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| Author | F Spencer Chapman |
| Publisher | The Lyons Press |
| ISBN # | 978-1-59228-107-7 |
| On-line Merchant | Amazon UK |
| Or Order through the BSW store: |
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Cover Notes
After the fall of Malaysia to the Japanese, the unflappable F. Spencer Chapman survived for years in the jungle as a guerilla fighter. The Jungle is Neutral is his amazing tale of survival and valor against all odds.
As he traveled by bicycle, motorcycle, dugout, on foot, or on his belly through the jungle muck, Chapman recruited sympathetic Chinese, Malays, Tamils, and Sakai tribesman into an irregular corps of jungle fighters. Their mission: to harass the Japanese in any way possible. In riveting scenes, Chapman recalls their daring raids as they blew up bridges, cut communication lines, and affixed plasticine to troop-filled trucks idling by the road. They threw grenades and disappeared into the jungle, their faces darkened with carbon, their tommy guns wrapped in tape so as not to reflect the moonlight. When Chapman wasn't battling the Japanese or escaping from their prisons, he found himself fighting the jungle's incessant rain, wild tigers, unfriendly tribesmen, leeches, disease, and malnutrition.
This classic tale has been compared to Lawrence of Arabia's classic account, The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, and the gritty account of day-to-day operations is so accurate that the French Foreign Legion used the book as a primer on jungle warfare. It is a war story without rival.
Reviews
Abdul Naim Shamsudin rated this book as Excellent
I was introduced to this book by a book seller way back in the 70's. Being a Malaysian whom had no such experience of World War Two, it gave me an insight of the hardships of the times. My father joined the police force at the age of 18 around before the start of the Malaysian Emergency and he often relate stories of the times. Reading this book gave an idea of how what the British set up to fight against the Japanese using stay back parties and helped the MPAJA, which techniques and tactics were later used by the Malayan Communist Party against the British themselves. I strongly recommend that anyone who have read The Jungle is Neutral should also read The War of the Running Dogs by Noel Barker, to get a better idea on how the mechanisms set up by the British to fight the Japanese were later used by the very same people to fight against them. I have lost the copy sometime back. My father once showed me a medal which he claimed to be a George Medal. I am hoping to get it verified by a British authority but I do not how or who to ask.
Mark B rated this book as Excellent
Do not let the publisher's ignorance lower your esteem of this book: although they do not know it was Malaya, not Malaysia, and that a Field Marshal has only one L (or two in total), they deserve at least some credit for keeping in print what is simply the finest book on jungle warfare in any language, not to mention one of the finest books on determination, fortitude and loyalty: "[The jungle] provides any amount of fresh water, and unlimited cover for friend as well as foe... It is the attitude of mind that determines whether you go under or survive... The jungle itself is neutral."
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