Patrick Oliver McKearney ( irl. Pádraig Oliver McKearney ; December 1954 , Moy, county of Tiron - May 8, 1987 , Loughgall, county of Armagh) - Northern Irish Marxist , volunteer of the Irish Republican Army (“temporary” wing, East Tyrone brigade), who died during the battle against British commandos in Lafgall in May 1987.
| Patrick McCirney | |
|---|---|
| Irl. Pádraig mckearney | |
| Date of Birth | 1954 |
| Place of Birth | Mine , County Tyrone , Northern Ireland |
| Date of death | May 8, 1987 |
| Place of death | Loughgall , County Armagh , Northern Ireland |
| Affiliation |  Provisional Irish Republican Army |
| Type of army | guerrilla troops |
| Years of service | 1972-1987 |
| Rank | volunteer |
| Part | East Tyrone Brigade |
| Battles / wars | Conflict in Northern Ireland :
|
| Communications | McKirney, Sean ; McKirney, Tommy ; McKearney, Kevin (brothers) Jack McKirney (uncle) |
Content
The early years
Patrick McCirney grew up in My county Tyrone and was raised in a family of Irish Republicans. Both of his grandfathers - the maternal grandfather from the Irish county of Roscommon and the paternal grandfather from the county of Tiron - participated in the Irish War of Independence as fighters of the IRA [1] . Patrick studied at the local elementary schools of Collegeland and Moy, and also studied at St. Patrick's Academy in Dungannon, but the outbreak of conflict in Northern Ireland interrupted his studies.
IRA Service
Makkirni joined the temporary wing of the IRA and in 1972 was arrested on charges of blowing up a postal station in Mine. He spent six weeks in custody and was then released due to insufficient evidence. In December 1973, a second arrest was held on charges of illegal possession of firearms: McKearney received seven years in prison, which he spent in Long Cache and Magilligan prisons. On May 13, 1974 , Patrick’s brother, Sean McCearney, who also served in the IRA [1] [2] , died. In 1977, Patrick was released, but in August 1980 he was again convicted and already at 14 years in prison. Patrick, along with Gerard O'Callahan, another IRA volunteer, was caught by Special Forces Special Forces, seizing a STEN submachine gun from them [3] . In the same year, the elder brother of Patrick Tommy, sentenced to life imprisonment, went on a hunger strike lasting 53 days, but survived, and his brother Kevin and uncle Jack McKearney were killed by loyalists [4] .
On September 25, 1983 , 38 people escaped from Mayes prison right away , among whom was Patrick McKirney. At the beginning of next year, he returned to the IRA, becoming a fighter in the East Tyrone Brigade of the IRA. Together with the rebel Jim Lina, McKirney developed a new guerrilla warfare strategy, which consisted of attacks on the Royal Police bases of Ulster , the British Army and the Ulster Defense Regiment and the destruction of bases in order to block the supply channels of the security forces [5] . This plan was called the so-called "third phase of the war", during which the IRA decided to fight for specific territories and hold them at all costs. Unfortunately, the plan did not receive further development, as a number of militants were destroyed as a result of subsequent special operations by British forces, and the IRA missed a huge number of weapons and ammunition (especially after intercepting vehicles from Libya with 120 tons of weapons and supplies ). Makkirni himself was close in spirit to Marxism and Maoism, as was Jim Lina (a native of Monaghan County ), who proposed waging a guerrilla war following the example of the Chinese red partisans.
In 1985, Patrick Kelly became the commander of the East Tyrone Brigade, who embarked on a strategy. It was decided to attack several Royal Ulster police bases that were destroyed: those who tried to rebuild them were most often liquidated on the spot. So the Belligowley barracks were destroyed in December 1985 (after the shelling from a makeshift mortar, two policemen were killed) and the Burches base in August 1986 (a mined excavator rammed a barrier wall and flew into the air) [6] . The organizer of these attacks was precisely McKirney, who, thanks to his experience, became one of the most especially dangerous fighters of the IRA.
Doom
On May 8, 1987, eight IRA volunteers - Jim Lina, Patrick Kelly, Declan Arthurs, Sheimus Donnelly, Tony Gormley, Eugene Kelly, Gerard O'Callahan and Patrick McCirney - decided to destroy the police station in Loughgall, following his plan of attack on the Burches base. They were going to mine an excavator and ram a wall for them, and some of the militants were supposed to arrive in a minibus and fire at the site with automatic weapons. The British learned about the intentions of the militants and prepared an ambush: the SAS detachment shot all the rebels, who, however, managed to detonate the bomb [7] . McCirney was buried in his hometown five days later, exactly 13 years after the death of his brother Sean.
See also
- Loughgall during the conflict in Northern Ireland
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 Moloney, Ed. A Secret History of the IRA. - Penguin Books , 2002. - P. 307. - ISBN 0-14-101041-X .
- ↑ Malcolm Sutton. An Index of Deaths from the Conflict in Ireland . CAIN
- ↑ The SAS in Northern Ireland
- ↑ RE Kevin & Jack McKearney's death , bbc.co.uk; accessed November 7, 2015.
- ↑ Taylor, Peter. "Loughgall: playing it rough . " Daily Mail , May 8, 2001.
- ↑ Moloney, Ed. A Secret History of the IRA. - Penguin Books, 2002. - P. 314. - ISBN 0-14-101041-X .
- ↑ Malcolm Sutton. An Index of Deaths from the Conflict in Ireland (1987) . CAIN
Literature
- Ed Moloney. A Secret History of the IRA. - Penguin Books , 2002. - ISBN 0-14-101041-X .
- Dunne, Derek. Out of the maze. - Gill and Macmillan , 1988 .-- ISBN 0717116077 .
- Taylor, Peter. Provos The IRA & Sinn Féin. - Bloomsbury Publishing , 1997 .-- ISBN 0-7475-3818-2 .