Final Operations

Final Operations The Battle of Mirbat proved to be the turning point of the war. The Adoo never again took on the Sultan's forces in any strength from that point onwards. In fact the Adoo started to fight among themselves but despite the success of the defense of Mirbat the war ground on for anther year. During that time a further 11 British service men were killed. Two were killed when the Adoo shot down a helicopter they were flying in. Captain Simon Garthwaite was also killed on the 12th of April while trying to rescue a member of his Firqat patrol.

Brigadier John Akehurst arrived in Oman to take command of the 10,000 strong Dhofar Brigade in August 1974. The Dhofar Brigade consisted of twenty four Saladin armoured cars, the Imperial Iranian Task force(1,500 strong), five battalions of Omani troops with 12 British contract officers in each battalion, forty pieces of artillery including 25-pounders and 105 howitzers, three Royal Engineer Squadrons, one SAS Squadron and various support units with British advisers.

By the end of the monsoon season 1975, Akehurst put the final touches on his plan to clean up the last pockets of Adoo resistance. Akehurst's plan called for a battalion of the Muscat Regiment, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Ian Christie, to mount a diversionary attack from the mountain base at Sarfait, five miles from the border. The Sarfait mountain top position had been captured in April 1972 in a daring helicopter borne operation. It had been hoped by securing Sarfait that the Sultan's forces could stop the movement of weapons across the border but the Adoo easily continued to move arms and ammunition through the dead ground around Sarfait unobserved.

While Christie's force broke out of Sarfait and moved towards the sea, Akehurst's main force would attack the Adoo where they least expected it. In October the plan went into action. Christie's men broke out of Sarfait by moving down a 1,000 foot cliff using steps cut into the rock face and through an Adoo mine field totally unobserved. This was more than Akehurst had hopped for. He threw his carefully laid plans out the window and flew in to meet Christie at his new position and asked him if he thought he could go all the way to the coast. Christie replied that he could if he was given two more companies. Akehurst sent two companies from his main force to reinforce Christie. With relative ease, Christie got to the sea and sealed off the Adoo's life line.

This proved to be the end of the Adoo. Without supplies for their guns, the fight was over. The final Adoo occupied village, Dalkut, was captured on the 1st of December 1975. Two days later Akehurst reported to the Sultan telling him that the Dhofar was now secure. The war was over. A peace agreement was signed in March 1975. The total British casualties during the 1971-75 war were 24 killed and 55 wounded.

Back to Oman & Dhofar Index