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Special Forces vs. Communist Guerrillas_ The Deadly Malayan Jungle War · NO FILTER

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Ruthless communist terrorists are targeting innocent civilians, murder and mayhem
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: sweep the nation. An insane rebel leader known for slaughtering
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: babies in the womb, kills and plunders before disappearing into
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: jungle swamps. This is a job for Britain's sas, but
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: they will need to train hard, develop new tactics and techniques,
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: and to penetrate deep into the most inhospitable terrain on earth,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: the Malayan jungle. Using all their training and superhuman feats
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: of endurance, can they corner and capture their prey. Malaya,
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: the heart of Southeast Asia and for centuries, the wealthiest
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: colony in the British Empire, stretching from Thailand down to Singapore.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Malaya is the world's largest producer of tin and rubber.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: Malay is a duel of the British colonial crown. It's
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: a cash cow. It's not something that that.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: London was keen to lose. But after years of colonial rule,
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: the people of Malaya want independence.
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: Through the spring of nineteen forty eight, you've got a
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: bunch of terrorist attacks on rubber plantations. The British authorities
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: eventually twigged that they were facing a potentially potent threat
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: from the Mayan Communist Party.
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: They killed five people in one day, including three European
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: plantation managers, and this caused the British to declare a
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: state of emergency.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: The person leading this rebellious uprising is Chin Pain, a
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: charismatic young idealist trained by the British in the art
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: of jungle warfare, fighting for an independent communist state. He
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: is backed by China and enjoys widespread support from the
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Malayan people.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: Chimpang was a formidable opponent. Let's not forget that he
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: had the best training from some of the best people
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: in Southeast Asia. He and his men, he knew his people.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: They had a high level of jungle skills.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: Chin Peng's army of cts, or communist terrorists hit the
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: British where it hurts in their pockets, targeting rubber plantations
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: and tin mines.
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: They were targeting the planter's literally just a murder campaign,
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: assassination campaign to get rid of them.
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: Most of the people with what becomes called the Malayan
• 3:58
  Speaker 4: National Liberation Army believe they're fighting for independence or to
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: accelerate independence.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: In autumn, the British hit crisis point. Sir Henry Gurney,
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: a distinguished diplomat and now British High Commissioner for Malaya,
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: is traveling to a meeting outside the capitol, Kuala Lumpa,
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: but the terrorists are waiting. Britain's most senior official in
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: the colony has been murdered.
• 4:45
  Speaker 4: When Gurney is assassinated, that redoubles the determination in London
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: to get something done.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: But what can the British do. The communist garists have
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: a huge ally the immense Malayan jungle.
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: Once these insurgents had retreated to the jungle, we pushed
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: out of the settlements. You've got a big problem because
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: you have an ocean of trees and jungle, and locating
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: those people, those fish, as it were, in that ocean
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: is extremely difficult.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: Running all the way down the peninsula from the border
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: with Thailand to Singapore, it includes the oldest rainforest on Earth,
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: and it is hot, humid and virtually impenetrable.
• 5:44
  Speaker 5: It's such as formidable sight. You can't see anything. It's wet,
• 5:50
  Speaker 5: it's dank, it's full of nasties, insects, snakes, trees which
• 6:01
  Speaker 5: are big thorns on them, which we sort of nicknamed
• 6:03
  Speaker 5: bastard trees. Yeah, it's just a formidable place to operate in.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: This is the perfect terrain for Chinpeng's rebels.
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: What the British were facing then was terrorism, guerrilla warfare
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: and large unit operations across the country. You're facing the
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: prospect of very difficult terrain over thousands of square miles,
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: and you've got a very limited manpower.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: Many of the Communists had fought the Japanese during the
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: Second World War experts in jungle warfare. They know the
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: terrain inside out and are well prepared with extensive food
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: and ammunition dumps. They are also aided and arebetted by
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: villagers and tribesmen. They aren't Communists, but they support Chin
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: Peng as a means of gaining independence.
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: Initially, the insurgents are very closely linked with the villagers
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: on the forest frontier. There this very close symbiotic relationship
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: and a lot of genuine support. These people are wartime
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: heroes to many people.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: From their remote jungle bases, pains Men launch a series
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: of lightning attacks before melting away without a trace.
• 7:32
  Speaker 4: They started to stress slightly smaller scale actions, not more
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: than ever one hundred men, often just ten fifteen tacking
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: a plantation to try and burn it is to create
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: economic sabotage, ambushing convoys or police stations to get weapons.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: In the face of growing public support, the colonial government
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: need a plan to fight this insurgency. They come up
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: with a two pronged attack. First, they need to separate
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: the terrorists from their supporters. They force whole communities to
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: move across the country and away from areas of communist influence.
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: Half a million Chinese are resettled into villages to about
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: ten percent of the population of Malaya within eighty months.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: Second, they need a fighting force capable of taking the
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: fight to the enemy deep in the Malayan jungle. Britain
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: looks to one of her most experienced jungle fighters for answers,
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: Lieutenant Colonel mad Mike Calvert. Calvert made his name in
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: the legendary Chindates, a specialist force that pioneered long range
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: jungle penetration during World War II.
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: Calvert was highly regarded even in the War Office amongst
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: the traditionalists.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: The Chindits were the first force to take the fight
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: to the Japanese and win.
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: He'd written at pamphlet on Behind the Lines Operations then,
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: which was widely circulated amongst the army. He was jungle
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: fighter extraordinaiy with a little unorthodox.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: He ended the war as a commander in Special Forces.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: As Britain's number one jungle expert, Calvert gets the call
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: to come out to Malaya and find a solution.
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: He had an analytical mind, so there was nobody better
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: qualified to understand Special Forces operations and to actually get
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: to grip with the jungle environment.
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: His first task is to recruit men operating outside the
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: official channels. He collects an unruly mob of colonial misfits.
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: He then bonds them together using highly unorthodox methods.
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: He decided that the best way to make them gel
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: developed camaraderie was to have a few beers, and not
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: only do that on a regular basis, but to access Bizarrely.
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: Calvid sees this as part of the selection process. If
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: they can handle the booze, they can handle anything.
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: He figured that in the jungle environment, you're bound to
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: be susceptible to all sorts of diseases, malaria, venomous insects.
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: So if you can operate completely hammered, then he figured
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: that whatever inflicted on you in the jungle, then you'll
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: be able to cope with that.
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: Calvert would often turn up himself drunk on parade, testing
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: his men by punching them in the stomach. If any
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: fell over, they would instantly be kicked out. Come on,
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: Come on. For those that made it past these basic
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: selection tests, he created his own unique style of training,
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: first up mastering those cornerstones of jungle warfare concealment and stealth.
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: They would have people going around with pairs of goggles
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: and air pistols, and as concealment exercises, they would be
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: shooting each other.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: The aim is to hide and then stealthily creep up
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: and shoot your opponent.
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: You know you've seen going to learn if you're getting
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: shot with pellets in the face, that how to conceal
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: yourself a little better.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: And if pellets weren't painful enough, the message was driven
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: home with live grenades. One of Colbert's biggest challenges is
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: to get the military to think differently about jungle warfare.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: Conventional thinking in the nineteen fifties is that you can
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: only last a few days.
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: The medical consensus was at the time that you couldn't
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: extend the operations of the soldiers on the ground in
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: the jungle because of the environment beyond ten days.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: Because of this, the conventional military approach to jungle fighting
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: is to use large units sweeping through the jungle for
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: short periods. But this process is noisy and ineffective because
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: it tips the enemy off. Calvert now draws on his
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: own experience in the Chinditz. His approach is the exact opposite,
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: to use small patrols for long periods.
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: Calwit's premise for having very small units of two to
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: three men was that in particularly dense jungle, where there
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: aren't wide open trails, if you're actually going to move
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: through the jungle, you need to make as little noise
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: as possible.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: You need to be well concealed.
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: So if you've got a minimal number of people but
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: with a maximum amount of firepower, then you're going to
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: be effective.
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: But how do you maximize a patrol's time in the
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: jungle when it can take weeks just to march to
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: an objective. Calvert pioneers a radical but dangerous solution, parachuting
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: into the jungle.
• 14:17
  Speaker 6: Normally, what happened was that the parachute canopy would get
• 14:22
  Speaker 6: caught in the tree canopy.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: This could leave soldiers dangling helplessly hundreds of feet from
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: the ground.
• 14:32
  Speaker 6: Once they were dangling from the forest canopy, they could
• 14:36
  Speaker 6: detach themselves from their parachute harness and use ropes to shimmy.
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: Down to the jungle floor.
• 14:42
  Speaker 6: So they actually developed tree jumping as a special technique,
• 14:47
  Speaker 6: which was a total innovation.
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: Of course, these airborne drops known as tree jumping, often
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: lead to horrific injuries.
• 15:01
  Speaker 5: Tree jumping parachutist nightmare. It's inherent with danger. The whole
• 15:06
  Speaker 5: thing's ludicrous nightmare madness. Even some are going to land
• 15:11
  Speaker 5: in one hundred feet canopy. Some may be lucky and
• 15:15
  Speaker 5: get snagged up at fifty feet you could be very
• 15:19
  Speaker 5: unlucky and get snagged up with a broken neck or leg.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: Those that didn't break their limbs need to learn how
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: to survive. Calvert's approach was to establish bases in the
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: heart of the jungle which can be resupplied by air,
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: enabling the men to spend months on the ground.
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: There'll be parachute drops and later at the end of
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: nineteen fifty one, Calvert again adopted the Chinder experience of
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: using helicopters, which was very much experimental.
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: Using these camps as bases, small units can dominate large
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: areas of jungle by repeatedly patrolling them, so preventing the
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: terrorists from establishing bases. But getting into the jungle is
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: the easy bit. The men now need to learn how
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: to survive and operate in this environment.
• 16:30
  Speaker 5: It is the most hostile environment on Earth to fight
• 16:32
  Speaker 5: a campaign, a war in. That's why the sas train there.
• 16:37
  Speaker 6: It's dark and there are creepy crawleys, and there are
• 16:40
  Speaker 6: animals that maybe you can't see.
• 16:43
  Speaker 5: It heightens all your skills, your soldiering skills, your smell, sight,
• 16:51
  Speaker 5: your taste.
• 16:53
  Speaker 6: There are snakes, there are things that can sting you,
• 16:57
  Speaker 6: and of course there were giant leeches, particularly in the swamps,
• 17:01
  Speaker 6: which could suck a pine to blood and to time.
• 17:04
  Speaker 5: You know, all these things are a major factor when
• 17:08
  Speaker 5: you're a combat troupe on the ground.
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: A further complication in the hunt for communist terrorists is
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: that there are no proper maps. What they have are
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: often crude aerial photos, in some cases white patches, labeled clouds,
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: blank out miles of terrain.
• 17:30
  Speaker 6: Navigation was very difficult in the jungle. You couldn't move
• 17:33
  Speaker 6: in straight lines. You had to develop intuition, you know.
• 17:39
  Speaker 6: It was something you know you couldn't just learn from
• 17:41
  Speaker 6: a compass in a map.
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: Knowing that the terrorists only survive deep in the jungle
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: by depending on local tribes, Calvert's next innovation is to
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: encourage his men to befriend the tribespeople and learn from them.
• 17:58
  Speaker 5: Local knowledge is extremely important how the Sees made their name,
• 18:01
  Speaker 5: basically hearts and minds.
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: If you can win them over to your side, then
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: you have the advantage of eyes and ears, as it were,
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: and also the resources they can supply you in terms
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: of things like food if needs be.
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: The tactic of winning hearts and minds has been widely
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: adopted by special forces ever since, and is now recognized
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: as a vital element when planning an operation. Operating in
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: small numbers, Calvert's troops learned to move quickly and quietly
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: through the jungle.
• 18:40
  Speaker 6: They started to understand that you moved through the jungle silently,
• 18:45
  Speaker 6: You took your time. You know, you didn't rush you.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: They also become highly skilled trackers.
• 18:58
  Speaker 6: Anyone who moves in the jungle leaves some kind of sign,
• 19:02
  Speaker 6: as they called it, and some of them became real experts,
• 19:06
  Speaker 6: some legendary. Even when I was in.
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: The regiment, learning their way around the jungle. They are
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: now as good as their communist enemy, developing skills and
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: instincts that come from living close to nature.
• 19:26
  Speaker 6: They started to develop, you a feeling for the jungle
• 19:30
  Speaker 6: that it wasn't this alien, hostile environment that they were
• 19:34
  Speaker 6: separate from. They started to feel they are actually.
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: Part of it.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: Above all, it was here in the jungle that they
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: would learn the most critical of skills that has now
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: become a hallmark of the Sas.
• 19:49
  Speaker 6: They developed this tremendous sense of patience, you know, because
• 19:54
  Speaker 6: they felt at ease now in the jungle. They could
• 19:57
  Speaker 6: wait for sixty days, you know, and lay that which
• 20:00
  Speaker 6: for sixty days waiting for the enemy to come along.
• 20:03
  Speaker 6: And that was quite remarkable.
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: Really.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: By nineteen fifty two, Calvered Scouts are in good shape.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: All his training is starting to work.
• 20:20
  Speaker 6: They started developing this spree de corps. They started feeling
• 20:23
  Speaker 6: proud of being in this elite uni. They started to
• 20:28
  Speaker 6: get battle discipline.
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: It is now that the Malayan Scouts are allowed to
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: adopt the name of the most famous regiment of them all.
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: The Special Air Service or SAS.
• 20:42
  Speaker 6: Malaya was the most successful. I mean, it was the
• 20:45
  Speaker 6: original and the most successful counter insurgency campaign that Britain
• 20:50
  Speaker 6: was ever involved in.
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: The SAS enjoys increasing success in deep strike, search and
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: destroy jungle missions.
• 21:05
  Speaker 6: The SAS made one hundred and eight kills, but those
• 21:09
  Speaker 6: kills were high quality. You know they were CT leaders.
• 21:13
  Speaker 6: They actually disrupted the CT's campaign by a attacking their
• 21:18
  Speaker 6: lines of communication and b making sure that the jungle
• 21:22
  Speaker 6: was no longer the safe refuge it had been to
• 21:25
  Speaker 6: start off with.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: By nineteen fifty four, across Malaya, the twofold plan of
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: population resettlement and deep penetration jungle ops is paying off.
• 21:42
  Speaker 4: As early as nineteen fifty five, the insurgents realize there's
• 21:47
  Speaker 4: no obvious way of them increasing the insurgency again. They
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: appear to be declining year on year. They're in trouble,
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: and that's the year they come out and try and
• 21:57
  Speaker 4: negotiate a peace, but.
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: It comes too late. Britain pulls the rug from under
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: the terrorists by giving them Malayan people what they want, independence,
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: But independence isn't enough for Chin Peng. He now reveals
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: himself for what he really is, not a freedom fighter
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: but an extremist fighting for a Chinese backed communist state.
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: Chinpeng's forces remained a thorn in the side of the government.
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: They remained a threat. As long as they were existing
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: there in physical form as human beings in the jungle,
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: they're a threat.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: One such threat is Chin Peng's henchmen ah Hoi.
• 22:51
  Speaker 4: We know he may have been an important leader in
• 22:53
  Speaker 4: groups aboup to fifty strong, and that he rose to
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: being a member on the State Committee, which means there
• 23:00
  Speaker 4: was a twenty thousand dollar reward on his head.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: Ah Hooi has a fearsome reputation nicknamed the baby Killer.
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: He wants terrified villagers into supporting him by cutting the
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: unborn fetus from the pregnant wife of an informer Wadia.
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: Operating from the large coastal swamps of Telucanson, just fifty
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: miles north of Kuala Lumpa, his control of the rich
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: rice producing regions means he has ready access to food
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: and can keep fighting, maintaining the fiction that Malaya is
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: still in British hands. He continues his hit and run
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: campaign of terror against colonial rubber plantations. He needs to
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: be stopped. This is a job for the SAS, but
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: with Mike Calvert posted back to British forces, in Germany.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: The job of flushing a Hooi out of the swamps
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: falls to sas Major Harry Thompson.
• 24:20
  Speaker 6: Major Harry Thompson was the Scotsman and a very flamboyant
• 24:24
  Speaker 6: character known for his sort of you know, showman like approach.
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: The mission is codenamed Operations Sweep. Its task take out
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: ahoy and any other cts operating in that area.
• 24:43
  Speaker 4: British policy is to target the Committee members of the
• 24:47
  Speaker 4: Communist Party, who are the brains, the operating part of
• 24:53
  Speaker 4: the mechanism. Their idea is it's no good just killing
• 24:57
  Speaker 4: more and more men. As part of a policy of attrition,
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: you have to remove the leaders.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: To Planning the ob is a formidable task. Thomson's first
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: problem is finding AHOI. Intelligence reveals his gang are well protected,
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: entrenched deep within a formidable swamp that backs onto dense jungle.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: This presents Thompson with a complex challenge.
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: Anybody who's done any military training, oh any activity in
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: the jungle knows that your horizon can be measured in
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: terms less of meters and centimeters. It's extremely difficult to
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: work in that environment, and that's it. The best of time.
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: It is estimated that it takes over six five hundred
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: hours of patrolling to even spot an insurgent, let alone
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: kill one through the trees. Thompson believes the best way
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: to corner our Hoy is the SAS way, using small units,
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: stealth and surprise. The key is to get close to
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: him before he realizes they're even there. Critically, only the
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: Sas have the experience and expertise in a specialist method
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: of insertion tree jumping.
• 26:24
  Speaker 6: The advantage of parachuting, of course, was that you could
• 26:28
  Speaker 6: get there very quickly, and you could drop very quickly
• 26:31
  Speaker 6: into the forest. The drop is only forty forty five seconds,
• 26:37
  Speaker 6: so you're not in the air for very long, so
• 26:40
  Speaker 6: it's unlikely people will see.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: Another advantage of tree jumping is that it will also
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: enable the Sas to catch our Hoi by surprise. By
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: approaching from his blindside the jungle, they're also cutting off
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: his escape route.
• 27:00
  Speaker 6: The gorillas would have expected them to come from the coast. Instead,
• 27:04
  Speaker 6: they came from inland, from the headwaters of the river
• 27:06
  Speaker 6: now moving downstream.
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: This will force the terrorists to move towards the coast,
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: where there will be nowhere to hide.
• 27:20
  Speaker 6: This was all about being unconventional and you know, approaching
• 27:24
  Speaker 6: the enemy in a way that was completely unexpected.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: Thompson has a trick up his sleeve, access to a
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: new piece of technology that he believes will make parachute
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: insertions more successful. The Blackburn Beverly, introduced in nineteen fifty
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: five and by chance in Malaya on a promotional tour.
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: The Blackburn Beverly is a cargo plane and has never
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: been used for parachuting until now. Jumps were done through
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: the side door at a time. As a result, the
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: troop could be strung out in a chain, often overshooting
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: the drop by miles.
• 28:09
  Speaker 5: The Blackburn had a ramp, so the idle thing about
• 28:14
  Speaker 5: that was you could dispatch two sticks off the back
• 28:16
  Speaker 5: of the ramp in half second intervals, so you could
• 28:20
  Speaker 5: get more men in the air half the time. Yeah,
• 28:24
  Speaker 5: it was excellent, excellent Peter kit.
• 28:26
  Speaker 4: To use.
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: On a winter's morning, seventy men of B Squadron sas
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: prepared to board two planes commanding one troop. Is a
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: young twenty four year old Peter de la Billiere DLB,
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: as he became known, goes on to become one of
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: Britain's twentieth century military greats.
• 28:57
  Speaker 6: Peter de la Billiere was a cat In at that time.
• 29:01
  Speaker 6: He was a troop commander in D Squadron.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: Leading one of the other troops is Harry the Bosun, Sanderlands,
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: Boas and Sandy Lands.
• 29:15
  Speaker 6: He was a sergeant of course, not an officer, and
• 29:18
  Speaker 6: he'd had a lot of experience in Malaya. He was
• 29:22
  Speaker 6: an expert tracker. He was a man who was fitted
• 29:27
  Speaker 6: very well in the jungle environment.
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: It is a short half hour flight to the drop zone.
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: Thompson hits on an idea to maintain the element of surprise.
• 29:43
  Speaker 6: The airplanes could be heard from a long way off,
• 29:46
  Speaker 6: so what they did was as soon as they took
• 29:48
  Speaker 6: off from Bays they went straight into the parachute dropping speed.
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: By slowing to dropping speed, the sound of the engine
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: will remain constant. This is designed to fool any listening terrorists.
• 30:05
  Speaker 6: They wouldn't have to change gear as it was they
• 30:08
  Speaker 6: came into the drop zone, so anybody listening or watching
• 30:13
  Speaker 6: would think they were just on a regular flight.
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: Hoping this tactic will pay off, the Sas approach the
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: drop zone.
• 30:22
  Speaker 5: With about five minutes approaching the DZ, you get told
• 30:25
  Speaker 5: to stand up, you check, check and double check. Then
• 30:27
  Speaker 5: the red light goes on, and when the red light
• 30:30
  Speaker 5: goes on, it tells you normally about thirty seconds or
• 30:33
  Speaker 5: a minute to the drop zone.
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: After just thirty minutes in the air, it is time
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: to deploy.
• 30:41
  Speaker 5: When the green light comes on, you know you're often
• 30:44
  Speaker 5: and some.
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: Of you get dispatched, But jumping into trees is always risky. Straightaway.
• 31:00
  Speaker 6: Begin there was one serious casualty, trooper mukahe He unfortunately
• 31:08
  Speaker 6: fell on a mangrove room. His back was just snapped
• 31:13
  Speaker 6: like a twig and he also had broken ribs, and
• 31:17
  Speaker 6: of course this was a casualty that couldn't be fixed
• 31:21
  Speaker 6: in situ.
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: Mokahi needs immediate medical attention, but to get him to
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: a hospital from this remote location requires a casualty evacuation
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: by helicopter.
• 31:38
  Speaker 6: Now, of course there was no landing zone for the helicopter,
• 31:41
  Speaker 6: so that meant that they had to chop a landing
• 31:44
  Speaker 6: zone out of the jungle, which would take time. It
• 31:47
  Speaker 6: was very hard work and of course it would attract
• 31:50
  Speaker 6: the attention of any gorillas who happened to be in
• 31:53
  Speaker 6: the area.
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: In his command post, Major Thompson and his officers are
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: tuned into the patrol's frequency, awaiting news When a request
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: for an evacuation comes in. They know that the whole
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: mission may be compromised, but they have no choice. They'll
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: have to send in a helicopter.
• 32:30
  Speaker 6: They must have felt that the operation had been blown
• 32:32
  Speaker 6: at that stay, and yet, you know, being the essays,
• 32:36
  Speaker 6: they decided to continue.
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: With trooper Mulcahi on board. The helicopter departs, although fearing
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: the mission is blown, De la Billiere and Sanderlands gather
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: their men, check their weapons, and head off into the unknown.
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: Once again, the Sas find themselves up against a fearsome enemy.
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: The jungle.
• 33:15
  Speaker 5: It's nothing like the jungles you see in the movies.
• 33:18
  Speaker 5: It's nothing like sort of the Dactari type or I'm
• 33:21
  Speaker 5: a celebrity, get me out of here type thing. It's impenetrable,
• 33:24
  Speaker 5: it's thick. Everything you touch is wet.
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: The conditions are atrocious. They sloshed through leech infested water,
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: at times up to their necks. The rain pelts down incessantly,
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: dripping from tall trees, and mosquitoes attack continuously.
• 33:54
  Speaker 6: It is exhausting for soldiers. They develop this sense of patience. Yeah,
• 34:00
  Speaker 6: they just slowed themselves down to the rhythm of nature,
• 34:05
  Speaker 6: which is what you need to do if you're going
• 34:07
  Speaker 6: to adapt to that environment.
• 34:11
  Speaker 5: Well, in the jungle, you've got to move very slowly.
• 34:14
  Speaker 5: I remember walking one hundred meters in eight hours once.
• 34:20
  Speaker 5: That shows you how grueling it can be. And that
• 34:22
  Speaker 5: is tactical formation, weapons at hand point mans safety catch off.
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: In such dense jungle. The role of the point man
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: is crucial. It takes time to raise and aim the
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: powerful but cumbersome automatic rifles, so the man leading the
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: patrol carries a lighter weapon.
• 34:47
  Speaker 6: The other innovation was that they carried shotguns, pump action
• 34:52
  Speaker 6: shotguns with nine ball ammunition which actually spread out.
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: You know, when they.
• 34:58
  Speaker 6: Fired it, you'd see the enemy maybe just a flash
• 35:02
  Speaker 6: of khaki in the in the bushes and boom, you know,
• 35:05
  Speaker 6: and you would be almost certain to get it. The
• 35:09
  Speaker 6: nine ball ammunition was absolutely devastating with cut the flesh
• 35:12
  Speaker 6: off people's boat.
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: To maximize their chances of finding Ahoi, the force splits
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: up two troops, one led by Dela Beiliere and the
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: other by Sanderlands head off separately into the jungle and
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: begin the hunt for the enemy. Day after day, both
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: patrols press on, feeling their way through the jungle.
• 35:56
  Speaker 5: When you're patrolling in the jungle, you keep off tracks
• 36:00
  Speaker 5: obviously man made or animal mate. You keep off tracks
• 36:04
  Speaker 5: any known features. You keep off fridge lines. You keep
• 36:07
  Speaker 5: away from river streams, riverbed So you have to zigzag
• 36:12
  Speaker 5: across the country, and you have to cover your tracks
• 36:14
  Speaker 5: as you go.
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: Captain Peter de la Belliere's troop way through the swamp
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: worter for three days.
• 36:25
  Speaker 6: Your equipment starts to disintegrate, starts to go moldy. I
• 36:28
  Speaker 6: mean that actually develops mold, and you know, your clothing
• 36:33
  Speaker 6: starts to fall to pieces. Your boots start to fall
• 36:35
  Speaker 6: to pieces.
• 36:40
  Speaker 5: No socks, PuTTY's wearing socks in the jungle. One would
• 36:43
  Speaker 5: have thought without socks, your feet would have been rubbed raw.
• 36:47
  Speaker 5: But they do get rubbed raw a bit, but then
• 36:50
  Speaker 5: the body develops the scabs, and then you get the
• 36:53
  Speaker 5: rough skins, so the tops of your feet are actually
• 36:57
  Speaker 5: the same as the soules. You know, by the time
• 36:59
  Speaker 5: you come out of the jungle.
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: Even for the essays, these conditions proved too difficult. They
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: realized no one, not even the guerrillas, could endure these conditions,
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: and so move on to drier ground along the riverbank.
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: All the time, concentrating on their tracking skills.
• 37:24
  Speaker 6: It was in Malaya that the SS first developed this
• 37:28
  Speaker 6: very methodical approach to patrolling that you know, you take
• 37:32
  Speaker 6: your time, You do everything carefully, nothing is rushed, everything
• 37:36
  Speaker 6: is important, nothing is missed. You might follow the enemy,
• 37:40
  Speaker 6: follow their sign for day after day after day, you know,
• 37:45
  Speaker 6: for mile after mile after mile, with absolute patience, until
• 37:49
  Speaker 6: you know, make contact with them.
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: During the second week of the mission, their patients and
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: training pays off. They come across remains of a recently
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: abandoned camp, marked by piles of shells from turtles someone
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: had cooked and eaten. This could be the first sign
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: that they're closing in on Ahoi and his murderous gang.
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: News of the abandoned camp is relayed to Thompson recording.
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: Thompson's convinced the terrorists left after hearing the helicopter evacuation.
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: He believes they're making a run for it. He decides
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: to try and cut them off ten miles further downstream.
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: In this environment, regular radio contact is vital.
• 38:45
  Speaker 6: It's really only in the Malaya campaign that you know,
• 38:48
  Speaker 6: communications or signals as it's called in the army comes
• 38:52
  Speaker 6: into its own and they came to realize it was
• 38:56
  Speaker 6: of crucial importance in the jungle, especially because you've got
• 39:00
  Speaker 6: this huge area where nobody can see each other. Nobody
• 39:04
  Speaker 6: really knows what's going on.
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: Without radio communications, it would be impossible for Thompson to
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: coordinate an orderly plan of attack. He radio Sandalands, giving
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: him map references and a position to head to to
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: cut off AHOI.
• 39:29
  Speaker 5: You go what they call hard routine. You've always got
• 39:33
  Speaker 5: your weapon with you, and it's always loaded. There's always
• 39:35
  Speaker 5: one up the spout. You know exactly where your ammunition is.
• 39:38
  Speaker 5: You know where you going. Everyone knows in the patrol
• 39:40
  Speaker 5: where they are at any one particular time.
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: Believing they have the terrorists on the run, the Sas
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: think it's just a matter of finding them.
• 39:55
  Speaker 6: Whenever a man moves through the jungle, he always leaves sign,
• 40:00
  Speaker 6: always something.
• 40:01
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 40:01
  Speaker 6: It might be a disturbed bush, a bush which has
• 40:05
  Speaker 6: been carked. It might be insects which have been disturbed.
• 40:09
  Speaker 6: You know, something really tiny that you'd really have to
• 40:11
  Speaker 6: look out for.
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: Sandaland's patrol cautiously advances on the grid reference given to
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: him by Thompson.
• 40:24
  Speaker 5: You're like a machine, slowly going through the jungle. I mean,
• 40:28
  Speaker 5: you can't have a laugh on a joke. There's no
• 40:30
  Speaker 5: talking you whisper.
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: In the jungle.
• 40:32
  Speaker 5: You do hand signals, and all your hand signals are
• 40:34
  Speaker 5: very slow and precise because sign noise gives you away,
• 40:42
  Speaker 5: gives your position away.
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: Then a piece of luck, they come across a local
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: tribesman and thanks to their hearts and minds training, he
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: gives them some vital intelligence. He has seen a couple
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: of Ahois men a few miles downstream. They can now
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: be certain that they're closing in on the enemy. They
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: start to employ those critical sas skills stealth and silence.
• 41:20
  Speaker 5: When you're going into battle, basically going into the jungle,
• 41:23
  Speaker 5: going to do a ctr close target wreckie on the
• 41:26
  Speaker 5: enemy camp or whether you're going to close with the enemy,
• 41:29
  Speaker 5: that is where it becomes very very difficult. Special skills
• 41:33
  Speaker 5: then come out of men. I mean, that is why
• 41:36
  Speaker 5: the Sas are probably one of the best jungle fighters
• 41:38
  Speaker 5: in the world.
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: Creeping up to the location, they spot the terrorists on
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: the other side of a stream.
• 42:00
  Speaker 6: They got within about fifty yards of the communists and
• 42:11
  Speaker 6: they opened fire.
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: One of our Hois gang flees into the jungle, leaving
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: the other dead. Sandaland sets off in pursuit.
• 42:24
  Speaker 6: They actually managed to follow the tracks of the one
• 42:27
  Speaker 6: who'd run off for about five miles until they found
• 42:31
  Speaker 6: his camp.
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: But when Sandalands gets there, the camp is abandoned, but
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: it does give up valuable intelligence.
• 42:45
  Speaker 6: They did establish definitely that there were cets still in
• 42:50
  Speaker 6: that area, and that gave a great probability that our
• 42:54
  Speaker 6: Hoi was in the area.
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: Convince, since he can corner our Hoi, Thompson calls in reinforcements.
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: The regular army and police throw a tight cordon around
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: this swamp area. The net is closing in. Three days later,
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: there is a breakthrough, hands up, keep coming forward, Keep
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: coming forward, and known associate of our Hoi approaches a
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: patrol saying her unit is almost out of food. Though
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: exhausted and starving, she refuses to give away a hoy's position.
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: Sandalands radio is the situation to Thompson. Thompson has a problem.
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: He knows our Hoi must be nearby, but he doesn't
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: know where in this swamp. It could still take weeks
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: to flush him out. He decides to bluff unless they
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: surrender now. He tells the woman he'll bomb the camp
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: within forty eight hours, even though he doesn't know where
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: it is the bluff works. She heads back into the
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: jungle to persuade a Hoi to surrender.
• 44:19
  Speaker 6: I think that the CTS by that time had more
• 44:22
  Speaker 6: or less had it, and when they realized a that
• 44:24
  Speaker 6: they were surrounded, they couldn't get out b the British
• 44:28
  Speaker 6: were threatening to bomb them. I think that was really
• 44:32
  Speaker 6: the endgame for them. The campaign was over and you
• 44:36
  Speaker 6: know the British should want Basically.
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: The following day, the SAS take the surrender of a
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: group of five, including notorious CT leader Ah Hoi. He
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: had disguised himself in a woman's silk jacket and straw hat.
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: For Thompson, this is a great result.
• 45:02
  Speaker 6: The Operation Suite was the culmination of everything that the
• 45:06
  Speaker 6: SSAS had learned in Malaya. It was particularly hard terrain.
• 45:11
  Speaker 6: It was mostly operating in swamps, which were the most
• 45:15
  Speaker 6: difficult areas to operate in, and it employed parachuting, in
• 45:20
  Speaker 6: which was an SAS thing. It employed all the techniques
• 45:25
  Speaker 6: of patrolling, tracking and so on, you know, silent movement,
• 45:30
  Speaker 6: all those things they'd learned in the years of the emergency.
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: Over the next couple of years, the remaining terrorists are defeated,
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: either surrendering, being starved into submission, or fleeing to Thailand.
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: The twelve year long undeclared war was over. This marked
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: the beginnings of the glory days for the Sas. From
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: the shaky start that was the Malayan Scouts, these men
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: went on to overcome countless challenges and in the process
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: became the elite force we recognized today.
• 46:16
  Speaker 2: They were the inception of what's now twenty two essays,
• 46:21
  Speaker 2: four man patrols, the importance of local knowledge, all this
• 46:27
  Speaker 2: stuff now that we consider to be absolutely essential, the
• 46:31
  Speaker 2: necessity live off the land, to be familiar with the
• 46:34
  Speaker 2: people amongst whom you operate. This is when these ideas
• 46:38
  Speaker 2: came about.
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: For those involved in operations Sweep, there would be varying consequences.
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: Ahoi and Chin Peng were both deported to Thailand. Chinpeng,
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: the mastermind behind the crisis in Malaya, died in Bangkok
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: on the sixteenth of September twenty thirteen. For his role
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: in capturing Ahi Boswain, Sandalands was awarded the Military Medal.
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: Peter de la Belliere would go on to a glittering
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: military career, including becoming Director of Special Forces and the
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: Commander in chief of the British Army during the nineteen
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: ninety Gulf War. As for the SAS, with a reputation
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: second to none. They are experts in counter terrorism and
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: special operations, ready to serve at a moment's notice anywhere
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: in the world where there is trouble
• 48:07
  Speaker 6: Ling