Aubertin Walter Sothern Mallaby Brigadier Aubertin Walter Sothern Mallaby CIE OBE ( 12 December 1899 – 30 October 1945 ) was a British Indian Army officer killed in a shootout during the Battle of Surabaya in what was then the Netherlands East Indies during the Indonesian National Revolution . At the time of his death , Mallaby was the Commanding Officer of 49th Indian Brigade . Mallaby ' s death became a major event for the hostilities in Surabaya , triggering a retaliatory military action . Biography . Mallaby was born to William Calthorpe and Katharine Mary Francis Mallaby on 12 December 1899 . He attended the Wellington Cadet College in India and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant on the Unattached List , Indian Army on 1 October 1918 , being admitted to the Indian Army on 8 October 1918 and was appointed to the 27th Punjabis . He transferred to the 67th Punjabis ( later 1st battalion , 2nd Punjab regiment ) on 20 July 1919 and promoted lieutenant on 1 October 1919 . He served in Waziristan between 1921 and 1924 . He received promotion to captain on 1 October 1924 . He attended the Staff College at Camberly between 1930 - 1931 and was appointed a General Staff Officer , 3rd grade on 5 February 1933 , being promoted to General Staff Officer , 2nd grade ( for RAF co - operation duties ) , on 1 April 1933 . This appointment lasted until 4 February 1937 . He was promoted brevet major on 1 July 1935 and substantive major on 1 October 1936 . He was appointed a General Staff Officer , 2nd grade at the War Office in London on 1 March 1938 ( being promoted war substantive Lt - Col on 15 August 1941 ) later being appointed Deputy Director of Military Operation in the rank of Brigadier and remained at the War Office until 1942 . He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire as Major , temporary Lt - Col , acting Brigadier . He returned to India and served as Major and second in command of the 6th battalion , 2nd Punjab Regiment , from April to August 1943 . In August 1943 he was given command of a battalion of the Hyderabad Regiment but after only 6 weeks in command he was appointed Director of Military Operations at G . H . Q . India with the acting rank of Major General . He was promoted from acting to temporary Major - General and war substantive Colonel on 1 March 1944 . In order to obtain operational experience he dropped in rank to temporary Brigadier in July 1944 and was given command of the 49th Indian Infantry Brigade , then serving with the 23rd Indian Division . His substantive ( permanent ) rank was advanced to lieutenant - colonel in October 1944 . He was appointed a Companion of The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire in the London Gazette of 1 January 1945 as a temporary Brigadier . He led the 49th Indian Infantry Brigade to Indonesia in the middle of the national revolution , to find and repatriate former Japanese prisoners of war . He arrived in Surabaya on 25 October 1945 . Upon landing , he sent Captain Douglas MacDonald to contact the leader of the revolutionaries , Moestopo ; Moestopo stated that they would not oppose the British forces . Mallaby and his squadron worked under constant supervision by the Indonesians , whom he later told that he was focused on finding the POWs . However , the situation became more heated on 27 October after Mallaby interpreted pamphlets demanding the immediate surrender of the Indonesians ' weapons , signed by General Douglas Hawthorn , as an order . Communications were broken between Mallaby ' s forces and the Indonesians , and the following day the Indonesians began launching attacks on the 49th Brigade . To quench the fighting , Mallaby was able to contact General Hawthorn through an intermediary and arrange a meeting between himself and President Sukarno , where they negotiated a ceasefire . Death . Mallaby was killed on 30 October 1945 . At the time , he was travelling about Surabaya under a white flag to spread the news about the cease fire agreement and rescue some stranded Maratha troops , despite being warned of the danger by Force 136 troops . When his car approached the British troops ' post in the International building near the " Jembatan Merah " ( " Red Bridge " ) , his car was surrounded by Indonesian Republican militia . Fearing that their commander was about to be attacked , the British troops in the International building , led by Major Venu K . Gopal , fired into the air to disperse the Indonesian militia . The militia , thinking that the British were taking hostile action , fired back at the British troops . Captain R . C . Smith , who was in the stationary car , reported that a young Republican shot and killed Mallaby after a short conversation . Smith then reported throwing a grenade from the car in the direction of where he thought the shooter had hidden . Although he was not sure whether or not it hit its target , the explosion caused the back seat of the car to ignite . Other accounts , according to the same source , stated that it was the explosion and not a shooter that killed Mallaby . Whatever the exact circumstances of his demise , Mallaby ' s death was a significant turning point for the hostilities in Surabaya , and a catalyst for the battle to come . The British ordered an Indonesian surrender , and on 10 November they rolled out a large retaliatory attack . His death also caused the British command to lose trust in the Indonesian politicians . He received a posthumous Mention In Despatches in April 1946 as a Temporary Brigadier . Personal life . Mallaby married Margaret Catherine Jones ( known as Mollie ) on 9 April 1935 at St Mark ' s Church , North Audley Street , London . Mallaby is buried in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery in Menteng Pulo , Jakarta . His son , Sir Christopher Mallaby , was later British Ambassador to Germany and to France . Views of Mallaby . Patrick Heren , writing for " Standpoint " , notes that Mallaby was considered a " thinking soldier " who preferred discourse over fighting . References . Footnotes Bibliography