Clear, hold and dominate

Business lessons from Jungle Warfare Experiences and Encounters by JP Cross

Clear, hold and dominate

The British in Malaya and then Borneo beat the communist insurgents by adopting completely different tactics to the Americans in Vietnam.

In conventional warfare the combatants use roads, railways ,water and air by contrast guerrilla warfare roads ,railways and rivers are the ambushers' paradise. Troops who only move secretly, mostly in small groups only arriving at the precise moment of battle cannot be ambushed.

The Gurkhas in Borneo were able to out guerrilla the guerrillas as they were well trained infantrymen. The Americans had a policy of search and destroy. They would do this then go back to their base. The Gurkha technique was to Clear Hold and dominate.


The Gurkhas would live in the jungle for weeks by winning the hearts and minds of the people and planting agents in the villages known to be unfriendly. The Gurkha carried his base on his back, and it consisted of a featherweight plastic sheet, a sackful of rice and a pocketful of ammunition.

The jungle belonged to him: he owned it, controlled it and dominated it by day and night for nights on end.

They dominated the jungle by ambush which is one of the most powerful weapons of both the guerrilla and the Gurkha. It is fighting from ground of one's own choosing and it depends on complete surprise. The enemy must be unaware that he walking into a trap.

The objective was to dominate the jungle week in week out day and night unlike the Americans in Vietnam. The sure way to beat a guerrilla is to operate more quietly, smoke less and talk less to possible enemy agents before an operation.

The Americans were too technologically tied. In Malaya and Borneo the enemy were equally as formidable as Vietnam. There is no other way to win wars at the ground level Sweat still saves blood.


Patience, patience ,patience and yet more patience is the secret of success.