TROOPS RECALLED FROM MALAYA

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28057, 27 August 1956, Page 11

TROOPS RECALLED FROM MALAYA

Battalion Returning To Britain (Rec. 7 p.m.) SINGAPORE, Aug. 25. The Ist Battalion, the Queen’s Own Royal Cameron Highlanders, which was to have served in Malaya, will sail direct from Singapore to Britain, an Army spokesman said today. The battalion, commanded by Lieu-tenant-Colonel W. A. Stevenson, arrived from Korea on board the troopship Empire Orwell today. The Ist Battalion, Royal Hampshire Regiment, which has completed its tour of duty in Malaya, will join the Empire Orwell before she sails tomorrow, the Army spokesman said. The official Army statement said orders rerouting the Ist Camerons on the Empire Orwell were made by the War Office. Army sources would not say today if the change of orders was Connected with the Suez Canal crisis, but they said that Britain’s strategic reserve at home had been depleted by movements of troops to the Middle East. Eight hundred men of the Camerons were allowed shore leave in Singapore while the Empire Orwell refuelled and took on provisions. It was not known whether she would sail through the Suez Canal or by way of Cape of Good Hope. Army sources said the final decision on her route would be made when she reached Colombo. They said that the movement of the Hampshires and the Camerons would not reduce the number of British troops engaged in fighting Communist terrorists in Malaya.