Son of Leman Russ
Banned
Interlude Story 2 : Battle of Cirebon (Pt A)
1946 February 8, Outskirts of Cirebon
The Friday prayers is just finished. With the news of the KNIL army marching toward Cirebon -supported by those accursed bombers and artillery barrages- my men's morale must be throughly maintained for the inevitable battle.
And here we are, at an almost empty village of Ciwaringin. The scouts have managed to convince most of the women and children to took refuge as quickly as possible to Brebes, guarded by a third of their men, the elder ones. The youths of this village has been given proper arms to help us defend against the upcoming Dutch onslaught, but... I still wonder if their quick training to operate their guns are enough to do this... still, we need every help we can muster.
Our communist friends actually try to convince us not to hold the Friday prayer, but I know, for some of us, this could be their last Friday prayer. I must say that I am agree to take the risk, but I asked the Christians and Atheists among our ranks to keep on watch outside.
I stepped out of the Langgar*[1], asking the report from the nearby Christian soldiers about the latest conditions... and much to my surprise, they already suspect something must be wrong, as there is no sound of flying planes, or even any sound at all. This is too quiet...
Suddenly, the silence is broken by a tremendous, though distant, roars of airplanes to the south of our current positions. We knew that captain Raymond Westerling's forces must be near, since the survivors from the ranks of the Mudjahiddin guerrillas confirmed that they will soften their target by bombardment first, before quickly charge and bring the fight to us up close. My men are now visibly nervous and now I know, our time will come soon.
"Soemanto, Azis, lead your groups into the the forests and keep hiding until the Londo show their colonialist nose! Djamal, Toegiman, Soegimin, your groups must man the flak cannons and fire at will toward the Allied aircrafts. Djoseph, spread your group of anti-tank gunners to protect the flak cannons. Djoemari and Ali, your groups must make sure the machine guns are in positions, and keep them well hidden before the Londo ground troops are at your firing range. I will personally direct the defense of this building complex and direct our snipers! Merdeka!"
"Merdeka!" said my men and they quickly go toward their pre planned positions, while I personally re-checking my own Type 97 Sniper rifle and cleaning its optical sight. I glanced to the map provided by Soewardi himself... never tought the educator could be a good military strategist too, and I am glad we have him on our side. There is no room for errors in this battle, or Cirebon will fall.
...
"ALLAHUAKBAR! THEY COME!" said Soegimin loudly, and the flak cannons roars from their southren posts.
"SHOT THEM DEAD!!!" said another flak operator, and I can already see the bombers swerve their movement, as if taken off guards by our flak cannons here. The airplanes tried to climb higher, but one of those damned B-24 are down and crashed into the rice fields. Not exploding... hmm...
I then look toward the crash site of the plane... better safe than sorry... and in my optical sight, I can see a blonde haired man trying to pry open the cockpit glass from the inside... I wonder if there are some survivors, but arresting them are quite problematic with another five bombers trying to blast us from above. So I took my aim, and press my finger on the trigger... Alright, first confirmed kill in this battle.
"Nice shot sir..." said Temon, my aide.
"Stay focus. I have a gut feeling that the Dutch dogs' ground forces will arrive soon to..."
And suddenly the dreaded Bomb blasts are out there like angry thunders. Those Allied aircrafts bomb the houses indiscriminately... I wince to think that some of my men is already dead at this point, but I hope Ali's machine gunners did not sustain too much causalities. Their ground forces is not arriving yet...
Another blast...
Toegimin's position are hit...
"Toegimin! Soepardi! NO! Nooooo....." said Temon weakly after seeing the after impact of the Allied bomb.
"Temon, Kasim, Hilmi! Go to Toegimin's post and check if they are alive. And if the flak cannon are still operationable, let them fire against those damned aircrafts again!"
"Y... YES SIR!" said Temon and the other two men are quickly running behind him.
Where is the ground forces? I think they won't be...
Another blast...
Ah, this time is better, another B-24 down, and the other aircrafts are limping back like dogs to their lair... This time the plane crashed and explodes in the rice field... Good, no survivors to think about...
Oh well, here they are... Tanks, Jeeps... and trucks... carrying both Allied and KNIL soldiers... I reloaded by rifle and re-focusing on the optical sight. The truck driver at the rear seems open... so... I put my finger in the trigger, and watch how the driver slumped and the truck smashed another truck.
...
Good...
This is the time...
...
"SERAAAANNNNGGGGGG!!! ALLAHUAKBARRRRRR!!!" I said it with my voice, at the top of my lungs. And Djoseph's group with the antitank guns start to fire against those Allied tanks, while I quickly re-focused my position and aim for...
---
PS: Soedirman is well known to personally led the guerilla battles IOTL and a type 97 rifle is in Museum Perjuangan Jogjakarta labelled as Soedirman's rifle, so putting Soedirman as a sniper is not too far from what happened OTL (and despite his health is detoriating in two last years of his life, he keep on fighting on top of a tandu (sedan chair), so well, firing rifle in close range is quite impractical for him, better put my money on the sniper thing so...)
*1) Village Mushala/Mosque
Interlude Story 2
Battle of Cirebon
(Part A)
Battle of Cirebon
(Part A)
1946 February 8, Outskirts of Cirebon
The Friday prayers is just finished. With the news of the KNIL army marching toward Cirebon -supported by those accursed bombers and artillery barrages- my men's morale must be throughly maintained for the inevitable battle.
And here we are, at an almost empty village of Ciwaringin. The scouts have managed to convince most of the women and children to took refuge as quickly as possible to Brebes, guarded by a third of their men, the elder ones. The youths of this village has been given proper arms to help us defend against the upcoming Dutch onslaught, but... I still wonder if their quick training to operate their guns are enough to do this... still, we need every help we can muster.
Our communist friends actually try to convince us not to hold the Friday prayer, but I know, for some of us, this could be their last Friday prayer. I must say that I am agree to take the risk, but I asked the Christians and Atheists among our ranks to keep on watch outside.
I stepped out of the Langgar*[1], asking the report from the nearby Christian soldiers about the latest conditions... and much to my surprise, they already suspect something must be wrong, as there is no sound of flying planes, or even any sound at all. This is too quiet...
Suddenly, the silence is broken by a tremendous, though distant, roars of airplanes to the south of our current positions. We knew that captain Raymond Westerling's forces must be near, since the survivors from the ranks of the Mudjahiddin guerrillas confirmed that they will soften their target by bombardment first, before quickly charge and bring the fight to us up close. My men are now visibly nervous and now I know, our time will come soon.
"Soemanto, Azis, lead your groups into the the forests and keep hiding until the Londo show their colonialist nose! Djamal, Toegiman, Soegimin, your groups must man the flak cannons and fire at will toward the Allied aircrafts. Djoseph, spread your group of anti-tank gunners to protect the flak cannons. Djoemari and Ali, your groups must make sure the machine guns are in positions, and keep them well hidden before the Londo ground troops are at your firing range. I will personally direct the defense of this building complex and direct our snipers! Merdeka!"
"Merdeka!" said my men and they quickly go toward their pre planned positions, while I personally re-checking my own Type 97 Sniper rifle and cleaning its optical sight. I glanced to the map provided by Soewardi himself... never tought the educator could be a good military strategist too, and I am glad we have him on our side. There is no room for errors in this battle, or Cirebon will fall.
...
"ALLAHUAKBAR! THEY COME!" said Soegimin loudly, and the flak cannons roars from their southren posts.
"SHOT THEM DEAD!!!" said another flak operator, and I can already see the bombers swerve their movement, as if taken off guards by our flak cannons here. The airplanes tried to climb higher, but one of those damned B-24 are down and crashed into the rice fields. Not exploding... hmm...
I then look toward the crash site of the plane... better safe than sorry... and in my optical sight, I can see a blonde haired man trying to pry open the cockpit glass from the inside... I wonder if there are some survivors, but arresting them are quite problematic with another five bombers trying to blast us from above. So I took my aim, and press my finger on the trigger... Alright, first confirmed kill in this battle.
"Nice shot sir..." said Temon, my aide.
"Stay focus. I have a gut feeling that the Dutch dogs' ground forces will arrive soon to..."
And suddenly the dreaded Bomb blasts are out there like angry thunders. Those Allied aircrafts bomb the houses indiscriminately... I wince to think that some of my men is already dead at this point, but I hope Ali's machine gunners did not sustain too much causalities. Their ground forces is not arriving yet...
Another blast...
Toegimin's position are hit...
"Toegimin! Soepardi! NO! Nooooo....." said Temon weakly after seeing the after impact of the Allied bomb.
"Temon, Kasim, Hilmi! Go to Toegimin's post and check if they are alive. And if the flak cannon are still operationable, let them fire against those damned aircrafts again!"
"Y... YES SIR!" said Temon and the other two men are quickly running behind him.
Where is the ground forces? I think they won't be...
Another blast...
Ah, this time is better, another B-24 down, and the other aircrafts are limping back like dogs to their lair... This time the plane crashed and explodes in the rice field... Good, no survivors to think about...
Oh well, here they are... Tanks, Jeeps... and trucks... carrying both Allied and KNIL soldiers... I reloaded by rifle and re-focusing on the optical sight. The truck driver at the rear seems open... so... I put my finger in the trigger, and watch how the driver slumped and the truck smashed another truck.
...
Good...
This is the time...
...
"SERAAAANNNNGGGGGG!!! ALLAHUAKBARRRRRR!!!" I said it with my voice, at the top of my lungs. And Djoseph's group with the antitank guns start to fire against those Allied tanks, while I quickly re-focused my position and aim for...
---
PS: Soedirman is well known to personally led the guerilla battles IOTL and a type 97 rifle is in Museum Perjuangan Jogjakarta labelled as Soedirman's rifle, so putting Soedirman as a sniper is not too far from what happened OTL (and despite his health is detoriating in two last years of his life, he keep on fighting on top of a tandu (sedan chair), so well, firing rifle in close range is quite impractical for him, better put my money on the sniper thing so...)
*1) Village Mushala/Mosque
all these Commies... Guh. Also, I'm supporting you using pre-EYD spellings for important names and titles, since monarchists will win, and Nusantaran nobles are pretty dutchified after 300 years of cooptation... .. Will you add Malaya and North Kalimantan to the Kemaharajaan? That mention of Malay militias making British residents nervous seems implying that, to me. Real Nusantara, from the north of the Peninsula (kick the Thais out!) to the end of New Guinea, huh? 
