Operation Conservation

British Army gun battle with the IRA in 1990

Operation Conservation

Part of The Troubles and Operation Banner

A British Army position near Cullyhanna in the aftermath of the operation, 7 May 1990
| Date| 6 May 1990

|

Location|

Cullyhanna, County Armagh

54°7′55.72″N 6°34′57.10″W﻿ / ﻿54.1321444°N 6.5825278°W﻿ / 54.1321444; -6.5825278
Result|  IRA victory
Belligerents
Provisional IRA|

United Kingdom

* British Army

Commanders and leaders
Unknown|  Lance Sergeant
Graham Stewart †
Strength
1 ASU|  1 Infantry section
Casualties and losses
None|  1 killed

class=notpageimage|

Location within Northern Ireland

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The Troubles
in Ireland

1960s and 1970s

* Battle of the Bogside/1969 riots
* RTÉ bombing
* Operation Banner
* Battle of St Matthew's
* Falls Curfew
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* Andersonstown incident
* Garryhinch ambush
* 1976 Balmoral bombing
* Jonesborough Gazelle shootdown
* La Mon restaurant bombing
* Warrenpoint ambush
* Dungannon land mine attack

* * *

1980s

* Dunmurry train bombing
* Lough Foyle attacks
* Altnaveigh landmine attack
* Glasdrumman ambush
* Divis Flats bombing
* Droppin Well bombing
* Ballygawley land mine attack
* Darkley killings
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* Strabane ambush
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* Corporals killings
* Avenue Bar shooting
* Lisburn van bombing
* Aughanduff Lynx shootdown
* Ballygawley bus bombing
* Drumnakilly ambush
* Jonesborough ambush
* Derryard checkpoint attack

* * *

1990s

* Derrygorry Gazelle shootdown
* Downpatrick landmine attack
* Operation Conservation
* Armagh City roadside bombing
* Fort Victoria
* Proxy bombings
* Lough Neagh ambush
* Silverbridge Lynx shootdown
* Mullacreevie ambush
* Cappagh killings
* Craigavon mobile shop killings
* Glenanne barracks bombing
* Coagh ambush
* Musgrave Park Hospital bombing
* Craigavon Hyster killings
* Teebane bombing
* Sinn Féin Headquarters shooting
* Sean Graham bookmakers' shooting
* Clonoe ambush
* Cloghoge checkpoint attack
* Coalisland riots
* South Armagh sniper campaign
* Forensic Lab bombing
* James Murray's bookmakers attack
* Castlerock killings
* Cullaville occupation
* Battle of Newry Road
* Shankill Road bombing
* Greysteel massacre
* Fivemiletown ambush
* Crossmaglen Lynx shootdown
* 1994 Shankill Road killings
* Loughinisland massacre
* Killeeshil ambush
* Drumcree conflict
* Thiepval barracks bombing
* Coalisland attack
* 1997 riots
* Quinn brothers' killings
* Banbridge bombing
* Omagh bombing

* * *

See also: The Troubles in Britain & Europe, Assassinations during the Troubles, and Loyalist feud

Operation Conservation was an attempt by the British Army to ambush a large Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) unit along the Dorsey Enclosure, between Cullyhanna and Silverbridge, in south County Armagh. The action took place on 6 May 1990 but was thwarted by the South Armagh Brigade of the IRA.

## British plan

[edit]

The British Army, in the hope of luring a large IRA active service unit into attacking an entrenched Light Infantry unit, deployed its troops around the route between Cullyhanna and Silverbridge. A machine-gun ambush had taken place on another Light Infantry patrol on 28 April near the same area. More than 180 rounds were fired and a soldier was wounded in the leg.[1] The main position was to be surrounded and watched by 16 concealed sections belonging to the 2nd Battalion Scots Guards. The goal was to surprise and kill any IRA unit attempting to penetrate the area.[2]

## The action

[edit]

The troops were inserted into the zone in the early hours of 3 May. The South Armagh Brigade of the IRA watched these movements and was able to spot several of the hidden observation posts (OPs). Eventually, they decided to attack one of the British positions at Slatequarry,[1] near Cullyhanna, which was the most exposed.[2] According to the writer David McKittrick, the British soldiers were lured to an open field after seeing smoke coming from the chimney of a derelict building.[3]

Just after midnight on the night of 5/6 May, the exposed British position began to receive machine-gun fire from an IRA unit emplaced on the slope of a nearby hill some 400 yards away. The IRA members had built firing positions with stones around an abandoned house, and concealed them with green military veils. The OP was fired on by two 7.62 mm General purpose machine guns (GPMGs) and a Heckler & Koch G3 rifle; the latter used to cover the retirement of the machine-gun crews towards Slatequarry road, where a vehicle was waiting to pick them up. A bomb was planted between the OP and the road to prevent any attempt to give chase. The shooting lasted some 90 seconds and 316 rounds were exchanged by the two sides, 188 by the IRA and 128 by the Scots Guards. The patrol commander Lance Sergeant Graham Stewart was hit and died of wounds the following day.[2]

## Aftermath

[edit]

H&K G3, the type of rifle used by the IRA team to cover its withdrawal

The counter-ambush defeated the British operation and the officer in charge cancelled it.[4] He later stated that

> In military terms, it was one of the IRA's finest attacks in South Armagh. They picked out the COP team in the most exposed position. With hindsight, it was the one weak link in the operation and it says something for the IRA's tactical and field skills that they identified that fact before we did.

After the incident, another British senior officer concluded that a skilful machine-gun crew was operating near Cullyhanna.[2] On 20 September, another soldier was hit and severely wounded in that area by machine-gun fire during an attack on a 1st Cheshire Regiment patrol at Drumalt. On 26 September there was another casualty when a helicopter was hit as it landed at Newtownhamilton and a soldier was wounded in the abdomen.[1] The IRA unit responsible for the ambushes was nicknamed the "Cullyhanna Gun Club" by the British army.[5] The writer Toby Harnden suggests that the IRA show of force proved again that they could dispute the ground to the troops everywhere in South Armagh due to its better knowledge of the terrain and good camouflage.[6]

Lance Sergeant Stewart was 24 at the time of his death. He was buried with full military honours in his home town of Perth, Scotland on 11 May 1990.[7]

## See also

[edit]

* Chronology of Provisional Irish Republican Army actions (1990–1999)
* South Armagh Sniper (1990–1997)
* Attack on Cloghogue checkpoint
* Battle of Newry Road
* Glasdrumman ambush

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ a b c O'Brien, page 207
2. ^ a b c d Harnden, pp. 394–395
3. ^ McKittrick, David (1999), Lost lives, Mainstream, p. 1198; ISBN 1-84018-227-X
4. ^ "As soon as Lance Sergeant Stewart was killed, we pulled out all covert and overt troops and abandoned the operation." Harnden, page 395
5. ^ Harnden, page 395
6. ^ "Even before the single-shot sniping attacks began to take their toll, the capacity of IRA gun teams to engage troops on equal terms had become a major headache for the Army....They can observe, they can pick the time, they can pick the place, they can pick the weapons and they know the terrain....Once again, the enemy used dead ground to their advantage." Harnden, pp. 393–395
7. ^ Guard's Funeral, Glasgow Daily Herald, 11 May 1990.

## References

[edit]

* Harnden, Toby (2000). Bandit Country: The IRA & South Armagh, Coronet books; ISBN 0-340-71737-8
* O'Brien, Brendan (1999). The Long War: The IRA and Sinn Féin, Syracuse University Press; ISBN 0-8156-0597-8

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Provisional Irish Republican Army

General|

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Organisation|

* Chief of Staff
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* Belfast Brigade
* Derry Brigade
* South Armagh Brigade
* East Tyrone Brigade
* Balcombe Street Gang

Actions|

| 1970–1979|

* Battle of St Matthew's
* Falls Curfew
* 1970 Crossmaglen bombing
* Scottish soldiers' killings
* Red Lion bombing
* Balmoral showroom bombing
* Abercorn bombing
* Donegall Street bombing
* Battle at Springmartin
* Battle of Lenadoon
* Bloody Friday
* Claudy bombing
* Newry customs bombing
* Old Bailey bombing
* Honey Trap killings
* King's Cross & Euston bombings
* Coleraine bombings
* 1973 Westminster bombing
* M62 bombing
* Clogher attack
* Houses of Parliament bombing
* Tower of London bombing
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* Harrow School bombing
* Brooks's Club bombing
* Woolwich pub bombing
* British Airways bombing attempt
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* Talbot Arms bombing
* Bristol bombing
* Telephone exchange bombings
* 1974 Oxford Street bombing
* Carlton Tower & Portman Hotel shootings
* Mountainview attack
* Bayardo Bar attack
* Forkhill attack
* Caterham Arms bombing
* Tullyvallen massacre
* London Hilton bombing
* Piccadilly bombing
* Trattoria Fiore bombing
* Scott's Oyster Bar bombing
* Walton's Restaurant bombing
* Drummuckavall ambush
* Balcombe Street siege
* Kingsmill massacre
* West Ham station attack
* Olympia bombing
* Walker's Bar attack
* Stag Inn attack
* Garryhinch ambush
* Jonesborough Gazelle downing
* La Mon restaurant bombing
* Crossmaglen ambush
* Warrenpoint ambush
* Brussels bombing
* Dungannon attack

|

1980–1989|

* Dunmurry train bombing
* Lough Foyle attacks
* Glasdrumman ambush
* 1981 Bessbrook attack
* Chelsea Barracks bombing
* Hyde Park & Regent's Park bombings
* Harrods bombing
* Royal Artillery Barracks bombing
* Brighton hotel bombing
* Ballygawley land mine attack
* Newry mortar attack
* Ballygawley attack
* Enniskillen mortar attack
* RUC Birches barracks attack
* Rheindahlen bombing
* Loughgall ambush
* Operation Flavius
* Corporals killings
* Lisburn bombing
* Aughanduff Lynx shootdown
* 1988 Netherlands attacks
* Glamorgan barracks bombing
* Inglis Barracks bombing
* Ballygawley bus bombing
* Jonesborough ambush
* Clive Barracks bombing
* Deal barracks bombing
* Mayobridge attack
* Derryard attack

1990–1991|

* Derrygorry Gazelle downing
* South Armagh sniper
* Downpatrick roadside bomb
* Operation Conservation
* 1990 Wembley bombing
* Carlton Club bombing
* London Stock Exchange bombing
* Honourable Artillery Company bombing
* Lichfield gun attack
* RFA Fort Victoria bombing
* Proxy bombings
* Downing Street mortar attack
* Paddington & Victoria station bombings
* Mullacreevie ambush
* Glenanne barracks bombing
* Coagh ambush
* Musgrave Park Hospital bombing
* Crumlin Road Prison bombing

1992–1997|

* Teebane bombing
* Clonoe ambush
* London Bridge bombing
* Staples Cnr bombing
* Baltic Exchange bombing
* Sussex Arms bombing
* Cloghoge attack
* Coalisland riots
* Forensic Science Laboratory bombing
* Stoke Newington Road bomb
* 1992 Manchester bombing
* Night of the Long Knives
* 1993 Harrods bombing
* Warrington bombings
* Cullaville occupation
* Camden bombing
* Bishopsgate bombing
* Finchley Road bombings
* Battle of Newry Road
* Shankill Road bombing
* 1993 Fivemiletown ambush
* Heathrow attacks
* Crossmaglen Lynx downing
* Drumcree conflict
* Docklands bombing
* Aldwych bus bombing
* 1996 Manchester bombing
* Hammersmith Bridge bombing
* Osnabrück mortar attack
* Thiepval barracks bombing
* Coalisland attack
* 1997 Northern Ireland riots

Personalities
(Volunteers)|

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Espionage and
Supergrasses|

* Eamon Collins
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Associates|

* Cumann na mBan
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* South Armagh Republican Action Force
* Direct Action Against Drugs
* NORAID
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* Troops Out Movement

Derivatives|

* Continuity Irish Republican Army
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Prominent
killings|

* Jeffery Stanford Agate
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* Anthony Berry
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* Joe Bratty
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* Martin Cahill
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* Raymond Elder
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* Christopher Ewart-Biggs
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* Jean McConville
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* Stephen Melrose
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* Lenny Murphy
* Robert Nairac
* Thomas Oliver
* Tim Parry
* Paul Quinn
* Robert Seymour
* Robert McCartney (allegedly)
* Joseph Rafferty (allegedly)
* Ray Smallwoods
* Sammy Smyth
* Nick Spanos
* James Stronge
* Norman Stronge
* Richard Sykes
* Stephen Tibble
* Sammy Ward
* Michael Willetts

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The Troubles

Participants

State security forces

United Kingdom

* British Army (Ulster Defence Regiment
* Force Research Unit)
* Royal Ulster Constabulary (Ulster Special Constabulary)

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Ireland

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Vigilantes

* Direct Action Against Drugs

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Ulster loyalist paramilitaries

* Ulster Volunteer Force
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Vigilantes

* Ulster Protestant Action
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Major events

* 1967–1972
* Northern Ireland civil rights movement
* 1969
* NI riots
* 1970
* Falls Curfew
* 1971
* Operation Demetrius
* Ballymurphy massacre
* McGurk's Bar bombing
* Balmoral showroom bombing
* 1972
* Bloody Sunday
* Abercorn Restaurant bombing
* Donegall Street bombing
* Beginning of direct rule
* Bloody Friday
* Operation Motorman
* Old Bailey bombing
* Sunningdale Agreement
* 1974
* M62 coach bombing
* Ulster Workers' Council strike
* Dublin & Monaghan bombings
* Guildford pub bombings
* Birmingham pub bombings
* 1975
* Miami Showband killings
* Bayardo Bar attack
* Tullyvallen massacre
* Balcombe Street siege
* 1976
* Reavey and O'Dowd killings
* Kingsmill massacre
* 1978
* La Mon restaurant bombing
* Jonesborough Gazelle downing
* 1979
* Warrenpoint ambush
* 1981
* Republican hunger strike
* 1982
* Droppin Well bombing
* 1983
* Maze Prison escape
* 1984
* Brighton hotel bombing
* 1985
* Newry mortar attack
* Anglo-Irish Agreement
* 1987
* Loughgall ambush
* Remembrance Day bombing
* 1988
* Start of peace process
* Operation Flavius
* Milltown Cemetery attack
* Corporals killings
* IRA attacks in the Netherlands
* Aughanduff Lynx shootdown
* Ballygawley bus bombing
* 1989
* Deal barracks bombing
* Attack on Derryard checkpoint
* 1990–1997
* South Armagh sniper campaign
* 1990
* Augher Lynx shootdown
* Proxy bombings
* 1991
* Downing Street mortar attack
* Cappagh killings
* 1992
* Teebane bombing
* Sinn Féin Headquarters shooting
* Sean Graham bookmakers' shooting
* 1993
* Warrington bombings
* Bishopsgate bombing
* Shankill Road bombing
* Greysteel massacre
* Downing Street Declaration
* 1994
* Crossmaglen Lynx downing
* Loughinisland massacre
* Ceasefires of the Provisional IRA, UVF, UDA and RHC
* 1996
* Docklands bombing
* Manchester bombing
* 1997
* NI riots
* Second IRA ceasefire
* 1998
* Good Friday Agreement
* Omagh bombing

Political parties

Irish republican parties

* Sinn Féin
* Official Sinn Féin
* Republican Sinn Féin
* Irish Republican Socialist Party
* Communist Party of Ireland
* Irish Independence Party
* Republican Socialist Collective
* Unity

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Ulster loyalist parties

* Ulster Unionist Party
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