Spiran Conflict

The Spiran Conflict was a 17-day war between Neu Westfalen and Indonesia over the Spira Islands, an overseas territory in the Indian Ocean located between Australia and Indonesia. Neu Westphalian sovereignty over the islands had been disputed by Indonesia since 1966, with several minor flare-ups in tensions occurring after the discovery of sizable oil deposits in 1975.

On the 17th of August 1989 an Indonesian paramilitary group associated with the Pancasila Youth movement landed with 50 armed-fighters on Olten Island (10km west of Spira Island itself), taking 15 local residents hostage and disabling all communications with the outside world. A lightly-armed recon force of 8 Neu Westphalian soldiers sent to the island to investigate soon came under heavy-fire from the paramilitaries, forcing the soldiers to withdraw.

The paramilitary's occupation was announced by the Indonesian government as a "peaceful sovereignty-activist mission", and claimed the group was assaulted in an unprovoked-attack by the Neu Westphalian soldiers. A 450-strong Indonesian military force landed on the island the next morning, under the pretext of a peacekeeping mission to help the wounded 'activists'. After a 3-day ultimatum to leave the island was ignored by the Indonesians, Neu Westfalen announced a 350km (217.4 mile) exclusion radius around the islands and declared the territory a war zone.

A major military engagement soon followed as the conflict escalated into war, with Australia and New Zealand soon offering logistics, military basing and intelligence support to the Neu Westfalen Bundeswehr; although neither nation would directly engage Indonesian forces.

More to follow...