Somaliland Scouts

The Somaliland Scouts was a Rayid Brigade in the British Army. It was established after the liberation of British Somaliland from Italy in December 1941 and the dissolution of the Somaliland Camel Corps in 1942, which was formerly tasked with the defense of the protectorate.[1]

Somaliland Scouts
Patch for Somaliland Scouts of British Somaliland.
CountryUnited Kingdom
BranchArmy
TypeRayid Brigade
This article is about the military unit. For the youth movement, see Scouting in Somalia.

History

Originally formed as the Somali Guard Battalion, and tasked with defending the border between British and French Somaliland, the brigade quickly rose in size and importance.

It later became the Somali Companies in June 1942, before finally being renamed to the Somaliland Scouts in August 1943.[2]

A transcript of a Reuters report of 26 June 1960 says that, during the independence ceremony for Somaliland "..Nearly 1,000 British-trained Somaliland Scouts were then handed over to the Prime Minister by Brigadier O. G. Brooks, the Colonel Commandant."[3]

On 1 July 1960, upon the merger of British Somaliland and Italian Somaliland to form the Somali Republic, the Somaliland Scouts was merged with former Italian-raised police forces from the south to become the nucleus for the new Somali National Army.

See also
  • East African campaign (World War II)

References
  1. Somalia The Warrior Tradition and Development of a Modern Army
  2. Somaliland Scouts Archived August 17, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 26 April 2016. Retrieved 18 February 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
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