Special Forces vs. Communist Guerrillas: The Deadly Malayan Jungle War

Comments · 362

• SC

  @Scaleyback317 · 2 years ago

  Mylate uncle served as a member of the SAS in Malaya in this period. Only ever saw one photo of his time there and he flatly refused to talk about it except to my Dad who served in the Confrontation years in Borneo whilst we lived in Kluang in 1963.

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• NA

  @nafiznastaim7491 · 2 years ago

  SAS really the legend!

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• CH

  @chrismichael6048 · 2 years ago

  One of huge factors in British successful Malayan Emergency (1948-1960) campaign was the deployment of the Iban Trackers from British Sarawak (1945-1963) for their highly prized expertise in jungle environment, especially in tracking the trails left by CTs and also in dismantling CTs' hidden booby traps. Most of Iban Trackers' successful engagement against CTs end up with de4d CTs' head severed from their bodies by those trackers as part old tradition of "head-hunting". It does caused a controversy until the trackers have been strictly ordered by the British high command to ceased their "head-severing" practice on CTs' corpse.

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• RO

  @robinwhitebeam4386 · 1 year ago

  My family fought to defend Malaysia from Chinese communists , the officers or leaders wore uniforms. The uniformed officers had their photograph taken before they started to fight the British and Malays. All of the communists who appeared in the photograph were killed or captured, they were identified from finger prints taken from hands , and facialy from decapitated heads. Many of the British troops had learnt their jungle fighting in Burma. The completion of a successful campaign was only possible with the cooperation of the Malayan people.

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• WA

  @wamalaosborne3379 · 2 years ago

  I love watching and learning about history, especially Asian continent! Listen to soldiers who were actually there fighting.

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• SH

  @shumyinghon · 2 years ago (edited)

  the SAS jungle training and motivation gave rise to organized local expertise in jungle warfare. sure the locals, especially the Iban trackers were all familiar to some degree with the jungles here but it took training and leadership to assemble an army that could operate, fight and win against a diehard and skilled jungle foe.

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• US

  @user-kb5fi1hm3u · 2 years ago

  I&apos;ve spent years living in the jungles of Asia, and it&apos;s an unforgiving environment. <br>I met many SAS soldiers who I found excellent and &nbsp;committed soldiers. I enjoyed their company and humour.<br>Great bunch of guys. 😅

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• HO

  @Horatio411 · 2 years ago

  My poor old dad was seconded by the Britich from the RAAF, when he was a young bloke building the Butterworth air base He still wakes up screaming from time to time

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• KL

  @klchew1963 · 2 years ago (edited)

  Had to give a mention to the best jungle warfare unit during the First Malayan Emergency (1948 - 1960), Second Malayan Emergency (1968 - 1989) and also Vietnam War, Malaysia&apos;s Senoi Praaq Special Forces. The Senoi Praaq is a Malaysian special forces unit originally created in 1956 by the British colonial authorities to fight communism during the First Malayan Emergency. They were recruited from the indigenous aborigines of Peninsular Malaysia. The unit began as a creature of British Military Intelligence and fought in the deep jungle as Special Air Service (SAS) protégés, eventually replacing the latter upon Malaysian independence from the British in 1957. The British 22 SAS bestowed the maroon beret on the unit in recognition of their services to them, which they still wear to this day. The extraordinary jungle survival and tracking skills of these aborigines were legendary and the British feared that the Communist Terrorists would gain an advantage if these skills were utilized against the British. By the way, during the Malayan Emergency, the Communist forces were actually called Communist Terrorists (&quot;CT&quot;) by the British forces and the press. So, if you read historical accounts of them, they would be called CTs for short. <br> <br>Before the Senoi Praaq was deployed into an area, conventional units would withdraw, allowing the Senoi Praaq complete, unrestricted freedom of movement in the operational area. The jungle skills, stealth, endurance, and fighting skills of the Senoi Praaq made them feared adversaries of the communists in Malaya. The unit attained a respectable body count and legends arose of incidents when the Senoi Praaq would count up 10 kills in a single, swift engagement. The Senoi Praaq Squadrons achieved a casualty ratio of 16:1 for killed, wounded or surrendered (better than the SAS or Gurkhas at that time). Though the Senoi Praaq troopers were given a choice of weapons, they reportedly enjoyed scoring kills using their traditional weapons - the blowpipe with cyanide-tipped darts being a favourite. They particularly enjoyed a leisurely hunt that would take a few days, stalking their prey as if they were tracking game. The Senoi Praaq quickly established a ruthless reputation among the communist forces who took great pains to avoid the Senoi Praaq. Though they had access to air and artillery support, these were rarely used. Instead, the Senoi Praaq preferred more intimate tactics. <br> <br>British Lt Col Noone, the founder of the Senoi Praaq, along with a group of Senoi Praaq members were sent to An Khe, Vietnam in early 1963 at the request of South Vietnam President Diem to train the indigenous groups there. They were asked to train them on counter-insurgency operations as had been successfully carried out in Malaya while fighting the communists during the Malayan Emergency. They were also responsible for forming the Montagnard Scouts team under the CIA-led MSP (Mountain Scout Programme) in co-operation with BRIAM (British Advisory Mission). The CIA called them the &quot;Whispering Death&quot; for their mode of operation and used to them to carry out covert missions in Laos. The Saigon government were so impressed by them that they wanted them to be under their direct control. However, they faced hostility from regular South Vietnamese forces, especially their special forces. Due to this intense animosity between the Vietnamese Special Forces and Noone’s team, Noone requested for his team’s removal from Vietnam. The Senoi Praaq team withdrew at the end of 1963 when the Confrontation with Indonesia began (1963-1966). At around the same time President Diem was assassinated by a CIA supported military coup.

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• MO

  @MOHDAMIR-so5gx · 2 years ago

  this is our country history

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• CH

  @chrisbrent7487 · 2 years ago (edited)

  Australian troops were the first to take the fight to the Japanese and win at the battle of Milne Bay. The Chindits didn&apos;t go into Burma to fight the Japanese until February 1943 and the battle of Milne Bay was months prior in August and September 1942. Australian forces also served in the Malayan emergency and the later Indonesian Confrontation. Some of the historical footage is likely of Australians as they were firing Owen guns.

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• MA

  @MaxwellMoore-d1u · 1 year ago

  My Father inlaw was a Malay Tracker he very Rarely spoke about it. But when he did it was very Frightening mixed with Humour.! Obviously not a world i know .

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