Blame-Shifting

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!"

Early in the morning on September 30, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands urgently knocked on Queen Wilhelmina's bedchamber door and brought news that made Queen Wilhelmina's expression change drastically: "Batavia has fallen!"

"Damn it! How could Batavia have fallen? What was Governor-General Dirk doing?" Queen Wilhelmina asked in disbelief.

"Your Majesty, according to the news sent from the Dutch East Indies, Muhammad betrayed us and launched a surprise attack on Batavia.

Our troops were all on the front lines fighting the natives at the time. Before they could react, Batavia had already fallen under Muhammad's control.

The army is now surrounded by Muhammad and the natives. If we do not rescue them in time, the entire army may well be wiped out." The Prime Minister's face was deathly pale as he explained.

Previously, the Dutch Government had placed all its hopes on victory in the war against the natives. But with Batavia captured, what victory was there left to speak of?

With artillery and machine guns, defensive warfare became extremely simple. Under Muhammad's command, those natives only needed to rely on machine guns and artillery to hold back the Dutch Army's attacks.

What was even more troublesome was that this was not all. After Batavia fell, it dealt a heavy blow to the Dutch Army's morale. The Netherlands could not even guarantee logistical supplies for these Colonial Army units.

For the native armies, including Muhammad's, this was wonderful news. It also symbolized that their resistance against the Dutch Government was about to succeed.

With the morale of the two sides waxing and waning, this was already the worst possible news for the Netherlands, which was fighting a war from far away.

To put it even more bluntly, the Dutch Army had no hope of retaking