Fighting the Sultan's War (eBook)
The Memoir of a British Infantry Officer in Oman's Dhofar War, 1974–1976
File Size: 43.2 MB (.epub)
Pages: 256
ISBN: 9781805002260
Published: 27th January 2026
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| Fighting the Sultan's War Hardback Add to Basket | £18.75 |
From 1965 to 1976, the Dhofar War was being fought in southern Oman - a conflict wherein the Omani government, led by Sultan Said bin Taimur, and later his son Sultan Qaboos, fought against the Dhofar Liberation Front (DLF), a Marxist insurgency group who wanted to overthrow the Sultan's rule and establish a communist government.
The conflict escalated in the 1970s, with Sultan Qaboos receiving military support from Britain and Iran. By 1975, the government forces, with the help of British and Iranian troops, defeated the insurgents, securing the region and stabilizing Sultan Qaboos's rule.
Major David Freeman was a one of those British troops - a British Infantry Officer who was seconded to the Sultan of Oman’s Forces in the 1970s. Major Freeman has recorded his experience of this conflict - the operations, the tactics, the successes and the struggles - in extraordinary detail, covering the last year of the war in 1975 and the first six months of 1976 in the still active eastern sector of Dhofar. Fighting the Sultan's War is an eye-opening first-hand account of one of the lesser-known ‘small wars’ of the Cold War era, and should not be missed by any military history enthusiast.
David Freeman's memoir was transcribed by his son, Alex Freeman. Born in 1967 into a military family, Alex was educated in the West Country and commissioned into the British Army in 1986. He served as an infantry officer with the Queen’s Lancashire Regiment and The Royal Welch Fusiliers, seeing active service in Northern Ireland, Germany, the Middle East, Africa, and Bosnia. After two decades in uniform, he left the Army in 2006 to pursue an MBA and a career in business.
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About David Freeman
Born in 1967 into a military family, Alex was educated in the West Country and commissioned into the British Army in 1986. He served as an infantry officer with the Queen’s Lancashire Regiment and The Royal Welch Fusiliers, seeing active service in Northern Ireland, Germany, the Middle East, Africa, and Bosnia. After two decades in uniform, he left the Army in 2006 to pursue an MBA and a career in business.
About Peter Willdridge
Peter Willdridge was commissioned in 1970, as an infantry officer, into the Royal Anglian Regiment and served for more than seventeen years, including a significant period in Oman during a time of political, military and social transformation.
His experiences there, particularly around the events leading up to and following the 1975 victory, leave him well-placed to verify the diary of his old comrade David Freeman.
After leaving the Army, he worked in the UK for local authorities, the National Health Service and private businesses in emergency planning and crisis management. Now retired, Peter divides his time between England and France
About Calvin H Allen
Calvin H. Allen, Jr (PhD History, University of Washington) is Dean Emeritus of the College of Arts and Sciences at Shenandoah University, where he was also Professor of Middle Eastern History. Allen specializes on Oman with interest in Indian merchant communities, contemporary political issues, and philately. He is the author of Oman: Modernization of the Sultanate (1987); Oman (2002); with W. Lynn Rigsbee, Oman under Qaboos (2000), and with Alastair Gunn, Aspects of Omani Postal History (2006). In addition, he has written more than 50 articles and book chapters and has lectured and consulted widely on Omani history and politics.
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