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Fire in the Jungle

Calidia

Establishing Nation
Joined
Jan 12, 2008
Messages
362
Dâmkei
Koh Svoy Province
Ratomkira


For once the weather forecast was right, the sun shined, the wind was soft and even smoothing. The Ratomkiran jungle looked like the most peaceful place in the world. No person could at first sight tell that this region had been in the grip of a silent war fought between Ratomkira and Vangala since the late 50's, except for the occasional bullet wholes in the threes and a small crater here and there. The mere sight of a village like Dämkei would however quickly paint a grim picture of what was daily business here. Most of the houses where mere ruins and the once flourishing farms of the village where reduced to large piles of rubble. Dâmkei was like all other border towns and villages the victim of random skirmishes going on between the neighbours, the one more intense then the other. Sometimes the village would be at peace for a long period of time while at other moments it would be right in the middle of the murders. It wasn't however only Vangalan soldiers fighting Ratomkiran governmental forces, the Ratomkiran army also had to face several other factions such as the large and ever-growing communist Kangtoap Krawham Padevat (KKP)*, various small Lanxangese** separatist movements and not to forget organized crime which had already highly infiltrated the ranks of the Ratomkiran military. The Ratomkiran army had much trouble keeping control over the region. All of this made life extremely hard for the about 30 villagers that still dared to reside in Dâmkei.

The border regions with the People's Republic of Vangala where probably one of the bloodiest killing fields in the world. Since 1959, merely 8 years after the , a series of small scale skirmishes erupted between the two neighbouring states with both sides refusing too budge until today. In the eyes of the Ratomkiran government and its King Pheakdei Srieng III the Vangalans have been the aggressor all this time, starting with the Pakse Island War and continuing today with the suspected funding and arming of the KKP and stimulation of smuggling. Today the village of Dâmkei would once again be the stage for violence and with all able men and women killed or recruited in either the KKP or the Ratomkiran Royal Army it was defenceless. The day had started so good.

A small group of 6 Vangalan smugglers was just entering the village when they where blocked by about a dozen villagers who almost hysterically cried out to the 6 men to leave the village and search for another place too cross the Se river that divided the two countries. Last time smugglers used the village the army had found out about it and killed 6 villagers and stole the last cattle, leaving the village with next to nothing. The people of Dâmkei feared just about all the factions that made the North of Ratomkira unsafe, but since the smugglers would more often pay the villagers in food in exchange for passage they where considered the lesser of various evils. It was however never certain if the group of smugglers was as brutal as either the Vangalan or Ratomkiran army. Nevertheless the people stood their ground and refused the smugglers passage unless they would receive food. One of the smugglers shot a few rounds in the air with his dirty AK-47, but was immediately punched in the face by one of his more experienced and older companions. The man had made a terrible mistake, he was successful in scaring the small crowd back into their ruins but at the same time sealed the fate him and his mate's. A platoon of Ratomkiran soldiers in poorly maintained and armoured pick-ups alarmed by the gunshots quickly headed towards the village.

Not knowing where, if any, Ratomkiran soldiers would show up the smugglers knew that their best bet was to cross the river as soon as possible. The smugglers truck quickly drove towards the water and signalled the other side with the car lights. As two small motorboats came from the Vangalan side the smugglers started putting their goods on improvised stretchers and waited, stressed out. As the boats got closer, so did the Ratomkiran patrol. When the boats where just a few meters from their goal the smugglers where attacked from behind. Without warning a rain of bullets was unleashed upon the small group of smugglers. It happened so fast three of them where barely able to turn around, let alone shoot back. Two others who had jumped behind a ruin where killed when a beautifully thrown grenade exploded. The last smuggler, the one who caused it all was eventually killed behind the wheels when he attempted to drive away with the truck. A hasty launched RPG-7 rocket was send after one of the two motorboats, who quickly turned around once the fighting started, but ended up somewhere on the Vangalan side of the border. The soldiers had a good laugh about that last one.

After looking closer at the dead smugglers they where identified as members of the KKP. It wasn't unusual that members of the communist insurgency group where caught smuggling. In fact the KKP was getting more and more power over the smuggling business, especially in the border region. Several regional branches of the Kangtoap Padevat rebels had made smuggling into their unofficial priority and have started neglecting their ideological believes. There is however still a large majority of idealist militantism in the ranks of the KKP, which is since the last years highly growing not only in the North but all over the nation. The political stage is rapidly changing in Ratomkira.

*Translation: Revolutionary Red Army
**Lanxangese=Laotians | Kambujans=Khmers
 

Calidia

Establishing Nation
Joined
Jan 12, 2008
Messages
362
Serui
Koh Svoy Province
Ratomkira


It seemed that business went on as usual, both for the government and the labelled 'terrorists'. The occasional attack or skirmish was nothing out of the ordinary, both sides remained confident that they had the upper hand. The communists of the Kangtoap Krawham Padevat (KKP) and the Lanxangese nationalists had the jungle with its numerous places to hide and ambush while the governmental army trusted on air superiority. The luxury of being unchallenged n the air had opened up many opportunities for the military and had been the demise of many insurgents, including leading figures. However what would happen today will bring a dark cloud of negativity over the Ratomkiran strategy. Today many things that where thought impossible by several, perhaps overconfident, military advisor would become a reality.

Ever since the army lost control over the roads and passages in the north, they have been relying mostly on air transport to get their troops around. In theory air transportation was way pricier then ground transports, but with the cost of the amount of damaged or lost vehicles due to the rebels it was cheaper. For most cases transport carriers would be used, but today was a little different. A small outpost in the North had been attacked last week and their ranks needed too be quickly refilled. Two Ratomkiran made ' ' transport helicopters, each carrying 80 soldiers, escorted by one Mi-24 attack helicopter where on their way. However, somehow the army wasn't the only ones knowing of this.

The KKP had their ways of gaining information. They got it from defectors, questioned prisoners, but also infiltrators and even Vangalan spies. This time they where aware of the transport which came straight through their territory, they moved fast as they had much ground too cover. Until recently the KPP lacked the know-how and financial means to become a challenge in the air, but with these new weapons and training in Vangala they would write history. They quietly spread themselves out in small groups, each of them a with a portable surface-to-air systems. They waited, for glory and equality, they waited.

Finally the moment came, the Flying Elephants and its escort made their way over the forests. The escort had just called in the all clear when his peacefull mood was disrupted by a loud beep tone. "By Buddha... WE'RE BEING LOCKED-ON!" Both pilots not seeing where the object was coming had a hard time not to panic, every second counted. The pilot's fingers trembled when he contacted the two transports. "This is Five-Seven I'm under attack, I repeat.../" Before he could finish his sentence the attack helicopter became one giant ball of fire which made its burning way through the thick jungle. The transports only shortly realised what was going on as both of them almost simultaneously got hit and where brought down. The attack didn't last two minutes but was effective to say at least, 194 soldiers dead, 160 regulars and the helicopter crews.

Tonight the KKP will celebrate a victory they have never seen before and the government will order an amount of body bags they haven't seen since 30 years.
 

Calidia

Establishing Nation
Joined
Jan 12, 2008
Messages
362
Reap Wat
Pnraom Province
Ratomkira


It had been a bloody week for the insurgent groups, especially the for the KKP. Sure they had an enormous success in last weeks attack, but the price they had to pay was high. Less then a day after the attack the Ratomkiran air force had commenced a long series of air raids over several known KKP strongholds deep in the jungle that lasted until today. Training grounds and other KKP facilities and installations where ruthlessly bombed to the ground, entire acres of the once beautiful jungle where scorched and reduced to ashes and craters. Regardless of the fact that the KKP had well deserved its title of 'shadow army' it was hoped that the damage would be severe and maybe even devastating. The governmental forces knew that the KKP where masters of hiding and that air raids could only have limited successes, but that's where phase two would come in. The government's retaliation for last week's catastrophic attack was far from over.

The truth was that the military had started a new semi-secret campaign to counter the growing KKP. The campaign, branded Operation Northern Stability, consisted out of three phases. Phase one, thinning out the enemies ranks and softening up their known strongholds with highly destructive aerial raids, was basicly over although air attacks would continue in smaller numbers. Phase two consisted out of relatively small scale ground assaults focussed on capturing important KKP leaders and obtaining important information about other KKP whereabouts and future actions. The Ratomkiran leaders knew this would be hard knowing that unlike in phase one, where no soldiers had died, this omelet would not be made without breaking some eggs.

Several small skirmishes had already taking place. The Special Forces had already engaged several KKP and even some nationalist groups in towns, villages and the jungle in whole, the one more successful then the other, but highly lethal for the insurgents nevertheless. Only hours ago reports came in that Sung Po, one of the seven lieutenants of the KKP leader Hun Mochhai, had been killed in the village of Pjoma together with over 50 rebels. This was good news for all the soldiers who had grown to hate the communists, but no one was prouder of the winnings in phase two then the Royalist Special Forces (RSF). After all it was them who had done most of the work and had bled the most for the King's cause.

Major Malis Knomchea was one of these proud special forces. Malis hated the communists, they had robbed him from his daughter in a car bombing and where responsible for the death of many of his men. He knew all his men personally, maybe even better then he knew his family seeing that he had almost no time to visit his home due to the insurgency and his will to grow within the military ranks. The Major was considered a fair yet disciplined leader, he had been decorated several times in the past, but for Malis Knomchea no decoration was ever enough. He was determined to do better then the other commanders, that was why today he wanted to capture Lon Vet, another one of Mochhai's Lieutenants, alive.

The intelligence agency of Ratomkira, Royal Intelligence Bureau, had obtained pretty solid information that Lon Vet and about 30 rebels where hiding out in a desolated farm near Reap Wat, in the Northern Province of Pnraom. They had just yesterday attacked a military convoy and where responsible for many more in the region. Knowing that Lon Vet was a strategic mastermind when it came to defence, one of the few within the KKP ranks since most of them focussed on hit and run tactics, Major Knomchea knew that he would have to play this one smart. The place where Lon Vet was hiding was still perfectly intact and would almost look like a perfect picture of a peaceful old fashioned farm if it wasn't for the precautions that Lon Vet had made. Lon Vet and his men never stayed at the same place for too long but always made sure that they could safely rest. Though only having roughly around 30 men left, Lon Vet made use of what he had. The two remaining heavy machine-guns where placed in positions that covered the entire surroundings, while a small improvised minefield was quickly constructed on the surrounding roads, used as more of a warning signal since all mines where attached. He also constantly had four pares of men constantly patrolling the surroundings and six snipers, one of them being his son, camouflaged watching the perimeters. The rest of his men rested until it was their turn, or held their positions within the farm.

Major Knomchea had studied Lon Vet's tactics and had come up for a solution in this particular battle. Knomchea had about 40 men under his command for this mission. The odds where with him, but with Lon Vet you never knew. Knomchea started by surrounding the farm, not an easy task with Lon Vet's perimeter being so wide and his number of men rather low. He ordered his men to be as stealth as possible and not in any way alarm the farm. The minefield was detected and avoided while three of the two men patrols had already been taken out quietly. It was however Lon Vet's son that was able to warn his father and the men at the farm. High up in a tree he could see the special forces approaching, he waited until he saw stripes on a uniform until he pulled the trigger. A sergeant under Knomchea literally had his face blown of along with two other men that where gunned down by the talented sniper before they could realise where he was. Knowing the Vet knew he was coming he ordered the attack to begin. Bazooka fire cleared out the heavy machine-gun nests as the farm was suddenly engaged from all sides. What ensued was a vicious gun battle that lasted more then 2 hours, something neither commanders had hoped for.

In the end however Knomchea had the logistical advantage, he continued to push Lon Vet and the handful of men he had left to the limit until finally after three hours a white flag waved above the farm. Coming outside was Lon Vet and four of his men. Knomchea smiled towards Lon Vet before ordering the shooting of his four comrades. "I've got you, you dog." Lon Vet was captured, one of the few KKP leaders ever taking alive. The day was bloody but a success for the government. Lon Vet captured, 32 insurgents dead and a limited 16 special forces who lost their lives.

Phase 3, the clean-up, was about to begin.
 
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