Combat 18 is a violent
neo-NaziNeo-Nazism consists of post-World War II social or political movements seeking to revive Nazism or some variant thereof.The term neo-Nazism can also refer to the ideology of these movements....
organisation associated with
Blood and HonourBlood & Honour is a neo-Nazi music promotion network and political group founded in 1987 with links to Combat 18 and composed of white power skinheads and other white nationalists....
. It originated in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, but has since spread to other countries. Members of Combat 18 have been suspected in numerous deaths of immigrants, non-whites, and other C18 members. The
18 in its name is derived from the initials of
Adolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
: A and H are the first and eighth letters of the
Latin alphabetThe Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
. Combat 18 members are barred from joining the
British Prison ServiceHer Majesty's Prison Service is a part of the National Offender Management Service of the Government of the United Kingdom tasked with managing most of the prisons within England and Wales...
and police.
Founding
Combat 18 was formed in early 1992 by Charlie Sargent. C18 soon attracted national attention for threats of violence against
immigrantImmigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
s, members of ethnic minorities and leftists. In 1992, it started publishing
RedwatchRedwatch is a British website associated with members of the far-right British People's Party. It publishes photographs of, and personal information about, alleged far left and anti-fascist activists. It typically targets activists in political parties, advocacy groups, trade unions and the media...
magazine, which contained photographs, names and addresses of political opponents. Combat 18 is an openly neo-Nazi group that is devoted to violence and is hostile to electoral politics, and for this reason Sargent split decisively from the BNP in 1993.
1997: Murder of Christopher Castle
Sargent had split with his former C18 colleagues over allegations that he was an informer for British security services. The rival faction, led by Wilf "The Beast" Browning wanted Sargent to return to them the C18 membership list, for which they were to return his plastering tools and £1,000. However such was the animosity and fear between them that a mutually acceptable go-between, 28 year-old C18 member, "Catford Chris" Castle, was driven to Sargent's mobile home in
HarlowHarlow is a new town and local government district in Essex, England. It is located in the west of the county and on the border with Hertfordshire, on the Stort Valley, The town is near the M11 motorway and forms part of the London commuter belt.The district has a current population of 78,889...
, Essex, by Browning, who waited in the car, whilst Castle went to visit Sargent. He was met at the door by Charlie Sargent and his political associate, Martin Cross. Cross plunged a nine-inch (22 cm) blade into Castle's back. Browning took Castle to hospital in a taxi, but doctors were unable to save him and he died shortly after arriving in hospital.
Despite his attempting to implicate Browning, Sargent was convicted of murder at
ChelmsfordChelmsford is the county town of Essex, England and the principal settlement of the borough of Chelmsford. It is located in the London commuter belt, approximately northeast of Charing Cross, London, and approximately the same distance from the once provincial Roman capital at Colchester...
Crown CourtThe Crown Court of England and Wales is, together with the High Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal, one of the constituent parts of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
the following year. He and Cross were sentenced to
life imprisonmentLife imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
and remain in prison to this day.
Post-Sargent history
Between 1998 and 2000, dozens of Combat 18 members in the UK were arrested on various charges during
dawn raidA police raid or dawn raid is a visit by the police, immigration officers or other officials in the early morning, hoping to use the element of surprise to arrest targets that they think may hide evidence, resist arrest, be politically sensitive, or simply be elsewhere during the day.-Germany:Dawn...
s by the police. These raids were part of several operations conducted by
Scotland YardScotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...
in co-operation with
MI5The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
. Those arrested included Steve Sargent (brother of Charlie Sargent), David Myatt and two serving British soldiers, Darren Theron (Parachute Regiment) and Carl Wilson. One of those whose house was raided was Adrian Marsden, who later became a councillor for the
British National PartyThe British National Party is a British far-right political party formed as a splinter group from the National Front by John Tyndall in 1982...
(BNP). Several of those arrested were later imprisoned, including Andrew Frain (seven years) and Jason Marriner (six years).
Some journalists believed that the
White WolvesThe White Wolves was a British nationalist and racist militant organization which claimed responsibility for several racially-motivated bombings in London in 1999....
are a C18 splinter group, alleging that the group had been set up by
Del O'ConnorDel O'Connor was the second in command of the Combat 18 neo-Nazi group in England. His splinter group, the White Wolves, were initially believed to have been involved in masterminding the bombing of a gay nightclub and several other locations in London by David Copeland...
, the former second-in-command of C18 and member of
SkrewdriverSkrewdriver was an English punk rock band formed by Ian Stuart Donaldson in Poulton-le-Fylde in 1976. They later evolved into one of the first neo-Nazi rock bands, playing a leading role in the Rock Against Communism movement and becoming known as the most prominent white power skinhead...
Security. The document issued by the White Wolves announcing their formation has been attributed to David Myatt, whose
Practical Guide to Aryan Revolution allegedly inspired nailbomber
David CopelandDavid John Copeland is a former member of the British National Party and the National Socialist Movement, who became known as the "London Nail Bomber" after a 13-day bombing campaign in April 1999 aimed at London's black, Bangladeshi and gay communities.Over three successive weekends between 17...
, who was jailed for life in 2000 after being found guilty of causing a series of bombings in April 1999 that killed three people and injured many others.
A group calling itself the
Racial Volunteer ForceThe Racial Volunteer Force is a violent neo-Nazi splinter group of the British neo-Nazi group Combat 18 with close ties to far right paramilitary group, British Freedom Fighters. Although originating as a breakaway group the RVF has since re-established links to C18 whilst maintaining a distinct...
split from C18 in 2002, although it has retained close links to its parent organization. On October 28, 2003, German police officers conducted raids on 50 properties in
KielKiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...
and
FlensburgFlensburg is an independent town in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the region of Southern Schleswig...
that were believed to be linked to German supporters of the group. The
Anti-Defamation LeagueThe Anti-Defamation League is an international non-governmental organization based in the United States. Describing itself as "the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency", the ADL states that it "fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects...
says there are Combat 18 chapters in
IllinoisIllinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
,
FloridaFlorida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
and
TexasTexas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. On 6 September 2006, the Belgian police arrested 20 members of Combat 18
FlandersFlanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
. Fourteen of them were soldiers in the
Belgian armyThe Land Component is organised using the concept of capacities, whereby units are gathered together according to their function and material. Within this framework, there are five capacities: the command capacity, the combat capacity, the support capacity, the services capacity and the training...
. In July 2008,
C18 was painted on St. Mary's Oratory in
County LondonderryThe place name Derry is an anglicisation of the old Irish Daire meaning oak-grove or oak-wood. As with the city, its name is subject to the Derry/Londonderry name dispute, with the form Derry preferred by nationalists and Londonderry preferred by unionists...
. In November 2008, BNP chairman
Nick GriffinNicholas John "Nick" Griffin is a British politician, chairman of the British National Party and Member of the European Parliament for North West England....
claimed that C18 was an "effectively fictitious" and "police-run" organisation.
C18 has long been associated with
loyalistsUlster loyalism is an ideology that is opposed to a united Ireland. It can mean either support for upholding Northern Ireland's status as a constituent part of the United Kingdom , support for Northern Ireland independence, or support for loyalist paramilitaries...
in
Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
. On 18 June 2009, graves belonging to numerous people, including
Provisional Irish Republican ArmyThe Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
hunger-striker
Bobby SandsRobert Gerard "Bobby" Sands was an Irish volunteer of the Provisional Irish Republican Army and member of the United Kingdom Parliament who died on hunger strike while imprisoned in HM Prison Maze....
were desecrated with C18 graffiti.
Racist attacks on immigrants continue from members of C18. Weapons, ammunition and explosives have been seized by police in the UK and almost every country in which C18 is active.
In late 2010 five members of Combat 18 Australia were charged over an attack on a Mosque in Perth, Western Australia. Several rounds were fired from a high powered rifle into the dome of the Canning Turkish Islamic Mosque, causing over $15,000 damage.
Links with football hooliganism
Members of the organisation include known
football hooligansFootball hooliganism, sometimes referred to by the British media as the English Disease, is unruly and destructive behaviour—such as brawls, vandalism and intimidation—by association football club fans...
. The most high profile incident involving Combat 18 members in football came on 15 February 1995, when violence broke out in the stands at
Lansdowne RoadLansdowne Road was a stadium in Dublin owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union that has been the location of a number of sports stadiums. It was used primarily for rugby union and for association football matches as well as some music concerts...
in the international friendly between the
Republic of IrelandThe Republic of Ireland national football team represents Ireland in association football. It is run by the Football Association of Ireland and currently plays home fixtures at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, which opened in May 2010....
and
EnglandThe England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...
. There was also sectarian motivated taunting of "No Surrender To The
IRAThe Irish Republican Army was an Irish republican revolutionary military organisation. It was descended from the Irish Volunteers, an organisation established on 25 November 1913 that staged the Easter Rising in April 1916...
" aimed at Irish fans.
See also
- Johnny Adair
Jonathan Adair, better known as Johnny "Mad Dog" Adair is the former leader of the "C Company", 2nd Battalion Shankill Road, West Belfast Brigade of the "Ulster Freedom Fighters" . This was a cover name used by the Ulster Defence Association , an Ulster loyalist paramilitary organisation...
- Bloed, Bodem, Eer en Trouw
Bloed, Bodem, Eer en Trouw is a Flemish neo-Nazi group, created in 2004 from a splinter of the Flemish branch of the international Nazi skinhead organization Blood & Honour.- Activities :...
- Chelsea Headhunters
The Chelsea Headhunters are an English football hooligan firm linked to the London football club Chelsea.-Background:The Headhunters have rivalries with counterparts who follow other London teams, such as Arsenal, Millwall, Queens Park Rangers, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham.There was widespread...
- Harold Covington
Harold Armstead Covington is an American white supremacist, political activist and novelist. He advocates the creation of an "Aryan homeland" in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States....
- David Myatt
- Order of Flemish militants
- White power skinhead
- List of white nationalist organizations
- Vítkov arson attack of 2009
The Vítkov arson attack of 2009 occurred during the night of 18 / 19 April 2009. Three Molotov cocktails were thrown through the windows of a house inhabited by a Roma family. Three people were injured...
External links