Britains Small Wars - Kenya (1951-1960)

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Britains Small Wars - Kenya (1951-1960)

The British forces in Kenya employed the tried and tested tactics which had worked so well in the counter-insurgency operations in Malaya. The problem was to balance the wealth of knowledge with the flexibility of response, allowing the knowledge of past experience to meld with what was needed in the theatre, but not to rigidly apply that knowledge to the exclusion of ingenuity and individual experience. This knowledge dates back to the Boer War and beyond to colonial operations.
This wealth of accumulated knowledge by no means made the British Army's task easy and comfortable. The first step in the British strategy was, as in Malaya, to establish strong proper relations between the administration and the Military branches of the government. In the British army's war against Mau Mau it was evident from the start that both branches of the government were agreed that "Mau Mau had to be suppressed; political negotiations were totally inconceivable."
After the declaration of the State of Emergency it soon became clear that the colonial government had no strategy for dealing with the revolt and unrest. The governor requested and obtained British and African troops including the King's African Rifles. The troops were composed of:1st Lancashire Fusiliers (from the Canal Zone)4th KAR (from Uganda)6th KAR (from Tanganyika)Local KAR Battalions.
Other KAR units were engaged during the course of the campaign. The initial assignments were in random searches and harassment expeditions which were eventually called general sweeps. Upto 1953 these troops with a fast expanding police force struggled to contain the unrest by demonstrations of force, with the British troops assigned to the European dominated areas and the KAR troops assigned to the African dominated areas of the Central Province.
In January 1953, Major General Hinde was appointed as director of operations, although the efforts lacked any real coordination and strong influence by the contentious settlers were strongly affecting the task of formulating a coherent policy. This was further complicated by the complete lack of military experience of the Governor, Sir Evelyn Baring. The Governor was also generally weak, sickly and often seen as indecisive, influenced by his desire to build an amicable relationship with the administration and settlers.
The situation in early 1953 did not improve, the troops failed to isolate the Mau Mau guerrillas and the territory of Nairobi remained contested throughout 1953. In this areas troops generally harassed the populace, arresting and deporting large numbers of Kikuyu. Night raids also became common, collecting, harassing and screening the residents of the slums.