Fish Conflict

Fish Conflict
Date 2 November 2019 – 2025 Location Tanoa Patagonia (2024) Bucharest, Romania (2025) Result Collapse of the Tanoa Einsatzgruppen in 2024 and dissolution of Snubable Enterprise in 2025
Belligerents
Fish Collective Tanoa Resistance	Tanoa Einsatzgruppen (until 2024) Bucharest Butchers and Snubable Enterprise (2025)

The Fish Conflict was an asymmetric armed conflict that began on 2 November 2019, following Mark Hugerinus Paap's failed attempt to enter Tanoa and investigate the Tanoa Einsatzgruppen's shooting down of Air Fiji Flight 27. Mark and his cousin John Hugerinus Paap organized a resistance network that became the Fish Collective in 2021. Its members fought the Tanoa Einsatzgruppen alongside the Tanoa Resistance and helped bring down the regime on 30 November 2024.

Fighting continued after the Tanoan central command surrendered. Fish Collective cells attacked the Bucharest Butchers and Snubable Enterprise in Romania. Snubable's remaining armed force surrendered in May 2025, when the Bucharest Butchers also collapsed. Both founders had died during the campaign against Tanoa.

Background

On 13 March 2014, Tanoan air-defense units shot down Air Fiji Flight 27 near Vagalala, killing all 214 people aboard. Mark Hugerinus Paap's wife and two children were among the passengers. The Tanoa Einsatzgruppen blamed local resistance groups, but later disclosures connected the shootdown to the Tanoanische Luftwaffe. Mark began investigating the regime and attempted to reach Tanoa in 2019. Patrols of the Tanoanische-Urwaldkorps intercepted him, forcing him to retreat through Rereki to New Caledonia.

After his failed entry, Mark approached John about forming a resistance network outside Tanoan territory. Their early contacts gathered information without a public name or formal chain of command. In 2021, the network adopted the name Fish Collective and began carrying out more direct operations against Tanoan personnel.

Early fighting

On 1 November 2019, Eef Paap established the SS Fischjägergruppen to pursue Mark and his supporters. He appointed Carlos Gustavo Schweitzer, an Allgemeine SS officer who had previously led searches for fugitives, as its commander. The formation searched for resistance contacts and prepared ambushes using reports of Mark's movements.

In spring 2020, Mark attacked a security checkpoint near Vagalala. Schweitzer visited the damaged post and sent Fischjägergruppen officers into a nearby Indigenous Tanoan settlement. They detained and killed residents accused of helping Mark. The pursuit continued in 2021, when Alberto Hartel developed the Fish Trap for use along escape routes through the Southern Jungles. Although intended to capture Mark, the traps killed Indigenous civilians trying to leave the area. Hartel kept them in use after receiving reports of the deaths.

The conflict also extended to publications supporting the resistance. Drik Hugerinus Paap edited Vis-Krant, which published reports and propaganda against the Tanoa Einsatzgruppen. He survived four assassination attempts in the Netherlands and France, including one near a newspaper printing location.

Operations in 2023

In January 2023, Martinez Alberto Fritz, an Allgemeine SS officer stationed in Georgetown, concealed the Naivalu family during a search. Mark arranged to take the family out by boat. On 12 January, Fritz stayed behind to delay an arrest detachment commanded by Jose Leandro Olave. Olave shot Fritz, but Jone and Mere Naivalu reached the harbor with their children and escaped aboard Mark's boat.

Mark killed Schweitzer on 13 July 2023 after ambushing his vehicle in the Tanoan countryside. The Fischjägergruppen continued operating after the death of its commander.

The Battle of Petit Nicolet took place on 10 September 2023 when resistance fighters attempted to evacuate native families from the village. Soldiers of the 1st Allgemeine SS Division "Siege Chiche" attacked as the civilians moved toward a boat. Mark and John provided covering fire while the families boarded. The boat escaped, but 12 resistance fighters and 20 Einsatzgruppen soldiers were killed. Eef ordered Mark captured alive after the battle, although the soldiers sent after him failed to do so.

Collapse of the Tanoa Einsatzgruppen

During August 2024, John Hugerinus Paap killed Daniel Paap, the regime's Deputy Führer of Tanoa, and senior Tanoan generals in Patagonia. John was killed on 12 August during a duel with a Tanoan officer. His death left Mark as the Fish Collective's principal founding figure during the final months of the campaign.

On 10 November, Mark killed Juan Jose Grenillon and members of the Féminas-abteilung Nacional de Eef Paap in Luganville. He began his final operation on 23 November, travelling through the jungle from southern Tanoa toward Petit Nicolet. There he separated from the resistance members accompanying him and left by boat for Ipota, where Eef Paap maintained a villa.

On 24 November, the Tanoa Resistance under Savenaca Vatuvakalolo began the Battle of Georgetown against the regime's central command. While the fighting continued in the city, Mark reached Eef's villa and killed him during an exchange of gunfire. Mark was wounded and died later that evening on the beach at Ipota. Resistance forces continued advancing against the Tanoan command after both men were dead.

On 28 November, resistance fighters overran the defensive positions around the Fischjägergruppen headquarters at Tuvanaka. Hartel was killed while attempting to break out with surviving SS guards. Fighting in Georgetown continued until 30 November 2024, when the remaining central command surrendered and the Tanoa Einsatzgruppen ceased to exist as a state. Fish Collective members also participated in the liberation of the Mont Tanoa concentration camp.

Final phase in 2025

The Fish Collective continued operations after the fall of the Tanoan government. The Bucharest Butchers had supplied and controlled Snubable Enterprise, which had received protection and industrial support from Tanoa. The collapse left these organizations exposed to attacks on their facilities in Romania. Fish Collective cells targeted Snubable properties while its remaining leaders attempted to retain control.

On 30 April 2025, Stefan Shrankenhaus died when his car crashed during a pursuit near Bucharest. Richard Rambam and Peter Pecker were captured and executed on 1 May. Gustav Shrankenhaus then directed the surviving Snubable force from the underground sections of its main factory, where it held out against Fish Collective attacks until surrendering on 6 May. Snubable Enterprise dissolved following the surrender, while the Bucharest Butchers collapsed during May.

The Fish Conflict ended in 2025 after the main armed formations were defeated. The Fish Collective itself did not disband. Following the deaths of Mark and John, its remaining cells operated with less coordination and continued investigations into former Tanoan collaborators.

See also

• Resistance against the Tanoa Einsatzgruppen
• Fish Collective
• History of the Tanoa Einsatzgruppen