This
database contains details of British casualties who were killed
or died during the Aden Emergency. Details have been extracted from
various war memorials, The Times newspaper, several books, the Aden
veterans web site, and the ParaData web site. Although the Emergency
covers the period 1963-1967 this database covers the lead up to
the Emergency from 1955 until 1967.
Since
they occupied Aden as a territory in 1839, British troops were subjected
to attacks. From 1962, Britain was engaged in an escalating conflict
in the protectorate. Using grenades, bombs and rifles supplied by
regional and world powers, nationalist groups such as the National
Liberation Front (NLF) and the Front for the Liberation of Occupied
South Yemen (FLOSY) targeted British troops and their families.
By November 1967, the situation was untenable and Britain’s
‘permanent garrison East of Suez’ was abandoned.
The
Aden Emergency covered two areas:
Radfan
The
Radfan Mountains are located 60 miles north of Aden. The emirates
and sheikhdoms in Aden had accepted British protection since the
1870 Turkish invasion of Yemen and its surrounding territories.
By
1964 the situation had turned for the worse. The new republican
government in adjacent Yemen, backed by Egypt's President Nasser,
was actively fermenting trouble in the Sultanate of Upper Yafa,
which was one of the Western Aden Protectorate states that was refusing
to join the Federation of Saudi Arabia.
It
became clear that an campaign was being waged against the Federation
of Saudi Arabia, mainly by the Yemen and Egyptian-backed Radfan
tribesmen. Their main objective was to attempt to close the main
road from Aden to Yemen's frontier town of Dhala.
However,
the campaign mounted by British personnel, with Federation troops,
quickly and effectively defeated the tribesmen.
South Arabia
This
campaign is related to the Radfan Campaign, because both were attempts
by Egyptian-inspired attempts to end the British presence in Aden
and end the embryonic Federation of Saudi Arabia.
The
terrorist campaign of 1964-67 was a rival affair between two groups
attempting to gain control of the area, and ensure that the British
did not retain a military presence after the planned independence
of the Federation of Saudi Arabia; this was planned for no later
that 1968.
This
3 year long campaign saw numerous terrorist attacks on both civilian
and military targets. In both Rafan and Aden, the British Army suffered
90 personnel killed and 510 wounded.
The
whitewashed Fort Husn el Abr, Aden, close to the
Saudi-Arabian border, where over 100 tribesmen and six lorry drivers
were brought last Monday after their small convoy of lorries had
surrendered to Protectorate forces.
[ The Times Friday 25 May 1956, page 10]
Hover
over a picture to enlarge it
Aden
- Steamer Point, Main Road.
Aden
- Queens Dragoon Gaurds at Sheikh Othman 1967.
This
database has been researched as much as possible but there are
probably still anomalies and we would be grateful of any information
to try and achieve a 100% accuracy aim.
DONATIONS
This
site is maintained solely by volunteers and is funded by them as private
individuals. This includes the purchase of photographs, books, rolls of
honour plus the running costs of the site. We have always intended to
make this site free to all. If you have gained from this site then please
consider making a donation through PayPal by clicking on the donation
button. Thank you.
If
you would like to donate but not on-line then cheques can be made payable
to, and sent to:
Martin
Edwards
88 Laurel Walk
Kempston
Bedford
MK42 7NT
