British retaliate in Battle of Surabaya - November 10, 1945

On this day in 1945, the British retaliated against Indonesian nationaists in the Battle of Surabaya during the Indonesian National Revolution. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of I
Heart Radio. Hi everyone, I'm Eves and welcome to This
Day in History Class, a podcast where we rip out
a page from the history books every day. Today is
November nineteen. The day was November nine, a battle broke

(00:28):
out in Surabaya, Indonesia, between Indonesians who supported independence in
British and British Indian forces. Though the Battle of Surabaya
resulted in the death of thousands of Indonesians, it was
an important struggle in the Indonesian National Revolution and is
commemorated as a Day of Heroism in Indonesia. By the

(00:48):
mid twentieth century, Indonesia had largely been under Dutch rule
for three centuries, but during World War Two, Japan invaded
and occupied the Dutch East Indies, ending Dutch colonial rule
in Indonesia and stirring support for Indonesian nationalism. Movements seeking
independence from Dutch rule had been active since the early

(01:09):
nineteen hundreds, but the Japanese encouraged Indonesian independence to gain
support in their war effort and broke down the infrastructure
that the Dutch had built in the colony. The Japanese
even provided Indonesians with military training. In September of nineteen
forty four, the Prime Minister of Japan promised the Dutch
East Indies its independence in the future. After Japan surrendered

(01:33):
in World War Two in August of nineteen forty five,
the Dutch planned on re establishing their rule in Indonesia,
and British forces were ordered to the area to prepare
Indonesia for the return of the Dutch, but Indonesian nationalists
took the chance to proclaim Indonesia's independence and Sucardino and
Mohammad Hata became president and vice president of the new state.

(01:54):
As news of the independence declarations spread across the Indonesian islands,
more people began to support the idea of a revolution.
The Japanese had supplied Indonesian nationalists with weapons. As Allied
troops moved into Indonesia and the Japanese, Dutch and British
attempted to assert their dominance, a diplomatic and armed struggle ensued.

(02:14):
On September nineteenth ninety five, Dutch internees raised the Dutch
flag at the Hotel Yamato and Surabaya, East Java, with
the support of the Japanese. This inflamed tensions with Indonesian nationalists,
who ripped the blue stripe off of the Dutch flag
at the hotel. British troops arrived in Surabaya with a
small Dutch military contingent in October, aiming to take weapons

(02:37):
from the Japanese and Indonesians and send Japanese troops back
to Japan, but the Indonesians did not hand over their weapons.
Fighting broke out between Indonesians, Dutch and Eurasians. On October
twenty around six thousand British Indian troops under the command
of Brigadier A. W. S. Malabi, entered Surabaya. They were

(02:57):
sent in to evacuate European internees, and Malaby made an
agreement that the British would not ask Indonesian troops to
hand over their weapons and that British Indian troops would
stay within an a hundred meter perimeter of the harbor,
but they occupied key places across Surabaya, and on October,
Jakarta based General Hawthorne organized an air drop of leaflets

(03:19):
that demanded Surabaya's forces surrendered their weapons. Indonesians armed with
bamboo spears, molotov cocktails, pistols, and semi automatic machine guns
went up against the British troops in Surabaya. The President,
vice President and Defense Minister flew into the city and
they negotiated a ceasefire, but fighting continued anyway, and Brigadier

(03:41):
Malaby was killed in the confusion on October. At that point,
the British decided to take Surabaya by force. They sent
in more forces, tanks, warships, and armed aircraft. On November nine,
the British warned the Indonesians that a full scale assault
would commence if they did not surrender. The next day,

(04:02):
the British began to attack the city, and over the
next couple of weeks, thousands of people died, were injured,
or fled the city. Though the Indonesians resisted, they lost
the battle. Still, the Battle of Sarabia demonstrated the strength
of the Republican resistance in Indonesia, and the Indonesian National
Revolution ended in nineteen forty nine with the Netherlands recognizing

(04:25):
Indonesian sovereignty over the United States of Indonesia. Today, November
ten is celebrated as Heroes Day in Indonesia. I'm Eve
Jeffcote and hopefully you know a little more about history
today than you did yesterday. Feel free to share your
thoughts or your innermost feelings with us and with other
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(04:51):
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(05:13):
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