The Forgotten Battle of Crater: Britain’s Last Stand in Aden

In the sweltering heat of July 1967, the ancient city of Aden simmered with tension.

The British Empire, once the unrivaled power in this strategic port, was now in retreat.

But one man refused to let it slink away quietly.

As the sun set on July 3rd, Lieutenant Colonel Colin Mitchell, known as ‘Mad Mitch’, prepared to lead his Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders into the rebel-held Crater district.

With bagpipes skirling, they would reclaim the area in a move that would become legendary—and controversial.

The Aden Emergency (1963-1967) was a conflict Britain never wanted and quickly forgot.

Over 90 British soldiers died and 500 were wounded in a four-year war that marked the end of an empire.

Yet, it also produced one of the most colorful characters in modern military history: Colin Mitchell, a maverick officer who captured the imagination of the press and the public, but whose methods alarmed his superiors.

My father served in Aden just before the emergency, and he often hummed the tune ‘The Barren Rocks of Aden’.

That personal connection sparked my curiosity about this forgotten war.

How did a quiet port become a battleground?

And why did Britain, once the world’s superpower, find itself fighting a losing battle in a land it didn’t understand?

The story begins in 1839, when the British seized the port of Aden, then a rocky outcrop in what is now Yemen.

It was Queen Victoria’s first imperial acquisition.

For over a century, Aden served as a vital refueling station for ships bound for India and beyond.

By the 1950s, it was the second busiest port in the world after New York, handling 5,000 ships a year.

But as the British Empire shrank, Aden’s importance grew as a base for projecting power in the oil-rich Middle East.

In the early 1960s, thousands of British troops and their families lived in this sunny, barren outpost, enjoying a lifestyle many Brits now seek in Dubai or Oman.

But change was brewing.

In 1956, Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser humiliated Britain and France during the Suez Crisis, becoming a hero to the Arab world.

Inspired by Nasser’s Cairo radio, Aden’s labor unions launched strikes and riots demanding independence.

Meanwhile, across the border in Yemen, a rebel army called the National Liberation Front (NLF) formed with Nasser’s support.

To counter rising nationalism, the British created a loyalist federation around their base.

In 1963, tribal leaders were persuaded to join the Crown Colony of Aden to form the Federation of South Arabia.

It was promised independence in 1968 in exchange for a long-term lease on the military base—similar to deals in Cyprus.

But the NLF had other plans.

In December 1963, they launched a grenade attack on the British High Commissioner, killing one and wounding 51 others.

The next month, the Federation’s army, the South Arabian Army (SAA), moved into the Radfan region to crush the NLF’s growing influence.

They withdrew, and the NLF immediately reoccupied the area.

Between April and May 1964, the SAA re-entered Radfan, this time backed by regular British troops.

Over the next few months, units from the Royal Scots, Coldstream Guards, Royal Anglians, Parachute Regiment, and 45 Commando engaged in fierce firefights with the NLF, losing four men.

Eventually, Radfan was subdued, but the NLF simply shifted their insurgency to urban Aden, and the Aden Emergency was declared.

In Aden, the NLF faced not only the SAA and the British but also a rival nationalist movement: the Front for the Liberation of Occupied South Yemen (FLOSY).

Though both sought to expel the British and tribal sultans, their rivalry would spill into the streets, costing far more lives than the fight against the British.

In 1966, with the insurgency escalating, the British government reviewed its military spending.

Defense Minister Denis Healey concluded that Britain could not sustain a large military presence in the Middle East, and the Aden base was redundant.

He boldly announced that when the Federation gained independence in two years, British forces would leave, saving taxpayers an estimated £20 million.

The Federation was stunned.

They had joined the union largely because the British Army would protect them from the NLF and their neighbors after independence.

Meanwhile, the NLF and FLOSY were delighted.

The British were leaving, and there would be no post-colonial base.

All they had to do was ensure the British didn’t change their minds—and undermine the Federation in the process.

Oh, and eliminate each other.

They intensified their violent campaign.

In December 1966, a DC-3 of Aden Airways was bombed on a domestic flight, killing all 30 on board.

In January 1967, riots erupted in the old Arab quarter of Aden, known simply as Crater.

The local police quickly lost control, and the British High Commissioner ordered the army in.

Over the next six months, British troops patrolling Crater faced 60 bombings or shootings and returned fire on 40 occasions.

They were accused of using heavy-handed tactics and torturing prisoners.

Meanwhile, they suffered increasing casualties in a conflict their government had already admitted had no end goal other than leaving the colony in friendly hands.

On June 20, 1967, the South Arabian Army in Crater mutinied, quickly followed by local armed police.

The police stormed their own armory and armed NLF supporters.

Five rebels set up a machine gun in a mosque minaret and opened fire on a police car, killing both occupants.

A British civilian, Hugh Alexander, was also killed in the crossfire.

A Bedford truck carrying 19 soldiers of the Royal Corps of Transport happened to pass by and was riddled with bullets.

Eight men inside were killed.

As an Arab sergeant used the mosque microphone to call for the remaining men to surrender, armored cars from a Parachute Regiment unit suddenly arrived and evacuated the survivors to safety.

Meanwhile, four men of the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers had entered Crater from Marine Drive in a Saracen armored vehicle.

The vehicle was hit, and the officer, 20-year-old Second Lieutenant John Davis, ordered his men out and to run for cover.

All four were killed.

Their bodies were mutilated, dragged through the streets, and burned.

In another attack, three men of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, who had just arrived in Aden, were also killed.

A helicopter flying over Crater was shot down.

Soldier John Duffy was mentioned in dispatches for returning to the burning wreck to rescue the pilot and his sergeant.

In total, 23 British soldiers and one civilian were killed that day.

Crater suddenly became a no-go area for the British.

In one sense, why should the British care?

The government in London had already decided to accelerate the withdrawal and leave by the end of the year.

Why waste British lives?

But one man was determined not to let the rebels dictate terms, nor to let the British lion spend its final days in Aden hiding outside Crater.

Enter Lieutenant Colonel Colin Campbell Mitchell, commander of the 1st Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, which had just arrived.

Despite their recent arrival, they had already lost three men in the June 20 attack, and Mitchell was eager to take the fight to the Arab fighters in Crater, estimated at 400 strong.

Mitchell’s plan was audacious: a night assault on the rebel stronghold, spearheaded by bagpipes.

The operation, codenamed ‘Stirling Castle’ after the regiment’s Scottish headquarters, would begin with a helicopter insertion of B Company at Ras Marshag, while the main force advanced from the north.

The bagpipes, Mitchell insisted, would serve as a psychological weapon—a defiant challenge to the rebels and a rallying cry for his men.

As darkness fell on July 3, the Argylls moved into position.

At PM, the signal crackled over the radio: ‘We are moving.’ Then, the eerie sound of bagpipes echoed through the darkened streets.

Pipe Major Kenneth Robson played ‘Monymusk’, the regimental charge.

Mitchell himself led the way in his Land Rover, with Robson beside him.

The rebels, stunned by the audacity, offered little resistance.

By 10:00 PM, Mitchell had secured the commercial and banking districts and established his headquarters.

Only the armed police headquarters remained in rebel hands.

The next morning, Crater residents awoke to find British troops back in force.

Mitchell’s propaganda officer brought in the British and international press.

Journalists were greeted by six pipers playing ‘Scotland the Brave’ from the roof of Mitchell’s temporary HQ.

It was a media triumph.

The operation had cost no British lives and was led by a daring officer who seemed like a throwback to the days of empire-building.

Stephen Harper of the Daily Express dubbed him ‘Mad Mitch’, the man who tamed Crater.

Mitchell became an overnight celebrity, and other celebrities wanted to meet him.

Comedian Tony Hancock visited ‘Mad Mitch’ in Crater, followed by Harry Secombe, who opened a new latrine for D Company amid much fanfare.

The press loved Mitchell’s hardline approach to counter-insurgency.

Put simply, if the NLF or FLOSY showed their heads, they would be shot.

Those were Mitchell’s own words.

But others, especially in the military chain of command, were alarmed by his reckless tactics.

On one occasion, a senior officer was horrified to see a box of 36 Mills bombs with their pins pulled, though Mitchell had not requested permission to use them.

They were also unhappy with his media courting and enjoying the limelight, especially when other battalions were fighting the NLF elsewhere in Aden.

Soon, Mitchell’s wings were clipped.

It began at the armed police headquarters when his superior, General Philip Tower, commander of land forces in the Middle East, arrived to lead negotiations.

Unlike Mitchell’s confrontational approach, Tower offered to work alongside the police to govern Crater in the future.

This would be done without any questions asked about accountability for the events of June 20.

Mitchell could hardly believe his ears.

The men who had mutinied and then killed nearly twenty British soldiers, including three of his own battalion, would face no consequences.

Here, military operations collide with high politics.

And so it always is.

Tower was fully aware that the British government wanted out of Aden, not in 1968 as planned, but before the end of the year.

Political necessity demanded an exit with minimal casualties.

Mitchell was ordered to pull back slightly to allow for a political settlement.

Despite the initial success in taking Crater without any losses, the insurgency resumed just weeks later.

Between then and the end of August, 91 attacks were launched on Mitchell’s forces.

Under these hostile and nerve-wracking conditions, just as in many urban counter-terrorism operations, his men were accused of overstepping the mark on more than one occasion, which he vehemently denied.

While Crater was no longer a no-go area for the British, it was never truly safe either.

As summer waned, the British began pulling back towards Aden proper in preparation for the Federation’s forced independence.

In the outlying areas, the SAS took over military affairs, but they were hopelessly infiltrated by NLF members.

Those who did not support the rebels looked to the new world after the British left, aware of which way the wind was blowing.

Why fight for a lost cause on behalf of the Federation?

Across the former protectorates, sultan after sultan was overthrown by armed NLF supporters.

In Aden itself, FLOSY waged an increasingly bitter street war against their nationalist rivals to become the post-colonial government.

It was a battle in which the British role was reduced to that of spectators.

I mean, they could try to control the situation, but what was the point?

As General Tower later put it, quote: ‘How do you justify to a mother in Yorkshire, for example, that her son was killed in Arab-on-Arab fighting in a place we’re leaving in a few weeks or even a few days?’ End quote.

Slowly, the British withdrew towards the RAF base from which they would eventually evacuate.

During the six months before November 1967, 30,000 troops were evacuated from Aden.

It was a massive undertaking.

A naval task force of 24 ships, including 12 warships, headed for Aden.

On November 23, 1967, the aircraft carrier HMS Albion dropped anchor off the port.

She was joined by two other carriers, HMS Eagle and HMS Bulwark.

Britain was prepared to do anything to get its forces out.

Meanwhile, C-130 Hercules transports took off every 30 minutes from the RAF base, ferrying military personnel to Bahrain and then to the UK.

While Europeans venturing outside the shrinking British perimeter literally risked their lives, the evacuation itself was unhindered by either the NLF or FLOSY, mainly because they were turning their guns on each other.

As November progressed, it became clear that FLOSY had never left its union stronghold in Aden.

The NLF controlled the interior as well as the Federation army and police.

It was abundantly clear who would rule the country once the British finally left.

And that moment was fast approaching.

In the early afternoon of November 26, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders finally left Crater.

During the previous 144 days, they had faced 122 armed incidents.

They lost two men killed, in addition to the three killed on June 20, and 26 wounded.

In return, they killed 25 rebels.

They headed straight to the RAF base, boarded their flights home, and just over 24 hours later, arrived at RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire.

Colin Mitchell, ‘Mad Mitch’, was still a hero to many.

Yet a growing chorus of politicians, led by Labour MP Tam Dalyell, questioned his tactics.

His flair for publicity and apparent relish for unconventional methods had also alienated the military hierarchy.

They pointed out that while the Argylls hogged the headlines for retaking Crater, other units—the Lancashire Fusiliers, the Royal Welch Fusiliers, the Parachute Regiment, and 45 Commando—were fighting and dying elsewhere in Aden.He was told he would not be promoted to colonel, nor receive the Distinguished Service Order he coveted.

Within a year, he resigned his commission.

He later had a brief career as an MP before co-founding the Halo Trust, a charity clearing landmines from former conflict zones.

Colin Mitchell died in 1996, aged 71.On November 29, 1967, at PM, Royal Marines boarded Wessex helicopters from HMS Albion.

The last man aboard was their commander, Lieutenant Colonel Dai Morgan.

It was fitting that the Royal Marines, who had seized Aden in 1839, were the last British troops to leave after 128 years.

Half an hour later, HMS Albion raised anchor and departed with a long blast of her horn.Unlike almost every other former colony, there was no formal handover of power.

The NLF seized control and established a Marxist state aligned with the Soviet Union.

Ultimately, their regime fell and the country united with its northern neighbor to form a single Yemen—now engulfed in a bitter civil war and humanitarian crisis.In many ways, the final evacuation of NATO forces from Kabul bears striking parallels to the Aden Emergency.

Britain was stuck in a war in a country it did not want to stay in and could not leave fast enough.

But would staying have changed anything?

What strategic or economic goal did the port, let alone the country, offer Britain in a world where its influence was waning?

And how many more British soldiers’ lives would such a policy have cost?

As it was, the Aden Emergency between 1964 and 1967 cost 90 soldiers’ lives and left 510 wounded.

It is a colonial war few remember.

Yet with so many British regiments involved, many of us likely have friends or relatives who served there.

So at the very least, it is a story worth telling for them.Thank you for joining me today.

I hope you enjoyed this story about the Aden Emergency.

My next talk will take us back to the 19th century for a look at the famous Ashanti Ring of officers under General Sir Garnet Wolseley.

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Stay well, and see you very soon.But what do you think—was ‘Mad Mitch’ a hero or a reckless maverick?

And does Britain’s retreat from Aden hold lessons for today’s foreign policy?

Share your thoughts in the comments below.