page_title: Sudirman
section_title: Commander of the Armed Forces
hierarchical_section_title: Sudirman / National revolution / Commander of the Armed Forces
caption_attribution_description: English: Dharma Wiratama Museum in Yogyakarta
context_page_description: General of the Army Raden Soedirman was a high-ranking Indonesian military officer during the Indonesian National Revolution. The first commander of the Indonesian National Armed Forces, he continues to be widely respected in the country.
  Born in Purbalingga, Dutch East Indies, Soedirman moved to Cilacap in 1916 and was raised by his uncle. A diligent student at a Muhammadiyah-run school, he became respected within the community for his devotion to Islam. After dropping out of teacher's college, in 1936 he began working as a teacher, and later headmaster, at a Muhammadiyah-run elementary school. After the Japanese occupied the Indies in 1942, Soedirman continued to teach, before joining the Japanese-sponsored Defenders of the Homeland as a battalion commander in Banyumas in 1944. In this position he put down a rebellion by his fellow soldiers, but was later interned in Bogor. After Indonesia proclaimed its independence on 17 August 1945, Soedirman led a break-out then went to Jakarta to meet President Sukarno. Tasked with overseeing the surrender of Japanese soldiers in Banyumas, he established a division of the People's Safety Body there.
context_section_description: After news of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki reached the Indies in early August 1945, followed by the proclamation of Indonesian independence on 17 August, it was evident that Japanese control was weakening. Sudirman led a break out from the camp in Bogor. Although his fellow internees wanted to attack the Japanese soldiers, Sudirman convinced them against it. After ordering the others to their hometowns, Sudirman made his way to Jakarta and met with President Sukarno, who asked him to lead resistance against Japanese forces in the city. Unfamiliar with Jakarta, Sudirman refused, instead offering to lead forces in Kroya. He left for his former command on 19 August 1945. At the same time, Allied forces were in the process of retaking the Indonesian archipelago for the Netherlands. The first British forces arrived on 8 September 1945.
  In late August, Sukarno established the People's Safety  Bureau (Badan Keamanan Rakjat, or BKR), which united troops from the former PETA, Heihō, and KNIL. The BKR served mostly as a police organisation, partly because the political leadership were intent on using diplomacy to garner international recognition of the new country and partly to avoid appearing overly aggressive to the Japanese forces still in the archipelago. Sudirman and several of his fellow PETA soldiers formed a BKR branch in Banyumas in late August, after stopping at Kroya and discovering that his battalion had been disbanded. In a meeting with the Japanese commander for the region, Saburo Tamura, and the resident of Banyumas, Iwashige, Sudirman and Iskak Cokroadisuryo forced the Japanese to surrender and hand over their weapons while a crowd of armed Indonesians encircled the Japanese camp. Many of these weapons were later used by Sudirman's BKR unit, making it one of the best equipped in the country; surplus weapons were distributed to other battalions.
  As the newly independent nation did not yet have a professional military, on 5 October 1945 Sukarno passed a decree establishing the People's Security Armed Forces (Tentara Keamaanan Rakjat or TKR, now known as the Tentara Nasional Indonesia). Most officers were former KNIL officers, while rank-and-file soldiers were mostly PETA and Heihō personnel. As the decreed Commander of the Armed Forces, Soeprijadi, failed to come forward, chief of staff Lieutenant General Oerip Soemohardjo served as an interim leader. That October British-led forces, tasked with disarming Japanese troops and repatriating Dutch prisoners of war, arrived in Semarang, then made their way south to Magelang. When the British began rearming repatriated Dutch prisoners and seemed to be preparing a military base in Magelang, Sudirman – now a colonel – sent some of his troops under Lieutenant Colonel Isdiman to drive them away; the mission was successful, and the European soldiers withdrew to Ambarawa, midway between Magelang and Semarang. On 20 October Sudirman was put in command of the Fifth Division, after Oerip began dividing Java into different military commands.
  On 12 November 1945, at the first general meeting of Army leadership, Sudirman was elected Commander of the Armed Forces (Panglima Besar) following two deadlocked votes. In the third round, Oerip had 21 votes to Sudirman's 22; the division commanders from Sumatra voted unanimously for Sudirman and swayed the ballot in his favour. Sudirman, aged 29 at the time, was surprised at his selection and offered to relinquish the leadership position to Oerip, but the meeting did not allow it. Oerip himself, who had lost control of the meeting prior to the vote, was glad to no longer be in charge of the entire Army. Sudirman kept Oerip to serve as chief of staff under him. In accordance with his new role, Sudirman was promoted to general. After the meeting, Sudirman returned to Banyumas to await confirmation as leader of the TKR and began developing strategies on how repel Allied advances. The Indonesians feared that the Dutch, through the Netherlands Indies Civil Administration (Nederlandsch Indië Civil Administratie, or NICA), would atte
caption: The first dedicated TKR headquarters, located in Gondokusuman, Yogyakarta; it is now the Dharma Wiratama Museum.
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