Campaign Groups and Pairs


An SAS team arrived in Oman to protect the newly installed Sultan Qaboos in the wake of the British-sponsored coup on 23 July 1970 that deposed his father. They were closely followed by the fifteen men of Dicker’s Troop from ‘D’ Squadron, together with the Squadron O.C., Major Tony Jeapes. Their task was to initiate Operation Storm, the codename for a campaign to end foreign-sponsored communist insurgency in Oman. Like every other SAS deployment to Oman throughout the six years of Operation Storm, Dicker’s mission was classified Top Secret, and he set off under a cover story that he would be spending time transiting through the British air base at the tiny emirate of Sharjah. Dicker stepped off the RAF plane in Sharjah on 21 September 1970 and no onward flight ever materialised. He arrived by road in Oman as a member of the British Army Training Team (BATT). All foreign journalists were denied visas to enter Oman; anyway, Whitehall assumed that they would be totally uninterested in anything labelled ‘training’. Serious SAS battle casualties were sent to a military hospital in the Cyprus Sovereign Base Area and admitted as ‘road accident victims’. One of the doctors remarked “Sharjah must have the worst drivers in the world!”


Just as in Aden, when the SAS arrived in Oman the war was already a long way towards being lost. The Marxist rebels controlled virtually the whole of Dhofar apart from the capital, Salalah and a short strip of coastal plain, but, unlike Aden, there was no publicly announced decision made by politicians that Britain would withdraw and abandon the region to its fate. The first SAS Troop in Dhofar, which was based at Mirbat and Taqa from October 1970, had to ensure the security of the coastal strip. Dicker took part in aggressive patrols, helped set up the first medical clinics that the locals had ever seen and carried out projects to improve water supplies and repair irrigation channels destroyed by order of the old Sultan. The arrival of the whole of ‘D’ Squadron in February 1971 signalled the start of operations on the 3,000-foot-high escarpment leading up to the mountainous interior plateau, the jebel, which was cut by scores of deep ravines. The 2,000 rebels were so well-equipped and heavily armed that they were easily capable of firing several hundred rounds from mortars and artillery each day. To even out the odds, the SAS recruited and trained fundamentalist jebalis who had become disenchanted with the Marxist ideology and methods of the rebel leaders and formed them into combat groups known as Firqats.


After extensive reconnaissance patrols had discovered the best routes up the escarpment and probed the rebel defences, two SAS Troops and sixty men of the first Firqat ascended to the plateau on 13 March 1971. They stayed there for twelve days, killing nine rebels and capturing several more without sustaining any casualties. Emboldened by this success, Major Jeapes planned a more ambitious operation, involving the Firqat, the whole of ‘D’ Squadron and half of ‘B’ Squadron, who were arriving to relieve ‘D’. At the end of his briefing, the unpopular Jeapes told the SAS that they were “going up Jebel Aram to teach the enemy a lesson”. For three days, they tried and failed to make headway against the men that they had trained as Trucial Oman Scouts back in 1969. Ken Connor commented that if anyone was teaching people a lesson, it was the rebels: “they gave us a pounding… we made a hasty and undignified retreat. As we reached the foot of the jebel and began to cross the arid plain towards Taqa, plumes of dust rising from our boots at each step, a dour Scots sergeant turned round and shook his fist towards Jebel Aram, shouting ‘And let that be a lesson to you!’ ”


Dicker returned to Oman for his third and final deployment during the Dhofar war on 13 September, to participate in Operation Jaguar, which was launched on 2 October 1971 by two full SAS Squadrons and all available Firqats. This was a much more successful strike, which broke rebel resistance across the eastern jebel after a series of fierce contacts in which a SAS sergeant was mortally wounded and two other men suffered severe wounds/’road accidents’. Jaguar was the defining operation of the overall Storm conflict and by the end of the year, when Dicker returned to the UK with his Squadron, half of the rebel territory was back under Omani government control, with pacification and civilian aid programs well under way.


Platoon Commander in Ulster – “I know that you have displayed great leadership and personal courage”


Dicker’s initial service with 22 SAS ended in 1972 and he returned to 1st Battalion Hampshire Regiment as a Staff Sergeant, which was probably a significant promotion and pay rise from his SAS rank (a Staff Sergeant is often called Colour Sergeant in line infantry battalions, due to their senior sergeants’ traditional role in protecting the Colours during battle). Dicker commanded a rifle platoon in the field during two Emergency tours on the Northern Ireland border, November 1972 - December 1974, for which he was awarded a particularly well-deserved Mention in Despatches. Dicker took the initiative in training his platoon in many SAS patrol, reconnaissance and attack techniques, which paid off handsomely during various contacts with the IRA. His military skills, drive, willingness to take risks and overwhelmingly positive attitude clearly made a deep impression on those in command of the Hampshires.


Dicker’s return to 1st Battalion Hampshires did not last more than three years. It was followed by his next two-year ‘away’ posting, to Hong Kong garrison (March 1974 – January 1976). Dicker was accompanied by his wife and three daughters (who must have found Hong Kong quite a contrast to Freshwater, Isle of Wight). He received his LSGC during this tour. Britain had maintained a strong military presence in Hong Kong since the Cultural Revolution began in 1966, during which Red Guards had staged various incidents on the border and sponsored an attempt to ‘liberate’ the colony. Special Forces were not deployed in Hong Kong except on training exercises, but a small cell at the Garrison H.Q. worked with M.I.5 and the highly efficient Hong Kong Special Branch (who jointly led the counter-subversion effort against China, Russia and other communist regimes in south-east Asia), as well as preparing the ground for SAS units to arrive as part of the Hong Kong reinforcement plan should relations with China worsen.


Dicker was posted to the Jungle Warfare School in Brunei from November 1979 - December 1981, probably as an instructor, given its status as the most demanding and professional of all the British training schools at that time. It accepted trainees sent by both Commonwealth and non-Commonwealth governments. His swansong was a prestigious five-year loan service posting to NATO in West Germany, from May 1982 to September 1987, probably as an instructor at the International Long-Range Reconnaissance Patrol School (ILRRPS), based at Weingarten in southern Germany. Primarily run by Belgium, Germany, Greece, Norway, the United States and the United Kingdom, ILRRPS (since renamed as the International Special Training Center) provided specialist training to allow soldiers to operate effectively during target acquisition and intelligence gathering missions far behind Soviet lines. His photographs show that Dicker was officially badged as a SAS Warrant Officer, which doubtless boosted his influence with allied military personnel.


Tony Dicker left the army on 27 November 1987, shortly before his 45th birthday. His Military Conduct was rated Exemplary. “WOII Dicker is mentally alert and intelligent, he is physically very fit and has a strong, straight-forward personality. He is a man of integrity and has recently held a job for 5 years which has required a high level of tact and individual responsibility and which he has carried out thoroughly well.”


Sold with original Mention in Despatches Certificate; three original letters of congratulation; copied Certificate of Service and Mention in Despatches citation; three original photographs depicting the recipient; and a newspaper cutting.


www.dnw.co.uk all lots are illustrated on our website and are subject to buyers’ premium at 24% (+VAT where applicable)


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