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Active service unit

Active service unit at a 1981 hunger strikes commemoration in Galbally, County Tyrone , 2009, as part of a re-enactment. The weapons are a Beretta AR70 , a MAC-10 machine pistol...

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Active service unit at a 1981 hunger strikes commemoration in Galbally, County Tyrone, 2009, as part of a re-enactment. The weapons are a Beretta AR70, a MAC-10 machine pistol (with sound suppressor) and an AK-47 assault rifle.
Wall plaque in Great Denmark Street, Dublin where the 1919 IRA Active Service Unit of the Dublin Brigade was founded. Every Brigade had an Active Service Unit; these were also called "Flying Columns."

An active service unit (ASU; Irish: aonad seirbhíse cogúla)[1][2] was a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) cell of four to ten members, tasked with carrying out armed attacks.[3] In 2002, the IRA had about 1,000 active members of which about 300 were in active service units.[4] The concept was first pioneered by Tom McEllistrim and other members of the Irish Republican Army.

History

In 1977, the IRA moved away from the larger conventional military organisational principle owing to its perceived security vulnerability. In place of the battalion structures, a system of two parallel types of unit within an IRA Brigade was introduced. Firstly, the old "company" structures were used to supply auxiliary members for support activities such as intelligence-gathering, acting as lookouts or moving weapons.[5]

The bulk of attacks from 1977 onwards were the responsibility of a second type of unit, the ASU. To improve security and operational capacity these ASUs were smaller, tight-knit cells, usually consisting of five to eight members, for carrying out armed attacks. The ASU's weapons were controlled by a quartermaster under the direct control of the IRA leadership.[6] By the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was estimated that the IRA had roughly 300 members in ASUs and approximately 450 serving in supporting roles.[7]

La excepción a esta reorganización fue la Brigada de South Armagh , que conservó su jerarquía y estructura de batallón tradicionales y empleó un número relativamente elevado de voluntarios en sus acciones. [ 8 ] Algunas operaciones, como el ataque al puesto de control de Cloghogue o los escuadrones de francotiradores de South Armagh , involucraron hasta 20 voluntarios, la mayoría de ellos en funciones de apoyo. [ 9 ]

La organización paramilitar republicana más pequeña, el INLA, también utilizó el término "unidad de servicio activo", [ 10 ] al igual que los grupos paramilitares lealistas Ulster Volunteer Force [ 11 ] y Ulster Defence Association .

Véase también

Referencias

  1. ^ "Achtanna Den Oireachtas a Ritheadh ​​Sa Bhlia [ i ] n...: 1937" . Oficina de Papelería. 8 de marzo de 1937 - a través de Google Books.
  2. ↑ «Ní Neart go cur le Chéile | An Phoblacht» . www.anphoblacht.com .
  3. ↑ Leahy, Thomas (2020). La guerra de inteligencia contra el IRA . Cambridge University Press . pág. 89. ISBN  978-1108487504.
  4. ↑ Moloney, Ed (2002). Una historia secreta del IRA . Penguin Books . págs. xiv. ISBN  0-14-101041-X.
  5. ↑ O'Hearn, página 19
  6. ↑ Bowyer Bell Página 437
  7. ↑ O'Brien, pág. 161
  8. ↑ Moloney, pág. 377
  9. ↑ Harnden, Toby (2000). Bandit Country: The IRA and South Armagh . Coronet books. pp . 404. ISBN  0-340-71737-8.
  10. ↑ "Copia archivada" (PDF) . Archivado del original el 26 de febrero de 2019. Consultado el 16 de agosto de 2020 .{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: copia archivada como título ( enlace ) CS1 maint: bot: estado de la URL original desconocido ( enlace )
  11. ↑ "Declaración de la Fuerza Voluntaria del Ulster (UVF), (3 de mayo de 2007)" . CAIN . Consultado el 11 de agosto de 2020 .

Bibliografía

  • O'Hearn, Denis. Bobby Sands: Nothing but an Unfinished Song , Pluto, ISBN 0-7453-2572-6
  • Bell, J. Bowyer . El ejército secreto: el IRA , 1997, 3.ª edición, ISBN 1-85371-813-0
  • Moloney Ed , La historia secreta del IRA , Penguin, Londres 2002, ISBN 0-14-101041-X
  • O'Brien, Brendan, La larga guerra: el IRA y el Sinn Féin . O'Brien Press, Dublín, 1995, ISBN 0-86278-359-3
  • Unidades de Apoyo de Ejército (ASU) en la Guerra de Independencia irlandesa.