The Batang Kali massacre was the killing by the Scots Guards of 24 unarmed men in Batang Kali on 12 December 1948, during the Malayan Emergency, which may have been a war crime. The Guards committed the massacre during counter-insurgency operations against Malay and Chinese communists of the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA) in Malaya, then a colony of the British Crown. Christopher Hale described the masascre as "Britain's My Lai" in Massacre in Malaya: Exposing Britain's My Lai. It is notable as seemingly the only massacre by British forces during the war, though British soldiers murdered some other individual civilians; even MNLA propaganda did not mention other massacres, while Batang Kali appeared heavily in propaganda. Despite several investigations by the British government since the 1950s, and a re-examination of the evidence by the Royal Malaysia Police between 1993 and 1997, no charges were brought against any of the alleged perpetrators. Background After World War II, the British returned to Malaya to recover control from Japanese military forces. During the war, the British government had supported the guerrillas who continued to fight against the Japanese forces. However, following VJ Day in August 1945, many resistance units did not completely disband. The groups instead became the foundation for the independence movement against British rule in Malaya. Some guerrillas turned from agitation to communism and began targeting British commercial interests in the colony by attacking rubber plantations and tin mines. By June 1948, escalating violence and the assassinations of several prominent British landowners led colonial authorities in Malaya to declare an "Emergency". That gave the Royal Malaysia Police and government greater powers and flexibility in combating the insurgents. Although the British had extensive experience in jungle warfare, most recently in the Burma Campaign during World War II, military leaders had not formalized their experience into a specific jungle warfare curriculum. Training on soldiers' obligations under international law was minimal or even non-existent. Basic training for the troops focused on infantry skills, not their ability to judge the appropriateness of orders in the context of international law. The specific jungle warfare training included shooting exercises where soldiers had to quickly distinguish between "enemy" and "friendly" targets, but otherwise continued the focus on infantry skills. Michael Gilbert, a member of the Suffolk Regiment, said that his training "[was] teaching you how to march, how to handle a rifle, and how to behave in a