page_title: Operation Trikora
section_title: Indonesian military operations
hierarchical_section_title: Operation Trikora / Indonesian military operations
context_page_description: Operation Trikora was an Indonesian military operation which aimed to seize and annex the Dutch overseas territory of Netherlands New Guinea in 1961 and 1962. After negotiations, the Netherlands signed the New York Agreement with Indonesia on 15 August 1962, relinquishing control of Western New Guinea to the United Nations.
context_section_description: In 1962, Indonesian incursions into the territory in the form of paratroop drops and the naval landings of guerrillas were used to step up Indonesian Foreign Minister Subandrio's diplomatic confrontation with the Dutch. Operation Trikora was to unfold in three phases: infiltration, exploitation and consolidation, all under cover of the Indonesian Air Force. The plan called first for the insertion of small bands of Indonesian troops by sea and by airdrop, who would then draw Dutch forces away from areas where the exploitation phase would stage full-scale amphibious landings and paratroop operations to seize key locations. The consolidation phase would then expand Indonesian control over the whole of Western New Guinea.
  On 15 January 1962, the infiltration phase of Operation Trikora began when four Indonesian Navy motor torpedo boats attempted to land a unit of 150 marines on the south coast of New Guinea near Vlakke Hoek. The force was detected by a Dutch Lockheed P2V-7B Neptune aircraft and the Indonesian boats were intercepted by three Dutch destroyers. During the subsequent Battle of Arafura Sea, one Indonesian boat was sunk and two others were badly damaged and forced to retreat. Thus, this planned Indonesian amphibious landing ended disastrously with many crew members and marines being killed, among them Commodore Yos Sudarso, the Deputy Chief of the Indonesian Navy Staff. Some 55 survivors were captured. Over the next eight months, the Indonesian forces managed to insert 562 troops by sea and 1,154 by air drops. The inserted Indonesian troops conducted guerrilla operations throughout Western New Guinea from April 1962 onwards, but they were largely militarily ineffective. At least 94 Indonesian soldiers were killed and 73 were wounded during the hostilities. By contrast, the Dutch suffered only minimal casualties.
  Indonesian military activity continued to increase in the area through mid-1962 in preparation for the second phase of the operation. The Indonesian Air Force began to fly missions in the area from bases on surrounding islands, with Soviet-supplied Tupolev Tu-16 bombers armed with KS-1 Komet anti-ship missiles deployed in anticipation of an attack against the HNLMS Karel Doorman.
  By the summer of 1962, the Indonesian military had begun planning a large-scale amphibious and air assault against Biak, the Netherlands' main power base in West Irian. This operation would have been known as Operation Jayawijaya ("Victory over Imperialism") and would have included a substantial task force of 60 ships including several which had been supplied by Sukarno's Soviet and Eastern Bloc allies. On 13 and 14 August 1962, air drops of Indonesian troops were staged from Sorong in the northwest to Merauke in the southeast as a diversion for an amphibious assault against the Dutch military base at Biak Island by a force of 7,000 Army (RPKAD) and Air Force (PASGAT) paratroopers, 4,500 marines and 13,000 army servicemen, from various military districts (KODAMs). However, the Dutch Navy's Marid 6 Netherlands New Guinea (Marid 6 NNG) signals intelligence section and Neptune aircraft detected the invasion force and alerted their command.
  According to Wies Platje, the Royal Netherlands Navy was responsible for the defence of Western New Guinea. In 1962, the Dutch naval presence in New Guinea consisted of five anti-submarine destroyers, two frigates, three submarines, one survey vessel, one supply ship and two oil tankers. Dutch air power in Western New Guinea consisted of eleven Lockheed P2V-7B Neptune aircraft from the Royal Netherlands Navy plus 24 Hawker Hunter jet fighters from the Royal Netherlands Air Force. In addition, Dutch ground forces consisted of several anti-aircraft artillery units, five Royal Netherlands Marine Corps companies and three Royal Netherlands Army infantry battalions. As part of the planned defence, the Dutch had considered using Marid 6 NNG to disrupt the Indonesian military's communication systems.
caption: The disputed territory of West New Guinea
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