In 1954, the new appointed Governor Havilland switched the colonial approach to a “mind and soul” tactic. The government put effort in building new infrastructures, in particular roads and railroads, and in providing better services and security to the local population.  Another change was a massive influx of black soldiers in RBF’s ranks, through mixing units but mostly by creating all black units, though often white-led. This policy was motivated both by the sharp decline of the white colonial population, which affected the RBF recruiting pool, but also by the desire of reducing casualties in the RA, whose numbers were making the war increasingly unpopular in the Motherland. Most of the new black soldiers were transferred from the inefficient police force, whose role was anyway declining in the increasingly militarized country.

 

Despite the best intentions, Havilland’s efforts failed: in part for wrong assumptions, in parts because he had inherited an already compromised situation.

 

On the military front, black troops proved ineffective both in offensive and defensive roles: they were hampered by the disregard of white officers, who saw them as untrustworthy and expendables and did not provide them with adequate training or equipment. Morale was further lowered by the harsh treatment by rebels, especially at the hand of BVPLF and RiMoJe, in the event of capture and the threat of reprisals against their families: black loyalists were seen as traitors and subject to horrific abuses, from mutilations to mass executions. By the end of the year desertion rate, predatory activities at the expense of the locals and episodes of connivance with the rebels were all alarmingly growing.

Royal Army units managed to achieve some progresses, only to see them nullified most of the times by RBF losses: the most notorious was the recapture of Gatorville on March 1954, followed by its abandonment in June to avoid encirclement.

On the economic side, the deterioration of security conditions made the building efforts too costly and slow and contributed to a further decline of export-oriented activities. The BVPLF in particular conducted a policy of economic disruption: plantations wereeradicated and land distributed for farming; factories were sabotaged or in rarer occasions reconverted to provide material for their effort and logging and mining camp simply destroyed. Trading and docking activities in coastal cities was also reduced to a fraction of its previous size, due to the fears of shipping companies.

 

At the end of the year, the situation was manifestly critical for the colonists: the rebels controlled at least a third of the countries and were contesting another third. Royal Bay was cut off by land and accessible only by sea; New Orleansburg threatened on its western side; Monroe and Morgan’s Peak had control only their surrounding areas. Even in the smaller islands the situation had quickly worsened: Avery and Jonestown were lost in the latter half of the year. The Motherland realized that a military victory would be costly and not feasible in the short period, so they entrusted Havilland to start secret talks with PUIB to reach a peace agreement. Their hope was to preserve their influence on the island, at least economically.

 

Thus in 1955, the colonists shifted their priority to defending cities and key strategic areas still under their control, which they tasked RA troops, leaving patrols and operations in contested territory to the RBF. The tactic paid off but at an enormous cost: the rebels did not manage to capture any other main city or key area, but conquered vast swathe of territory in between. RBF’s black units in many occasions simply fled or surrendered in block to the rebels, sometimes even switching sides. With the support of the Air Force, who dispatched for the first time a proper even if small fighting force, the Royal Army tried to counter the rebels’ offensives with a scorched earth tactic in contested or border areas: carpet bombing and artillery barrage became the main tool of these operations, but they proved ineffective due to the mobility of the columns.

Havilland meanwhile had PAIB secretly provided with weapons and vehicles so to contend the most territories possible from the BVPLF. The summer of 1955 thus saw a low-scale conflict between PAIB and BVPLF, but in October Papa Unclepear threatened its counterparts into an understanding.

 

In December 1955, BVPLF launched its mastermind operation: the capture of Port Bayou. Unclepear knew that a siege would put its troops in the playing field of the RA, so he chose a different approach. To pin down enemy forces and avoid them reinforcing the city, he ordered a diversional attack and siege of Montgomery.

On January 1st 1956, BVPLF’s cells in the city rose and staged an insurrection, while columns from West and East converged on the city. The insurrections was eventually quelled in a week, but by that time the rebels were already in the outskirts of the city. The RA, reinforced with some RBF black units, fought a hard battle in the streets and in the houses, but was forced to retreat and regroup in the coastal neighborhood and the port. Panicked white civilians fled by sea as ships and boats went back and forth carrying them to Georgeville. Finally, on February 1st, the RA realized they were about to be overrun and negotiated a day-long ceasefire with BVPLF, during which they evacuated the city, leaving the RBF black soldiers stranded. On February 2nd, triumphant BVPLF soldiers entered the city. The few remaining white were rounded up and interned in improvised prison camps, while the Front’s bokors, the men who served as witchers and political commissars, immediately set up a screening process of the black citizen, ordering hundreds of executions.

 

The fall of Port Bayou had a tremendous negative psychological impact in the Motherland, and both the Government at home and Havilland in Bruuma realized he could not deal with PAIB alone since the communists held by far the biggest military power among the rebels. So a new round of talks with all the three movements was opened, while fighting continued on the island. It was a complicated and frustrating process, since the rebels run parallel talks among themselves to establish the division of power in the newly independent island. The ceasefire was finally announced on July 3rd, when the Peace Deal was also signed by the for factions. The immediate effect was a cessation of fighting, the consolidation of the frontlines and the release of prisoners. By that time, rebels fully controlled half of the country.

 

According to the Deal, Bruuma was to become an independent, democratic republic. A Government of National Unity would be formed to lead the transition until new elections. It would remain allied with the Motherland, but with no military presence on the island: Unclepear was unmovable on this point.

The economic system would be a would be a free market economy, but with state monopolies on essential services like energy and healthcare and guarantees for workers. Civilian colonists still present would be allowed to remain and retain double citizen, but no land lost would be given back, the previous owner receiving a small compensation. The official Independence Day was set for November 2nd.

Many communists felt dissatisfied by the formation of the GNU, where PUIB received the majority of seats and ministers, and by the free market economy, but Unclepear had consolidated enough its control on the party to have its decision uncontested.  It is still debated if he never meant to actually accept the terms of the agreement, or if its coup was motivated by a distrust for the WMP future in a PUIB dominated country.

Anyway, preparations must have started soon after the ceasefire. On October, BVPLF troops converged in all cities, officially to take part in the formation process of the new National Army along other rebels. The last colonial troops left the island on November 1st. In the night, the WMP acted and arrested or executed in secret most of PUIB and RiMoJE leaders. At dawn of November 2nd, BVPLF units stormed on PAIB’s bases and camps. Some of the occupants put up a fight, many simply were disarmed, either by force or deception. During the morning, when it became clear that a coup was underway, the other factions tried to reorganize and put up a resistance, but their leadership was already crippled. Unclepear held a speech on the radio, confirming that the WMP had launched a revolution against “traitors secretly working with the former masters  to sabotage” accusing them of having planned a coup on their own to put Bruuma again under the Crown. In the streets, communist soldiers and militia combed the city in search of adversaries. The Motherland decide not to intervene, considering the country a lost cause. By the end of the next day, the BVPLF controlled all the main cities on the mainland. In just other three days, the communists had gained the control of the country. The last city to fall was Port Haven, strenuously defended by RiMoJE who had its biggest following there on Storm Island. On November 8th, the Voodoo People’s Republic of Bruuma was born.  All the remaining white colonists were rounded up and deported in the following two weeks, while sporadic resistance continued for a few months. Tens of thousands of real and suspected opposition members were executed or interned, while fewer lucky ones managed to flee abroad.

Papa Unclepear had succeded securing the country for himself, but at high price. Bruuma's economy was in ruin and its people weary of fourteen years of conflict;  the country lacked a cultured elite and schooled technicians to rebuild itself. It would be only with the aid of its Communist backer that the VPRB survived the 50's, and still with great hardship. Despite that, Unclepear relentlessy pushed its program to reshape the country according to its dark and mysterious vision.