Malacca War

Background

To say that the Federal Republic of Bonstock was not the most popular nation in Asia would have been an understatement, to say the least. Its international standing was not helped by a series of military slip-ups, the most grevious of which took place during the Marimaian-lead invasion of Myanmar.

Acting as part of the multi-national occupation forces, the Bonstockian Army was charged with helping to subdue anti-occupation rebels, many loyal to the old military regime but others simply opposed to the foreign presence in what used to be a soveriegn nation. While Marimaia, Hudecia, United Elias (through Brunei), Hindustan, and Spyr chose to concentrate on a 'hearts and minds' campaign with a more restrained combat aspect, the Bonstockian methods were drastically different. After taking losses to rebels in several incidents, FRB forces lost all inhibitions and committed a number of atrocities against the civilian population. In addition to the general apathy shown by FRB forces for noncombatants, on a number of occasions civilians were specifically targeted.

The final, and most brutal, of all these atrocities was when Bonstockian Army Air Force units virtually leveled the city of Mergui with artillery and heavy bombs, and then looted the remains before withdrawing from the country. International anger over this particular incident was substantial, and what happened next was extremely poorly-timed by the FRB.

The Spark

As if to throw salt on the wound, the Federal Republic Of Bonstock announced that it was going to levy a tax on all foreign shipping that made use of the commercially vital Strait of Malacca.

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The first nation to take action against Bonstock's taxing of the straits was Chuang-Han China, a monarchist protectorate of the Armed Republic of Sino.

Chuang-Han's communique to the Bonstockian government read as follows:

"The Government of Chuang-Han will seize all international assets of Bonstock within it's borders (Including, but not limited to: Civilian Ship, Airliners, Bonstocknian National's property, Bonstocknian based corporation's property) if Bonstock does not agree to lift this unlawful Tariff for Chuang-Han Cargo. Seizure proceedings will be carried out immediately upon reply from Bonstock."

Despite mounting international dissatisfaction with the Malacca tariffs, Bonstock continued to maintain that the Straits were its soveriegn waters and it had a right to do what it liked with them. The first nation to threaten military action was Hudecia, and soon after followed highly militaristic Sino with a vendetta against Bonstock. Initially diplomatic methods were favored by some, but Bonstockian persistence and rising anger over the Mergui massacre lead to declarations of war.

Before long a coalition including Spyr, Marimaia, Hudecia, Hindustan, and to a lesser extent Chuang-Han China, had assembled combat forces and prepared plans for the conduct of war against the Federal Republic of Bonstock.

The War

Sakishima Front

Some of the most brutal fighting in the Malacca War took place in the Sakishima Islands, a Bonstockian possession off Japan. A Huedcian carrier battlegroup arrived off the Sakishimas soon after the declarations of war, ready to invade the islands.

Initially, the Sakishima operation went badly for the Hudecians. One might credit the Hudecian failure to pre-emptively destroy Bonstockian airstrips there, since many of the Gripens used to attack the Hudecian fleet came from there, but Bonstockian reinforcement probably had the biggest effect. 15,000 paratroops were dispatched to the island soon after the invasion, reinforcing an already quite powerful FRB garrison, and before long the Hudecians were forced back into a small enclave on Miyako Jima.

One carrier battlegroup was badly damaged and retreated to Korea, and the Hudecian forces were just able to hang on in the face of constant Bonstockian reinforcements coming from the Maropian Coast.

However, while the Hudecians were struggling in the Sakishimas, a sizeable Hindustani naval and ground force was deployed to Spyr. After making the necessary preparations, a combined Hindustani-Spyrian battlegroup, escorting a large invasion force, sailed for the islands.

Hindustani Buccaneers operating from Spyr made numerous raids on the Sakishimas, delivering hundreds of cruise missiles and crippling much of the FRB's airbase infrastructure, early warning radars, and ammunition dumps. These raids severely weakened the Bonstockian forces in the Sakishimas, and to make matters worse for the defenders the Spyrian-Hindustani battlegroup arrived with significant ground reinforcements. Hindustani troops were landed and managed to stabilize the beachhead, even expanding it measurably.

There was also quite brutal fighting at sea, when a Bonstockian surface warfare group including aircraft carriers and battleships entered the area. The battle that ensued was simply massive, with anti-ship missiles and shells being flung everywhere. An equally large air battle took place as well, involving well over five hundred aircraft including Bonstockian FRB-22s and JAS-39s, Spyrian Su-35s, Hudecian carrier aircraft, and Hindustani Buccaneers operating at long range from bases in Spyr. While both sides took grevious losses, the sheer weight of allied firepower in the form of massed anti-ship missile strikes eventually overwhelmed the Bonstockian naval task force.

By the end of it, the Bonstockian battleships were either sunk or scuttled and the Bonstockian planes had been driven off. There were more than 40,000 Hudecian and Hindustani troops on the beachhead compared to a rapidly decreasing 36,000 Bonstockians, devoid of air and sea support. The Bonstockian counter-attack failed without achieving much, besides delpeting the already strained defenders. A breakthrough attack shattered Bonstockian lines and the battle seemed won.

Ironically, by this time the Bonstockian government had cancelled the tax on sea traffic through the Strait Of Malacca.

The Malay Campaign

Marimaia also played a vital part in the Malacca War. After Bonstock launched tactical ballistic missiles at Marimaian Thailand, Chiisu Sunn and the Marimaian military was fully committed and well-placed to seriously hurt Bonstock. With the support of several hundred Su-27 fighter-bombers and Hind gunships, the Bonstockian border was breached by a large Marimaian attack force.

Back-and-fourth bombings of respective major cities and capitols continued as a near-continuous dogfight took place above the embattled armies. Thanks to Bonstockian A-10 support, the Marimaian advance was temporarily stopped, but by no means beaten. Simply massive air groups struck targets across Bonstockian Malaya and engaged the FRB's airforce. A considerable Marimaian naval contingent provided support for the ground invasion as well.

After a considerable delay, Beth Gellert also decided to join the war on the side of Marimaia. It deployed a large naval and ground contingent to Myanmar in preparation for another push on Bonstockian Malaya. Several battalions of Hindustani infantry, left over from the Myanmar operations, also prepared to join the Marimaian assault.

The Maropian Coast

The fighting that took place in the Maropian Coast, Bonstock's section of Formosa (Taiwan), was rather one-sided. Politically silent before the war, a joint Sinoese-ROCA force numbering almost half a million launched a surprise attack on the colony. Depleted from the fighting in the Sakishimas, mass desertion, and heavy Taiwanese air raids, the Bonstockian defenders were overwhelmed by the simply crushing numbers of Chinese troops. The Chinese invasion force was characteristically ruthless and professional, taking no prisoners in the process of decisively destroying the Bonstockians in the Maropian Coast.

It was during the Maropian Coast assault that Lord Harald himself was killed, along with three hundred loyal troops. This essentially decapitated the Bonstockian government and had a considerable effect on the events that would take place elsewhere.

The Maropian Coast was absorbed into Taiwan after a brutal military governance by Chinese forces in which Bonstockians themselves had little hope of survival. Some Maropians kept up a short campaign against the Chinese occupation forces, demanding independence and self-determination, but without success. Bonstockian loyalists allege 140,000 civilians went missing during the occupation, but this has never been officially confirmed.

The Collapse of the Federal State

One of the most controversial decisions of the Malacca War was made soon after Sinoese and Taiwanese troops launched attacks against border fortifications in the Maropian Coast. Harald Gustavsson, President of the FRB, boarded a transport plane along with the elite of the Bonstockian Kopassus (special forces) and departed Singapore for Maropia. Many historians trace the collapse of Federal authority in Bonstock to that decision... political power within the Republic had been concentrated in the office of the President, while military authority was equally centralized in the Chair of the Joint Chiefs that oversaw the Federal Army and Navy. By abandoning these positions without a clear line of succession, Harald paralyzed Singapore at a time when quick action was vital to contain the escalating situation... some legislators and senior military officers began to make bids for the Presidency, backed by various military units, others refused to act without Harald's authorization, sending desperate communiques to an unresponsive Maropia. Others, sensing the approach of defeat, abandoned their posts with whatever they could grab, fleeing to the Philippines or South America in the hope of eluding capture.

Harald has been widely condemned for his decision, but few commentators have recognized the logic of his choice from a Bonstockian perspective. Just like the logic of bombing Mergui was alien to foreigners but obvious given FRB attitudes and values, Harald's choice to depart for Maropia was not an error but an inescapable neccessity. To understand it, one must recognize the status of the Maropian Coast in Bonstockian national mythology. It was siezure of the Coast that made Gustav Adolphus a war hero, and propelled him to the highest ranks in the Navy and then the Republic. The Coast was key to the military counter-assault against the attempted Communist coup in 1965, a bastion of loyalists where the Federal military was able to reform and retaliate, securing its aurthority over the Republic. It was from the Maropian Coast that Bonstock had secured the Sakishimas, and Maropian citizens made up nearly half the manpower of the Federal Navy's marine corps. In essence, Maropia was a symbol of Bonstock, of military authority within the Republic, and of Harald's own authority, descended from his father. To hold Maropia was a tactical impossibility, but to lose Maropia would be to lose far more... while it was under threat, his very authority as President was equally threatened. Harald fought and died in the Maropian Coast as a martyr to the glories of his family and the Federal military, perhaps hoping his death might galvanize the Republic, perhaps blindly believing that he could still emerge triumphant.

After the death of Lord Harald, the loss of the Maropian Coast, and the impending defeat of Bonstockian Army on the Sakishimas, many commanders resorted to desperate measures. On the Sakishimas, for instance, the Bonstockians fired nuclear artillery shells into the allied beachhead, causing widespread destruction and removing any inclination on the part of the Hudecians and Hindustanis to take prisoners among the Bonstockian garrison.

Soon afterword, the Bonstockian Army mutinied on every front. In Malaya, allied forces advanced rapidly to the Johor Strait, the very gates of Singapore itself, and civil order in that city was hardly certain. At first, Parliament leader Chang Zhou declared a cease-fire and promised reparation for Mergui, but he was overthrown by General Assad bin Abdullah, who declared martial law. General Abdullah was himself assassinated and the cease-fire declared again.

By the end of it, Singapore was the only Bonstock-administered territory in Asia. Indonesia and Malaya were partitioned and occupied by the various allied powers until proper governments could be established.

Failure of Deterrence

The Federal Republic, at the time of the Malacca War, posessed one of the most advanced deterrents in Southeast Asia. While its long-ranged missiles lagged far behind those of Quinntonia or Sino, the FRB posessed an amble supply of nuclear weapons designed for tactical delivery by fighter-bombers and artillery, and strategic strikes by heavy bomber. While the hefty GX-2 Apocalypse bombers (B-52) were vulnerable to modern air defences, the FRB had spent tens of billions on the development of an advanced stealth bomber design, the GX-5 (comparable to the USQ's B-2 'Spirit') which could deliver a nuclear payload undetected through almost any air defence network (including that of the Sinoese). Yet these bombers never saw combat in the war.

The GX-5 was limited by a need for large, temperature-controlled hangar facilities, and substantial equipment for maintenance. As such, the five craft operated by the Federal Navy were confined to only two capable bases: Gustav NAFB in Maropia and Suharto NAFB in southern Malaya. Long before the conflict broke out, Sinoese intelligence had identified the precise coordinates of the Gustav hangar, and it was struck directly by bunker-busting munitions during the first exchanges of fire. Though therew was some regret expressed amongst Sinoese commanders at not capturing such advanced hardware, General Liu is said to have deemed the risk of nuclear strikes on Chinese soil too great to take any risks.

The three GX-5 units at the Suharto hangar played an equally small role, though they survived the war. A dispute broke out between the Navy base commander and the Federal Army officer in command of Malaya's defence. The Army, engaged in heated battle with Marimaian forces, wanted to employ the bombers and their nuclear weapons in a tactical role, destroying the NeoSuunist columns moving down the bottleneck of the Kra Isthmus. The Navy, seeing conventional victory in Maropia as impossible, wanted to use the bombers in retaliatory strikes against Sinoese cities. Without Harald to authorize either deployment, a firefight broke out between Army Kopassus (special forces) and Navy marines as both sought to secure the hangars and their valuable contents. With the USQ having disabled FRB access to accurate GPS information, the Navy chose to evacuate the GX-5s to Singapore where it might manually calculate a proper attack course. By the time the craft were armed and ready to redeploy, the Federal Republic had ceased to exist as an organised entity.

Loss of GPS data had a severe impact on operations at the front as well... the FRB had used the system to allow the deployment of large conscript forces with limited training: GPS-aided computers were prevalent amongst artillery units for calculating firing solutions, and infantry platoons for directing such strikes. GPS did not fail wholesale, but rather began to provide highly inaccurate data, which caused no end of trouble as artillery bombardments struck FRB positions as often as those of the enemy. Under such circumstances, few commanders were willing to risk use of biological or nuclear shells. The only use of such weapons was during the battle on the Sakishimas, as the Federal positions there became desperate.

Failure of Logistics

The Federal Republic was woefully unprepared for the location and extent of the Malacca War. With good reason, FRB planners had thought that objections would be confined to the political sphere, as none would have the stomach for the battle it would take to overcome the FRB. The Federal Navy was divided into two major groups, one in Maropia to guard against Spyr and Hudecia, and one in the South China Sea to hold the Malacca strait against Chinese and Indian forces. What planners did not forsee was the extent of operations in the north, and the absence of strikes against the war's very cause.

Though by all accounts, Hindustani forces ought to have begun their attacks from the southwest, circumstances had conspired to decieve FRB planners. In a show of solidarity following joint condemnation of the FRB over Mergui, Hindustani naval and ground assets had been deploying into the Lyong peninsula for joint excercises. These assets moved quickly to link up with a Hudecian carrier group that had moved into the area, before launching an assault on the Sakishimas. Knowing that the bulk of the USQ fleet was still in port, and believing that Hudecia would not act without the company of its traditional ally, the FRB dismissed the importance of the Hudecian fleet almost until the first shots were fired.

Still believing the main thrust would be directed through Malacca, the Federal Navy was unwilling to break up its southern formation, while its northern group was pulled into the maelstrom around the Sakishimas. This left Federal Army transports, carrying reinforcements vital to the northern front, to make their way unprotected through the South China Sea, where they were easy pickings for well-drilled Sinoese pilots... a loss made all the more painful by the fact that Harald had summoned the Army's crack divisions to join the defence of Maropia. A lack of surviving records leaves little from which an estimate might be made as to the total casualties suffered during ocean transit, but it is certain that thousands of Bonstockian soldiers now lie at the bottom of the sea.

Quinntonian Involvement

The nation of Quinntonia also played a significant part, particularly in the latter stages of the Malacca War. While characteristically reluctant to get involved early on, Bonstock's use of WMDs gave the USQ reason to intervene. Quinntonian forces missed just about all the major fighting (though USQ forces out of Guam and Hamhung-Hungnam participated in the conflict around the Sakishimas while Washington still remained neutral, shielding damaged Hudecian ships as they withdrew and providing some medical assistance to both sides), Bonstock already being essentially done for by the time the first Quinntonian troops even set foot in southeast Asia, Quinntonian forces wasted no time in securing the former Bonstock's WMD production and storage facilities. Through a joint effort with other occupying nations, these facilities were rendered useless and their contents destroyed. Quinntonian troops also landed on Bonstockian New Guinea, setting up their own administration there until Quinntonia was pressured to pull out of the region.

The Sujavan Revolution

The Federal Republic was never a stable institution. Internal groups espousing radical Islam, communism, and regional independence had long caused trouble for the military government, while the ambitions of individual industrialists and military officers did not always coincide with the national interest. The breakdown of military authority across the FRB removed the lid that had kept such elements suppressed, and they exploded outward to change the very nature of the region.

Two of the pillars which held Bonstock aloft collapsed before internal resistance even began. The first was the presence of well-trained Singaporean troops overseeing the large mass of Federal Army conscript units stationed across the Indonesian archipelago; Harald called the best of his forces to Maropia, leaving only small quantities of Kopassus conter-insurgency troops to steady the poorly-trained conscripts. The second was the myth of Federal military might; though news broadcasts boasted of victories in Taiwan and the Sakishimas, the departure of the military's best units for the front told a far different story. If such units were needed at the front, then opposition had to be more severe than the state broadcasters were letting on.

On the island of Java, former powerbase of the Communist Party of Bonstock (PKB), the absence of Federal troops bolstered the confidence of underground labour unions, which organized a series of strikes at industrial facilities related to the war effort. At first, Kopassus troops were able to disperse such efforts, but they lacked the manpower to keep all areas of Java in check. Conscript units were ordered in to force a return to work, but these were slow to respond and often unwilling to employ the brutally effective methods of their Kopassus superiors. Those superiors were forced to turn their brutality against the conscripts in an attempt to force compliance, triggering a wave of desertions and some instances of outright rebellion. By official reckoning, the beginning of Sujava's revolution is considered to be the rebellion of the Federal Army's 88th Infantry Division at Lion's Maw Prison outside Jakarta, which saw the release of numerous political prisoners and the retreat of Kopassus forces east to Yogyakarta.

The exact course of the Revolution remains unclear even today: it is known that two Strainist divisions deployed in Burma made landings on the northwest coast of Sumatra some time after the outbreak of hostilities, and that the Federal tank division sent to repel them failed to arrive as ordered. Additional Strainist troops, though limited in number, also arrived by submarine in time to join an assault by rebel Javanese divisions on the Kopassus quartered eastern Java, accompanied by several PKB leaders. Though a number of military units switched over to support the revolutionaries, and labour groups moved to sieze factories and infrastructure, the ouster of Federal forces was not a speedy process, with many units sabotaging valuable equipment or scattering to form guerilla cells. Though unconfirmed by Sujavan sources, reports also emerged early on about clashes between socialist- and Islamist-leaning rebel factions.

While not as organized as efforts on Java, local resistance groups joined the fight against the FRB in other places as well. Surviving cells of the Communist Party of Malaya fought briefly (with minimal success) in Pahang, while Islamic elements emerged in Malaya, Kalimantan, Aceh, and Sulawesi (some with connections to the underground Jemmah Islamiyah movement). Christian fighters also emerged on Sulawesi, though these saw more combat against armed Muslims than FRB remnants. On the island of Timor, the long-time resistance group FRETIN launched a substantial offensive, though most FRB forces there had already melted away.

List of Combatants

• Spyr
• Beth Gellert
• Marimaia
• North Yaman
• Sino
• Taiwan
• Chuang-Han China
• Hindustan
• Hudecia
• Quinntonia
• Ringist Japan (technically involved, though contributed no forces... as Japanese territory, the Sakishimas were returned to Ringist administration following the end of hostilities.

v.s.

• Bonstock
• Dra-pol (limited involvement, amounting to a nuisance submarine raid on the Republic of Korea slightly for the benefit of Bonstock's cause. Might also be counted as a combatant against Bonstock, due to seizure of a visiting FRB submarine later in the war).

The Aftermath

Overview

With the collapse of Bonstock, Asia was rid of what probably amounted to its principal imperialist threat for good. Although Singapore would eventually attempt an ultimately ill-fated attack on Malaya, aimed at re-establishing some portion of their old hegemony, Bonstock was finished as a major power.

The faustian pact forged between the Shining Sphere Of Revolutionary Co-Prosperity nations (Spyr, North Yaman, Hindustan, Marimaia) & Beth Gellert with militarist China fell apart almost the second that Bonstock ceased to be a threat, and very nearly triggered a Sino-Bedgellen war over the possession of Bonstock's last holdout on Singapore. Relations with China have been rather tense ever since.

The war left a power vacuum in South East Asia, potentially a factor in later Progressive-Holy League conflict.

Sujava

The islands of Java, Bali, and Sumatra, as well as several smaller islets, came under administration of the Strainist republics North Yaman and Spyr. The government that emerged there can be perhaps considered the most successful of the post-FRB states, but has also suffered widespread criticism due to implementation of Strainist Party structures and constitutional violations.

The Strainist Party established control over its administrative territory, dubbed the People's Republic of Sujava, through absorption of the Communist Party of Bonstock (and its associated labour organisations) and the Nadatul Ulama (an alliance of moderate/leftist Muslims). Many have accused the Party of exploiting Lyongean wealth and emergent Javanese nationalism to secure such acquisitions, and using an electoral referendum (which saw the Party secure a firm majority of support, but also saw the secession of Aceh and Timor from Sujava, with the former joining Indonesia and the latter opting for a state of 'dependent independence'). Some Lyongean Strainists have also voiced criticisms of the move, as it saw extension of Party membership and reduction of Lyongean influence to that of a minority within the greater Party.

The constitution of Sujava was intended to create a new state that would be everything the FRB was not: it saw not only the guarantee of numerous personal freedoms, but the renouncement of the right to maintain tools of agression or to conduct any war outside one of national defence. This latter clause has since been the cause of much controversy, as Sujavan citizens have risen to make up the bulk of the Strainist Revolutionary Army. This escapes constitutional violation, if only on a technicality... the SRA is, after all, the armed wing of the international Strainist Party, and is thus not bound by the constitutional restrictions which bind the militias of the Sujavan republic.

Indonesia

The areas of Sulawesi (Celebes) and Kalimantan (Borneo) fell under administration of Hudecia, with assistance from the USQ. From the beginning, the area proved difficult to administer: armed religious and ethnic groups had been freed from the iron fist of Bonstock, and began to release years of pent-up tensions with firefights and bombings. Embattled Hudecian forces turned to Mohammed Kalla, a seemingly-moderate voice who appealed for calm between the various factions. Hudecia began to fund and equip a provisional government under Kalla, glad to free their own men for a return home.

Before the Hudecians departed, Kalla's moderate face had already begun to vanish, replaced by that of a religious fundamentalist. Exploiting tensions in neighbouring Sujava, Kalla managed to expand his holdings to include the territory of Aceh on northern Sumatra, while a staged attack on civilians and Yamani troops in Bali (using Quinntonian-built aircraft with USQ and Hudecian markings) alienated the Strainist and North American administrators, rendering the Hudecians even more depenent on their local 'ally'. He was, however, unable to keep Marimaian pressure from seeing Hudecia cede portions of Borneo to Malaya.

After the last Hudecians departed, the imposition of Islamic law became widespread in Kalla's territory, dubbed the Islamic Republidc of Indonesia, along with totalitarian structures melding the military dictatorship of the FRB with religious fundamentalism.

Maropia

The Maropian Coast was re-integrated into Taiwan, with what seemed an unusual ease... in recent times, evidence has emerged firmly indicating that this integration was assisted by mass killings of FRB loyalists and POWs, ordered by Sinoese dictator General Liu.

Papua

The last FRB territory to be occupied, New Guinea fell under USQ control and served as a staging area for efforts to gather and dispose of Bonstockian WMDs. The Quinntonians also attempted to establish a stable democracy in New Guinea, but their evacuation was hastened by international pressures and the effort was not entirely successful.

Singapore

Singapore, capital of Bonstock, was never occupied... a conflict emerged at the end of the war between Sinoese forces massed across the Johor strait (who claimed the right to administer the territory as an 'part of ethnic China') and a Bedgellen fleet just of the coast (which was petitioned for aid by the unstable Singaporean government). There was limited shooting, but the stalemate which ensued around the city is blamed both for Sino-Indian tensions that would escalate into the Nepal War and for the inability of Allied forces to secure the last remnants of the FRB on Singapore.

In the years following the fall of Bonstock, the old guard of the FRB re-asserted control over Singapore, and though efforts to invade Malaya were thwarted, they continue to hold power there. Despite its small size and precarious status, Singapore was left posessing one of the most technically advanced military forces in the region.

Timor

Though dependent on Sujava for trade and naval patrols, the island of Timor became an independent state after a referendum was held to establish a Sujavan government. Its status is preserved in part by lack of Sujavan desire to force the issue of reunification, and in part by Hindustani support of the tiny nation.

Malaya

Malaya was stabilized under Marimaian administration, as a constitutional monarchy under the rule of Prince Jamil (a NeoSuunist puppet). This regime maintained a relative state of stability until the collapse of the NeoSuunist state in Marimaia (due to economic recession and rising ethnic nationalism which can themselves be traced back to the Malacca war and its aftermath). When NeoSuunist support vanished, Jamil absconded to Peru with the national treasury, leaving an impoverished government whose position was further weakened by a Singaporean attack and Islamic extremists funded by Singapore and Indonesia.

Links for Reference

[2]

Malacca War thread

[3]

Invasion of Myanmar

[4]

A bit describing the aftermath of the whole affair