4(T) said:
I have the 49/50 copy as well.
A classic read, but to my mind it actually highlights the limitations of SF operations in general war: S-C carries out a couple of minor acts of sabotage, then has to hide for most of the war as an ineffectual guest/prisoner of the much more organised Communist guerillas. The first thing he does when back with UK forces is rave about the latest gucci kit hes been issued with!
There are one or two parts I found a bit distatsteful: despite the mission orders he was engaged on during the fall of Malaya, I wonder if any conventionally-commissioned officer could have sat there and observed lost and leaderless parties of British soldiers trying to exfiltrate from the Japanese, without intervening to at least give them some direction and encouragement.
I have this book too, published 2003, got it from Amazon so it is back in print. I have to agree that although a fantastic read, Chapman achieved virtually nothing during his time in the Jungle, The resistance forces in the Jungle were never more than a mild irritation to the Japanese forces in Malaya.
The impression I got though was that if trained stay behind parties with access to pre positioned supply dumps hidden in the Jungle had been in position at the start of the Malayan campaign, then the Japanese advance may well have been slowed down so much that the large British reinforcements heading to Singapore may have had the time to make a difference.
Another book worth reading is "Moon over Malaya" telling the story of 2nd Battalion Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, the only British unit to come out of Malaya with their reputation not only intact but actually enhanced.