The Raid on Limbang: Royal Marine Hostage Rescue | December 1962

um on the 8th of december 1962 the indonesian supported far-left military group called the north calamanta national army launched a rebellion in the southeast asian country of brunei the main objective of this insurrection was to capture the sultan of brunei and force him to declare the establishment of the united states of north carolina a pro-indonesian union encompassing brunei and the two british-controlled states of sarawic and north borneo beginning at 0-200 on the 8th december thousands of rebels began targeting government and police installations as well as engaging in fire fights with the local police forces the seriousness of the situation forced the sultan of brunei to request for british military support and over the next few days multiple units began deploying to the country including the first battalion the second gurkha rifles the first battalion the queen zone harlanders and the royal marines of 4-2 commando the latter of whom began disembarking in brunei on the 10th december by that day it was clear that the rebellion was struggling to maintain itself with an article stating that the rebels had failed to take control of brunei town the capital take control of the person of his majesty the sultan or the feet of the police forces in the capital more importantly they have failed to arouse a mass popular uprising in support of their insurrection although for the most part the rebellion had been contained there still remain a lot of work to do particularly with regards to the small rebel groups that spilled over into the neighboring state of sarawak here rebels have seized control of the small town of limbang on the first day of the rebellion and with it they had taken a number of hostages who intelligence indicated were to be executed on the morning of the 12th of december 1962. as such immediate action had to be taken and on the 11th of december the royal marines of el company 4-2 commando were instructed to retake limbang and free the hostages unfortunately for el company intelligence on the situation in limbang was virtually non-existent with its commanding officer captain jeremy moore recalling afterwards a decision on the best way to set about the task was naturally dependent on information and this was hard to come by maps were scarce and small scale limbang was over millimeter across on the map i had another problem was that we did not know where the hostages were i assessed that the police station seemed the most likely place for the rebel headquarters and i hoped that if we could knock this out before the enemy commander had time to give orders for the disposal of the hostages our chances of rescuing them might be increased added to the company's problems was the fact that the river which ran alongside the town provided the only suitable entry into limbang and so the assault plan that was drawn up called for l company composed of four five and six troops to conduct an amphibious landing in the area of the town's police station before moving off with all possible speed to secure the hostages the evening of the 11th december 1962 all preparations for the operation were complete and at 2300 the rescue force totaling 89 men loaded up onto two medium-sized landing craft and set off for lim bang sailing down the river the force began entering the town's vicinity at approximately zero six hundred on the 12th of december where as a royal marine report documents as the leading craft rounded the bend the bizarre area suddenly sprang to life it was just light at this time and a large number of rebels were seen running in all directions but very quickly disappeared into houses and other cover the police station was immediately recognizable and the leading craft increased speed and made for the bank at a point about 30 yards upstream of it the intelligence sergeant used an allowed hailer announced that the rebellion was over and called upon the insurgents to surrender but they replied by opening heavy fire upon both craft through this heavy gun fire the forward landing craft carrying the marines of five troop made its approach into the designated landing point during which the first casualties began to be sustained when two marines fred powell and gerald kierens were sadly killed by enemy fire despite the tragic loss of these two marines the craft remained on course and eventually made landfall enabling two sections of five troops to rush ashore and begin the assault on the police station meanwhile the second craft carrying four and six troops remained in reserve and provided cover and fire with her two on-board vicar's machine guns which proved effective in silence in a machine gun post located on the roof of the police station however although the weight of this supporting fire was considerable the assaulting marines of five troop became pinned down on the banks of the river followed by difficulties being experienced on board the first landing craft as the report continues almost immediately after the leading sections of five troopers sure the leading craft drifted off the bank probably because the coxswain had been wounded but the captain jeremy moore immediately took the wheel and brought her into the bank again about 300 yards upstream here a second landing was made with the remainder of the marines that were on board the boat and who had designated the reserve section disembarking and heading northwards to rejoin the rest of five troop in the vicinity of the police station leading this advance was troop sergeant walter mcfarland who led the reserve section forward to an area just north of the hospital where an insurgent ambush temporarily halted the advance tragically during the firefight that developed sergeant mcfarlane along with marines one on four moy and richard jennings were all killed in action in addition a fourth marine suffered wounds during this engagement which eventually saw the rebels being defeated and driven back into the adjacent woodland following the clearance of the hospital area a detachment of the reserve section under the command of sergeant david smith moved in and secured the hospital itself during which they found and freed nine of the hostages at around the same time a link was made with the rest of five troop near the police station where they're also joined by the arrival of four and six troops from the second landing craft the time was now approximately zero seven hundred and with the whole of l company ashore and a small beach head established captain jeremy moore the company commanding officer turned his attention to securing limbang town to the north the royal marine after action report details his operations sixth troop cleared the police station and four troops moved up behind and north of it passed a mosque to the back of the town where one of the rebels gave them some difficulty by engaging them from a room full of women and children however he was dislodged and four troop entered the block of shops while sixth troop held the northern end of the beachhead and gave support four troop cleared the first east-west block of shops in the bazaar area and then sixth troop cleared the first south north block supported by four troop as soon as the first block of shops in the town had been cleared four troops took over the northern end of the beach head and sixth troop was transferred to the eastern side whilst the support company elements cleared to the southern end of the town and released the remainder of the hostages whilst these operations were developing five troop who were holding the southern sector of the beachhead moved on and secured a handful of buildings during which a civilian who was inside one of the houses was unfortunately killed when they were caught up in the crossfire by afternoon on the 12th of december 1962 l company had a firm foothold in the southern portion of limbang and had freed a total of 14 hostages early the next morning elements of the company swept through and cleared the remainder of the town after which reinforcements in the form of k company and the headquarters of fortu commando arrived in the area to strengthen the beachhead the arrival of these troops effectively marked the end of the royal marines mission into limbang as the remnants of the rebel force fled into the nearby jungles for el company the operation proved to be both decisive and costly on the one hand 89 marines had conducted an amphibious assault against the 300 man strong rebel garrison and not only had they retaken limbang but they had freed all the hostages however on the other hand it's a come at a price l company has suffered five men killed in action and a further eight wounded reflecting on the operation corporal david greenhouse recalls in terms of our own casualties we had five dead and quite a number of injuries that is high in later attacks or major battles my whole unit never encountered five fatalities so this was heavy casualties for us i felt no feeling ovulation on passing a dead enemy or an injured enemy rather i thought of the utter waste of it obviously i felt great sympathy for personal colleagues who i knew have been injured or killed [Music] you

Channel: Liveth For Evermore

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Keywords: British, Military, History, Education, Army, Air Force, Navy, Soldier, Sailor, Airmen, Liveth For Evermore, LFE, Special Forces, Brunei, Brunei revolt, Brunei rebellion, 1962, Royal Marines, 42 Commando, 3 Commando Brigade, Marines, Hostage Rescue, The Raid on Limbang: Royal Marine Hostage Rescue | December 1962, Limbang, Limbang raid, limbang sarawak, L Company, Cold War, Asia, Indonesia, Kalimantan, British Marines, UK Special Forces, UKSF

Id: lqwOy6Kjiro

Length: 11min 42sec (702 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 20 2021