Aden Protectorate Levies

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The Aden Protectorate Levies (APL) were an auxiliary force recruited by the British colonial power in southern Arabia from 1927 until the independence of South Yemen in 1967. The unit was locally called Gaysh, the official name was changed in 1961 to Federal Regular Army of South Arabia (FRA). The troops were recruited almost exclusively from the tribes of the hinterland, their task remained the home defense, in which they supported the units of the British Indian Army (until 1947) and regular British units stationed in southern Arabia . Until 1961, British ranks were used as the designation for ranks for men and those of the Indian army for Arab officers.

precursor

After the British not only acquired the port of Aden as a bunker station in the 19th century , but also established protectorates over the hinterland and Hadramaut around 1900 , they sent units of the British Indian Army to defend it .

During the First World War, three different auxiliary troops were recruited locally: the Arab Legion, which was deployed on the Suez Canal . The Arab Labor Corps, which was deployed in the Sheikh Othman area and the approximately 600 men of the 1st Yemen Infantry. The latter never went into combat, but served as guards. The unit continued to exist until March 17, 1925, even after the Turks withdrew. From 1926 the defense of Aden was the responsibility of the RAF (8th Squadron), the APL was administratively part of it, companies were therefore called Squadrons.

1926-1939

Lt.-Col. MC Lake, from the 4th Grenandiers of the Indian Army - he had already commanded the 1st Yemen Infantry - was commissioned in London in 1926 to set up a new unit, 6 platoons each 35 men strong, whose purpose was to protect the colony against Intruders from the north should be. Lake arrived in Aden in April 1928 to begin recruiting with one more officer and four non-commissioned officers. On October 24th, F. Robinson took command (until August 1939), Lake became a colonial officer of the Aden Protectorate .

Gendarmerie duties each on the islands of Perim and Kamaran performed one platoon until an Aden Armed Police was trained. In April 1929 a mounted camel troop was set up. The first combat operation with minor skirmishes took place in April 1931 in Wadi Rukub .

The troops came into their first real military deployment when, in the Yemeni-Saudi border war in 1934, the not precisely defined border of the Protectorate was protected against intruders from both parties. Essentially, however, one was busy with guard duty and operating a radio station. When the Italian king visited in October 1934, an honor guard was deployed. On September 28, 1938, the order was issued to put the troops in readiness for war.

1939-1947

Colonel JG Worth of the King's Regiment arrived in Aden on July 25, 1939 to take command. In the next month a 150-man anti-aircraft division was formed, equipped with 40-mm Bofors guns . It was used in almost 40 Italian air raids, of which only the first two were larger in June 1940. It is unclear whether the one machine that fell over Aden during the war was actually shot down. On May 10, 1940, after Italy entered the war, all Italians in Aden were arrested by the troops and mostly taken to internment camps in India .

The MG department had been fully motorized since October. The strength of the troops had grown to 853 men in mid-1942, plus 10 British NCOs, 21 Arab officers and 16 British officers, and one company was seconded to Socotra . From October three more companies were recruited, so that on May 31, 1943 1,416 men were serving. No further fighting took place in Aden during World War II, as the Kingdom of Yemen was neutral.

Col. Worth († Jan. 21, 1946) was replaced by GW Jones on July 24, 1944, when the troop had 1,650 men in 9 companies. The Indian troops were withdrawn in 1947 and the APL moved into their barracks. The post-war years brought an improvement in the conditions for the troops, so a cooperative canteen was operated and a separate hospital was set up for soldiers, veterans and their families.

1947-1961

From March to April 1947, the Emir Haidara, brother of the Emir of Dhala , was evicted from a fort in Jebel Jihaf that he had occupied. One was supported by the re-established 8th Squadron of the RAF. Further "police actions" against tribes in the hinterland followed. When trying to enforce a curfew against rebelling Jews in the city of Aden, the APL lost its first member of the battle on December 2, 1947.

The overthrow of Ahmad ibn Yahya in Kgr. Yemen in 1948, who had committed himself to Nasser's policy , had far-reaching effects in the protectorate. In the next few years there were repeated actions in the hinterland that were carried out together with the RAF. The troop strength in July 1948 reached 1735 men, of which 37 were British officers and 46 non-commissioned officers. By the end of 1951, when the unit formed the main force of the British presence in southern Arabia, the strength was reduced to 1,331 men.

In the early 1950s, the colonial power began - in preparation for independence - the attempt to defeat the armies of the sultans, e. B. that of the Sultanate of Shihr and Mukalla . After the parade started when Queen Elizabeth II visited on January 20, 1954, Operation West Bord began soon afterwards , the aim of which was to drive the infiltrating Yemenis out of Wadi Hatib . There was great difficulty in doing this and some sniper losses. The British withdrew from Robat in July 1955. Outside headquarters, posts were maintained at Masirah (landing site), Dhala and ʿAtaq . Requirements for new recruits have been tightened, equipment modernized.

In the years 1955–1958 there were several missions which the colonial rulers called "fighting bandits". The tribal warriors fighting for independence in the regions of Radfan and Dhala, supported by Yemenis, were partly trained in Egypt. Again, mainly villages were bombed with uninvolved civilians, so there were 51 such operations in December 1958 alone.

On February 2, 1957, Brigadier DW Lister took over command from his predecessor Group Captain Douglas. At the same time, the subordination to the RAF was ended, whose officers, apart from the doctors, were withdrawn.

On November 29, 1961, the name was changed to Federal Regular Army of South Arabia (FRA). This date was declared a public holiday as Army Day . Together with the Federal Guards (formerly Government Guards ) they had to take care of internal security, which meant tracking down and killing the increasing numbers of freedom fighters. Brigadier JC Lunt took command on December 7th.

literature

  • Joy, GA; Summary of the raising and training of the 1st Yemen infantry ...; Journal of The Royal Central Asian Society, ISSN  0035-8789 , Vo. 11 (1924), 2, 1924, pp. 147-51
  • Lord, cliff; Birtles, David; The Armed Forces of Aden 1839-1967; Solihull; ISBN 1-874622-40-X
  • Edwards, Frank; The Gaysh; Solihull 2004; ISBN 1-874622-96-5 (unaltered print of a manuscript from 1968)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Contracts see Aitchison, CU ; India Foreign and Political Department, A Collection of Treaties, Engagements and Sanads Relating to India and Neighboring Countries; Delhi 1933, Vol 11.
  2. ↑ on the battles cf. Bury, Wyman; Arabia Infelix: the Turks in Yamen; London 1915
  3. ^ A strategic study of Persia and the Persian Gulf (1913): Military report on the Aden Protectorate (1915); Farnham Common (reprint) 1988; 298 pp .; Sert .: A collection of First World War military handbooks of Arabia, 1; ISBN 1-85207-081-1
  4. ^ Ended by the Treaty of Ta'if , May 1934.
  5. ↑ The final demarcation took place on June 12, 2000. See: Askar Halwan Al-Enazy; "The International Boundary Treaty" ( Treaty of Jeddah ) Concluded between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni Republic; American Journal of International Law, Vol. 96, No. 1 (Jan. 2002), pp. 161-173
  6. ↑ Monmountshire Regiment (Territorial Army), since 1929
  7. ↑ now minimum age 18 years, height over 1.61 m, character reference by the respective sheik, better health. Edwards (2004), pp. 131-3.
  8. ↑ This was the time of the Suez Crisis and the height of enmity with Egypt. The Yemenis and tribesmen came more and more into possession of modern weapons, mostly of Russian origin. Edwards (2004), pp. 122, 138