IOR/R/15/2/699

The file contains correspondence, copies of official notices and regulations, and other papers, relating to air raid precautions and passive air defence measures taken in Bahrain throughout the Second World War. The principal correspondents in the file are: the Political Agent in Bahrain (Major Reginald George Evelin William Alban; Edward Birkbeck Wakefield); the Adviser to the Government of Bahrain (Charles Dalrymple Belgrave); the Port Director at Bahrain (Claud Cranbrook Lewis DeGrenier, who also occasionally writes in the capacity of Acting Adviser to the Government of Bahrain); the Senior Naval Officer in the Persian Gulf (SNOPG); the Defence Officer in the Persian Gulf (Major H T Hewitt); various representatives of the Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO).

The file includes:

• discussion between officials in May 1940 of arrangements for the dowsing of BAPCO flares, and the assessment that the risk of an air raid in Bahrain is sufficiently low to not require extensive blackout plans (ff 2-12);
• correspondence issued in the immediate wake of an Italian bombing raid at Bahrain and Dhahran on 19 October 1940, relating to the enforcement of blackout procedures at the BAPCO refinery, in Manama and Muharraq and at the Bahrain port. Papers include: official notices (issued by the Political Agency, Government of Bahrain, BAPCO) of blackout procedure (including dimming of car headlamps; extinguishing of port navigation lights; operation of refinery without gas flares); reports by the Assistant Political Agent, assessing the effectiveness of the blackout from the air; formulation of an emergency medical aid scheme for Bahrain (ff 13-79);
• correspondence, dated May 1941, concerning night-time flying boat services at Bahrain, and restrictions on lighting for these services (ff 106-111);
• correspondence dated between July and October 1941, concerning the relaxing of the existing blackout regulations, in light of the diminished threat to Bahrain from enemy air raids. Papers include: official notices of the relaxation of measures, issued by the Political Agency and Government of Bahrain (ff 117-139);
• correspondence, between March and November 1942, relating to the renewed threat of air raids at Bahrain, including: correspondence relating to instructions in dealing with incendiary bombs; extracts from newspapers (The Statesman, the Bahrain Newspaper) and a journal (Indian Information) relating to air raid risks and precautions at Bahrain, including lessons learnt in the wake of Japanese air raids on Rangoon [Yangon]; minutes of the meetings of the Bahrain ARP committee; air raid warning procedure; telephone and radio communications in the event of air raid warnings received at Bahrain; ARP practice; the visit to Bahrain of Home Office ARP expert Lucas Webster (ff 145-257);
• announcement in December 1942 of a relaxation of blackout restrictions at Bahrain (ff 259-265);
• correspondence in early 1943, relating to the lifting of regulations on the dimming of car headlamps in Bahrain (ff 276-277);
• official announcement in June 1943 of the lifting of all blackout regulations in Bahrain (ff 287-293).