This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from the King’s Research Portal at https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/ The development of British counterinsurgency policies and doctrine, 1945-52. Jones, Timothy Llewellyn The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. END USER LICENCE AGREEMENT Unless another licence is stated on the immediately following page this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work Under the following conditions: Attribution: You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Non Commercial: You may not use this work for commercial purposes. No Derivative Works - You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. Any of these conditions can be waived if you receive permission from the author. Your fair dealings and other rights are in no way affected by the above. Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 11. Oct. 2021 The development of British counterinsurgency policies and doctrine, 1945-52. Timothy Liewellyn Jones. Submitted for the degree of PH.D. King's College, University of London. 1991. -1- LONDON \uN Abstract: The thesis explores the period of seminal change in British counterinsurgency [COIN] policies and doctrine, 1945-52. The first chapter outlines the nature of insurgency and COIN to indicate the requirements of successful COIN. The next focuses on British involvement in Internal-Security tasks from 1900-45, as this experience was a key factor in the shaping of postwar COIN. The subsequent three chapters identify the institutions that advanced COIN thought and policies, and analyses how the line taken by each agency was advanced after the War. The influences playing on them included individual progressive thought that displaced accepted convention and overcame institutional conservatism. And, although not hitherto fully appreciated, wartime experience of unconventional warfare and unorthodox forces, and concurrent postwar COIN campaigns, were also crucial influences. These inspired political and, more particularly, civic action policies, designed to gain popular support, notably in Greece and Malaya by 1948/9. Further, while the transformation of military policy took longer to effect, significant progress was achieved in Palestine and Greece by 1947, and especially in Malaya by 1950. The British political-institutional system worked against the rapid transfer of lessons from one COIN arena to another, but individuals sought inspiration from the recent past, and by 1948 all agencies employed 'expert' COIN advisors, which became a principle for later COIN campaigns. Moreover, by 1950 a new body of COIN policies and doctrine was formed, and refined by 1952, notably in the military sphere. Traditional policies were not wholly discarded, but a new 'Hearts-and- Minds' doctrine was formulated, and this was a major advance on the previous British COIN line. A short conclusion summarises the determinants that helped and hindered the development of this corpus of fresh COIN wisdom. -2- Contents: Title-page 1 Abstract 2 Contents 3 Source note 4 Acronyms used in the text 5 Chapter 1: The nature of counterinsurgency 10 Chapter 2: The heritage- British Internal-Security policy and doctrine from the turn of the century to 1945 33 Map 1: British action against the postwar rebels, 1945-52 Map 2: Palestine 1945-7 90 Chapter 3: The development of British counterinsurgency policies and doctrine, 1945-7, with special regard to the campaign in Palestine 91 Map 3: Greece 1945-9 169 Chapter 4: Innovation versus status quo in British counterinsurgency policies and doctrine, 1945-9, with special regard to the British 'minimal commitment' to Greece 170 Map 4: The Federation of Malaya 1948-52 254 Chapter 5: The development of new counterinsurgency policies and doctrine, and the 'Hearts-and-Minds' line, 1948-52, with special regard to the Malaya 'Emergency' 255 Chapter 6: Counterinsurgency developments in retrospect362 List of appendices, 1-12 376 Appendix 1: Notes on fifty of the principal characters involved with British COIN, 1945-52 377 Appendices: 2-12 389 Bibliographical note 401 Bibliography 402 Addendum 463 -3- Source note: Records from numerous archive sources are referred to in the text, and theyare assigned the acronyms below. Public Records Office of England and Wales: Kew, London. AIR Air Ministry CO Colonial Office CAB Cabinet DEFE Defence papers, of the Chiefs of Staff and committees FO Foreign Office INF Ministry of Information PREM Premier's Office WO War Office Other institutions: AHB Air Historical Branch, Ministry of Defence, London BLPES British Library of Political and Economic Science, London School of Economics and Political Science, Holborn, London GBHQ Guards Brigade HQ, Wellington Barracks, London GMW Gurkha Museum, Peninsula Barracks, Winchester IOLR India Office Library and Records, Lambeth, London IWM Imperial War Museum, Lambeth, London KCLL King's College Old Library, Strand, London LHC Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King's College, Strand, London MODL Old Library, Ministry of Defence, Whitehall, London NEC Middle East Centre, St. Anthony's College, Oxford NAM National Army Museum, Chelsea, London PRONI Public Records Office of Northern Ireland, Belfast RHO Rhodes House Library, Oxford RCS Royal Commonwealth Society Library, Charing Cross, London RMAS Staff College Library, Camberley, Sandhurst SRM Suffolk Regiment Museum, Gibraltar Barracks, Bury St. Edmunds -4- Acronyms used in the text: A AAHQ,Mal. Advanced Air HQ, Malaya, RAF operations centre in Malaya, 1948-9 AAPG Allied Advisory Planning Group, a US-UK aid body in Greece AFHQ Allied Forces Headquarters, wartime Command AHQ Air HQ, a local RAF Command AIS Allied (later Anglo-Greek) Information Service AMAG American Military Aid Group, Greece AOC Air Officer Commanding ARFM Annual Report of the Federation of Malaya B BCPU British Civil Police Unit, Greece BDCC British Defence Coordination Committee, made up of the Services and regional civil authorities, responsible to the Cabinet for coordinating all military activities BGS Brigadier, General Staff BLO British Liaison Officer, part of a BLU in Greece BLU British Liaison Unit, attached to GNA BMM(G) British Military Mission, Greece BPPM British Police and Prisons Mission, Greece BTG British Troops, Greece, local army Command C CAR Colonial Annual Report CAT Chinese Assault Team, in Malaya CDC Cabinet Defence Committee CGS Chief of the General Staff CGSEA Commissioner-General, South-East Asia, responsible for representing the Cabinet on regional defence issues Ch.Sec. Government Chief Secretary CIGS Chief of the Imperial General Staff CID Criminal Investigation Department, police -5- C-in-C Commander in Chief CO Colonial Office CoS Chief of Staff, in army Command COS IC Chiefs of Staff! Committee CPO Chief Police Officer CR0 Commonwealth Relations Office CSC Central Security Committee, Palestine D DI Director of Intelligence, Malaya DIACP Duties in Aid of the Civil Power DM1 War Office Directorate of Military Intelligence DM0 War Office Directorate of Military Operations DMT War Office Directorate of Military Training DO Director of Operations, guiding security force operations DOD DO Directive Dept.PR Department of Public Relations DSE Democratic Army of Greece, armed communist insurgents DSO Defence Security Office, local Security Service staff DWEC District War Executive Committee, Malaya E EAM National Liberation Front, a Greek Leftwing body EIS Emergency Information Service, Malaya ELAS National Popular Liberation Army, a Greek resistance army of the Left EPC Emergency Publicity Committee, Malaya F FEAF Far Eastern Air Forces, RAF theatre Command FEC Federal Executive Council, Malaya FELF Far Eastern Land Forces, army theatre Command FLC Federal Legislative Council, Malaya FLCMCP FLC Minutes and Council Papers FO Foreign Office FSS Field Security Section, army -6- FTC Far East Training Centre, Kota Tinggi, Malaya G GGS Greek General Staff GHQMEF General Headquarters, Middle East Forces, a wartime theatre Command GHQMELF GE-IQ Middle East Land Forces, postwar army theatre Command GNA Greek National Army GOC General Officer Commanding GSI General Staff Intelligence, responsibile for army intelligence tasks GSO General Staff Officer H HC High Commissioner, of colonial administration HO Home Office HQPa1. Local army HQ, Palestine HQMa1. Local army HQ, Malaya I IR Intelligence Review IRD Information Research Department, Foreign Office ISI Internal Security Instruction ISUM Intelligence summary IZL Irgun Zvei Leumi, or National Military Organisation; Palestine insurgents J JGF Jungle Guerilla Force, Malaya JIPC Joint Information and Propaganda Committee, Malaya JPS Joint Planning Staff of the COS JUSMAPG Joint US Military Advisory and Planning Group, Greece K KKE Communist Party of Greece L LHI Lochmei He'rut Israel, or Lehi, Fighters for the -7- Freedom of Israel, Stern Gang; Palestine insurgents M MA Military Assistant METP9/13 Middle East Training Pamphlet by GHQMELF M15 Security Service, UK MoD Ministry