Roses, Tulips, & Liberty

Frontier War: Difference between revisions

Page Discussion

Frontier War (view source)

Revision as of 12:28, 15 April 2024

850 bytes added ,  1 month ago
Made some slight changes
VisualWikitext
m (Wannabee moved page Frontier war to Frontier War: capitalize the 'w' in War)
(Made some slight changes)
Line 1:
The frontier war, otherwise known as the Konfrontasi, was an armed conflict fought from 1976 until 1979, that stemmed from the final days of the East Indies Crisis and Soenda her opposition to the creation of the Free state of Pinang.
 
== Frontier war ==
In the final days of the East Indies crisis, a corp under command of Lieutenant Generaal Marten de Vries went rogue. This unit that in general governed the sector that is roughly now the Pinang Freestate and knew that the time of Dutch rule was over. They tho having given their blood for this land, in their eyes were not ready to let go, this in combination with economic and social pressures from the local Chinese community led to the creation of Pinang a Chinese ethnostate in the center of Malaya.
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.
The conflict was an undeclared war, as Soenda did not recognize the Freestate of Pinang. Most action took place in the border area in the hinterland and mountains, with only a few major conventional battles. The largest battles took place in the early weeks and the last few months, for example, the siege of Taipai (December 1976) or the battle of Vriesstad (April 1978 ), during the latter battle KNIL armoured forces were able to crush the Soenda attackers and Vriesstad was liberated. In genreal tho battles where light infantry and on a scale that was small, unlike the east indies crisis where regiments where deployed, during the frontier war company sized engagements where the norm.
 
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.
The jungle terrain of Malaya, its lack of roads, and its destroyed infrastructure due to the EIC forced both sides to conduct long foot patrols. Both sides relied on light infantry operations and air transport, with the KNIL having an advantage in the latter as well as supplies. It was the experience of the Soendanese in light infantry tactics that provided them with an edge. Fighting remained fierce tho with the KNIL consisting of battle hardened veterans, thus the fighting while small scale was an intense conflict where often “battles” took place over the course of several days.
 
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;
Initial Soendanese attacks into Pinang territory relied heavily on the Malayans and their local militia from the EIC. Over time infiltration forces became more organized and the Soendanese army deployed its own dedicated forces, Eventually from mid-1977 onward, fighting began to deploy armoured forces. This in turn led the KNIL to deploy their own forces which led to the “bloody months” from May 1977 up to Juli 1977. fighting intensified tho and it was feared that KNIL might have obtained nuclear weapons, that were in a strategic submarine that defected to them.
 
“''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 ==
Dutch-ODST
rtl-contributors
354

edits

Retrieved from "https://wiki.rosestulipsandliberty.com/wiki/Special:MobileDiff/19953"