Revolution in the City of Heroes

Surabaya, capital of East Java and Indonesia's second largest city, is known as Kota Pahlwan, "The City of Heroes." The name – and the starkly modernist monuments that stand at its busy intersections – commemorate Surabaya's totemic role in the early months of the Indonesian revolution.

It was here, rather than in Jakarta, that those committed to the idea of an independent Republic of Indonesia took up arms and made a concerted effort to resist the arrival of Allied troops following the surrender of the occupying Japanese forces at the end of World War II. The two-week "Battle of Surabaya," fought against British and British-Indian troops in November 1945, ultimately ended in military defeat for the Republicans.