Major General Sir George Younghusband
He was born in 1859 and joined the Army in 1878. He soon transferred to the Guides, of all Indian regiments arguably the one with the best fighting reputation on the North West Frontier. As well as serving there he also saw action in Afghanistan, the Sudan, Burma, the Boer war and the Philippines – the last named being in the Spanish American war of 1898.
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He was promoted Lieutenant Colonel in 1900 and made CB in the same year. He was made KCIE in 1913. After the debacle at Lahej he was in Egypt commanding a brigade of the Frontier Force and was India’s first choice to relieve Major-General David Shaw as Resident in Aden.
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For his work in Aden he was appointed KCMG. On retiring from the Army in 1917 he became Keeper of the Jewel House in the Tower of London. He died in 1944.
When Britain declared war on Turkey on 5th November 1914 two fronts were opened between Turkish and British forces – Sinai and Yemen. British-controlled Aden had a border with Yemen that had been successfully demarcated in 1904, (See but the declaration of war raised concerns about the security of the strategic Aden port because a Turkish Army Corps was stationed in Yemen, and the Turks might choose to attack Aden to disrupt Britain’s vital sea route through the Red Sea and Suez Canal. Aden was garrisoned by a weak British brigade, commanded from India, that Britain was reluctant to strengthen because of the urgent need for troops in France and Egypt. Britain decided not to display aggression towards Yemen but to treat Aden Harbour as a ‘defended port.’ Whilst this strategy conserved British military manpower it also lowered British prestige in the hinterland, and handed the Turks an opportunity to cajole and coerce Arab tribes in the interior to join the Turkish cause that had been proclaimed as a jihad or holy war.
However the presence of the 29th Indian Infantry Brigade, commanded by Brigadier-General H.V. Cox, CB, CSI, aboard a naval convoy on its way to Egypt, allowed offensive action to be taken by the British on 10th November 1914, and the Turkish post at Sheikh Saad was attacked. The landing party, well supported by the Royal Navy, drove off the Turkish defenders, captured six guns and other important equipment and destroyed the enemy entrenchments, wells and magazines before re-embarking for Egypt and then Gallipoli, minus the 23rd Sikh Pioneers who now strengthened the Aden garrison.
In mid-1915 the Turks stirred up trouble amongst tribes in the Aden hinterland, threatening the friendly Sultan of Lahej. A British column was despatched to Lahej but numerous difficulties, not the least being the deadly summer heat and the breakdown of the water and ammunition transport arrangements due to the desertion of local drivers, led to a disorganised British retreat to the Khor Maksar lines outside Aden. Sheikh Othman was abandoned to the Turks who, fortunately for the British, chose to halt there.
In early 1915 a few reinforcements had trickled into Aden but now the subject was addressed with more vigour and the 28th (Frontier Force) Brigade arrived from Egypt, and Major-General Sir George Younghusband, KCIE, CB, was sent to take command in Aden. He quickly and correctly appreciated that, if the Turks were expelled from Sheikh Othman, then Aden port could be defended by a small British force. On 21st July a Frontier Force Brigade column attacked and seized Sheikh Othman after a sharp fight. One month later another small column pushed the Turks out of Fiyush, from where the enemy withdrew to Lahej; and on 28th August the Frontier Force Brigade went out to reconnoitre Waht where it punished a superior Turkish force who tried to follow up the British retirement too closely.
As the climate in September was still too hot for long operations, and because the security situation appeared to be under control, Younghusband departed, handing over command in Aden to Brigadier-General C.H.U. Price, CB, DSO. The Frontier Force Brigade also returned to Egypt minus the 62nd Punjabis who stayed on in Aden. In October the Malay States Guides arrived to join the Aden garrison.
As Younghusband had made Aden port safe, Price was left to practise a policy of ‘active defence’ that involved the rapid mobilisation of garrison units to form a Moveable Column that could deploy for very limited periods to deter further Turkish advances. Against light opposition, such as raiders, a smaller ‘Flying Column’ could be put into the field more rapidly. The British infantry and cavalry could match the enemy forces in short actions, but the Turks possessed more artillery and so the British had to be careful in choosing their battlefields and in the tactics that they used. However the factor that determined the length of an operation was water, as the Turks had the advantage of sitting on the desert wells of their choosing. The British could only stay in the field as long as their camel convoys could bring forward sufficient water for men, horses, mules and camels.