The Story of Guerrilla Soldiers in Sokaraja Rampage, Many Motorcycles of the Dutch Army were shot.

In 1949 there was a surprise attack by the guerrillas against the motorized troops of the Dutch army in the area of ​​Sokaraja, Banjarsari Klahang, Purbalingga Regency, Central Java.

Dozens of Dutch soldiers’ motorcycles were shot by rebel forces. As a result, the motorcycles were damaged and caused the drivers to run here and there for fear of being the second target of the anger of the forest soldiers.

The situation became more volatile due to the presence of several relief guerrillas who had grenades. They threw pineapple bombs at several right places on the motorbikes of the Dutch army convoy towards the town of Purbalingga.

As a result of this incident, the Dutch soldiers who were in the headquarters of the city of Purbalingga were angry. They wanted to take revenge on the guerrillas in the Sokaraja area who had taken the motorbikes of the Dutch soldiers while on patrol.

Also Read: History of the Anyer-Panarukan Highway, Daendels Efforts to Improve Governance in Java.

Even the Dutch army had opened a competition, for whoever could capture the rebels would be rewarded with a large amount of money.

This made the defense of the republicans who were weak in faith shaky. Some of them became rebels (traitors) and leaked the forest hideouts.

Dutch soldiers run headlong, motorbikes are seized by guerrillas in Sokaraja

According to the newspapers I don’t know which was published on Tuesday, April 12, 1949 with the title, “Motorcycles have been shot”when the guerrillas attacked the Dutch soldiers who were on a motorcycle convoy and caused panic among the other soldiers who were behind them.

They (Dutch soldiers) fled helter-skelter abandoning their two-wheelers after being fired upon by the guerrillas. This incident is as quoted from the statement Sin Po (1949) the following:

All the motorbikes that were passing by were forced to return to their boats due to gunfire. The Dutch soldiers in vehicles then fled without carrying their two wheels which had been damaged due to the firing by the guerrillas.”.

After the Dutch soldiers fled from their two-wheelers, the insurgents descended from their hiding place to carry the war motorcycles.

Although destroyed by bullets, the abandoned motorcycle was still alive. Therefore, the guerrilla forces use it for the benefit of war transport.

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Planned Attacks by Insurgents

The attack on the Dutch troops had been planned by the Guerrilla Army in Purbalingga. They targeted the Dutch soldiers with vehicles so that the number of their vehicles decreased day by day.

In other words, the guerrillas in Purbalingga destroyed the Dutch army. The cutting of the number of vehicles by force by the rebels of the republic in Sokaraja has shown that our National Army is still there and continues to fight.

After this incident happened, the Dutch soldiers became more careful when carrying out their military operations.

Their commander increased the number of soldiers to accompany the soldiers who carried out environmental activities using open trucks and jeeps.

The attack of the Republican militia against the Dutch soldiers in Sokaraja was rewarded by the command of the guerrilla leadership in Central Java.

It is said that the guerrillas who carried out this sabotage were made elite soldiers. The duties of these soldiers include threatening the Dutch army in various areas of Central Java.

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The Dutch Army Retaliated

When the motorized Dutch soldiers returned to headquarters, their army commander was furious. As a result, all the Dutch soldiers at Sokaraja’s headquarters were assigned to take revenge on the guerrillas.

Finally, the Dutch soldiers, fully armed, arrived at the scene. With the help of tank destroyers, the Dutch army hoped that they could finish off the rebel gangs.

However, when they arrived at the scene, the Dutch soldiers found no signs of a battle. Dozens of motorcycles thrown by the guerrilla fighters suddenly disappeared, leaving no trace. It appears that the insurgents moved the motorcycles to their secret hideout headquarters.

About this event as described in the newspaper I don’t know (1949) the following: “The soldiers came to the place, it happened that the manager of Soeda did not look like a bastard. They ran so fast that it was not known where they went. The guerrillas ran away with the armored motorcycles of the Nederlandsch army.”

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The Dutch army’s attempt to retaliate against the guerrilla forces in Sokaraja failed. As a result, they lost tens of armored motorcycles in the middle of the forest.

However, the above newspaper stated that the commander of the Dutch motorized troops would continue to search for where the rebels had gone. (Erik/R7/HR-Online/Editor-Ndu)