Lieutenant Colonel Vyvyan Robinson
Gurkha officer who served with distinction in Borneo and later trained the Sultan of Oman’s forces
LIEUTENANT COLONEL VYVYAN ROBINSON, who has died aged 87, won a Military Cross in Borneo in 1965 during the confrontation with Indonesia. In 1963, Robinson assumed command of a company of 2nd Bn 6th Queen Elizabeth’s Own Gurkha Rifles (2/6 GR). In September the following year, the battalion had operational responsibility for part of Sarawak.
The company’s base at Bario had bunkers, trenches and a landing strip, and its defences included barbed wire fences and Claymore mines. Helicopters were permanently based there and resupply was by air. Robinson was outstandingly successful in gaining the trust of the local people, the Kelabits, and there were many good parties in the long houses with rice beer and Gurkha rum.
The border with Indonesia ran along the crest of a ridge with steep jungle-covered slopes running up to it. In November, reports were received that enemy forces were planning attacks and Robinson took two platoons along the border ridge to the most likely crossing points.
A reconnaissance patrol reported that they had smelt smoke and then a scout group came under heavy fire. Having located the enemy camp, Robinson attacked it with his 2in mortar. The Indonesians withdrew a short distance and then opened fire again. It took three attacks to drive them back across the border, leaving three dead and two wounded.
The next month, Robinson learnt that the Indonesians often visited a long house. It was in enemy territory but close to the border and came within the scope of the limited incursions permitted during the undeclared war.
Armed with a rifle, he crossed the border at night with a hand-picked patrol carrying shotguns and went to ground under a clump of bushes at first light. When two Indonesians came down the track, there was a short, sharp firefight. Robinson wounded one of them in the leg but then he and his party had to scramble back across the ridge, pursued by a rapid-reaction force and tracker dogs.
Robinson’s courage and leadership were recognised with the MC.
Anthony Vyvyan Oliver Robinson was born in Derby on May 6 1930. He enlisted in the Army in 1947 and was commissioned into the Royal Irish Fusiliers the following year.
He was attached to 1st Bn Royal Ulster Rifles and served in Egypt, Jordan, Palestine and Gibraltar. In 1950 he transferred to 2/6 GR and served in Malaya during the Emergency. He was Mentioned in Despatches in recognition of his distinguished services.
In 1969, after the campaign in Borneo, he retired from the Army and joined the Muscat Regiment, Sultan of Oman’s Armed Forces, as second-in-command. Dhofar Province in Western Oman shared a frontier with the People’s Republic of South Yemen and much of the region had fallen under the control of a rebel army equipped and financed by this Marxist regime.
Robinson raised and trained the Baluch Regiment Frontier Force, turned it into a highly effective fighting unit, and commanded it during the Dhofar conflict. A series of operations succeeded in reestablishing the rule of the Sultan’s government over much of the province.
Soldiering with Robinson was never dull. His determination to get to grips with the enemy saw to that and he believed in leading his men into battle rather than sending them into a fight without deciding on the tactics to be employed. He was awarded four medals in Oman. Two were for his courage and leadership. All of them were recognised by the Queen.
In 1974 he retired from soldiering in the rank of lieutenant-colonel and moved to Saudi Arabia where he worked for a number of companies including Aramco. He returned to England in 1986.
Vyvyan Robinson married Moira Calla M’donnell-parr in 1957. She survives him with their two sons and a daughter.
Lieutenant Colonel Vyvyan Robinson, born May 6 1930, died February 2 2018