Aden Emergency
Part of the Cold War, the Arab Cold War, and the decolonization of Asia

The location of the Aden Protectorate
Date14 October 1963 – 30 November 1967
(4 years, 1 month, 2 weeks and 2 days)
Location
Western and Eastern Protectorates, Aden Protectorate, Middle East
Result

Yemeni NLF victory

Belligerents

 United Kingdom

NLF
FLOSY
Supported by:
United Arab Republic
 Soviet Union
Commanders and leaders
United Kingdom Harold Wilson
United Kingdom Michael Le Fanu
United Kingdom Michael Beetham
United Kingdom Colin Campbell Mitchell		 Qahtan al-Shaabi
Abdullah al-Asnag
Egypt Gamal Abdel Nasser
Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchev
Soviet Union Leonid Brezhnev
Strength
United Kingdom 30,000 at peak[1]
(3,500 in November 1967)[2]
Federation of South Arabia 15,000 federal troops[3]		 Unknown
Casualties and losses
British Army:
United Kingdom 90–92 killed
United Kingdom 510 wounded[4][3]
Federal Regular Army:
Federation of South Arabia 17 killed
Federation of South Arabia 58 wounded		 382 killed
1,714 wounded[3]
Total: 2,096 casualties[5]

The Aden Emergency, also known as the 14 October Revolution (Arabic: ثورة 14 أكتوبر, romanized: Thawra 14 ʾUktūbar, lit. '14th October Revolution') or as the Radfan Uprising, was an armed rebellion by the National Liberation Front (NLF) and the Front for the Liberation of Occupied South Yemen (FLOSY) against the Federation of South Arabia, a British Protectorate of the United Kingdom, which led to the proclamation of the People's Republic of South Yemen.

Partly inspired by Gamal Abdel Nasser's pan-Arab nationalism, it began on 14 October 1963 with the throwing of a grenade at a gathering of British officials at Aden Airport. A state of emergency was then declared in the British Crown colony of Aden and its hinterland, the Aden Protectorate. The emergency escalated in 1967 and hastened the end of British rule in the territory which had begun in 1839.

Background

Aden was originally of interest to Britain as an anti-piracy station to protect shipping on the routes to British India. With the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, it further served as a coaling station. Over the period since the annexation of Aden, the British had signed many protection treaties with the emirs of the inland to secure British rule over the area. Following the independence of India in 1947, Aden became less important to the United Kingdom.

The Emergency was precipitated in large part by a wave of Arab nationalism spreading to the Arabian Peninsula and stemming largely from the socialist and pan-Arabist doctrines of Egyptian leader Gamel Abdel Nasser. The British, French and Israeli forces that had invaded Egypt following Nasser's nationalisation of the Suez Canal in 1956 had been forced to withdraw following intervention from both the United States and the Soviet Union.

Nasser enjoyed only limited success in spreading his pan-Arabist doctrines through the Arab world, with his 1958 attempt to unify Egypt and Syria as the United Arab Republic collapsing in failure three years later. A perceived anti-colonial uprising in Aden in 1963 provided another potential opportunity for his doctrines, though it is not clear to what extent Nasser directly incited the revolt in Aden, as opposed to the Yemeni guerrilla groups drawing inspiration from Nasser's pan-Arabist ideas but acting independently themselves.

Emergency

By 1963 and in the ensuing years, anti-British guerrilla groups with varying political objectives began to coalesce into two larger, rival organisations: first the Egyptian-supported National Liberation Front (NLF) and then the Front for the Liberation of Occupied South Yemen (FLOSY), who attacked each other as well as the British.

Hostilities commence

Hostilities started on 10 December 1963, with an NLF grenade attack against British High Commissioner of Aden Sir Kennedy Trevaskis, which took place as he arrived at Khormaksar Airport to catch a London-bound flight. The grenade killed the High Commissioner's adviser and a woman, and injured fifty other people. On that day, a state of emergency was declared in Aden.

Aden in 1965

The NLF and FLOSY began a campaign against British forces in Aden, relying largely on grenade attacks. One such attack was carried out against RAF Khormaksar during a children's party, killing a girl and wounding four children.

The guerrilla attacks largely focused on killing off-duty British officers and policemen. Much of the violence was carried out in Crater, the old Arab quarter of Aden. British forces attempted to intercept weapons being smuggled into Crater by the NLF and FLOSY on the Dhala road, but their efforts met with little success. Despite taking a toll on British forces, the death toll among rebels was far higher, largely due to inter-factional fighting among different rebel groups.

In 1964 the British 24th Infantry Brigade arrived to conduct land operations. It remained in Aden and the Aden Protectorate until November 1967.

By 1965, the RAF station RAF Khormaksar was operating nine squadrons, including transport units with helicopters and a number of Hawker Hunter fighter bomber aircraft. These were called in by the army for attacks on rebel positions in which they would use 60-pound high explosive rockets and their 30 mm ADEN cannon.

Aden street riots

Street riots in Aden, 1967
Aden in 1967

On 19–20 January 1967, the NLF provoked street riots in Aden. After the Aden police lost control, British High Commissioner Sir Richard Turnbull deployed British troops to crush the riots. As soon as the NLF riots were crushed, pro-FLOSY rioters took to the streets. Fighting between British forces and pro-guerrilla rioters lasted into February. British forces had opened fire 40 times, and during that period there were 60 grenade and shooting attacks against British forces, including the destruction of an Aden Airways Douglas DC-3, which was bombed in mid-air, killing all the people on board.

Arab police mutiny

The emergency was further exacerbated by the Six-Day War in June 1967. Nasser claimed that the British had helped Israel in the war, and this led to a mutiny by hundreds of soldiers in the South Arabian Federation Army on June 20, which also spread to the Aden Armed Police. The mutineers killed 22 British soldiers and shot down a helicopter (The pilot had to abandon take off from a ledge near Crater, Aden after being hit in the knee by a bullet. The Sioux crashed and burnt out but all three occupants escaped), and as a result, Crater was occupied by rebel forces.

Concerns were heightened regarding the ability to give sufficient security to British families in the midst of the increased violence, resulting in evacuation plans for families being sped up considerably.

Battle of Crater

Following the mutiny, all British forces were withdrawn from Crater, while Royal Marines of 45 Commando took up sniping positions on the high ground and killed 10 armed Arab fighters. However, Crater remained occupied by an estimated 400 Arab fighters. NLF and FLOSY fighters then took to the streets and engaged in gun battles, while arson, looting, and murder was also common. British forces blocked off the two main entrances to Crater. They came under sniper fire from an Ottoman fort on Sira island, but the snipers were silenced by a shell from an armoured car. Order was restored in July 1967, when the 1st Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders entered Crater under the command of Lt. Col. Colin Campbell Mitchell and managed to occupy the entire district overnight with no casualties.

Withdrawal

Nevertheless, repeated guerrilla attacks by the NLF soon resumed against British forces, causing the British to leave Aden by the end of November 1967, earlier than had been planned by British Prime Minister Harold Wilson and without an agreement on the succeeding governance, effectively abandoning the South Arabian government. Following the British departure, the NLF quickly seized power, and established the People's Republic of South Yemen.

Aftermath

British military casualties in the period 1963 to 1967 were 90 to 92 killed[6] and 510 wounded. British civilian deaths were 17. Local government forces lost 17 killed and 58 wounded. Casualties among the rebel forces stood at 382 killed and 1,714 wounded.[4][3]

British units serving in Aden, 1963–1967

Saladin Armoured Cars of the Queens Dragoon Guards in Aden 1967
British street patrol in Aden 1967

Royal Air Force

Royal Navy

Royal Marines

British Army

Culvert construction on the Dhala Road by Territorial Army Parachute Engineers


See also

References

  1. ↑ "Wars and Global Conflict: Confrontations and Hostilities". Modern-Day Commando. Archived from the original on 26 June 2014.
  2. ↑ "Aden Emergency". nam.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 28 July 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "ADEN EMERGENCY PSYOP 1963–1967". PsyWar.Org. Archived from the original on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 22 April 2012.
  4. 1 2 Roll of Honor
  5. ↑ J. E. Peterson, British Counter-Insurgency Campaigns and Iraq. August 2009: p.12.
  6. ↑ http://www.adenveterans.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Roll-of-Honour_1.pdf%5B%5D
  7. ↑ Jefford 1988, p. 26.
  8. ↑ Jefford 1988, p. 31.
  9. ↑ Jefford 1988, p. 33.
  10. ↑ Jefford 1988, p. 37.
  11. ↑ Jefford 1988, p. 39.
  12. ↑ Jefford 1988, p. 48.
  13. ↑ Jefford 1988, p. 50.
  14. ↑ Jefford 1988, p. 54.
  15. ↑ Jefford 1988, p. 69.
  16. ↑ Jefford 1988, p. 75.
  17. ↑ Lake 1999, p. 88.
  18. ↑ All Units

Bibliography

  • Jefford, C.G. (1988). RAF Squadrons. A comprehensive record of the movement and equipment of all RAF squadrons and their antecedents since 1912. Shrewsbury: Airlife. ISBN 1-85310-053-6.
  • Laffin, John (1986). Brassey's Battles: 3,500 Years of Conflict, Campaigns and Wars from A–Z. London: Brassey's. ISBN 978-0-08-031185-2.
  • Lake, A (1999). Flying units of the RAF. Shrewsbury: Airlife. ISBN 1-84037-086-6.
  • Naumkin, Vitaly, Red Wolves of Yemen: The Struggle for Independence, 2004. Oleander Press. ISBN 978-0-906672-70-9
  • Walker, Jonathan, Aden Insurgency: The Savage War in South Arabia 1962–67 (Hardcover) Spellmount Staplehurst ISBN 978-1-86227-225-5
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