Order of battle of the Indonesian National Armed Forces as of January 1946

The following is an accurate order of battle of the nascent Indonesian National Armed Forces as of 8 January 1946, after the then People's Security Armed Forces (Tentara Keamanan Rakyat) was transformed into the People's Safety Armed Forces (Tentara Keselamatan Rakyat) by Presidential Resolution #2/1946.

Formation of the People's Security Armed Forces

The INAF traces its origins to the 5 October 1945 declaration of the formation of an active national armed forces for the republic by no less than the first Vice President of Indonesia, Mohammad Hatta, acting on behalf of then president Sukarno, on the basis of the People's Security Bureau (Badan Keamanan Rakyat) created just days after independence as a paramilitary gendarmerie for the infant republic, originally planned as a national army. ^[1][2] The job of activating a national military fell on the hands of ex-Royal Netherlands East Indies Army Major Urip Sumoharjo, who was appointed the first Commander of the Armed Forces ad interim, pending any word from Supriyadi, who would be appointed the first commander of the armed services. Many of the first generation enlisted personnel and NCOs served either with the Defenders of the Homeland (Pembela Tanah Air, or PETA) or the Japanese-sponsored Heihō, both during the period of Japanese occupation, reinforced by youthful pemuda or revolutionaries later on, while many of its officer corps who served in either of the two were trained as cadets of the RNEIA in the Koninklijke Militaire Academie in Breda, The Netherlands and were commissioned into that force.^{[1] [3]} However, these officers were poorly received by Indonesian nationalists, who viewed them as mercenaries for having served in the Dutch forces. Although Urip set out a command structure, in reality the army's hierarchy was provisional and depended heavily on the strength of local units.^[4]

On 14 October, General Urip officially received his interim appointment and left immediately for Jakarta.^{[lower-alpha 1]} In a cabinet meeting the following day,^[6] he was ordered to build a national armed forces headquartered in Yogyakarta,^{[lower-alpha 2]} in preparation for an expected assault by Dutch troops coming to reclaim the Indies.^[8] He departed for Yogyakarta on 16 October, and arrived the following day. He first established the general headquarters in a room at Hotel Merdeka, which he used until the Sultan of Yogyakarta Hamengkubuwono IX donated land and a building to be utilized as the General Headquarters of the young armed forces. ^[9] On 20 October, when learning that Supriyadi was declared missing ^{[lower-alpha 3]} Imam Muhammad Suliyoadikusumo was appointed by the cabinet as ad interim Minister of Defence, later on the guerrilla leader Moestopo declared himself Minister of Defence. As such, Urip had little oversight and felt pressured to quickly establish a stable command structure, while also began to form the a high command structure for the armed services, and later moved the general HQ to Purwokerto.^[10]

On 2 November, the ground forces of the nascent INAF, the future Indonesian Army was divided into four territorial corps lead by the following:

• Didi Kartasasmita for western Java,
• Soeratman for central Java,
• Mohammad for eastern Java,
• and Soehardjo Hardjowardojo for Sumatra.

Each of these sub-commanders was commissioned into the rank of major general.^[11] Urip also began appropriating weapons to different TKR commands. He took confiscated Japanese weapons from well-equipped forces and distributed them as needed.^[12] However, the results were less successful than he had hoped. PETA had been organised locally during the Japanese occupation, and as such its members were unable to accept a centralised leadership.^[13]

Appointment of Sudirman

General Sudirman was elected as commander of the TKR on 12 November 1945. He kept Urip as his chief of staff.

On 12 November 1945, at the first general meeting of army leadership, Colonel Sudirman – the then commandinng officer of the Fifth Division in Purwokerto, who had two years military experience and was 23 years younger than Urip – was elected Commanding General of the Armed Forces (Panglima Besar) following two deadlocked votes.^[14] In the third round, General Urip had 21 votes to Sudirman's 22. Divisional commanders from Sumatra, who had voted unanimously, swayed the vote in Sudirman's favour;^[15] Urip had lost votes because some of the division leaders distrusted his history with the KNIL and the oath he had taken to the Dutch motherland upon graduation.^[16] Although Sudirman was surprised at his selection and offered to surrender the leadership position to Urip, the meeting did not allow it; he himself was glad to no longer be in charge of the armed forces. Sudirman kept Urip, by then a lieutenant general, to serve as chief of staff of the armed forces.^[17] While Sudirman remained unconfirmed, Urip remained de jure commander; however, the Indonesian journalist Salim Said writes that his orders were at times unintelligible owing to Urip's poor command of Indonesian and often ignored unless approved by Sudirman.^{[lower-alpha 4][18]}

When General Sudirman was approved on 18 December, he began working to consolidate and unite the armed forces. Meanwhile, Urip handled day-to-day organisational and technical issues.^[19][17] Many of the details, such as company uniforms, he left to regional commanders.^{[lower-alpha 5]} However, to deal with more important issues, such as establishing a military police and preventing enemy paratroopers from landing, he passed edicts that applied nationally.^[17]Together, Sudirman and Urip were instrumental to unite the differences between armed forces personnel who served in both sides of the Second World War and were now united under one armed service.

ORBAT of the armed forces as of 8 January 1946 ^[21]

References

See also

• Indonesian National Armed Forces
• Military history of Indonesia
• Indonesian National Revolution