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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 Indonesian-Malaysian Confrontation. They were instigated by the Director of Borneo Operations (DOBOPS) Major General Walter Walker with the agreement of the British and Malaysian governments. Their purpose was to seize the initiative and put the Indonesians on the defensive instead of allowing Indonesian forces to be safely based in Kalimantan and attack when and where they chose. However, it was important not to cause the Indonesians to lose face and possibly escalate the conflict, or to enable Indonesia to present evidence of 'imperialist aggression', so Claret operations were highly classified and never publicised, although it seems that some British journalists were aware of what transpired. British casualties on Claret operations were publicly reported as being in East Malaysia. These operations involved both special forces and infantry. Special forces were mostly reconnaissance patrols crossing the border from the Malaysian state of Sarawak or Sabah into Indonesian Kalimantan in order to find and monitor Indonesian forces who might attack Sarawak or Sabah. Conventional forces were tasked to act on this information and that from other sources to ambush or otherwise attack the Indonesians under a policy of 'aggressive defence'. Such operations were to be 'deniable' as they may have represented a violation of state sovereignty, however they were justified at the time as an instance of hot pursuit. Operation Claret was largely successful in gaining the initiative for the British Commonwealth forces, inflicting significant casualties on the Indonesians and keeping them on the defensive, before being suspended late in the war. == 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 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 long. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Operation Claret」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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