Operation Claret - Background

Background

The border between East Malaysia and Kalimantan was not well defined and 22 Special Air Service reconnaissance patrols seem to have liberally interpreted its inexactitude from late 1963 or early 1964. From early 1964 Indonesian cross-border raids increased and the mixed attacks by ill-trained 'volunteers' 'advised' by Indonesian troops were replaced by an increasing numbers of raids comprising only Indonesian armed forces. This caused increasing concern to DOBOPS.

However, in July 1964 the new Labour government in London approved cross-border offensive operations to a depth of 5,000 yards (4,600 m) by both special forces and infantry under the code-name Claret. DOBOPS added additional conditions, seven 'Golden Rules':

• authorisation by DOBOPS for every operation,
• only trained and tested troops to be used,
• penetration depth to be limited, attacks only to thwart enemy offensive action, never retribution of casualties, civilian casualties never to be risked,
• no air support, except in extreme emergency,
• operations to be planned and rehearsed for at least two weeks,
• every operation to be planned and executed with maximum security, cover plans made, code names for each operation, soldiers sworn to secrecy no details to be discussed over radio or telephone, no id disks to be worn and no identifiable material to be left in Kalimantan,
• no soldiers to be captured alive or dead.

Claret operations were only publicly disclosed by Britain in 1974, whilst the Australian government did not officially acknowledge its involvement until 1996.

The number of Claret operations and their objectives is unclear. Weekly operational reports by brigade, higher headquarters and some units are available in UK National Archives. They do not identify any actions as specifically Claret. They outline 'contacts' in a way that implies they took place in East Malaysia but provide a grid reference, from which those south of the border can be identified with the aid of a 1:50,000 scale map. However, the border is some 1,000 miles (1,600 km) long.