On this day in military history…
On 14 August 1969, British military troops were deployed onto the streets of Northern Ireland for the first time in response to escalating sectarian violence. The immediate catalyst was the Battle of the Bogside in Derry, which began on 12 August when tensions between Catholic nationalist residents and the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) erupted into serious rioting. The RUC, unable to control the situation, requested military assistance. The Northern Ireland government in Stormont appealed to Westminster, and British Prime Minister Harold Wilson authorised the deployment of troops.
The first unit deployed was the 1st Battalion, The Prince of Wales’s Own Regiment of Yorkshire (1 PWOY), which entered Derry on the afternoon of 14 August. Their initial role was to relieve the RUC and restore order in the Bogside, where barricades and street battles had overwhelmed local authorities. The British soldiers were greeted with some relief by Catholic residents, who viewed them as a neutral force compared to the RUC.
Following the arrival of 1 PWOY, additional units were mobilised across Northern Ireland. These included the 1st Battalion, The King’s Own Scottish Borderers (1 KOSB), who were deployed in Belfast, as well as the 2nd Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, and the 1st Battalion, The Queen’s Regiment. Altogether, approximately 3,000 British troops were on the ground by the end of August 1969, with numbers rising rapidly in the weeks that followed.
This military intervention marked the beginning of Operation Banner, the British Army’s longest continuous deployment, lasting from 1969 until 2007. Though initially welcomed by parts of the nationalist population, particularly in Derry, relations would deteriorate over time as the army became more deeply involved in the conflict that became known as The Troubles.
