you need.

"And what is that" questioned the defence minister.

Winter leaned forward, his cold eyes piercing the room.

"To unleash hell upon the Brits"
 

Pangur

Donor
It's great to have an Irish TL. Sparky has pointed out that the military were not up for a fight in 69 and oddly enough neither was Haughey . He kept coming out that it was going to be expensive every way going. Now if you want someone from the cabinet at the time Neil Blaney is your man
 
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"That meeting was the most unpleasant I ever had as a member of the Irish Armed Forces. We met in the Taoiseach's room at the Dail. It was myself along with my adjutant Captain Flynn, the cabinet and Mr Winter.

Mr Winter was a 2nd Lieutenant in the Rhodesian Army. He had a proposal to put to the Cabinet.

He proposed that he and some of his colleagues train the army to conduct Guerrilla operations in the North specifically sabotage designed to cause consternation among the Unionists. Such targets included Stormont and the BBC.

I pointed out that such targets were inadvisable as they would only increased the ire of the unionists.

Winter turned to me and said in a voice thick with disrespect

"Sir, You are an honourable man with a strong notion of the rules of war. I am a soldier who's ideas are different. The irish army is not fit for the 1970's. Can you imagine an invasion with the forces you have? You would be a laughing stock.

Blaney sat there with a smirk on his face..."

Seán Mac Eoin 1979
 
Such targets included Stormont and the BBC.
One thing I've noticed over the years about the BBC and every other media organisation - leaders can slaughter thousands, keep severed heads in fridges, use chemical weapons on villages and many other atrocities, to only mild approbation from the media and tomorrow it's just wrapping for fish & chips.
But kill ONE journalist, and your entire organisation is beyond the pale to all the Western Media, and it will NEVER be forgotten.
 

Pangur

Donor
One thing I've noticed over the years about the BBC and every other media organisation - leaders can slaughter thousands, keep severed heads in fridges, use chemical weapons on villages and many other atrocities, to only mild approbation from the media and tomorrow it's just wrapping for fish & chips.
But kill ONE journalist, and your entire organisation is beyond the pale to all the Western Media, and it will NEVER be forgotten.
That's quite true. Swap the BBC for power distribution, think power pylons. If you want to hit broadcasting then either take out transmitters or hijack them by which I mean block the incoming feed and inject your own. To do that all you need is to know the frequency of the security tone
 
Haughey reflected. The last week had gone by so quickly, he had fulminated at Lynch for his weakness in not sending troops across the border and had flinched when he saw RTE reporting on the nationalists being treated like scum by the British and the B Specials.

Operation Banner began to do exactly what Exercise Armageddon was asserted to have as it's aim. Quoting from Wikipedia (apologies) 'While the riots continued, the introduction of British Army troops in the Falls area of Belfast, and around the Bogside part of Derry from mid-August under Operation Banner protected Catholic areas from further mass loyalist attacks.'

When such issues are discussed in AH there is a flurry of comments upon the UK responses (NATO is not going to be invoked nor needed by the UK) but little attention is given to the ensuing civil war in Ulster if the Irish version of the USM succeeded.

If you add together the arms and numbers available to the Loyalists, assorted parts of the RUC and TA in Ulster they alone can put up an effective stand against ROI forces and certainly maintain an ongoing civil war. This is exactly the reality that resulted in the original partition of the island. Neither the British nor ROI governments had the desire nor means to suppress such a civil war and the proximity of Ulster to Scotland would make illicit arms supplies to maintain the conflict far easier than PIRAs reliance on the USA for terrorist arms supplies ever was. It would be a very different scale to OTL Troubles where the ramshackle leaky PIRA membership was hard put to get active support in hundreds whereas, in this scenario, Loyalist active support would be in thousands.

For those who are not of a generation to actually remember the Troubles, both Westminster and Dublin had always neglected dealing with internal NI matters to avoid short term
embarrassments. The perceived and actual bias of the NI Police, local government and Judiciary was actually brought to the fore and changes inspired by major civil disobedience and not by PIRA terrorism which was finally recognised by their own leadership who now are respectable politicians. A close relative of mine was in the British Army in Operation Banner at the beginning and his memory is one of being offered cups of tea by the gallon by the Catholics and being shot at by the Protestants. A successful Armageddon would be giving Dublin a Syria/Iraq problem to cope with. The circle that always wants squaring in NI is that a liberation of the Republicans is an invasion of the Loyalists.

Personally I doubt if Irish Army officers or troops would carry out Armageddon even if Dublin ordered it. If they did then they would be unlikely to use armed force against British troops any more than the British Army and the commanders on the ground on both sides would arrange matters to avoid conflict. If one pushes AH to a shooting war I give the Irish Army until nightfall and the British Army staying within NI borders. What would they gain from crossing into ROI? Their objective would be to make the problem go away. Irish Army captured. Problem solved. Home for tea and medals.

Edit. I am not naysaying the OP. Just to mention a dimension that is frequently ignored when this area is touched upon.
 
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A house in Newry: Mid September 1969

"So you're our white knight then?"

Winter smiled. He expected the reception to be caustic. He was Rhodesian, their attitude was one of cynicism. He knew he'd feel at home.

The man opposite him was called Flannery. He was a staunch Irish republican and had been involved in the battles of late August. He had watched in impotent horror as his fellow republicans had been ripped apart by the loyalist mobs.

He wanted revenge.

"So what are you here for?"

Winter replied.

"Just looking around. Get the lay of the land. See what can be done...or rather undone"

Flannery produced a map of Newry and the surrounding area. Winter examined it and started to make notes.
 
PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL

Dear Taioseach

As Director General of RTE i feel I must write to you to express my concern regarding the meeting yesterday. Unlike the BBC we weren't in existence during wartime and therefore didn't have the option of aiding the resistance efforts in Europe.

The suggestion that RTE Radio transmits coded messages to person or persons unknown in the North regarding God knows what is something that sits uneasy with me. While personally I have been deeply saddened by events in the North as RTE Director General I am deeply concerned that we should involve ourselves in political matters.

While my loyalty to the government and the Republic is in no doubt I must stress my reservations.

Yours

Thomas P Hardiman.
 
An Army Barracks near the Irish Border.

"Who is that fecking idiot?" asked the squaddie when he and his colleagues entered the billet.

He was Private Gallagher and he had just met Mr Winter.

Gallagher and 5 other squaddies had just been given a lecture about what they were going to do as part of a new unit. Winter had explained that he and his colleague Corporals Simpson and Stark will be training the irish in "special duties" specifically sabotage and liasion with Republicans across the border.

"He's asking us to go up against the brits and the B Specials. He's fecking mad. There'll be fecking war"
 

Pangur

Donor
Any thoughts?
The reaction from Private Gallagher is frankly unlikely for 1969, !after on yes but not then. At the time the B specials and the RUC were seen as fair game. Note I did not mention the British army
 
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October 1969, Newry

Winter and Flannery were sitting in a bar. Both had a glass of whiskey and both were pensive.

"So what is it you want me to do? enquired Flannery

"Just extend some irish hospitality to my associates"

"and"

"And Nothing, just provide sanctuary"

"Sanctuary, you want me to use my barn to conceal 6 soldiers and Stark overnight"

"Thats all, and no questions"

Flannery leaned forward

"I hope you know what you're doing. If the Brits find out..."

"Relax Sean, Just sit back and prepare.

"For what"

"For being a hero to the Republic"

Both men raised their glasses...
 
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