'Sir, They're Taking the Kids Indoors': The British in Northern Ireland 1973-74

The British Army in Northern Ireland #1

by Ken Wharton

This is Ken Wharton's eagerly awaited new book chronicling the Northern Ireland troubles from the British soldier's perspective. His finest book to date, surpassing his 2011 work "The Bloodiest Year - Northern Ireland 1972," looks at the bloody period of 1973/4 and features many contributions from those who were there besides superb and painstaking research. 'Sir, they're taking the kids indoors' was a cry heard by most if not all of the British soldiers who served on either the 4 month emergency or the 2 year resident battalion tours of Northern Ireland. It refers to the IRA tactic of warning the civilian population in Republican areas of the impending arrival of one of their gunmen. Clearly, as witnessed by the number of civilian deaths among the Catholic population directly or indirectly at the hands of their 'protectors' in the IRA, they were not averse to killing or causing the deaths of Catholics. Once the 'jungle drums' had warned mothers of the approaching death at the hands of the 'widow maker' they would bring their offspring indoors and thus give the IRA the 'moral high ground' of not shooting their own supporters.

Genres: Nonfiction

358 pages, Hardcover

First published June 19, 2012

About the author

Ken Wharton is a former British soldier who served in the Royal Green Jackets regiment. Currently, he writes non-fiction books on the violent religious/political conflict in Northern Ireland known as The Troubles.

The books are an oral history based on first-hand accounts by soldiers of all ranks who served in the Operation Banner campaign as well as Wharton's own personal experiences when he did two tours of Northern Ireland.

Reviews

[Fiona Johnston · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the worst book I have ever read. It showed no understanding at all of the situation in the North of IReland. A waste of time and money.