Frontier War: Difference between revisions
Made some slight changes
m (Wannabee moved page Frontier war to Frontier War: capitalize the 'w' in War) |
Dutch-ODST (talk | contribs) (Made some slight changes) |
||
Line 1:
== Frontier war ==
The Frontier War, also known as the “Oorlog van Overleving” or the “Grens conflict” was an armed conflict that was waged between 1976 up untill 1979, when a tentative unofficial peace agreement was reached. It had its origins in the final days of the East Indies Crisis when it was formed due to sheer brutality and the will of a rogue army of the KNIL that had its base of operations in the region.
It was from this, that an entire KNIL Army under the command of Lieutenant Generaal Marten de Vries, knowing that the Dutch government was abandoning them, that the Soendanese wanted their death and this was his home, decided to rebel. It was from this that the KNIL Army, known as the '''46th Stoot Korps''', which in general controlled the “Pinang area of operations” secured the territory of the sector. He did this in cooperation with the powerful Kongsi, which represented the Chinese community which dominated the area and had grown due to the influx of hundreds of thousands of Chinese refugees from the remainder of Soenda, this included Dutch refugees, Eurasians and anyone else that the Soenda wanted in essence to destroy. It was thus that the Vrystaat van Pinang was declared by the members of the KNIL Korps and leaders of the Kongsi.
It was an intense conflict, a conflict that at least by Soenda was undeclared, yet was large enough that it cost them divisions worth of manpower and by some estimates delayed recovery of the nation by years. It was because the region that surrounded Pinang was a mountainous hinterland, with valleys and a terrain that was well known by the KNIL, who all of them were battle-hardened and whose ranks had swollen due to many more disgruntled soldiers who did not want to stop the war, joining their ranks, including clandestine support from Tauland and elements of the Netherlands her military. It was a conflict that was brutal, small teams went into the jungle and fought the Soendanese, it was a conflict where numerous battles took place, but the largest took place in the first few months. It was during the siege of Taipai (December 1976), the battle of Gerik (February 1977) and at the last the battle of Vriesstad (April 1978). It was during the latter battle that KNIL armoured forces were able to push the Soenda attackers out of the region and Vriesstad for the first time in years was secured. The battles in general were waged by light infantry and on a small scale, yet at the same time, it was known for its intensive air battles. It was a conflict that was brutal and to this day one can find destroyed Soendanese aircraft in the thick jungle.
At the end of the conflict, it was said by Major Lodewijk Nije Bijvank, a man born in the Netherlands but had since 1963 constantly waged war in the east, said that;
“''It is only because the terrain is mountainous, the roads are few and underdeveloped and that we honestly blew the bridges and tunnels…and I won’t lie that we had the advantage in the air and those dam guys were half distracted…that we have survived..we the skin of our teeth we have survived''”
Due to the geographical reality and the logistical situation both sides deployed small teams and it was only since by some accounts the KNIL teams were all hardened veterans that they were able to come out on top, in combination with shrewd political maneuvering and by some accounts a never confirmed behind closed doors deal.
== Orgins ==
|