 During this lull in fighting the colonial troops, the Division was involved in the bloody crackdown on the Communists at Madiun, in the course of which thousands were killed.In December 1948 the Dutch army launched the surprise attack known as "Operation Kraai", swiftly capturing the Indonesian provisional capital at Yogyakarta and most Indonesian territory.The Siliwangi Division at that time conducted a fighting retreat back to its original position in West Java, where its men had their social milieu and were familiar with the terrain, and which was therefore the best suited for this unit to conduct guerrilla warfare in.