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| Battle of Surabaya | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Indonesian National Revolution | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Indonesia |
 United Kingdom Netherlands | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Bung Tomo |
Brig. Gen A. W. S. Mallaby † Maj. Gen E. C. Mansergh | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
|
20,000 inexperienced soldiers 100,000 |
30,000 (peak) with tanks, aircrafts and warships | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 16,000 | 2,000 | ||||||
The Battle of Surabaya was fought between pro-Independence Indonesian soldiers and militia against British and the Netherlands troops as a part of Indonesian War of Independence. The peak of the battle was in November 1945. Despite fierce resistance, British troops managed to conquer Surabaya on behalf of the Netherlands. Considered an heroic effort by Indonesians, the battle helped galvanise Indonesian and international support for Indonesian independence. 10 November is celebrated annually as Heroes Day (Hari Pahlawan).
Background
In a prelude to the Battle of Surabaya, on September 19, 1945, a group of Dutch internees supported by the Japanese raised the Dutch flag outside the Hotel Yamato (formerly Hotel Oranje) in Surabaya, East Java. This provoked Nationalist Indonesian young militia, who were busy replacing Japanese flag with Indonesian one. Indonesians rushed into the hotel, and engaged the Dutches and Japanese guards in shoot-out and hand-to-hand fighting. Indonesian overran the Dutch and Japanese, and tore down the blue part of the Dutch flag, changing it into Indonesian flag. The leader of the Dutch group, Mr Pluegman, was killed by the militia.
On October 25, 1945, the United Kingdom sent in 6,000 lightly armed British-India troops from 49th Indian Infantry Brigade, 23rd Division, led by Brigadier General A.W.S. Mallaby to take over Surabaya from the Japanese and soon found itself in conflict with the Republic Indonesia (RI) troops and militia.
British forces brought in a small Dutch military contingent which it termed the Netherlands Indies Civil Administration (NICA). The British became worried about the increasing boldness and apparent strength of the nationalists, who attacked demoralized Japanese garrisons across the archipelago with traditional weapons like bamboo spears in order to seize their arms. The main goals of British troops in Surabaya were seizing weapons from Japanese and Indonesian troops/militia, taking care of former prisoner of war (POW), and sending the remaining Japanese troops back to Japan. The Japanese troops surrendered their weapons, but more than 20,000 Indonesian troops and several thousands militia refused to hand over their weapons.
On October 26, 1945, Brigadier General A.W.S Mallaby reached an agreement with Mr Suryo, the Republic of Indonesia's governor of East Java that British will not ask Indonesian troops/militia to hand over their weapons. Unfortunately there is a misunderstanding between British troops HQ in Jakarta (led by Lieutenant General Sir Philip Christison) and British troops HQ in Surabaya.
The fightings
Beginning
On October 27, 1945, a British plane from Jakarta dropped leaflet in Surabaya that all Indonesian troops and militia should surrender their weapons. The leader of Indonesian troops and militia got angry and on October 28, 1945, they attacked British troops in Surabaya. More than 200 ill-prepared British troops were killed by the surprise attack. To avoid defeat, Brig. Gen. Mallaby ask Major General Douglas Cyril Hawthorn (the commander of British 23rd division) and Ir. Soekarno, the president of RI to come to Surabaya and clear up the misunderstanding. On October 29, 1945, Ir. Sukarno, Mohammad Hatta (the vice president of RI), and Amir Syarifuddin Harahap (the minister of information of Indonesia) come to Surabaya for a negotiation with Maj. Gen. Hawthorn and Brig. Gen. Mallaby. On the noon of October 30, 1945, a new agreement was reached and the trapped British troops will be evacuated from Surabaya to Jakarta. Maj. Gen Hawthorn and RI leaders left Surabaya and went back to Jakarta.
Jembatan Merah incident
Brigadier General Mallaby spread the news about the new agreement to his troops around Surabaya. When his car approached the British troops post on Internatio building near Jembatan Merah, his car was surrounded by Indonesian militia that had surrounded the building. Fearing that their commander will be attacked by the militia, the British troops on the Internatio building led by Major Venu K. Gopal fired to the air to disperse the Indonesian militia. The militia, thinking that British are taking hostile action, fired back at the British troops. Captain R.C. Smith throw grenade at the militia, but the grenade missed its target and unfortunately fell on the Brigadier Mallaby's car. The car exploded, caught fire and Mallaby and his driver were killed.
The major fightings
Lt. Gen. Sir Philip Christison got angry when he heard that Brig. Gen. Mallaby was killed in Surabaya. The initial report blamed Indonesian militia for the death of Brig. Gen. Mallaby. Lt. Gen. Sir Philip Christison sent additional 24,000 fully armed Indian 5th Division troops led by Major General E. C. Mansergh, with 21 M4 Sherman tanks, 2 cruisers and 3 destroyers to conquer Surabaya.
On November 9, 1945, British issued an ultimatum for Indonesian troops and militia to surrender all their weapons, or Surabaya will be attacked from land, sea, and air. Indonesian regarded this as a humiliation of their dignity, and refused the ultimatum. As the result, British troops began to bomb Surabaya from air and sea on 10 November. Indonesians, led by Bung Tomo resisted fiercely despite lack of weaponry. Bung Tomo ignited the morale of Indonesian via radios, chanted "Freedom or Death" and "God is Great". The fierce battle in Surabaya went on for 10 days. On November 10, 1945, two British planes were shot down by Indonesian troops. One of the passengers, Brigadier General Robert Guy Loder-Symonds was badly injured and passed away on the following day. On November 20, 1945, British troops managed to conquer Surabaya with more than 2,000 casualties. More than 20,000 Indonesian troops, militia and residence of Surabaya were killed during the battle. Most of Surabaya were destroyed during the battle.
Consequences of the battle
The battle for Surabaya was the bloodiest single engagement by British troops in the war and demonstrated the determination of the rag-tag nationalist forces. It also made the British reluctant to be sucked into a war it did not need, considering how outstretched their resources in southeast Asia were during the period after the Japanese surrender. On November 1946, the last British troops left Indonesia. The "10 November Hero" statue in Surabaya commemorated this epic battle. 10 November is declared as "Heroes' Day" in Indonesia.
See also
References
- ^ The Battle for Surabaya, Indonesian Heritage.