After WWII, Britain's finances and resources were almost depleted and it could barely hold onto its empire. The rising tide of Communism was the big bad in the far east at the time.
In Malaysia, troops were sent in to fight against communist guerrillas, this was known as the Malayan emergency.
Soldiers do not get training other than how to march and how to kill, putting soldiers on the streets with guns to act in a police like manner is just asking for trouble. They are trained to attack the enemy on the battlefield, not to figure out who the enemy is.
On the 12th December 1948 a platoon of Scots Guards surrounded a rubber plantation at Sungai Rimoh near Batang Kali. Previously 3 soldiers had been burned alive by guerrillas and they had been told that those responsible were in this village.
The men were separated from the women and children for interrogation, 24 men, one of them was shot dead that night.
The next day the soldiers shot the other 23 and burned the village to the ground. Batang Kali has been called 'Britain's Lai Massacre' in which 504 unarmed Vietnamese were killed by American soldiers in 1968.
At Batang Kali no weapons were found and no evidence that there were any guerrillas there.
We are so civilised, not at all like ISIS.
Testimonies from the soldiers were altered for the investigation to make it seem like the 24 villagers were shot trying to escape and it was ruled to be a bona fide mistake. Another hearing in the 70's was shelved by the incoming Tory government.
One of the soldiers was quoted as saying, "Once we started firing we seemed to go mad. I remember the water turning red with their blood."
Shit happens during war and usually the soldiers get away with it. Only this year the eye witnesses, the women and children have given their testimonies to Britain’s highest court. The remaining soldiers still alive will not be prosecuted but will Britain at least acknowledge the war crimes?
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