Undercover War

By: Harry McCallion

Narrated by: Colin Mace

Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

When British troops first deployed to Northern Ireland in 1969 to keep apart rioting factions of loyalists and nationalists, they could not have known that they were being drawn into the longest campaign in the British Army's history, a battle against the threat of a new rising force - the Provisional Irish Republican Army.

While patrols, vehicle bombs and incendiary speeches are the defining memories of the Troubles, the real war was fought out of sight and out of mind. For 30 years, Britain's Special Forces waged a ferocious, secretive struggle against a ruthless and implacable enemy.

Harry McCallion's deep experience across the theatre of Northern Ireland offers a unique insight into nearly every major military action and operation in the Province. Having served seven tours with the Parachute Regiment, undergone selection for the 14 Intelligence Company, completed six years with the SAS - including two tours with their anti-terrorism team - and received two commendations for bravery during service with the Royal Ulster Constabulary, there are few more qualified to tell this astonishing story.

This book is his blistering account of the history of Britain's war against the IRA between 1970 and 1998. From new insights into high-profile killings and riveting accounts of enemy contact, to revelations about clandestine missions and the strategies used in combating a merciless enemy, Undercover War is the definitive inside story of the battle against the IRA, one of the most dangerous and effective terrorist organisations in recent history.

©2020 Harry McCallion (P)2020 Bonnier Books UK

An excellent history of special forces actions in N Ireland

This book provides an excellent overview of the actions of the Special Air Service (SAS) and reconnaissance detachments in Northern Ireland during the “Troubles.” Written by an actual member, the author is uniquely placed to provide a first hand vantage point for the day to day duties these men and women performed and it clears up many of the specious claims made by those members (and supporters) of the various republican and loyalist terrorist groups.

Finally, the narrator does a superb job of reading this audiobook.

Informative

Good history of the troubles from the British action conducted by special forces. The reader is easy to listen too.

In-depth telling of the Troubles in Northern Ireland

Tells the story of Det 14th intelligence company and SAS troops and there fight against the Provisional IRA is very illuminating on what occurred.

Surprisingly good

As a late baby boomer and having grown and lived almost half my life listening to news about the “Troubles” I never bothered to look into it more closely.

McCallion’s work really made it come to life. Professionals in a professional army.

Highly recommend

Awesome comprehensive piece of IRA history

Awesome & comprehensive in IRA history and British efforts to quash their ruthless and bloody efforts

I liked it

This was great. I’m an American with limited prior understanding of the Troubles (other than the basic gist) and no real connection to or particular fondness for any of the parties involved. I found this very entertaining, easy to follow and I think the narrator has a great voice and did a good job.

The one thing that got old was the number of times the author responded to critics and explained the actions taken by SAS or Det operators in specific “contacts”. Maybe others will find that useful but to me it was unnecessary and redundant. I already understood and agreed with the use of force in those situations based on the initial telling of events. I didn’t need a rehashing of those decisions and an explanation of why they were right. In my opinion, if people are already sympathetic to the IRA no amount of explanation is going to change their minds. There’s always a conspiracy they can use to explain it away anyway. Other than that minor quibble, it was awesome!

insider's story from an SAS/RUC.

Explictly denies that there was a shoot to kill policy while appearing to be upfront about the no warning policy and a number of times that it went wrong due to individuals' mistakes or failures of intelligence. Although the book does not examine these failures in detail and therefore sometimes appears to gloss over it it does act as a useful reminder that there was essentially a war going on and only one of the three sides was even trying to act with any level of restraint.

Thorough and interesting history

Great book to go into detail about the undercover war, especially in regards to the SAS, 14 Intelligence Detachment, the Provisional IRA and to a lesser extent some Loyalist groups (UDA mostly, some UVF) and other branches of the Republican movement (OIRA & ILNA mostly). Author even provided some information about the INLA splinter group the IPLO, although not in very much detail. It did seem like the author was trying to make excuses for military action in some areas but I’m glad it didn’t overpower the story. It’s fairly understandable he would have a strong bias in that direction considering the amount of time he spent in special operations forces so it’s nice that he didn’t let it go to the extremes that some other books do. Would definitely recommend and this book will be going into my listen again playlist on Audible

British Propaganda

“Undercover War” is a rather interesting title for 8 hours worth of 10 Downing Street Propaganda about their state sponsored terrorist groups sent to the North of Ireland to quash an armed struggle against a foreign occupation.

BS in spades

Being an apologist for the Brits doesn’t begin
to describe the BS in this book.