The Malayan Emergency as seen through the eyes of a British soldier - Essay Example

They had just built camp, a temporary shelter for the troops and to make it habitable in the midst of the rubber plantation and coconut plantation. Insurgency was active with a band commanded by one Ming Lee. It was their job to neutralize the insurgents and win back the confidence and cooperation of the local community. The entire operation was composed of prongs. First, they were to conduct patrols in all the estates and villages under the battalion’s jurisdiction. They had to surprise the people in the villages, expecting they might encounter CT disguised as villagers.

They had to show to the people that they were the authorities and that the CT was the enemy who was trying to destroy the peace and introduce their communist ideology. Patrols helped as General Templer’s strategy of winning the hearts and minds of the people, to convince them to withdraw their support of Communism, and to enlist their cooperation in ending the Emergency. Ming Lee, the elusive insurgent leader could not be easily caught or defeated, and he and his men were always out there having the support from the community, and convincing the people to support their communist ideology.

(Miers 144) Apart from continuous patrols in the villages and in the swampy areas where the CT were usually seen getting their daily sustenance from the village folks, the British soldiers were also to execute prong number 2, which was to interrupt the CT food supplies. This required a well planned operation that needed all the support they could get from the inside and outside of their battalion. Prong number 3 consisted of acquiring the services of an informer who could help in neutralizing or killing the CT and its leader.

Cutting the CT food supply was one of the strategies as mentioned in General Templer’s strategy and applied by Miers and his battalion. In doing this, they had to identify how Ming Lee and his people were getting their food. The British