Operation Banner refers to the deployment of British soldiers in Northern Ireland. This deployment can be considered as early as 1966 when violence erupted between the newly formed Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and armed Republicans.
Since soldiers first appeared on Northern Ireland’s streets on August 14 1969, the Army witnessed and was involved in some of the darkest hours of the Troubles. A total of 722 soldiers died during Operation Banner, which ran from 1969 to 2007.
The Queen’s Own Hussars, The Queen’s Royal Irish Hussars and The Queen’s Royal Hussars were all deployed to Northern Ireland at differing times for emergency tours of 4 to 6 months during the period of the Campaign.
There was also talk of introducing the military in late 1968, as the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and ‘B-Specials’ (Part-Time Police Officers) struggled to contain civil rights protests and the sectarian violence that followed.
The British government and British army commanders were, by all accounts, reluctant to put troops on the ground in Northern Ireland. Two Northern Ireland prime ministers, Terence O’Neill and James Chichester-Clark, also resisted the urge to request military assistance; to do so would be a sign their governments had lost control of the situation.
When rioting, violence and gun fighting erupted in the Bogside area of Derry in August 1969, then spread to other locations in Northern Ireland, it stretched the RUC dangerously thin. Left with no alternative, Chichester-Clark petitioned London to send in troops. This request was made on August 14th and noted in British cabinet records:
“The Cabinet Security Committee authorised a formal request for the use of troops in aid of the civil power in Londonderry at 4.45 pm, in view of the latest police reports indicating their inability to cope with a rapidly deteriorating situation.”
Over the period of Operation Banner, The Queen’s Own Hussars, The Queens Own Irish Hussars and later The Queen’s Royal Hussars would deploy to the Province in support of initially the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and later the renamed Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).
