During World War II, agents of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) infiltrated Japanese-occupied Malaya. There they worked with Malayan guerrilla groups, including the communist-sponsored Malayan Peoples Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA), regarded as the precursor of the communist insurgent army of the Malayan Emergency. This book traces the development of SOE's Malayan operations, and analyses the interactions between SOE and the various guerrilla groups. It explores the reasons for and the extent of Malay disillusionment with Japanese rule, and demonstrates how guerrilla service acted as a training ground for some later Malay leaders of the independent nation. However, the reports written about the MPAJA by SOE operatives just after the war failed to draw out the likely future threat posed by the communists to the returning colonial administration. Rebecca Kenneison shows that the British possessed a wealth of local information, but failed to convert it into active intelligence in the period prior to the Malayan Emergency. In doing so she provides new insights into the impact of SOE on Malayan politics, the nature of Malayan communism's challenge to colonial rule, and British post-war intelligence in Malaya.

In the mountains and jungles of occupied Burma during World War II, British special forces launched a series of secret operations, assisted by parts of the Burmese population. The men of the SOE, trained in sabotage and guerrilla warfare, worked in the jungle, deep behind enemy lines, to frustrate the puppet Burmese government of Ba Maw and continue the fight against Hirohito's Japan in a theatre starved of resources. Here, Richard Duckett uses newly declassified documents from the National Archives to reveal for the first time the extent of British special forces' involvement - from the 1941 operations until beyond Burma's independence from the British Empire in 1948. Duckett argues convincingly that `Operation Character' and `Operation Billet' - large SOE missions launched in support of General Slim's XIV Army offensive to liberate Burma - rank among the most militarily significant of the SOE's secret missions. Featuring a wealth of photographs and accompanying material never before published, including direct testimony recorded by veterans of the campaign and maps from the SOE files, The SOE in Burma tells a compelling story of courage and struggle in during World War II

Annotation. This bibliographical reference to Malaysia, updated from 1986, covers 1,052 English-language source materials. Entries are arranged into 42 categories, such as economics, languages, recreation, and environment. Annotations are 50-150 words. The volume includes an introduction, a glossary of foreign terms, and a list of abbreviations and acronyms. Indexed by author, title, and subject, and includes four maps. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

This guide details the vast amount of material relating to the Second World War held in the Public Record Office, the Foreign Office and the armed services. It explains the wartime function of each department, as well as listing the minister responsible and the senior civil servants.

The Gurkhas are a famed but mysterious band of warriors whose story has always been told by outsiders. For the first time, Gurkhas at war, the result of in-depth interviews with Gurkha soldiers past and present, depicts key military campaigns of the twentieth century in the words of the ment who were there.