The taking of the barrio
It was nighttime when a group of people, with gun in hand, moving silently but surely towards their objective.
These group of people, composed of full time rebels, and more than a hundred of militiamen, coming from local tribesmen escaped from the horrible tragedy coming from the enemy, set forth a complicated objective: taking the barrio being controlled by the enemy.
That barrio, once a peaceful village, was attacked then ransacked by the enemy-displacing its residents and even destroyed their property as if calling it as their territory. God forbid, but these people didn't notice that the people's revenge will stop their orgy of violence.
Nestled on the top of the mountain, that barrio, as well as the surrounding villages being controlled by the enemy, was been controlled under the counter-insurgency program being implemented by the enemy's command. But instead of order, people expected violence as these soldiers, along with vigilantes, ransacked some of the houses, killed suspected rebels that in fact, innocent people, and even raped women! These numerous human rights violations made by these rabid fools increased the people's defiance to the point of escaping from the barrio to another-or even to the comrades whom they spoke their grievances to them.
However,
That barrio was also crawling as well with informers, yes, civilian informers employed by the enemy, that forced some of the comrades to meet with another outside out of safety.
And due to the reasons coming from the suffering majority, the group decided to launch an offensive, a raid on the barrio and to enable comrades to conduct more systematic political, educational and genuine socio-civic work among the people. As well as to increase the supply of weapons through arms confiscation and to impose revolutionary justice to those who done crimes against the people. With this in mind, the Red fighters, revolutionaries, continued their journey to that suffering barrio.
The comrades reached their destination at midnight, all saints day at that time. They divided into three company size formations: one group heading for the village hall wherein the local gendarmerie and the military used as a barracks, the other one towards a house, acted as a detachment for the soldiers, and the last-wherein the houses of the vigilantes were.
Everything around that barrio had been planned enough, meticulously so to speak. Earlier, groups of partisan units cleared the surrounding areas of informers, of hostile forces that, those who survived were paralyzed with outmost fear! Followed by a patiently-conducted investigation of the area, conducted by some of the comrades, and drawn an accurate map based upon the information taken and collected. The areas, paths were also being drawn too. They had checked and counter-checked the numbers of enemy troopers and their weapons, had anticipated everything that could happen during the offensive, and planned for every eventuality.
From all indications, the raid was certain degree of success.
It took only 30 minutes to encircle the area. A "blocking force", consisted of the militia, was quickly set up along the major roads and exits to deter any enemy reinforcements that might arrive. All vehicles heading for the town proper, wherein the headquarters of the enemy located, were stopped, while vehicles heading in the opposite direction were allowed to pass.
By 2 a.m., the offensive began. Comrades surrounding the town plaza made their presence known to the enemy, calling them aloud to surrender. Shocked awake, the enemy troopers shouted back, cursing the guerrillas badly as they could. All the shouting made the dogs bark and howl, same as the chickens coming from nearby houses and the noise was deafening.
The "shouting war" went on up to sunrise, when suddenly the enemy opened fire towards the comrades. The latter then answered with superior gunfire from the BARs, FALs, AKs, M14s and M16s-making the barrio hall riddled with bullets while the enemy tried enough to counter, but failed to do so. Some teams ordered the people to be evacuated, while some immediately arrested the suspected vigilantes, informers, human rights violators-especially those who tried to escape or wage a shooting war yet failed.
The detachment, like the barrio hall, was also suffered-one of the rebels even fired a recoilless rifle on the window-suffering a greater damage and casualty amongst the enemy ranks resisting inside, the enemy tried to call for reinforcements-not noticing that an ambush stopped their attempt to break the offensive set forth by the revolutionaries.
By 8 o'clock in the morning, the battle stopped. And signals of surrender were tendered. "Come out! Don’t be afraid. You will not be harmed," the Red fighters called out. Slowly the Gendarmerie and the rest of their allies came out of the wrecked buildings, shaking with fear as they faced the gun-wielding guerrillas. They were taken prisoner and their arms confiscated.
At 10 o'clock, the disarming operation was ended.
The whole town population, with the local officials, were then assembled for a mass meeting and cultural presentation courtesy of the freedom fighters. There the latter explained very well the actions made by the offensive, and condemned oppressive local officials as well as military who once controlled the entire barrio and its surroundings, and exhorted the townspeople to join the national democratic revolution, and to wage armed struggle as its forefront.
After the presentation, the guerrillas also convened a people’s court to try the cruel officials, especially the members of the gendarmerie and the vigilantes who made various crimes in the name of national security. They even presented their findings to the masses, with testimonials and evidences coming from the victims.
Most of the people were then condemned them to die, while the defendants plead for their innocence and one of them even condemned the courts as a "facade for terrorism." People simply disagreed with the statement, and the members of the people's court immediately ordered the death sentence to the oppressive members of the order-being sentenced to death my musketry.
After the execution, the masses, as well as the guerrillas in the nearby consolidated areas surrounding the village then celebrated the successful raid with feasting, singing and dancing. The number of rifles seized in the offensive were quite as many than the last ambush set last time: 43 assorted firearms and 1,260 rounds of ammunition, as well as cash, paper, typewriters, office equipment, and others. The revolutionaries also set forth a revolutionary people's government, and even sent a contingent of revolutionary forces to guard the entire barrio in case of reprisal from the enemy.
The raid, turned into an offensive, the result of patient and persistent work, also showed the massive popular support of the minorities for the revolution. The red fighters, supported by the people's militia, were able, for example, to mobilize more than a hundred people to support them in this tactical offensive. They were able to move in and out of the barrio and its surroundings with ease, because their eyes and ears—their great rear, the masses—were always with them, caring and serving same as the revolutionaries as they defend and serve their compatriots in the middle of the people's war.
These group of people, composed of full time rebels, and more than a hundred of militiamen, coming from local tribesmen escaped from the horrible tragedy coming from the enemy, set forth a complicated objective: taking the barrio being controlled by the enemy.
That barrio, once a peaceful village, was attacked then ransacked by the enemy-displacing its residents and even destroyed their property as if calling it as their territory. God forbid, but these people didn't notice that the people's revenge will stop their orgy of violence.
Nestled on the top of the mountain, that barrio, as well as the surrounding villages being controlled by the enemy, was been controlled under the counter-insurgency program being implemented by the enemy's command. But instead of order, people expected violence as these soldiers, along with vigilantes, ransacked some of the houses, killed suspected rebels that in fact, innocent people, and even raped women! These numerous human rights violations made by these rabid fools increased the people's defiance to the point of escaping from the barrio to another-or even to the comrades whom they spoke their grievances to them.
However,
That barrio was also crawling as well with informers, yes, civilian informers employed by the enemy, that forced some of the comrades to meet with another outside out of safety.
And due to the reasons coming from the suffering majority, the group decided to launch an offensive, a raid on the barrio and to enable comrades to conduct more systematic political, educational and genuine socio-civic work among the people. As well as to increase the supply of weapons through arms confiscation and to impose revolutionary justice to those who done crimes against the people. With this in mind, the Red fighters, revolutionaries, continued their journey to that suffering barrio.
The comrades reached their destination at midnight, all saints day at that time. They divided into three company size formations: one group heading for the village hall wherein the local gendarmerie and the military used as a barracks, the other one towards a house, acted as a detachment for the soldiers, and the last-wherein the houses of the vigilantes were.
Everything around that barrio had been planned enough, meticulously so to speak. Earlier, groups of partisan units cleared the surrounding areas of informers, of hostile forces that, those who survived were paralyzed with outmost fear! Followed by a patiently-conducted investigation of the area, conducted by some of the comrades, and drawn an accurate map based upon the information taken and collected. The areas, paths were also being drawn too. They had checked and counter-checked the numbers of enemy troopers and their weapons, had anticipated everything that could happen during the offensive, and planned for every eventuality.
From all indications, the raid was certain degree of success.
It took only 30 minutes to encircle the area. A "blocking force", consisted of the militia, was quickly set up along the major roads and exits to deter any enemy reinforcements that might arrive. All vehicles heading for the town proper, wherein the headquarters of the enemy located, were stopped, while vehicles heading in the opposite direction were allowed to pass.
By 2 a.m., the offensive began. Comrades surrounding the town plaza made their presence known to the enemy, calling them aloud to surrender. Shocked awake, the enemy troopers shouted back, cursing the guerrillas badly as they could. All the shouting made the dogs bark and howl, same as the chickens coming from nearby houses and the noise was deafening.
The "shouting war" went on up to sunrise, when suddenly the enemy opened fire towards the comrades. The latter then answered with superior gunfire from the BARs, FALs, AKs, M14s and M16s-making the barrio hall riddled with bullets while the enemy tried enough to counter, but failed to do so. Some teams ordered the people to be evacuated, while some immediately arrested the suspected vigilantes, informers, human rights violators-especially those who tried to escape or wage a shooting war yet failed.
The detachment, like the barrio hall, was also suffered-one of the rebels even fired a recoilless rifle on the window-suffering a greater damage and casualty amongst the enemy ranks resisting inside, the enemy tried to call for reinforcements-not noticing that an ambush stopped their attempt to break the offensive set forth by the revolutionaries.
By 8 o'clock in the morning, the battle stopped. And signals of surrender were tendered. "Come out! Don’t be afraid. You will not be harmed," the Red fighters called out. Slowly the Gendarmerie and the rest of their allies came out of the wrecked buildings, shaking with fear as they faced the gun-wielding guerrillas. They were taken prisoner and their arms confiscated.
At 10 o'clock, the disarming operation was ended.
The whole town population, with the local officials, were then assembled for a mass meeting and cultural presentation courtesy of the freedom fighters. There the latter explained very well the actions made by the offensive, and condemned oppressive local officials as well as military who once controlled the entire barrio and its surroundings, and exhorted the townspeople to join the national democratic revolution, and to wage armed struggle as its forefront.
After the presentation, the guerrillas also convened a people’s court to try the cruel officials, especially the members of the gendarmerie and the vigilantes who made various crimes in the name of national security. They even presented their findings to the masses, with testimonials and evidences coming from the victims.
Most of the people were then condemned them to die, while the defendants plead for their innocence and one of them even condemned the courts as a "facade for terrorism." People simply disagreed with the statement, and the members of the people's court immediately ordered the death sentence to the oppressive members of the order-being sentenced to death my musketry.
After the execution, the masses, as well as the guerrillas in the nearby consolidated areas surrounding the village then celebrated the successful raid with feasting, singing and dancing. The number of rifles seized in the offensive were quite as many than the last ambush set last time: 43 assorted firearms and 1,260 rounds of ammunition, as well as cash, paper, typewriters, office equipment, and others. The revolutionaries also set forth a revolutionary people's government, and even sent a contingent of revolutionary forces to guard the entire barrio in case of reprisal from the enemy.
The raid, turned into an offensive, the result of patient and persistent work, also showed the massive popular support of the minorities for the revolution. The red fighters, supported by the people's militia, were able, for example, to mobilize more than a hundred people to support them in this tactical offensive. They were able to move in and out of the barrio and its surroundings with ease, because their eyes and ears—their great rear, the masses—were always with them, caring and serving same as the revolutionaries as they defend and serve their compatriots in the middle of the people's war.
