Brigadier General Mallaby, Leader Of 6,000 Troops Killed At The Hands Of Indonesian Youth At Jembatan Merah Surabaya

The car carrying Mallabi during a shootout at Jembatan Merah, Surabaya

Today, 75 years ago, Aubertin Walter Sothern (A.W.S.) Mallaby or also known as Brigadier General Mallaby died in a gun battle.

From the data obtained through the wikipedia.org site, until now it is not known the identity of the young man who shot him.

In addition, the car carrying Mallaby exploded in a grenade attack. As a result, Mallaby's body was difficult to identify.

The death of Brigadier General Mallaby at 45 this year, triggered the release of a British ultimatum and the outbreak of fighting on 10 November.

Brigadier General Mallaby led his troops to enter Surabaya on 25 October 1945. The activities he carried out were to disarm the Japanese army in accordance with the contents of the Yalta Agreement.

Brigadier General Mallaby, who was the commander of the 49th Brigade of the Indian Division with a force of approximately 6,000 troops, was killed by a gun shot by an Indonesian youth, October 30, 1945.

This goal was met with resistance from the Indonesian troops because AFNEI demanded that they hand over the weapons that the Indonesians had seized from Japan first.

There were several armed conflicts between the two armies, one of which occurred on 30 October 1945 near Jembatan Merah, Surabaya. The Buick in which Mallaby was traveling was intercepted by Indonesian troops as they were about to cross the bridge, resulting in a gun battle.

Mallaby's death left Major General E.C. Mansergh, Mallaby's successor issued an ultimatum to Indonesian troops in Surabaya on November 9, 1945 to surrender weapons unconditionally. On 10 November 1945 the Battle of 10 November broke out because the Indonesians ignored this ultimatum.