Quote Originally Posted by Samsette View Post
RonnieW.? Can you quote any sources for saying that British troops were sent into Viet Nam?? I only ask because it is a subject close to my heart.? I do know for certain that a British general who had successfully employed the fortified hamlet concept during the Malayan Emergency of 1948-61 did attempt to impose his knowledge on MAC-V, and, to their credit, the Americans did allow him to come and make his assessment of the situation.? I believe his name was Templar, and the fortified hamlet thing worked quite well in Malaya, simply because the indigenous population were Malay, whereas the insurgents were mainly ethnic Chinese.? The insurgency in Viet Nam was a made in Viet Nam product with 100 per cent Vietnamese participation.? The only British troops in Viet Nam, that I am personally aware of, were half a dozen Military Police on temporary duty from Singapore, and a small detachment from the Gurkas from HK, tasked with guarding the British Embassy in Saigon.
Sir Gerald Templer was High Commissioner in Malaya duringthe emergency in Malaya. He was in charge when the British Army was given the go-ahead to round up civillians and re-settle them in camps, and to arrest union officials in Malaya who led strikes against this action. This gave the US military the idea that the same sort of thing might work in Vietnam.
In his book, 'Web of Deceit. Britain's Real Role in the World' Mark Curtis gives some details of SAS involvement alongside the Australian and New Zealand SAS in Vietnam. He also mentions MI6 helping the Malayan Government to tranfer arms and other supplies to South Vietnam, the British training US, Vietnamese and Thai troops at their jungle warfare school in Malaya during the late 1960s.
Intelligenge gathered from MI6 field hands in Hanoi was handed over to the US and the British monitoring station at Little Sai Wan in Hong Kong supplied information to the US until 1975 which was used to carry out air raids on North Vietnam.
Curtis does not name the British military advisor who went to Vietnam to assist with the fortified hamlet programme, but he supports his claim by giving reference to Hansard of April 1964 where the subject was brought up in parliament.
Britain also supplied the US with napalm and 500lb bombs during Harold Wilson's time as PM. The Conservatives simply carried on after Ted Heath became PM, no surprise there, but the idea that Wilson kept Britain out of Vietnam is a myth.
Mark Curtis mentions other British involvement in Vietnam in 'Unpeople-Britain's Secret Human Rights Abuses'. Tory Blur does not come out of either book well, but how could he? He was only carrying out orders.