55: The Aden Emergency 1963-67

Send me a messageThe Aden Emergency 1963-67, is another one of those forgotten conflicts that marked the end of the British Empire.Over 90 British servicemen were killed and 500 wounded in a 4-year war that not only has been largely forgotten but which Britain never really wanted to fight in the first place.It brought to the end, the 128-year British rule on this southern tip of the Arabian Peninsular.It also brought to the fore a maverick British Army officer, Lt. Colonel Colin Mitchell, dubbed by the press “Mad Mitch”. I wanted to tell this story because my dad served in Aden, although just before the emergency, and was constantly humming the pipe tune “The Barren Rocks of Aden”.Join my weekly history newsletterSupport the show