Read Online Voices from the Grave: Two Men's War in Ireland by Ed Moloney - Free Book Online
Authors: Ed Moloney
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obviously thought that we were such devout Catholics that we wouldn’t fire on a Saracen with a holy picture on the front of it. They were sadly mistaken. It was only a picture .
… there was constant activity from the different call houses that we had. Every day there would be a different call house, every day the weapons were being used, every day there were Volunteers out in what was called the ‘float’ which meant you had a driver – you had to steal a car – possibly one or two men in the back seat, just driving around looking for targets. While that was taking place, it was quite normal for another squad of men – and women – to go and rob a bank, or carry out a bombing mission in the city centre … D Com pany was very active there as well … my only agenda in that period in the 1970s was to fight the war, to plant as many bombs as I could, to rob as many banks as I could, to kill as many Brits and RUC as I could, to develop the war to a higher level than it was …
… there wasn’t a [British] regiment that came into the Falls area that didn’t go out with casualties, and the reason for that was that we were on standby twenty-four hours a day. There was one particular day, we were all sitting in the call house and, for some strange reason, an open-back jeep came in through McDonnell Street, across Leeson Street and up Cyprus Street – now they [had] pulled open-back jeeps off the streets a year before. Whether it was an act of bravado or an act of stupidity I still do not know. At this time the British Army would never come in unless they [were] heavily armed and in armoured cars. This particular day we weren’t expecting anything like this; we were in an area that was practically liberated. I had been over every yard wall in the Lower Falls area, through every back door, through most people’s houses, everybody knew who we were. Here was something that just came out of the blue … It was a crazy fucking thing to do, because we walked round the area with weapons over our shoulders, just walking through the streets … I mean, it would be like sending an American open-back jeep into Viet Cong territory in Vietnam. It was just so unbelievable [that] actually we thought this could be a set-up. But we were so confident and in such control of the area at that time that instinct took over: ‘There’s a target’ and ‘Hit it.’ By the time the jeep had got to Varna Gap, we had an ambush set up. I often wonder what the hell happened; were they doing it for a bet or was it a mistake? When I think back on it now, it frightens the life out of me. And them poor Brits, whoever they were, and for whatever the reason drove into Varna Gap and they were just wiped out! † You know. There were three dead. I think one survived, but the jeep was just cut to pieces . 19
I’d gone from Volunteer to Quarter Master, to Adjutant and at this stage I was O/C, and it was just an opportunity that could not be missed … but then it wasn’t the first time that this had happened. Some months before, two soldiers had been sent into the area in the middle of the night under cover, and they were caught. The Official IRA got one and D Company got the other one. The one D Company got was shot in Sorella Street, just facing the Royal Victoria Hospital. The other one the Official IRA allowed to go free. I believed that the Official IRA were in contact at all times with the British Army, and that this had started back in 1969, 1970, when the British Army was based in Mulhouse Street Mill … they used to have meetings [with the British] in the Bush Bar and I believed that the Officials held their man there that night, and were in contact with the British in Mulhouse Street. Whether there was a deal or not, that they got something for releasing him, I do not know, but it would not surprise me. In the case of the soldier caught by D Company, he wasn’t unarmed, he was armed, he was the enemy, and was seen as that.
… there was constant activity from the different call houses that we had. Every day there would be a different call house, every day the weapons were being used, every day there were Volunteers out in what was called the ‘float’ which meant you had a driver – you had to steal a car – possibly one or two men in the back seat, just driving around looking for targets. While that was taking place, it was quite normal for another squad of men – and women – to go and rob a bank, or carry out a bombing mission in the city centre … D Com pany was very active there as well … my only agenda in that period in the 1970s was to fight the war, to plant as many bombs as I could, to rob as many banks as I could, to kill as many Brits and RUC as I could, to develop the war to a higher level than it was …
… there wasn’t a [British] regiment that came into the Falls area that didn’t go out with casualties, and the reason for that was that we were on standby twenty-four hours a day. There was one particular day, we were all sitting in the call house and, for some strange reason, an open-back jeep came in through McDonnell Street, across Leeson Street and up Cyprus Street – now they [had] pulled open-back jeeps off the streets a year before. Whether it was an act of bravado or an act of stupidity I still do not know. At this time the British Army would never come in unless they [were] heavily armed and in armoured cars. This particular day we weren’t expecting anything like this; we were in an area that was practically liberated. I had been over every yard wall in the Lower Falls area, through every back door, through most people’s houses, everybody knew who we were. Here was something that just came out of the blue … It was a crazy fucking thing to do, because we walked round the area with weapons over our shoulders, just walking through the streets … I mean, it would be like sending an American open-back jeep into Viet Cong territory in Vietnam. It was just so unbelievable [that] actually we thought this could be a set-up. But we were so confident and in such control of the area at that time that instinct took over: ‘There’s a target’ and ‘Hit it.’ By the time the jeep had got to Varna Gap, we had an ambush set up. I often wonder what the hell happened; were they doing it for a bet or was it a mistake? When I think back on it now, it frightens the life out of me. And them poor Brits, whoever they were, and for whatever the reason drove into Varna Gap and they were just wiped out! † You know. There were three dead. I think one survived, but the jeep was just cut to pieces . 19
I’d gone from Volunteer to Quarter Master, to Adjutant and at this stage I was O/C, and it was just an opportunity that could not be missed … but then it wasn’t the first time that this had happened. Some months before, two soldiers had been sent into the area in the middle of the night under cover, and they were caught. The Official IRA got one and D Company got the other one. The one D Company got was shot in Sorella Street, just facing the Royal Victoria Hospital. The other one the Official IRA allowed to go free. I believed that the Official IRA were in contact at all times with the British Army, and that this had started back in 1969, 1970, when the British Army was based in Mulhouse Street Mill … they used to have meetings [with the British] in the Bush Bar and I believed that the Officials held their man there that night, and were in contact with the British in Mulhouse Street. Whether there was a deal or not, that they got something for releasing him, I do not know, but it would not surprise me. In the case of the soldier caught by D Company, he wasn’t unarmed, he was armed, he was the enemy, and was seen as that.
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