1961

 

 

In March, 1959, the 2^nd Battalion was posted to Kenya for a three year tour.  The Mau Mau campaign had ended three years previously so the main focus was on training.  However, the 24^th Infantry Brigade, of which the 2^nd Bn was part, had an operational role in Bahrain, and in February 1961, the Battalion took over this commitment.

 

A half-battalion size detachment was maintained in Bahrain to deter Iraqi aggression towards Kuwait and Nos 1 and 3 Companies were sent under the command of the Battalion Second-in-Command, and supported by elements of Headquarter Company.  All up, it was 275 strong.

 

In June 1961, Iraq looked like it was preparing to invade Kuwait.  The only troops immediately available was the Bahrain Detachment, 42 Commando and a squadron of the 3^rd Dragoon Guards, and they were deployed to Kuwait on 1^st July to secure the airfield.  Other troops were brought in from Aden and Kenya and by the 8^th July, 24 Infantry Brigade was complete in Kuwait and the Detachment returned to Bahrain.

 

It is interesting to note that one man, Guardsman David Yorke, returned to Kuwait 30 years later when, as Major David Yorke, he was the Quartermaster of the 1^st Battalion which took part in the Gulf War in 1991.

 

In September, 1961, the Bahrain Detachment was deployed to Zanzibar where impending elections had led to rioting and sixty-eight deaths.  Men of the King’s African Rifles were deployed to restore order, and it was these troops that the Bahrain Detachment relieved.  Internal Security duties were carried out and the Coldstream Detachment undertook numerous cordon-and-search operations, roadblocks and many hours of routine patrolling.  They even took part in two amphibious operations.  At the end of October, an exercise was held to practice reinforcing the island and the remainder of the 2^nd Bn was flown in for a few days for this purpose.

 

The detachment handed over to the 1^st Bn Gordon Highlanders in February 1962 and returned to Kenya where they rejoined the Battalion prior to the move back to the UK in March.

               

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