The Battle of Plaman Mapu (27 April 1965) was one of the largest battles of the Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation, a protracted undeclared war between Indonesia and a British-led Commonwealth of Nations over the creation of a new Malaysian state.
2 PARA was rushed to Singapore in early 1965 for intensive jungle training in response to President Sukarno of Indonesia’s threats of invasion intended to destabilise the young Malaysian Federation.
By March 1965 the battalion was established in fortified jungle bases, one of which was B Company’s camp at Plaman Mapu.
On 27 April an Indonesian battalion launched a ferocious assault upon B Company’s position, which lightly held due to a patrol changeover.
The Battle of Plaman Mapu which involved 35 British troops, lasted nearly two hours before the Indonesians were beaten off with 50 casualties.
One of the defending section Private Henry ‘Harry’ Smith was killed in action and Lance Corporal Ian McKellar who was amongst the several wounded in the close-quarter battle, later died in hospital.