We’re all familiar with Operation Nimrod, the mission to assault Prince’s Gate in London back in 1980. At a time when Western nations were reeling in the aftermath of Vietnam and the successful Islamic fundamentalist coup in Iran, the British 22d SAS took down half a dozen armed terrorists in downtown London in broad daylight and on international television. The Prince’s Gate mission catapulted the British SAS to the top of the class in modern special operations while sending a clear message to rogue states around the globe. English stock in the eyes of the world skyrocketed.
Operation Nimrod really did forge the foundation for modern special operations. Nowadays, every major nation-state maintains special forces that are trained in hostage rescue and high-risk, close-combat missions. However, while the UK shook the world in 1980, that wasn’t its first. Back in 1911, a pair of Latvian terrorists thought they might also willfully defy the crown. Like the Iranian terrorists who died some 69 years later, these Latvians also found out that the British have very little patience with such foolishness.
Background
One might be forgiven for thinking that unfettered immigration was a recent problem. It is forever in the news today. However, back in the early 20th century, England in general and London in particular were subjected to huge numbers of unwashed immigrants flooding into the country in search of better lives. Unfortunately, then as now, not all of these immigrants were in any big hurry to assimilate.
Human beings are tribal. That will never, ever change. We band together based upon our skin color, our region of origin, our theology, or our families. Once fractionated into tribes, we inevitably start looking for excuses to scrap. In 1911 in London, it all started with a handful of criminals.
Back in the early 1900s, some parts of East London were populated entirely by immigrants. Most of these folks were unskilled laborers, but a few were imported revolutionaries with poor impulse control. Despite now being removed from the hellholes where they were raised, these fulminant individuals felt compelled to perpetuate their violent criminal behavior. Socialists and anarchists were the worst.
An article in The Times claimed that the London area of Whitechapel was a place that “Harbours some of the worst alien anarchists and criminals who seek our too hospitable shore. And these are the men who use the pistol and the knife.” In an editorial penned in support of the Aliens Act of 1905 that attempted to rein in illegal immigration, The Manchester Evening Chronicle proposed to exclude “The dirty, destitute, diseased, verminous and criminal foreigner who dumps himself on our soil.” Some of the worst of the lot hailed originally from Latvia.
The Crime
The specific identities of the sundry Latvian revolutionaries who subsequently robbed Henry Samuel Harris’ jewelry shop in January of 1911 were never fully ascertained. However, these guys were dedicated. They intended to raise money to support their revolutionary efforts back home. In support of this enterprise, they rented a pair of flats adjacent to the Harris store and got busy.
These guys had planned ahead. They accumulated diamond-tipped drills, rubber gas hoses, and sundry construction tools. They used this stuff to try to cut their way into the back of the jewelry store after hours. However, this was a noisy undertaking. In short order, the racket had attracted the attention of the local constabulary.
A group of nine local constables armed with wooden truncheons eventually knocked on the door to this complex and had an exchange with a man who spoke poor English. They used this excuse to enter the premises. Once inside, they were fired upon by the Latvian criminals. Sergeant Robert Bentley was shot through the neck and suffered a catastrophic spinal cord injury. Sergeant Bryant was hit in the arm and chest. Constable Woodhams was shot through the femur. These three officers were immediately out of the fight. Bentley died later that evening. Woodhams never fully recovered.
At this point, things went seriously kinetic. While the Bobbies were essentially unarmed, the Latvian criminals wielded a Mauser C96 Broomhandle as well as a Dreyse M1907 pistol and at least a couple of Browning M1910 handguns. There was also a Browning M1900 and a 1894 Bergman in attendance as well. The Latvians attempted to flee, but were confronted by a large number of unarmed London police. Sergeant Charles Tucker was shot through the heart and killed on the spot. Constable Choate was shot fully a dozen times and died the following day.
Amidst a struggle for control of a firearm, a Latvian named George Gardstein was shot in the chest. His fellows spirited him away. However, unable to seek proper medical care, he died in a nearby apartment. The cops found him in short order and began piecing together the details.
The detectives investigating the case were issued Webley Bulldog revolvers and .22-caliber gallery rifles to use during the manhunt. As was the case in the 1997 North Hollywood shootout, the cops also hit up local gun shops for ordnance. They scored several side-by-side shotguns in this manner.
One of the Latvian players was purportedly Peter Piaktow, also known as Peter the Painter. There is some controversy as to whether he was even present for this crime. However, the C96 Broomhandle subsequently became known as “Peter the Painter” in Northern Ireland in homage to this guy.
Cornering the Rats
The killings of these three police officers absolutely incensed the British people. 750,000 mourners lined the streets for their funerals. The dead anarchist Gardstein was posed with his eyes open for a photograph that was used to ascertain his movements and identify his associates around London. The resulting effort secured several arrests. This photo eventually produced a tip regarding the location of a pair of terrorists who had been involved in the killings–Fritz Svaars and William Sokoloff. Svaars and Sokoloff were found to be holed up in a house at 100 Sidney Street. Also present was Betty Gershon, Sokoloff’s married mistress.
Some 200 police officers surrounded the area and gradually removed the civilians who lived nearby. With the entire block successfully evacuated, the cops press-ganged a neighbor into knocking on the door and telling Gershon she was needed to tend to her sick husband. As soon as she appeared, the police whisked her off for interrogation. That’s when things got real.
Taking It to the Next Level
The rules of engagement for the London police were that they could not fire their weapons unless fired upon. Despite the rather massive evacuation, the two criminals remained blissfully unaware of the police presence surrounding their building. Eventually, the police began throwing rocks at the criminals’ windows. When they both appeared and realized they were surrounded, Svaars and Sokolov opened fire. That’s just what the cops had been waiting for.
The criminals were armed with some proper firepower. One policeman was hit in the chest and evacuated. The cops could keep the terrorists contained, but their anemic weapons lacked the horsepower to reach into the dwelling. When it became obvious that Sokolov and Svaars had plenty of ammo, the scene commander made a call.
The Home Secretary at the time was an ambitious young 36-year-old politician named Winston Churchill. Perhaps you’ve heard of him. Local military forces fell under his command. This was the first time in English history that the police had requested military assistance to deal with an armed threat. Churchill responded with 21 volunteer infantrymen from the Scots Guards billeted at the Tower of London. These riflemen posted themselves with their Lee-Enfield No. 1 Mk III rifles on either side of the building and went to work. For his part, Churchill came out just to watch. Despite making a lot of noise, the criminals remained unscathed. Those must have been some seriously thick walls.
Just in case things got out of control, the Scots Guards brought up a Maxim machine gun and two 13-pounder artillery pieces. However, before they could unlimber the serious stuff, smoke was observed wafting up from the structure. In short order, the building was fully involved.
A Blaze of Glory
As the fire spread throughout the building, a desperate William Sokoloff stuck his head out of a window in search of fresh air. One of the Scots Guards’ marksmen promptly blew it off. The ranking fire captain requested permission to extinguish the blaze, but the local police commander said he’d sooner just fetch some marshmallows and enjoy the show. The fireman appealed to Churchill, who opined that he liked S’mores as well. There resulted quite a fuss over the soon-to-be barbecued cop killers, but Churchill stood firm. He later said, “I now intervened to settle this dispute, at one moment quite heated. I told the fire-brigade officer on my authority as Home Secretary that the house was to be allowed to burn down and that he was to stand by in readiness to prevent the conflagration from spreading.”
Once it became obvious that no one could have survived the inferno, the fire brigade was unleashed to douse the flames. As a five-man firefighting team entered the structure, part of it collapsed. All five were injured. Superintendent Charles Pearson suffered a spinal fracture and died six months later. A follow-on team located and removed the roasted bodies of the two terrorists.
READ MORE HERE: Psycho Killers: Operation Tapeworm
Denouement
The slain and injured coppers were all decorated and promoted. Any children of fallen police officers received a stipend of five shillings per week until age fifteen. One of the findings of the subsequent inquiries was that the London cops had been lyrically undergunned. In response, the Met bought a bunch of Webley and Scott .32ACP semiautomatic pistols. I’m not convinced that was a serious improvement.
There were a few convictions, but most of the co-conspirators successfully slithered out of the country. Peter the Painter was never heard from again. One of the revolutionaries, Jacob Peters, made it back to Russia and eventually became deputy chief of the Cheka, the Soviet secret police. However, the lunatic Joseph Stalin had the poor guy whacked in 1938 as part of one of his many purges.
1914 saw the onset of the First World War, and memories of the Sidney Street standoff were overwhelmed by world events. However, the sordid exchange back in 1911 stands as a testament to the fact that the Brits just don’t play when it comes to dealing with terrorists. When things went all pear-shaped, they were fully willing to bring artillery to bear in downtown London if that’s what it took. God save the King…
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