Battle Of Kawmoora
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The Battle of Kawmoora (ကော်မူးရာတိုက်ပွဲ), also known as the Battle of Wan Kha Thit (ဝမ်ခသစ်တိုက်ပွဲ), was a protracted battle between the
Tatmadaw The Tatmadaw, also known as the Sit-Tat, is the armed forces of Myanmar (formerly Burma). It is administered by the Ministry of Defence and composed of the Myanmar Army, the Myanmar Navy and the Myanmar Air Force. Auxiliary services include ...
(Myanmar Armed Forces) and the
Karen National Liberation Army The Karen National Liberation Army (; abbreviated KNLA) is the military branch of the Karen National Union (KNU), which campaigns for the self-determination of the Karen people of Myanmar (formerly Burma). The KNLA has been fighting the Burmes ...
(KNLA). Before 1994, the Tatmadaw was unable to capture the KNLA stronghold of Kawmoora due to the stronghold's robust fortifications and narrow access from Tatmadaw-held territory. The Tatmadaw instead fired artillery at enemy positions from Thai territory, with the permission of the Thai government. However, the
Fall of Manerplaw The Fall of Manerplaw occurred on 27 January 1995, when the village of Manerplaw was captured by the Tatmadaw (Myanmar Armed Forces) and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA). Manerplaw was the headquarters of two armed opposition groups, ...
on 27 January 1995 allowed the Tatmadaw to advance southward and capture Kawmoora on 21 February.


Background

The
Karen people The Karen ( ), also known as the Kayin, are an ethnolinguistic group of peoples who speak Karenic languages and are indigenous to southern and southeastern Myanmar, including the Irrawaddy Delta, Irrawaddy delta and Kayin State. The Karen ac ...
of
Kayin State Kayin State (, ; ; , ), formerly known as Karen State, is a Administrative divisions of Myanmar, state of Myanmar. The capital city is Hpa-An, also spelled Pa-An. The terrain of the state is mountainous; with the Dawna Range running along the ...
(also known as Karen State) in eastern Myanmar (also known as ''Burma'') are the third largest ethnic group in Myanmar, consisting of 7% of the country's total population, and have fought for independence and self-determination since 1949. The initial aim of the largest Karen opposition group, the
Karen National Union The Karen National Union (; abbreviated KNU) is a political organisation with an armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), that claims to represent the Karen people of Myanmar. It operates in mountainous eastern Myanmar and has un ...
(KNU), was to obtain independence for the Karen people by establishing
Kawthoolei Kawthoolei (, ; or ကော်သူး‌‌လေ) is the endonym for a proposed state that the Karen nationalists have sought to establish in Myanmar since the beginning of the Karen conflict in the late 1940s. Kawthoolei corresponds to th ...
. However, in 1976 they instead began to call for a
federal union A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governing status of the co ...
with fair Karen representation, and the self-determination of the Karen people. Built in 1985, Kawmoora was a KNLA stronghold located at a strategic border crossing that controlled minor trade between Myanmar and Thailand. It was surrounded by
Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...
and had a narrow strip of land connecting it to the rest of Myanmar, fortified by a -long border wall. Merchants paid taxes on goods being transported into Myanmar, but in 1989 trade nearly halted due to constant bombardment from the 902nd Artillery Operation Command of the
Myanmar Army The Myanmar Army (; ) is the largest branch of the Tatmadaw, the armed forces of Myanmar, and has the primary responsibility of conducting land-based military operations. The Myanmar Army maintains the second largest active force in Southea ...
.


Battle

Before 1994, the Myanmar Army made few attempts to take Kawmoora and instead bombarded the stronghold sporadically. The only way into Kawmoora was through a narrow -wide strip of land connecting it to the rest of Myanmar. This strip of land was dubbed by both sides as "the killing zone", as it became a no man's land littered with corpses of fallen soldiers. The KNLA built concrete bunkers to guard the entrance to Kawmoora, and machine gun fire from these bunkers repelled the few infantry offensives attempted by the Myanmar Army. The first recorded military action at Kawmoora was on 20 May 1989. The
Fall of Manerplaw The Fall of Manerplaw occurred on 27 January 1995, when the village of Manerplaw was captured by the Tatmadaw (Myanmar Armed Forces) and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA). Manerplaw was the headquarters of two armed opposition groups, ...
allowed the Myanmar Army to send more soldiers southward towards Kawmoora. On 21 February 1995, 10,000 soldiers from the Southeastern Command of the Myanmar Army prepared to make a final assault on Kawmoora. Chinese-manufactured 210 mm breach-loading siege mortars were used to destroy the frontline bunkers of the KNLA, allowing soldiers to enter Kawmoora. This was the first time the Myanmar Army had used those mortars. Kawmoora was captured on the same day and the KNLA retreated to new bases in Myanmar.


Aftermath

In the aftermath of the battle, the Myanmar Army recorded 131 dead, 302 wounded, and two missing among their troops. The Myanmar Army claimed that KNLA casualties amounted to 212 dead and 231 wounded. The KNLA meanwhile claimed to have suffered only ten dead and "a few dozen wounded" in the final assault by the Myanmar Army. The KNLA also claimed to have killed 300 Burmese soldiers and wounded hundreds more. Additionally, three foreigners were reportedly killed in Kawmoora: an American, a Belgian, and a Japanese. The
Uppsala Conflict Data Program The Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) is a data collection program on organized violence, based at Uppsala University in Sweden. The UCDP is a leading provider of data on organized violence and armed conflict, and it is the oldest ongoing data ...
recorded 411 deaths in Kawmoora from 20 May 1989 to 9 February 1995. Over 2,000 soldiers died here during the course of the siege that lasted nearly a decade


References


External links


Rumble in the Jungle: The Battle of Kawmoora
{{coord, 16.795, N, 98.518, E, source:wikidata, display=title History of Myanmar (1948–present) Internal conflict in Myanmar Karen history 1995 in Myanmar