The Military Workshop
1st Lieutenant
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2005
- Messages
- 4,778
Came across this book review today and certainly the opening para is quite out of the ordinary and reads as :
"I took up William Matchett's splendid book as someone who, in August, 1974, murdered Inspector Peter Flanagan of RUC in a County Tyrone public house. I am deeply ashamed of that act. Like many young Irish republicans before me I thought I was fighting for Irish freedom. I was not".
and his line "I make absolutely no apology for saluting the brave men and women of RUC Special Branch".
Reviewer is former IRA and the book is
Secret Victory: The Intelligence War That Beat the IRA
by William Matchett
William Matchett, 2016, 272 pages
You will note it is self published as Matchett could not find a publisher.
Also a good time to remember from 40 years ago Captain Nairac GC (my Dad was a Captain in the Intelligence Corps and I remember the news story having a big impression on me) :
Captain Robert Laurence Nairac GC (31 August 1948 –15 May 1977) was a British Army officer who was abducted from a pub in Dromintee, south County Armagh, during an undercover operation and murdered by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) on his fourth tour of duty in Northern Ireland as a Military Intelligence Liaison Officer. He was posthumously awarded the George Cross in 1979 ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Nairac ).
Full review at http://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2017/04/heroes-dirty-war and other references online.
"I took up William Matchett's splendid book as someone who, in August, 1974, murdered Inspector Peter Flanagan of RUC in a County Tyrone public house. I am deeply ashamed of that act. Like many young Irish republicans before me I thought I was fighting for Irish freedom. I was not".
and his line "I make absolutely no apology for saluting the brave men and women of RUC Special Branch".
Reviewer is former IRA and the book is
Secret Victory: The Intelligence War That Beat the IRA
by William Matchett
William Matchett, 2016, 272 pages
You will note it is self published as Matchett could not find a publisher.
Also a good time to remember from 40 years ago Captain Nairac GC (my Dad was a Captain in the Intelligence Corps and I remember the news story having a big impression on me) :
Captain Robert Laurence Nairac GC (31 August 1948 –15 May 1977) was a British Army officer who was abducted from a pub in Dromintee, south County Armagh, during an undercover operation and murdered by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) on his fourth tour of duty in Northern Ireland as a Military Intelligence Liaison Officer. He was posthumously awarded the George Cross in 1979 ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Nairac ).
Full review at http://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2017/04/heroes-dirty-war and other references online.
Last edited: