Malaya A.Milward 1951-52

Recollections of a surrendered Chinese Communist Bandit, with whom I spent many hours chatting to as he spoke very good English and was very friendly.

I first asked him how he became involved with the communist terrorists fighting in the jungle, this was his story.

“ I was working at a tin min, but became very unhappy, my boss made my life a complete misery and I hated every minute of every day.

One day a worker at the mine could see how unhappy I was and said, ‘why don’t you join our comrades in the jungle and help to drive
the British out of Malaya?’

He made it sound so exciting, plenty of food, girls, a good time and no nasty bosses. He talked me into giving it a try, and arranged
with the bandits to come to the edge of the jungle and take me into their camp, deep in the jungle.

This was the biggest mistake of my life! I had jumped out of the frying pan into the fire. To start with, everyone was starving, the only
woman belonged to the gang leader who was very vicious and ordered that anyone trying to leave the camp would be shot.

I was now in a desperate state and was trying to find a way out of the mess I had put myself in. Eventually I decided on a very risky plan, it
was to make myself seriously ill, as I knew that a sick bandit was a hindrance to the rest of the gang.

I proceeded to eat berries that I knew to be poisonous, and as a result became very ill. The gang leader instructed that I was to be taken to
the edge of the jungle, and I was to make my way to the nearest village and report to the local doctor who was an undercover communist supporter,
but unknown to the police.

When I had been treated and returned to health, I was to return to camp in the jungle,
but instead of going to the doctor I gave myself up to the police, who promptly passed me over to the military. As soon as I was able to do so,
I lead a British patrol to the bandit camp and an engagement ensured. From that moment on I was
a condemned man, known to all the local people including many undercover communist supporters, and also the bandit death squads who were there
to eliminate any police informers.

As a result, for my own safety, I was given accommodation in a military base camp and agreed to act as a guide to lead the British troops to
the camps in the jungle that I had visited while being with the bandits.

I was also asked if I would agree to pick out any communist undercover suspect villagers and rubber tappers, from the safety of an armed troop carrier. I fulfilled all the requests of the military commands then was given a new identity and safe passage to a place of my choice”.

It so happened that the young bandit when he regained his health, was handed over to the 1st Btn Worcestershire Reg, of which I was a regimental signaller, attached to any jungle
patrol that required one. The mission of the jungle patrol I was with, was to assist the young
bandit in locating the camp deep in the jungle where he had been a member of a group of communist bandits.

He led the way through the jungle until we were getting closer to the camp, then handed over to our leading scout, who was armed with a Bren light
machine gun.

The patrol lads were travelling light so that they could move fast down the narrow pig trail, while I had a 68 Wireless set with a heavy battery to carry as well as my rifle and 50
rounds etc. Suddenly a burst of firing came from the front of the patrol, and I was left all alone as the lads raced into the camp after the bandits.

I had no choice but to follow the path into the camp which was empty apart from at least five escape trails, strewn with discarded weapons, packs etc. As I was unable to help the lads
in their clash with the bandits, I proceeded to explore what was in the packs which was mainly items to help them survive in the jungle. One pack contained anti British propaganda, which had been printed on a printing press set up in a bandit camp somewhere in the jungle.

I could not let an opportunity like this pass unnoticed, as the leaflets helped me to understand the reason for my being stuck in the middle of the Malayan jungle, more than 10,000 miles from home and liable to be killed at
any moment! So I promptly acquired a few samples of the leaflets to take home if ever I made it.

I collected the rifle, ammunition, packs and Japanese grenades etc together, and waited for the lads of the patrol to come back to the bandit camp, and then return to our base camp.

It never ceases to amaze me when I think back to that incident in the jungle that I few days later I received a letter from my mother with a clip from the Sentinel Evening News describing the event that I had just been involved in! The date was Whit Sun June 1st and Whit Monday June
2nd 1952.

See copies of the actual documents taken from the bandit packs after a skirmish with our patrol.