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

An often overlooked part of the conflict in her final months is the theatre of operations that was Celebs - Borneo. For nearly 3 years the fighting in that theatre had been constant counter-insurgency and regular warfare, it was here that Soendanese pilots gained experience as they fought a guerilla air campaign against the Dutch air forces, using state-of-the-art Russian-supplied aircraft.

Thus when the order to pull out was given from higher the commanders on the island, by this point veterans that had risen throughout the ranks in the war, knew it would not be easy. Kapitein Generaal Ronald Weerman, commander of all Dutch forces on the island started to work on a plan. A plan that would see the 90,000 troops under his command conduct final large-scale counterattacks, in order to get the green recruits out.

All of this came together in Operation “Levensweg” launched on the 1st of October 1976 it would see the largest air offensive of the war. Having gathered intelligence for the past few years, the Dutch were well aware of Soendanese doctrine and their main logistic hubs, these heavily defended area’s provided the fuel, munitions and spare parts that could supply Soendanese fighters, which in turn could harass the evacuating green recruits.

Levensweg would see a total of 971 combat sorties were flown that day and it is sometimes referred to as the “bloederige dag” in Soendanese aviation history, for it saw the destruction of some 83% of the Soendanese air force her combat aviation, which in later conflicts had a significant effect.