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Duration: 25 minutes

First transmitted in 1964, this informational programme follows the British Army in Aden (Yemen) during the state of emergency in 1964. Aden is one of the last outposts of the British Empire and a strategic part of the Arabian Gulf guarding access to the trade routes that flow through the Suez Canal. The British colony has become a hotbed of insurgency, and the film follows British troops as they try to keep order in an increasingly violent mountainous region from where the insurgents regularly attack the Port area.

Last on

Wed 7 Oct 1964 19:30 BBC One only on Cambridgeshire, East, Oxfordshire

  • BBC Four Army Collection

    BBC Four Army Collection

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  • More about this programme

    This is a particularly interesting piece of historical archive, in that it was never shown across the BBC network, but was only broadcast from the BBC's Oxford, Peterborough and Manningtree transmitters. It vividly illustrates the problems faced by the Army in combating insurgency in Aden, one of the last outposts of Imperial control. We see the problems faced in fighting an unknown enemy in urban conditions, and controlling infiltration in mountainous desert conditions - there are many parallels that can be drawn with the Afghan conflict.

  • Reflecting standards of the time

    This programme was created in accordance with the broadcast standards of its day, and therefore should be viewed in historical context, with the understanding that it reflects standards of the time, which may not meet BBC editorial standards today.

Credits

Narrator
Roy Ronnie
Producer
Derek Smith

Broadcasts

  • BBC OneWed 7 Oct 1964 19:30 BBC One only on Cambridgeshire, East, Oxfordshire

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