7th/10th Battalion, Ulster Defence Regiment explained

See also: Ulster Defence Regiment.

See also: List of battalions and locations of the Ulster Defence Regiment.

Unit Name:7th/10th (City of Belfast) Battalion
Ulster Defence Regiment
Dates:1984–1992
Country: United Kingdom
Branch:British Army
Type:Infantry battalion
Role:Internal Security
Size:750
Garrison:Lisburn
Garrison Label:Regimental Headquarters
March:(Quick) Garryowen & Sprig of Shillelagh.
(Slow) Oft in the Stilly Night
Motto:"Quis Separabit"
"Who Shall Separate Us?"
Commander1:First: General Sir John Anderson GBE, KCB, DSO.
Last: General Sir Charles Huxtable, KCB, CBE, DL
Commander1 Label:Colonel Commandant
Commander2:Colonel Sir Dennis Faulkner CBE
Commander2 Label:Colonel of the Regiment

The 7th/10th (City of Belfast) Battalion, Ulster Defence Regiment was formed in 1984 as a result of an amalgamation between the 7th Battalion Ulster Defence Regiment and the 10th Battalion Ulster Defence Regiment. The resultant 7/10 UDR was subsumed into the Royal Irish Rangers in 1992 as part of the amalgamation which formed the Royal Irish Regiment.

Uniform, armament & equipment

See: Ulster Defence Regiment Uniform, armament & equipment

Music

In 1990 and 1991 the pipes and drums of 7/10 UDR came second in the European piping championships.[1]

The Stephens Enquiry

In 1989, twenty-eight UDR soldiers were arrested as part of Stevens Inquiry into alleged collusion with loyalist paramilitaries.[2] Twenty-six belonged to the same company of 7/10 UDR.[3] Six were later awarded damages.[4] One was charged with activities linked to loyalist paramilitaries. The Stephens team caused "intense anger" as three hundred police had been used to surround the homes of suspects. This had identified them as UDR soldiers to their neighbours, potentially putting their lives at risk. Eleven moved house as a result and the homes of eighteen others were provided with "additional security measures" at a cost of £25,000.

IRA infiltration?

At the start of June 1987, three attacks were made against soldiers of the same company of the battalion, including Private John Tracey who was shot dead as he started a new job on apartments off the Lisburn Road, Belfast. The Belfast Newsletter reported that 7/10 UDR had been infiltrated by the IRA. The commanding officer accepted that someone must have informed on him but denied that the IRA had been able to penetrate the battalion calling the allegation a "wild rumour".Yet to this day no one has been held accountable for his murder that left his wife and six children without a father or a husband.[5]

See also

Bibliography

Notes and References

  1. Potter p383
  2. Web site: A Chronology of the Conflict – 1989. CAIN. 10 April 2008.
  3. Potter 2001, pp. 329–33
  4. Web site: Collusion – Chronology of Events in the Stevens Inquiries=. CAIN. 12 April 2008.
  5. Hamilton 302