The neo-Nazi group Combat 18 was founded in 1992 in England like a branch of British National Party (BNP, in its acronym in English) with the mission of protecting the events of the formation of extreme right of possible attacks by anti-fascist militants. The group, whose name is inspired by Adolf Hitler (18 refers to A, the first letter of the alphabet, and 8 to H, the eighth letter), broke away shortly after from the BNP and ended up consolidating itself as a violent and authoritarian organization who was dedicated to attacking members of ethnic minorities and left-wing groups.
The organization had special strength in the nineties decadeespecially in the world of soccer. One of his best-known actions occurred in 1995 in a match between Ireland and England, held in Dublin, which had to be canceled after members of Combat 18 threw iron and wooden objects onto the field shouting ‘we will not surrender to the IRA’ and performing the Nazi salute. The riots resulted in dozens of injuries and nearly 40 arrests, something that made the front pages of the press and set off alarm bells among the authorities.
They also entered the world of ‘hooligans’ of English football teams such as Chelsea or Sunderland that in the 90s were involved in massive fights and clashes with police which resulted in dozens of arrests.
Internal disputes
The decline of the organization began after the sentence to life imprisonment of one of its founders and de facto leader, Charlie Sargentimplicated in the murder of another member of the gang for a internal dispute. Among the main reasons for the disagreements within the group was the fight for income control for the production of neo-nazi themed music and the accusations that a part of its members launched against Sargent, whom they pointed out as a intelligence services informant British.
The British security forces took advantage of the internal disputes to give a last blow to the band in the late 90s through numerous raids and arrests in England and in North Ireland, where they had links with violent unionist groups. Many of the organization’s prominent members, including two of Sargent’s brothers, were arrested and imprisoned. Since then, all people suspected of belonging to the group were prevented from joining the police forces and working as prison officers.
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Currently the British branch of Combat 18 is practically defunct, although the presence of other neo-nazi groups still exists in the country. The Government included the far-right organization in 2016 National Action (National Action) on the list of banned gangs in the United Kingdom, criminalizing membership of the group or any show of support for it. Their leader, Alex Davies, was sentenced last year to eight years in prison for promoting a “race war” and for trying to avoid the ban imposed by the British Executive.
In Germany, the group was banned in 2020.