Sudirman was born in Bodas Karangjati village,

Rembang, Purbalingga, Central Java, 24 January

1916. 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.[1] 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
Dutch (November-December 1945).[2] On 12 December
he led a "coordinated attack" against British positions
in Ambarawa, driving the British all the way to
Semarang. The battle ended on 16 December.[3]

On 12 November 1945 he was elected Commander-in-chief of the Army, a

position he held until his death. During much of the next five years he was
sick with tuberculosis, but led
several guerrilla actions against
the Dutch.

He led the resistance to the Dutch

attack on Yogyakarta, then the
Republic of Indonesia's
headquarters, in December 1948.
Theodore Friend (2003) describes
him as having "...a strangely blended samurai discipline, Marxist
disposition, and raw courage."[1]

Sudirman died in Magelang, 29 January 1950 at

the age of 35. He was buried in Heroes'
Cemetery in Semaki, Yogyakarta.

He received the title of National Hero of

Indonesia as an Independence Defender Hero.
Sudirman was the first and the youngest General
in Indonesia.