Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru

Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru (Welsh for 'Movement for the Defence of Wales'; Welsh: [ˈmɨːdjad amˈðiːfɨn ˈkəmrɨ]), abbreviated as MAC, was a paramilitary Welsh nationalist organisation, which was responsible for a number of bombing incidents between 1963 and 1969. The group's activities primarily targeted infrastructure transporting water to the English cities of Birmingham and Liverpool, in addition to the investiture of Charles III as Prince of Wales.

Movement for the Defence of Wales
Welsh: Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru
Founding leader	Owain Williams
Leader	John Barnard Jenkins
Dates of operation	1962-1969
Active regions	Wales England
Ideology	Welsh nationalism Welsh republicanism
Allies	Irish Republican Army
Opponents	United Kingdom

History

Tryweryn

MAC was first established in 1962 at Owain Williams' café in Pwllheli, Gwynedd.^[1] After two years of working as a cattle rancher in Canada, Williams returned to his family farm near Nefyn on the Llŷn Peninsula in 1959.^[2] On his return, he had become radicalised by Plaid Cymru's failure to prevent the flooding of Tryweryn, which was being planned by Liverpool Corporation with the intention of constructing a reservoir supplying water to the city.^[3] Williams' father helped him to purchase a mortgage on the Espresso Bar and Grill in Pwllheli, which quickly became a meeting spot for Welsh nationalists.^[4][1] It was from the café that Williams would first recruit Robert Williams, from Criccieth, and Edwin Pritchard, from Nefyn. On the 15th of October, 1962, the three young men raided the Cae'r Nant granite quarry in Llithfaen to steal explosives from the site.^[5] However, the trio discovered upon their return to the café that they had only succeeded in acquiring hundreds of detonators, which they promptly hid across the local area.^[6][5]

Following the raid on the quarry, Williams determined that his two accomplices were not suitable for his plans and would crack under police interrogation.^[5] He would next recruit two new accomplices, John Albert Jones from Wrexham and Emyr Llewelyn Jones, a well-connected student at Aberystwyth University.^[7][8] Together, the three planned to attack the Tryweryn construction site with explosives.^[9][10] Williams and John Albert Jones had initially planned an ambitious strike at ten locations across the site; however, Emyr Llewelyn preferred a more symbolic protest, akin to the Tân yn Llŷn (Fire in Llŷn) at Penyberth in 1936.^[9][10] The trio agreed on Emyr Llewelyn's suggestion and began reconnoitring the construction site throughout the harsh winter of January 1963.^[9][11] It was decided that they would attempt to destroy the transformer powering the site on the 9th of February, 1963.^[9][12] Upon agreeing on their plans, the three men swore the oath of Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru, which read:

I promise to keep the activities of the movement and the names of the members secret; I promise neither to kill nor to injure any man who as part of his duty attempts to prevent me and I will do everything in my power to ensure that no one is injured or killed as a result of any act on my part. I promise not to undertake any positive act without consulting the other members of the movement.^[11]

Leading up to the day of the attack, accomplices of the group in Pembrokeshire had stolen gelignite from a colliery, supplying the necessary explosive material.^[6][11] Similarly, Dai Pritchard, a draughtsman from New Tredegar, had acquired a Venner time switch to use as a timer.^[11] Pritchard had been fined for attempting to damage the same transformer the year prior and possessed both the necessary technical knowledge and, in addition, links with the Irish Republican Army (IRA).^[13][11] With the gelignite and timer in his possession, Pritchard travelled north to supply the three saboteurs with the assembled explosive device and provided a demonstration with a small blast on a beach near Pwllheli.^[6][11]

On the night of the operation, Wales was gripped by the coldest winter since 1740.^[10] The saboteurs pressed on with their plan regardless, even despite Owain Williams' wife, Irene, being rushed to hospital in Bangor with pregnancy complications shortly beforehand.^[14][15][11] The trio met at their planned rendezvous point in Pwllheli, from where Emyr Llewelyn drove them in a rented red Vauxhall Victor towards the target.^[16] Most of the roads in the area surrounding the dam construction site were closed due to snow and ice, with only the A494 between Bala and Dolgellau remaining open.^[17] Shortly after passing Dolgellau, a rear tyre popped, causing the car to skid across the road.^[18][19] Fearing being spotted, the saboteurs pushed the car off-road so they could replace the tyre; however, they discovered that they had no jack, requiring two of them to lift the car with their hands.^[19][18] Having replaced the tyre, the group continued on to Cwmtirmynach, from where they hiked across a section of the snow-covered Arenig mountains using a sheep track.^[20][17] As they approached the transformer, the saboteurs were forced to drop to the ground and crawl through the snow for hundreds of yards, leaving a trail behind them.^[17] The three narrowly succeeded in avoiding the six guards present at the site and planted the bomb beneath the transformer, which was set to detonate at 3.15 a.m.^[17] After rigging the bomb to explode, the group fled back into the mountains and escaped to the rented car in Cwmtirmynach.^[17] However, Emyr had badly injured his leg on barbed wire while clambering over a wall and was bleeding, preventing him from driving.^[21] Attempting to stem the bleeding from his leg wound, Emyr used his handkerchief embroidered with the initial 'E' to apply pressure, but he later dropped it near the scene during the group's escape.^[22][23]

With Emyr Llewelyn unable to drive, Williams took the responsibility.^[24][22] The icy conditions proved too severe for Williams, who skidded the car into a snowdrift near Cerrigydrudion while attempting to pass a van that had done the same.^[22] The trio panicked as the driver of the van approached their car, and Williams attempted to pass himself off as an Englishman by asking, in a feigned English accent, "I say, old boy, do you know if this road goes anywhere?"^[25][22] The young van driver, Hugh Roberts from Cwmtirmynach, was suspicious of the 'Englishmen' and replied, "No, it's closed; I'm stuck, too, you see."^[22] In Williams' autobiography, he recounted how he had told his two accomplices to let him do the talking before referring to them both as Charles and Steve while instructing them to help push the van in the presence of the driver.^[26] After pushing both the van and the Vauxhall out of the snow, the trio hastily drove off back in the direction of Bala, as Williams had boxed himself into a corner with his English persona.^[27][22] Intent on maintaining the masquerade as he departed, Williams shouted from the window of the car, "Blast these Welsh roads; I'll be glad to get back over the border, old boy!"^[22] Despite the charade, Roberts' handprints were left imprinted on the car, and the three had all left footprints at the scene.^[25][22]

In spite of all of the setbacks the saboteurs had faced during the operation, the bomb detonated just as planned and completely cut off power to the construction site in the early hours of Sunday, the 10th of February.^[14][28] However, with a wealth of evidence left at the scene and a witnessed rental car, the police swiftly identified and arrested Emyr Llewelyn Jones at his flat in Aberystwyth just days after the bombing.^[14][25] In accordance with the oath the trio had sworn before undertaking the sabotage, Emyr Llewelyn refused to disclose his accomplices' identities during interrogation and hindered police efforts to identify them.^[14] On the 29th of March, 1963, Emyr Llywelyn was convicted and sentenced at Dolgellau assizes to one year's imprisonment for his involvement in the bombing of the transformer.^[29][25] On the night of the sentencing, Owain Williams and John Albert Jones attempted to destroy an electricity pylon connecting Maentwrog power station to Trawsfynydd nuclear power station near Gellilydan. This led to the arrest and conviction of Owain Williams and John Albert Jones.

Investiture

The leadership of the organisation was later taken over by John Barnard Jenkins, a former non-commissioned officer in the British Army's Royal Army Medical Corps. Under his leadership, MAC was suspected by British police to have been behind the bombing of the Clywedog dam construction site in 1966. In 1967 a pipe carrying water from Lake Vyrnwy to Liverpool was blown up. Later the same year MAC exploded a bomb at the Temple of Peace and Health in Cardiff's civic centre, close to a venue which was to be used for a conference to discuss the Investiture of Prince Charles as Prince of Wales. In 1968 a tax office in Cardiff was blown up, followed the same year by the Welsh Office building in the same city, then another water pipe at Helsby, Cheshire. In April 1969 a tax office in Chester was the next target. On 30 June 1969, the evening before the investiture, two members of MAC, Alwyn Jones and George Taylor, were killed when a bomb they had been placing near government offices exploded prematurely. On the day of the investiture, two other bombs were planted in Caernarfon, one in the local police constable's garden which exploded as the 21 gun salute was fired. Another was planted in an iron forge near the castle. It failed to go off when intended. It then lay undiscovered for several days before seriously injuring a 10-year-old boy who discovered the device.^[30] The final bomb was placed on Llandudno Pier and was designed to stop the Royal Yacht Britannia from docking - this too failed to explode. In November 1969 John Jenkins was arrested, and in April 1970 was convicted of eight offences involving explosives and sentenced to ten years' imprisonment. In an interview shown on the BBC2 4 July 2009, John Jenkins repeated his intention that the bombs were never planted or timed to hurt people but just to disrupt the ceremony. Although there were further bombings, there is no evidence that MAC were involved.

See also

• Free Wales Army