The last of eight stories of the Special Operations Executive. Narrated by Michael Bryant In Malaya, as in Greece and Yugoslavia, SOE faced a problem: should it arm Communist guerillas? There was little choice.
The Japanese overran the Peninsula and Singapore in ten short weeks. SOE had to build the core of Malayan resistance from Chinese Communists already practised in the art of subversive operations - against British rule.
SOE officers remember the years that followed: hiding in the jungle with Communists, teaching them - among other things - to play Monopoly. But despite wartime camaraderie, SOE had opened a Pandora's box in Malaya. Three years after the Japanese surrender, the same SOE-trained guerillas were back in action. This time they were fighting to drive out the British in a war which was to last for 12 bitter years. The much-talked-about series
MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS
Series producer DOMINIC FLESSATI Written and produced by VIVIENNE KING