1st Battalion on Patrol. Enlarge Image

In June 1948 the Malayan Communist Party commenced a guerilla war to end British rule in Malaya (since incorporated in Malaysia), and the Colonial Government declared a ' State of Emergency '.

Operating from the jungle and supported by some members of the Chinese community living mainly in squatter camps, the Communist terrorists or 'CTs' as they were known, carried out ambushes and assassinations, attacked Police Stations, road & rail communications, tin mines, and plantations usually termed 'estates'. British and Commonwealth Armed Forces together with the Malayan Police responded with ever increasing effectiveness, and in a campaign lasting twelve years, progressively defeated the terrorists, and in 1960 the 'Emergency' ended.