My Life

My Life - Oswald Mosley"Black and Tans" interogate villagerssuspected of supporting Sinn Fein.My constant cross-examination of him at question time evoked the concentrated furyof the Conservative benches. For instance: 'In view of his discovery that "the murdergangs" never slept more than one night in the same place, has he yet discovered amore effective means of bringing them to justice than burning next day the houses ofother people in the vicinity of their outrages?' Such questions floored the lucklessGreenwood because he could not give the true answer: that the real object of theexercise was to create such a reign of terror among the civilian population that theguerrillas could find neither the food, nor the shelter or succour necessary to theirexistence. That was not an avowal possible in face of British, American and worldopinion, but it would have been a statement of fact. For such reasons it was possiblefor the Parliamentary Opposition gradually to wear down the strength of thegovernment and to induce peace. I do not think it will be found too high a claim bythose with time and patience to study the whole story.Why then were these irregular troops used at all? Why not use regular and trainedtroops, who at least would have suffered fewer losses and made a proper job of it?The short answer is that troops with real discipline and a great tradition cannot beused in the way the government required without destroying both, and no one knew134 of 424