The British Army, the Gurkhas and Cold War Strategy in the Far East, 1947–1954

354 Pages·2002·1.96 MB·English

by  Raffi Gregorian (auth.)

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
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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
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ISBN 978-1-349-42114-5 ISBN 978-0-230-28716-7 (eBook)
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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
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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 Amethystand 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