Aden

Aden Protectorate Levies (1960)

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• published: 13 Apr 2014
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Arab troops of the Aden Protectorate on parade and exercise. M/Ss showing a man leading two camels along a dusty street in Aden; general view of a busy town with lots of people milling about dressed in traditional costume, camels resting and some very old stone buildings; M/S of four local men sitting on a wall - three are smoking from long thin pipes. C/U of sign 'Training Battalion, Aden Protectorate Levies' with translation in Arabic (?) below. Commentator tells us "one of the main reasons for cessation of barbarism here is the Aden Protectorate Levies, a small but compact force formed in 1928". M/Ss and C/Us as we see new recruits having their thumbs inked and pressed onto various documents - "few recruits can write so an inky thumb signs them in for an initial four years". M/S of the troops marching; C/U of an RSM of the Welsh Guards shouting commands; M/S as the troops come to a halt. M/S of a parade ground as we see Sultan Lahet Fadlh Bin Ali coming down some steps of a dais to inspect the troops; M/S of Brigadier Wormald, a middle-aged woman and an officer sitting in comfy chairs and watching; M/S of the Sultan inspecting the troops with the Major - some troops at the rear are on camels carrying flags. C/U of a British woman, small boy and soldier watching. Various M/Ss as the Sultan returns to the dais and the troops parade past in tanks and on foot before him; C/U of two soldiers, one British, one Arab, looking on; troops parade past on camels. C/U of bugler playing, panning right to show in M/S the troops marching over rocky, dusty ground and past camera, with barrack tents in the background. M/Ss as the troops break up and run across rocky ground, past camera, and run up a mountain carrying guns and various pieces of equipment. M/S of an officer in a jeep; he turns to speak to two Arab wireless operators in the rear; one is speaking into a mouthpiece. M/S of the troops scaling the mountain. M/S and C/U of Lt Col De Butts and Major Mahommed Saeed Yafai (senior Arab officer) sitting on the bonnet of a jeep and watching the exercise. M/S of the troops running across the countryside - two of them carry a Bren Gun - and they all fall down into gun firing position; C/U as we see the two soldiers firing the Bren Gun; M/S as two others fall down into position and we see one of them firing a rifle. M/S of a group of soldiers, two are looking through binoculars and there are two machine guns being fired; M/S of a mortar section in action. M/S of an Arab solider sitting on guard with a Bren Gun on top of a rocky hill; panning left to show the arid countryside, mountains in the distance and a town (could be Aden) in the valley below. Note: print used for transfer; mute neg is incomplete. Documentation on file: an article about the Aden Protectorate Levies and a letter from the Public Relations Section of the BFAP (British Forces Aden Protectorate?) detailing the shots in this story. FILM ID:103.25