Aden Protectorate Levies (1960)

Arab troops of the Aden Protectorate on parade and exercise. M/Ss showing a man leading two camels along a dusty street in Aden; general view of a busy town with lots of people milling about dressed in traditional costume, camels resting and some very old stone buildings; M/S of four local men sitting on a wall - three are smoking from long thin pipes. C/U of sign ’Training Battalion, Aden Protectorate Levies’ with translation in Arabic (?) below. Commentator tells us “one of the main reasons for cessation of barbarism here is the Aden Protectorate Levies, a small but compact force formed in 1928“. M/Ss and C/Us as we see new recruits having their thumbs inked and pressed onto various documents - “few recruits can write so an inky thumb signs them in for an initial four years“. M/S of the troops marching; C/U of an RSM of the Welsh Guards shouting commands; M/S as the troops come to a halt. M/S of a parade ground as we see Sultan Lahet Fadlh Bin Ali coming down some steps of a dais to inspect the