The Mad Commander of the Last Battle of the British Empire

He was the youngest soldier in the Home Guard during WW2. He then fought in Korea, Palestine & Cyprus. He became the commanding officer during the Last Battle of the British Empire, in Aden in 1967, disobeying orders and recapturing the city. This is the story of Mad Mitch.

In 1940, during the Second World War, Colin Mitchell joined the Home Guard aged just 15, becoming the youngest Home Guard soldier. Three years later he joined the British Army, seeing action in Italy during the final battles of the War, and being wounded in Ferrera.

His injury seemed to spur him on to becoming a career soldier, seeing action in conflict around the world for the following two decades, including the Korean War, the Cyprus Emergency, the Palestine Emergency, as well as fighting in Borneo and Zanzibar.

Already notorious, he cemented his place in history by becoming in 1967 the Commanding Officer 1st Battalion, The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, persuading the government to send the regiment to British colony of Aden in South Arabia in the last days of Empire.

In Aden during this time, the British colonial officials and soldiers were subjected to years of insurgencies and uprisings from Arab nationalists competing for future power once Britain inevitably withdrew from Aden, killing numerous people, including countless civilians.

In Aden itself was The Crater, an old quarter of the city located in the site of an extinct volcano, had an area of around one square mile around 80,000 inhabitants, which would make it the sixth most densely populated city in the world today.

Before his regiment was due to take over responsibility for Crater, insurgents and mutineers from the Aden Police ambushed several patrols of British troops, killing dozens of soldiers, including three members of Mitchell’s regiment in an unprecedented coordinated attack.

For days there was a standoff around Crater. The British government were worried that military force would provoke an uprising and make the withdrawal of troops difficult. Up until that point, the policy had always been to use the minimum necessary force.

But Mad Mitch had had enough. Just before sunset, Mitchell instructed fifteen of his soldiers to begin playing Scotland The Brave on the bagpipes, while the Argylls and other units under his command entered Crater and reoccupied the district.

Mitchell then employed strong-arm tactics to maintain peace in Crater before the British withdrawal.

He stated:

“We’ll be very fair, but if anyone starts any trouble they’ll just get their head blown off. And they’ll get the message in time”.