1942: Ireland, Northern

The arrival of a large detachment of American troops in a North Ireland port on Jan. 26, 1942 had a profound effect on the year's developments in Northern Ireland. Other groups of American soldiers arrived from time to time until Northern Ireland was garrisoned primarily by Americans. A huge naval base was constructed and put into operation at Londonderry for the use of the American fleet. Prior to the arrival of the troops, American and British authorities had hoped that the presence of Americans would be welcomed in Eire and that some agreement might be worked out for the use of bases in the south of Ireland to protect American convoys and strengthen the defenses of the British Islands. All such hopes were quickly dashed, however, when the Eire Government denounced the landing of Americans as an 'aggression' against Ireland and dispatched an official protest to Washington. The Irish Republican Army groups in Northern Ireland also protested the presence of the Americans, distributing a manifesto charging the United States with 'an act of aggression.'

In contrast, the majority of the population of Northern Ireland enthusiastically welcomed the Americans despite the minor inconveniences caused by the presence of such a large number of foreign troops. J. M. Andrews, Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, issued a formal statement refuting Prime Minister De Valera's protest by pointing out that De Valera had no legitimate claim to sovereignty over Ulster. 'The presence of American troops in Northern Ireland to which Mr. De Valera objects,' Mr. Andrews declared, 'is part of the vast strategic plan for the defeat of the Axis powers. Therefore these troops are doubly welcome in our territory and we are proud to be associated with them in a war.'

The presence of American soldiers seems, however, to have aggravated the friction between the I.R.A. and the Ulster authorities. At the end of August a large store of arms and explosives, apparently intended for attacks on American and British soldiers, was discovered in County Antrim. A few days later the approaching execution of Thomas J. Williams, an I.R.A. sympathizer convicted of murdering a policeman on Easter morning, caused American authorities to prohibit American soldiers from entering Belfast lest their presence lead to trouble. Two soldiers who evaded the restriction were accosted by a mob, and the automobile of a U. S. Army officer was stoned. A day later, police in armored cars raided the homes of hundreds of I.R.A. sympathizers, arresting fifty-six persons suspected of complicity in the plot against American and British troops. Disturbances continued, however, despite strict police activity. Two policemen were ambushed and slain in County Tyrone on Sept. 6. On Oct. 10, a group of I.R.A. members attacked a British searchlight battery in an isolated area. On the same day, seven persons were hurt in a Belfast bomb explosion. An attempt to blow up the St. Brigid's Roman Catholic parochial house on Oct. 28 failed; but ten persons, including two policemen and a seven-year-old girl, were injured by a bomb explosion on Oct. 30 in the Ardoyne area of Belfast. On Nov. 1, eighty additional I.R.A. suspects were rounded up in a series of police raids.

The strength of I.R.A. sentiment was reflected at the polls on Nov. 7 when Eamon Donnelly, formerly chief of Prime Minister Eamon De Valera's Fianna Fail, was elected as the first Belfast Irish Republican member of the Northern Ireland Parliament. Mr. Donnelly announced that he would not take his seat but would organize all of the political parties of Eire and Northern Ireland to end the partition of Ireland. It is estimated that his program has the support of nearly the entire Nationalist minority in Ulster, comprising about one-third of the population of Northern Ireland.