39-793: The Aden Protectorate Levies (APL) was a military force recruited from indigenous tribal populations, for the local defence of the Aden Protectorate under British rule . The Levies were drawn from all parts of the Protectorate and were armed, trained and officered by the Indian Army, Royal Air Force and British Army at various stages in the history of the force. They used the Lahej emblem of crossed jambiyah (traditional curved double-edged dagger) as their badge. The APL were formed on 1 April 1928, primarily to protect Royal Air Force stations following
78-610: A Cabinet job. He was not, however, solely responsible for the Army; the Commander-in-Chief had a virtually equal degree of responsibility. This was reduced in theory by the reforms introduced by Edward Cardwell in 1870, which subordinated the Commander-in-Chief to the Secretary for War. In practice, however, a large influence was retained by the conservative Commander-in-Chief Field Marshal Prince George, 2nd Duke of Cambridge , who held
117-769: A fifth rifle battalion were raised in 1964, after the Levies had become the Federal Regular Army. The APL was a brigade-equivalent force with its own air supply and air liaison officers and a Senior Arab Officer. Additional units included the APL Armoured Car Squadron raised in 1962 at Beihan with fourteen Daimler Armoured Cars , the APL Signal Squadron, the APL Band and the APL Camel Troop. The APL Camel Troop
156-641: A separate Minister of Defence for the first time in 1947. In 1964, the present form of the Ministry of Defence was established, unifying the War Office, Admiralty, and Air Ministry. As early as 1718 letters from the Secretary at War were addressed from "The War Office". His department had several headquarters in London until it settled at Horse Guards in Whitehall during 1722. It remained there until 1858. Then, following
195-458: Is also given to the former home of the department, located at the junction of Horse Guards Avenue and Whitehall in central London. The landmark building was sold on 1 March 2016 by HM Government for more than £ 350 million, on a 250 year lease for conversion into a luxury hotel and residential apartments. Prior to 1855, 'War Office' signified the office of the Secretary at War . In
234-849: The Audhali tribe from whom many of the Levies were recruited. A white ceremonial uniform with green turban and waist-sash was worn by both the Camel Troop and the Guard of Honour. Aden Protectorate Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.132 via cp1112 cp1112, Varnish XID 383674771 Upstream caches: cp1112 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Fri, 29 Nov 2024 05:32:03 GMT War Office The War Office has referred to several British government organisations in history, all relating to
273-674: The Crimean War . This powerful independent body, dating from the 15th century, had been directed by the Master-General of the Ordnance , usually a very senior military officer who (unlike the Secretary at War) was often a member of the Cabinet. The disastrous campaigns of the Crimean War resulted in the consolidation of all administrative duties in 1855 as subordinate to the Secretary of State for War,
312-714: The East India Company and then the India Office ) was divided by the War and Colonial Office into the following administrative departments: NORTH AMERICA WEST INDIES MEDITERRANEAN AND AFRICA EASTERN COLONIES The War Office, after 1854 and until the 1867 confederation of the Dominion of Canada , was to split the military administration of the British Empire much as the War and Colonial Office had: In February 1855,
351-679: The Second World War the APL was expanded from 600 to 1,600 men. The Levies operated in Aden and the Western Aden Protectorate but also provided garrisons at Socotra Island and Sharjah . By 1939 an APL anti-aircraft wing had been created, which shot down an Italian plane in the course of the war. In 1942 a six-year process of replacing British Army personnel serving with the APL with RAF Regiment officers and airmen commenced. This policy led to
390-530: The Secretary at War , whose role had originated during the reign of King Charles II as the secretary to the Commander-in-Chief of the Army . In the latter part of the 17th century, the office of Commander-in-Chief was vacant for several periods, which left the Secretary at War answering directly to the Sovereign; and thereafter, even when the office of Commander-in-Chief was restored on a more permanent basis,
429-564: The Secretary of State for War after the creation of that more senior post in 1794 (though the latter was also responsible for Britain's colonies from 1801, and renamed Secretary of State for War and the Colonies , an arrangement which only ceased with the establishment of the Colonial Office in 1854). From 1824, the British Empire (excepting India , which was administered separately by
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#1732858323044468-944: The controller of army accounts, the Army Medical Board , the Commissariat Department, the Board of General Officers, the Judge Advocate General of the Armed Forces , the Commissary General of Muster , the Paymaster General of the forces , and (particularly with regard to the Militia ) the Home Office . The term War Department was initially used for the separate office of the Secretary of State for War; in 1855,
507-512: The 17th and 18th centuries, a number of independent offices and individuals were responsible for various aspects of Army administration. The most important were the Commander-in-Chief of the Forces , the Secretary at War , and the twin Secretaries of State ; most of whose military responsibilities were passed to a new Secretary of State for War in 1794. Others who performed specialist functions were
546-553: The 1940s on, included crossed jambiyas (double-edged Adeni daggers) under a crescent and star, with the motto "Peace be with you" in Arabic. Throughout its history the APL wore the khaki drill uniform of the British Indian Army , complete with a Punjabi style pagri (turban). When on service in the "up-country" hinterland of the Protectorate, a simple khaki head-roll or mashedda was adopted by all ranks, modeled on that of
585-521: The 1st Yemen Infantry, had been raised in the Aden Protectorate during 1917-18 for service in World War I but had been disbanded in 1925. Colonel M.C. Lake of the British Indian Army was the first Commanding Officer of the APL. Lt. Col. J.C. (Robby) Robinson took over command in 1929 and remained as C.O. till 1939. In 1928 the APL comprised two British officers and six platoons of Arabs recruited from
624-600: The Army. After Blathwayt's retirement in 1704, Secretary at War became a political office. In political terms, it was a fairly minor government job (despite retaining a continued right of access to the monarch) which dealt with the minutiae of administration, rather than grand strategy. The Secretary, who was usually a member of the House of Commons, routinely presented the House with the Army Estimates, and occasionally spoke on other military matters as required. In symbolic terms, he
663-474: The Commanding Officer for Arab Administration. They held Governor's Commissions as 2nd lieutenant ( MulazimIth Thani ); lieutenant ( Mulazim Al Awal ); captain ( Rais ); and major ( Wakil Qaid Ith Thani). During the period of RAF control prior to 1957, a different system of Arab rank designations had been in place at all levels. The senior Arab rank was that of lieutenant colonel ( Qaid Al Awal ). During
702-654: The First World War, a fact illustrated by the drastic reductions of its staff numbers during the inter-war period. Its responsibilities and funding were also reduced. In 1936, the government of Stanley Baldwin appointed a Minister for Co-ordination of Defence, who was not part of the War Office. When Winston Churchill became Prime Minister in 1940, he bypassed the War Office altogether, and appointed himself Minister of Defence (though there was, curiously, no ministry of defence until 1947). Clement Attlee continued this arrangement when he came to power in 1945, but appointed
741-483: The Jebel Jihaf region. Border clashes with North Yemeni tribal groups continued through the late 1950s. By 1961 the APL consisted of four rifle battalions, each of which had a weapons company equipped with 82mm Mortars and Medium Machine Guns and a Signal Platoon, and a Mechanical Transport Company. A Medium Artillery Battery equipped with eight Ordnance QF 25-pounder Field Guns stationed at Dhale and Mukeiras , and
780-568: The Levies' base and training organisation, was based in Aden Colony . The Depot included married quarters, a neonatal clinic, a school for children, the APL Band, and the APL Camel Troop. Air supply and other repair and supply units also were based there. The APL Hospital (ALH), located near Khormaksar , was a 160-bed RAF general hospital that provided free medical care to the APL's 1,500 men active members and their families, and also to former members, about 10,000 people in all. The ALH also provided
819-488: The Marxist National Liberation Front guerilla organisation that had spearheaded the anti-British insurgency movement. British-trained personnel were considered politically unreliable and were purged from the reorganised armed forces of the newly established People's Republic of Yemen . Officers and other ranks of the Levies were awarded the following: The badge of the APL, worn in various designs from
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#1732858323044858-490: The Secretary at War retained his independence. The department of the Secretary at War was referred to as the 'Warr Office' (sic) from as early as 1694; its foundation has traditionally been ascribed to William Blathwayt , who had accompanied King William III during the Nine Years' War and who, from his appointment as Secretary in 1684, had greatly expanded the remit of his office to cover general day-to-day administration of
897-668: The War Office was hampered by persistent disputes between the civilian and military parts of the organisation. The government of H.H. Asquith attempted to resolve this during the First World War by appointing Lord Kitchener as Secretary for War. During his tenure, the Imperial General Staff was virtually dismantled. Its role was replaced effectively by the Committee of Imperial Defence , which debated broader military issues. The War Office decreased greatly in importance after
936-739: The army. It was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). It was at that time, equivalent to the Admiralty , responsible for the Royal Navy (RN), and (much later) the Air Ministry , which oversaw the Royal Air Force (RAF). The name 'War Office'
975-430: The building required five years to complete, at a cost of more than 1.2 million pounds. The building is somewhat oddly shaped, forming a trapezoid in order to maximise the use of the irregularly shaped plot of land on which it was built: its four distinctive domes were designed as a decorative means of disguising the shape. It has around 1,100 rooms on seven floors. After 1964 the building continued to be used, under
1014-673: The change of status of Aden to an Air Command in April 1927. Their secondary role was to be that of assisting the civil police, especially in the Western Aden Protectorate where there had been disturbances since the previous year. The APL also organized a camel troop with 48 camels. Prior to 1928 the British garrison in Aden had comprised one British and one Indian infantry battalion, plus Royal Artillery units and detachments of sappers and miners. A locally recruited infantry unit, known as
1053-762: The dissolution of the Board of Ordnance, the War Office moved into the Board's former offices in Cumberland House , Pall Mall . Over the ensuing years it expanded into adjacent properties on Pall Mall before it was relocated to purpose-built accommodation, in what is now known as the Old War Office Building, in 1906. Between 1906 and its abolition in 1964 the War Office was based in a large neo-Baroque building designed by William Young , completed during 1906, and located on Horse Guards Avenue at its junction with Whitehall in Central London. The construction of
1092-541: The inhabitants. The Levies reverted to War Office control in 1957 with British Army officers and NCOs replacing RAF secondees. The AFL headquarters was at Seedaseer Lines in Khormaksar. "Up country" forward bases and garrisons were maintained at Dhala , Mukalla , Seiyun , Beihan , Zinjibar , Ataq . Lawdar and Mukeiras . In 1958 the APL, supported by British troops and the RAF, repulsed border intrusions by Yemeni forces in
1131-499: The medicines to the APL. The hospital CO was an RAF doctor; two RAF warrant officers and an administration and supplies staff assisted him. Three RAF doctors and a surgeon, assisted by local doctors, provided medical coverage. The other RAF personnel were two male nurses, two laboratory technicians and a pharmacist. Local people made up the rest of the staff and all of them would have been trained on site. Arab officers were called Bimbashis , with one in each battalion being responsible to
1170-489: The name The Old War Office, by the Ministry of Defence . On 1 June 2007 the building, other than the steps that give access to it, was designated as a protected site for the purposes of Section 128 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 . The effect was to make it a specific criminal offence for a person to trespass on the building. In August 2013 it was announced that the building would be sold on
1209-465: The new Secretary of State for War was additionally commissioned as Secretary at War, thus giving the Secretary of State oversight of the War Office in addition to his own department. The same procedure was followed for each of his successors, until the office of Secretary at War was abolished altogether in 1863. In 1855, the Board of Ordnance was abolished as a result of its perceived poor performance during
Aden Protectorate Levies - Misplaced Pages Continue
1248-559: The offices of Secretary at War and Secretary of State for War were amalgamated, and thereafter the terms War Office and War Department were used somewhat interchangeably. The War Office developed from the Council of War , an ad hoc grouping of the King and his senior military commanders which managed the Kingdom of England 's wars and campaigns. The management of the War Office was directed initially by
1287-605: The open market, with a goal of realising offers above 100 million pounds. On 13 December 2014 the Ministry of Defence confirmed that the building would be sold to the Hinduja Group for an undisclosed amount. The building was sold on 1 March 2016 for more than 350 million pounds, on a 250-year lease, to the Hinduja Group and OHL Developments for conversion to a luxury hotel and residential apartments. Hinduja and Raffles plan to open
1326-662: The post between 1856 and 1895. His resistance to reform caused military efficiency to lag well behind that of Britain's rivals, a problem that became obvious during the Second Boer War . The situation was only remedied in 1904, when the job of Commander-in-Chief was abolished, and replaced with that of the Chief of the General Staff , which was replaced by the job of Chief of the Imperial General Staff in 1908. An Army Council
1365-504: The reorganisation of the Levies into a tactical force of two wings, each about the equivalent of a battalion, plus an administrative wing. A third infantry wing was added after 1948. During the December 1947 anti-Jewish riots in Aden City , some Arab personnel of the Levies proved ineffective in controlling inter-communal violence and fired indiscriminately into Jewish houses, killing several of
1404-400: The various tribes that lived in the foothills or the higher mountainous regions of the protectorate. Each platoon comprised one officer and 34 non-commissioned officers and men, as well as 48 camels and 8 mules to carry them, their supplies, and equipment. During the early years of the APL's existence a number of junior commissioned officers and senior NCOs were Indian. The APL Depot Battalion,
1443-494: Was a ceremonial unit. On 30 November 1961, following the creation of the South Arabian Federation, the APL changed its name to the Federal Regular Army. After 1967, most of the troops and many native officers of the Levies joined the newly formed South Yemeni Army, or People's Democratic Republic of Yemen Armed Forces. The new Army consisted of a merging of the existing units of the APL with the 7,000 troops and units of
1482-481: Was created with a format similar to that of the Board of Admiralty , directed by the Secretary of State for War, and an Imperial General Staff was established to coordinate Army administration. The creation of the Army Council was recommended by the War Office (Reconstitution) Committee, and formally appointed by Letters Patent dated 8 February 1904, and by Royal Warrant dated 12 February 1904. The management of
1521-482: Was seen as signifying parliamentary control over the Army. Issues of strategic policy during wartime were managed by the Northern and Southern Departments (the predecessors of today's Foreign Office and Home Office ). From 1704 to 1855, the job of Secretary remained occupied by a minister of the second rank (although he was occasionally part of the Cabinet after 1794). Many of his responsibilities were transferred to
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