An Cosantóir

| 29 www.military.ie THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE The Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit of the Irish Army was established as part of the Ordnance Corps in 1973 following the spillover of 'The Troubles' in Northern Ireland into the Republic, resulting in the single biggest atrocity of the period when the 1974 bombings in Dublin and Monaghan killed 33 people in one day. Members of the Corps had dealt with unexploded bombs and sea mines from the Second World War, but now even more highly trained officers were needed to deal with the growing campaign of terror that threatened the security of the State. Suspect bombs were made safe by using robots and remote-controlled explosions but often it also required officers to don a 'bomb suit' and take 'The Long Walk' to engage manually with a device that had the potential to kill or at least maim. Each situation was unique, and EOD officers had to be constantly vigilant. The bomb-making capabilities of the paramilitaries, especially the Provisional IRA, were steadily becoming more sophisticated and ingenious, and there was always the fear that a newly discovered bomb might contain a 'booby trap' not met before. These developments had to be countered by upskilling and regularly retraining EOD personnel. It was an arms race in which falling behind could result in death or injury. CAR BOMBS AND BARRACK BUSTERS presents the never before told story of the serious purposefulness of a cohort of highly specialised, skilled, and carefully selected personnel. The story of their numerous involvements is not confined to on-island activity but has also been part of the Irish Defence Forces overseas peace-keeping involvements: 'It was one thing to have to deal with a singular device, shell or mortar; it was quite another to have to deal with a deluge of them all at once'. Yet this was the exact situation facing the Irishbatt explosive ordnance disposal team arriving to rural villages throughout Southern Lebanon as they bore witness to numerous shell-shattered houses in bomb-cratered gardens, ruined rubble-strewn streets, and all around them scattered masonry haphazardly strewn in all directions having been uncompromisingly hammered by Israeli air and artillery attack during 'Operation Accountability' 25 - 31 July 1993. Known in Lebanon as ' The Seven Day War ' this occurred following increased frequent fighting between Hezbollah and Israeli forces in South Lebanon when Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, ordered Hezbollah targets in Lebanese villages to be hit making it difficult for them to use Southern Lebanon as a base to fire their Katyusha rockets into Northern Israel from. Its aim was to displace the population there to put pressure on the Lebanese government to rein in the organisation. The resultant scale of devastation was immense; the week-long Israeli bombardment destroyed thousands of buildings and houses. Bridges, electricity supply stations and other vital infrastructure were wrecked. Unsure what to do and fearful of further attacks, some 300,000 people fled Southern Lebanon to Beirut. The blistering week-long barrage left in its wake a multitude of unexploded shells and unsafe ordnance. Another Irishbatt Ordnance Officer described the situation as follows: The impact on the local population was devastating. The shelling was indiscriminate, and those that could, left the area. After a short time, the only people left in the Irishbatt area of responsibility were the UN, Hezbollah and the very poorest and oldest of the civilian population. The artillery shells fired were both high explosive (HE), fused and unfused, and white phosphorus, fused and unfused. The fused shell would not always detonate (the fuses and shells dated from 1955) and the unfused and unexploded would leave a potentially dangerous item within a civilian area. The task to clear these fell to the Ordnance Section (one officer and three NCOs). I don't recall the number cleared, but it was hundreds. CAR BOMBS AND BARRACK BUSTERS provides a factual account of the history of the Ordnance Corps, including its operation overseas in peace-keeping missions, and explains clearly for both military and lay readers alike some of the technical aspects of bomb-disposal. Much of the story is told by those directly involved. They recount their experiences without any sense of self-importance or recognition of their own bravery, with a good dose of black humour, are self-deprecating about their achievements and honest about their mistakes. The author: Lt Col Dan Harvey, now retired, served on military operations at home and abroad for 40 years. He is the author of A Bloody Dawn : The Irish at D-Day (published in 2019 ), Soldiering Against Subversion: The Irish Defence Forces and Internal Security During the Troubles, 1969-1998 (published in 2018), Into Action: Irish Peacekeepers Under Fire, 1960-2014 (published in 2017), A Bloody Day: The Irish at Waterloo and A Bloody Night: The Irish at Rorke's Drift (both reissued in 2017), and Soldiers of the Short Grass: A History of the Curragh Camp (published in 2016) and ten other publications whose content addresses some of the involvements of the Irish Defence Forces personnel in noteworthy incidents in overseas peace-keeping mission areas, and the heretofore largely unknown, barely mentioned presence, participation and prominence of Irishmen and woman in major battles throughout European and World History. His latest book, Car Bombs and Barrack Busters, is available for purchase from www.menmabooks.eu Operator preparing to search a vehicle in training exercise DF members providing security at a live scene EOD operator dealing with an IED Book cover EOD vehicle at training ex in the DFTC

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