General Sudirman (January 24, 1916 - January 29, 1950; also spelled Soedirman) was the military commander of Indonesian forces during the country's fight for independence from the Dutch in the 1940s. Biography Sudirman was born in Rembang, Central Java. He studied at the Dutch Native School in Purwokerto, and then at a Muhammadiyah teacher training college in Surakarta. He worked as a teacher at the Muhammadiyah school in Cilacap. During the Japanese occupation of Indonesia during World War II, Sudirman trained to become a battalion commander in Peta, the "homeland defense" army promoted by the Japanese. When Japan surrendered and Sukarno proclaimed Indonesian independence, he organized his Peta battalion into a Banyumas-based regiment of the Republican army to resist Dutch reoccupation of its former colony. The first major battle that he led was the Battle of Ambarawa against the British and the Dut

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