During and after World War I the Nationalists of Ireland were struggling to be free of the British Boot. Many of the Nationalist groups were militant and tried to drive the British out of Ireland by burning their barracks and police stations. Short of police in Ireland, the British government sent in ex-soldiers, thugs, murderers to supplement the British police in Ireland. Many of those fresh from trench warfare in Europe were not trained to be policemen, but were trained to be an occupying army. As such they treated the Irish with brutality. Following is a standard training order issued by one of their commanders. If a police barracks is burned or if the barracks already occupied is not suitable, then the best house in the locality is to be commandeered, the occupants thrown into the gutter. Let them die there - the more the merrier. Police and military will patrol the country at least five nights a week. They are not to confine themselves to the main roads, but make across the country, lie in ambush and, when civilians are seen approaching, shout "Hands up!" Should the order be not immediately obeyed, shoot and shoot with effect. If the persons approaching carry their hands in their pockets, or are in any way suspicious-looking, shoot them down. You may make mistakes occasionally and innocent persons may be shot, but that cannot be helped, and you are bound to get the right parties some time. The more you shoot, the better I will like you, and I assure you no policeman will get into trouble for shooting any man ..." Easy to see why many citizens of Ireland were shot or hanged, just on suspicion that they were Nationalists. Don Kelly ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sharron" <anakie9@bigpond.com> To: <IrelandGenWeb-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, May 19, 2002 11:46 PM Subject: [IGW] Black and the Tan > Thanks for the info re the black and the tan. I'm afraid I'm somewhat lost in the history of it all as I'm in Australia and only in my 30's. There wasn't much Irish history taught to us at school over here. > > The story through our family was that they chased them (my gg grandfather and his brother? and bashed one of them quite severely. I was never told why. What did one do to them to cause this or was it just some sort of standard practice etc? > What time period are we looking at? > Thanks again > Sharron > > > --- > Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. > Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). > Version: 6.0.361 / Virus Database: 199 - Release Date: 5/7/02 > > > ==== IrelandGenWeb Mailing List ==== > To contact the list administrator, please send an email to admin-irelandgenweb@rootsweb.com > --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.338 / Virus Database: 189 - Release Date: 3/13/02