Redeployment of forces and force levels

This file contains correspondence relating to:

• Parliamentary question from Colin Jackson MP to the Secretary of Defence Denis Healey on the purpose of the planned increase in British forces stationed in the Gulf, March 1967
• Proposals of the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf R S Crawford for fixing establishment ceilings as a basis for control over the number of British servicemen deployed to the Gulf; a chart detailing the establishment figures for the Gulf approved by Ministry of Defence; a letter from Crawford to M S Weir describing the figures as surprising and disappointing
• Letter from Director of Army Staff Duties Major General C H Blacker to General Officer Commanding Middle East Land Forces on 'Reorganisation of Land Forces Persian Gulf'; a proposal from W F Mumford to R A Sykes for testing the planned establishments against nine month's practical experience, leading up to the first monitoring exercise in July 1968; the rejection by Sykes of Mumford's proposal for postponement of the issue until July 1968; a letter from A Campbell of the Ministry of Defence to Sykes dismissing any further paper examination contradicting the result of military judgement and experience as fruitless, and offering to bring forward the onsite review in order to make a precise assessment, and a message from A Brooke Turner to Weir recommending acquiescence to the proposal