1st October 4473Workers' Revolutionary Army crushes insurgents after Battle of al-Mamoun-Heroic residents stave off rebel fighters
-Province of Jerze'har recapturedThe residents of al-Mamoun defend the city from attackThe Workers' Revolutionary Army has succeeded in routing counter-revolutionary forces in Jerze'har after a heroic victory at the Battle of al-Mamoun. Residents of the city, armed with whatever weaponry they could muster, successfully held at bay the full force of the rebel insurgents until support from the Army arrived to liberate the city. With the anti-communists broken and routing, government forces then swept through the cities of Zedin and Sathea ensuring an end to the conflict.
The government in al-Kasraj estimates that the over 3,500 civilians were killed in the attack, with 500+ rebels killed and 700 captured
EventsA child soldier at the Battle of al-MamounAt 5.36am on 12th September rebel forces made an audacious dawn assault on a military outpost 3 miles east of al-Mamoun in the government controlled province of Nekkah, overwhelming a small force of local revolutionary militia. The attack was the first step in a plan to capture the port city, providing the rebels, whose supply lines have been severely disrupted, with a means of receiving military support.
At the same time, the rebels hoped the attack would instigate a mass uprising against the Communist government among the local population. Instead, on hearing the attack, local villagers raised the alarm and alerted the authorities in al-Mamoun who in turn reported the attack to the Workers' Revolutionary Army, the bulk of whose force was stationed over 70 miles away in the neighbouring province of Pabeus.
Mansour al-Faz, a local agricultural worker, was one of the first to raise the alarm.
I went out of the house and saw flames, like a candle, in the sky and heard gunfire. So I ran to tell my father and my brothers. We thought, 'This is the invasion! They are trying to invade.'
Every able bodied man in al-Mamoun was instructed to arm himself with any weapon at his disposal and defend the city.
Mustafa Hassey, one of those men, remembers
We had 11 rifles between us, my brothers, my cousins and I, and then at about 7.30am they started to enter the city so we opened fire.
Instead of a city rising up against communist rule, the rebel force, said to number around 2,500 men, found a city armed and determined to repel their advance. The battle marked the bloodiest conflict of the insurgency, with the residents of the city forced further and further back towards the sea and women and children forced to barricade themselves in their homes or shelters, or to flee to woodlands South of the city.
When units from the Workers' Revolutionary Army arrived 16 hours later to liberate the city they found a people devastated, but unbroken. Surrounded and demoralised, the bulk of the rebels surrendered or attempted to flee the city.
Maps showing the movements of rebels troops (white) and of the Workers' Revolutionary Army (black)