Gerald Templer

Sir Gerald Walter Robert Templer
File:Templer time.jpg Templer as the High Commissioner of Malaya, appearing on the December 15, 1952 cover of Time
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Years of service	1916 - 1958
Rank	Field Marshal
Commands held	47th Infantry Division II Corps 1st Infantry Division 56th Infantry Division 6th Armoured Division
Battles/wars	First World War Russian Civil War Second World War Malayan Emergency
Awards	KG, GCB, GCMG, KBE

Field Marshal Sir Gerald Walter Robert Templer, KG, GCB, GCMG, KBE (11 September 1898–25 October 1979) was a British military commander. He is best known for his defeat of the guerrilla rebels in Malaya between 1952 and 1954. "The jungle has been neutralised", he declared in a Time Magazine cover article in 1952.

Early life

Born in Colchester and educated at Wellington College, Templer was commissioned into his father's regiment, the Royal Irish Fusiliers in 1916 and fought in World War I and in 1919 briefly in Russia.

Second World War

At the outbreak of World War II he was a lieutenant-colonel in Military Intelligence, serving on the staff of the British Expeditionary Force. After evacuating from France he oversaw the raising of the 9th Royal Sussex Regiment and then commanded a brigade under Montgomery in a Home Service division.

In 1942 he took over command of 47th Infantry Division as a major-general, shortly thereafter commanding II Corps as the Army's youngest lieutenant-general. In 1943 he requested a field command, was reduced to a major-general and posted to command the 1st Infantry Division in North Africa before commanding the 56th Infantry Division during the Italian campaign.

He briefly commanded the 6th Armoured Division before being severely injured by a land mine in mid-1944. He spent the rest of the war on intelligence duties in 21st Army Group HQ as well as briefly heading the German Directorate of the Special Operations Executive.

He served as Director of Military Government in Germany during the Allied occupation after World War II. He first came to public notice after firing the mayor of Cologne, Konrad Adenauer, for "laziness and inefficiency".

High Commissioner of Malaya

Winston Churchill then appointed him High Commissioner in Malaya in January 1952 after the assassination of Henry Gurney in October 1951. The Malayan Emergency—an uprising by Malayan communist forces—had been declared in 1948.

Working closely with Robert Thompson, the Permanent Secretary of Defence for Malaya, Templer's tactics against the communists were held up as a model for counter-insurgency and were often compared to later American responses in Vietnam, particularly as Thompson headed the BRIAM (British Advisory Mission) to South Vietnam, in the early 1960s, where the American military chose to ignore much of his advice.

Templer famously remarked that, "The answer [to the uprising] lies not in pouring more troops into the jungle, but in the hearts and minds of the people." (Lapping, 224.) He demanded that newly built villages, where ethnic Chinese were resettled away from the jungles and beyond the reach (and influence) of the guerrillas, look inviting. To further gain the "hearts and minds" of the non-Malays, who were the main source of communist support, Templer fought to grant Malayan citizenship to over 2.6 million Malayan residents, 1.1 million of whom were Chinese. Templer sought "political and social equality of all" Malayans (contrast with post-independence Ketuanan Melayu).

He instituted incentive schemes for rewarding surrendering rebels and those who encouraged them to surrender. He was helped by the often brutal attacks on Malay civilians by the communists, which helped mobilise popular opinion against them.

He also used strict curfews and tight control of food supplies to force compliance from rebellious areas and flush out guerillas. Crops grown by the communists in response to these measures were sprayed with herbicide. These restrictions would be lifted on so-called White Areas which had been found to be free of communist incursion, yet another incentive for the population to turn in the rebels. Templer in fact coined the phrase "winning the hearts and minds" to imply a conflict beyond the merely military.

In military terms Templer concentrated his efforts on intelligence and on training and tactics suitable for the jungle environment. Morale among his own troops remained good and he was a popular commander. When he left Malaya in 1954 the situation was dramatically improved, though the rebels remained a force. Templer denied that the situation had stabilised, declaring "I'll shoot the bastard who says that this Emergency is over". The Malayan government eventually declared the Emergency over in 1960, three years after independence.

Chief of the Imperial General Staff

Templer later served as Chief of the Imperial General Staff (1955–1958) and was promoted to Field Marshal. He spent his last years working towards the foundation of the National Army Museum in London.

Honours

• The University of Birmingham Centre for First World War Studies established the Templer Medal in 1982 to commemorate the life and achievements of Gerald Templer and to mark his Presidency of the Society for Army Historical Research between 1965 and 1979.

• Malaysian Government conferred him the award that brings the Title "Tun"

• The Main Hall at Maktab Tentera DiRaja (Royal Military College) in Sungai Besi, Kuala Lumpur is named Dewan Tun Templer (Tun Templer Hall).

• In 1979 was made one of the few Honorary Members of Boodle's Club in St James's London.

Further reading

• Templer, tiger of Malaya : the life of field marshal Sir Gerald Templer / Cloake, John. - London : Harrap, 1985
• A fighting retreat : the British Empire 1947-97 / Nellands, Robin. - London : Hodder, 1997
• End of Empire, Brian Lapping, 1985
• The British Field Marshals 1736-1997 / Heathcote, Tony : Pen & Sword Books Ltd 1999 ISBN 0-85052-696-5

See also

• Malayan Emergency

External links

• National Army Museum