Caterham Arms pub bombing

Caterham Arms Pub Bombing
Part of the Troubles
The Caterham Arms in 2009
Location Caterham, Surrey, England
Date 27 August 1975
21:20 (GMT)
Target British Army soldiers, British civilians
Attack type
 Time bombs
Deaths 0
Non-fatal injuries
 33
Perpetrator Provisional IRA
Provisional IRA's Balcombe Street Gang

On 27 August 1975 a Provisional IRA bomb exploded without warning at the Caterham Arms public house in Caterham, Surrey, England. There were no fatalities but 33 people were injured, some severely. Two off-duty soldiers lost their legs as a result of the bombing.

Background

In February 1975 the Provisional Irish Republican Army agreed to a truce and ceasefire with the British government and the Northern Ireland Office. Seven "incident centres" were established in Irish nationalist areas in Northern Ireland to monitor the ceasefire and the activity of the security forces.[1] Before the truce, the IRA active service unit (ASU) later dubbed the Balcombe Street Gang (due to the December 1975 Balcombe Street siege) had been bombing targets in England since the autumn of 1974,[2] particularly in London and surrounding areas. Their last attack was an assassination attempt on former Prime Minister Edward Heath but he was not home when the attackers threw a bomb into his bedroom window on 22 December 1974.[3]

The bombing

The IRA active service unit planted a time bomb in the Caterham Arms public house in Caterham, Surrey. The IRA unit placed the 7lb bomb in a duffel bag under a seat. There was no warning and the bomb exploded at 9:20pm, injuring 23 civilians and 10 off-duty soldiers. The pub was used by members of the Welsh Guards who were based at the barracks nearby. Some of the injuries were very serious and two soldiers had their legs blown off. The blast blew the roof off the pub in the process. This attack marked the start of a renewed bombing campaign (Phase Two) in England and the end of the truce with the British Government.[4] The next day, the same IRA unit exploded a bomb in Oxford Street, injuring several people.[5]

Aftermath

One of the officers in charge of the investigation into the bombing described it as a "carbon copy" of the Guildford pub bombings for which four people were already serving their sentences. The gang's bombing campaign would continue until December 1975 when they were caught at the siege of Balcombe Street. The unit would eventually end up planting close to 50 bombs in London and elsewhere in southern England and carrying out several shootings which, along with the bombings, caused the deaths of nearly 20 people, injured hundreds and caused millions of pounds worth of damage to property.[6][7]

News report and interview with witness

  • "Provisional IRA blow up the Caterham Arms Soldiers Pub - 27 August 1975 - YouTube". youtube.com.

Part 2

  • "Provisional IRA blow up the Caterham Arms Soldiers Pub - 27 August 1975 - Part 2 - YouTube". youtube.com. [8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch75.htm#Feb
  2. ↑ http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch74.htm#Oct
  3. ↑ http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch74.htm#221274
  4. ↑ "CAIN: PRONI Public Records on CAIN Web". ulst.ac.uk.
  5. ↑ "CAIN: PRONI Public Records on CAIN Web". ulst.ac.uk.
  6. ↑ http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch75.htm
  7. ↑ http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch75.htm#61275
  8. ↑ https://www.youtube.com

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