The Free Wales Army (FWA; ) was a Welsh nationalist paramilitary organisation formed in Lampeter in Ceredigion (formerly Cardiganshire) by Julian Cayo-Evans in 1964. Its objective was to establish an independent Welsh republic.
The FWA first appeared in public at a 1965 protest against the construction of the Llyn Celyn reservoir. In 1966, the organisation participated in Irish celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising, marching in Dublin. A 1967 late-night television interview with David Frost brought the group to the attention of a wider audience.
The group courted publicity, and its leaders attracted a great deal of media attention with extravagant claims of financial support from millionaires, links with the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and Basque separatists, and dogs trained to carry explosives. Members wore home-made uniforms and marched in historic sites like Machynlleth, as well as carrying out manoeuvres with small arms and explosives in the Welsh countryside. The organisation claimed responsibility for the bombing campaign of Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru (; MAC), diverting the attention of the authorities and contributing to the arrest of its leadership and the group’s dissolution in 1969.
History
Origins Throughout the early 1960s, many within the ranks of Plaid Cymru had become radicalised and dissatisfied by the party's failure to prevent Liverpool Corporation's plans for the flooding of Tryweryn. Owain Williams, a former party member and founding member of MAC, alleged that dissatisfaction was particularly strong among younger members and supporters. In a 2003 interview for S4C’s Terfysgwyr Tryweryn () documentary, Williams suggested that many young people were frustrated with what he described as reliance on “so-called constitutional means of asking, bowing, scraping and grovelling.” It was this disillusionment, Williams asserted, that created the conditions for the emergence of militant nationalist organisations in Wales, which was a sentiment shared by his co-conspirator, Emyr Llywelyn Jones.
The first organisation resembling the FWA appeared in 1959 as the Welsh Freedom Army (WFA), which initially distributed cards in Llangollen bearing the slogan “Resist English Rule in Wales: WFA”. Cards were later distributed nationwide and placed under beer mats, in telephone kiosks, libraries, bookshops and anywhere else the group could think of. Supporters of the group often daubed the group's acronym alongside nationalist slogans in areas where cards had been distributed, generating momentum for the illusive organisation. At the same time, Harri Webb, a republican socialist poet and former member of the Welsh Republican Movement (WRM), together with Meic Stephens, was evoking the idea of a “Free Wales Army” in his poetry and songs. In 1952, Webb designed the “White Eagle of Snowdonia”, often referred to as Yr Eryr Wen (), a symbol derived from Welsh legend, which later became the emblem displayed on the FWA's flags and uniforms. Describing this period, Stephens later recalled that the Free Wales Army had initially been "just a slogan on a wall". The amorphous “army” soon gained attention as supporters across the country painted the initials "FWA" alongside nationalist slogans on roadsides, with one such incident in Gwynedd in 1964 prompting Plaid Cymru to issue an official denial of any involvement. Speaking on HTV Wales’s Only Yesterday in 1995, Julian Cayo-Evans recalled that his first awareness of the FWA came when he noticed an Eryr Wen painted on a wall in Aberystwyth, which prompted his decision to join the movement.
As momentum grew through 1964, a number of independently formed groups claiming to represent the FWA, or similar iterations, emerged across Wales. While Cayo-Evans handcrafted his own uniform from his British Army Service Dress using a cauldron of green dye in Lampeter, similarly dyed his Royal Air Force (RAF) uniform green and formed a small group claiming to be the FWA in Cwmbran. Gethin ap Gruffydd became active around this time and established similar organisations in south Wales, including the Anti-Sais Front (), which later merged with Lewis' group to form the National Patriotic Front (NPF). Dennis Coslett, who would later become Cayo-Evans' second-in-command, formed the Welsh Republican Army (WRA) in Llangennech in 1965. Coslett joined forces with Cayo-Evans' FWA upon being introduced to him by Dai Bonar Thomas, another foundational member of the fledgling paramilitary organisation, who was satirically referred to by the media as "Dai Bomber". As the organisation developed, west Wales became the centre of its activities, owing in part to members regularly frequenting public houses in Pontrhydfendigaid, Pontarsais, Aberystwyth and Talgarreg. Members were known for causing a commotion in the area, as later recalled:People have scoffed at the FWA, but they had popular support in the villages round our way, in the Tregaron and Pontrhydfendigaid area. For example, I remember a dance in Llanon and a huge Union Jack draped across the wall, and Cayo and a gang of lads from Pontrhydfendigaid shouted, 'Get that bloody rag off the wall!' And one of the lads from Bont climbed up and tore the flag down as the dance continued, and one of them lit a lighter and up went the flag in a single massive flame. A policeman came in and Cayo told him, 'Listen here, mate, if you want to go home in one piece, leave now!' He went, and people applauded and clapped us like great heroes! These things were happening all the time.
Tryweryn
In October 1965, the floodgates at the Tryweryn dam were opened, and water began to submerge the valley and what remained of Capel Celyn. To mark the occasion, Liverpool Corporation held an official opening ceremony at the dam site on 21 October, which prompted a wave of protest from hundreds of Welsh nationalists. In the lead-up to the opening, Plaid Cymru encouraged its supporters to attend in protest but urged restraint, issuing a statement a few days earlier describing the intended demonstration as “orderly, brief, concise and disciplined.” Julian Cayo-Evans, meanwhile, was preparing for the FWA’s first public appearance at the protest, while Gethin ap Gruffydd released an open letter calling for action and issued a statement to the Western Mail declaring the group's intention to burn the Union Jack at the event, citing the absence of Welsh representation on the flag. Cayo-Evans made similar statements to the Western Mail soon after, claiming that the FWA intended to prevent Liverpool Corporation dignitaries from reaching the dam by blocking the access routes.
On the day of the opening ceremony, Cayo-Evans arrived in the nearby town of Bala, accompanied by two uniformed associates from west Wales, Owen Wyn Jones and Dafydd Elwyn Williams. In the streets of the town, the trio encountered Toni Lewis’ uniformed group of nationalists for the first time; Lewis’ group had travelled from south Wales for the protest. Upon meeting, the two groups joined together and travelled to Llyn Celyn to participate in the brewing demonstration. Five hundred protesters had assembled at the main access road to the dam and harassed incoming Liverpool Corporation dignitaries by blocking the road, vandalising their vehicles and even attempting to overturn them. The demonstration quickly escalated into a riot as Liverpool Corporation guests approached in buses via the old access road on the opposite side of the reservoir. Despite pleas for restraint from Plaid Cymru president Gwynfor Evans, the crowd charged down the escarpment of the dam towards the ceremony's temporary grandstand, galvanised by the FWA agitators. The crowd engaged with police officers deployed to protect the ceremony, resulting in a violent scuffle as protesters attempted to reach the grandstand and speakers’ platform.
Liverpool Corporation attempted to continue with the event despite the brawl, but its speakers were unable to make themselves heard over the jeering of the crowd. FWA members attempted to burn the Union Flag in the crowd, while fireworks and rocks were thrown in the direction of the platform by protesters. The Lord Mayor of Liverpool, Alderman David Cowley, attempted to address the crowd from the microphone after stones were thrown in his direction, but found that it did not work, as the FWA had cut the wires of the ceremony’s sound system. Prompted by a protester wielding a megaphone, the crowd began chanting “Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau,” which was soon drowned out by the gushing of water as Cowley responded by pressing the button to release the floodgates. Witnessing the loss of control over the protest, Gwynfor Evans was filmed by television news cameras making an abrupt exit from the event. The chaos forced the event to end far sooner than organisers had anticipated, and the FWA agitators were eventually apprehended and escorted away by police for their role in the skirmish, while also drawing the attention of journalists. Angered by the incident, Cowley later stated: “If I’d brought the Kop with me today there wouldn’t have been a murmur out of this lot. They’d have been too afraid to open their mouths. The Kop would eat them!”, referring to Liverpool F.C. supporters.
Following the protest, Cayo-Evans and Toni Lewis' groups joined forces, and those involved became convinced that the FWA needed to be at the forefront of Welsh nationalism. From this point on, the group became a focus of attention for journalists and the authorities, and a police statement on 5 November 1965 warned that any future displays of the FWA insignia could result in prosecution. The group was investigated by the North West Crime Squad and by police constabularies in Gwynedd and Flintshire, which concluded that it had breached the Public Order Act 1936 prohibiting the wearing of political uniforms; however, no action was taken at the time for fear of creating nationalist martyrs. Gwynfor Evans, when questioned by Michael Nicholson about the organisation in July 1966 following Plaid Cymru's victory in the 1966 Carmarthen by-election, stated: "I believe nobody here takes them seriously; they're sort of a comic opera group. Very nice chaps; they're on the right side, of course, but they like to dress up."
Crossgates The organisation attempted a single militant action of its own, which involved a failed bombing of the water pipeline connecting the Elan Valley Reservoirs to Birmingham. In his biography, John Barnard Jenkins recounted how an associate of MAC had been contacted by the FWA in February 1967, requesting that they be supplied with an explosive device. As both the leader and bomb-maker of MAC, Jenkins agreed and supplied the FWA with the requested gelignite device through a chain of contacts while keeping the identity of its manufacturer secret. However, Jenkins alleged that he was initially unaware that the bomb was intended for use by the FWA, asserting that his associate requesting the device simply said it was for “our friends who want to attack a pipeline.” Following weeks of scouting the pipeline, the FWA unit under Dennis Coslett's command identified a section they believed to be vulnerable at Crossgates, near Llandrindod Wells, where the line crossed a river via the Fron Aqueduct. Planted in late February, the device was intended to detonate in the early hours of the morning, destroying the midsection of the pipe and dominating national news headlines on Saint David's Day shortly thereafter. In October 1952, the same aqueduct was targeted in a Welsh Republican Movement bombing in protest at the construction of the Claerwen Reservoir.