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Abstract
This article shows that during the 1962 West New Guinea Crisis the Soviet Union played a much more active military role than previously assumed. Khrushchev secretly supplied Indonesia with Soviet manned submarines and bombers, and was prepared for these units to participate in an Indonesian attack against the Dutch. The Soviets also helped the Indonesians draw up operational plans. This deployment fits into a pattern of covert Soviet military interventions in the developing world between 1960 and 1962 and suggests that in some cases Khrushchev was prepared to use Soviet military units to support wars of national liberation in the developing world.
Notes
1 Xiaoming Zhang, Red Wings Over the Yalu: China, the Soviet Union, and the Air War in Korea (College Station: Texas A & M University Press, 2002), 122–142.
2 Jesse Ferris, “Soviet Support for Egypt's Intervention in Yemen, 1962–1963”, Journal of Cold War Studies, 10, no. 3 (2008), 31–32; Ilya Gaiduk, The Soviet Union and the Vietnam War, (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1996), 61.
3 Aleksandr Fursenko and Timothy Naftali, “One Hell of a Gamble”: Khrushchev, Castro, Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1958–1964 (London: Pimlico, 1999), 188, 210, 217.
4 Rudolf Ryzhikov, “Topi ikh vsekh!”, Tekhnika Molodezhi, No. 11 (1995): 52–54; Bart Rijs, “Moskou beraamde in '62 aanval op Nieuw-Guinea”, Volkskrant, 10 February 1999, 1, 5; Wies Platje, “Dutch Sigint and the Conflict with Indonesia, 1950–62,” in Secrets of Signals Intelligence during the Cold War and Beyond, ed. Matthew M. Aid and Cees Wiebes (London: Frank Cass, 2001), 309; Rudolf Ryzhikov, Na Rumbe – Okean (Saint Petersburg: IPP Novik, 2004).
5 Nikita Khrushchev, Memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev: Volume 3: Statesman (1953–1964), ed. Sergei Khrushchev, trans. George Shriver (Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Press, 2007), 789–790; Viktor Andriianov, Kosygin (Moscow: Molodaia Gvardiia, 2003), 169. See also Alexey Muraviev and Colin Brown, “Strategic Realignment or Déjà vu? Russia-Indonesia Defence Cooperation in the Twenty-First Century”, Australian National University Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Working Paper No. 411 (2008), 5–6.
6 Matthijs Ooms, “Geheime Sovjetsteun in Nieuw-Guinea”, Marineblad, 122, no. 5 (2012), 26.
7 Pieter Drooglever, An Act of Free Choice: Decolonization and the Right to Self-Determination in West Papua trans. Theresa Stanton, Maria van Yperen and Marjolijn de Jager (Oxford: Oneworld, 2009); Matthew Jones, Conflict and Confrontation in South East Asia, 1961–1965: Britain, the United States and the Creation of Malaysia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002); Christopher Penders, The West New Guinea Debacle: Dutch Decolonisation and Indonesia, 1945–1962 (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2002), 340–342; Bradley Simpson, Economists with Guns: Authoritarian Development and US-Indonesian Relations, 1960–1968 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2008); David Webster, Fire and the Full Moon: Canada and Indonesia in a Decolonizing World (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2009).
8 Dinas Sejarah Militer TNI – Angkatan Darat, Cuplikan Sejarah Perjuangan TNI – Angkatan Darat (Jakarta: Fa Mahjuma and Dinas Sejarah, 1972), 462–463.
9 Abdul Nasution, Memenuhi Panggilan Tugas, Jilid 5:Kenangan Masa Orde Lama (Jakarta: Gunung Agung, 1985), 295–297.
10 Webster, Fire and the Full Moon, 117; Ragna Boden, Die Grenzen der Weltmacht: Sowjetische Indonesienpolitik von Stalin bis Breznev (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2006), 206–216; Declassified Document Reference Service (DDRS), CIA Current Intelligence Weekly Summary, 16 February 1961; DDRS, Intelligence Report, Indonesia's Growing Dependence on Soviet Bloc Arms, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, State Department, 24 February 1961; The British National Archives (TNA), DEFE 5/130, Memorandum COS (62) 374, 11 September 1962.
11 Yefim Gordon and Vladimir Rigmant, Tupolev Tu-16 Badger (Hinckley: Midland Publishing, 2004), 36.
12 Justus van der Kroef, The Communist Party of Indonesia: Its History, Program and Tactics (Vancouver: University of British Columbia), 257.
13 TNA, AIR 24/2690, Far East Air Force (FEAF) Intelligence Summary, December 1961 – January 1962, not dated.
14 Jones, Conflict and Confrontation, 49; Penders, The West New Guinea Debacle, 340–342.
15 Platje, “Dutch Sigint”, 304.
16 Drooglever, An Act of Free Choice, 448–449.
17 Nasution, Memenuhi Panggilan Tugas, 226; DDRS, Telegram 1241, Jakarta to State Department, 16 January 1962.
18 Rosihan Anwar, Sukarno, Tentara, PKI: Segitiga Kekuasaan sebelum Prahara Politik, 1961–1965 (Jakarta: Yayasan Obor Indonesia, 2006), 115.
19 Nasution, Memenuhi Panggilan Tugas, 226.
20 Digital National Security Archive (DNSA), National Security Agency Collection, CIA Current Intelligence Weekly Review, 30 March 1962.
21 DDRS, State Department Research Memorandum RSB-96, Hilsman to Rusk, 27 April 1962.
22 TNA, AIR 24/2690, FEAF Weekly Intelligence Summary, 10/62, Reports Received During the Period Ending 16 March, 1962, not dated.
23 DDRS, State Department Research Memorandum RSB-96, Hilsman to Rusk, 27 April 1962.
24 Ibid; DNSA, National Security Agency Collection, CIA Current Intelligence Weekly Review, 30 March; TNA, FO 371/166514, Letter Selby to Warner, 28 March 1962.
25 TNA, FO 371/166514, Letter Selby to Warner, 4 April 1962.
26 Subandrio, Meluruskan Sejarah Perjuangan Irian Barat (Jakarta: Yayasan Kepada Bangsaku, 2001), 54–55.
27 DDRS, Telegram 1691, Jakarta to State Department, 21 March 1962.
28 Penders, The West New Guinea Debacle, 360–361; Drooglever, An Act of Free Choice, 468–469.
29 TNA, DO 169/167, Telegram 322, Jakarta to Foreign Office, 27 April 1962.
30 Penders, The West New Guinea Debacle, 359–368; Drooglever, An Act of Free Choice, 469–477.
31 John F. Kennedy National Security Files, 1961–1963, Asia and the Pacific (JFK) (University Publications of America, Bethesda, 1987), Microfilm, Reel 10, Telegram 1945, Jakarta to State Department, 2 May 1962.
32 Ibid., Reel 10, Telegram 1941, Jakarta to State Department, 1 May 1962.
33 United States National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Record Group 59, General Records of the State Department, Central Decimal File, 1960–1963, Box 1355, 656.9813/5-162, Telegram 2027, Jakarta to State Department, 17 May 1962.
34 TNA, FO 371/166514, Telegram 801, Moscow to Foreign Office, 9 May 1962.
35 “Indonesia to Get New Soviet Arms”, New York Times, 7 May 1962, 16.
36 Petre Opris, “Romania and the Cuban Missile Crisis: Soviet Nuclear Warheads for Romania?”, Cold War International History Project Bulletin, No.17/18 (2012), 517.
37 Sergo Mikoyan, The Soviet Cuban Missile Crisis: Castro, Mikoyan, Kennedy, Khrushchev and the Missiles of November, ed. Svetlana Savranskaya (Chicago: Woodrow Wilson Center Press/Stanford University Press, 2012), 467.
38 Andriianov, Kosygin, 169. Translation by author.
39 Khrushchev, Memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev, 790.
40 Ibid., 791–792.
41 Ryzhikov, “Topi ikh vsekh!”, 52.
42 NARA, CREST, CIA Current Intelligence Weekly Summary, 18 May 1962; Memorandum from Assistant Director, Research and Reports to Deputy Director for Politico-Military Affairs, State Department, 18 September 1962.
43 Ibid., CIA Current Intelligence Weekly Summary, 6 July 1962.
44 TNA, DEFE 5/130, Memorandum COS (62) 374, 11 September 1962.
45 NARA, CREST, CIA Current Intelligence Weekly Summary, 6 July 1962.
46 Awaloedin Djamin, ed., Ir. H. Djuanda, Negarawan, Administrator dan Teknokrat Utama (Jakarta: Buku Kompas, 2001), 155; Nasution, Memenuhi Panggilan Tugas, 310–311.
47 Nasution, Memenuhi Panggilan Tugas, 310–311; Dinas Sejarah Militer, Cuplikan Sejarah Perjuangan, 467.
48 TNA, DEFE 5/130, Memorandum COS (62) 374, 11 September 1962.
49 National Archives of Australia (NAA), A1838,3034/12/5 Part 7, Letter Upton to Department of External Affairs, Annex A, 26 July 1962.
50 Khrushchev, Memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev, 792.
51 Aleksandr Fursenko, ed., Prezidium TSK KPS. 1954–1964 Tom 3. Postanovleniia 1959–1964 (Moscow: Rospen, 2008), 899. Translation by author.
52 TNA, FO 371/166514, Letter Petersen to London, 20 June 1964; Letter Petersen to London, 4 July 1964.
53 TNA, AIR 24/2692, FEAF Weekly Intelligence Summary 27/62, Reports Received During the Period Ending 13 July, 1962, not dated.
54 NARA, RG 59, Central Decimal Files State Department, 1960–63, 656.9813/5-1762 – 656.9813/8-162, Box 1356, Telegram CX-127, Jakarta to State Department, 28 July 1962.
55 Penders, The West New Guinea Debacle, 372.
56 TNA, FO 371/166547, Minute by Chalmers, 18 July 1962.
57 JFK, Reel 10, Telegram 87, Jakarta to State Department, 13 July 1962.
58 DNSA, National Security Agency Collection, CIA Current Intelligence Weekly Review, 20 July 1962.
59 TNA, AIR 24/2692, FEAF Weekly Intelligence Summary, Reports Received During the Period Ending 13 July 1962, not dated. W-class stood for “Whiskey” class, Whiskey being the NATO codename for Project 613 submarines.
60Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS), 1961–63, Vol. XXIII, Southeast Asia, Document 275, Memorandum Komer to Kennedy, 16 July 1962.
61 TNA, FO 371/166547, Telegram 30, Geneva to Foreign Office, 23 July 1962.
62 Ibid.
63 Ibid.
64 JFK, Reel 10, Telegram 95, Jakarta to State Department, 16 July 1962.
65 CIA Freedom of Information Act Electronic Reading Room (CIA FOIA), http://www.foia.cia.gov/ CAESAR document, Memorandum “The Soviet Missile Base Venture in Cuba”, 17 February 1964; TNA, FO 371/166514, Letter Petersen to Cable, 25 July 1962.
66 TNA, FO 371/166514, Letter Petersen to Cable, 25 July 1962; NAA, A1838/3034/11 52 Part 4, Letter 111/3 Evans to Department of External Affairs, 28 July 1962.
67 JFK, Reel 10, Telegram 95, Jakarta to State Department, 16 July 1962.
68 Ibid., Memorandum of Conversation between Subandrio and Rusk, 19 July 1962.
69 Jacobus de Beus, Morgen, bij het Annbreken van de Dag (Rotterdam: Ad. Donker, 1978), 378.
70 Khrushchev, Memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev, 792. At this point in time microphones in the American embassy in Moscow enabled the KGB to intercept and decipher telegrams between the State Department and the embassy. See FRUS, 1964–68, Volume XIV, Soviet Union, Document 47, Estimate of damage to US Foreign Policy Interests, 2 October 1964. The State Department sent the record of the meeting between Subandrio and Rusk on 19 July by telegram to the Moscow embassy.
71 Khrushchev, Memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev, 792; Opris, “Romania and the Cuban Missile Crisis”, 517.
72 Fursenko, Prezidium, 899. Translation by author.
73 Khrushchev, Memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev, 792.
74 Drooglever, An Act of Free Choice, 495–497; Subandrio, Meluruskan Sejarah Perjuangan Irian Barat, 75.
75 Nasution, Memenuhi Panggilan Tugas, 311–312; Suharto, Pikiran, Ucapan dan Tindakan Saya: Otobiografi (Jakarta: PT. Citra Lamtoro Guna Persada, 1989) 108; Drooglever, An Act of Free Choice, 505–506.
76 Platje, “Dutch Sigint”, 305.
77FRUS, 1961–63, Vol. XXIII, Southeast Asia, Document 281, Memorandum of a Conversation between Rusk and van Roijen, 26 July 1962.
78 Subandrio, Meluruskan Sejarah Perjuangan Irian Barat, 77.
79 Ibid; FRUS, 1961–63, Vol. XXIII, Southeast Asia, Document 285, Telegram Jakarta to State Department, 3 August 1962; TNA, FO 371/166548, Telegram 525, Selby to Foreign Office, 1 August 1962; DDRS, Telegram SF1007, CIA to White House, 2 August 1962.
80 Anwar, Sukarno, Tentara, PKI, 167.
81 No American transcript of the discussion between Subandrio and Kennedy has been found but Rusk did not mention this issue when he reported the conversation to the Australian ambassador later that evening. See DDRS, Memorandum of Conversation between Rusk and Beale, 26 July 1962.
82 Drooglever, An Act of Free Choice, 498.
83FRUS, 1961–63, Vol. XXIII, Southeast Asia, Document 285, Telegram Jakarta to State Department, 3 August 1962; Nasution, Memenuhi Panggilan Tugas, 313.
84 JFK, Reel 10, Telegram 128, State Department to The Hague, 11 August 1962.
85 Drooglever, An Act of Free Choice, 765–770.
86 Sudomo, “Perebutan Irian Barat: Di Balik Konflik RI-Belanda 1962”, Suara Pembaruan, 11 August 2005. Available at https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/tionghoa-net/conversations/messages/37748 (Accessed 8 March 2014).
87 Andrei˘ Artizov, ed., Nikita Khrushchev 1964: stenogrammy plenuma TSK KPSS i drugie dokumenty (Moscow, Materik, 2007), 153. Translation by author.
88 Ryzhikov, “Topi ikh vsekh!”, 52–54; Rijs, “Moskou beraamde in '62 aanval”, 5.
89 Rijs, “Moskou beraamde in '62 aanval”, 1, 5.
90 Ooms, “Geheime Sovjetsteun”, 25.
91 DNSA, CIA Current Intelligence Weekly Review, 17 August 1962.
92 TNA, CAB 158/47, Memorandum JIC(62) 81 (Final), 1 October 1962.
93 Ooms, “Geheime Sovjetsteun”, 26.
94 Ibid., 24.
95 Platje, “Dutch Sigint”, 306.
96 Nasution, Memenuhi Panggilan Tugas, 314–315. Translation by author. Nasution's statement does not exclude Russian servicemen being part of a strategic reserve for Jayawijaya as Sudomo claimed.
97 Ibid, 315.
98 TNA, FO 371/166556, Telegram 65, Jakarta to Foreign Office, 23 January 1962; CIA FOIA, CIA Central Intelligence Bulletin, 12 July 1962.
99 Ooms, “Geheime Sovjetsteun”, 27.
100 Mikoyan, The Soviet Cuban Missile Crisis, 467–8. See also Lambert Giebels, Soekarno President: Een Biografie 1950–1970 (Amsterdam: Uitgeverj Bert Bakker, 2001), 259.
101FRUS, 1961–63, Vol. XXIII, Southeast Asia, Document 277, Memorandum Kennedy to Bundy, 24 July 1962.
102 Ooms, “Geheime Sovjetsteun”, 24.
103 Aleksandr Fursenko and Timonthy Naftali, Khrushchev's Cold War: The Inside Story of an American Adversary (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2006), 435–440.
104 CIA FOIA, CAESAR document, Memorandum “The Soviet Missile Base Venture in Cuba”, 17 February 1964; Memorandum by the National Indications Center on “The Soviet Bloc Armed Forces and the Cuban Crisis: A Discussion of Readiness Measures”, 15 July 1963.
105 CIA FOIA, Memorandum by the National Indications Center on “The Soviet Bloc Armed Forces and the Cuban Crisis: A Discussion of Readiness Measures”, 15 July 1963.
106 Fursenko and Naftali, Khrushchev's Cold War, 312–316.
107 Ibid., 335; Fursenko and Naftali, One Hell of a Gamble, 323.
108FRUS, 1961–1963, Volume XXIV, Laos Crisis, Document 25, Memorandum of a conference with Kennedy, 9 March 1961.
109 Ferris, “Soviet Support for Egypt's Intervention in Yemen”, 12–23, 30–33.
110 Ibid, 31–32; Fursenko, Prezidium, 899.
111 Andriianov, Kosygin, 170. Translation by author.
112 Alvin Rubenstein, Moscow's Third World Strategy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990), 90.
113 Ibid.
114 Ibid., 91–92; William Taubman, Khrushchev: The Man, His Era (London: The Free Press, 2003), 487.
115 Nadia Derkach, “The Soviet Policy towards Indonesia in the West Irian and the Malaysian Disputes”, Asian Survey, 5, no. 11. (1965), 568.
116 Andriianov, Kosygin, 170; Fursenko, Prezidium, 898–900; Artizov, Nikita Khrushchev 1964, 153.
117 Fursenko, Prezidium, 898–899. Translation by author.
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David Easter
Dr David Easter is a Lecturer in the Department of War Studies at King's College London. His research interests are the Cold War in Southeast Asia and signals intelligence. He is currently writing a book on GCHQ and Britain's withdrawal from empire. Email: [email protected]