Susam Cooha

The Susam Cooha (lit. "Destruction/Extermination Troops") were special formations of the Kuijuan People's Army, used for  and  between 1964 and 1979. Mobilised in response to the developing Tsahar insurgency in southern East Kuiju during the early 1960s, led by the Green Turban Movement, the role of the Susam Cooha was to hunt down, isolate and destroy guerilla formations. Usually helicopter mounted, though also making use of light vehicles or even horses and mules, the units were highly mobile or  that conducted regular patrols over the southern highlands, searching for insurgent activity.

Tactics used by the susam cooha were brutal; villages found to be working with or sheltering Green Turbans, or later the West Kuijuan and HECO armies, were burned to the ground and inhabitants massacred or forcefully relocated elsewhere. In many cases the East Kuijuan strategy resembled a approach - herds and agricultural land were often systematically destroyed without any provocation, with the intent of denying food and supplies to the enemy. The outlook and strategy of the susam cooha is best summed up in the order given by People's Defense Secretary Birya Jolontu in 1965:

"If the enemy does not surrender, he will be annihilated. No mercy for bandits! No mercy for fascists! They shall be not just destroyed, but sent directly under the ground, where is their right place.

In every village and settlement, the destruction battalion has a number of tasks in addition to directly breaking the enemy. With revolutionary grimness, everybody who shelters the bandits or provides for them, must be extirpated. Everybody, who directly or indirectly helps the enemy, must be found out and exterminated."

The actual effectiveness of the Susam Cooha is debateable. The brutality of anti-insurgent operations may have played a role in escalating rebel activity, contributing to the outbreak of the Hilin Uprising in 1975. Green Turban fighters soon became wise to the Susam's tactics, and often tipped off settlements of their approach. By the time a counter-insurgent unit would arrive, many locals would have already taken their and herds and scattered into the mountains. The Susam also drained resources and manpower from regular forces, which was desperately needed, especially after the outbreak of the Kuijuan War. On the other hand, the heavy reprisals against Green Turban supporters may have contributed to the loss of momentum of the movement under West Kuijuan occupation. Many members of the susam cooha also became partisans in occupied territory during and even after the war.

As the Eastern government lost control of most of the country in 1979, and the Green Turban rebellions lost steam, the Susam Cooha were formally disbanded and merged into the regular forces, though by then many of them had already been drafted to frontline combat.