Do you know of much B specials Huts still in existence? I only know of one on the Trasna road between Tempo and Brookeborough but that would be about it.
Points of interest, usc were armed with Webley .455 revolvers , the Belfast usc retained these up until disbandment , also , ‘C1’ specials were formed into army style battalions, ready to counteract any invasion by Irish forces. ‘A’ specials wore high collar ric style uniforms , with black leather equipment , ‘B’ , and ‘C1’ specials wore army battle dress dyed black, with khaki army webbing , in later years, most of the ‘B’,s all then wore the high collar ric style uniform; Unlike the ruc who changed to turned back collar with shirt and tie. Country specials carried the lee Enfield no 4 rifle, Belfast specials carried the .455 webley , both had access to sten guns, which were finally replaced with sterling sub machine guns , when the troubles re started in 1969, the men were allowed to bring their weapons home for personal protection.
The U.V.F. was the first anti democratic paramilitary force to enter Irish polotics in the 20th century.....the B specials were a state security force to enforce the anti democratic sectarian partition of our Island home. And to subdue a now Gerrymanderd minority....leading directly to the backlash we have seen since 1969 and before.
A la carte history. Ireland voted for independence in the 1918 election. Unionists in their usual undemocratic way said ‘NO’. The undemocratic streak is still there in Unionism.
Ah, a well researched in-depth comment - I don't think. USC kept the peace and Ulster safe against attacks from the south, go and wash yourself some more....
@@markburke2853 that right blame the south when all the trouble came from sectarian governance in the north typicall blame everybody else except yourself
@@nathysweeney2786 The 'south', as you refer to it, constantly claimed it, and, in doing so gave a tiny violent minority the perceived right to terrorise anyone they disliked, deciding to take their life's anger, and failures, out on those who were superior to them. Most Irish people in the north obeyed the law, not so a small group out to murder and shoot their way to power, and made it their business to fan the flames of discontent amongst the working class Irish, easily led by promises of better things, despite their compatriots in the south living on similar estates and tenements and faring no better. Emigration in the south was the only way to escape it, and between 22' and 72' some 1m left the south, only reappearing back again in some numbers from the 90's onwards, and brought much change there.
@@markburke2853 wow the trouble in northern ireland started from the voilence used by the secterian police force against rhe civil right movement who were looking for basic civil right afforded in mainland uk You have the cheek to blame the south for the voilence that came afterwards and by the way the reason there was alot of emmigration from the south was because there was no common market and the only market was the uk market .The money that poured into the north from the british excheceqer went into the hands of a small few and still you blame everybody else good look
@@nathysweeney2786 Civil Rights was cover for trouble makers, most marched in genuine grievance however it was deemed illegal by NI authorities, like some others that followed, and a few ended in violence. This was not confined to NI, as, in 82' a march to the British Embassy in Ballsbridge, Dublin, ended in far greater violence by a sizeable minority intent on trouble, the Irish Gov't and Garda made sole decisions on the day, not your whipping boys in NI. It was admitted later that the Gardai went beyond normal remit and some took it out on elements in the mob, no surprise as over 100 ended up in St Vincents, Elm Park, being the target for 45+mins of intense missile throwing. I remember it well and it put paid finally to any lingering sympathy by the majority of people in the south to their, so called, 'suffering' compatriots in the north. Emigration happened due to economic factors, plus the crushing presence of the RC church and FF, when in power. The hoped for 'freedom' after 22' was illusory, fantasies were touted of a 30+m population (high birth rate and US-Irish returning in fleets to Eire), and insane self-sufficiency policies by Dev' resulted in stagnation, disillusion and escape over the decades. Little money went to NI over the same period, in fact subsequent reports showed that the RUC/USC in NI were seriously underfunded and the province as a whole had a standard of living well below the rest of the UK. No one got rich in NI, the province operated as a side show to Britain and a few landowners did not make for luxury, by comparison with today's southern rich kids, oligarchs and tax avoiding Irish bands (you know who they are), it was modest.
