User:Mhatopzz/1975 Fretilin counter-coup

1975 Fretilin counter-coup
Part of the Cold War
Date 20 August 1975 Location East Timor Result Fretilin victory Civil war broke out in East Timor
Belligerents
FRETILIN	UDT
Strength
2,000 Falintil	1,700 MIUTD

On August 20th, 1975, in response to the coup attempt led by the Timorese Democratic Union, Fretilin launched a retaliation attack against the coup plotters, starting a civil war in the region. The Fretilin with their Falintil militias successfully captured Dili on 27 August 1975 with around 2,000 men, prompting the Portuguese administrators and military personnels to evacuate to the nearby island of Ataruo at night.

Conflict

On 11 August 1975, the Timorese Democratic Union party launched an armed coup against the Fretilin and the Portuguese administration in an attempt to gain control of East Timor and to overthrow Fretilin, however their effort was not successful, as the Fretilin and their newly formed militia force, the Falintil quickly reacted and launched a counter-coup on 20 August 1975, with around 2,000 fighters under the command of Nicolau Lobato. Facing the UDT and their over 1,500 MUITD militias, the Fretilin successfully halted the coup and drove back the UDT from Dili, the UDT still continued their operation which would caused a civil war to broke out in the region.

At the end of August, Portuguese Timor colonial administrators and military personnels had to evacuate to the nearby island of Atauro, and more than 1700 civilians were brought to Darwin by ship. As the civil war came to an end, the Fretilin was able to win against the UDT and APODETI and took control of East Timor, which would prompted the Indonesian army to directly launched a military operation in East Timor.