Editing Official Irish Republican Army (section)

== Impact of the split ==
Initially there was much confusion among republicans on the ground; [[Martin McGuinness]] for example, joined the Official IRA in 1970, unaware that there had been a split and only later joined the Provisionals. The Provisionals eventually extended their [[Provisional IRA campaign 1969-1997|armed campaign]] from defence of Catholic areas. Despite the reluctance of Cathal Goulding and the OIRA leadership, their volunteers on the ground were inevitably drawn into the violence. The Official IRA's first major confrontation with the British Army came in the [[Falls Curfew]] of July 1970, when over 3,000 British soldiers raided the Lower Falls area for arms, leading to three days of gun battles. The Official IRA lost a large amount of weaponry, and their members on the ground blamed the Provisionals for starting the firing and then leaving them alone to face the British. The bad feeling left by this and other incidents led to a feud between the two IRAs in 1970, with several shootings carried out by either side. The two IRA factions arranged a truce between them after the OIRA killing of Provisional activist, and Belfast brigade D-Company commander, Charlie Hughes (a cousin of the well-known Provisional [[Brendan Hughes]]).{{citation needed|date=February 2020}}

Soviet defector [[Vasili Mitrokhin]] alleged in the 1990s that the Goulding leadership sought, in 1969, a small quantity of arms (roughly 70 rifles, along with some hand guns and explosives) from the [[KGB]]. The request was approved and the weapons reportedly arrived in Ireland in 1972,<ref>Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin, The Mitrokhin Archive pp492 – 503</ref> although this has not been independently verified. On the whole, the OIRA had a more restricted level of activity than the Provisionals. Unlike the Provisionals, it did not establish ''[[de facto]]'' control over large Catholic areas of Belfast and Derry and its use of force was more defensive. However it retained a strong presence in certain localities, notably the Lower [[Falls Road, Belfast|Falls Road]], [[Andersonstown]], [[Turf Lodge]] and the Markets areas of Belfast, along with a strong presence in Derry (particularly [[Free Derry]] in the [[Bogside]] area) as well as [[Newry]] and South [[County Down]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://cedarlounge.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/orm205.pdf |title=Members of the ruling army council of The Official I.R.A. issuing a statement july 1970 |access-date=27 January 2014 |archive-date=21 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221212136/http://cedarlounge.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/orm205.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>