The Guineapigs - Chapter 9

The Guineapigs - Chapter 9

from where was the dedicated British Army office to get his guidance? Clearly a serving, experienced military man was needed. Enter Frank Kitson.

Kenya (where he 'blacked up' and went out in the bush to form 'pseudo-gangs' of informers and deserters to hunt down the Mau Mau, led Kitson in 1969 to Oxford University where he received a grant to write his idea of the definitive British officer's textbook – Low Intensity Operations

Kitson was sent to Northern Ireland in the spring of 1970

In his book he had spoken of the need for rapid grass-roots intelligence-gathering and stated that...Kitson's obsession with 'low-level intensity' intelligence-gathering has led into unaccustomed fields such as 'community relations' projects similar to American strategy of 'hearts and minds', a more sinister role to play – that of an intelligence exercise.

Guerrilla warfare is the 'war of the flea', and until recently the Army has been forced to use sledgehammers to crack nuts