Editing Indonesian National Revolution (section)

===Allied occupation===
The Netherlands, however, was critically weakened from World War II in Europe and did not return as a significant military force until early 1946. The Japanese and members of the Allied forces reluctantly agreed to act as caretakers.{{sfn|Vickers|2005|p=97}} Australian forces of [[I Corps (Australia)|I Corps]] under general [[Leslie Morshead]] had [[Borneo campaign|landed]] in [[Borneo]] in May 1945, to destroy the Imperial Japanese forces stationed there, as well as maintaining order on the island until the Dutch could return.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}} As US forces were focusing on the Japanese home islands, the archipelago was put under the jurisdiction of British Admiral Earl [[Louis Mountbatten]], the [[Supreme Allied Commander]], [[South East Asia Command]]. Allied enclaves already existed in [[Kalimantan]] (Indonesian [[Borneo]]), [[Morotai]] ([[Maluku Islands|Maluku]]) and parts of [[Irian Jaya]]; Dutch administrators had already returned to these areas.{{sfn|Ricklefs|1991|p=215}} In the Japanese navy areas, the arrival of Allied troops quickly prevented revolutionary activities where Australian troops, followed by Dutch troops and administrators, took the Japanese surrender (except for [[Bali]] and [[Lombok]]).{{sfn|Ricklefs|1991|p=216}} Due to the lack of strong resistance, two [[Australian Army]] divisions succeeded in occupying eastern Indonesia.{{sfn|Ashton|Hellema|2001|p=181}}
[[File:The British Occupation of Java SE6731.jpg|thumb|left|Indian and British troops move cautiously along a jungle track round the town of [[Gresik]].]]

The British were charged with restoring order and civilian government in Java. The Dutch took this to mean pre-war colonial administration and continued to claim sovereignty over Indonesia.{{sfn|Vickers|2005|p=97}} The [[United Kingdom|British]] and [[British Raj|Indian]] troops did not, however, land on Java to accept the Japanese surrender until late September 1945. Lord Mountbatten's immediate tasks included the repatriation of some 300,000 Japanese, and freeing prisoners of war. He did not want, nor did he have the resources, to commit his troops to a long struggle to regain Indonesia for the Dutch.{{sfn|Vickers|2005|p=99}} The first British troops reached Jakarta in late September 1945, and arrived in the cities of [[Medan]] ([[North Sumatra]]), [[Padang, Indonesia|Padang]] ([[West Sumatra]]), [[Palembang]] ([[South Sumatra]]), [[Semarang]] ([[Central Java]]) and [[Surabaya]] ([[East Java]]) in October. In an attempt to avoid clashes with Indonesians, the British commander Lieutenant General Sir [[Philip Christison]] diverted soldiers of the former Dutch colonial army to eastern Indonesia, where Dutch reoccupation was proceeding smoothly.{{sfn|Ricklefs|1991|p=216}} Tensions mounted as Allied troops entered Java and Sumatra; clashes broke out between Republicans and their perceived enemies, namely Dutch prisoners, [[Royal Netherlands East Indies Army|Dutch colonial troops (KNIL)]], Chinese, [[Indo (Eurasian)|Indo-Europeans]] and Japanese.{{sfn|Ricklefs|1991|p=216}}

The first stages of warfare were initiated in October 1945 when, in accordance with the terms of their surrender, the Japanese tried to re-establish the authority they had relinquished to Indonesians in the towns and cities. Japanese military police killed Republican ''pemuda'' in [[Pekalongan]] (Central Java) on 3 October, and Japanese troops drove Republican ''pemuda'' out of [[Bandung]] in [[West Java]] and handed the city to the British, but the fiercest fighting involving the Japanese was in Semarang. On 14 October, British forces began to occupy the city. Retreating Republican forces retaliated by killing between 130 and 300 Japanese prisoners they were holding. Five hundred Japanese and two thousand Indonesians had been killed and the Japanese had almost captured the city six days later when British forces arrived.{{sfn|Ricklefs|1991|p=216}} The Allies repatriated the remaining Japanese troops and civilians to Japan, although about 1,000 elected to remain behind and later assisted Republican forces in fighting for independence.{{sfn|Tjandraningsih|2011|p=3}}

[[File:Een sectie militairen tijdens een rustpauze, Bestanddeelnr 15857.jpg|thumb|upright|Dutch soldiers in the East Indies, 1946]]

[[File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Vernielingen in de Chinese wijk TMnr 10014680.jpg|thumb|Destruction in Bandung's Chinese quarter]]

The British subsequently decided to evacuate the 10,000 Indo-Europeans and European internees in the volatile Central Java interior. British detachments sent to the towns of [[Ambarawa]] and [[Magelang]] encountered strong Republican resistance and used air attacks against the Indonesians. Sukarno arranged a ceasefire on 2 November, but by late November fighting had resumed and the British withdrew to the coast (refer [[Battle of Ambarawa]]).{{sfn|Ricklefs|1991|p=216}}{{sfn|McMillan|2005|pp=306–307}} Republican attacks against Allied and alleged pro-Dutch civilians reached a peak in November and December, with 1,200 killed in Bandung as the ''pemuda'' returned to the offensive.{{sfn|Reid|1974|p=54}} In March 1946, departing Republicans responded to a British ultimatum for them to leave the city of Bandung by deliberately burning down much of the southern half of the city in what is popularly known in Indonesia as the "[[Bandung Sea of Fire]]".{{cn|date=February 2025}}