RGJRA In the News

HAVING been nudged into the shadows of memory banks by the conflict in southern Afghanistan and recent operations in Iraq, the Troubles are returned to the fore by Ken Wharton’s account of a once seemingly endless war against terrorism.

A flashback to the daily lives of the British soldiers who deployed to Northern Ireland on Operations Motorman and Banner, Bullets, Bombs and Cups of Tea revisits notorious areas such as Bogside, the Ballymurphy estate, Turf Lodge and the bandit country of South Armagh.

Instantly familiar locations to all those who served in the Province, these hot spots were rarely out of the news headlines during the Troubles and repeatedly played host to British units.

And with these place names once central to the Army’s vocabulary, it is perhaps unsurprising that the author leaves much of the talking to veterans of the campaigns.

Packed with anecdotal first-hand accounts from across the rank spectrum and cap badges, this oral history sets out to capture the reality of fighting an unseen enemy who viewed every British soldier and, at times, their families as walking targets.

Claiming the lives of 730 Servicemen and women, these insurgents grew in sophistication with every passing day and are acknowledged in the book as wily adversaries.

One soldier told Wharton: “The IRA was not a motley crew of red-haired country bumpkins with charming picture book Irish accents and armed with obsolete World War One weapons.

“They were an implacable, increasingly professional, terrorist organisation, backed in the main by the Irish-Americans and they were very good at doing what they did best – killing us.”

It is by way of these soldiers’ stories that the book is able to delve deep into the darker side of life during the war in Northern Ireland.

The author has gone beyond the mainstream and included the tragedy and trauma suffered by the many bereaved Service families who lost their loved ones.

Among the numerous, wide-ranging accounts are episodes of friendliness, violence, danger and tragedy. Amid the barrage of taunts, petrol bombs and insults there are also some classic examples of British military humour and resilience.

The style of the book is deliberately grass roots and succeeds in its primary aim of projecting the soldier’s view of the Province and the complexities of fighting terrorism on home soil.

This tone is reinforced with a series of photographs taken on ops and donated by contributing soldiers.

Using his own intimate knowledge of the region, Wharton has linked hundreds of accounts together in a logical and engaging manner. Although not intended as a history of the operation, this lengthy narrative is compelling and encompasses every facet of soldiering in a campaign in which the British Army had to be lucky everyday, but the terrorists only had to be lucky once.

Indeed, Bullets, Bombs and Cups of Tea is closer to being a full portrait of the soldiers’ experience than a snap-shot.

Those interviewed have told their stories in the frankest fashion – a fitting testimony to the 300,000 soldiers that carried out what was for many a thankless task in the streets and ditches of Northern Ireland.

A weighty read, but a must for anybody wanting to gain some insight into the thinking of the soldier of the not-too-distant past.