At the end of 1946, the DST under Captain
Raymond Westerling was deployed to
South Celebes to restore Dutch authority in the area. The local
Indonesian nationalists, utilizing
terror tactics, tried to prevent the return of Dutch rule. Westerling led a controversial counterterrorism campaign that would become known as the "
South Celebes Affair," in which thousands of suspected nationalists were killed. The DST/KST then focused on anti-guerrilla operations, capture or kill high-value targets, counterinsurgency, irregular warfare, operating in difficult to access and dangerous areas, and special operations. The rich tradition of the KNIL in this field, combined with the skills of the modern commando, turned out to be a recipe for success. When the Indonesian nationalists turned to guerrilla warfare, the special forces were increasingly called upon and the revolutionaries learned to avoid confrontations with units of the KST as much as possible. This was not only a matter of survival, as the Indonesian fighters were no match for the seasoned commandos of the KST, but also a matter of tactics. When the troops of the KST left an area for operations elsewhere, the nationalists simply returned to resume their guerrilla actions against Dutch regulars. The KST paratroopers performed a number of airborne operations. At the beginning of
Operation Kraai in late 1948, they captured the airport of the Republican capital of
Yogyakarta as a prelude to the Dutch capture of the city and the imprisonment of the Indonesian leadership, including President
Sukarno. Exemplary of the qualitative advantage of the KST/RST over the fighters of the
Tentara Nasional Indonesia (TNI; 'Indonesian National Military') was the final operation of the RST prior to the
Dutch–Indonesian Round Table Conference in August 1949. The TNI made a last-ditch attempt before the ceasefire to infiltrate
Surakarta in
Central Java. 325 men from the RST were hastily flown in to repel the TNI from the city. The
Siege of Surakarta was resolved in a few days with the TNI losing around 400 men, while the RST only suffered three injuries. It cannot be ruled out that a number of civilian casualties were included in the losses of the TNI. After the transfer of sovereignty and official end of hostilities, the commandos of the RST sprung into action one last time, albeit without the consent of their superiors. A number of them were involved in an
attempted coup d'état against the regime of Sukarno in January 1950, as part of the
Angkatan Perang Ratu Adil (APRA; 'Just Ruler Legion') led by former Captain Raymond Westerling. ==Paratrooper Training School==