IOR/R/15/2/735

The file comprises three items of correspondence relating to plans for reconnaissance flights over parts of the coast in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, with a view to their occupation by British forces if necessary:

• a memorandum from Tenth Army headquarters, dated 25 June 1942 and marked most secret, detailing locations for reconnaissance (Jask, Ras el Hadd [Ra’s al Ḥadd], Muscat, Khor Jamara [Khawr al Jarāmah], Kalba, Sharjah, Dibai [Dubai], Bushire, Asal, Lingeh [Bandar-e Lengeh], Bandar Abbas [Bandar-e ʻAbbās], Kuwait, Massira [Maṣīrah]), the need for coast watching organisations in each area, and proposals for the organisation of local tribes to assist in action against enemy attack (f 2);
• an express letter from the British Consul at Bushire, dated 4 August 1942, stating that the proposed reconnaissance is unlikely to take place for some considerable time (f 3);
• a telegraph from the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf to the Political Agents in the Persian Gulf, dated 5 November 1942, informing them of proposals for reconnaissance for defence purposes, calling at: Bahrain, Sharjah, Lingah, Kalba, Muscat, Khor Jamara, Ras al Hadd, Masirah, Jask, Sharjah, and returning via Sharjah and Bahrain (f 4).

The file notes record the Political Agent’s (Edward Birkbeck Wakefield) anxiety over the Tenth Army’s proposals to organise the Trucial Coast tribes to assist in the event of enemy attacks, suggesting that organised tribes would be ‘more likely to attack our RAF stations than a disembarking enemy’. (f 5)