Operation Anvil (Mau Mau Uprising) the reserves. The "Grey" grade was made up of prisoners believed to be passive Mau Mau sympatherisers though for whom strong evidence suggesting their true loyalties was lacking. The last category, "Black", was reserved for detainees identified by the hooded informers or the Special Branch of the Kenya Police as potentially violent insurgents or terrorists. A few may have been prosecuted by the government, but most were funneled through the "Pipeline", a system of work camps, decreasing in brutality until an individual was "re-educated" and deemed safe to release on a native reserve. Operation Anvil (Mau Mau Uprising) Operation Anvil
Mau Mau Uprising areas. Militarily, the British defeated Mau Mau in four years (1952–56) using a more expansive version of "coercion through exemplary force". In May 1953, the decision was made to send General George Erskine to oversee the restoration of order in the colony. By September 1953, the British knew the leading personalities in Mau Mau, the capture and 68 hour interrogation of General China on 15 January the following year provided a massive intelligence boost on the forest fighters. Erskine's arrival did not immediately herald a fundamental change in strategy, thus the continual pressure on the gangs remained, but he created