| Abstract: | On 19 July 1972, the pivotal battle of the Dhofar rebellion occurred when over 250 communist guerillas, called adoos,1 ?1. ‘Enemy’ in Arabic. attacked the coastal garrison town of Mirbat2 ?2. Sometimes spelled Marbat. where nine men of the British 22nd Special Air Service Regiment were stationed. Their decisive defense of Mirbat led to decorations three years after the battle, the beginning of the end of the rebellion, and calls for the awarding of Britain's highest honor, the Victoria Cross. The Battle of Mirbat, let alone the Dhofar rebellion are little known outside the UK due3 ?3. Other than papers written for military staff colleges, there is no American written account of the battle. to the covert nature of the SAS deployment, the then Labour government's obsession with secrecy, and the remoteness of the area of operations. Nonetheless, of all the proxy wars of the Cold War this one had the most significance, because had the communist adoos won, Oman and its Musandam Peninsula, which sticks out like a dagger into the Straits of Hormuz and abuts the United Arab Emirates, would have fallen into the communist orbit; threatening the West's oil supply. This is the story of the pivotal battle that was won by Britain and Oman against a communist insurgency. |
