No More For The Road

Back home, the government had been busy. Plans had been put into effect to potentially privatise a number of industries that had been recipients of significant government subsidies over the years. British Leyland, which had been formed from the amalgamation of Austin, MG, Morris, Lotus and Rover, (including Land Rover). For a number of years, the failing car manufacturers were protected, the managers paid off and jobs protected to keep the unions happy. The quality of the vehicles took a downward slope, however, with union interference, it became virtually impossible to sack anybody, and so nothing was done, the vehicles became an international joke, and treasury money poured endlessly into the hole that was the British automotive industry.
On April 1st 1980, timed deliberately, the proposal was published for the sale of British Leyland. There would be no government subsidy to the purchaser, although debts to the treasury which had never been collected, were to be written off. Tenders were to be recieved no later than 1st May. At the same time, the first piece of anti union legislation, The Industrial Relations Act proposed and written by Junior industry secretary Alan Clark was passed - the end of the closed shop, and the end of job protection for those involved in industrial action after 30 continuous days.
Previously, strikes had lasted a few weeks, however the government estimated that if union discontent at the legislation reached the level of action, then it could last as long as the Miners strike of 1926. Acts of parliament banning sympathy strikes and mass picketing passed in 1927 were reviewed, and expecting the miners to be first to strike, strategic coal reserves were greatly increased, allowing, by government calculations, almost 6 months of standard consumption.

When the first strike came, it wasn't the miners nor was it the car manufacturers. The National Association of Mechanical Testers, (a union restricted to Mechanical engineers engaged in MOT* Testing for cars, motorbikes, lorries and other mechanically propelled vehicles), initiated a walk out in the small midlands town of Melton Mowbray. Kwik Fit, a small but expanding firm of garages specialising in exhausts, tyres and MOT tests, had opened a new Branch in the Leicestershire town. One afternoon, one of the fitters had been called into the office for being "incapable of properly discharging his duties due to the effect of drink" and sacked without notice or references. The fitter, celebrating his birthday, had been to the pub at lunchtime with some of his co-workers, by all accounts, he had drunk a single pint and was fit to drive, (this was proven on his drive home when he was pulled over by the Police on suspicion of drink driving, it is suspected that the branch manager made the report to the police), and that the manager in question had "had it in for the fitter for a while because he wouldn't work overtime". Although this was the headline, the NAMT called the strike in his support, and also had the side issue, that fitters, in breach of demarcation, were being ordered to do a Tester's job. The NAMT was not a large union, however the effect locally was significant as the strike, initially local to that branch of kwik fit, soon spread to other garages, and even a number of independents, (sole traders, who were union members, but were self employed). After a week, a growing number of vehicles MOT test certificates began to expire, without a valid test certificate showing that the vehicle had passed an annual safety test, people were not legally allowed to drive that vehicle. As a result, individuals found it more difficult to get to work, to go shopping and partake in leisure activities, businsess started losing productivity, found it harder to make or recieve deliveries, and after a few weeks, things started breaking down.
The NAMT had been made aware of the provisions if the new Industrial Relations Act, and so, 28 days after it had begun, the strike was ended "to give the management time to reconsider their position". MOT Stations found themselves working overtime to fit in the delayed tests, and while nothing official was announced, the Mowbray Branch manager was moved to Leicester, and the fitter quietly reemployed. In this forst round, the small NAMT Union had played clever and won a small victory before anyone had noticed. Both Government departments and larger unions took notice and each drew what would later be agreed, were the wrong lessons. For the government, it was a sign that the Unions had been tamed and that their control could be broken without further consequence, for the Unions, it was a sign that the new legislation was a paper tiger, and that they could continue as before. It would not take long for both to be proven wrong.

The summer of 1980 also saw the Moscow Olympics. A number of nations had decided to boycott the Olympic games due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, however, the new British government went a step further, firstly stating they would boycott the games due to the Soviet Union's repeated disregard for other countries sovereignty, then later, when a number of Athletes spoke of travelling to compete under the Olympic flag, the Home Secretary, Norman Tebbit, threatened to prosecute any athlete that travelled. In the end, only two athletes attempted to travel, a Judo fighter, Chris Adams, brother of Neil Adams, who while not part of the GB Squad for Judo, had fought at a high enough level to qualify, and Jeff Williams, a road cyclist and hill climbing champion. Both were also threatened with sanctions by their sport's governing bodies. Williams ended his travel in Germany after finding that both of his bicycles had been "damaged in transit". On return to Britain, he sued British Airways for the damages, however the case was settled out of court and Williams, neither rode competitively nor spoke of the incident again.
Chris Adams completed his journey to Moscow and competed, but was knocked out on the qualifying rounds. Under threat of an unspecified prosecution on his return to England, Adams instead travelled to Japan where he soon began a career in Professional Wrestling. His in-ring career would end in the United States of America in 1984 due to in injury sustained wrestling for the fledgling World Wrestling Federation, however, he took up the company's offer of a back office role, and is now credited with helping to produce some of the franchises greatest wrestling talents. Adams died of a heart attack in October 2001. Although his family travelled out to the US to see him when they could, (often at his expense), Adams never returned to England and is buried in Hartford, Connecticut.

The Olympics, even with their second hand glory proved a useful distraction. However, with a more right wing government, depression creeping in as jobs were shed from industries bereft of the life support from the government they had grown accustomed to, harder left wing groups found sympathetic ears to their causes from among the unemployed and the black listed.

Music also began to react to this change in society, darker, more aggressive than the first wave, the new wave of punk music breaking onto the scene saw groups such as GBH, The Exploited, Discharge and Killing Joke gain popularity. Similarly, using a more "post Apocalypic" image in their music, newly styles "Gothic" rock bands such as Sisters Of Mercy, Alien Sex Fiend, Gene Loves Jezabel began to build a following providing a sharp counter point to the "safe" manufactured pop that dominated the charts. Sales of singles by these aggressive new punk bands saw the mainstream media forced to acknowledge their existence as more than a fad to be stereotyped by the appearance of the Malcom McLaren managed Sex Pistols on the Bill Grundy show a few years back.
This time it was the flagship BBC Chart show, Top Of The Pops.

Discharge had broken into the charts with their single "Realities Of War" and had reached number 5 in the top 10 singles chart and so, the band were invited to perform the song, despite it's controversial lyrical content, live on the Thursday evening prime time show. The band were briefed in no uncertain terms that they were to refrain from swearing as the show was live, and that if they did so, they would forfeit their £500 appearance fee.
The band arrived in good time on the afternoon of the show. They had spent the morning at the BBC's studios in Maida Vale recording a session for John Peel's late night Radio 1 show, the show that had given the band one of their earliest national breaks. On arrival, producers confirmed that they would wear nothing with an offensive slogan on the actual show, and the band were allowed to rehearse ready for that evening. After the rehearsal, they were introduced to that evening's presenter, and shown to the greenroom until it was time to perform.

Contrary to reports in some of the press the following day, there had not been "a booze fuelled frenzy of vandalism", a bottle of red wine had been knocked over by a member of one of the other acts performing that evening, however, it had been a quiet afternoon until the band went to the BBC canteen for something to eat where they were initially refused service, however after one of the shows producers confirmed that they were indeed due to perform, they got some sandwiches and returned to the green room via the dressing rooms after getting lost.

At 7.00pm, the band were moved to a back stage area, ready to go on stage. As the preceding act, the band were ushered on stage and were introduced by the host.
The performance itself was fairly forgettable, 2 minutes of fast grinding guitar, base and drums with Cal screaming the lyrics, it was however, the end of the performance, that earned the band their moment of notoriety:

Jimmy Saville: "Well howsabout that then guys and gals, that was Discharge with the number 5 single, Realities".
Cal, (Discharge singer):[shoves Saville with some force knocking him into a number of youngsters, grabs his microphone] "it's Realities of War you paedo twat. Yeah, I said it, we saw you trying to shag that schoolgirl earlier, still in her fucking uniform you sick cunt"
The camera cut away to the next act, Bucks Fizz, who look shocked at the outburst, and miss the first few beats of the backing music to "Making Your Mind Up", before picking up the dance routine.

The following day, the news paper headlines led with variations on "Punk and Disorderly", noting that the band had been immediately banned from the BBC in all formats, and that the singer, Kelvin Morris had been arrested and charged with common assault for his attack on Saville. The outburst was not reported in the press, however it started people looking, with Saville finding himself, while not fired, taken out of circulation within the BBC, and his flagship show, "Jim'll Fix it", taken over by comedian Jimmy Tarbuck until the end of the series. In court, Morris pleaded guilty, was fined £5 and given a 6 month conditional discharge. Two months later, the "Conditional Discharge" tour, the bands first national tour began a 15 date run around the UK before heading to Germany.

The event, in and of itself not particularly special, has been pointed to later as an example of the more iconoclastic approach that society had begun to take in the aftermath of the Soviet spy scandals. Where as the Conservative Party would tout this approach as being "the very thing required to bring the country together" in the words of Mrs Thatcher, it has the opposite effect, people were now far more open to questioning authority, far more open to protesting, far more open to opposing authority.

All of this made them far more vulnerable to groups seeking recruits for their own purposes.

Both extremes of the political spectrum will find themselves recruiting, and certainly the far right will fall back on the traditional themes, Foreigners sent home etc, but now include Russians or anyone that sounds eastern European too, meaning former Polish veterans as well for example.

This is the kind of situation that hits the papers, "5 thugs hospitalised after trying to mug Polish WWII veteran commando" type of headlines. Or if they try it on with an ex Gurkha...

Scargill has gone early. Is this strike legal?
I'm also thinking as to whether what happened in March 82 will happen here...

Dan, I was re-reading and (unless I am dumb and missed it) I couldn't find any mention of Airey Neave. Is he alive?

This is a slightly cynical post, It will skip over the next few years, but will hopefully be worth while.


Epilogue

"Rationalising The Empire"
In early 1982, the Foreign Office made an approach, via Washington to Buenos Aires to talk about the future of the Falkland Islands. The Islands, plus South Georgia were a minor drain on the British Economy, and so it was decided that alongside the government's other initiatives such as privating the remaining government owned utilities, (British Telecom, British Gas and the regional electricity boards had already gone, water board and the post office were alleged to be next on the block), Britain looked to rid itself of a number of outlying regions that were not economically viable, especially those in South America.

British Honduras was the first to quietly go. It was granted independence quietly in mid 1981 and the British Garrison withdrawn. By the end of 1981, any former residents of Belize that had wanted to leave, were allowed passage and leave to remain in Britain, and on the first of January 1982, in what amounted to a near bloodless invasion, Guatemala swept in and took control, claiming that it had been requested to in the final action of the Belize government. This move was ratified by a "Democratic Referendum" that took place on April 1st 1982 where the annexation was approved of over 80% of those who voted.

The talks with Argentina regarding the Falklands proceeded rapidly with the Argentines barely believing their luck. General Galtieri and his Military Junta had considered a military invasion of the Islands, but had been dissuaded by the American Government. Instead, after agreeing not to station Military or Paramilitary forces on the Islands for 25 years, allow British Basing rights, at a facility to be built adjacent to Whalebone Cove near Port Stanley, should they be required and to allow the Falkland Islanders to maintain their British citizenship as well as providing Argentine citizenship for those that wished it, the British were willing to cede control of the Islands no later than January 1st 1984. The Junta, which had become a little nervous about it's position seized on the deal and was able to present it as proof that they were the right government. In the end, it didn't help. In August 1982, Galtieri was deposed by Argentine Naval Commander, Admiral Barry Hussey, who promised the people free elections. True to his word, on May 5th 1983, Argentina held it's first elections since Peron and on January 1st 1984, Las Malvinas, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, moved to Argentine jurisdiction.

"The Troubles"
Northern Ireland continued to be a hotbed of trouble with repeated Unionist conflict, sometimes with each other, occasionally against the IRA and INLA, but mostly on the regular Catholic citizens of Ulster. Appeals to the government to do something were politely ignored, protests from the people were repressed claiming they were terrorist sympathisers. This in turn led to protests from the Irish Government which were brushed off, diplomatically, but brushed off.
Eventually these complaints made their way across the Atlantic, so finally, brought to heel, the government made visible efforts to rein in the the paramilitaries. This didn't last, soon, the first families made their way south across the border and within weeks whole streets were moving out of Republican areas and heading south to Ireland. With the Catholic population of Ulster down by nearly half, the violence between Catholic and Protestant petered out, however the factional violence between the various "loyalist" groups, now behaving as little more the organised criminals exploded finally forcing the RUC to finally take action.
That didn't mean that the IRA had given up. Instead, targeted bombings and shootings were used to keep the feuds between the Loyalist gangs going while revenge hits were carried out against various members of the British establishment. In November 1982, using an American .50cal Machine Gun, the IRA attacked the ministerial car of John Biggs Davison. The car didn't just contain Biggs Davison, but also former party leader and Secretary for Employment, James Prior.
The attack not only killed the two politicians, but also the driver and a Police Bodyguard travelling in the front seat of the vehicle which was totally destroyed.
After a suitable period of mourning, Dr Brian Mawhinney was brought in to the position as Secretary for Employment, while Lt Col Airey Neave MC, DSO, a distinguished former Military Intelligence officer was brought in as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
Neave worked quickly to bring in a former Labour Minister, Roy Mason, much to the disgust and dismay of many of his cabinet colleagues, to assist in combating the IRA. Mason had been, unusually for the preceding Labour government, surprisingly effective in deploying Police and Army units very quietly to keep a lid on the violence. Neave recognised and valued this experience. And again, they brought quiet moves, both within Ulster and without and began to bring the province under control again with violence, while still higher than anywhere else in the UK, much lower than it had been at the height of the troubles.


"The Beast From The East"
While they had accommodated all of the defectors from the UK that had come across, that didn't mean that they were all welcome. Burgess and Philby provided a wealth of information and freely gave interviews to the international press, going into much detail of British operations against their erstwhile allies in Western Europe and North America. Much of this was exaggerated and in some places fictitious however enough of it was accurate enough to cause some very awkward meetings, rescued only by the recent wholesale changes in the intelligence services. Indeed, further damage was alleviated when in a joint request, the Home Secretary, Norman Tebbit and the Secretary for defence, Peter Singlewood approached James Angleton to request CIA help in rebuilding the intelligence services. While they did not realise it at the time, the British Intelligence Services became to the CIA, as the STASI had become to the KGB.

The Soviets on the other hand had their hands full. Their invasion of Afghanistan in 1980, at the behest of the Revolutionary Government in Kabul was in full swing, however, Covert support from Pakistan, later supported by support from the United States and her allies had turned the country into a meat grinder as Muslim fighters began another guerilla war in Afghanistan's history of resistance against foreign invaders.
This became combined with an internal campaign against Muslims within the Soviet Republics,again, covertly supported by the Americans, this time through a significant number of cut-outs, it seems the Soviets are too busy to interfere elsewhere.


--------------------------------

I've missed a huge chunk - sorry. One more part to come. 

"The Miner's Strike"

With the Government releasing it's 21 Century Energy Plan, (Energy 2000 as it was soon dubbed), it was obvious that the National Union of Mineworkers would take action. It was expected that under their current leader, Arthur Scargill, that they would call a strike giving the National Coal Board the right to fire them if they did not return to work within 1 month. The Miners leader tried a different tack to begin with. He gave press conferences explaining how the plan was simply to close or privatise the mines and sack the workers. This didn't gain too much traction but it was enough to force the Energy Secretary - David Howellto issue reassurances that there would be no compulsary redundancies. This took the edge off of the mood, but it wasn't enough. Matters came to a head in Medway, one of the few pits left open in Southern England. A dispute arose between the Union and managers after 3 shop stewards were docked pay for failing to attend work.The Shop Stewards had advised the managers before hand that this was to attend a regional TUC meeting and it had been verbally agreed. However with no paperwork to back it up, the Union men had their pay docked.
Medway had been known as one of the more militant pits, and showing a lack of restraint that Scargill would condemn bitterly in his memoirs, the miners walked out on strike.
With no ballot, the Pit managers were within their rights to sack every one of them, however that would cause a huge loss of production and so instead they gave an ultimatum: Return to work within 24 hours or face the sack.
A pit head ballot took place, an NUM rep from Nottinghamshire even promised to make good the lost wages if they would return to work for now, but this was rejected and the men, by a narrow majority, (that some would later claim was made up of men who were not miners), voted for strike and so, with it being official, the management were forced to give the workers a month to resolve the dispute.

There were some talks between the National Union and the Pit managers, however every proposed solution was rejected by a core of the miners, They had set themselves on a course to fight.
Almost immediately, the local National Front, saw an opportunity for violence, but had bitten off more than they could chew fighting the genuinely tough miners and called for reinforcements. The Police likewise, paying less attention to the Skinheads of the NF found that the miners weren't the pushovers they expected them to be, and so too, the called for reinforcements.
The Battle of Betteshanger as it became known took two parts, the first Battle took place on 5th October 1981 when the first wave of National Front skinheads and Police clashed with the Miner's picket lines. At first the the Miners routed the skinheads who had had no idea what they would be dealing with, when the Police moved in. This was a far tougher fight, the Police started with fists and truncheons, the miners retaliated with fists and the poles from their strike signs. There were casualties on both sides, the Miners coming off worse. There were a few Workers Defence Volunteers mixed with the miners, who soon formed themselves into "Snatch Squads" as they had been trained to do in the Army and began dragging away various Police Officers, aiming for Sergeants and Inspectors - the leaders and subjecting them to brutal assaults. The Police soon retaliated - picking out individual miners that would be assaulted by a group before being arrested. After 3 hours, the fighting subsided and both sides withdrew to lick their wounds with only a skeleton presence of Police and Miners remaining.

More Pits went out on "sympathy strikes" with miners using rest days to picket the pits, but not interfering with those entering work and no action was taken against them.

This changed on Thursday 22nd October at the Second "Battle of Betteshanger".
The mood on both sides had been deteriorating since the beginning of October, and flanked by Union Staff and Workers Defence Volunteers, now openly carrying pick axe handles as weapons, the Local Miners Leader Terry Harrison gave a speech to the striking miners. Kent Constabulary, strengthened with Police Officers from London and Hampshire, all equipped with Riot Gear, attempted to intervene. This time, there was no pretence from either side. The Police formed their lines as stones and bottles began to rain down on them from the crowd and began the slow march forward.

As the Modern reenactment of an ancient Roman battle unfolded, three shots rang out from behind the police lines and Harrison, who was still on the stage at the time fell, fatally shot. As if by command, the police charged the now shocked miners. As the miners began to flee, a core of around 30 WDV stepped forward with shields and pick axe handles and met the charge. The Miners soon rallied, seeing the men make their stand and returned, this time fuelled by anger. Mobs of men swarmed forward and soon the numbers began to tell. Miners broke through the Police ranks and surged into the rear areas of the police presence, turning over Police cars and vans and setting fire to them. The Police retreated, reformed after securing their rear area and charged again moving in the reinforcements from London and Hampshire.

The tide turned, and by the end of the day, as hundreds of casualties were taken to hospital, the cost began to be counted. Seven Police were dead and 24 seriously injured, Twelve Miners, including Terry Harrison and two WDV were dead with over one hundred injured. Those that were taken to hospital soon found themselves under arrest.

The following day, in a statement to Parliament, the Home Secretary Norman Tebbit told the house that such scenes would never replay themselves, and that any and all measures would be taken to combat this "Communist inspired strike".

The Newspapers carried headlines, some calling this a civil war and the Daily Mail calling for the execution of those fund guilty of murdering the Policemen, all of them horrified.
As the ripples of the battle began to be felt, Arthur Scargill, following a ballot of the National Committee, called the NUM out on strike.
The demands were simple:

The murder of Terry Harrison investigated and the perpetrator to face the full weight of the law
An end to the program of pit closures
All sacked staff to be reinstated

Scargill believed that at least one of those should be achievable - the investigation in Harrison's murder, the second he would fight for but felt it was a lost cause having seen which way the wind was blowing, and the last would be up to the pit managers.
What Scargill misjudged was the mood of the government. This was the fight they had been waiting for. This was the chance they had been waiting for to smash the perceived power of the Unions.

The following day, the reply came directly from the Prime Minister:
"The murder of Terrence Harrison shall be investigated by the Police and given the same gravity as every other death that occurred on that day. I take this opportunity to publicly condemn the murders of seven Police Officers who died in the line of duty, protecting the innocent from the thuggish mobs bent on causing terror on our own streets for their own selfish ends. I offer my heartfelt condolences to the families of those seven officers, their parents, wives and children who will now have to continue their lives without their sons, brothers, husbands or fathers, and I promise now that anyone found guilty of those murders will be punished to the fullest extent of the law.
It has long, long been the policy of the British Government that we will not negotiate with murderers, terrorists or other criminals, and this is no different.
This country IS founded on law and order, and we WILL have Law and Order".

The lines were drawn.

Within hours, Unions gave undertakings of support. The Transport & General Workers Union stated that their members would not cross picket lines, and ASLEF, the train drivers union forbade it's members from driving coal trains through the picket lines. The TUC itself issued a statement of support for the Miners and stated that it would do everything within it's power to support the miners and called on ACAS - the industrial conciliation service to become involved.

The government wouldn't move, the Miners wouldn't move.
At a Cabinet meeting that day, various options were discussed, the seriousness of the actions taken were debated. After earlier action by the miners, strategic supplies of coal had been increased to make good the losses from the last strike and the fire that had depleted the strategic reserves previously, this would allow the power stations to remain in full operation through the worst of the winter, although if the strike lasted more than three to four months, some power rationing may occur. It very quickly became apparent that the Armed Forces may be called upon in various capacities, but this wasn't expected to be a serious issue.
Very quickly, the pits managers began to contact the striking miners, warning them that should they fail to return to work immediately, they may face disciplinary action, but the strikers held firm. When the haulage companies were told that their workers wouldn't cross picket lines, some responded by sacking the drivers and hiring non union drivers, some were sympathetic and still asked the drivers to cross the lines, while a few, those in Yorkshire especially, simply refused to take anymore coal work until the strike had been settled.
The trains were not being filled at the mines as drivers refused to cross picket lines. Non union drivers were used in places, but ALSEF Members sent those drivers to Coventry, some refused to take on the work and were welcomed back, some continued and were harassed until they quit.

All the while, the power stayed on, and the reserves began to shrink.

Back at the pickets, the Police were being stretched, other constabularies began sending officers to relieve those on the picket lines. Some gained reputations for brutality above the level seen so far. West Midlands Police used mounted officers from day one of their involvement, while from the Anglia region, Cambridgeshire Constabulary used edges of their riot shields to deliver blows to the faces of strikers to break noses and teeth with what became known as the "Cambridge Chop". Soon, as more and more weapons were seen in the hands of Rioters, Buckinghamshire Constabulary Officers deployed to Nottinghamshire brought armed police officers as back up. The sight of these officers brought some level of calm, but this simply upped the ante with the former soldiers that made up the WDV. Some of these had joined gun clubs on leaving the armed forces, and with the retirement of the L1A1 Self loading rifle, the semi automatic version of the FN FAL, in favour of the American designed AR-18, hundreds of older rifles had been sold as surplus to collectors and gun club members. Some still remained in the armouries of the Territorial Army while thousands had been sold to arms dealers overseas and lost track of. Some of those found their way back, via criminal or political groups, to the UK and into the hands of a hard core of the WDV along with a selection of other weapons which were carefully stored.

Intimidation of strike breakers, managers, and since the new year, off duty policemen began to take a more sinister turn around February 1982 when a number of incendiary bombs were used to destroy vehicles belong to one of the companies that had provided coaches to take strike breaking miners and one senior manager at Oregrave coal mine's car was set alight. Soon, strike breakers, or scabs as they were known, began to receive physical attacks as well as verbal, leading to a number of strike breakers arming themselves for protection, some legally, others not.

On 14th February four striking miners attacked the home of a strike breaker and his family. Unknown to them, the strike breaker had received a Firearms Certificate from the police and had purchased a revolver. As the miners broke down the man's door, he had leapt up and grabbed for the handgun he kept in a box over the fireplace. As what appeared to be a crowd of men charged through the living room door, the man fired all six shots from the revolver in quick succession. The first two men were killed instantly, a third was wounded by a gunshot to the leg and the fourth ran, apparently uninjured. When the Police arrived 15 minutes later, they found the man, still pointing his gun at the two dead men in a state of deep shock. Disarmed, he and the injured man were taken to hospital for treatment.

Back at the picket lines, the WDV were now openly carrying meelee weapons, while armed volunteers hid in vans or houses nearby, waiting for the inevitable.
It happened at Betteshanger when it happened.
A newly qualified Kent constable had been armed with a .38 revolver and sat in a car with two other officers, both unarmed. As the approached the picket lines, their car became surrounded. Pushing his way clear, the Policeman drew his pistol and fired twice into the air. The armed WDV heard the shots and jumped from the van they had been hiding in. In a split second, they rounded the corner to where the Police officer was. The Police Officer raised his revolver to fire, the former soldiers reacted instantly and fired into the officer. His two colleagues tried to jump out the car and were gunned down by the men in pure reaction. Realising what had occurred, the men left the scene immediately.

The following day, in a preplanned maneuver, convoys of green painted lorries made their way to the pits to load up with coal. The Army had been called out.
Soldiers from the Guards regiments and the Parachute regiment were sent to the pits, they were armed as if deploying to Northern Ireland - Helmets, flack vests, webbing and rifles. At pits they were deployed to, officers with loud hailers stated that any picketer who did not move aside to let his men through would be forced aside and any attempt to attack the soldiers would be met with unhesitating lethal force.

It was at Cortonwood Colliery in South Yorkshire in late March 1982 when the first shots of the miners war were fired.
A cadre of 20 WDV men, half of whom were armed with melee weapons, the other half armed with firearms ranging from a bolt action Lee Enfield rifle of WW1 Heritage up to recently retired Self Loading Rifles and even an illegally acquired submachine gun, kept themselves out of sight.
A platoon of troops from the 3rd Parachute Regiment, a Territorial Army unit, had received orders to open the the pit to transport. The same orders as with other pits were given, except this time, the Miners tried to hold the line. The soldiers began to club their way into the crowd. The Lieutenant in charge of the platoon ordered bayonets fixed and the first rock flew. The order was given to load the rifles and make ready to fire and more rocks and bottles flew. The WDV began to deploy off to the side where they had a view of the proceedings. Whether the order was given deliberately or whether it was an accidental discharge, the result was instant. The WDV, from what amounted to an ambush position, opened fire at the paras. The Paras immediately began shooting at the nearest threat - the miners in front of them, and as casualties mounted the Paras begin to realise where the fire is coming from and returned fire, attempting to charge down the enemy as they had been trained to. It didn't work to plan, one of the three sections of the platoon were wiped out - killed or wounded in the opening minutes, one of the sections pulled back into cover while the third continued to open the route to the pit entry with as much violence as possible.
As the battle wore on, more Paras arrived and immediately restarted the pressure on the WDV men who, seeing the change, withdrew.
As the gloves had been taken off, more militant miners began campaigns of arson and bombing, deaths began to occur at a rate that caused even Thatcher to blanche, blanche, but not give. Instead it was Scargill and Howell that gave. In secret talks, given quiet blessing by Thatcher, the Union Leader and the Energy Secretary sat down in a hotel in France and thrashed out a deal that would end the strike and end the killing.
It took two months, two months that saw another 27 deaths, hundreds of injuries and millions of pound worth of damage, but a deal was done.
The Pits would still close, but over 20 years not 5, the striking miners would be reinstated although Betteshanger and Cortonwood would be closed immediately and the miners paid handsomely.
There would be no amnesty for anyone found to have been involved in the WDV, and the group were immediately declared illegal by the Thatcher government. Few were ever arrested but tabs were kept.
By the end of 1982, the Miners strike was over and those that still had jobs returned to work. Quite a few didn't for one reason or another and over two thousand emigrated from the UK to Australia and South Africa to work in the mines there.
It didn't matter though, it had appeared that the Government had won, the Unions had been broken and all was right once again.
However, it had been shown how weak the current government had been, and more importantly, it had broken the final taboo in industrial action - it had shown that despite claims to the contrary, terrorism worked, and it would be a lesson that would be remembered in the future.

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This IS the final part of this run, we have reached a terminus* as the final pieces have been played. Thank you for reading along and I hope you have enjoyed it.


*Terminus in one meaning, is either end of a journey, it is booth the end, AND the beginning.