Surabaya, City of Heroes....

On August 17 Indonesia celebrated the golden anniversary of her Proclamation of Independence This month, on National Heroes' Day, she will remember the first painful chapter in her struggle to keep that freedom, the launch of Allied bombing raids against Surabaya on November 10, 1945.
Only two months before the heroic but ill-fated Battle of Surabaya, the nation's mood had been hopeful. Emperor Hiro Hito's surrender on August 15 (ending Japan's three-and-a-half year occupation of the archipelago), followed quickly by the creation of an Indonesian republic under the leadership of President Soekarno, led many patriots to believe that three centuries of colonial rule was finally over. But by September 1945, it had become apparent that the Netherlands was intent on reestablishing its East Indies empire. Dutch officers and officials, newly released from internment camps, were taking up their former roles as though the war years had never happened, mocking Soekarno's fledgling government and its native administration. Emotions were running high on both sides, and no more so than in Surabaya where a British naval blockade had cut off supplies to the city's Indonesian leaders.
On September 16 the situation went from bad to worse. Holland's tricolour was hoisted above Surabaya's Oranje Hotel (now Hotel Majapahit), a prestigious colonial landmark on Jl. Tunjungan and the temporary head quarters of the returning Dutch. Incensed, a group of young Indonesians stormed the hotel, pulled down the flag and tore off the blue strip along its bottom, transforming it into the red-and-white banner of the republic. A Dutchman was killed during the scuffle, the first of many casualties to come.
Schilderij van dit event. 16th. September 1945.
Zo ziet het er nu dus uit.