The Black and Tans: British Police and Auxiliaries in the Irish War of Independence, 1920-1921This is the story of the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries, the most notorious police forces in the history of the British Isles. During the Irish War of Independence (1920 1), the British government recruited thousands of ex soldiers to serve as constables in the Royal Irish Constabulary, the Black and Tans, while also raising a paramilitary raiding force of ex officers the Auxiliary Division. From the summer of 1920 to the summer of 1921, these forces