ABSTRACT
The London team had to be their best people, as the scope and range of the mission and the types of targets to be attacked, would require total discipline and dedication at what would be a brutally grim campaign of terror on the capital city. The Secretary of State, Philip Woodfield stated, was prepared to grant direct talks in London, if the Irish Republican Army could maintain the truce for a specific period of time. The phase one campaign against London was about to start in earnest, pitting the London Active Service Unit (ASU) against the Metropolitan Police Bomb Squad in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse that would culminate in the six-day standoff at Balcombe Street. The ASU's would be small, between four to six men, and they would remain unknown to each other, with only General Headquarters knowing the whereabouts and identities of the units.
