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Bandung Sea of Fire
6°55′S 107°35′E / 6.917°S 107.583°E
The Bandung Sea of Fire (Indonesian: Bandung Lautan Api) refers to the deliberate burning of much of the southern side of the city of Bandung by retreating Indonesian Republican troops during the Indonesian National Revolution.
Following the Indonesian declaration of independence, tensions and fighting in the city of Bandung began to emerge between the newly formed Indonesian armed forces (People's Security Agency and its successors) and Indonesian nationalist youths on one side, with remnant Japanese and British armed forces on the other. After initial success in Japanese attempts to gain control of the city in October, the arrival of British forces resulted in continued fighting, which initially resulted in a stalemate where Bandung was divided into the British-controlled north and Indonesian-controlled south. Following an ultimatum to militarily evacuate South Bandung in March 1946, Indonesian forces conducted a general evacuation of the area involving hundreds of thousands of civilians, burning down various buildings and looting warehouses to deny British, and later Dutch army, forces the use of the buildings and supplies.
On 17 August 1945, news of the proclamation reached Bandung via radio around noon, and spread throughout virtually the entire city by 19 August. Details about the event remained scarce for the first few days, until more information arrived. The sudden pronouncement left the existing social order largely intact for the first month or so, with the nationalist government establishing a local government unit (Komite Nasional Indonesia, KNI) in Bandung (i.e. the Priangan Regency) by 24 August. These committees were initially focused with spreading information about the independence and maintaining public order.
Japanese occupation forces in the area had begun to disarm and disband the Japanese-trained Pembela Tanah Air (PETA) Indonesian units as soon as 18 August. The discharged officers and personnel were then recruited into the Badan Keamanan Rakyat (People's Security Agency, BKR), the new armed forces of the nationalist government. Around late August and early September, some of the nationalist youths (pemuda) began to seize arms from Japanese forces – in some cases involving murder, but largely through simple disarmament and in some cases voluntarily. Looting against Chinese Indonesians and Eurasians of the city also began to occur.
The first British forces began arriving in Indonesia by around late September 1945, and by 25 September the nationalist government declared that all Indonesian civil servants were working for them. This resulted in an outburst of seizures of Japanese-controlled buildings and property. Takeovers were initially relatively peaceful, but soon more looting began to occur, primarily of military assets, with pemuda independently planning and launching attacks on Japanese posts or vehicles to capture weapons. By early October, disarmament of Japanese forces began to take a larger scale across the wider region. In some cases, disarmament was negotiated to be held in a mock mass assault against Japanese forces who would "surrender" and disarm in order to absolve Japanese forces of their responsibility to maintain order.
In early October, the Japanese military commander in Bandung, Major General Mabuchi Itsuo, was negotiating a peaceful disarmament of his men. Throughout the first few days of the month, several arms factories and warehouses were seized by nationalists and on 8 October a large group of pemuda took over a Japanese airbase, taking control and disarming its guards with almost no resistance. On 10 October, a large assault by pemuda was launched against the local Kenpeitai headquarters – seemingly spontaneously – and the Japanese responded by calling in commanders of the local BKR for negotiations, before coercing them with bayonets to surrender and disperse the crowds. Throughout the day, the leaders were made to disperse attacks on Japanese posts while the Japanese setup barricades and posts, sweeping throughout Bandung within the following days and effectively retaking control of the city. A week later, the Japanese handed over control of the city to arriving British units of the 37th Indian Infantry Brigade. Following negotiations, British authorities agreed to rearm the Indonesian police.
Following the 10 October incident, revolutionary fervor in the city died down for around a month. During this time, the BKR reorganized into the TKR (People's Security Army/Tentara Keamanan Rakyat), with the 3rd division of its 1st army covering the Bandung region under the command of Arudji Kartawinata (former BKR commander of Priangan). The division itself was subdivided into five regiments, two of which were headquartered in Bandung proper (one later moved to the outskirts). Each of these regiments consisted of four battalions, typically comprising 500 to 1,000 men. Aside from these, there were also irregular units of pemuda organizations, ethnic militias, and Hizbullah units under Masyumi. By November, the European population of the city had also began to return, reaching 60,000 by late November or double the pre-WW2 figure (compared to some 436,000 Indonesians, Chinese and Eurasians) with 2,000 British and 1,500 Japanese troops.
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Bandung Sea of Fire
6°55′S 107°35′E / 6.917°S 107.583°E
The Bandung Sea of Fire (Indonesian: Bandung Lautan Api) refers to the deliberate burning of much of the southern side of the city of Bandung by retreating Indonesian Republican troops during the Indonesian National Revolution.
Following the Indonesian declaration of independence, tensions and fighting in the city of Bandung began to emerge between the newly formed Indonesian armed forces (People's Security Agency and its successors) and Indonesian nationalist youths on one side, with remnant Japanese and British armed forces on the other. After initial success in Japanese attempts to gain control of the city in October, the arrival of British forces resulted in continued fighting, which initially resulted in a stalemate where Bandung was divided into the British-controlled north and Indonesian-controlled south. Following an ultimatum to militarily evacuate South Bandung in March 1946, Indonesian forces conducted a general evacuation of the area involving hundreds of thousands of civilians, burning down various buildings and looting warehouses to deny British, and later Dutch army, forces the use of the buildings and supplies.
On 17 August 1945, news of the proclamation reached Bandung via radio around noon, and spread throughout virtually the entire city by 19 August. Details about the event remained scarce for the first few days, until more information arrived. The sudden pronouncement left the existing social order largely intact for the first month or so, with the nationalist government establishing a local government unit (Komite Nasional Indonesia, KNI) in Bandung (i.e. the Priangan Regency) by 24 August. These committees were initially focused with spreading information about the independence and maintaining public order.
Japanese occupation forces in the area had begun to disarm and disband the Japanese-trained Pembela Tanah Air (PETA) Indonesian units as soon as 18 August. The discharged officers and personnel were then recruited into the Badan Keamanan Rakyat (People's Security Agency, BKR), the new armed forces of the nationalist government. Around late August and early September, some of the nationalist youths (pemuda) began to seize arms from Japanese forces – in some cases involving murder, but largely through simple disarmament and in some cases voluntarily. Looting against Chinese Indonesians and Eurasians of the city also began to occur.
The first British forces began arriving in Indonesia by around late September 1945, and by 25 September the nationalist government declared that all Indonesian civil servants were working for them. This resulted in an outburst of seizures of Japanese-controlled buildings and property. Takeovers were initially relatively peaceful, but soon more looting began to occur, primarily of military assets, with pemuda independently planning and launching attacks on Japanese posts or vehicles to capture weapons. By early October, disarmament of Japanese forces began to take a larger scale across the wider region. In some cases, disarmament was negotiated to be held in a mock mass assault against Japanese forces who would "surrender" and disarm in order to absolve Japanese forces of their responsibility to maintain order.
In early October, the Japanese military commander in Bandung, Major General Mabuchi Itsuo, was negotiating a peaceful disarmament of his men. Throughout the first few days of the month, several arms factories and warehouses were seized by nationalists and on 8 October a large group of pemuda took over a Japanese airbase, taking control and disarming its guards with almost no resistance. On 10 October, a large assault by pemuda was launched against the local Kenpeitai headquarters – seemingly spontaneously – and the Japanese responded by calling in commanders of the local BKR for negotiations, before coercing them with bayonets to surrender and disperse the crowds. Throughout the day, the leaders were made to disperse attacks on Japanese posts while the Japanese setup barricades and posts, sweeping throughout Bandung within the following days and effectively retaking control of the city. A week later, the Japanese handed over control of the city to arriving British units of the 37th Indian Infantry Brigade. Following negotiations, British authorities agreed to rearm the Indonesian police.
Following the 10 October incident, revolutionary fervor in the city died down for around a month. During this time, the BKR reorganized into the TKR (People's Security Army/Tentara Keamanan Rakyat), with the 3rd division of its 1st army covering the Bandung region under the command of Arudji Kartawinata (former BKR commander of Priangan). The division itself was subdivided into five regiments, two of which were headquartered in Bandung proper (one later moved to the outskirts). Each of these regiments consisted of four battalions, typically comprising 500 to 1,000 men. Aside from these, there were also irregular units of pemuda organizations, ethnic militias, and Hizbullah units under Masyumi. By November, the European population of the city had also began to return, reaching 60,000 by late November or double the pre-WW2 figure (compared to some 436,000 Indonesians, Chinese and Eurasians) with 2,000 British and 1,500 Japanese troops.
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