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What Happened on this Day in History
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1948 14 Members of Scots Guards Massacre 24 Unarmed Villagers
During the Malayan Emergency, 14 members of the Scots Guards allegedly massacre 24 unarmed civilians and set fire to the village of Batang Kali.
The Malayan Emergency was one of the early Cold War skirmishes designed to stem the influence of Communism in the region.
The alleged massacre has never been fully investigated after an inquest into the affair ordered by the Labour Government was dropped by the incoming Conservative party in 1970.
There are numerous accounts of what happened: some believe the villagers ran into the guns of the British soldiers, others that the soldiers gave chase and opened fire.
The official line on the events is that the villagers fled having been warned that the company would open fire if they doid not remain where they were.
The allegation that the villagers were unarmed has never been disputed by any side involved in the massacre.
There was only one survivor from the event, who fainted at the time and was presumed dead by the British forces.
Neither the British nor the Malaysian governments have ever looked into the matter. Nor were any of the soldiers charged for their involvement in the alleged war crime.
During the conflict, the term ‘hearts and minds’ first came into military usage and was used to apply to the methods by which the indigenous population could be won over. The term was coined by Sir Gerald Templer.
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