Burgers

Burgers
Flag of the Burgers
Leader	List of Burger commanders
Dates of operation	1 Prairial 69 – 27 Pluviôse 71 (20 May 1873 – 15 February 1875)
Country	The Furbish Islands
Headquarters	Nijverdal, Willemia, Nieuw Maasland
Active regions	Mainly Nieuw Maasland
Ideology	Agrarianism Nieuw Maasland self-determination
Notable attacks	List of Burger attacks
Size	X
Means of revenue	Bank robbery
Allies	Northern League province1 province2 Eastern Alliance province1 province2 Other provinces province1 province2
Opponents	The Furbish Islands  • Gendarmerie  • Army  • Other provinces province1 province2
Battles and wars	Burger rebellion

The Burgers were a militant organization active during the Time of Troubles. Founded by 19 deserting Gendarmes in 1873, the group would fight the Furbish government for nearly two years in the Burger rebellion before the third republic was established. The group reorganized into De Burgers, a northern agrarian party active in the present day.

Name

The first address published on newspapers by the Burgers said:

We are brothers, fathers, husbands, sons, farmers, factory workers, soldiers, villagers, townsfolk, citizens. We are Furbishmen.

The Dutch word for townsfolk, "Burgers", became adopted by English newspapers as the name of the rebels.

History

Origins

Non-English speakers were treated as second class citizens since the establishment of the second republic, which increased resentment.

In 1869, the Army refused to send reinforcements requested by General Gabriël van Aarle when his forces were overrun by natives and his headquarters in Fort Hillen was besieged. Details about his requests and replies were sent to newspapers, which began riots across Nieuw Maasland. The Army was eventually forced to send reinforcements, but this delay and violent suppression of the riots became a cause célèbre exemplifying the treatment of the north by Boston.

In March 1873, the Army Railroad company cut wages for workers in Nieuw Maasland, despite the inflation. Workers went on a strike as a result. The strike quickly spread, affecting other companies, mostly railroads not owned by northerners. The XXth mobile Gendarmerie regiment was sent to suppress the strike.

The regiment spend the night of 19 May in the village of Maastricht, Willemia. Sibren van Aalzum, a captain of one of the companies, learned of his regiment's main mission when he overheard the colonel. He told this to Jan-Willem Martini, another captain, and the two decided to talk to their respective companies and desert. A total of 15 enlisted gendarmes and 4 officers from three companies, including van Aalzum, Martini, Sijbrand Kortum, and Lindert Roltvoort, deserted and met in the village of Nijverdal two kilometers away.

The Burgers as an organization would not be founded until the success in the Battles of Nijverdal later in the day. The deserting gendarmes and locals decided they will take up arms against the federal government and would seek support of all of Nieuw Maasland.

Early campaigns

The first action the Burgers saw was the battles of Nijverdal, taking place around Maastricht and Nijverdal. Knowing they were going to be hunted and likely outnumbered, the deserting gendarmes and locals developed guerilla tactics, such as ambushes and hit-and-run attacks. They proved to be successful, inflicting heavy casualties against three companies sent to capture them, while talking very few.

The Prairial-Messidor campaign, taking place over the next two months, saw the Burgers gain ground in much of Nieuw Maasland with the Gendarmerie doing nothing to stop them, instead setting up concentration camps in the north, which pushed public opinion further in favor of the Burgers.

Organization

Early organization

The original 19 members included 4 commissioned officers, 5 non-commissioned officers, and 10 enlisted gendarmes, and were joined by some locals. This was the origins of the original four-tiered organization. The four commissioned officers became commanders, who would plan and authorize attacks, and sometimes lead. The five NCOs became officers, who would assist in planning and leading attacks, or do so on their own. The rest were simply fighters, with the 10 gendarmes becoming distinguished fighters, who can lead smaller teams.

Nijverdal became the Burger headquarters after the battles of Nijverdal, due to its hilly terrain making it easy to defend. The commanders spent much of their time planning operations there, but some continued to lead attacks.

Further organization was ad hoc, being shifted around as needed rather than permanently assigned. In the battles of Nijverdal, the Burgers were split into 5 teams, each with an officer, two distinguished fighters, and up to dozens of fighters. Each team was under command of one of the commanders. Some officers were placed in command of others in some battles, though these assignments were never permanent. De Flandre's attack on Boston was led by him, then an officer, and Robbert Melching, another officer. Dorman attacked Harrisbarig with over 200 fighters and 12 officers, including himself, which had their own hierarchy.

As a result of the successful attack on Boston, a new unit was formed within the Burgers, known as the Jagers. Lead by Jean de Flandre, who was promoted to commander, they executed urban guerilla operations, such as assassinations, bank robberies, attacks on armories, and gathering intelligence.

Local operations

The vast majority of Burgers were part-time fighters and were organized into local units which fought in and around their home villages. Even before the Vendémiaire reforms, most Burger attacks were carried out by local units on their own initiative.

Vendémiaire reforms

As more joined the Burgers and more were promoted, the limitations of the structure were seen. In Vendémiaire 70, the commanders met to restructure the Burgers in what were known as the Vendémiaire reforms.

Some commanders previously spent more of their time with non-combat tasks, such as intelligence, logistics, medicine, and public affairs. The Vendémiaire reforms established permanent units to handle all four. Along with the main fighting force and the Jagers, these became the six branches of the Burgers for the next year and a half.

The Burgers had twenty-three commanders then, and their roles shifted in the reforms. Rather than acting as a collective head for all operations, as they had previously, they divided responsibilities amongst themselves. All five branches except the fighters had 2 commanders, one who would travel around Burger territory and one who would remain in Nijverdal. The fighters had 10 local commanders and three that remained in Nijverdal. The commanders in Nijverdal discussed general strategy, while the rest oversaw and commanded local operations. These positions rotated every few months, with the commanders overseeing the fighters rotating more frequently. Every two months, all commanders met in Nijverdal for several days. Sometimes, the commanders assigned to Nijverdal would also travel around the country.

The position of Commander in Chief of the Burgers was also created in these reforms. The commander in chief was only the first among equals among the other commanders, tasked with presiding over meetings and settling any disputes between them. The position rotated between different commanders, and the chief usually stayed in Nijverdal. Jan-Willem Martini notably refused holding the title on several occasions, preferring to spend more time fighting.

Fighters: The fighters are the main fighting branch of the Burgers.

Intelligence: The intelligence branch was tasked with gathering intelligence and reconnaissance. The majority of intelligence was gathered through intelligence operatives simply asking locals about Gendarmerie movements. Sentence. The branch frequently worked with the Jagers to accomplish some goals, especially on more higher risk operations.

Jagers: The Jagers are a branch of elite fighters tasked with carrying out high risk operations. Members are handpicked by the commanders from the best fighters.

Logistics: The logistics branch was tasked with managing supplies, transportation, and communication. They used various creative means, even using the federal postal system and sneaking onto freight trains.

Medical: The medical branch was tasked with treating disease and wounded fighters.

Public affairs: The public affairs branch had three different tasks: recruitment, communication with the outside world, and diplomacy. Recruitment was done with a variety of methods. Advertisements would be placed in local newspapers, often free of charge. Recruiters would travel from village to village recruiting people into the Burgers or in other branches. Larger settlements had recruiting stations, usually hidden away and moved around frequently.

Further reorganization

The rank of lieutenant commander was created in XX as a rank between commander and officer. It was given to Maup Dorman. In practice he was equivalent to commander in all but name, and another commander supervised him, though Dorman made most decisions. Dorman was the only person given the rank, which he criticized frequently in meetings.

The public affairs branch started developing a team of lawyers after reports of some war crimes being done by some Burgers. They mainly investigated these claims, as well as investigating any complaints given by civilians.

Strategy and tactics

Civilians

The Burgers were heavily assisted by civilians.

Membership

See also: List of Burger members

Membership in the Burgers was loosely defined.

Women in the Burgers

Women served in combat roles since XX 1873, over a century before they were allowed to serve in the Furbish Army. This policy was heavily debated among the commanders.

Women in the Jagers

When the Jagers were founded, women were also allowed to join. Though this was heavily debated too, officers argued that women could better hide in the population when carrying out attacks, as women would be less suspected of doing so.

Financing

The majority of Burger weapons and money were stolen from the Gendarmerie.

Legacy

After the third republic was established, many Burgers joined the Gendarmerie, provincial national guards, or left for their old jobs. The Burgers reorganized into an agrarian political party which remains a prominent party in the present day, being in the Liberal Union and many governing coalitions in northern provinces.