The Australian Army was involved in the Malayan Emergency from 1955. The Army deployed infantry, artillery, engineers, medical personnel (including nurses) and other support troops. The State of Emergency officially ended on 31 July 1960. However, Australian soldiers continued in anti-insurgency operations in the Thai-Malay border area until 1964.
Infantry battalions
The 2nd Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment (2RAR), arrived in Malaya in September and October 1955.
At first, 2RAR was based on Penang Island. On 1 January 1956, the battalion crossed to the mainland to begin operations as part of the 28th Commonwealth Brigade.
The battalion mainly operated in the northern areas of Kedah and Perak. These areas had been centres of guerrilla activity. There were few contacts with the guerrillas when 2RAR patrolled these areas.
However, heavy fighting took place in June 1956 during the pipeline ambush and 3 Australian soldiers were killed.
Members of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (2RAR) at their Battalion Headquarters in Kuala Kangsar, Perak, in July 1956. 2RAR served in the Malayan Emergency. Lieutenant General Sir Henry Wells, Chief of the General Staff, Australian Army, is escorted by Captain Geoff Lucas while he inspects troops from 2RAR’s support company. Among this group are several old soldiers who served in World War II and the Korean War. Also identified in this photograph are Lieutenant Robert John 'Bob' Fletcher (far left), Staff Sergeant Walter Robert Everett (front far right), Private Jack Hedges (front third from the right) and Corporal Charles 'Charlie' Mene MM from the Torres Strait (second row fourth from the right). AWM HOB/56/0628/MC
The 3rd Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR), replaced 2RAR in October 1957.
3RAR trained in Johore, southern Malaya. After training, the battalion began patrolling operations in Perak and Kedah. Many of these operations aimed to cut off the guerrillas’ access to food supplies.
The battalion’s patrolling resulted in 2 notable successes.
In July 1958, with the help of information from a captured enemy, sections of 3RAR destroyed several local guerrilla camps.
On 20 November 1958, 3RAR successfully attacked another camp. One of the guerrillas killed in the operation was found to have taken part in the assassination of the British High Commissioner in 1951.
The clearest sign of 3RAR’s success came in April 1959, when the British announced that the state of Perak was secure.
The 1st Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment (1RAR), replaced 3RAR in September 1959.
On its tour of duty, 1RAR conducted patrols in northern Malaya. The battalion also crossed the border into Thailand, following guerrilla fighters and driving them back into Malaya.
The battalion’s tour continued after the Malayan government declared the Emergency over on 31 July 1960.
2RAR returned for a second tour of duty in October 1961, replacing 1RAR. The men carried out patrols in Perlis and Kedah. Parts of 2RAR also took part in Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) exercises in Thailand.
2RAR returned to Australia in August 1963.
The Australian Army’s involvement in the region ended in 1964.
The pipeline ambush
Before its 1955 arrival in Malaya, 2RAR underwent jungle warfare training. The men were the first troops to experience the trials of Canungra’s Jungle Training Centre since the end of World War II. After further training in Malaya, the battalion began operations in January 1956.
In late April, 2RAR embarked on its second operation, Shark North, in Perak province, a known centre of guerrilla activity.
Approximately half of Perak’s population was ethnically Chinese. Many were considered to be communist sympathisers. The British regarded Perak’s Malay population as unreliable and, to some extent, hostile.
Shark North aimed to cut off insurgent forces from their sources of supply through a series of patrols. 2RAR’s work included the tedious process of searching people, their belongings and their vehicles as they left villages. One of the least appealing tasks was to stir the contents of night-soil buckets to check for illicit items hidden in the human waste.
The men of 2RAR were stationed in ambush positions, sometimes for days at a time. More than a month passed before they had their first encounter with an enemy in Shark North.
The operation’s first phase lasted until late June 1956. The evidence suggested that the enemy was active in Perak. During Shark North’s second phase, 2RAR experienced its most intense action of the Malayan Emergency.
On 22 June, A Company’s 1 Platoon ran into a well-prepared communist ambush.
Corporal John Norman Allan had led a patrol that morning, moving through the jungle alongside a vital water pipeline. The pipeline carried water from the Sungei Bemben reservoir to the nearby town of Sungei Siput. As the 5-person patrol was returning to its patrol base, at a location about 400 m from the reservoir, the men were ambushed.
The waiting guerrillas set off a landmine and opened fire on the Australians with Thompson and Sten submachine guns. Corporal Allan was killed as he tried to cross the track on which the patrol had been walking.
Private Geoffrey Clyde Fritz was wounded but kept firing his Owen submachine gun until he died from his injuries. The guerrillas, meanwhile, kept up a heavy fire from hidden positions in the thick jungle near the track.
As the fight continued, another 2 Australian patrols arrived to help.
One patrol group took advantage of the high ground overlooking the ambush positions. From here, the soldiers joined the fighting, losing another man, Private Cedric Charles Ingra.
As the guerrillas began to break contact and withdraw, 2 were killed. When the area was swept after the battle, the soldiers found some weapons and blood trails. This indicated the Australians had inflicted further casualties on the enemy.
A Company had 3 men killed and a further 3 wounded.
The action was reported in newspapers back home and soon became known as the ‘pipeline ambush’.
Australian, Ghurka and Malay patrols to-day pursued a fleeing Communist gang which, on Friday, killed three Australians in an ambush ... Private Falk, a wiry veteran, said “When they opened fire my section leader was pinned down. He called for me to outflank the Communists, who were firing from a high bank. It was less than half light in the jungle and visibility was not more than five yards. Bullets were whizzing everywhere.”
[1956 'Malayan Ambush Australians Seek To Even Score', The Canberra Times, 25 June, p 1, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91216182]
Artillery battalions
The Australian Army sent other units to the Malayan Emergency, including an artillery battery.
The 105th Battery, Royal Australian Artillery (RAA), arrived at Penang in October 1955. The unit was equipped with 8 25-pound artillery guns.
Australian artillery had experienced jungle conditions in the Pacific theatre of World War II. However, since the end of the war, they had trained more for open warfare than jungle warfare.
Now, they faced a jungle-based enemy again. The artillery was deployed in an environment where the enemy consisted of scattered, small groups of insurgents. Insurgents were often deep in the jungle and rarely offered themselves as a target for concentrated fire.
During the Australian artillery’s early involvement in Malaya, one troop supported allied battalions. This included both British and Malay battalions. The other troop supported 2RAR.
Australian batteries often engaged in harassing fire into areas where the communists were thought to be. Sometimes the fire was observed by forward observers or from the air. More often, however, the Australian gunners fired at predicted targets.
Artillery crews also found themselves acting as infantry during the Malayan Emergency. Sometimes their tasks were to:
- manage roadblocks
- go on patrol
- act as a tactical reserve
- perform garrison and security duties.
The 105th Battery served in Malaya until October 1957. They lost one man, Brigadier Donald Keith Sutton, who died in a vehicle accident.
The 100th ‘A’ Field Battery RAA replaced the 105th Field Battery.
A Battery performed similar duties to the 105th. This time in support of 3RAR, as well as other British, Gurkha and Malay battalions.
By the end of its tour, 2 members of the battery had lost their lives again in vehicle accidents:
- Gunner Ross MacLeay Ducat
- Gunner Sidney John Blanch.
The 101st Field Battery RAA relieved A Battery in October 1959, less than a year before the Malayan Emergency was declared over. The 101st fired in support of 1RAR and other units. The artillery crew also carried out ambush and patrolling tasks.
Engineers
During the Malayan Emergency, Australian engineers made significant contributions to the development of transport infrastructure. This was especially true in the north of the country.
4 Troop, Royal Australian Engineers (RAE), arrived in Malaya in late 1955.
By January 1956, the men were busy constructing bridges and roads. This work enabled the security forces to operate in remote areas. It also helped with local economic development.
In July 1956, the troop moved to Butterworth to undertake bomb disposal work. They moved again to carry out construction work in the Ayer Kring area.
The troop’s tour ended after a period of road construction in northern Kedah province.
2 Troop RAE arrived and continued the work in northern Kedah. For much of 2 Troop’s tour, the men were constructing bridges and roads.
Nurses
An advance party of Australian military forces embarked from Townsville on board the liner New Australia on 4 September 1955. When the ship docked in Penang on 12 September, 6 Army nurses disembarked. They were the first members of the Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps (RAANC) to serve in the Malayan Emergency:
- Captain Iris Grace Hutton
- Captain Rebecca Beatrice Oldham
- Lieutenant Phyllis Betty Snowden
- Lieutenant JN Hawkins, New Zealand
- Lieutenant Helen Edith Webb
- Lieutenant Clarice Wynette Kell.
One newspaper reported that the 6 nurses were all officers.
When you say "nursie", soldier, salute! These six Army nurses, Malaya-bound ... And they're ALL officers.
['SALUTE WHEN YOU SAY 'NURSIE'!', The Argus, 23 August 1955, p 8, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71675411]
RAANC nurses served in Malaya throughout the declared state of emergency and afterwards. They were stationed in British military hospitals across the peninsula, including at Penang, Singapore, Kinrara, Kluang and Terendak.
The last few RAANC nurses returned to Australia in 1963.
Thai-Malay border operations
Although the state of emergency was lifted on 31 July 1960, anti-MNLA operations continued.
Between 1960 and 1964, 1RAR, 2RAR, 3RAR and support units took their turn undertaking jungle patrols in the border region against a dwindling band of insurgents who still refused to surrender. One Australian was killed while on these operations.
In the same period, and up until early 1966, RAAF units also participated in anti-MNLA operations.
For Australian service personnel who participated in operations on the Thai-Malay border, recognition was a long time coming. It was not until 1995 that these operations were reclassified as warlike.