No more vivid expression of the realities of the strike
was seen in London than the motor lorries, guarded by armed Grenadiers and by armoured cars, which brought food from the docks to Hyde Park. The armoured cars were manned by members of the Tank Corps, wearing their well-known black caps. After the strike had begun, hundreds of bags of flour remained in storehouses at the docks. There were plenty of lorries and plenty of drivers to remove the flour, but many strikers had drawn themselves up at the docks with the t evident intention of preventing it from being moved. Already some lorries had been held up by hostile crowds, and it was soon seen that the flour could not be trans- ported in the ordinary way. It was then that the escort from the first battalion of the Grenadier Guards was called in. The British Gazette said that the authorities had been most reluctant to employ troops—and certainly everyone is proud of the fact that not a shot has been fired in the strike ; but here was a case of necessity.
The escorting column arrived for the first time outside the docks about dawn, and the places which had been occupied on the previous day by strike pickets were soon occupied by soldiers. There was a huge crowd to see the first loads of flour taken away to Hyde Park. One man, as we read in the British Gazette, shouted out to his friends, " Stand fast, and never mind the troops I " whereupon someone interrupted him with, " And you told us they would be on our side ! " • a •
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