Kingsmill massacre facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Kingsmill massacre |
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| Part of the Troubles | |
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| Location | Kingsmill, County Armagh Northern Ireland |
| Coordinates | 54°12′55.7″N 06°27′03.1″W / 54.215472°N 6.450861°W |
| Date | 5 January 1976 c. 17:30 (UTC) |
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Attack type
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Mass shooting |
| Weapons | AR-15, AR-18, M1 rifle, M1 Carbine |
| Deaths | 10 |
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Non-fatal injuries
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1 |
| Perpetrators | Members of the Provisional IRA using the covername "South Armagh Republican Action Force" |
The Kingsmill massacre was a terrible shooting that happened on 5 January 1976. It took place near Whitecross in south County Armagh, Northern Ireland. Gunmen stopped a small bus carrying eleven Protestant workers. They made the workers line up and then shot them. Only one person survived, even though he was shot 18 times. A Catholic man on the bus was allowed to leave safely.
A group called the South Armagh Republican Action Force said they were responsible. They claimed the shooting was revenge for attacks on Catholic people in the area. This included the killing of six Catholics the night before. The Kingsmill massacre was a very sad event during a time of back-and-forth violence in the mid-1970s. This period is known as the Troubles. It was one of the deadliest mass shootings of that time.
A report from 2011 by the Historical Enquiries Team (HET) found that members of the Provisional IRA carried out the attack. This happened even though the group was supposed to be on a ceasefire. The HET report said the workers were targeted because they were Protestants. It also said the attack was planned, even though it was a response to the killings the night before. The guns used in the attack were linked to 110 other violent incidents.
After the massacre, the British government sent hundreds of extra soldiers and police to County Armagh. They also announced that the Special Air Service (SAS) was being moved into the area. This was the first time the SAS's presence in Northern Ireland was officially confirmed.
Contents
What Led Up to the Attack
On 10 February 1975, the Provisional IRA and the British government agreed to a ceasefire. They started talking again to try and find peace. The IRA agreed to stop attacking British security forces. In return, the security forces mostly stopped their raids and searches.
However, not everyone agreed with the truce. Some members of the IRA didn't want it. Some British commanders also didn't like being told to stop their operations. During this time, there was a rise in killings between different groups. This period of truce officially lasted until February 1976.
Loyalists were afraid the British government might abandon them. They worried they would be forced into a united Ireland. Protestant paramilitary groups, hoping to make the IRA fight back and end the truce, increased their attacks on Catholic civilians. They murdered 120 people in 1975. Some IRA units then focused on fighting these loyalist groups.
Many loyalist attacks were linked to the Glenanne gang. This was a secret group believed to include loyalist fighters, British soldiers, and police officers. A former member of this group said they wanted to start a civil war. They thought they could then "crush the other side."
Here are some of the violent events that happened before Kingsmill:
- On 31 July, loyalists shot five members of an Irish pop band. Three of them died. Like Kingsmill, their bus was stopped by gunmen dressed as British soldiers.
- On 1 September, gunmen attacked Tullyvallan Orange Hall. They shot and killed five Protestant civilians. All of them were members of the Orange Order. A group called the "South Armagh Republican Action Force" claimed responsibility. This was the first time this name was used.
- On 19 December, loyalists set off a car bomb outside a pub in Dundalk. Two Catholic civilians died and twenty were hurt. Hours later, they killed three more Catholic civilians in Silverbridge.
- On 31 December, three Protestant civilians died in a bomb attack on a pub in Gilford. The "People's Republican Army" said they did it. This was likely a cover name for another group.
- Four days later, on 4 January 1976, loyalists shot and killed six Catholic civilians. This happened in two separate attacks. They killed three members of the Reavey family in Whitecross. They also killed three members of the O'Dowd family in Ballydougan. News reports said these killings were revenge for the bombing in Gilford.
The HET report found that the Kingsmill massacre was a "direct response" to the Reavey and O'Dowd killings. However, the attack was planned even before those killings happened. After earlier loyalist attacks, republican groups had decided to "dramatically retaliate" if loyalists attacked again. The report said the killings of the Reavey and O'Dowd families were just the reason for the planned attack on the workers.
The Attack Itself
On 5 January 1976, just after 5:30 PM, a red Ford Transit minibus was taking sixteen textile workers home. Five of them were Catholics and eleven were Protestants. Four Catholics got off the bus in Whitecross. The bus then continued towards Bessbrook.
As the bus went over a hill, a man in army clothes stopped it. He was standing in the road and flashing a torch. The workers thought it was the British Army stopping them for a search. When the bus stopped, eleven gunmen came out of the bushes. They were also in army clothes and had black paint on their faces.
A man with a clear English accent started speaking. He ordered the workers to get out of the bus. He told them to line up facing the bus with their hands on the roof. Then he asked, "Who is the Catholic?" The only Catholic was Richard Hughes. His co-workers, fearing the gunmen were loyalists who wanted to kill him, tried to stop him from saying who he was. But when Hughes stepped forward, the gunman told him to "Get down the road and don't look back."
The main gunman then said "Right." The other gunmen immediately started shooting the workers. The eleven men were shot at very close range with automatic rifles. These included Armalites, an M1 carbine, and an M1 Garand. A total of 136 shots were fired in less than a minute. The men were shot around their waists and fell to the ground. Some fell on top of each other, either dead or wounded.
When the first shots stopped, the gunmen reloaded their weapons. The order was given to "Finish them off." Another round of shots was fired into the bodies. One of the gunmen also walked among the dying men. He shot each of them in the head with a pistol.
Ten of the men died at the scene. Their names were John Bryans (46), Robert Chambers (19), Reginald Chapman (25), Walter Chapman (23), Robert Freeburn (50), Joseph Lemmon (46), John McConville (20), James McWhirter (58), Robert Walker (46), and Kenneth Worton (24). Alan Black (then 32) was the only one who survived. He had been shot eighteen times. One bullet had just grazed his head. He later said, "I didn't even flinch because I knew if I moved there would be another one."
After the shooting, the gunmen calmly walked away. Soon after, a married couple found the scene. They started praying beside the victims. They found Alan Black badly wounded in a ditch. An ambulance arrived and took Black to hospital in Newry, where he survived. The Catholic worker, Richard Hughes, had managed to stop a car. He was driven to Bessbrook police station and raised the alarm.
Nine of the dead workers were from the village of Bessbrook. The bus driver, Robert Walker, was from Mountnorris. Four of the men were members of the Orange Order. Two had been part of security forces: Kenneth Worton was a former soldier, and Joseph Lemmon was a former police officer. Alan Black, the survivor, was later given an award for his work to bring communities together.
Who Was Responsible?
The day after the attack, someone called to say the "South Armagh Republican Action Force" was responsible. They said it was revenge for the Reavey–O'Dowd killings the night before. They also said they would stop if loyalists stopped their attacks. The caller added that the group had no link to the IRA. The IRA denied they were responsible and said they were on a ceasefire at the time.
However, the 2011 HET report concluded that members of the Provisional IRA were responsible. It said the "South Armagh Republican Action Force" was just a cover name. The report stated: "These dreadful murders were carried out by the Provisional IRA and none other."
Two AR-18 rifles used in the shooting were found by the British Army in 1990. Tests showed these rifles were linked to 17 killings in South Armagh between 1974 and 1990. Further studies found that guns used in the attack were linked to 37 killings and many other violent incidents in the same area. This suggests the same small group carried out these attacks.
False Claims
After the Kingsmill attack, some security forces wrongly accused Eugene Reavey of planning the massacre. His three brothers had been shot by loyalists the day before. Eugene and his family actually found the scene of the Kingsmill massacre while driving to the hospital to get his brothers' bodies. He even cried with the families of the murdered workers.
In 1999, Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Ian Paisley said in the British Parliament that Eugene Reavey was a "well-known republican" and had "set up the Kingsmills massacre." Paisley made these claims under special protection, meaning he couldn't be sued for his words. He said he was quoting a "police dossier," but the police chief denied this.
Eugene Reavey and Alan Black, the only survivor of the massacre, strongly denied Paisley's claims. Alan Black went to Reavey's house to tell him he knew he was innocent. The police chief also said there was "no evidence whatsoever" to link Reavey to the massacre.
In 2007, the HET apologized to the Reavey family for these false accusations. In 2010, the HET released a report that cleared the Reavey brothers and their family of any links to paramilitary groups. Eugene Reavey then asked Paisley to apologize, but Paisley died in 2014 without taking back his words.
What Happened Next
The massacre was condemned by the British and Irish governments, political parties, and church leaders. Merlyn Rees, the British official for Northern Ireland, said the violence would get worse unless someone stopped it.
The British government quickly declared County Armagh a "Special Emergency Area." They sent hundreds of extra soldiers and police there. Two days after the massacre, the British Prime Minister Harold Wilson announced that the Special Air Service (SAS) was being sent into South Armagh. This was the first time the SAS's presence in Northern Ireland was officially confirmed.
The Kingsmill massacre was the last in a series of violent sectarian killings in South Armagh during the mid-1970s.
Remembering the Victims
There is a memorial in Bessbrook dedicated to 'The Innocent Victims Murdered at Kingsmills'. For many years, there was a small memorial at the site of the massacre. A new, much larger memorial was built there in 2012. This memorial has been damaged by vandals.
In February 2012, there was a disagreement about a "March for Justice" proposed by Willie Frazer. He wanted victims' relatives and loyalist bands to follow the route the workers took. This would have meant passing through the mainly Catholic village of Whitecross and past the Reavey family's homes. Many people opposed the march, saying it would increase tension. The march was approved with strict rules: no bands, flags, or banners. However, the organizers decided to postpone the march after receiving threats. This decision was welcomed by local politicians.
See also
- List of massacres in the United Kingdom
- List of massacres in Ireland
- Miami Showband massacre, a similar ambush on a minibus during The Troubles.
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