Malayan Spymaster
Boris Hembry recounts clandestine operations in Malaya and Burma, from stay-behind parties to SIS missions.
- Author
- Boris Hembry
- Publisher
- Monsoon Books
- Price
- £12
- ISBN
- 9789810854423
- Published
- 2010
Malayan Spymaster by Boris Hembry
Planter Boris Hembry arrived in Malaya in 1930 and found himself drawn into clandestine warfare when Japan invaded. He volunteered for stay-behind parties under Spencer Chapman, trained labourers for guerrilla tasks, and escaped by sampan to Sumatra before returning to Singapore and then India. Joining V Force in Burma, he was later recruited by SIS under the ISLD cover, inserting by submarine into Malaya and Sumatra on intelligence missions and liaising with Force 136.
Post-war, Hembry returned to his plantation only to face the Communist insurgency. He organised the first planter Home Guard, advised on the Briggs Plan, and patrolled deep jungle alongside military units and the SAS. Fluent in local languages and steeped in jungle craft, he survived several assassination attempts. His memoir illuminates stay-behind operations, SIS fieldwork, and the birth of the Malayan Emergency.
Monsoon Books. £12. ISBN 9789810854423.