Defenders of the Homeland


PETA or Kyōdo Bōei Giyūgun was an Indonesian volunteer army established on 3 October 1943 in Indonesia by the occupying Japanese. The Japanese intended PETA to assist their forces in opposing a possible invasion by the Allies. By the end of the war, there were a total of 69 battalions in Java and Sumatra. On 17 August 1945, the day after the Indonesian Declaration of Independence, the Japanese ordered the PETA daidan to surrender and hand over their weapons, which most of them did. The Indonesian Republic's newly declared President, Sukarno, supported the dissolution rather than turn the organisation into a national army as he feared allegations of collaboration had he allowed a Japanese-created militia to continue to exist.
During the Indonesian National Revolution, former PETA officers and troops, such as Suharto and Sudirman, formed the core of the fledgling Indonesia armed forces.

Structure of PETA

Notable members of PETA