The Battle of Babang (12 July 1965) was the fourth and last in a series of successful ambushes conducted between in May and July 1965 by Australian troops from

3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment The 3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (3 RAR) is a mechanised infantry battalion of the Australian Army, based in Kapyong Lines, Townsville as part of the 3rd Brigade. 3 RAR traces its lineage to 1945 and has seen operational servi ...

(3 RAR), this time at Babang in

Kalimantan Kalimantan () is the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo. It constitutes 73% of the island's area. The non-Indonesian parts of Borneo are Brunei and East Malaysia. In Indonesia, "Kalimantan" refers to the whole island of Borneo. In 2019, ...

(Indonesian Borneo), during the Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation. The ambushes were conducted under the wider British-Commonwealth

Operation Claret Claret was the code name given to operations conducted from about July 1964 until July 1966 from East Malaysia (Sarawak and Sabah) across the border in Indonesian Kalimantan during the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation. They were instigated b ...

, being cross-border operations mounted from bases in

Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the Malaysian state of Sabah to the northeast, ...

up to into Indonesian territory with aim of disrupting the movement and resupply of Indonesian forces and to keep them off balance. On 12 July 1965 7 Platoon C Company under Lieutenant Robert Guest—again accompanied by the Company Commander, Major Ivor Hodgkinson, the battalion Intelligence Officer and a fire control party—was occupying an ambush position along a well-used track in the vicinity of the Indonesian base at Babang, on the border. At about midday a force of about 30 Indonesians approached along the track and was subsequently ambushed. The Indonesian platoon counter-attacked and the Australians withdrew under the cover of defensive artillery fire. At least 13 Indonesians were killed and five wounded, while the Australians suffered no losses. Like the other successful Claret missions conducted by 3 RAR earlier at Sungei Koemba and Kindau, the ambush at Babang inflicted significant casualties on Indonesian forces and allowed it to dominate the border area. This provided early warning of Indonesian incursions into Sarawak as well as contributing to the wider success of the British-Commonwealth forces in slowly asserting control on the war. Of note, generally units on their first tour in Borneo were not allowed to undertake such audacious operations, and as such those conducted by 3 RAR in their first and only tour may not have been representative of those by more experienced Gurkha and British battalions.

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* * * Conflicts in 1965 1965 in Indonesia Battles involving Indonesia Battles of the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation involving Australia Battles of the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation July 1965 events in Asia {{Australia-mil-stub