(Old page) East Indies Crisis - do not edit: Difference between revisions

“De laaste ronde” De Bataafse evacuatie” or the fall of Batavia as its sometimes called is the name given to the final months of fighting of the East indies crisis. the period is often said to have ended at exactly 23:48 11 November 1976, when the last Dutch ship left the port of Batavia and when the Soendanese rebels took over the city after a brutal siege.

Historians mark the start of “De laaste ronde” when prime minister Haberman accepted the Krijgmacht her so-called “vertrek” operation. The operation in detail laid out the withdrawal of Dutch & KNIL forces from the various theatres in the archipelago, it was not a complete withdrawal but rather a slow methodical withdrawal toward strategic and defensible positions. It would be from there that the final departure would be organized. During this time the Dutch would maintain full-on air and naval supremacy and keep raids at a maximum. On paper this plan was good in practice tho once implemented it became a bloody affair as the fighting withdrawals were intense. Dutch soldiers had fought in an archipelago for 16 brutal years, indoctrinated by over a decade of propaganda were unwilling to just let go without a fight. the final battles and operations were thus often considered brutal as entire stockpiles of munitions were emptied.

==== Rogue KNIL units ====

De Koninlijke Nederlands Indisch Leger had been turned into an elite, effective military force in the past 16 years and was not about to give up the region they conquered. It was thus the case that many units went rogue, as seen in Pinang and in some cases like the massacre of Metro, southern Sumatra, Dutch and KNIL units were actively engaged in fighting. These finals months were chaotic and it is said that many KNIL units eventually centralised around Pinang.

This period of the war is considered one of the more brutal periods of the war in regard to the sheer amount of death and destruction that was carried out by both sides.

==== March on Batavia ====

On the 17th of October, Soendanese rebels insisted upon a large-scale uprising throughout Dutch-controlled Java. This eventually led to heavy fighting across the island leading many more people to die. The dutch at this point were not holding back anything and many of the soldiers fighting where battle-hardened veterans, that effectively had been people that spent their early adult lives just fighting. It is said that during this period of the conflict in these final months some 1.2 million people died.

Soendanese forces using a combination of regular forces and guerrilla forces, combined with the Dutch fighting capacity being reduced due to the withdrawals, fighting with the rogue KNIL units, were able to push towards Batavia. This eventually started a massive siege and intense street fighting between the Dutch and Soendanese that saw much of the city be destroyed, as chemical weapons where used to hold back the incoming rebels. All of this fighting was done to evacuate the remaining civilian population, it is said that during these final days chaos reigned but some of NL her future prime ministers made themselves known as they led counter attacks or rescued numerous children.

==== Operatie Retributie ====