ABSTRACT
The Dutch attack launched on December 19, 1948, against the Republic of Indonesia was designed to impose a speedy settlement of the Dutch-Indonesian dispute along lines dictated by the Dutch. Enlisted men and officers of the Dutch army were indoctrinated with the idea that once the principal Republican leaders and Republican cities were captured, resistance to the Dutch would collapse. The situation in Jogjakarta three weeks after its capture by the Dutch can be reported on the basis of the writer’s own observations. The Central Hospital of Jogjakarta alone reports having treated 108 civilian casualties during the week of December 19–25 and sixty-one of these were treated after the Dutch had officially occupied the city. Before the Dutch attack one was accustomed to seeing large numbers of oxcarts driven by peasants from the surrounding countryside, bringing food to Jogjakarta. The Dutch had counted on securing the collaboration of a large number of Republican leaders once they had occupied Jogjakarta.
