Review (PDF)

Aden Insurgency: The Savage War In Yemen 1962-67

During the early 1960s the Cold War reached its climax. Britain’s dwindling power in the Middle East was under siege from Arab nationalism, the Communist bloc and from American designs in the region. Aden, with its strategic military base and old Protectorate buffer zone, was soon the main battleground. The 1962 Egyptian-inspired coup in the neighboring Kingdom of North Yemen further tightened the noose. So began a bitter and bloody insurgency war in South Arabia. British regular and special forces were soon pitted against growing and formidable insurgency forces, fighting both a war in the mountains and an urban conflict in the backstreets of Aden. Intelligence agencies vied for control of ‘hearts and minds’. The British launched a clandestine war in Yemen to keep their enemies at bay. But still the situation in Aden spiraled out of control, culminating in a bloody slaughter in 1967. In that November, the British Army finally withdrew from South Arabia.Aden Insurgency is the extraordinary story of Britain’s last colonial conflict. Using a wide range of recently released archive and eyewitness accounts, the author charts the collapse of the South Arabian state. Set against a background of ruthless political ambition, these events shaped the Yemen of today.

Paperback: 352 pages

Publisher: Pen and Sword (February 19, 2015)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1473827639

ISBN-13: 978-1473827639

Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1.1 x 9.1 inches

Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

Best Sellers Rank: #2,111,583 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #68 in Books > History > Middle East > Yemen #15069 in Books > History > Europe > Great Britain #61045 in Books > History > Military

As British influence and colonial power throughout the Middle East diminished in the 1960s, the strategic military base of Aden soon became a battle ground at the centre of a bloody war that no side could possibly win outright.Jonathan Walker is a member of the British Commission for Military History and an Honorary Research Associate at the University of Birmingham’s Centre for First World War Studies who has a number of acclaimed works to his credit. He is, therefore, well qualified to write a book about Britain’s last colonial conflict and, all things considered, appears to have produced a most thorough job of work.Commencing with an all-important explanation of the Kingdom of Sheba, the author steers the reader quite expertly through the cause, condition and eventual outcome of the conflict in a book containing almost 300 pages of narrative plus those equally important explanations and further detail found in the appendices at the end.Personally, I was just as pleased to find a full and frank account of that well known, though often misunderstood and misquoted, contribution made by Lt. Colonel Colin Mitchell and the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders as I was to discover some of the horrific injuries and assassinations visited upon British civilian staff and their families.The text is supported with a carefully chosen and relevant selection of photographs found together in the middle of the book and, altogether, this product should please most readers for its factual accuracy and clarity of delivery.NMBritish army major (retired)

Aden Insurgency: The Savage War in Yemen 1962-67 Aden Insurgency: The Savage War in Yeman 1962-67 A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962 (New York Review Books Classics) A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962 Zambezi Valley Insurgency: Early Rhodesian Bush War Operations (Africa @ War Series) Selous Scouts: Rhodesian Counter-Insurgency Specialists (Africa @ War Series) The Moro War: How America Battled a Muslim Insurgency in the Philippine Jungle, 1902-1913 Vietnam War: The Vietnam War in 50 Events: From the First Indochina War to the Fall of Saigon (War Books, Vietnam War Books, War History) (History in 50 Events Series Book 6) World War 2 History's 10 Most Incredible Women: World War II True Accounts Of Remarkable Women Heroes (WWII history, WW2, War books, world war 2 books, war history, World war 2 women) The Savage World of Solomon Kane (Savage Worlds; S2P10400) Aden and the Indian Ocean Trade: 150 Years in the Life of a Medieval Arabian Port (Islamic Civilization and Muslim Networks) Mad Mitch's Tribal Law: Aden and the End of the Empire British Military Operations in Aden and Radfan: 100 Years of British Colonial Rule The FARC: The Longest Insurgency (Rebels) World War 1: World War I in 50 Events: From the Very Beginning to the Fall of the Central Powers (War Books, World War 1 Books, War History) (History in 50 Events Series) World War 1: Soldier Stories: The Untold Soldier Stories on the Battlefields of WWI (World War I, WWI, World War One, Great War, First World War, Soldier Stories) World War 2: World War II in 50 Events: From the Very Beginning to the Fall of the Axis Powers (War Books, World War 2 Books, War History) (History in 50 Events Series Book 4) A Savage Conflict: The Decisive Role of Guerrillas in the American Civil War (Civil War America) The Memory of Resistance: French Opposition to the Algerian War (1954-1962) (Berg French Studies Series) The Last Refuge: Yemen, al-Qaeda, and America's War in Arabia