Mau Mau Uprising particular her mortality figures: "The senior British historian of Kenya, John Lonsdale, whom Elkins thanks profusely in her book as 'the most gifted scholar I know', warned her to place no reliance on anecdotal sources, and regards her statistical analysis—for which she cites him as one of three advisors—as 'frankly incredible'." The British possibly killed in excess of 20,000 Mau Mau militants, but in some ways more notable is the smaller number of Mau Mau suspects dealt with by capital punishment: by the end of the Emergency, the total was 1,090. At no other time or place in the British
Operation Anvil (Mau Mau Uprising) in the process. Erskine intended on relocating all Kikuyu, Embu, and Meru people from Nairobi, but the colonial government rejected the plan, citing potential harm to the local economy and administration. The operation was based on one British security forces had conducted in Tel Aviv, Palestine. Its legality was assured by the Emergency Regulations and the Control of Nairobi Regulations of 1954, the latter of which permitted the colonial governor to issue "Evacuation Orders" to remove and detain individuals from the city so they could be screened for connections with the Mau Mau. Four battalions were earmarked for the action.