List of attacks on the Ulster Defence Regiment

This page is a record of notable attacks by paramilitary organisations on Ulster Defence Regiment personnel during the Troubles resulting in two or more fatalities, or notable firsts:

1971

• 9 August - a patrol from 6 UDR's Strabane company comes under fire from the Provisional IRA using a Thompson sub-machine gun at a checkpoint near Clady Bridge border crossing, County Tyrone. Private Winston Donnell is killed instantly. He is the first UDR soldier to be killed in action.^[1]
• 8 December - the first Catholic UDR soldier to die, Private Sean Russell, is shot dead in his home in New Barnsley, Belfast by the IRA.^[2]

1972

• 4 March - Captain Marcus McCausland, formerly of D Coy 5 UDR is abducted and killed by the Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA). He was the first UDR officer to be killed.^[3]
• 21 September - a member of C Coy, 4 UDR and his wife are shot dead by the Provisional IRA as they watched TV at home near Derrylin.^[4]

1974

• 10 April - Major George Saunderson (Brevet Lt Col), until the previous year second-in-command of 4 UDR, is killed in the kitchen of the school in Derrylin where he worked by gunmen who then crashed through a Garda checkpoint to escape into the Republic of Ireland.
• 2 May - attack at the Deanery base of C Coy, 6 UDR in Clogher. Opening fire using mortars then continuing with small arms and rockets, the estimated 40-man IRA team ^[5] mounted a sustained attack lasting for 20 minutes against the small contingent in the base who reply with rifle fire. During the attack, Private Eva Martin is hit by a rocket fragment. She is the first woman UDR soldier to be killed. Sean O'Callaghan was later convicted of her murder after confessing.^[5]
• 28 October - a bomb attack at the joint 3 UDR and regular army barracks at Ballykinlar destroys the Sandes soldiers canteen on the base, killing two members of the Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment.

1991

• A mobile patrol from the 2nd Battalion was the subject of the first recorded use of the Mk12 horizontal mortar ^[6] on 1 March 1991.^[7] Two soldiers were killed as a result of the attack. The funeral of one of them, Private Paul Sutcliffe, an Englishman, was held in Barrowford, Lancashire - the only UDR funeral to be held outside Northern Ireland.^[7] The second casualty, Private Roger Love, from Portadown died after three days. His kidneys were donated to the NHS.^[7]
• At 11:30 PM on the 31 May 1991 a truck loaded with 2,000 lb (1,100 kg) of a new type of home made explosive was rolled (driverless) down a hill at the rear of the barracks and crashed through the perimeter fence, coming to rest against a corner of the main building.^[8][9] The blast left a deep crater^[8] and it could be heard over 30 miles away, as far as Dundalk.^[9] Three UDR soldiers – Paul Blakely (30), Robert Crozier (46), Sydney Hamilton (44) – were killed and ten were wounded.^[9] Four civilians were also wounded.^[9] The Provisional IRA claimed responsibility two days later.^[9]

Sources

• A Testimony to Courage - the Regimental History of the Ulster Defence Regiment 1969 - 1992, Major John Furniss Potter, Pen & Sword Books Ltd, 2001, ISBN 0-85052-819-4
• The Ulster Defence Regiment - An Instrument of Peace?, Chris Ryder, Methuen 1991, ISBN 0-413-64800-1

References