THE RADFAN MOUNTAINS

Having spent some time on Google trying to refresh my memory I am amazed at the amount of information available . Almost tempting to copy screeds of it to show how knowledgeable I am .
Also what amazes me is how little we knew at a junior level as to the intricacies of Arab politics.

Down at platoon level there were the " gollies " and us . Some gollies were trying to  kill us and we were trying to kill them so lets keep it simple . The term Wog was banned but the substitute golly was definitely counterproductive . However , it is difficult to prevent this language creeping in when the Police have been infiltrated ; you have a mutiny in the embryonic Federal Army (Arab) and NLF and FLOSY are killing each other.

The caravan route from Aden to Mecca passed through the Radfan . The tribes in the area made a living out of robbing caravans or put it another way imposing a toll . When an end to this was imposed there was a major uprising and in 1964 a major operation was mounted to dominate the caravan route . This involved the Royal Marines , 3 Para  , 1R Anglian , A Sqn SAS ,artillery and engineers supported by RAF Hunter jets .

By the time we got there the major battle had been won for the time being but attacks still continued . As far as we were concerned some tribes were friendly , some were unfriendly and others were friendly by day but would attack you at night . In these conflicts experiences tend to be personal or at a low level and one sort of assumes those higher up know what they are doing .This was rather undermined by the fact that we had declared we were withdrawing so why get your Bol---ks shot away .

Our first deployment was to Thumier where there was quite a good airstrip . The deployment north was a major exercise with all trucks sandbagged as a means of protection from mines , armoured cars acted as escorts , defiles picketed and aircraft on patrol above .

Before we left I had chalked my name on the lead truck of my little packet of vehicles. We all arrived safely without incident but three days later I saw my truck or rather the wreck which had been destroyed by a mine . My name was still chalked on the front : bit sobering .

Operating in the mountains was almost the complete opposite from the jungle . In the jungle contacts could be as close as 20 yds . Little went on at night as it was too difficult to move and mortars and artillery were less effective . In the mountains it was different as you could be sniped at from 900yds and even with old fashioned rifles the Arabs were good shots . Most activity went on at night and you did not go on patrol outside the range of your own artillery .

For platoon commanders we tended to sleep by day and go on patrol at night . As we were in and out on the same night we tended to load up with stacks of ammunition . A new belted machine gun (GPMG) had just been issued replacing the Bren Gun but unfortunately we did not have claymore mines . Also I had done my Support Weapons Course on the new 81mm mortar and the Wombat anti tank gun but when we got to Aden we were issued with the old weapons , the 3" mortar and the Mobat . This was annoying as the Marines had the new weapons .

We took over from the Marines who tended to think they were better . However , they were vulnerable to teasing because in 1964 they had been deployed from Aden to Tanganyika to put down a revolt by the Kings African Rifles . Their RSM had loaded the wrong ammo ie 303 instead of 7.62 so when they got to Africa they had to scrounge old 303 rifles off the Navy . I had always wondered when reading the papers that the RM had used rocket launchers ; now I new why . That said they were pretty professional especially the NCOs. It was as late as 1965 or later that we started centralised training at Brecon for Sergeants .

One was always learning something new . How to deal with camels and their drivers . It soon became apparent that the number of mortar bombs you could get on a camel was directly proportional to what you payed the driver. In fact I came to the conclusion it was better to put spare water on the camels and get every soldier to carry two bombs because if you came under fire the camels would bolt and you would be in trouble .

One person who tended to know what was happening was a Pioneer Sergeant who ran the laundry service because if his Arab staff went absent that meant you would be mortared that night .

We did in those days have a mortar locating radar (Green Archer) which the Arabs thought was an evil eye . Some soldiers managed to persuade them that a paludrine tablet was an anti Green Archer pill and also a contraceptive. They could get two Maria Theresa dollars for a pill . Bit naughty but they were the ones who were friendly by day and attack you at night .

That first tour went without a major incident and I am sure we had no casualties . On return one got thing Heggie got B Coy to do was climb the Jebel Shamsan as superstition had it that if  you did not climb this Jebel you would return to Aden . I think we did it three times just for safety .

B Coy were again deployed to the Radfan but this time under command of the Coldstream Guards . We were separate in the Danabah Basin at a place called Monksfield. The Basin was about 3 miles wide and 9 miles long and surrounded by Jebel peaks rising to 6,000 ft. Some of these features had been captured in the operation I mentioned took place in 1964 .

Similar to the other deployment all activity tended to happen at night . One Wadi which is embedded in my mind is the Lahamaran . I had taken a patrol twelve strong to set up an ambush . Having found a bend in the wadi I got one group of four to cover down the wadi and I with my group the other direction . My old friend Danny Dance was rear protection with his group . I suppose we had been in position about an hour and a half when my GPMG gunner opened up as he had spotted a group of four running down the wadi . I suspected they were about 20 ft below us lying still so we threw grenades down to try to flush them out . I also called down artillery fire to try to block off escape routes . Quite scary calling down artillery fire in the dark you wonder have I got my own position right .When you hear that whistle as the shell passes over there is a great relief .

Next I threw a white phosphorous grenade into some scrub below us . An Arab jumped out he looked as if he was alight but somehow managed to throw a grenade back at us . I fired at him from the hip and so did the gunner but we missed . Next thing I heard was a clunk , spun round and saw the fuse burning in a grenade . I screamed grenade and must have sprung like a cat to get away from it . Four of us must have been within feet of this grenade and only one got hit , the signaller Pte Ryder . He was in agony so I gave him morphine and then got Danny Dance's group to carry him out . We remained in position and got reinforced by another patrol .

A Fleet Air Arm helicopter managed to get in to Monksfield in the dark and got Ryder out : he survived . The next morning we found the anti tank mines they had been carrying and several blood trails but no bodies .

I thought twenty two, two lives gone, seven to go .