Units of UK armed forces in Arabia and Persian Gulf

This file contains correspondence relating to:

• Response by the Minister of Defence Harold Watkinson to Prime Minister Harold Macmillan on the number of British troops stationed in the Aden Protectorate. It includes a personal minute by the Prime Minister and the Defence Minister's response (1)
• Speech by Mohammad Amin Abdulla on the deployment of British forces to Muscat, Oman and Aden and Arab resistance, broadcast by Voice of the Arabs; and a speech by Faisal Bin Ali on the British Army's intelligence network in Muscat (3)
• Loose minutes and enclosed map of the 'Areas of Responsibility of Arabian Peninsula Command and East Africa Command and Location of Major Units' as of 18 February (4)
• Speech by Lord Lansdowne to the Commonwealth Conservative Council on Southeast Asia and China. It includes the Middle East Sub-Group's paper on the 'Balance of Forces in the Arabian Peninsula'; the Arabian Department's comments on the paper (5)
• Deployment of the Amphibious Warfare Squadron (AWS) to HMS Jufair in Bahrain, and in particular a Landing Ship Tank (LST) to transport armour as part of Rigmarole; the reduction of LSTs at Headquarters British Forces Arabian Peninsula (HQ BFAP) (11-12)
• Reading material on the Arabian Peninsula for Air Marshal S C Elworthy (14)
• Planned meeting of Commander in Chief of HQ BFAP with General Officer Commanding East Africa (GCO East Africa) in Nairobi to discuss command arrangements; and Areas of Responsibility of Arabian Peninsula Command and East Africa Command and Location of Major Units' (15-16)