MIDDLE EAST DEFENCE

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27415, 30 July 1954, Page 11

MIDDLE EAST DEFENCE

Redeployment Of British Units

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 11 p.m.) FAYID (Suez Canal Zone), July 28. About 54,000 of Britain’s 80,000 troops in the Canal Zone would return to England to help form Britain s central reserve, a British military spokesman announced tonight. A “substantial” peace-time garrison would remain in the Middle East, some of it at Cyprus where Middle East Land Force and Royal Air Force headquarters would be established.

Armoured units and certain Royal Air Force squadrons from the Canal Zone would be redeployed in the Middle East area and other forces would go to Malta.

The operational strength of Aden, the British fortress at the southern gateway of the Red Sea, also would be strengthened, the spokesman said.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Middle East land forces, General Sir Charles Keightley, in an interview at Fayid, said that it had long been desired to release fighting troops from the Suez Canal zone in the interest of greater world-wide strategic flexibility, the Cairo correspondent of “The Times” reported. Firm agreement having been reached with Egypt for the reactivation of the Canal Zone base in the event of war, reinforcing divisions could be brought back to the Middle East when required and swiftly equipped and organised, the General said. * . The correspondent of “The Times quoted the General as saying that some fighting formations would have tq be stationed permanently in the Middle East to meet the first onslaught of the ‘ aggressor, and the intention was to deploy part of the Canal Zone forces in other parts of the Middle East in friendly agreement with the governments concerned. General Keightley said it was not possible for a Middle East country to hope to remain out <9 any world-wide conflict, but British strategy no longer depended on stationing very large forces in the Middle East. It depended on a relationship of trust and confidence with Egypt and the Arab world, based on full respect for their independence and sovereignty, and on an acknowledgement of mutual interests, the General said. Earlier, General Keightley said that “the first troopships to take away British troops from the Canal Zone will sail from Britain within a matter of weeks.” In London it was stated that Britain will begin taking troops and their families out of the Suez Canal zone in September. *A first batch of 10,000 will return to England at the end of that month, and will be followed by further parties of 10,000 each in the subsequent three months. More than 40,000 from the zone, including civilians, will be sent to Blackpool, the Lancashire seaside resort, where they will be temporarily quartered in hotels, boarding-houses, and private houses. Plans for this evacuation were made between the Army authorities and the Blackpool City Corporation six months ago. it was learned. They cover the opening of special schools and an increase in local hospital and health services. The evacuees will remain there until new garrisons and camps are built up in other parts of Britain, but a Blackpool spokesman said that their stay would probably be as long as from five to seven years. • The Blackpool city authorities will hold a meeting in the next few days to prepare their programme.