Battle of Kindau

Part of the Indonesia–Malaysia Confrontation

Date	15 June 1965
Location	Kindau, Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo)
Result	Australian victory

Belligerents

Australia

Indonesia

Commanders and leaders

Douglas Byers

Unknown

Strength

30 men

~100 men

Casualties and losses

2 wounded

25–50 killed

The Battle of Kindau (15 June 1965) took place during the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation. Involving Australian and Indonesian troops, the battle was the third in a series of successful ambushes between May and July 1965 launched by the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (3 RAR), in Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo). The ambushes were part of the wider Operation Claret which involved cross-border operations by British-Commonwealth units from bases in Sarawak, penetrating up to 10,000 yards (9,100 m) into Indonesian territory with the aim of disrupting the movement and resupply of Indonesian forces and to keep them off balance.

On 15 June 1965—three days after C Company, 3 RAR had its successful ambush at Sungei Koemba—a platoon from A Company successfully ambushed another large Indonesian force before withdrawing under the cover of artillery fire. The ambush resulted in heavy Indonesian casualties, while two Australians were wounded in the engagement. Unlike previous encounters the battle did not remain unpublicised, after a journalist was able to interview one of the Australian wounded. Nonetheless the fiction that the incident had occurred in Malaysian territory was maintained.

As a consequence of the previous successful Australian ambushes along the Sungei Koemba river in May and June, the Indonesians planned to increase their activity with H BTP and J BTP moving against the Gumbang, Tringgus and Bukit Knuckle areas, while additional forces from BTP 2 were also subsequently redeployed against Serian. In response, Australian reconnaissance patrols were increased in order to detect movement into Sarawak, and these would later result in further fighting. One such patrol by 2 Platoon, A Company ascertained that the Indonesians had recently increased their use of an east-west track crossing the border south-west of the company base at Stass and consequently the Australians decided to conduct a further Claret operation in order to take advantage of the opportunity provided.

On 12 June—just hours after C Company's successful ambush at Sungei Koemba—2 Platoon, A Company with a Forward Observation Officer (FOO) party, under the command of Second Lieutenant Douglas Byers, departed Stass with the task of mounting an ambush in the area, under the codename Operation Blockbuster. Occupying an ambush position astride a track running west from the border, in thick swampy jungle 1,300 metres (1,400 yd) inside Kalimantan, Byers was ordered to intercept an Indonesian force, believed to have already infiltrated into Sarawak, upon its return. Establishing a firm base with six men to the rear, the ambush was laid on the southern edge of the track, with the right flank secured by three men across a small creek, while the west flank 75 metres (82 yd) away was protected by four men and Claymore mines in cut-off. Located centrally, the killing group consisted of 14 men. Meanwhile, the forward observer and a 2-inch (51 mm) mortar were placed in depth. That evening the Australians heard Indonesian mortar firing as they targeted the company base at Stass.

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Wikipedia