TWO hours after midnight, the first gunfire was heard. On that day, 14 February 1945, 200 or so youths of the Defenders of the Homeland, a paramilitary force formed by the Japanese colonial government, stormed out of their barracks in unison in downtown Blitar, East Java, and attacked their patrons, who had their guard down. It was reported that about 20 Japanese soldiers were killed that day.

This violent resistance did not last for long. Befo