Death in Derry

Martin McGuinness and the Derry IRA’s War Against the British

By: Jonathan Trigg

Narrated by: Alan Turkington

When civil rights protests in the 1960s gave way to armed struggle, the Provisional IRA in Derry–both city and county–led the fight against the British security forces. In the city Martin McGuinness–a young butcher’s assistant from the Bogside–quickly rose through the ranks, launching a bombing campaign that reduced the city centre to rubble. In tandem, the IRA’s active service units fought the British Army in the streets and alleys of the Bogside, Creggan, Shantallow and the Waterside.

Out in the townlands, a new generation from the county’s traditional republican families waged an equally ruthless war against their neighbours in the RUC and UDR. The Derry Brigade’s success would help propel McGuinness to the very top of the IRA’s Army Council.

By the early 1980s, the Derry Brigade appeared untouchable. However, in reality, Special Branch and British Intelligence had infiltrated it from top to bottom and almost destroyed the brigade. By the mid-1990s its war was all but over, its ranks decimated by death and incarceration. This is the story of that war told by those from all sides who survived it.

©2025 Jonathan Trigg (P)2025 W. F. Howes Ltd

Mostly Just A Chronology Of Murders

Bought this curious to learn more about McGuinness, he’s barely mentioned after the first couple of chapters. From then on it’s pretty much just a gruelling account of what seems like every Derry murder during the troubles. Gave up about 4/5ths of the way through.