Military Loyalty in Britain’s Withdrawal from Aden, 1960–1967

Abstract

AbstractThis article argues an understanding of the British withdrawal from Aden in 1967 requires greater attention to be paid to the loyalty of the local security forces who were supposed to help repress the insurgency in south Arabia, and then secure a friendly state when Britain left. The Federal Regular Army (FRA), the most important formation, proved to be consistently unreliable through behaviours ranging from the attempted murder of British personnel, to desertion and political activism. However, disbanding the FRA might have made matters even worse, so British officers sought to manipulate its loyalty through various mechanisms, including pay rises, ignoring disloyal incidents and directing propaganda at the soldiers. These endeavours succeeded in holding off a mutiny until June 1967, but only by creating a force which became infiltrated by the insurgent movements and lacked the capacity to play any meaningful role in defending the federation. This analysis suggests studies on British counter-insurgency should investigate further the role of local allies in strategy and operations.Keywords: Adencounter-insurgencydecolonisationloyalismdefence policy AcknowledgementsThanks to Victoria Basham, Edward Burke, Brian Drohan, David French, Claudia Hillebrand and David Morgan-Owen for their help during the preparation of this article, and to the staffs at the Bodleian Library, the British Library, the Imperial War Museum and the National Archives for making the archival research possible. Earlier versions of the article were presented at conferences held by the Society for the History of War in Amsterdam in 2022, and the Society for Military History in San Diego in 2023. Thank you to the conference organisers, and to the audience members for their questions and comments. I am most grateful to the journal’s editor, Professor Gaynor Johnson, and to the two anonymous reviewers, for improving the quality of the article and permitting its publication.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.Notes1 Rhiannon Vickers, The Labour Party and the World, Volume 2: Labour’s Foreign Policy Since 1951 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2011), 58, 76-77.2 Saki Dockrill, Britain’s Retreat from East of Suez: The Choice between Europe and the World? (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002), 104.3 John Young, The Labour Governments 1964-1970, Volume 2: International Policy (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2003), 31, 35-38, 50.4 Kennedy Trevaskis, Shades of Amber: A South Arabian Episode (London: Hutchinson, 1968); Colin Mitchell, Having Been a Soldier (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1969).5 Clive Jones, Britain and the Yemen Civil War, 1962-1965. Ministers, Mercenaries and Mandarins: Foreign Policy and the Limits of Covert Action (Brighton: Sussex Academic Press, 2004), 216.6 Jonathan Walker, Aden Insurgency: The Savage War in South Arabia 1962-1967 (Staplehurst: Spellmount, 2005), xix.7 Aaron Edwards, Defending the Realm? The politics of Britain’s small wars since 1945 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2012), 178.8 British Army, Army Field Manual Volume 1 Part 10: Countering Insurgency (Warminster: Land Warfare Centre, 2009), CS4-4.9 Asher Orkaby, ‘The North Yemen civil war and the failure of the Federation of South Arabia’, Middle Eastern Studies, 53/1 (2017), 69-83; Spencer Mawby, ‘From Tribal Rebellions to Revolution: British Counter-Insurgency Operations in Southwest Arabia 1955-1967’, Electronic Journal of International History, 5 (2000), accessed online 16 February 2023 at: https://sas-space.sas.ac.uk/3392/1/Journal_of_International_History_2000_n5_Mawby.pdf10 Denis Healey, The Time of My Life (London: Michael Joseph, 1989), 280.11 William D. James, ‘Global Britain’s strategic problem East of Suez’, European Journal of International Security, 6 (2021), 173, 176.12 Spencer Mawby, British Policy in Aden and the Protectorates 1955-67: Last outpost of a Middle East empire (London: Routledge, 2005), 3.13 Rob Johnson, True to Their Salt: Indigenous Personnel in Western Armed Forces (London: Hurst & Company, 2017), 302.14 David French, Army, Empire, and Cold War: The British Army and Military Policy, 1945-1971 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), 244-245, 287-288.15 Jonathan Walker, ‘The South Arabian Army - A Poisoned Chalice?’, in Noel Brehony and Clive Jones (eds.), Britain’s Departure from Aden and South Arabia: Without Glory but Without Disaster (Berlin: Gerlach Press, 2020), 96.16 Julian Paget, Last Post: Aden 1964-67 (London: Faber and Faber, 1969), 213-223; Walker, Aden Insurgency, 239-258.17 Mawby, British Policy in Aden and the Protectorates, 168-169.18 Paget, Last Post, 186.19 David French, The British Way in Counter-Insurgency 1945-1967 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), 185-186.20 Mawby, British Policy in Aden and the Protectorates, 176.21 Eric Hundman, ‘The Diversity of Disobedience in Military Organizations’, Journal of Global Security Studies, 6/4 (2021), 2.22 Frank Edwards, The Gaysh: A History of the Aden Protectorate Levies 1927-61 and the Federal Regular Army of South Arabia 1961-67 (Solihull: Helion and Company, 2004), 10, 144.23 British Library, India Office Records [hereafter ‘BL’], IOR/R/20/B/3057: ‘Federal Army Half Yearly Security Report’, 11 January 1962.24 Anthony King, The Combat Soldier: Infantry Tactics and Cohesion in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries (Oxford: Oxford University Press).25 Tarak Barkawi, ‘Decolonising war’, European Journal of International Security, 1/2 (2016), 199-214; Michelle R. Moyd, Violent Intermediaries: African Soldiers, Conquest, and Everyday Colonialism in German East Africa (Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 2014); Tarak Barkawi, Soldiers of Empire: Indian and British Armies in World War II (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017).26 Elihu Rose, ‘The Anatomy of Mutiny’, Armed Forces and Society, 8/4 (1982), 561-563.27 George Lepre, Fragging: Why U.S. Soldiers Assaulted Their Officers in Vietnam (Lubbock, TX: Texas Tech University Press, 2011), 19-60.28 The National Archives of the United Kingdom [hereafter ‘TNA’] WO 32/18518: ‘Half-Yearly Report on Security of Aden Protectorate Levies’, 14 February 1961.29 Edwards, The Gaysh, 169.30 Imperial War Museum Sound Archive [hereafter IWMSA]: David John Warren, catalogue number 13041, reel 3.31 BL, IOR/R/20/D/219: ‘Federal Intelligence Summary’, 27 September 1964, 15 November 1964, 3 May 1965.32 Imperial War Museum Documents [hereafter IWMD]: Papers of Major General Sir John Willoughby, catalogue number Documents.12980. Handwritten diary, entry for 20 June 1965.33 BL, IOR/R/20/D/219: ‘Federal Intelligence Summary’, 21 June 1965.34 IWMD: Papers of Major General Sir John Willoughby, catalogue number Documents.12980. Handwritten diary, entries for 22 and 24 June 1966.35 IWMSA: David Alan Talbot Baines, catalogue number 20062, reel 5.36 Theodore McLauchlin, Desertion: Trust and Mistrust in Civil Wars (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2020), 19.37 TNA CO 968/806: Letter from Colonel J.E. Chaplin, Federal Ministry of Defence, to Lt-Gen. Sir Charles Harington, Middle East Command [hereafter ‘MEC’], 28 October 1965.38 BL, IOR/R/20/B/3057: ‘Federal Regular Army Half Yearly Security Report’, 1 June 1962; ‘Federal Regular Army Quarterly Security Report’, 15 December 1962.39 TNA WO 32/18518: ‘Half-Yearly Report on Security of Aden Protectorate Levies’, 14 February 1961; BL, IOR/R/20/B/3057: ‘Federal Army Half Yearly Security Report’, 11 January 1962.40 BL, IOR/R/20/D/37: ‘Joint Intelligence Committee Middle East. Weekly Intelligence Review’, 10 May 1963.41 BL, IOR/R/20/D/219: ‘Federal Intelligence Summary’, 6 April 1965.42 BL, IOR/R/20/B/3057: ‘Federal Regular Army Quarterly Security Report’, 15 December 1962.43 BL, IOR/R/20/D/37: ‘Joint Intelligence Committee Middle East. Weekly Intelligence Review’, 15 March 1963, 3 May 1963.44 BL, IOR/R/20/D/41: ‘The High Commissioner’s Office. Monthly Report for August, 1963’.45 TNA WO 305/1790: Signal from HQ FRA to Federal Ministry of Defence, 7 January 1964.46 BL, IOR/R/20/D/34: Aden Weekly Intelligence Summaries, 10 March, 17 March, 24 March, 3 May 1964.47 Kevin Koehler, Dorothy Ohl, and Holger Albrecht, ‘From Disaffection to Desertion: How Networks Facilitate Military Insubordination in Civil Conflict’, Comparative Politics, 48/4 (2016), 439.48 BL, IOR/R/20/B/2475: Letter from Commander FRA to Acting Deputy High Commissioner, 12 May 1963.49 BL, IOR/R/20/B/2475: ‘9462 Pte MOHD HUSSAIN HAGAILY 3 FRA’.50 TNA WO 305/1790: ‘Quarterly Security Report. 1 Sep-31 Dec 63’, HQ FRA, 22 February 1964.51 BL, IOR/R/20/B/3057: ‘Federal Regular Army Quarterly Security Report’, 15 December 1962.52 TNA WO 32/18518: ‘Federal Regular Army Quarterly Security Report’, 28 March 1963.53 TNA WO 32/18518: ‘Quarterly Security Report’, HQ FRA, 3 September 1963.54 TNA WO 32/18518: ‘Federal Regular Army Quarterly Security Report’, 28 March 1963; 30 April 1963.55 TNA CO 968/785: Telegram from Sir Kennedy Trevaskis to Secretary of State for the Colonies, 2 May 1964.56 TNA CO 968/785: Telegram from Sir Kennedy Trevaskis to Secretary of State for the Colonies, 7 May 1964.57 ‘Brigadier Maurice MacWilliam’, The Times, 10 January 1997.58 TNA CO 968/786: Minute from W. Geraghty to Minister of Defence (Army), 21 May 1964.59 Yagil Levy, ‘Control from within: How soldiers control the military’, European Journal of International Relations, 23/1 (2017), 197.60 Mawby, British Policy in Aden and the Protectorates, 104.61 IWMD: Papers of Major General Sir John Willoughby, catalogue number Documents.12980. Handwritten diary, entries for 23 May, 6 August 1965.62 TNA CO 968/806: ‘An assessment of the Federal Regular Army’, Commander FRA, 27 October 1965.63 BL, IOR/R/20/D/35: Aden Weekly Intelligence Summary, 7 September 1964.64 BL, IOR/R/20/D/34: Aden Weekly Intelligence Summary, 4 February 1964.65 BL, IOR/R/20/D/34: Aden Weekly Intelligence Summary, 13 August 1963.66 BL, IOR/R/20/D/208: Aden Monthly Intelligence Summary, 12 April 1966.67 TNA CO 1055/281: Letter from Fred Mulley, Minister of Defence for the Army, to Anthony Greenwood, 19 February 1965.68 TNA DEFE 13/468: Telegram from CinC MidEast to Ministry of Defence, 25 March 1965.69 David French, Fighting EOKA: The British Counter-Insurgency Campaign on Cyprus, 1955-1959 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015), 206-207.70 TNA DEFE 13/468: Minute from Denis Healey to Anthony Greenwood, 25 March 1965.71 TNA DEFE 13/468: Letter from Denis Healey to Anthony Greenwood, 15 April 1965.72 TNA DEFE 13/468: Telegram from Commander-in-Chief MIDEAST to MOD (Army), 29 April 1965.73 TNA PREM 13/585: Memorandum from Anthony Greenwood to the Prime Minister, 24 April 1965.74 TNA DEFE 13/468: Telegram from Secretary of State for the Colonies to Sir Richard Turnbull, 1 June 1965.75 TNA CO 1055/281: Telegram from Sir Richard Turnbull to Secretary of State for the Colonies, 5 May 1965.76 IWMD: Papers of Major General Sir John Willoughby, catalogue number Documents.12980. Handwritten diary, entries for 29 October, 30 November 1966.77 Tarak Barkawi, ‘Subaltern Soldiers: Eurocentrism and the Nation-State in the Combat Motivation Debates’, in Anthony King (ed.), Frontline: Combat and Cohesion in the Twenty-First Century (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015), 25.78 Mawby, British Policy in Aden and the Protectorates, 176.79 Adam Dighton, ‘Race, Masculinity and Imperialism: The British Officer and the Egyptian Army (1882-1899),’ War and Society, 35/1 (2016), 5, 17.80 Spencer Mawby, ‘Orientalism and the Failure of British Policy in the Middle East: The Case of Aden’, History 95/319 (2010), 340.81 Gavin Rand and Kim A. Wagner, ‘Recruiting the “martial races”: identities and military service in colonial India,’ Patterns of Prejudice, 46/3-4 (2012), 232-254.82 Edwards, The Gaysh, 7, 12, 47.83 James Lunt, The Barren Rocks of Aden (London: Herbert Jenkins, 1966), 157.84 Edwards, The Gaysh, 75; Barkawi, Soldiers of Empire, 23.85 BL, IOR/R/20/B/3057: ‘Federal Army Half Yearly Security Report’, 11 January 1962.86 TNA WO 32/18518: Letter from Captain P.G. Boxhall, APL, to Colonel J.H.S. Bowring, War Office, 29 June 1959, enclosing report ‘Security of Aden Protectorate Levies’.87 IWMSA: David Ledger, catalogue number 10207, reel 1.88 BL, IOR/R/20/B/3057: ‘Federal Regular Army Quarterly Security Report’, 15 December 1962.89 IWMSA: George Henry Hugh Coles, catalogue number 10126, reel 3.90 TNA WO 32/18518: ‘Half-Yearly Report on Security of Aden Protectorate Levies’, 8 March 1960.91 BL, IOR/R/20/B/3057: ‘Federal Regular Army Quarterly Security Report’, 15 December 1962.92 TNA WO 32/18518: ‘Federal Regular Army Quarterly Security Report. Period 1 Feb 63-30 Apr 63’.93 TNA WO 305/1790: ‘Quarterly Security Report. 1 Sep-31 Dec 63’.94 IWMD: Papers of H.B.H. Waring, catalogue number 09/53/1: Notebook on service in Federal Regular Army, entry for 9 August 1966.95 IWMSA: George Henry Hugh Coles, catalogue number 10126, reel 3.96 TNA WO 32/18518: Letter from Captain P.G. Boxhall, APL, to Colonel J.H.S. Bowring, War Office, 29 June 1959, enclosing report ‘Security of Aden Protectorate Levies’.97 TNA DEFE 28/169: Signal from HQ MIDEAST to Ministry of Defence, 17 October 1962.98 TNA WO 32/18518: Letter from Captain P.G. Boxhall, APL, to Colonel J.H.S. Bowring, War Office, 29 June 1959, enclosing report ‘Security of Aden Protectorate Levies’.99 TNA WO 32/18518: ‘Half-Yearly Report on Security of Aden Protectorate Levies’, 8 March 1960.100 Spencer Mawby, ‘The British Brand of Anti-Imperialism: Information Policy and Propaganda in South Arabia at the End of Empire’, in Greg Kennedy and Christopher Tuck (eds.), British Propaganda and Wars of Empire: Influencing Friend and Foe 1900-2010 (Farnham: Ashgate, 2014), 171.101 BL, IOR/R/20/B/3057: ‘Federal Regular Army Quarterly Security Report’, 15 December 1962.102 BL, IOR/R/20/D/37: ‘Joint Intelligence Committee Middle East. 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Sir Charles Harington, MEC, 28 October 1965.111 TNA CO 968/806: ‘An assessment of the Federal Regular Army’, Commander FRA, 27 October 1965.112 Healey, The Time of My Life, 231.113 Oxford, Bodleian Libraries, Archive of Denis Healey, MS.Healey 62, file 18. Diary of a visit to Asia, 1964. Entry for ‘Asia. 26 May-14 June 1964’.114 Oxford, Bodleian Libraries, Archive of Denis Healey, MS.Healey 63, diaries 1964-1969. Book 30. Entries for 26 October 1964 and 29 January 1965.115 TNA DEFE 25/115: Minute from Denis Healey to Chief Secretary to the Treasury, 18 December 1964.116 R.H. Whitworth, ‘Baker, Sir Geoffrey Harding’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 23 September 2004. Accessed online on 30 July 2023 at: https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-30784117 TNA DEFE 25/116: ‘Report on visit to Aden 22-26 Mar 65’, from VCGS to CGS, 29 March 1965.118 TNA DEFE 25/191: Chiefs of Staff Committee, briefing note by Group Captain D.A. Trotman, 22 March 1965.119 James, ‘Global Britain’s strategic problem East of Suez’, 176.120 TNA CAB 130/213: ‘Cabinet. Defence Policy. Minutes of a Meeting held at Chequers’, 13 June 1965.121 Oxford, Bodleian Libraries, Archive of Denis Healey, MS.Healey 63, diaries 1964-1969. Book 32. Entry for 21 September 1965.122 TNA DEFE 25/192: Minute from Chief of the Defence Staff to Secretary of State for Defence, [no day] September 1965.123 Mawby, British Policy in Aden and the Protectorates, 132.124 Oxford, Bodleian Libraries, Archive of Denis Healey, MS.Healey 62, file 18. Diary of a visit to Asia, 1964. Entry for ‘Asia. 26 May-14 June 1964’.125 IWMD: Papers of Major General Sir John Willoughby, catalogue number Documents.12980. Handwritten diary, entry for 10 June 1965.126 TNA CO 968/786: Minute from W. Geraghty, to Minister of Defence (Army), 21 May 1964.127 Stephen D. Wesbrook, ‘The Potential for Military Disintegration’, in Sam C. Sarkesian (ed.), Combat Effectiveness: Cohesion, Stress, and the Volunteer Military (London: Sage, 1980), 244.128 Kaushik Roy, ‘Discipline and Morale of the African, British and Indian Army units in Burma and India during World War II: July 1943 to August 1945’, Modern Asian Studies, 44/6 (2010), 1280.129 Barkawi, Soldiers of Empire, 77; Tim Stapleton, ‘“Bad Boys”: Infiltration and Sedition in the African Military Units of the Central African Federation (Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe) 1953-63,’ Journal of Military History, 73/4 (2009), 1180.130 Kaushik Roy, ‘Military Loyalty in the Colonial Context: A Case Study of the Indian Army during World War II’, Journal of Military History, 73/2 (2009), 519.131 Stapleton, ‘“Bad Boys”: Infiltration and Sedition in the African Military Units of the Central African Federation’, 1177.132 Gregory Mann, Native Sons: West African Veterans and France in the Twentieth Century (Duke University Press, 2006), 161.133 Ruth Ginio, The French Army and its African soldiers: the years of decolonization (Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press, 2017), 112.134 TNA CO 968/780: ‘Extract from Annex to Minute 1 of Part I to COS 52nd Meeting/64’, 1 September 1964.135 TNA DEFE 25/115: Telegram from Secretary of State for the Colonies to Acting High Commissioner, Aden, 1 January 1965.136 TNA CO 968/789: ‘Notes on plants for re-armament and expansion of the Federal Forces’, Federal Joint Operations Centre, 6 February 1965.137 TNA DEFE 28/147: Letter from Lt-Col. R.S. Richmond, MEC, to Col. H.N.H. Wild, Ministry of Defence, 16 May 1965.138 TNA CO 968/789: ‘Meeting between Secretary of State for Defence and Federal Ministers of Defence and Internal Security’, 17 June 1965.139 TNA CAB 128/41/26: ‘Cabinet. Conclusions of a Meeting of the Cabinet’, 26 May 1966.140 Mawby, British Policy in Aden and the Protectorates, 154.141 TNA DEFE 28/161: Minute from Major P.H. Bartlett, Federal Ministry of Defence, to Ministry of Defence, 19 April 1967, with attached ‘Notes on the Federal Regular Army (April 1967 Revise)’.142 Johnson, True to Their Salt, 95-123.143 TNA WO 32/18518: ‘Half yearly security report’, 18 October 1960.144 BL, IOR/R/20/B/2475: Letter from Commander FRA to Minister of Defence, 22 October 1962.145 BL, IOR/R/20/D/34: Aden Weekly Intelligence Summary, 4 June 1963.146 TNA CO 968/806: ‘An assessment of the Federal Regular Army’, Commander FRA, 27 October 1965.147 TNA WO 32/18518: ‘Half yearly security report’, 1 June 1960.148 TNA IOR/R/20/B/2475: ‘Extract from Minutes of Meeting no. 29 of the Supreme Council’, 1 November 1962.149 TNA WO 32/18518: Letter from Captain P.G. Boxhall, APL, to Colonel J.H.S. Bowring, War Office, 29 June 1959, enclosing report ‘Security of Aden Protectorate Levies’.150 BL, IOR/R/20/B/3057: ‘Federal Regular Army Half Yearly Security Report’, 1 June 1962.151 TNA WO 32/18981: Minute from Colonel J.B. Howard, Directorate of Military Intelligence, to MI 1(a), 25 October 1963.152 TNA WO 32/18518: Minute from MEC to Under Secretary of State, War Office, 20 July 1962.153 BL, IOR/R/20/B/3057: ‘Federal Regular Army Quarterly Security Report’, 15 December 1962.154 TNA CO 968/806: ‘An assessment of the Federal Regular Army’, Commander FRA, 27 October 1965. On the intelligence machinery, see: Rory Cormac, Confronting the Colonies: British Intelligence and Counterinsurgency (London: C. Hurst & Co, 2013), 105-155.155 IWMSA: Bryan Emery, catalogue number 29530, reel 7.156 TNA WO 305/1790: ‘Quarterly Security Report. 1 Sep-31 Dec 63’, HQ FRA, 22 February 1964.157 J.D. Lunt, ‘The evolution of an army – I,’ Journal of the Royal United Services Institution, 110 (1965), 158.158 Kristine Eck and Chiara Ruffa, ‘Military Training and Decolonisation in the British Empire’, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 51/1 (2023), 156-181.159 J.D. Lunt, ‘The evolution of an army – II,’ Journal of the Royal United Services Institution, 110 (1965), 226. See also: Graham Jevon, Glubb Pasha and the Arab Legion: Britain, Jordan, and the End of Empire in the Middle East (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017).160 TNA WO 32/18518: Letter from Captain P.G. Boxhall, APL, to Colonel J.H.S. Bowring, War Office, 29 June 1959, enclosing report ‘Security of Aden Protectorate Levies’.161 TNA DEFE 25/115: ‘Federal Regular Army of South Arabia. Provision of Senior British Officers during Final Phases of Arabisation’, paper by Lt-Gen. Sir Charles Harington, 5 November 1963.162 TNA WO 32/18518: ‘Half-Yearly Report on Security of Aden Protectorate Levies’, 8 March 1960.163 BL, IOR/R/20/B/3055: ‘Integration of Brit [sic] and Arab Offrs’ [sic] Messes. Aden Protectorate Levies’, 10 February 1961.164 TNA WO 32/18518: ‘Half-Yearly Report on Security of Aden Protectorate Levies’, 18 October 1960; Signal from HQ British Forces Arabian Peninsula to Under Secretary of State, War Office, 14 February 1961, enclosing ‘Half yearly security report’.165 TNA WO 32/18518: Signal from MEC to War Office, 31 July 1961, attaching ‘Aden Protectorate Levies Half Yearly Security Report’; Edwards, The Gaysh, 147.166 TNA CO 968/782: Minute from P.L. Russell, for Director of Military Intelligence, to J.B.A. Armitage-Smith, Colonial Office, 2 January 1963, with Annexure A.167 Edwards, The Gaysh, 157.168 TNA WO 32/18518: ‘Federal Regular Army Quarterly Security Report’, 28 March 1963.169 TNA CO 968/782: Letter from Brigadier J.D. Lunt, HQ FRA, to Lt-Col. W.M.L. Adler, Colonial Office, 17 October 1963.170 TNA WO 305/1790: ‘The Relationship of the Federal Regular Army with the Federal Government’, E.M.W. Wagstaff, GSO 2 (Int), HQ FRA, 16 December 1963.171 TNA CO 968/786: ‘Report on the Ministry and Force Headquarters organizations of the security forces of the Federation of South Arabia’, June 1964.172 TNA WO 32/18518: ‘Half-Yearly Report on Security of Aden Protectorate Levies’, 8 March 1960.173 TNA WO 32/18518: ‘Half-Yearly Report on Security of Aden Protectorate Levies’, 18 October 1960.174 TNA DEFE 28/169: Letter from Colonel H.N.H. Wild, Ministry of Defence, to L.C. Glass, Foreign Office, 12 December 1962.175 TNA DEFE 28/169: Signal from HQ MIDEAST to Ministry of Defence, 24 January 1963.176 BL, IOR/R/20/B/3057: ‘Federal Regular Army Quarterly Security Report’, 15 December 1962.177 TNA WO 32/18518: ‘Federal Regular Army Quarterly Security Report’, 28 March 1963.178 TNA WO 32/18518: ‘Federal Regular Army Quarterly Security Report. Period 1 Feb 63-30 Apr 63’.179 TNA DEFE 28/169: ‘Psychological operations in the Middle East. Report by the Deputy Director of Forward Plans’, Col. H.N.H. Wild, 10 May 1962; on the directorate’s earlier operations, see: Huw Bennett, ‘"Words are cheaper than bullets": Britain’s psychological warfare in the Middle East, 1945-1960’, Intelligence and National Security, 34/7 (2019), 925-944.180 TNA DEFE 28/168: Letter from Major R.J. Shackleton, MEC, to Col. H.N.H. Wild, Ministry of Defence, 1 August 1962.181 TNA DEFE 28/153: ‘Report by Lieut.-General Sir Charles Richardson on discussions with C-in-C Middle East and GOC East Africa Command on counter-subversion in February, 1963’, 8 March 1963.182 TNA DEFE 28/169: Signal from H.Q. MIDEAST ADEN to Ministry of Defence, 12 October 1962.183 TNA DEFE 28/166: Letter from D.W. Smart, HM Treasury, to Lt.-Col. W.M.L. Adler, Colonial Office, 18 October 1963.184 TNA WO 32/18518: ‘Quarterly Security Report. 1 May-31 Aug 63’, HQ FRA, 3 September 1963; ‘Annex A to 424/19/JSI Dated 24 Apr 64. Notes on reception of The Gambia’.185 TNA DEFE 28/166: Letter from Major P.H. Bartlett, Federal Ministry of Defence, to Lieutenant Commander F.P. Mathieson, Ministry of Defence, 20 May 1965.186 Mawby, ‘The British Brand of Anti-Imperialism’, 189.187 Kumar Ramakrishna, Emergency Propaganda: The Winning of Malayan Hearts and Minds, 1948-1958 (London: Routledge, 2001).188 BL, IOR/R/20/D/35: Aden Weekly Intelligence Summary, 29 June 1964.189 TNA DEFE 28/166: Letter from Major P.H. Bartlett, Federal Ministry of Defence, to Lieutenant Commander F.P. Mathieson, Ministry of Defence, 20 May 1965.190 TNA DEFE 28/147: Letter from Lt.-Col. R.S. Richmond, MEC, to Colonel H.N.H. Wild, Ministry of Defence, 16 May 1965.191 TNA DEFE 28/167: Minute from Colonel H.N.H. Wild, Deputy Director of Forward Plans, to AUS(Pol), 16 December 1966.192 TNA DEFE 28/161: Minute from Major P.H. Bartlett, HQ South Arabian Army, to Colonel H.N.H. Wild, Ministry of Defence, 20 June 1967, with attached: ‘The Impact of Recent Events in the Middle East on the South Arabian Army’.193 Walker, ‘The South Arabian Army - A Poisoned Chalice?’, 107.194 IWMD: Papers of Major General Sir John Willoughby, catalogue number Documents.12980. Handwritten diary, entry for 26 June 1966.195 IWMSA: Jack M. Dye, catalogue number 23811, reel 10.196 Christopher Caden and Nir Arielli, ‘British Army and Palestine Police Deserters and the Arab-Israeli War of 1948’, War in History, 28/1 (2021), 201.197 Raffi Gregorian, The British Army, the Gurkhas and Cold War Strategy in the Far East, 1947-1954 (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2002), 172.198 Timothy Parsons, The African rank-and-file: social implications of colonial military service in the King’s African Rifles, 1902-1964 (Oxford: James Currey, 1999), 212-213.199 Paget, Last Post, 248.200 See: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/archive-records201 Letters from Historical Information Rights Team, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, to Huw Bennett, 14 September 2022, 18 October 2022, 29 June 2023.Additional informationNotes on contributorsHuw BennettHuw Bennett is Reader in International Relations at Cardiff University. He is author of Fighting the Mau Mau: The British Army and Counter-Insurgency in the Kenya Emergency (Cambridge University Press, 2012), and Uncivil War: The British Army and the Troubles (Cambridge University Press, 2023).