Collectable Books On the Shelf
A book about British involvement in Oman, and a much later ‘sequel’ that may or may not be true, has John Carroll wondering
Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 3rd Baronet, OBE is well known as a polar explorer, adventurer, marathon runner and author.
Over the years, Fiennes - generally known as Ran Fiennes - has written books about his numerous expeditions, his earlier military service and books about polar explorers Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton. This review concentrates on just two of these books, published 16 years apart and unexpectedly closely linked.
Fiennes served in Oman from 1968 to 1970 on loan with others from the British Army to aid the Sultan in operations against the communist guerrillas of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman and the Arabian Gulf (PFLOAG).
This involved operating in Dhofar out of Salalah and on the border of the People's Democratic Republic of South Yemen. This is the subject of the book entitled, Where Soldiers Fear To Tread (Hodder and Stoughton, 1975) that recounts Ranulph Fiennes's experiences over his two years with the Sultan of Oman's army. He served in the Muscat Regiment commanding the Reconnaissance Pla…
