There has only been one year since the Second World War in which British servicemen have not been killed in action: 1968. Otherwise, British forces have been engaged actively and dangerously around the world, as the post-war letters in this volume demonstrate.
With the end of the Second World War came the beginning of the end of the British Empire. The overseas empire became a luxury for which the British, who had expended one-third of their net worth in the struggle against Nazism, could no longer afford, particularly as the Japanese had comprehensively destroyed the prestige of the British Empire in the fall of Singapore in February 1942. Many of the post-war conflicts involving British troops around the globe sprung up as a result of having to withdraw from empire, which policy makers in London understandably did not want to look like an undignified scuttle.
Yet the first major post-war conflicts involving Britain had nothing to do with empire at all, but everything to do with ideology. In February 1950, Josef Stalin’s USSR signed a 30-year treaty of friendship with Mao Zedong’s Communist China, which enabled China to pursue an aggressive and expansionist policy on the Korean peninsula. The Cold War had only been simmering for four years, but the Communist World was about to test the resolve of the Free World.
At dawn on Sunday 25 June 1950, China’s satellite state, Communist North Korea, invaded South Korea without warning, driving southwards as fast as possible and capturing the South Korean capital Seoul three days later. A temporary boycott of the United Nations by the USSR meant that the Security Council could pass a resolution condemning the North Korean invasion of her southern neighbour, promising to ‘furnish such assistance as may be necessary to meet the armed attack’. The entire war was thus fought under UN auspices, something which greatly helped President Harry Truman and the British Prime Minister Clement Attlee.
On 15 September, UN forces under General Douglas MacArthur landed at Inchon, west of Seoul, and liberated the city on 26 September. Five days later UN and South Korean forces crossed the 38th Parallel into North Korea, capturing its capital, Pyongyang, on 20 October. Yet the whole strategic situation radically altered on 26 November when Red China entered the war, forcing the UN to retreat southwards. On New Year’s Day 1951, Chinese forces broke through the UN lines at the 38th Parallel and three days later they and their North Korean allies retook Seoul.
The United States, South Korea, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada were then engaged in a desperate fight against the vast Chinese People’s Liberation Army. Between 22 and 25 April 1951 the British 29th Brigade, including the 1st Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment (‘the Glorious Glosters’), and the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, helped to halt a huge Communist offensive along the Imjin River in some of the bitterest fighting of the war. In retrospect it was astonishing that the British death toll in Korea was only 1,078 and Australia’s 340. The United States’ was far higher, with around 40,000 killed and 103,284 wounded.
It was not until 27 July 1953 that delegates from the United Nations, North Korea and China signed an armistice at Panmunjom, after an estimated 3 million people had perished, and a 2½-mile-wide demilitarized zone across Korea was accepted by both sides, which has remained in place ever since.
Throughout this period, indeed from 1948 to 1960, the British Commonwealth was also fighting a guerrilla war against the Communist Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA) in the jungles of Malaya, which involved some 40,000 British, Malayan and Commonwealth forces trying to hold down a Communist insurgency of between 5,000 and 8,000 fighters. The Commonwealth forces, under General Sir Gerald Templer, adopted a ‘hearts and minds’ strategy designed to win over villagers and ordinary Malayans from Communism, which was eventually very successful. In all 519 British soldiers and 1,346 policemen lost their lives in what became known as the Malayan Emergency, against over 6,000 insurgents. The fact that Malaya did not fall to Communism, in the way that Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos were to – and is today a successful democratic country – can be largely explained by the imaginative, proactive tactics adopted by Templer and his senior commanders.
Fought simultaneously with the Malayan Emergency was another insurgency operation in Kenya known as the Mau Mau Uprising. For many years Kenyan nationalists had been pressing the British for political rights and land reforms, but in 1952, as no action was seen to be taken, a significant part – but by no means the majority – of the Kikuyu tribe began to adopt terrorist techniques to try to force the British out of Kenya. The result was a guerrilla war that was fought there until 1960. Since many Kikuyu fought with the British against the Mau Mau, modern scholars tends to see the conflict largely in terms of an intra-Kikuyu tribal civil war. Although the capture of their charismatic leader Didan Kimathi in October 1956 marked the turning point in the campaign, it was not truly over until nearly four years later, by which time some 200 British and African servicemen had been killed, as well as nearly 12,000 Mau Mau and 1,817 Kenyan civilians. The independence of Kenya in December 1963 came in part because Britain refused to continue to shoulder the burden of colonialism, but would probably not have happened so soon had it not been for the war.
Cyprus had become a protectorate of the British Empire in 1878, and during the Second World War some 30,000 Cypriots had fought against the Axis. After Britain withdrew from Egypt in 1954, however, a Greek Cypriot nationalist organisation named Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston (National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters – EOKA), which wanted Cyprus to enter into political union with Greece, began fighting for a total British withdrawal in a campaign that was to cost the lives of 371 British servicemen. By November 1955 a state of emergency had been declared by the British governor, which continued until Cyprus became independent in August 1960. Yet EOKA did not get what it ultimately wanted, and the disputes between the Greek and Turkish communities on the island eventually led to a Turkish invasion in 1974, and the partition of the island.
Another post-war dispute over British rule occurred in Aden, a British Crown Colony. After the loss of the Suez Canal in 1956, Aden had become the main British base in the region, and was an important link for the British trade routes and oil. In January 1963 the colony was renamed the State of Aden, falling within the Federation of South Arabia (FSA). That same year, a grenade attack launched by the National Liberation Front against the British High Commissioner resulted in one person killed and around 50 injured. A state of emergency was declared. The following year Britain announced their intention to grant independence to the FSA in 1968, however over the following years the situation deteriorated and rival factions fought for control of the area. The Aden police were unarmed and in many instances reluctant to get involved, so keeping the peace fell to the British Army, who patrolled as best they could. 1967 saw mass riots and the intervention of British troops did little to quell the situation, but instead the troops found themselves caught in the middle and attacked by both sides. It is estimated that 90 British soldiers died during the conflict. On 30 November the British pulled out of Aden and the People’s Republic of South Yemen was proclaimed.
In the Malayan, Mau Mau and Cypriot emergencies it was at least debatable about the extent to which local people wanted local nationalist leaders as opposed to British governors to rule them. That was certainly not the case in the next conflict to cost a significant numbers of British lives, in and around the Falklands Islands, whose 1,813-strong population were 97 per cent British. Yet on 31 March 1982 the head of the Argentinian Junta, General Leopoldo Galtieri, who had seized power the previous December, ordered an invasion of the Islands 250 miles off Argentina’s coast. The Argentinians landed on the Falklands on 2 April. At a meeting with the British prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, the First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Henry Leach, argued for ‘sending every element of the fleet of any possible value’, which he felt required a powerful force, not just a small squadron, with an amphibious capacity and a full commando brigade. He concluded that it should also include two aircraft carriers HMS Invincible and Hermes, as well the a number of destroyers and frigate as escorts. Enough, in short, for a war rather than just a ‘police action’.
These were very much Margaret Thatcher’s own views, so a ‘Task Force’ was sent on the over 8,000-mile journey to the South Atlantic, to wrest back the Falkland Islands by force. Early on in the conflict the British had announced the creation of a 200-mile Total Exclusion Zone around the Islands, inside which Argentine vessels could not sail. On 2 May the Argentinian cruiser General Belgrano was sunk with the loss of 323 lives even though it was outside this exclusion zone. Since she had already made no fewer than three major changes in direction over the previous 19 hours, there was no telling whether she might not make a fourth back towards shallower water, where the British submarine HMS Conqueror might have lost track of her, so she was sunk. The sinking of Belgrano ensured the removal of the Argentine naval threat, as after her loss, the fleet, with the exception of one submarine, returned to port for the remainder of the conflict. On 21 May, British troops landed on San Carlos and after some heavy fighting, including the battles of Goose Green and Mount Tumbledown, the Argentinians surrendered on 14 June. Some 253 Britons had lost their lives recovering the Falklands, and 775 were wounded, against 649 Argentinians killed and 1,068 wounded. Three Falkland Islanders were killed.
British involvement in the Bosnian conflict of the 1990s was driven neither by Cold War ideological nor post-imperial imperatives, but was simply humanitarian. The Bosnian conflict of 1992–95 grew out of ancient religious and ethnic hatreds in the Balkans that had for decades been submerged and kept quiescent in the ethnically diverse country of Yugoslavia, which had been ruled by the Communist dictator Marshal Tito. After his death in 1980, but especially after the fall of Communism in Europe in 1989–90, the country began to disintegrate and collapse into warring territorial parts, made worse by Christian–Muslim tensions, in which entire communities were ‘ethnically cleansed’ by their immediate neighbours. The British Army took part in the United Nations’ peace keeping mission to the former Yugoslavia, known as UNPROFOR (United Nations Protection Force), between 1992 and 1995, attempting to bring relief to communities that had been devastated by the fighting. After France, Britain was the largest contributor of troops to Bosnia. The numbers killed in the fighting in the Balkans in the 1990s is still disputed, but was probably in the region of a quarter of a million. For so many people to die on the European continent half a century after the end of the Second World War is a severe indictment of Western political leadership, as well as, of course, the perpetrators themselves.
The Gulf War came about as the direct result of the attempt by President Saddam Hussein of Iraq to annex the neighbouring and hugely oil-rich state of Kuwait by force on 2 August 1990, in contravention of every rule of international law. Great Britain provided the third-largest force (53,462 personnel), after the United States and Saudi Arabia, of a 34-country coalition that began the liberation of Kuwait in Operation Desert Storm on 17 January 1991. The operation ended on 28 February, by which time 392 coalition personnel had lost their lives, including 47 British troops, as well as an estimated 20,000–35,000 Iraqis. Although the Iraqi forces were in full retreat, it was decided not to overthrow Saddam for fear of breaking up the coalition, a decision that many came to regret a decade later when the British Army took part in the Iraq War.
The American-led military invasion began on 20 March 2003; 248,000 American soldiers were supported by 40 countries, 46,000 British and 2,000 Australian soldiers. Its aims were stated as being the end of Saddam Hussein’s regime, elimination of any weapons of mass destruction, removal of Islamist militants, intelligence gathering, distribution of humanitarian aid and assisting in the creation of a new government. On 9 April, Baghdad fell and Hussein’s 24-year rule was brought to an end. The ‘invasion’ phase of the conflict thus ended; the reported casualty figures were 9,200 Iraqi combatants killed, while the Coalition figures included 139 US personnel and 33 British soldiers. After the short and successful land campaign, a long counter-insurgency war had to be fought, in which the British Army was given the province of Basra in southern Iraq to protect, which it did to the best of its abilities until 2009. Unlike conventional wars, the insurgency campaign the British faced meant that it was hard to tell civilians and insurgents apart, and it became a very different battle to those previously fought by the British Army; suicide bombs and roadside Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) were a frequent threat. As such the Coalition began to use air power and artillery in order to strike at suspected ambush sites or mortar-launching positions, while also increasing surveillance efforts on major routes, stepping up the number of patrols and raiding suspected insurgents. At the same time, the Coalition sought to establish the country as a stable, democratic state, holding elections in early 2005.
The British Army announced its withdrawal from Iraq on 30 April 2009, handing Basra over to American forces. It has been estimated that a total of 26,320 insurgents, 16,623 Iraqi military and police, 4,474 US troops (including 66 during Operation New Dawn) and 178 British service personnel and one MOD civilian were killed throughout the campaign.
On 7 October 2001, the armed forces of the United States launched Operation Enduring Freedom, a bid to remove the Al Qaeda terrorist organization from Afghanistan and the Taliban regime from power. The action was a direct response to the Al Qaeda terrorist attack on New York on 11 September 2001, in which nearly 3,000 people died. The United Kingdom, alongside Coalition forces including the Commonwealth of Australia and the Afghan United Front (Northern Alliance), were first deployed in November 2001, with 1,700 Marines committed in eastern Afghanistan. In December of that year the United Nations formed the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in order to secure Kabul and the surrounding areas.
The initial operations were a combination of air strikes and ground offensives, and by mid November Kabul had fallen to the Northern Alliance and Coalition troops, while some of the senior Taliban leadership had fled to neighbouring Pakistan. In 2004 the Afghan people held elections and Hamid Karzai, already the leader of an interim government, was elected to create a government, giving the people representative institutions. Osama bin Laden was killed in during a Special Forces raid in Pakistan on 2 May 2011, however this action further strained the diplomatic relationship between the United States and Pakistan, which had been deteriorating for many years.
In 2006 ISAF expanded and the British were deployed to Helmand Province as their area of operations. A total of 3,300 British soldiers were committed to the region. As with the war in Iraq, British troops found themselves up against a long, drawn-out counter-insurgency campaign, and a battle for hearts and minds among the population. The insurgents used similar tactics as they had in Iraq: roadside and suicide bombs and IEDs. ISAF troops have spent much time building up the Afghan security forces and police in order for there to be a successful handover as and when they pull out.
While the war is still ongoing, and British forces are committed to the fight until 2014, figures are estimated to be nearly 40,000 Taliban and insurgents dead and around 14,022 Coalition and Afghan forces lost, including 408 British dead and more than 5,500 wounded. The civilian death toll is thought to be up to as much as 12,500 between 2007–11. There are currently, as of April 2012, 9,500 British troops still serving in Afghanistan.
The outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950 caught British forces unprepared and, as the North Koreans poured southwards and the United States rushed forces from Japan to try to stop them, Great Britain gathered together what troops it could to assist the UN cause. The first units came from the 27th Infantry Brigade, based in Hong Kong, which arrived in time to take part in the battle for the Pusan Perimeter. The 29th Infantry Brigade followed shortly afterwards, with 1st Battalion, the Royal Ulster Rifles, amongst its units.
Lieutenant Robert Gill was called up from the officer reserve to serve as a platoon commander with the Ulster Rifles in Korea, arriving at the beginning of November 1950. They moved to the city of Suwon, just south of the South Korean capital of Seoul, from where Bob Gill wrote to his girlfriend back home.
Suwon
Friday Nov 17
Dearest Doreen,
I am on duty tonight as Orderly Officer. At the moment I am in the Orderly room which is the ‘office’ of the battalion, and here I will stay the night. One of the clerks is tapping away at an old typewriter and altogether things are very quiet and peaceful. Later I will take a walk around camp and check on the various guards. The night is fine and there is a moon coming up. I have too much time to think of you and home, Darling. You say the same. You like to be busy so that the days pass quicker and so do I.
We have been here ten days now and the time has been spent preparing the transport and kit before we move North. I am still waiting for three of my carriers and a truck which have not arrived from Pusan. They shall be here quite soon though now and then off we go.
The main battalion is still patrolling north of Seoul and during the last two days there have been reports of a guerrilla attack on Seoul which is to take place tomorrow the 18th. However we will soon know whether the report is accurate.
We are still on American rations and tonight there was an issue of chewing gum. I haven’t felt the urge to chew yet though, Darling.
My sweet, this will only be a short letter. I haven’t anything new to talk about. However, whenever I do have a chance to write, you’re the one I always want to talk to. I may not be able to write often later on and so I should make the most of the time now.
My lovely Darling, I want to be with you so much. I don’t know how long this bloomin’ war is going to last but it has parted us for too long already.
Cheerio for now.
All my love,
Bob
PS Hope the nylons arrived!
Bob Gill was on the front line as the Chinese launched an offensive on 31 December 1950, with Seoul falling again on 4 January 1951, and the Ulster Rifles being pushed back from Suwon a few days later.
Suwon
Jan 4th
My Dearest,
Just a note to let you know that I am quite safe after our first big battle with the chinks. We were moved north on Jan 1st to take up positions covering Seoul. The next day we had a small battle with some North Koreans and drove them off the positions they had taken.
Naturally we were very pleased with ourselves but last night the American command, to my surprise gave us orders to withdraw. We did and the Chinese ambushed us. It really was a hell of a night… Our company suffered very heavy casualties, being last to leave. Seoul has now had it presumably and we are at the moment back where we started, in the silk factory…
All my love for now Sweet,
Bob
Middle of Nowhere
Korea
Wed 10 Jan
Dearest Doreen,
You see I have some posh stationary now, thanks to you. The parcel arrived safely and I was pleased with all the odds and ends.
I wrote to you from Suwon the other day after we packed up and moved further south. We have been in this position a few days now and we all hope that each day will be the last. It is rather grim with mud everywhere and now we have had a heavy fall of snow. Settled sleep is out of the question because we are expecting the Chinese to come along here anytime. Actually though I have my doubts because all the countryside is very open or with the tanks and guns we have, we’re on ‘home ground’. These Chinks are best at night in the hills and I am rather sceptical about them meeting us in the open. If they come along here we’ll paste them!
Alternatively they may come around through the hills and outflank us. If that happens, and it is expected, we’ll move south again. You see I am going all tactical at the moment dear – soldiering may be damned uncomfortable at times, but it is never dull or uninteresting.
No more news now dearest, keep on sending me these lovely letters and the cuttings for I am not really out of touch with home when I hear from you all.
Cheerio sweet.
Affectionately,
Bob
The British forces also saw considerable action during the battle of the Imjin River in April 1951 when the 29th Infantry Brigade, and notably the men of the 1st Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment, fought a desperate rearguard action against overwhelming Chinese forces.
Julian Potter served as a National Service junior officer with 11 Light Anti Aircraft Battery, Royal Artillery, in Korea, and took part in the aftermath of the battle of the Imjin, guarding the Han River bridges to the south.
Dear Mum and Dad,
In case you did not get my last letter, my release has come through; I am to be demobbed by October 1st and in ‘J’ RHU by July 1st. With this Chinese Communist offensive in full swing however, one cannot be certain that things will work out just like that. ‘J’ RHU has been practically emptied in the last few days, and there is a rumour that all leave to Japan has been stopped. If the Chinese advance is stemmed north of Seoul, we will presumably carry on in our safe role of protecting the bridges. Since the offensive begun, 11 Bty has had only one sergeant injured in the way of casualties, which shows the comparative safety of our job: the infantry battalions of 29 Brigade suffered an appalling proportion of killed, wounded or missing – I don’t know if the papers published the figures…
At the moment there is a general air of anticipation and excitement, as everyone is digging in for the defence of Seoul. All the gun detachments are scrounging and pilfering from the Americans’ supply of sandbags, in order to increase the width and height of the walls of their gunpits. The air-strip is in continuous use, as sortie after sortie of UN planes take off, loaded with napalm bombs, rockets, etc. UN gunfire has now been rumbling in the distance for 24 hours non-stop. No more refugees are allowed to cross the river, for fear of letting through enemy in disguise. To-day one of the more nervy gun detachments complained that they had spotted Koreans digging trenches on the other side of a gulley in front of the gun. On investigation, I found that the holes they had dug were filled in. Fearing the civilians might be hiding arms for the eventual use of the Communists, I made them dig the holes out again; only to find that they had been protecting their food and clothing from any bombs or shells that might come down…
Love from Julian
Following the fluctuating offensives of 1950 and 1951, as the Communist and UN forces made great territorial gains in large-scale operations, the period from July 1951 until the end of the war in July 1953 was one of stalemate and attrition. The two sides settled into a prolonged period of trench warfare, interrupted only by sporadic major operations, while peace talks dragged on.
Lieutenant Garry Smith was a National Serviceman with the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards, again part of the 29th Infantry Brigade, and describes his first Christmas in Korea.
KOREA
CHRISTMAS DAY 1951
Dear Mum & Dad,
I expect you have all had the normal round of Christmas festivities, or will have had by the time you get this letter. I believe in fact although it is five minutes to five in the afternoon here, you will just be getting up on Christmas morning to go to early service. I must say we are not very cheerful here. Last night we had some Canadians who made a lot of noise up till about three in the morning. They were all very tight and had been attracted by the lights of my cookhouse where the turkeys were being roasted on our field oven which is made out of a 50 gallon oil drum and corrugated iron. The noise kept a major in HQ Squadron, who lives about 200 yards away, awake and both Dave and I who had slept through almost all of it except the last when I went out and quelled the riot, were not very popular. We did our best for the men, took them tea and rum in bed in the morning and served out the dinner which was very good, though a bit cold as we have no dining room. It started to hail in the morning, then snow till lunch, and now it is pouring with rain and we are all very damp. But the men are in good heart and have lots of sweets and nuts and beer in moderation so that’s all right. I am going to Kure in Japan on about the 27th which does not please me, but I expect you will be glad to hear.
A merry Christmas and the Best of Luck,
From Garry & Dave
PS. We had a bit of a battle yesterday, I wasn’t there but apparently one tank got stuck and everyone flapped quite unnecessarily, not much on today, though there was a lot of shelling on both sides last night. The doctor shot a deer which looks like a dog and has big front teeth and no horns but tastes quite good. We had a Carol service this morning.
G.
444 Field Rel Squadron
KOREA ASAPO 3
10/3/52
Dear Mum & Dad,
I am sorry I haven’t written to you for so long, but as you will see from the address I am now once more up sharp, as the saying is, for the last month we have been chasing all over mid-western Korea, but we are now static once more at Tokehony where I am engaged in hewing a habitation out of the wilderness with the boys.
Luckily Boing Cho Jail which was our last stopping place had wooden floors and ceilings. These were brought with us … and now we have wooden floors and doors to each tent.
We are in a very pleasant position in a little valley opening onto the main plain up which the main road runs to the north. It is sunny and quite warm during the day, but very cold at night. My tooth water is always frozen…
Behind our camp up the hill there is a comfortable gook position wonderfully dug in and in places the camouflage is still on. They dig great tunnels sometimes right through a ridge, with deep entrenchments on the forward slope and little shacks on the other side. In this case one can follow the whole campaign that finally eliminated this position. First the American foxholes on the lower slopes, then tank tracks where tanks came up to support the advance then the blasted line of trenches, and finally then the crest, the second line of American foxholes…
More later,
Love Garry
PS I have grown a moustache as threatened, I shall not be back until
November definitely.
Indy. Guard Coy Pusan
BAPO 3.
3/5/52
Dear Mum & Dad,
The weather of late has been very depressing, we get two days of sun and then it rains and drizzles for the rest of the week. Yesterday I went round all the guards to pay them. Things have been very quiet surprisingly as trouble was expected over Monday and no one was allowed out, but nothing happened except that all the Koreans got very drunk on Sake. We have some excitement; a band of guerrillas has holed up in the middle of some very rough country outside Pusan which is also a big store area with only very scattered guards mostly Korean police; they have taken of late to coming out at night and shooting at lighted windows which is rather inconvenient…
Still no sign of this action ending, the Koreans certainly do not want it to, at any rate not down here, they have never had it so good in their lines and all will be lost if the Americans go home. There are some Americans whom I like very much, but collectively they are an awful lot of clots. We had one to dinner the other day whose rank over here is Colonel, but whose substantive rank is Corporal. I think theirs is probably the only army in which such a thing could exist, though the adjutant at Kure who is a major was a full lieut when he came out…
Your son,
Garry
At the same time as the British Army was providing troops for the UN commitment in Korea, it was also garrisoning the last bastions of empire around the globe. The post-war years saw Great Britain gradually withdraw from most of her imperial possessions, sometimes peacefully but often in the face of armed opposition from local groups. This was the situation in the British colony of Malaya, where the British Army carried out anti-guerrilla operations against a Communist insurgency from 1948 until 1960. Michael Rugman served with the King’s Royal Hussars in Malaya in 1955, one of the many British regiments committed to what became known as the Malayan Emergency.
23217940 Tpr Rugman
HQ Sqn
XV-XIX K.R.H.
C/O GPO IPOH
Ipoh
Monday 19th Sept 1955
Dear Mum & Dad,
The mail this end has been arriving so fast I’ve hardly had time to reply before the next one comes in… I’m glad you had a good long spell of summer weather. Pity you didn’t have a week or two away somewhere. My summer has lasted six and half months and time has flown. Yes, I’ve been in the army about a year now. And on the whole life hasn’t been too bad, it’s been interesting and I’m with people my own age and interests, but things get a bit niggling at times, you live from one lot of Sqn details to the next and you feel rather restricted at times. It’s a bit difficult to explain, but on the whole it’s passable.
The weekend before last I went into the ule [jungle] on a jungle bash. But we returned with no notches on our rifle butts. We went into a forest reserve twenty miles south of Ipoh early Saturday afternoon, pushed into the interior, stopped just before sunset to change, have a quick meal cooked on small portable cookers and chunks of solid fuel, and laid ambush for the night. Next morning we pressed on and reached a track. We stopped by a pool of murky water for breakfast, where we refilled our water bottles making the water drinkable with special sterilizing tablets. We continued until we came out in the afternoon. All the time you have your rifle cocked and keep ten yards behind the man in front, and you can only talk in whispers. But they (CT’s) must have seen us coming, for we didn’t see a sign of any bandits. It rather resembled a Live Scout widegame, the type that flop…
I expect you’ve heard about the Jubilee celebrations of the Sultan of Johore, to what extent I don’t know but it appears the Sultan made a good speech and to the point when he said if he were a Britishman he would not stay and fight the CTs as the security forces weren’t getting enough info from the civilians, leading to the capture of terrorists.
As I’ve said before, quite a few people in our troop have been getting, or are, timex (going out soon) and the main topic of conversation these days verges on this subject and is rather disconcerting…
Keep well,
Love to you all,
Michael
The British also faced opposition to their rule in the East African colony of Kenya, where a revolt by the Kikuyu tribe, known as the Mau Mau Uprising, caused a state of emergency to be declared by the British governor in October 1952. Theodore Henry Birkbeck was the commanding officer of the 70th Infantry Brigade, King’s African Rifles (KAR), which was one of the principal units deployed to Kenya by the British authorities to crush the uprising. In August 1955 Birkbeck wrote the following letter to a fellow major general, William Alfred Dimoline.
Tel NYER 76 Ext 2
Ref 800/P
15 Aug 55
I arrived here on Sunday 7th August, having spent my first night in Nairobi with General Lathbury. Coming from ‘tropical England’ I ran into some extremely cold and damp weather here which was rather odd, to say the least of it.
John Orr and I got straight down to the handover and a pretty busy week followed. The brigade was deployed in the forest in Operation Dante, mostly in the Eastern Aberdares. We visited 4 and 5 KAR early in the week and then had to go on Wednesday to a C-in-Cs conference at GHQ.
I expect you will see General Lathbury in London this week, who will give you his plan for our future deployment.
Operation Dante finishes today and all 5 Battalions are returning to their base camps where they will rest and refit until the end of the month. After that we shall deploy again right up as far as the Meru where I shall be sending the 7th KAR. The idea then is for each battalion to dominate a particular area of forest while the reserves are handed over to the Administration and the Police.
My first impression of the Mau Mau is that they are definitely on the run and that if we continue to hit them hard and confine them more and more to the forest the end may well be in sight. This is my personal view and I should be grateful if you would treat the contents of this letter as confidential and between ourselves.
I have not seen very much of the Battalions as yet but they seem to be in excellent heart in spite of nearly three years of continual operations.
Lieut Col F.H.W. Brind, DSO, OBE and Lieut Col C.V. Watson-Gandy are both on leave so I have not met them. Brigadier J.F. McNab, DSO, OBE is also away but I look forward to seeing him on his return.
It was most kind of you and Mrs Dimoline to give me lunch before I left and I am finding the talk we had together most useful. I shall send you ‘sitreps’ from time to time to keep you in the picture, but they may not be as frequent as I would desire, as I think that I shall be a bit pushed for time to start with.
With best wishes and kindest regards to you both.
Yours,
THB
It wasn’t just in the far-flung colonies that Great Britain was confronting issues arising out of the retreat from empire, even in the Mediterranean there were problems that required military intervention. The island of Cyprus was annexed by Britain during the First World War and became a crown colony from 1923, however, in the years following the Second World War a national movement demanding enosis, union with Greece, became increasingly popular. This movement broke out into armed revolt in 1955 when Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston (National Organization of Cypriot Fighters – EOKA) launched a campaign against British rule.
Peter J. Houghton-Brown was a National Service officer in the 1st Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment, which was deployed to Cyprus as reinforcements following the outbreak of the emergency.
[1956]
1st Battalion. The Wiltshire Regiment
BFPO 53
… Landed safely and have come straight up here to Aghirda. It is a tented camp on the side of the northern range of mountains, just like any other Army camp, except that gin is 5 pence and beer is expensive at 1 shilling.
One carries a loaded pistol with one everywhere you go. It must never leave you. One man dying and two injured was their bag last night. The terrorists threw a bomb into the back of an Army truck.
In a few days I go off to my platoon at Myrtou; a village 40 minutes drive to the west. This seems a most unsavoury job. You have orders to shoot at anyone you see who might be going to throw a bomb, and you cannot tell if it’s a bomb or a stone. I cannot quite see how we are not going to get hateful to these people.
B Company,
BFPO 53
… I have been blooded. Did you read in the papers that an army Patrol had been stoned in Kyrenia (also BBC Wednesday news). That was me. I have been going to a Court Marshal [sic] every day for the last 3 days. This means going by land rover along the coast road at about 9am each morning. The first morning we got stoned badly in Lapithos, we were going under a bank and about 30 school children hurled rocks on us. No one was hit except me. I got a big stone on the arm and have a large bruise to show for it. There was only me, the driver and our guard. Not enough of us to stop and beat the hell out [of] them as we wished.
The next day we caught it again, this time it was school children from Kyrenia. This was the incident on the news, not half as bad as the day before, not so many stones and more clumps of earth. I was in my Blues, best hat, etc, and got very dirty again. Again we did not have enough people to do anything about it.
They threw a bomb at some of my platoon last night. They were in a truck and the bomb blew a great hole in it. No one was hurt, just luck. Everything they do they seem to get away with. They killed 24 troops last year and we only killed 6.
Further east the Protectorate of Aden was the main British base in the Middle East following the withdrawal from Suez in 1956. In 1963 an insurgency erupted against British rule in the area, which ended with a unilateral British withdrawal in 1967.
Flying Officer Anne Peterkin served with Princess Mary’s Royal Air Force Nursing Service based at the RAF hospital, Khormaksar, in Aden and had to deal with the casualties arising from the conflict.
Officers Mess
RAF Hospital
Khormaksar Beach
Aden
16-5-65
Dearest family,
Again, many thanks for your letters… News from the Middle East:
… The ward has been exceptionally busy this last week. We had several very badly injured men admitted having been attacked by mortar fire up country. In fact the worst battle casualties I’ve seen!
They were brought down by helicopter and the pilots got a terrific appraisal on the local news as they picked them up under fire.
Today there is a marked improvement in their conditions but it is sad to see a young officer of 21 and an 18-year-old so ill.
Again, as always when we’re busy the air conditioning failed and we’ve been working in tremendous heat. In fact today is the hottest day it’s been. Mind you, I am very lucky as I don’t find it too bad as long as I swig plenty of fluid…
Well, think that’s all the news there is for now. Sorry no photo this week.
All the best to William in his exams.
Much love to all,
Annie
The issue of the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands has been a subject of both discourse and dispute since the very first settlers landed there in the second half of the 18th century. Great Britain has held the islands continuously from 1833 onwards in the face of Argentinian territorial claims and the issue has been a source of intermittent tension between the two countries ever since. On 2 April 1982 the Argentinians invaded the Falklands Islands, sparking a conflict that involved a British Task Force being mobilised and then racing to the Islands to protect British interests.
Nick Van der Bijl was a staff sergeant in the Intelligence Corps who was attached to HQ 3 Commando, Royal Marines, for the duration of the campaign. He travelled south to the Falklands aboard HMS Fearless from where he wrote home to his family.
HMS Fearless
BFPO 666
Dearest Penny and Imogen,
It is now Saturday, the day before Easter Sunday and we have been at sea for four days. At present we are somewhere off the North-West African coast. It is beautiful and hot upstairs and the sea is a deep blue azure. It contrasts quite nicely with the grey paint of the warships that are all around. Something straight out of World War Two!...
We have been working extraordinarily hard trying to catch up on years of collation and recording. Unfortunately some of the channels of communication are suspect and so not all the information that is being produced is actually reaching us at sea. It makes one’s life very hard especially because we cannot disseminate information… On the whole the Army, Marines and Air Force are working very well together but the Navy are proving very difficult – falling into line, so much so that important information is being withheld because ‘they did not think you needed it’…
Today ships from the Gibraltar / Mediterranean joined us at first light and our Task Force is now in convoy configuration with warships, destroyers, RFAs and LSLs. It is quite extraordinary and I am not quite sure I believe it. In fact … this is no exercise – it is a real operation. We continue to pick up the BBC and understand that the Government are still maintaining an offensive posture, as are the Argentinians. I expect much will depend on Gen Haig and the 200-mile limit warnings that come into force on Monday.
Sunday now… This morning HMS Antelope, another frigate, came alongside and a package was passed by heavy line. The Navy remain full of tradition and as the ship left the officers saluted each other and the Bosun blew his whistle. Talking about the Navy; they are probably the least aware of the problem at the moment and do seem disinclined to believe that we may be sailing to a shooting war…
Monday today… We still do not know really what is going to happen as we receive the BBC news only. Obviously our Lnt tells us a bit more but the political manoeuvring does not give us too much. The word at present on Fearless is censorships. We have all been told what we are not allowed to write about – [but] most of [what] I am not meant to tell you, you will obtain from the TV…
Wednesday evening and really the first time since Monday that I have had time to write. We have had a good deal of work to do, although we do not seem to be any nearer a solution as to activities or the objective. I am now beginning to feel rather tired… The trouble is that there does not appear to be any end to the work, it just seems to come pouring – mind you, I am not complaining because this is ‘for real’ and the way that the Government have dug their heels in it may end in some form of confrontation…
Just heard the news that Mr Haig has returned to the US to report to Reagan.* I imagine that this might be a bit depressing for you – perhaps hoping that a solution will be arrived at. It is clear that UK and Argentina are miles apart. UK has mounted a massive military and naval operation and is committed to retaking the Falklands and Argentina is committed to retaining, and perhaps defending this barren but minerally rich island. Somewhere there is a solution. Rest assured that before any amphibious forces move the naval and air battle must be won…
Miss you, love you and see you soon. Adore you both.
Nick
By the end of April the Task Force was within striking distance of the Falklands, though the threat posed by Argentinian Exocet missiles was all too real, and on 4 May HMS Sheffield was hit by two missiles which caused the death of 20 of her crew and the ship had to be abandoned. On the same day the first Sea Harrier was lost over Goose Green.
5 May 82
HMS Fearless
BFPO 666
My darling Penny and Imogen,
It happened. The abandoning of Sheffield and the shooting down of the [Harrier], tragic though it is, has finally bought it home that this is a serious situation and real live bullets are being used and this inevitably means loss of life. The ‘gungho’ ‘we can win’ spirit has gone to be replaced by a stunned realization that things are not going to be that easy. Fortunately the ground troops and those who have been to Northern Ireland, where lives are lost, are virtually unaffected by it all. There is a degree of anger and frustration but at least a few realize that we are now at the mercy of cynical politicians and that to escalate the situation might encourage a superpower clash… As you probably are aware there is no way we can go ashore unless air superiority is gained. I met a couple of the Harrier pilots during the voyage out and then they virtually claimed that they could win all by themselves. Bags of confidence and Battle of Britain stuff, but hardly the ingredients for a political confrontation…
By the time you receive this letter I shall probably be out of contact for some time, and so there will be little, if any, opportunity for discussion… Today I sorted out my kit for going ashore… Apart from the task I told you about earlier, I shall be part of the Bde Cmd Tactical HQ, a group of six to eight people who set up a small HQ prior to the main HQ moving ashore… My kit is quite heavy and we have still to be issued with our quota of ammo and rations. Regrettably I cannot tell you more because I do not know about any more. All that I can recommend is listen to the BBC, preferably Radio 4, which generally gives an accurate view of events, without the frills of some of the more popular media outlets...
On 21 May the British went ashore in large numbers. Around 3,000 troops from 2 Para, 3 Para and 3 Commando Brigade (consisting of 40, 42 and 45 Royal Marine Commandos) landed as part of an amphibious force in San Carlos Bay.
3 Cde Bde
BFPO 666
Darling,
A very rapid letter. Went ashore during evening of D-Day. For us ashore all is OK although we have dug in deep. The Argentinians are continuing to attack the shipping and a very predictable fight it is, Skyhawk and Mirage weaving their way through the sky, dropping bombs. So far no attack against me. Have interrogated a Sgt POW who surrendered.
Rather tired and dirty although a shower has just improved the situation. The weather, fortunately, is good – we are all hoping for rain and fog – then no flying. Learning to live in holes in the ground…
I have been under fire with four near misses on Fearless. A bit of a hole. But very glad to be ashore. Do not worry; I am well. LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU! Please tell my mother the contents of this letter, please do not become concerned. Must go – my boat awaits me.
All my love,
Nick xxxx
The landing of the Task Force on East Falkland provoked a tough response from the Argentinian Air Force, with the amphibious group and its escorts taking casualties at a level that had not been experienced by the British since the battle for Crete in May 1941.
May 82
HQ 3 Cde Bde
BFPO 666
Darling Penny and Imogen,
Air raid warning just gone. It’s 10pm and it is a dark starlight night. I hope you received my scribbled letter from Fearless. Today I went onto LSL Belvedere to brief some reinforcements. I had just entered the interior when the first raid came in with no warning. Guns opened up and I literally threw myself to the floor and waited. The aircraft screamed overhead. One was shot down just in front and the pilot made a POW! While I was aboard – 4 air raid warnings in three hours. Everyone was very tense. When I was picked up … we went to Red Beach where Cdr Log was and there was a warning. Later heard that the aircraft had attacked HMS Coventry. There is anger because the Argies are getting through and it does seem that the Harrier screen and warships are not between us and the mainland. Therefore they have an easy run in. At least they have not gone for us. The Bde HQ is dug in below ground… We are settled into a routine now of living below ground in trenches and deep pits. We watch all the raids going in and a very spectacular business it is. Their Navy pilots are the best and all their pilots are brave men. The odds are against them but the attacks continue. Wherever an aircraft is hit or trailing smoke everybody cheers. It is like something out of Star Wars … tracers and bombs flying all over the place and the noise is incredible. We watch from the top of our trenches with tin hats on…
I am well – dirty, not tired, not hungry. Everything is going well although only half IR Section ashore. There is a lot of work, though I suppose I am rather enjoying the experience… So do not worry about anything… Meanwhile LOVE and MISS YOU BOTH and look forward to seeing you.
Love and kisses,
Nick
xxxxxxx
Glenn Canham was a radio operator on board HMS Arrow during the campaign. This ship fired the first shot against Port Stanley on 1 May, and was also on the scene when HMS Sheffield was hit on 4 May and helped to take off the survivors.
Tuesday 11th May
RO (T) G. Canham
D175294N
3 Mess
HMS Arrow
BFPO Ships
London
Dear Mum, Dad and Ash,
Hope all is well at home and everyone is bearing up under the strain.
Sorry I haven’t written for a while, you’re probably getting worried, but as you have no doubt heard on the news things have been, to say the least, ‘Hectic’.
I’ll start at the beginning of the month as good a place as any I suppose.
1st May we entered the Total Exclusion Zone (TEZ) for the first time in a solid group. Immediately we had established a standing off area, three of our ships were sent in to bombard the Airfield at Stanley. We arrived off the coast just after dinner time… For a couple of hours the three of us sat there sending off about 50 shells apiece. We then turned tail and started heading out to sea, when out from the side of the Island came two jet fighters. They missed the Glamorgan but caught us right across the funnel and just aft of that on the Seacot deck. That was when Brittnell was hit by a small piece of shrapnel, you probably heard that on the news. Well that was our first piece of Action and I was scared stupid for the whole time.
After that for the next few days we kept our distance during the day, legging it in at night, bombing designated targets and rejoining the main group again by morning.
I can’t remember what day it was but I know it was a shocking blow to everyone when the Sheffield was hit by the missile. Our ship was the first one to get near her, the only things beating us there being our own helo [helicopter] and some Sea Kings from the Hermes. At first we waited off sailing around her in circles because apart from the missile attack we also had a Possible Submarine Contact. Our first job was to get fire fighting equipment and Medics to her which we did by helo, we then tried to get as close as possible to her so as we could help fight the fire with our own hoses but twice we had to leg out of the way of two Torpedoes. The Yarmouth then joined us and we prosecuted the sub contact, the Yarmouth lobbing mortars into the water like they were going out of fashion. Eventually we got alongside her managing to tie ourselves ruffly [sic] together not helped by the long swell that was running … but eventually it was decided to abandon her, Yarmouth pulled away and we switched off our hoses and started grabbing blokes and pulling them on to our ship. As we eventually pulled away because of the danger of her ammunition blowing there were still a few people including the skipper still on deck but they were taken off safely by helo.
Since then we have been doing night bombardments fairly regularly… Yesterday, or last night rather, Alacrity and ourselves closed the coast hunting for ships of any sort that might be using the hours of darkness for blockade running and resupply to the shore… Well that’s enough of that, in fact there’s far too much trash there really… Still no news of when we will be home although I have it on fairly good authority that our relief ships sailed from home yesterday. Well I think that’s about it for now. I’m feeling very tired and I’m on watch again in four hours so all at home take care, keep the letters coming, thanks again for the papers.
Love,
Glenn
xx
Back ashore, the men of 3 Commando Brigade had established a beachhead and were preparing to take the fight to the Argentinian forces. On the night of 26 May, 2 Para set out for Goose Green and Darwin, while the rest of the brigade marched towards Stanley. At the beginning of June reinforcements arrived in the form of 5th Infantry Brigade, and the British were now ready to take on the ring of mountain positions that defended the capital, Port Stanley.
Sergeant Ian McKay was the platoon sergeant of 4 Platoon, B Company, 3 Para, and he won a posthumous Victoria Cross for his heroic actions in the night attack on Mount Longdon on 11/12 June. In his last letter home, written on 8 June, to his family he describes conditions before the attack.
… Sorry this is a bit scruffy, but the bottom of my hole in the ground might not be the cleanest part of the island but it is the safest.
Mind you, things are much quieter now than for some time and finding things to occupy our time is now a problem.
Some clown has put one of our artillery batteries just behind our positions and as the Argentinian guns try to range in on them they sometimes drop one in around [our] position. Life isn’t dull all the time.
Mail is taking the best part of three weeks to get here so I assume the same applies vice versa. It is quite possible we will be on the way home before this gets to you.
Personally I can’t wait to get back on board. I have never known a more bleak, windswept and wet place in my life. We spend our life with wet feet trying to dry out and keep warm. The wind blows constantly but is cooling rather than drying. You cannot walk 50 paces anywhere, even on the mountainsides, without walking in a bog.
I thought the Brecon Beacons was bad, but this takes the biscuit.
One of the officers I knew in the depot was shot while standing under a white flag when 2 Paras took Goose Green so feelings are running quite high both in 2 and 3 Para.
Also the papers we get, again all well out of date, mention only Marines and Guards so if we aren’t officially here we might as well come home.
Apart from that bit of grousing things aren’t too bad and things should be over one way or another in a week so you will probably be [reading] this with hindsight.
We will be home hopefully about two weeks afterwards…
With the fall of the mountain positions the road to Stanley lay open and the Falklands conflict came to a rapid conclusion.
Lance Corporal Andrew Mortimore was part of the 1st Battalion, Welsh Guards, who had been shipped around East Falkland at the beginning of June and were caught aboard the LSL Sir Galahad when the Argentinian Air Force attacked. He was meant to be on the tank deck with the Mortar Platoon when the ship was hit by three bombs, but, luckily, he was in search of a cup of tea at the time and so survived the attack. 49 men were killed, with another 115 seriously injured.
23rd June – Town Hall – Port Stanley
Dear Kay,
Many thanks for the postcard, yes I am looking forward to seeing Exmouth again. Got to Port Stanley yesterday after being on the Canberra doing the POW run to Argy Island. When they came on board first they smelt just like the school house at Cusichaca! Two weeks ago, as I’m sure you know already, we were hit badly as we waited to go ashore from the Sir Galahad. By not being where I should be I escaped with singed hair and a large burn hole in my waterproof. Had I been where I should have been I wouldn’t be writing this. Thanks to your first aid lessons at least one soldier got away alive who wouldn’t have had I not known what I was doing – only two medics got out.* The whole thing was a mess – a mess that got 25 of my mates killed. We were left in daylight for eight hours without air cover! There was hardly any warning, just someone screaming ‘Air Raid Warning Red, Air Raid’ – he never finished. A 500lb bomb came through the wall about 15ft away from me and carried on through two more walls and a floor where it exploded. The guy stood behind me was killed. I didn’t have time to panic or be scared. Even after I got out I had to go back again to bring some others out. The smoke was so thick you could walk on it.
Luckily every other man was carrying a 1 litre Hartmans Drip – these saved a lot of the guys with burns. Later on today we’re going back to ‘Bluff Cove’ by chopper for a memorial service. The wreck of the ship will be towed out to sea and sunk as an official war grave.
I lost nearly all my kit – I got away in what I was wearing. The lads from 2 Para who put us up for the night in their sheep shed were fantastic. Some of them stayed up all night making us tea. Next day we were choppered out to HMS Intrepid where we rested and [were] issued new kit.
Don’t know how long before we get home but in the meantime we are doing a Northern Ireland type job in Stanley – patrolling – chatting up the locals – checking possible booby traps etc. Mines are still a big problem. They won’t let us use Argies to find them! Looking after the POWs was a bit like giving treatment to the people in Cusichaca who had stolen from us – crazy.
Still that’s life – that’s war and I’ve had enough of this one for the moment. Not sure when I’ll be home – about six weeks they say – we’ll see. Hope to see you then. Give my love to Exmouth.
Love and best wishes,
Andy
During the 1990s war broke out once more in mainland Europe as the collapse of Yugoslavia saw conflict in Croatia in 1991, and then a bitter internal struggle in Bosnia from 1992 until 1995. Foreign powers sought to intervene to protect, initially through the auspices of the United Nations and from 1995 through the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) with a more robust mandate.
Captain Peter Caddick-Adams is a military historian who served with the British Army in Bosnia in 1996. Although initially attached to the 1st Mechanised Brigade and 20th Armoured Brigade HQ, he later became a historian at the headquarters of the International Stabilisation Force (IFOR).
HQ 1st Mechanised Brigade, Operation Resolute, SIPOVO, Bosnia
BFPO 538
31 July 1996
Dear Nigel,
I trust this finds you well and prospering… My latest news, as my address indicates, is that I was mobilised from the TA nearly 2 months ago, for a 6 month stint with the Regular Army in Bosnia. I landed here on the morning of the 55th anniversary of Operation Barbarossa, and so far, all is going well, working in a brigade HQ – so now I can see how all the nuts and bolts go together for real!...
Because of the landmine threat (6 million of ’em scattered about, we are told), movement is restricted to a very few roads, each of which have names like the trenches of the Great War, which reflect the identity of their uses. The Americans drive along routes called ‘Arkansas’, ‘Utah’ or ‘Kentucky’. The Brits have named theirs ‘Hornblower’, or ‘Salmon’ but the Dutch – well they cruise along a road called ‘Clog’!
I often drive past the confrontation lines resembling Ypres or the Somme in 1919–20, abandoned here only last October. It’s as though Blitzkrieg was never invented – twin sets of trenches, and communications trenches separated by No Man’s Land, crater-ridden. Bunkers with log and turf roofs are set into hillsides. Artillery positions, with horse-shoe shaped low walls of stones, turf and sandbags, are dotted around, still strewn with shell cases and ammunition boxes. Bits of equipment, helmets, a lone boot etc, litter the area. Unfortunately we may look but not touch because of the booby traps/landmine threat out here. I am reading Siegfried Sassoon and one or two other choice favourites in the quiet moments. The wanton destruction of homes and villages is initially distressing – either by battle damage, or ethnic cleansing. In Sipovo, where I am based, all shops were gutted and looted, and most houses at least lost their roofs. Now the 1st shops are starting up again – just trestle tables of vegetables or cigarettes outside gutted buildings – possibly like Normandy or Germany in 1944–5.
Stay in touch, best wishes,
Pete Caddick-Addams
In August 1990 Iraqi President Saddam Hussein ordered the invasion of the neighbouring state of Kuwait, setting on course a train of events that would lead to the deployment of over 45,000 British troops to the region as part of a vast UN-authorised, US-led coalition.
Saddam Hussein had used chemical weapons during the Iran–Iraq war of the 1980s, and there was a fear that these would be deployed against coalition soldiers, as Private Neil Robertshaw vividly describes in a letter home from December 1990.
2/3-12-90
Dear Eric & Edith,
I hope you’re all fine and that Julie settles in at her new flat. At the moment I’m still at Baldrick lines. It now takes only 3–4 days for letters to get here but parcels will take up to 2 weeks…
At the moment Baldrick lines are on white alert and not yellow. Although saying that everyone’s hearts dropped a beat or ten this morning when we all went to Red alert.
What happened was as our company (and other ordnance companies) was preparing for the St Barbaras Day church parade. There was suddenly shouts from everywhere and people sprinting about. People were shouting ‘NBC attack, NO DUFF, there’s four SCUDs on their way here’ – NBC (chemicals), NO DUFF (it’s for real) SCUD B’s (high explosive/chemical long range missiles capable of travelling from Iraq to here in 6 minutes which is 150 miles away).
So you can imagine that everyone was frightened to say the least. I raced to my chemical suit and put it on with my heart thundering and then applied my respirator and went to my platoon’s lines where we were accounted for. All this took place in 4 minutes. For the next 2 minutes we waited for the impact which never came.
Apparently what happened was 4 Scud B’s were spotted on radar and the alert was sounded, but the Iraqi’s were only carrying out firing tests on their own ranges in Iraq. The popular belief was that they were going to fire on Israel who would return fire with nuclear armaments!
When everything returned to normal sighs of relief were heard in every direction and some other words I won’t repeat.
It’s now 5.00am (I’m on guard again) so I can write some more letters.
The Yanks have 24 patriot missiles aimed towards Iraq only 150mtrs down the road and they reckon they’ve a 97% chance of knocking out the scuds well before they reach here.
Well that’s all I can think of for now. I just can’t wait to get my head down when I come off guard at half seven.
Anyway, take care and lots of love,
Neil
xxx
Following months of preparation, the assault on Iraqi positions in Kuwait was launched on the night of 16/17 January 1991, with an aerial bombing campaign targeting Iraqi air defence and command and control positions.
Lieutenant Richard Whitticase served with a Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers unit (REME) attached to the 1st (UK) Armoured Division and wrote home on the outbreak of war.
Some place
17 Jan 91
Dear Di & Ian,
Sorry if my writing is a bit funny – it’s night and this is a LED torch job. Well it seems that we’re at war. We weren’t told anything officially – all I know is what I’ve heard on the BBC World Service – 100 cruise missiles and over 1,000 bomber sorties.
The only effect on us was an air raid warning when a Scud B was launched this morning. It was a bit inconvenient having to dive into my trench because I’d just heated the water to have a shave. However, at least with scuds their time of flight is only a few minutes so after 10 minutes it must have landed somewhere else so you can come out from under cover.
I’m losing weight which is a bit worrying. I’m always starving – the food is still good but there’s never enough… If you have any spare food send it over! I find it really tiring just walking about. Walking on sand is always hard work anyway and as our vehicles are so dispersed over a large area, I’m walking miles every day.
This is my last but one bluey, so you’re quite privileged…
How is all this affecting the people back home? Last time I was in England, I got the impression that most people were not very interested. It didn’t affect them and it was all very remote. John Major seems to be doing a good job. Kinnock and Kohl should be shot. At least the French are doing their bit.
Anyway keep writing.
Love,
Richard x
Although there had been fears before the start of the land campaign that the Iraqi forces would prove a tough challenge for the coalition, in the event the land battle only lasted four days from 24 to 28 February as the coalition forces outclassed their Iraqi opponents.
Sergeant Pete MacPherson-Smith of the 3rd Battalion, Staffordshire Regiment, was based in the UK throughout the First Gulf War, but corresponded regularly with men of the 1st Battalion who were out in the Gulf, and some of them wrote to him describing their exploits in the land battle.
Dear Pete,
Well we cried havoc and they let us loose. It was, I must say, my kind of war with very little coming this way, but a fucking lot going that. Actually apart from about 5 or 6 battles that we got involved with (1st Bn) the bastard tanks got into the en posn before us and we got stuck with the flaming EPW (en Prisoners of War) and what a sight. On talking to the EPW they had been conscripted ten days before and dumped in the front, where upon their officer legged it back to Baghdad. They didn’t cause many problems, although they were not able to tell us where the anti-personnel mines were, but we soon found out. One of the trucks found one and then the rotten bastards made me ride around in the APC [Armoured Personnel Carrier] until I’d cleared a route. Some bloody mate. (Actually, the pressure of the tracks set them off and we couldn’t feel anything.)
Then came the Rep Gt they kicked it into touch when we told them Jonny Reeves was coming.
I nearly got to fire my .50 cal one night in an ambush, but would you believe it C Coy and Milan got in first again.
The above action was where young Moult was killed, the bastards had started to surrender, but as it got dark one of them fired an RPG7 [Rocket Propelled Grenade] which got him in the upper chest. I think C Coy showed tremendous restraint because apart from killing the bastard who fired it they took the rest prisoner.
We have eventually ended up north of Kuwait City blocking their main escape route to Basra. By the time we got here there were only a few minor skirmishes. The place is a complete wreck [of] tanks, bodies, APCs, bodies, AA guns and more bodies and yes our first tank clean up! Primarily the bodies and before you ask I’ve got your share of teeth in my webbing.
To top it all it’s now pissing down with rain and the Prats want us to stand around and listen to the PM’s ‘boots fit, letters from home etc etc crap’.
We wanted to play football but can’t find a space without cluster bombs in it (courtesy of the RAF).
All in all we didn’t do too bad only 2 dead and about 4 or 5 injured, but upon reading this it wasn’t as easy as it sounds and I must admit I wouldn’t want to do it again.
Well Pete, that’s all for now…
See you soon,
Steve
PS Translated ‘if the bastards don’t get us home soon there’ll be another revolution’.
Tues 5th March 9.30am
Hi there Pete,
Well we can finally shove this war right up Tony Benn’s arse and pack the bastard off to Baghdad now it’s over…
Well as the war went there was some hell-raising times and we spent most of the time on the move advancing on positions. But we performed brilliantly when called upon. My crew and vehicle was responsible [for] taking out the most enemy tanks/APCs in one attack, 5 in less than 5 minutes, all kills, good hey. We were out on the flanks and came in on the unprotected rear of a div position and took out the tanks from 1,600–1,700m. We were so chuffed.
We were all slightly pissed off when the cease fire was announced as we were on a high and heading for the retreating Republican Guard, it would have made my day to take out some T72s but never mind.
Well Pete you had a few drinks on us to celebrate over victory, well I tell you what mate, there [will] be some more done as soon as I get back that I promise.
You’re a real friend Pete and have kept me going in the right spirit through this war and for that truly thank you…
Tomorrow we meet the Prime Minister so I’ll say hello for you mate. Pete, don’t write any more as I don’t plan on being here to receive them by that stage.
Cheers,
Tomo
A decade later British forces found themselves in the Gulf once more as part of another US-led coalition. This time the target was Iraq itself.
Lance-Corporal Iain McMenemy of the Scots Guards was one of those who took part in the initial invasion of Iraq in March 2003, as British troops headed towards the southern Iraqi city of Basra.
Dear Mark, Alison and Katie,
Thanks for taking the trouble to write to me. You would not believe how your spirits are lifted when you receive post.
The war started in the early hours of Thursday 20th March and we rolled over the border from Kuwait into Iraq on Friday 21st at 1255. War is shit.
You live on your nerves the whole time. The rag-heads are using dirty tricks like wearing civilian clothes or suicide bombers etc. So it is hard to tell who is who. We are also confused by the fact that we are under orders to be extra nice to the civilian population. We don’t know who is who.
Only 4 days ago I caught a guy passing through a checkpoint with an AK-47 rifle down his side. I caught a glimpse of the bayonet under his robes.
We are constantly missiled with Scuds and mortars and RPGs (Rocket Propelled Grenades). Pretty hairy! And if they don’t get us, the Yanks will! Daft cowboy bastards (sorry Katie).
Parenthood seems to be treating you well. You probably have a tougher time than me. You’ll get less sleep! I hope I can get home in time for your pilgrimage to Scotland in May. I have no idea when I will be released. It all depends how long this war phase lasts.
If I am still here I am sure Pearl and Jamie will entertain you.
Your dad has probably shot more Arabs than me but we can swap war stories one day…
Thanks again for writing, you are true friends!
Love Iain xxx
X – big kiss for Katie
Far from being a short-term operation, it wasn’t until 2009 that British combat troops finally withdrew from Iraq.
One of those deployed on what became known as Operation Telic was Major Nick Lock, who was commander of B Company, 1st Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers. He and his men were based in Az Zubayr to the south of Basra in 2004.
8 July 2004
Dear Alan,
Well we are three months into our tour and still not halfways through yet, a seven month tour is going to prove a long hot summer! I think we are getting used to the heat now as it is touching the fifties and we are still able to operate although you rapidly get soaked through. Apparently July and August are the ‘Hell Months’ as the locals say, so I may regret my comments above very rapidly. Aircon in our rooms give a good deal of relief when you come in off patrol.
The handover of power seems to have gone off OK with Paul Bremmer finally doing something right in handing over early. In the south after a quiet period our local roadside bomber is back with two bombs in three days. We were lucky again with no casualties unlike the unfortunate Fusilier from the RHF [Royal Highland Fusiliers] in Basra the other day. It is a sobering reminder that up until now British troops have been very lucky, despite a lot of battle casualties we have had very few deaths. We have now handed over responsibility for much of the security in the town to the Iraqi police so we will have to see how they do on their own. I think in many cases they will go back to their old ways. A station commander informed me with great glee today that he had got nothing out of a hijacker who had attacked an isolated police station but after a few punches he had sung like a bird! I had to remind him that that is how Saddam dealt with people and that the people here would rapidly lose any respect for them if it continued.
Our efforts are now concentrated on stopping the terrorists blowing up the oil pipelines and stopping smuggling and hijacking. We have had some notable successes with smuggling recently breaking up an illegal fuel documentation market and making forty-four arrests. This is still the tip of the iceberg as it is believed that sixty per cent of all the fuel produced is being smuggled away.
The local elections have been on – off – on and off again over the last week. We now hope that they will take place at the end of next week. We have done enough work towards preparing the police and ourselves for the elections that we just want to get them out the way now and once in place we hope that the Iraqis will start to take responsibility for their own affairs. I will be pleased if it means that I will no longer be the stand in mayor of Az Zubayr! I am also about to be an honorary sheik of one of the local tribes whose head is also chairman of the tribal council. Apparently they have the full outfit ready to go, Lawrence of Arabia here I come, just have to make sure I don’t go barking mad in the process!
Only three weeks to go to R&R [rest and recuperation] now so that will definitely keep me sane, can’t wait to see Sarah and Jack who I am sure will have really changed. No real holiday plans at present just time at home relaxing with the family which will make a wonderful change.
Once I get back I will only have a few weeks left in command of the company before I move on to be Senior Major of the Battalion. It will be very strange to say goodbye to the company after what has been a very hectic but incredibly rewarding two years. I don’t think I could have wished for a better sequence of activities over the two years than I have had. I have also been very lucky to have worked with a truly excellent bunch of officers, NCOs and soldiers of whom I think I am justifiably proud. The new job will bring a different set of challenges but at least I will still be with my Regiment which is never dull and always full of good fun…
Well best close, I have a Sector Security Meeting to go to with the Police and Iraqi National Guard.
Best wishes,
Nick
During the operations in Iraq, Maurice Benton and Joanne Goody-Orris, affectionately known as Mo and Jo, sent care packages filled with both luxuries and essentials to British soldiers on the front line. They continued this operation as the Coalition troops were sent into Afghanistan, and in November 2011 sent their 9,000th parcel to the front line. In response to the ‘morale’ parcels a number of soldiers wrote back, mainly to thank them for their efforts, but in some cases to provide a bit of detail about their life on the front line.
Captain Kit Kyte of the Royal Gurkha Rifles was one such recipient during Operation Herrick 9 in the winter of 2008.
Captain Kit Kyte
Recce Pl
2nd Battalion Royal Gurkha Rifles
Dear Mo and Jo
… I write this letter on behalf of myself and the men of Recce Pl who have all benefited from the ‘morale’ parcels and letters that you have sent… It is truly appreciated and you cannot appreciate the positive effect that it has for all of us, and myself in particular. It is the one thing you look forward to when you have been out on the ground for a sustained period of time, and it is the one thing no matter how small that gives you the opportunity to detach from the current reality and consider the real world.
So I shall now write a small amount of news from our time out here so far. Obviously the detail will be limited for operational reasons but I hope that it might give you a small insight into what we are about. Firstly, we must consider the ground and the operating environment out here. Southern Afghanistan is the most inhospitable region in the entire country with temperatures in the summer going plus of 50 degrees Celsius! You can imagine the impact it has on men who are moving tactically with kit and equipment that at a basic level often weigh in at more than sixty pounds, and that is just for a small scale patrol. We went on an operation early on for 8 days into bandit country with each man carrying kit in excess of 62kgs! The weather has now changed though, and is more bearable. However temperatures by day reach 18 degrees but drop below 0 at night so the change is one you can never get used to.
The land here is barren rock and desert for the majority with dust and sand in the air at all times, you stay clean for about 5 seconds once you step out of the gate, your lungs are filled with it all and the sun is blinding. The only areas of green are to be found down in the main Wadis (rivers – usually dry). The majority of the population live here in accommodation that can only be described as that out of Star Wars, compounds of mud with walls 2 feet thick, very hard to penetrate I can assure you. The people here in particular are extremely conservative, in that they live an existence that can only be described as medieval with the exception that they have electricity, motorbikes, mobile phones, oh and obviously guns! They are extremely hostile to us, and from my perception, having spent a significant amount of time out in places you wouldn’t really want to go, they are supportive of the Taliban who have an almost mob like grip on the population. The enemy are hard to see because in essence they come from the local population, they wear no uniform and you cannot distinguish them from local farmers until they start firing at you. The complexity of operations is extreme and the danger always close by. We will eventually win any fire-fight that they engage us with, they know this and so often adopt hit and run tactics and small scale ambushes, and then most cowardly of all the use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs). These devices have been responsible for many Coalition casualties, but also many local casualties with children and women often falling foul of an enemy IED. Quite why they can respect the enemy when they are also being killed by them is astounding. I suspect they are in the terrible position of living in constant fear, terrorized on a daily basis. This is why we must continue to push the enemy back, constantly keeping him guessing, disrupt his mindset etc.
The job is extremely demanding and constantly challenging, we live on the extreme end of a volatile world but this is something we chose to do and if we don’t take the fight to them here then we will be doing it on the streets of London with greater consequences for all.
I hope this gives you a brief insight into the kind of existence we are operating in and why anything we can receive out here is of such benefit to us.
Once again can I thank you all for thinking of my men and I at this time, it is sincerely appreciated.
Yours aye,
Kit Kyte
Another recipient of Mo and Jo’s parcels was Lieutenant Anthony Gibbs, Royal Navy, who served on the front line of Afghanistan in a different capacity to many of the other ISAF troops.
Monday 1 July 2008
Dear Mo and Jo,
I write to you today to extend sincere thanks to both of you and to all of the people who contribute in any way, however small or large, to your campaign to support troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Of course this letter also conveys the heart-felt thanks of all the members of the unit here to whom the receipt of support and comforts from home, especially from perfect strangers, cements our belief that we are genuinely supported by the British public and our contribution to operations here are valued and recognized. This, I personally feel, is the most important rationale and gives us a reason and determination to execute our duties with purpose and the feeling that we are, ultimately, making a difference.
Here in Afghanistan, our unit works closely with the Afghan indigenous armed forces on the front line. We are a small but specialist unit drawn together from men and women of all three services. We have a different raison d’être to our esteemed colleagues in Helmand Province, who provide a highly visible military presence designed at tackling the main fighting body of the Taliban, Al Qaeda and insurgency head-on. We are charged with tackling insurgency combined with the illicit generation of monetary funds that would eventually, in the form of weapons, find their way into the hands of those who wish to de-stabilise the region and ultimately provide havens and training facilities for terrorists worldwide…
Afghanistan in the height of summer is not an environment to be taken lightly. On average, in the run up to summer the midday temperature rises to a blistering 45 degrees Celsius. This is set to rise even further towards mid-August to the truly searing region of 50 degrees. This simply has to be experienced to understand how difficult it is to exist in these conditions, let alone wear armour, carry weapons and kit and remain at the top of your game. It is, as you can imagine, severely debilitating when you are trying to carry out your duties and look out for your colleagues. Conversely, the winters here see some bases where the temperature struggles to get above freezing and snow lies on the ground for 3 months or more. It really is a country of extremes with lowlands at 2,000 feet above sea level and the mountains at 14,000 feet where the snow never melts.
Once again thank you and all of your contributors for thinking of us and supporting us in our difficult task. I look forward to meeting you and thanking you in person.
I remain your obedient servant,
Anthony M. Gibbs
Royal Navy
* Alexander Haig was the American Secretary of State who conducted negotiations between Argentina and Britain after the Argentinians invaded the Islands. Negotiations broke down and Haig returned to Washington on 19 April.
* Lance Corporal Mortimore had been part of an expedition to the Cusichaca Valley in the Peruvian Andes with Captain Kay Foster, who was the nurse for the expedition. While on the six month trip, Kay taught Mortimore basic first aid.