Photo appeal on the 53rd anniversary of the McGurk's Bar Massacre.
The families of the McGurk's Bar Massacre Campaign for Truth have launched a photo appeal that could provide further visual proof of key British Army observation posts overlooking the Gem Bar and McGurk's Bar taken by an unknown photographer the morning after the massacre.
The McGurk family has kindly shared photographs from their family archive that may show British Army observation posts (OP) on top of Artillery House - now Gráinne House - at the bottom of New Lodge Road and North Queen Street. We know from previously secret British military files that the British Army did indeed have a birdseye view of the target area and was reporting from its OPs and patrols before and after the atrocity.
The British Army and police had always denied that the British armed forces had any units in the area of the attack, but we now know that it even had a covert "ambush OP" in the vicinity before the massacre as well as other units at Key Points and a mobile patrol nearby. More about that mobile patrol in the near future.
The photo was taken by an unknown photographer the morning after the atrocity that claimed the lives of 15 civilians including 2 children. It was given to Patrick McGurk, the owner of the bar, who lost his wife, daughter and brother-in-law in the massacre - as well as his home and livelihood. It shows local children and a couple of British soldiers from the 2nd Battalion Royal Regiment of Fusiliers (2 RRF) at the back of where the bar once stood at Great George's Street.
Artillery House
If you zoom in on the photo, you can make out potential observation posts on Artillery House and another object of interest at the corner. That side and corner overlooked the Gem Bar on Henry Street and McGurk's Bar further down North Queen Street.
We now know too that the British Army correctly reported that Gem Bar would have been the target for the attack as it considered it the headquarters of the local Official Irish Republican Army In fact, 2 RRF targeted the Gem Bar two nights before the British extremists targeted it on the night of the McGurk's Bar Massacre. It was obviously an obvious and easy target for constant British Army observation from Artillery House.
The British Armed Forces have never admitted that it considered the Gem Bar as a target for their units or the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF).
Convicted UVF killer, Robert James Campbell, admitted that the Gem was the original target and parked their car outside it and waited to attack it before deciding to attack the nearest other bar - McGurk's Bar.
In Four Months in Winter, a 1972 2 RRF publication by David Barzilay and Captain Michael Murray, there is an aerial photograph of the bottom half of the New Lodge and Barrack area. It shows Artillery Flats at the top right of the picture and the Gem Bar diagonally across North Queen Street. It simply says:
"The New Lodge and Artillery Flats. The New Lodge Runs from the high block of flats in the top left hand corner to Artillery House on the right. The Fusiliers maintained observation posts on the roofs of the flats which came under periodic sniper fire but which nevertheless provided ideal vantage points. [author's highlight]"
There is also a similar structure on Gallaher's directly opposite and above the Gem Bar which needs further investigation too as it may or may not have been part of the building. We know, for example, that Gallaher's is recorded in British Army files as a Key Point (KP). In British military parlance:
"A KP is a facility which serves a population at 50,000 or more and the destruction of which would hinder the Government or Security Forces from carrying our their tasks, or any installation the destruction of which would have an adverse effect on the economy of the County. A KP is to be guarded or regularly visited by patrols"
Gallaher's was KP Yellow 4 - yellow was an economic target. Files from July 1972 show that regular patrols covered it although we also know from 2 RRF files that Gallahers was used for British Army OPs. This one from October 1971:
OPs on the Flats
The professional photograph linked below from Artillery may be post-July 1972 (not 21st January 1972 as shown). If you zoom in to the top of the flats on the right, you will see British Army OPs. These may be the more permanent structures the British Army developed on Artillery, Churchill and Templar Houses from late July 1972 onwards but they give you an idea of the potential size, importance, and usage of the structures on top of Artillery House that appear in the amateur photograph taken on the 5th December 1971.
I have considered whether the potential Artillery House installations could have been erected that morning and were not there the night before but 2 RRF files after the explosion do not record any such British military activity which in itself would have been a major operation to supply the roof and a major detachment to walk it up and seal it off. I believe we will find those in earlier 2 RRF files which we will target at the inquest.
As it stands, we know there were British Army OPs and mobile units in the area when the bomb exploded and we know from the archives 2 RRF had OPs in/on the flats but we would appreciate clear, photographic evidence.
This physical and visual evidence would then highlight that the British Army should have seen the bombers' car park outside the Gem Bar, then travel down North Queen Street and turn into Great George's Street.
Photo Appeal
The families are appealing to local people, local archivists, and the media:
- Do you have any photos taken in the days before or after the atrocity in the area as these may contain crucial information?
For example, the photograph in this article in North Belfast News includes Artillery House but not its rooftop. Our local news archives may include similar, high-resolution photographs taken by professional photographers that do include the top of the flats and/or the surrounding area.
