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Name: GIBB, Allan
Birth Date: 1877 Edinburgh
Death Date: 24 Feb 1922 Burao, Somaliland
First Date: 1901
Profession: 1912 Berbera - Commandant assisted by A. Gibb and C. de S. Dunn
Married: No
Book Reference: Moyse
General Information:
M. B. Page in Rhino Link no. 25, Sep 2001 Alan Gibb was born in Edinburgh in 1877, the son of a butler. He was apprenticed to a firm of gun-makers and joined the Volunteers in 1898. In 1900 he decided to join the regular army, and was soon posted as an Armourer Sergeant of the Army Ordnance Corps to Ashanti. His posting was cancelled, however, and a year later he was in the British Protectorate of Somaliland to take part in the campaign against Sayed Mohamed Abdillahi Hassan, generally referred to as the 'Mad Mullah'.
With the Boer War raging as well as the operations in Ashanti, there was a shortage of regular troops to engage the Mullah, who wished to eject the British, French, Italians and Ethiopians from the Somali territories. Accordingly, a local levy was raised by Captain Eric Swayne of the Indian Army, with a handful of British officers and twenty Punjabi instructors to assist him. In four months he trained and took into the field a force of some 1,000 infantry and 160 mounted men. Swayne had wanted more mounted men, but the Mullah held the part of the country where the better ponies are bred.
Gibb took part in the actions of 1901, receiving the Africa General Service Medal and clasp. He was eventually to have six clasps to this medal, one of only two Europeans to be so decorated. The only other man to be honoured similarly was Risaldar Major Musa Farah al Somal. Gibb was also deeply involved in the subsequent actions in Erigo, when he was mentioned in dispatches for mending a Maxim gun under fire. He was commended for bravery at Daratolleh in 1903 and for his role at Jidballi in the following year. Of the Daratolleh action, Lt Col R E Drake-Brockman wrote in the 'Times' to the effect that Gibb should have received a VC for his actions, 'especially during the rear-guard action.' This was when he was awarded his DCM; three officers received the VC. In Drake-Brockman's words "No one on that day earned the coveted VC more than Gibb".
He was a sergeant major when he went on leave to UK in 1905, and by 1910 was lieutenant and quartermaster of 6 KAR at the age of 30 or so. At that time 6 KAR was a half Indian and half Somali unit. He also possessed a fourth clasp to his AGS medal. His tactical successes had been achieved in command of Maxim gun detachments; the machine gunners were Sikhs.
6 KAR was disbanded in 1910 when the Administration withdrew to the coast, leaving the Mullah a free run in the hinterland. Very unusually, Gibb was absorbed into the Protectorate Administration as an Assistant District Officer. Two years later the policy of remaining only at the coast was reversed and a Camel Constabulary was raised to control the Mullah more effectively in the hinterland. Command was vested in Richard Corfield, with Gibb as his second in command.
Fortunately for Gibb, he was on leave in 1913 when the Camel Constabulary was attacked while in thick bush at Dul Madobi (Black Hill), before they could form square. They did great destruction to the Mullah's men, but Corfield was killed while attempting to unjamb a Maxim. After this action it was decided to re-form the camelry as a military unit, which was achieved by 1914, Paradoxically Gibb - although a civilian — was appointed to be a company commander; he became IA captain later. Many officers who were to distinguish themselves in this and other wars ,jtuined the Camel Corps at about this time, including Ismay and Carton de Wiart.
Gibb fought in the actions at Shimber Berris in 1914 and 1915. In the 1915 campaign he is credited with saving the life of Major W Lowry-Corry, who was Adjutant of the Camel Corps and who was dangerously wounded. Gibb was re-absorbed into the Administration in 1918, but in 1920 was recalled to military service for the final operation against the Mullah, particularly at his fort at Tuleh. Gibb was in command of 1,500 Somali levies, with Risaldar Major Musa Farah as second in command. Their role was to operate in close conjunction with the Camel Corps and the newly formed 6 KAR, now a Tanganyikan unit consisting mainly of former members of the Schutzu uppen. There was also half a battalion of Indian infantry and 300 illalos' (tribal police). The RAF contribution was 'Z Force', six single-engined two seater bombers capable of dropping
20 lb high explosive bombs or 50 lb incendiaries. In Ismay's words, "they were neither lucky or accurate". But the incendiaries compelled the Mullah to evacuate Talleh, despite its massive construction.
With some of his followers the Mullah forced his way through the 200-man cordon around Talleh and had made for the Ogaden before Gibb arrived with 800 more men. The Camel Corps got there about an hour later. Not waiting for them, Gibb attacked at once and had secured the fort before Ismay arrived in the gloom of the evening. The tally was 45 Dervishes dead and a similar number captured, including a Turkish adviser and four Arab stone masons. Ismay set off in pursuit of the Mullah. chasing him over the border into Ethiopia. The Mullah eventually died of influenza at Imi in late 1920. Gibb received one of the three DSOs awarded for this operation.
Next. Gibb was appointed District Commissioner at Burao. His duties included taking a group of distinguished Somalis to be presented to the Prince of Wales in Aden, when he was going to India on tour. He also settled compensation claims with representatives of a Royal Italian Commission, following inter-tribal fighting on the Anglo Italian border.
On February 1922, after having had tea with the Governor in company with Risaldar Major Musa Farah al Somal ISO, Gibb borrowed the Governor's car to investigate reports of a riot against the imposition of a new tax (to pay for education). He was cautioned by a Camel Corps corporal in mufti not to go any nearer, but Gibb decided to confront the mob alone. He was killed by a single rifle bullet. His body was taken to Sheikh for burial later. His grave is within 100 yards of the tomb of the Sheikh whose title gave the village its name. He never married.
Sources. Lt Col R Hill, writing in the Journal of the Orders and Medals Research Society and The Warrior Mullah ' by Professor Ray Beachey.
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