"War in the Green Mountains of Oman - Jebel Akhdar 1958-59"
An Online Presentation by Brigadier Hugh Willing CBE
6.30pm Thursday  21st January, 2021
Relations between the Sultan of Muscat and Imam Ghalib Bin Ali of Nizwa, leader of the interior Omani Arabs, was exacerbated in 1953 by Saudi Arabian claims on the oil field at Buraimi Oasis and their provision of military equipment to the Omani rebels.  Matters came to a head in 1958 when the SAS were brought in to dislodge the Omani rebels from their mountain stronghold on the Jebel Akhdar - The Green Mountain. 
The SAS assault on the 9,000ft ridge remains the stuff of legends, and has since been described as one of the most spectacular raids by the British Army in the post-World War Two era.  In fact the Jebel Akhdar campaign would prove to be a turning point in the history of the SAS, which saved them from disbandment so that they could carry on unconventional war-fighting...which they do to this day.


Hugh Willing was a professional soldier for 36 years before retiring to his wife's family home in East Sussex in 2007.  He served with The Royal Green jackets and 2nd KEO Gurkha Rifles in many part of the world and was an Instructor at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and at the Army Staff College Camberley.  During his final posting in Oman as the Defence Attaché at the British Embassy for four years , he was closely involved in supporting British operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and in the Horn of Africa.  He was born in Kenya and speaks Swahili, Arabic and Gurkhali, and has travelled widely in Europe, the Mediterranean, Africa, Arabia and the Far East both in a military and private capacity.  He now travels the world on small cruise ships as a lecturer in British Military and Colonial History.
If you wish to join this online presentation please email the curator for the link and instructions - curator@rgjmuseum.co.uk 
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"Foe to Friend: The British Army in Germany since 1945"
An Online Presentation by Peter Johnson
6.30pm Thursday 19 November 2020
Conquerors.  Occupiers.  Allies.  Friends.  The British Army's relationship with Germany since 1945 has certainly been complex.  From the end of the Second World War to 2019, the Army was based there in large numbers.  from occupying a defeated and destroyed country to -
standing on the front line in the Cold War, to using it as a base to deploy across the world, Britain's reasons for being in Germany changed.  But for 75 years more than a million British service personnel - and their families- called in home.
This talk will explore how the Army evolved in those 75 years, and how the relationship between the Army and Germany has changed.  Germany has been at the heart of the British Army's story since 1945.  It is a story of moving from foe to friend.

Dr Peter Johnston is Head of Collections Research and Academic Access at the National Army Museum.  As the Museum's senior military historian, Peter is responsible for managing and curating exhibitions, developing research strategies, working with partners in academia and the Army, and supporting the museum's public programme and developing programme content.  He has acted as an expert and accompanying academic on battlefield tours from Flanders to the Falklands.
Peter's specialisms range across British military history from 1815 to the present day, but he has a particular interest in, and has published on, the post-1945 British Army, the lives of U.K. veterans and military culture, and propaganda in times of conflict.  Most recently, Peter has published an authorised history of the British military's time in Germany since 1945 entitled, British Forces in Germany: The Lived Experience, and curated the National Army Museum's brand new special exhibition, Foe to Friend: The British Army in Germany since 1945.
If you wish to join this online presentation please email: curator@rgjmuseum.co.uk for joining instructions.

Speaker: Rob Griffiths
Venue: The Kincaid Gallery, The Royal Green Jackets (Rifles) Museum
Date: Thursday 21 November 2019
Time: 6:15pm
Tickets: £20 (or £17.50 for friends of the RGJ Museum) per head including drink and canapes
Booking: https://shop.rgjmuseum.co.uk/evening-talk--21-nov-2019-1665-p.asp or 01962 828549

The 5/60th were the first rifle battalion in the British Army and they fought throughout the Peninsular War, against the forces of Napoleon; they have long been forgotten and overlooked Regiment, some would say unfairly overshadowed by the 95th Rifles.  Not only did the 5/60th Rifles have the honour of being the first rifle battalion in the British army, they won more battle honours than the 95th during the Peninsular War.
 
Raised in the American colonies in 1756 as the 62nd (Royal American) Regiment to defend the thirteen colonies against attack by the French and their Native American allies, and later deployed to the West Indies, by 1797 a 5th battalion had been raised on Barbados, with additional companies formed on the Isle of Wight, and equipped entirely with rifles.  The troops of the 5th battalion were so effective that Sir Arthur Wellesley recommended their use to the divisional commanders describing them as the “most useful, active and brave troops in the field”.  This is the story of their service in that long campaign recounted by discussing some of the extraordinary, distinctly roguish, characters in that Regiment.  You will hear tales of looting, murder and treachery, but also steadfastness, loyalty and heroism.
 
Tickets cost £20.00 (or £17.50 if you are a friend of the museum) and include a drink and canapes after the talk. Tickets must be purchased prior to the talk:
01962 828549
https://shop.rgjmuseum.co.uk/evening-talk--21-nov-2019-1665-p.asp
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Speaker: Piers Storie-Pugh
Venue: The Kincaid Gallery, The Royal Green Jackets (Rifles) Museum
Date: Thursday 24 October 2019
Time: 6:15pm
Tickets: £20 (or £17.50 for friends of the RGJ Museum) per head including glass of wine and nibbles
Booking: https://shop.rgjmuseum.co.uk/evening-talk---24-oct----2019-852-p.asp

Speaker: David Erskine-Hill
Date: 19th September 2019
Venue: The Kincaid Gallery, The Royal Green Jackets (Rifles) Museum
Time: 6:15pm 
Tickets: £20 (or £17.50 for friends of the RGJ Museum) per head including glass of wine and nibbles
Booking: ​https://shop.rgjmuseum.co.uk/evening-talk-19th-sep—-2019-1651-p.asp