Military history of Australia during the Malayan Emergency

The Malayan Emergency (Anti-British National Liberation War) was a guerrilla war fought between Commonwealth armed forces and the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA), the military arm of the Malayan Communist Party, from 1948 to 1960 in Malaya. Australia's commitment to the emergency lasted 13 years, between 1950 and 1963, with army, air force and naval units serving. The Malayan Emergency was the longest continuous military commitment in Australia's history. Thirty-nine Australians were killed and 27 wounded.

The Australian Government sent Royal Australian Air Force Dakota transport aircraft of No. 38 Suadron and Lincoln bombers of No. 1 Squadron to Malaya in June 1950. The 2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (2 RAR), arrived in 1955.^[1] The battalion was later be replaced by 3 RAR, which in turn was replaced by 1 RAR. In 1955, the RAAF extended Butterworth air base, from which Canberra bombers of No. 2 Squadron (replacing No. 1 Squadron) and CAC Sabres of No. 78 Wing carried out ground attack missions against the guerillas.

The Royal Australian Navy destroyers Warramunga and Arunta joined the force in June 1955. Between 1956 and 1960, the aircraft carriers Melbourne and Sydney and destroyers Anzac, Quadrant, Queenborough, Quiberon, Quickmatch, Tobruk, Vampire, Vendetta and Voyager were attached to the Commonwealth Strategic Reserve forces for three to nine months at a time. Several of the destroyers fired on Communist positions in Johor State.

Notes

1. ^ "Malayan Emergency, 1950–60". Australian War Memorial. http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/emergency.htm. Retrieved 17 October 2011. 

Further reading

• Dennis, Peter; Jeffrey Grey (1996). Emergency and Confrontation: Australian Military Operations in Malaya and Borneo 1950–1966. St Leonards: Allen and Unwin. ISBN 1863733027. OCLC 187450156. 
• Dennis, Peter; Grey, Jeffrey; Morris, Ewan; and Robin Prior (1995). The Oxford Companion to Australian Military History (1st ed.). Melbourne: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195532279. 
• Bannister, Colin (1994). An inch of Bravery: 3 RAR in the Malayan Emergency, 1957–59. Canberra: Directorate of Army Public Affairs. ISBN 0642212074. 
• Coates, John (2006). An Atlas of Australia's Wars. Melbourne: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195559142. 
• Macdougall, A. (1991). Australians at War: A Pictorial History. The Five Mile Press. ISBN 1865038652.