Operation Banner facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Operation Banner
Part of the Troubles and the Dissident Irish Republican campaign
Two British Army soldiers at a checkpoint near Newry, Northern Ireland, 1988
Date 14 August 1969 – 31 July 2007 (37 years, 11 months, 2 weeks and 3 days) Location Northern Ireland Result Stalemate Paramilitary ceasefires Demilitarisation Good Friday Agreement
Belligerents
British Armed Forces Royal Ulster Constabulary	Irish republican paramilitaries	Ulster loyalist paramilitaries
Commanders and leaders
	Sean MacStiofain Seamus Costello Gerard Steenson	Gusty Spence Johnny Adair Billy Wright
Strength
21,000 British soldiers 6,500 UDR Total: c. 40,500
Casualties and losses
722 deaths from paramilitary attacks 719 deaths from other causes 6,100 injured	PIRA 97 killed by British Army INLA 5 killed by British Army IPLO 1 killed by British Army	UVF 7 killed by British Army UDA 7 killed by British Army

Operation Banner was the operational name for the British Armed Forces' operation in Northern Ireland from 1969 to 2007, as part of the Troubles. It was the longest continuous deployment in British military history. The British Army was initially deployed, at the request of the unionist government of Northern Ireland, in response to the August 1969 riots. Its role was to support the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and to assert the authority of the British government in Northern Ireland. This involved counter-insurgency and supporting the police in carrying out internal security duties such as guarding key points, mounting checkpoints and patrols, carrying out raids and searches, riot control and bomb disposal. More than 300,000 soldiers served in Operation Banner. At the peak of the operation in the 1970s, about 21,000 British troops were deployed, most of them from Great Britain. As part of the operation, a new locally-recruited regiment was also formed: the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR).

The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) waged a guerrilla campaign against the British military from 1970 to 1997. Catholics welcomed the troops when they first arrived, because they saw the RUC as sectarian, but Catholic hostility to the British military's deployment grew after incidents such as the Falls Curfew (1970), Operation Demetrius (1971) and Bloody Sunday (1972). In their efforts to defeat the IRA, there were incidents of collusion between British soldiers and Ulster loyalist paramilitaries. From the late 1970s the British government adopted a policy of "Ulsterisation", which meant giving a greater role to local forces: the UDR and RUC. After the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, the operation was gradually scaled down, most military facilities were removed and the vast majority of British troops were withdrawn.

According to the Ministry of Defence, 1,441 serving British military personnel died in Operation Banner; 722 of whom were killed in paramilitary attacks, and 719 of whom died as a result of other causes. It suffered its greatest loss of life in the Warrenpoint ambush of 1979.

Description of the operation

The British Army was initially deployed, at the request of the unionist government of Northern Ireland, in response to the August 1969 riots. Its role was to support the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and to assert the authority of the British government in Northern Ireland. The main opposition to the British military's deployment came from the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). It waged a guerrilla campaign against the British military from 1970 to 1997. Catholics welcomed the soldiers when they first arrived in August 1969, but Catholic hostility to the British military's deployment increased after incidents such as the Falls Curfew (1970), Operation Demetrius (1971), the Ballymurphy Massacre (1971) and Bloody Sunday (1972). An internal British Army document released in 2007 stated that, whilst it had failed to defeat the IRA, it had made it impossible for the IRA to win through violence, and reduced substantially the death toll in the last years of conflict.

Crossmaglen RUC/Army base, showing a watchtower built during the operation that was later demolished as part of the demilitarisation process. The barracks were handed over to the PSNI in 2007.

A British Army Land Rover patrolling South Belfast (1981)

From 1998, after the Good Friday Agreement, Operation Banner was gradually scaled down: patrols were suspended and several military barracks closed or dismantled, even before the start of the decommissioning of IRA armaments. The process of demilitarisation started in 1994, after the first IRA ceasefire. From the second IRA ceasefire in 1997 until the first act of decommissioning of weapons in 2001, almost 50% of the army bases were vacated or demolished along with surveillance sites and holding centres, while more than 100 cross-border roads were reopened.

Eventually in August 2005, it was announced that in response to the Provisional IRA declaration that its campaign was over, and in accordance with the Good Friday Agreement provisions, Operation Banner would end by 1 August 2007. From that date troops were to be based in Northern Ireland only for training purposes, and reduced in number to 5,000; responsibility for security was entirely transferred to the police. The Northern Ireland–resident battalions of the Royal Irish Regiment – which grew out of the Ulster Defence Regiment – were stood down on 1 September 2006. The operation officially ended at midnight on 31 July 2007, making it the longest continuous deployment in the British Army's history, lasting over 37 years.

While the withdrawal of troops was welcomed by nationalist political parties the Social Democratic and Labour Party and Sinn Féin, the unionist Democratic Unionist Party and Ulster Unionist Party opposed the decision, which they regarded as 'premature'. The main reasons behind their resistance were the continuing activity of republican dissident groups, the loss of security-related jobs for the Protestant community, and the perception of the British Army presence as an affirmation of the political union with Great Britain.

Adam Ingram, the Minister of State for the Armed Forces, has stated that assuming the maintenance of an enabling environment, British Army support to the PSNI after 31 July 2007 was reduced to a residual level, known as Operation Helvetic, providing specialised ordnance disposal and support to the PSNI in circumstances of extreme public disorder as described in Patten recommendations 59 and 66, should this be needed, thus ending the British Army's emergency operation in Northern Ireland.

Role of the armed forces

A British Army Ammunition Technical Officer approaches a suspect device in Belfast

The support to the police forces was primarily from the British Army, with the Royal Air Force providing helicopter support as required. A maritime component was supplied under the codename of Operation Grenada, by the Royal Navy and Royal Marines in direct support of the Army commitment. This was tasked with interdicting the supply of weapons and munitions to paramilitaries, acting as a visible deterrence by maintaining a conspicuous maritime presence on and around the coast of Northern Ireland and Lough Neagh.

The role of the armed forces in their support role to the police was defined by the Army in the following terms:

• "Routine support – Includes such tasks as providing protection to the police in carrying out normal policing duties in areas of terrorist threat; patrolling around military and police bases to deter terrorist attacks and supporting police-directed counter-terrorist operations"
• "Additional support – Assistance where the police have insufficient assets of their own; this includes the provision of observation posts along the border and increased support during times of civil disorder. The military can provide soldiers to protect and, if necessary, supplement police lines and cordons. The military can provide heavy plant to remove barricades and construct barriers, and additional armoured vehicles and helicopters to help in the movement of police and soldiers"
• "Specialist support – Includes bomb disposal, search and tracker dogs, and divers from the Royal Engineers"

Number of troops deployed

At the peak of the operation in the 1970s, the British Army was deploying around 21,000 soldiers. By 1980, the figure had dropped to 11,000, with a lower presence of 9,000 in 1985. The total climbed again to 10,500 after the intensification of the IRA use of improvised mortars toward the end of the 1980s. In 1992, there were 17,750 members of all British military forces taking part in the operation. The British Army build-up comprised three brigades under the command of a lieutenant-general. There were six resident battalions deployed for a period of two and a half years and four roulement battalions serving six-months tours. In July 1997, during the course of fierce riots in nationalist areas triggered by the Drumcree conflict, the total number of security forces in Northern Ireland increased to more than 30,000 (including the RUC).

Equipment

Vehicles used by the British military during Operation Banner, some of which were developed for the operation, include:

• Alvis Saracen
• Alvis Saladin
• Ferret armoured car
• Humber Pig
• Saxon
• Land Rovers, including the Snatch Land Rover
• Aérospatiale Gazelle helicopter
• Aérospatiale SA 330 Puma helicopter
• Chinook helicopter
• Westland Lynx helicopter

Casualties

The service held in St Paul's Cathedral in 2008 to honour the British military personnel who took part in Operation Banner

..... This includes:

• 814 from the regular British Army; 477 of whom were killed by paramilitaries, and 337 of whom died from other causes.
• 548 from the Ulster Defence Regiment/Royal Irish Regiment; 204 of whom were killed by paramilitaries, and 344 of whom died from other causes.
• 17 from the Territorial Army; 9 of whom were killed by paramilitaries, and 8 of whom died from other causes.
• 26 Royal Marines; 21 of whom were killed by paramilitaries, and 5 of whom died from other causes.
• 26 Royal Air Force servicemen; 4 of whom were killed by paramilitaries, and 22 of whom died from other causes.
• 8 Royal Navy servicemen; 5 of whom were killed by paramilitaries, and 3 of whom died from other causes.
• 2 from other branches of the Army, who were killed by paramilitaries.

A further 45 former British military personnel were killed during Operation Banner.

It was announced in July 2009 that their next of kin will be eligible to receive the Elizabeth Cross.

According to the "Sutton Index of Deaths", at the Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN), the British military killed 307 people (297 of whom were killed by the British Army, eight by the UDR, one by the RAF and one by the Ulster Special Constabulary) during Operation Banner.

• 156 (~51%) were civilians
• 128 (~42%) were members of republican paramilitaries, including:
  • 111 members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army
  • 11 members of the Official Irish Republican Army
  • 5 members of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA)
  • 1 member of the Irish People's Liberation Organisation (IPLO)
• 14 (~5%) were members of loyalist paramilitaries, including:
  • 7 members of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA)
  • 7 members of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)
• 6 were members of the British Army
• 2 were Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers
• 1 was a member of the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR)

Another detailed study, Lost Lives, states that the British military killed 301 people during Operation Banner.

• 160 (~53%) were civilians
• 121 (~40%) were republican paramilitaries
• 10 (~3%) were loyalist paramilitaries
• 8 (~2%) were fellow British military personnel
• 2 were RUC officers