'Winning While Losing:' Borneo Headquarters and the End of Confrontation, June-November 1966

TY - JOUR

T1 - 'Winning While Losing:' Borneo Headquarters and the End of Confrontation, June-November 1966

AU - Tuck, Christopher Howard

PY - 2017/1/5

Y1 - 2017/1/5

N2 - From 1963 to 1966 Britain fought an undeclared war against Indonesia in the jungles of Borneo. Existing accounts of the tactical outcomes of this campaign take at face value the comments produced after the event by such key individuals as Sir Walter Walker, until March 1965 the British Director of Borneo Operations, who regarded the campaign as ‘a complete success’. This article demonstrates that this narrative is a retrospective judgement and that senior British officers at the time regarded the conclusion of the campaign as a success for Indonesia.

AB - From 1963 to 1966 Britain fought an undeclared war against Indonesia in the jungles of Borneo. Existing accounts of the tactical outcomes of this campaign take at face value the comments produced after the event by such key individuals as Sir Walter Walker, until March 1965 the British Director of Borneo Operations, who regarded the campaign as ‘a complete success’. This article demonstrates that this narrative is a retrospective judgement and that senior British officers at the time regarded the conclusion of the campaign as a success for Indonesia.

KW - Confrontation

KW - Indonesia

KW - Borneo

KW - Strategy

KW - Counterinsurgency

U2 - 10.1177/0968344515599556

DO - 10.1177/0968344515599556

M3 - Article

VL - 24

SP - 87

EP - 109

JO - War in History

JF - War in History

IS - 1

ER -