Second edition, updated from the first of 1952 to take into account the escalating severity of the Malayan Emergency, containing "restricted" material not to be divulged to the press or unauthorized persons. The first and second editions of this handbook are equally uncommon in commerce. This handbook was the guiding document for British counter-insurgency operations emergency. Copies were distributed to British and Commonwealth battalions, including Malay, Fijian, and Gurkha units. Chapters cover topics such as an introduction to the region and its communist forces, platoon organization, weapons and equipment, patrols and formations, jungle navigation, "immediate action drills", ambushes, wireless communications, intelligence gathering, and first aid and preventative medicine. In his foreword to the first edition, General Sir Gerald Templer, appointed by Churchill as High Commissioner to the Malayan Federation and dubbed the "Tiger of Malaya", stressed four key points: "the absolute necessity for the adoption of the immediate action drills laid down in this book"; "the vital importance of accurate and quick shooting"; "the need for offensive action"; and "the necessity in operations of this nature of discipline" (p. ix). A new, additional foreword by Lieutenant-General Sir Geoffrey Bourne, the top British commander in Malaya from 1954 to 1956, likewise emphasizes the importance of effective shooting. "As General Templar said, 'if only we can double the ratio of kills per contact we will soon put an end to the shooting in Malaya'". Provenance: signed "John Downing", perhaps the Australian wing commander (b. 1934), on the inner front cover. Downing trained as a fighter pilot throughout the 1950s and assumed command of Number 2 Squadron at US Air Force Airbase Phan Rang in South Vietnam in 1970. The squadron had previously served in Malaya, and Downing perhaps recognized the value of this handbook for operations in the Vietnamese jungle. Octavo. Original dark green moiré cloth boards fixed with posts through punch holes as issued, front cover lettered in yellow. Map on inside front cover of Federation of Malaya and Singapore showing railways and international and interstate boundaries, diagrams in text. Cloth lightly soiled and worn from field use, lettering rubbed, superficial split to rear inner hinge, still firm, occasional skinning and toning. A very good copy.
