The Bruuman Independence War: 1942 to 1945



A street of Georgeville, early 1940's

The insurrection was set initially for May 2nd, so to rally the crowds during the Labor Day demonstrations the day before. The police knew about it, through informants, already in late 1941 but they deeply underestimated its extent, figuring it out as a mere workers’ general protest. The administration committed its first mistake by deciding not to intervene: they hoped to exploit the situation to suppress once for all the workers’ movements by force; a decision blamed by historians directly on Governor Everard. In January 1942 though, PAIB and WMP decided to anticipate the start to March: not because they knew the police’s discovery of the plan, but because of their optimistic forecasts. The rebel thought that the insurrection would be quick and decisive and thus anticipated the start of the insurrection to match the end of the cash crop harvesting season, so that they could then sell the products before the colonists had a chance to.
The day was then set for a Monday, March 16th. At dawn, armed groups in cities and towns attacked police stations, halls and other government institutions, while in the countryside their counterparts stormed plantations and villas. Workers of mills and factories found many picketed or occupied by union-led groups, while dockworkers entered strike en masse. Some of these initial actions were successful, many less so. Large gatherings and demonstrations assembled throughout the day in the cities, and the rebels sent an ultimatum to the Governor, requesting surrender.  Planters’ militia and white vigilante were the first to react, protecting white areas and possessions from assaults, while the authorities were still trying to get a hold of the situation and remained usually garrisoned in their precincts and bases.

On Tuesday, Governor Everard rejected any dialogue and declared the state of emergency while Marcus Tinney, in Monroe at the time, decided to jump on board and make RiMoJE join the insurrection. During the following weeks, the insurrections spread around the island and most of the initial fighting took place, with a mixed outcome:  in the cities the rebels managed to set strongholds in some black neighborhoods and gained controls of  a few local government buildings and factories, but decisively fail to overrun white-populated areas and direct assault to military bases and ports proved to be disastrous, with rebel cadres getting slaughtered in more than one occasion. In the countryside, the rebels overrun with ease many villages and towns, while plantations were much harder to conquer and aside a few destroyed, most were only marginally if ever occupied.
It is important to note that the insurrection did not involved in the same scale the whole Colony. The smaller island were less affected and so were the less populated and remote area, while the cities, the southern plain and the upper Gator River area bore most of the action. Some areas were simply cut off or abandoned by the government without a rebel presence being established, like in some mountainous areas, and others saw the rebels limiting their control to establishing a guard post.  


In the following month up until June, the army and the police forced most of the rebels in the main cities to go underground, with some notable exceptions of districts and neighborhoods remaining no-go areas, and forced picketers to resume work, but sabotages and attacks became constant features. Offensive by either regulars or militias to regain control of countryside and remote areas though were far less successful, and the arrival of the rain season gradually slow down both sides for most of summer and fall.

The following three years were marked mostly by sporadic actions and limited offensives during dry seasons. The disruption of economic activities was less severe than it would become later, as both sides were convinced they would gain the upper hand and did not wanted to damage the productive infrastructure. Gray-area deals were also common, with growers from rebel controlled-areas selling product to traders on the other side.
The rebels grew in numbers, but found themselves with a dire problem of armaments, since the number of guns captured was limited and they continued to lack anything heavier than rifles. This was also tied to another problem: the lack of foreign support. PUIB enjoyed sympathy in socialist and democratic environments, but few of these were part of the government of their own countries and of these, all as minority parties. Communist powers were wary of WMP and its heavily unorthodox brand of voodoo-tinged Marxism, while Christian denominations were not only white-run but also saw RiMoJE as heretics.
 
Administration in rebel-held countryside areas gave room to different experiments: PUIB installed administration of social democratic leaning: they left private property untouched, redistributed colonists’ lands and tried to mediate between the middle-class and the proletariat by promoting various form cooperatives and unions. 
WMP took a radical approach in their stronghold of forced collectivization of the land, although most of it was in fact previously colonists-owned and soviet-run activities, but elsewhere resorted to lighter means by reuniting landowners in cooperatives and imposing political prices on primary goods. Tolerance for dissent was less abundant however, and the first political trials and summary executions, even in the form of purges of their own ranks, took place.
The RiMoJE was far less intrusive in the economic aspect of life, choosing instead to play a carrot-and-stick policy by enforcing moral behavior on one hand and providing aid to those in need on the other.

PUIB and WMP were generally able to manage jointly areas were they both had control, even if by uneasy compromises in which they often tried to get the upper hand. They would find a mediation representing their respective core populations and divide areas of competence.
PUIB and RiMoJE went along too, eased by the different focuses, while Tinney’s people and the comrades inevitably clashed on many grounds, beginning from religion, and mixed presence in an area ended up almost invariably in armed confrontation and one of the side retreating.
Meanwhile, the colonists were faced with problem of resupplying for the army and of desertion for the police, while the protracting Border War in the Motherland impacted negatively on the exportation and the economy.


In April 1945, the Border War ended and the Motherland turned their eyes again on Bruuma. Governor Everard in June sailed to the Capital, where he was heard by the Parliament and the King regarding the state of its colony. Everard painted a much downsized picture of the situation and asked for a contingent of troops to be send to deal the final blow to those he posed as little more than bandits. 
Thus, starting from September thousands of soldiers started landing in Port Bayou, Georgeville and New Orleansburg, bringing with them trucks, artillery, armored cars and other equipment. They secured the three cities and between October and December regain control of the other provincial capitals and their surrounding, opening corridors between them.

The rebels were divided on how to face the threat: division between them made it impossible to organize a preemptive offense, which could have probably opened the possibility of opening negotiations or reinvigorating popular support: Bruumans were growing tired of the hostilities and many, even among rebel ranks, were losing faith in the possibility of a victory. PUIB faced the direst disaffections, since its base of small middle class suffered more from the disruption of economy and the unions had suffered from a harsh repression. Parties were divided even on the inside: in the WMP, Papa Unclepear emerged as a leader as he decided for its faction a retreat to the mountains and long guerrilla war, a move that would lay the foundation of its rise as the sole leader of the Party.