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Studies in Military and Strategic History General Editor: Michael Dockrill, Professor of Diplomatic History, King’s College, London Published titles include: Nigel John Ashton EISENHOWER, MACMILLAN AND THE PROBLEM OF NASSER Anglo-American Relations and Arab Nationalism, 1955–59 Christopher M. Bell THE ROYAL NAVY, SEAPOWER AND STRATEGY BETWEEN THE WARS Peter Bell CHAMBERLAIN, GERMANY AND JAPAN, 1933–34 G. H. Bennett BRITISH FOREIGN POLICY DURING THE CURZON PERIOD, 1919–24 David A. Charters THE BRITISH ARMY AND JEWISH INSURGENCY IN PALESTINE, 1945–47 David Clayton IMPERIALISM REVISITED Political and Economic Relations between Britain and China, 1950–54 Michael J. Cohen and Martin Kolinsky (editors) BRITAIN AND THE MIDDLE EAST IN THE 1930s: Security Problems, 1935–39 Paul Cornish BRITISH MILITARY PLANNING FOR THE DEFENCE OF GERMANY, 1945–50 Michael Dockrill BRITISH ESTABLISHMENT PERSPECTIVES ON FRANCE, 1936–40 Robert Frazier ANGLO-AMERICAN RELATIONS WITH GREECE The Coming of the Cold War, 1942–47 John P. S. Gearson HAROLD MACMILLAN AND THE BERLIN WALL CRISIS, 1958–62 John Gooch ARMY, STATE AND SOCIETY IN ITALY, 1870–1915 G. A. H. Gordon BRITISH SEA POWER AND PROCUREMENT BETWEEN THE WARS A Reappraisal of Rearmament Raffi Gregorian THE BRITISH ARMY, THE GURKHAS AND COLD WAR STRATEGY IN THE FAR EAST, 1947–1954 Stephen Hartley THE IRISH QUESTION AS A PROBLEM IN BRITISH FOREIGN POLICY, 1914–18 Brian Holden Reid J. F. C. FULLER: Military Thinker Stewart Lone JAPAN’S FIRST MODERN WAR Army and Society in the Conflict with China, 1894–95 Thomas R. Mockaitis BRITISH COUNTERINSURGENCY, 1919–60 T. R. Moreman THE ARMY IN INDIA AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF FRONTIER WARFARE, 1849–1947 Kendrick Oliver KENNEDY, MACMILLAN AND THE NUCLEAR TEST-BAN DEBATE, 1961–63 Elspeth Y. O’Riordan BRITAIN AND THE RUHR CRISIS G. D. Sheffield LEADERSHIP IN THE TRENCHES Officer–Man Relations, Morale and Discipline in the British Army in the Era of the First World War Adrian Smith MICK MANNOCK, FIGHTER PILOT Myth, Life and Politics Martin Thomas THE FRENCH NORTH AFRICAN CRISIS Colonial Breakdown and Anglo-French Relations, 1945–62 Simon Trew BRITAIN, MIHAILOVIC AND THE CHETNIKS, 1941–42 Steven Weiss ALLIES IN CONFLICT Anglo-American Strategic Negotiations, 1938–44 Studies in Military and Strategic History Series Standing Order ISBN 978-0-333-71046-3 (outside North America only) You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing order. Please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write to us at the address below with your name and address, the title of the series and the ISBN quoted above. Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, England The British Army, the Gurkhas and Cold War Strategy in the Far East, 1947–1954 Raffi Gregorian Senior Adviser US Department of State Washington USA © Raffi Gregorian 2002 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2002 978-0-333-80148-2 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his rights to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2002 by PALGRAVE Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE is the new global academic imprint of St. Martin’s Press LLC Scholarly and Reference Division and Palgrave Publishers Ltd (formerly Macmillan Press Ltd). ISBN 978-1-349-42114-5 ISBN 978-0-230-28716-7 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230287167 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Gregorian, Raffi, 1964– The British Army, the Gurkhas and Cold War strategy in the Far East, 1947–1954 / Raffi Gregorian. p. cm. – (Studies in military and strategic history) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-349-42114-5 (cloth) 1. Great Britain. Army – History – 20th century. 2. Great Britain – Military policy. 3. Gurkha soldiers. 4. Cold War. 5. East Asia – Strategic aspects. I. Title. II. Series. UA649 .G683 2001 355’.033041’095–dc21 2001036345 10987654321 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 Contents List of Tables ix List of Figures x Acknowledgements xi Preface xiii Glossary of Abbreviations xvi 1 Introduction 1 Sources 6 Approach 9 2 ‘Future Defence Policy’: the Far East as Strategic Backwater, 1945–48 11 Introduction 11 Global strategy 18 From SEAC to FARELF: military strategy in the Far East, 1945–48 24 3 National Service, the Gurkhas and the Reorganization of the British Army, 1946–48 32 Development of the postwar British Army 33 Filling the manpower gap: the origins of the British Army Gurkhas 36 GHQ FARELF, local forces, and the ‘Gurkha Project’ 42 Development of the Gurkha division 44 Teething pains: the Gurkhas arrive in Malaya 46 The Brigade of Gurkhas 48 Conclusion 49 4 FARELF and the Malayan Emergency, 1948–50 51 The Communist threat 52 FARELF and the British response 54 ‘Ferret Force’ 58 v vi Contents Despatch of the ‘fire brigade’ 59 Training 61 The Gurkha Division 62 Local defense forces 63 A new C-in-C shakes things up 65 A fillip to the MCP: Communist victory in China 67 Renewed call for reinforcements 68 Conclusion 74 5 ‘To the Last Round’: the Defense of Hong Kong, 1948–50 77 The 1946 Hong Kong defense policy 78 Rethinking Hong Kong defense policy 80 A Communist threat on the horizon 82 Colonial Office jitters 83 The garrison’s role and the reinforcement dilemma 84 Assessing the strategic implications 87 HMS Amethyst and a brigade group for Hong Kong 90 Contemplating war with China 91 Scoping the effects of suppositional reinforcements 93 The decision to defend 95 Thinking in the long term 98 Military preparations in Hong Kong 99 Thinking about Hong Kong in a global war 101 Hong Kong and British recognition of the People’s Republic 102 Robbing Peter to pay Paul 105 Conclusion 107 6 Adapting to Reality: the Far East and Cold War Strategy, 1950–54 109 The strategic impact of a Communist China: the view from Whitehall 110 The view from Singapore 113 Singapore’s call for coordinated containment 114 The Colombo conference 116 ANZAM 117 Updating Far East strategy and policy 118 The Far East and the ‘global strategy and defence policy’ of 1950 119 Contents vii ‘In light of the present situation’: updating DO(50)45 122 The strategic reappraisal of 1952 125 The ‘Radical Review’ 128 Conclusion 133 7 Between the American Scylla and Chinese Charybdis: Hong Kong, 1950–54 135 Hong Kong, FARELF and the Korean commitment 136 Land forces for Korea 138 Reassessing the threat 142 Strategic deception and a new policy for Hong Kong 143 The United States, Hong Kong, and the war in Korea 147 Mixed signals 148 Getting Hong Kong on the allied agenda 151 ‘Indefensible’ 152 The US and Hong Kong: from deception to commitment? 155 Five Power planning for Hong Kong 159 Reduction of the garrison 161 Conclusion 163 8 Manpower, the Strategic Reserve and the Malayan Emergency, 1950–54 165 Malaya at the start of the Korean War 166 Malaya, colonial troops, and the new strategic reserve 167 A Federation Army 169 India, Nepal and the British Army Gurkhas 172 The Communist campaign against the British Gurkhas 175 The end of the Gurkhas? 176 Conclusion 178 9 Siam and the Commonwealth Defense of Malaya 180 Siam in relation to the defense of Malaya 181 The ‘Songkhla position’ 182 Planning begins under changing strategic assumptions 185 Plan IRONY 187 Revised force requirements 188 A change in Allied strategy and new thinking about reinforcements 189 viii Contents The role of deception 190 Plan RINGLET 191 Ministerial briefing 192 Reassessing the initiating triggers 193 The improving situation in Siam 194 Plan WARRIOR 196 A Commonwealth role in the defense of Malaya 198 Conclusion 200 10 Limited Liability and the Defense of Southeast Asia, 1950–54 203 The importance of French Indochina to British Southeast Asia 204 American aid for Indochina 205 Thinking about collective security 206 Tripartite talks 209 The effects of a possible French withdrawal in 1952 212 Five Power Staff Agency (FPSA) 214 Dien Bien Phu and the American call for ‘united action’ 215 The US request for British intervention 218 The Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty 221 Conclusion 222 11 Conclusion 225 Strategic sufficiency 230 Epilogue 234 Notes 237 Select Bibliography 308 Index 323 List of Tables 1.1 Declining power’s beliefs about interacting with adversaries 4 3.1 Strength of the armed forces, 1945–48 34 6.1 Expansion of the British Army, 1950–52 123 7.1 The radical review and the Hong Kong garrison 162 8.1 Number and source of infantry battalions in Malaya, 1948–54 172 11.1 Actual and planned deployments of British divisions in 1948 229 11.2 Actual and planned deployments of British divisions in 1955 229 ix List of Figures 1.1 London–Singapore Central Defence Organization 8 2.1 Distribution of the British Army as at 31 December 1946 13 3.1 FARELF order of battle in Malaya and Singapore, June 1948 47 11.1 Strength of principal overseas commands, 1948–54 232 11.2 Strength of home and overseas commands, 1948–54 233 x Acknowledgements A work of this magnitude could not have been completed without assistance from a variety of advisers, friends, colleagues, and officials.

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