Category: British Army
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Learning to kill
Frank Kitson’s first overseas military assignment was to Germany, in 1946, with the rank of second lieutenant. He remained there for seven years. He found plenty of sport to occupy his spare time such as racing horses in Rhine Army competitions, trout fishing and ‘many wonderful opportunities for shooting … and by shooting I don’t…
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How Soldier F was named and why he is still being protected by the British Establishment.
David Cleary is the real name of Soldier F. He is the former lance corporal responsible for leading the cold-blooded and calculated murder spree committed by the EFGH unit of Support Company of 1 Para on Bloody Sunday. Maj. General Patrick MacLellan helped me when I was writing ‘Kitson’s Irish War‘. MacLellan passed away in…
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The Bloody Sunday Plot.
Introduction. The official position of the British Government relating to Bloody Sunday is based on the 2010 report of Lord Saville of Newdigate, i.e., that a group of paratroopers engaged in the massacre of thirteen innocent people in Derry, with a fourteenth dying later, for no reason. Unfortunately, Saville ignored or discounted substantial evidence indicating…
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Mobile torture chamber.
Introduction. The brutality displayed by David Cleary (Soldier F) and Ron Cook (Soldier G) of 1 Para on Bloody Sunday in Derry on 30 January 1972 was not an aberration. After murdering a string of unarmed civilians, they were taken to Fort George, where they beat up a group of innocent prisoners, including a priest.…
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Soldier G.
By David Burke. Soldier G was Soldier F’s ‘partner’. Both soldiers served with the Support Company of 1 Para. Soldier F’s real name is David Cleary. Soldier G was Ronald Alan Cook. Cook was a private in 1 Para on Bloody Sunday. His military number was 24180769. He was probably 21 at the time of…
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Kitson, Afghanistan and Iraq.
By David Burke. 1. The counter-insurgency gurus. From 1970 to 1972, Brigadier (later General Sir) Frank Kitson served as Brigadier of 39 Brigade in Belfast. Some argue he damaged relations between the British government and the Nationalist community more than any other individual in the British Army. This website has many stories about Kitson, and…
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Prime Suspects.
Introduction: Margaret Thatcher, MI5 and the cold-blooded murder of an Irish lawyer. The independent public inquiry into the murder of Patrick Finucane hopes to examine ‘to what extent were his killers encouraged, assisted, protected or directed’ by the British state, at least according to barrister Matthew Hill, its lead counsel. He added that, ‘There is…
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‘EFGH’
By David Burke. 1. ‘No other perpetrator involved would be given anonymity, for some reason, Soldier F is a protected species.’ In 2021, Colum Eastwood MP of the SDLP was named ‘Soldier F ’ in the House of Commons, under privilege. ‘Soldier F’ had faced murder charges for his actions on Bloody Sunday, which…
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Kitson’s Private Army.
By David Burke. Brigadier Frank Kitson ran the 39th Airborne Brigade area, i.e. Belfast, as if he were a mob boss with the city ashis patch. He let the paratroopers under his command run riot in that domain. Some of the more decent and honourable British Army officers were aghast at their excesses and asked…
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Bring back The Phoenix Part II: 50+ espionage and dirty trick stories from 2024.
Click on the link below to read a selection of stories from The Phoenix 2024, including: Brig. Frank Kitson’s dirty war; what really happened on Bloody Sunday (not the nonsense in the Savile Inquiry report); Patrick Crinnion, MI6’s spy inside the Gardaí; the Dublin and Monaghan bombings; Barrie Gane of MI6; Freddie Scappaticci; the Kincora…
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Bring back The Phoenix. In the meantime here are approximately 30 dirty trick intelligence stories from 2020 to 2023.
The Phoenix ceased publication in June 2026. The magazine was the only real source of articles about collusion, the Dublin-Monaghan bombings, Kincora, MI5 dirty tricks and attacks on Irish neutrality, etc, on Irish newsstands. It has to be brought back – somehow. Otherwise, we will be relying on The Irish Times and other similar publications…
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From the Vaults: Capt. Robert Nairac.
Many articles, books and documentaries have been written about Capt. Robert Nairac, who was killed by Republicans on 15 May 1977. This article appeared in November 1977. His body has never been recovered. Covert History’s account of his role in the Dublin and Monaghan bombing and the UVF’s Glenanne Gang can be found in the…
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Andy Burnham (Webbook)
By David Burke. Introduction. In the early 1970s, Colin Wallace tried to expose the horrific sex abuse at Kincora Boys’ Home. For doing so, he was driven out of his job at British Army HQ at Lisburn by a series of dirty tricks, perpetrated by MI5. He had served as Senior Information Officer at Lisburn…
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Lying like a trooper.
By David Burke. 1. Where was the ‘EFGH’ Unit of Support Company of 1 Para during the Ballymurphy Massacre? Internment began on 9 August 1971. By the 11th, ten people had been murdered by paratroopers in Ballymurphy. Decades later, the coroner who oversaw the inquest for the victims of the Ballymurphy massacre confirmed that…
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Natural Born Killer.
By David Burke. Brigadier (later General) Frank Edward Kitson was responsible for the Ballymurphy massacre. He was the Brigadier of 39 Brigade – that is to say he was the officer in charge of all British soldiers in Belfast during the Ballymurphy massacre. His accomplice was Colonel Derek Wilford, the then commander of 1 Para.…
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Mentioned in Despatches.
By David Burke. Internment – arrest and detention without trial – was introduced by the Stormont Government of Northern Ireland in August 1971. Hundreds of Nationalists were rounded up and detained. Members of the UVF, UDA and Red Hand Commando were not targeted for arrest. The swoops were carried out by British troops including the…
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Missing UVF Bomb Massacre Files.
On 4 December 8:45 p.m., a UVF gang set out on a bombing mission. One of those involved was Robert James Campbell. The UVF bomb exploded outside a small pub in Belfast called McGurk’s, a cosy place where Catholics and Protestants from the same neighbourhood – all of whom knew each other well – met…
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Kitson-RUC plot to safeguard the UVF.
The campaign for the truth about the infamous McGurk’s bar bombing of 1971 has uncovered the existence of a covert intrigue hatched by the British Army’s counter-insurgency (i.e., dirty tricks) guru, Brigadier Frank Kitson, and the RUC, to conceal the truth about the UVF’s bomb attack massacre at McGurk’s bar in 1971. Kitson and the…
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McGurk’s Bar cover-up.
Tory PM Edward Heath concealed the identity of a paramilitary organisation which perpetrated a massacre in Belfast in 1971. He did so in the hope of acquiring the votes he needed to win a majority in the House of Commons to enable the UK to join the EEC, the forerunner of the EU. What he…
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Kitson’s foreknowledge of a third massacre.
New evidence has emerged about the UVF’s bombing of McGurk’s Bar in Belfast in December 1971. The explosion caused the entire structure of the premises to collapse, killing fifteen Catholic civilians – including two children – and wounding seventeen more. It was the deadliest attack in Belfast during the Troubles. Brigadier (later General Sir) Frank…
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Armageddon.
There is a memorable scene in Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove where the leaders of America and Russia find themselves locked into a catastrophic war because of the existence of a doomsday machine originally designed to enforce world peace. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer now faces a potential doomsday scenario of his own. He is trying…
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The Resistance Men (Webbook).
© Deirdre Younge. Introduction. ‘What were they trying to do around here .. create civil war?‘ (Willie Frazer, referring to the intelligence services operating in the 1970s in Armagh. (2016)) During the ‘Troubles’ Armagh, Tyrone and Down were the cockpit of a vicious war which descended into sectarianism fuelled by collusion. Intelligence material submitted to…
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Running Stakeknife
The Operation Kenova report on Stakeknife makes it clear MI5 were aware of Scappaticci’s activities from his initial recruitment. They were involved in briefing and tasking him via his FRU handlers. MI5 broke into Kenova’s document safe while they were working in the Services offices. Kenova is a PSNI commissioned report, authored by two former…
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(30 second read.)
Covert History magazine would like to interview this man. If you come across him, could you ask him to contact us please. He is a former soldier who entered the construction industry after his discharge. He is not a tall man. He was in Ireland in 2025. He made a fortune during the reconstruction of…
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From the Vaults: Ted Heath 1971
This is how This Week, an Irish magazine, perceived Ted Heath and his policy for Ireland in 1971. Heath was then in his second year as Britain’s prime minister. The article can be read and or downloaded by clicking on the link below:
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A Walk on the Dark Side. [WebBook.]
Part 1. British Agents in Ireland. The PPS in Northern Ireland will not charge an unnamed agent who worked undercover in Northern Ireland for UK intelligence services. This is despite the fact he admitted to carrying out murders in the course of working undercover. The agent’s admission was made while instructing intelligence officers in spycraft.…
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Hooded men.
1. No one shouted ‘Stop’. 2. The ‘Beasting’ of prisoners in Derry 3. Torture and mutilation 4. Torture and mutilation as a counter-insurgency tactic in Her Majesty’s Colonies 5. The Hooded Men. 6. Delegating murder and torture to British agents in Loyalist paramilitary gangs. 7. Torture, mutilation and murder by a British agent in the…
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The Judicial Fixer (Webbook).
1. Brigadier Frank Kitson subverts the law. 2. Judicial compromise. 3. An Allegedly Independent Judge pre-judges the Murder Victims by Attending a Meeting at which they were referred to as ‘the other side’ 4. Threats to Muzzle the Ever Compliant British Media 5. Black Propaganda 6. John Hume wanted an “independent authority” to conduct the inquiry 7. Fabricated Evidence. 8. Lord Saville…
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Returning the Serve, the Dublin-Monaghan bombings of 1974. [WebBook]
Introduction: Dublin City was rocked by three car bomb explosions on 17 May 1974. The devices detonated in a coordinated fashion at approximately 5.30; all within ninety seconds of each other. Twenty-six people and a full-term unborn child (Baby Doherty) were slaughtered. No warnings were provided. Ninety minutes later, a fourth car bomb exploded in…
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Sir Richard White’s black heart (Webbook).
Introduction. In 1971, 342 people were swept up by the British army and interned, i.e. subjected to indefinite detention without a trial. Britain’s intelligence community was looking for people they hoped would be able to provide them with information about members of the IRA. 14 men were chosen for ‘special treatment’ and taken to a secret…
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From the Vaults: Kitson’s War with the I.R.A by Sean Boyne.
Sean Boyne, the Dublin-based author of the highly regarded volume, ‘Gunrunners, the Covert Arms Trail to Ireland 2006’, had a distinguished career as an investigative journalist. In 1972 he was writing for This Week magazine. On the 8th of June that year, he produced the cover story, ‘Kitson’s war with the I.R.A.’. People reading this…
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A supplement to ‘A State in Denial’, taking the story of collusion to the 1990s. By Margaret Urwin. [WebBook.]
Margaret Urwin (née Kelly) has worked with Justice for the Forgotten, the organisation representing the families and survivors of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, since 1993 and, for more than a decade, with the families of the victims of other cross-Border bombings. Justice for the Forgotten affiliated with the Pat Finucane Centre in December 2010.…
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The Spy in Leinster House.
1. The British agent in Leinster House. The Joint Support Group (JSG) ran British agents in the Republic of Ireland for British military and civilian intelligence agencies during the Troubles. A former British military intelligence agent known by the pseudonym, Sam Rosenfeld, has alleged that a senior Irish government figure has served as an agent…
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McGurks:
Fifteen civilians – including two children – were massacred in a no-warning UVF bomb attack on 4 December 1971 at McGurk’s Bar Massacre. Even before all the victims were identified, the British state briefed the media with lies about the massacre and its innocent victims. They claimed the pub was controlled by the IRA and that…
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The British Spy, Saor Éire and the murder of Garda Richard Fallon
By David Burke Taoiseach Jack Lynch and British Ambassador John Peck alarmed at prospect of Captain Kelly’s book After Captain James Kelly was acquitted by the jury at the infamous Arms Trial in October 1970, he began to write a book about what had happened to him. His efforts were closely monitored by the British…
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Silent Defenders. By Ciarán MacAirt.
In a whitewashed barn decked out with Ulster flags, Union Jacks and pictures of the Queen, their leader in charge of this meeting sat at an old table. He pressed a button on a tape recorder. A voice boomed out: I address you as the commander in chief of the organisation, Silent Defenders. Author Ciarán…
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Counterinsurgency war criminals.
The denial of justice for political gain. Next week will see the release of the long-awaited inquest report into the Ballymurphy massacre during which British soldiers killed and wounded a large number of unarmed civilians in Belfast. The atrocity took place after the introduction of internment in August of 1971. Adding insult to inqury, the…
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An Offence Against The State
On 1 December 1972 a car bomb exploded beside Liberty Hall in Dublin. Fortunately no one died but George Bradshaw, a CIE bus driver, and Thomas Duffy, a bus conductor, perished in a second explosion at Sackville Place. No one has ever been charged with these crimes. The UVF belatedly claimed sole responsibility for them…
![A Walk on the Dark Side. [WebBook.]](https://coverthistory.ie/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/a-walk-on-the-dark-side3.jpg)
![Returning the Serve, the Dublin-Monaghan bombings of 1974. [WebBook]](https://coverthistory.ie/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/covert-history-ireland-amp-uk-magazine.-home-6a9a9b34d8db3.png)
![A supplement to ‘A State in Denial’, taking the story of collusion to the 1990s. By Margaret Urwin. [WebBook.]](https://coverthistory.ie/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/state-of-denial4.png)
