Scotsman Obituaries: Gen Sir Frank Kitson, officer whose tactics during the Troubles brought condemnation scotsman.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from scotsman.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
General Sir Frank Kitson, who has died aged 97, won two Military Crosses during his service in Kenya and Malaya, and went on to serve in Cyprus, Oman and Ulster; he was regarded as one of the most capable and controversial soldiers of his generation, and his expertise in counter-insurgency operations was probably unrivalled.
General Sir Frank Kitson, who has died aged 97, won two Military Crosses during his service in Kenya and Malaya, and went on to serve in Cyprus, Oman and Ulster; he was regarded as one of the most capable and controversial soldiers of his generation, and his expertise in counter-insurgency operations was probably unrivalled.
On Sunday, January 30, 1972, in Derry in the North of Ireland, the First Battalion of the British Parachute regiment (1Para) carried out a massacre of 14 peaceful demonstrators at an anti-internment march in the Catholic district of the Bogside.
Brigadier Kitson’s motive for murdering unarmed civilians in Ballymurphy. by
General Sir Frank Kitson, GBE, KCB, MC & Bar, DL
Brigadier (later General) Frank Edward Kitson is alive and well and living in Devon. He is the individual responsible for the Ballymurphy massacre. He was the Brigadier of 39 Brigade – that is to say he was the officer in charge of all British soldiers in Belfast during the Ballymurphy massacre. His accomplice was Colonel Derek Wilford, the former commander of 1 Para who is alive, alert and living in Belgium.
Kitson joined the Rifle Brigade in January 1945. He would rise to become General Sir Frank Kitson, GBE, KCB, MC & Bar, DL and serve as Commander-in-Chief UK Land Forces from 1982 to 1985, and as aide-de-camp to Elizabeth II from 1983 to 1985. Along the way, he fought the Mau-Mau in Kenya for which he was awarded the Military Cross. He then took on communist rebels i