1964

102 Field Battery

30th October 1964

Merlimau Malaysia

By John Plenty.

102 Field Battery Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery was posted to Malaysia from 1963-65 stationed at Terendak Garrison near Malacca. During a live firing activity at Asahan Range in October 1964, the battery was informed that a group of Indonesian insurgents had landed by sea near the mouth of the Kesang River, close to the small kampong of Merlimau on the West coast of Malaysia with the intention of infiltrating into the local area. The battery drove from Asahan Range to the Jasin Police Station where the guns were left, the battery then deployed as three light platoons patrolling the main road as an outer cordon.

On the morning of 30th October the guns were deployed in a straight line along a small canal and fired a total of sixty rounds into the area where the insurgents had landed which had the desired effect and they surrendered. The photographs numbered 1 to 4 shows the battery firing on the insurgents at Merlimau.   

From the book "NOTHING SHORT of WAR" by NC Smith, he confirms the dates 29/30 Oct0ber 1964. 102 Field Battery later served in Sarawak on the island of Borneo from May to August 1965 providing fire support for 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment and 1stBattalion 6th(Queen Elizabeth's Own) Gurkha Rifles and 3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment. It was the only Australian Artillery unit to serve in Borneo/Sarawak during the Indonesian Confrontation. The rhinoceros hornbill, which is the national bird of Sarawak was also adopted by the battery as its emblem providing a permanent reminder of the time spent ther