7 NOVEMBER
ELEVEN MALAYAN DETAINEES SHOT DEAD ‘WHILE TRYING TO ESCAPE’
© IWM (SE 6126)
[ 7 November 1948 ]
On 7 November 1948, during a counter insurgency ‘sweep’ of the ‘communist infested’ Muar Lenga district of Johor in southern Malaya, British troops shot dead eleven insurgents. They claimed they had been trying to escape. Another nine men were shot dead, allegedly for the same reason, over the next three days.1
SAPPERS DESTROY CIVILIAN BUILDINGS IN HAIFA IN A PUNITIVE OPERATION
[ 7 November 1938 ]
According to press reports, a large number of buildings in Haifa were destroyed by British sappers as part of a punitive operation. It followed what was described as a ‘shooting incident’ in the eastern quarter of the city. The focus of the punitive demolitions was along the main road where there incident had taken place and according to the Yorkshire Post, ‘as the demolition by sappers went on, explosions could be heard all over the town.’ The newspaper added that Arab prisoners were forced to clean up the debris, while soldiers of the Royal West Kent Regiment stood guard.2
FOOTNOTES
- John Newsinger, British Counterinsurgency, Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2015, pp. 49-50, ‘Seaforths hold 40 Communists,’ The Torbay Express, 8 November 1948, p. 1 and ‘Seaforths in Big Scale Attack on Malaya Reds,’ The Shields Daily News, 8 November 1948, p. 1.
- ‘Punitive Measures by Military,’ The Yorkshire Post, 8 November 1938, p. 12.
Please feel welcome to post comments below. If you have any questions please email alisdare@gmail.com
© 2020 Alisdare Hickson All rights reserved