ABSTRACT
The landings in 1945 of the first British and Australian units in Makassar (Sulawesi, 21 September), Jakarta (Java, 29 September) and Medan (Sumatra, 10 October) acted as a catalyst, and soon put relations between different groups and nationalities on edge. What had been a symbolic struggle for power with a relatively limited number of casualties, especially on Java, was transformed from late September 1945. More or less at the same time, an armed struggle for power unfolded on the three islands between different ethnic groups and nationalities; a struggle that was accompanied on all sides by many casualties, most of them civilians or captured fighters.
