Editing Ulster Defence Association (section)

===UDA formation===
The first meeting, in September 1971, was chaired by [[Billy Hull]], with Alan Moon of the lower Shankill as its vice-chair. Moon was quickly replaced by Jim Anderson.<ref>Steve Bruce, ''The Red Hand'', p.50</ref><ref name=McDonald04>McDonald, Henry & Cusack, Jim (2004). ''The UDA – Inside the Heart of Loyalist Terror''. Dublin: Penguin Ireland.</ref>{{rp|20}} Moon, who had become reluctant to be involved in vigilantism since the group's formation, willingly stepped aside and ended his association with the UDA soon afterwards.<ref name=Bruce92>Steve Bruce, ''The Red Hand'', Oxford University Press, 1992</ref>{{rp|50}} The structure of this new movement soon took shape with a thirteen-man Security Council established in January 1972 as a reaction to a [[Provisional Irish Republican Army|Provisional IRA]] bomb the previous month at the [[1971 Balmoral Furniture Company bombing|Balmoral furniture showroom]] on the Shankill which killed four people including two infants.<ref name=McDonald04/>{{rp|22}}

By this point, [[Charles Harding Smith]] had become the group's leader, with former [[Royal Army Ordnance Corps]] soldier [[Davy Fogel]] as his second-in-command, who trained the new recruits in military tactics, the use of guns, and unarmed combat. Its most prominent early spokesperson was [[Tommy Herron]];<ref name=cain/> however, [[Andy Tyrie]] would emerge as leader soon after.<ref>H. McDonald and J. Cusack, ''UDA – Inside the Heart of Loyalist Terror'', Dublin, Penguin Ireland, 2004, pp. 64–65</ref> Its original motto was ''Cedenta Arma Togae'' ("Law before violence"<ref>{{cite book | last = McAuley  | first = James | title = Ulster Loyalism after the Good Friday Agreement | publisher = [[Palgrave Macmillan]] | year = 2011 | page = 20 | isbn = 978-0230228856}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last1 = McDonald | first1 = Henry | author-link1 = Henry McDonald (writer) | last2 = Cusack | first2 = Jim | title = UDA: Inside the Heart of Loyalist Terror | publisher = [[Penguin Ireland]] | year = 2004 | page = 64 | isbn = 978-1844880201}}</ref>) and it was a legal organisation until it was banned by the British government on 10 August 1992.<ref name=cain/> Under Smith's command, the UDA was organised along [[paramilitary]] lines into [[battalion]]s, [[Company (military unit)|companies]], [[platoon]]s and [[Section (military unit)|sections]].<ref name="Taylor99"/>{{rp|103}} The organisation drew more members, becoming the largest loyalist paramilitary organisation in Northern Ireland. Unlike its principal rival, the [[Ulster Volunteer Force (1966)|Ulster Volunteer Force]] (UVF), the UDA was legal.

In April 1972, the organisation's leader, [[Charles Harding Smith]] and leading UDA member [[John White (loyalist)|John White]] were arrested in London for gun-trafficking.<ref name="Taylor99">Taylor, Peter (1999). ''Loyalists''. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.</ref>{{rp|103}}  A temporary ''de facto'' leadership assumed control and Anderson became the acting chairman of the UDA.<ref name="Taylor99"/>{{rp|103}}

At the end of May 1972, Fogel, by then the leader of B Company and Harding Smith's second-in-command, erected the first UDA roadblocks and street barricades, making Woodvale, the area under Fogel's command, a [[no-go area]].<ref name="wood8">Wood, Ian S. (2006). ''Crimes of loyalty: a history of the UDA''. Edinburgh University Press. p.8</ref> The operation attracted a great deal of media and press coverage, resulting in much publicity for the UDA.<ref name="wood8"/> [[British Army]] troops under the command of Major-General [[Robert Ford (British Army officer)|Robert Ford]] were sent to the area, where a stand-off with the UDA ensued. Leading UDA figures eventually entered into street negotiations with senior Army officers, where it was eventually agreed that the UDA could erect small temporary barriers in Loyalist neighbourhoods.<ref name=McDonald04/>{{rp|29}} That summer, the UDA marched through the streets of central Belfast in a massive demonstration of strength.

In December 1972, Harding Smith and White were acquitted and returned to Belfast. Immediately after their return, a fierce power struggle ensued after Harding Smith declared to his associates: "I'm the boss. I take orders from no one".<ref name=McDonald04/>{{rp|34}} Fogel was promptly ousted from the B Company command, while the formidable East Belfast brigadier, [[Tommy Herron]], appeared on the scene to challenge Harding Smith's leadership. Anderson became joint chairman of the UDA with Harding Smith.<ref name="Taylor99"/>{{rp|114}} The struggle that ensued between Harding Smith and Herron overshadowed the Inner Council and during the height of the feud Anderson often had to call a register at its meetings, so poor were the turnouts.<ref name=McDonald04/>{{rp|33}} Herron and Anderson became linked and the East Belfast brigadier took to styling himself as deputy leader to Anderson, whom he treated as sole chairman.<ref name=McDonald04/>{{rp|38}}

By spring 1973, however, Fogel had already returned to his native England, and Anderson decided to stand down.<ref name="Taylor99"/>{{rp|114}} He publicly announced his resignation as joint chairman in March 1973, in part because he was a fairly law-abiding individual who sat uneasily with violently chaotic figures like Harding Smith and Herron. It had been Anderson who had been one of the main thinkers behind the UDA's motto "Law Before Violence" although this was ditched shortly after his resignation in favour of "[[Quis separabit]]".<ref name=McDonald04/>{{rp|64}} As a compromise candidate between the rival factions of Harding Smith and Herron, [[Andy Tyrie]], commander of West Belfast Brigade's A Company, was chosen as the UDA's chairman. He would soon become the UDA's Supreme Commander, a position he held until an attempted car bombing brought about his retirement in March 1988.<ref name="Taylor99"/>{{rp|200}}

Early in its history the UDA was closely associated with the [[Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party|Vanguard]] movement led by [[William Craig (Northern Ireland politician)|William Craig]] and it was regularly described as the "military wing" of Vanguard.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Inside Ulster|url=https://bbcrewind.co.uk/asset/5b20d820fc632e002b63e847|website=BBC Rewind}}</ref> At a rally in Lisburn in February 1972, Craig inspected uniformed ranks of UDA members. Craig issued a warning during a rally at Ormeau Park the next month, where thousands of UDA men were present: "If the politicians fail us, it might become our responsibility to eliminate the enemy." However, by 1979 the UDA had turned on Craig over his increasingly conciliatory approach to Nationalists and condemnation of the [[Ulster Workers' Council|1977 loyalist strike]], leading the UDA to instead back [[Peter Robinson (Northern Ireland politician)|Peter Robinson]] in [[1979 United Kingdom general election|that year's general election]].<ref>{{cite news|title=William Craig|url=https://www.thetimes.com/world/ireland-world/article/william-craig-nlnsvbcxwm8|access-date=29 November 2022|work=[[The Times]]|language=en|archive-date=13 October 2021|archive-url=https://archive.today/20211013161930/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/william-craig-nlnsvbcxwm8#selection-845.453-845.694|url-status=live}}</ref>