This Day in History

[Airbornelawyer]

The military governor had been receiving intelligence about local agitators calling for an uprising, caching weapons and training militias, for weeks. A few earlier raids had found little, but stirred up insurgent forces. On April 14, based on reports that insurgent political leaders were meeting in a village about 20 miles from the provincial capital, the military governor was ordered to deploy his ready force to the village to seize a suspected weapons cache and arrest several suspected militants. His force of about 650-900 troops moved out from the provincial capital on April 18, but secrecy was almost immediately lost due to a network of local informants.

Having received prior warning, militiamen in a village in the path of the troop column gathered just before dawn on April 19 to meet the enemy. After a brief exchange of fire in which 8 insurgents were killed and 10 wounded, the ill-prepared insurgent force of about 70 was quickly dispersed, but the delay allowed the insurgents to remove most of the weapons from the cache sites.

Troops easily took the village that was their objective, and seized or destroyed what they could find. The insurgent leadership was not found.

Meanwhile, insurgent forces were gathering. A force engaged insurgents at a bridge on the north side of the village, where it was routed, taking 14 casualties (including its commander). At midday, the commander of the ready force ordered his column to return to the capital. Insurgents harassed, sniped and ambushed the column incessantly on the return trip, and a relief column was deployed from the capital to rescue them. By the time they arrived back at their garrison that evening, the troops had taken 273 casualties while inflicting only 95 on the insurgents.

The insurgents were fired up by their victory, as well as their subsequent propaganda victory in rallying more locals to their cause. On April 23, insurgent leaders mobilize some 13,600 troops and lay siege to the provincial capital. Events quickly escalate, as insurgents seize a fort in a neighboring province on May 10. On the same day, rebel political leaders convene in another province, and on May 15 order a general mobilization. And the rest is history.