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The S-Plan or Sabotage Campaign or England Campaign was a campaign of bombing and sabotage against the civil, economic, and military infrastructure of the United Kingdom from 1939 to 1940, conducted by members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA). It was conceived by Seamus O'Donovan in 1938 at the request of then IRA Chief of Staff Seán Russell. Russell and Joseph McGarrity are thought to have devised such a strategy in 1936. ==Immediate context== Following a power struggle within the IRA during the mid-1930s, Seán Russell was reinstated to the IRA in April 1938 and elected to the IRA Army Council ''in absentia''. At a subsequent IRA General Army Convention, Russell and his supporters secured enough support to get a controlling majority vote within the Army Council. It was at this time that Russell began the process of preparing for a campaign of attacks on British soil - a strategy he had decided upon from the mid-1930s onwards. Seamus (Jim) O’Donovan had been asked by Seán Russell directly after his election to IRA Chief of Staff in 1938 to formulate his ideas on the possibilities of successful acts of sabotage on British soil. O’Donovan was the former Director of Chemicals of the "old IRA" and an acknowledged expert in the use of explosive material. He had not been active in politics since retiring from public life in 1923. Russell's request followed directly from him taking on the role of IRA Chief of Staff of the "new IRA" army council. The notes which O'Donovan created for Russell became the S-Plan or Sabotage Plan.〔Stephan, Enno: "Spies in Ireland", page 37, Macdonald & Co. 1963〕 On 17 December 1938, the ''Wolfe Tone Weekly'' newspaper published a statement issued by a group signing itself the ''"Executive Council of Dáil Éireann, Government of the Republic"''. This group perceived itself to be the legitimate government of the 32-County Irish Republic and refused to recognise the legitimacy of partition. In the statement, seven Second Dáil TDs declared that they had delegated what they believed to be their governmental "authority" to the Army Council.〔(Dáil Éireann - Volume 74 - 2 March 1939, Offences Against the State Bill, 1939—Second Stage )〕 This announcement, coming immediately prior to the S-Plan attacks,〔The decision had already been taken to proceed with the S-Plan, before this announcement. Russell wanted the recommendation of the 2nd Dáil group because he knew their public support would lend his plans more credibility amongst IRA volunteers. He approached them just after returning from an inspection tour of units in Britain. Bowyer Bell, J. for details- page 152-154.〕 sought to present the actions of the IRA as those of a legitimate, ''de jure'' government. Within this context, with the Army Council acting as government, with the right to use force and levy war against an occupying power, the IRA declared war on Britain in January 1939. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「S-Plan」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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