Ario Soerjo

Suryo made a ceasefire agreement with the commander of British troops, Aubertin Mallaby, in Surabaya on 26 October 1945. However, three days of fighting still erupted in Surabaya, 28–30 October, which pushed the British back. Sukarno decided to come to Surabaya to reconcile the two parties.

The agreed ceasefire was not fully known to the native fighters. Still, there was gunfire that killed Mallaby. This angered the British troops. The troop commander, Robert Mansergh, gave the people of Surabaya an ultimatum to hand over all weapons by 9 November, or the next day Surabaya would be destroyed. Responding to this ultimatum, Sukarno left the decision entirely in the hands of the East Java government, namely to refuse or surrender. Suryo firmly made a speech on RRI that:
"The people of Surabaya would fight the British ultimatum until the last blood." ^[3]

So a battle erupted between the people of East Java and the British in Surabaya which began on 10 November. For three weeks fighting took place where Surabaya finally became a dead city. Suryo was among the last to leave Surabaya to later establish an emergency government in Mojokerto.

On 10 November 1948, Suryo left Yogyakarta for Madiun to attend the 40-day commemoration of the death of his younger brother, R.M. Sarjoeno, one of the victims of the pro-PKI's murder. Suryo arrived in Surakarta in the afternoon and continued his journey to Madiun early in the morning by car. That's when Suryo's car ran into the remains of the pro-PKI troops. On 9 November 1948, the car of Ario Soerjo and two policemen was intercepted in Walikukun by pro-PKI troops. Suryo and two other passengers, namely Colonel Duryat and Major Suroko, were ordered to get out of the car, taken to the forest, and then killed by the pro-PKI troops. Suryo's body was found four days later, in Kali Kakah, Ngawi. and their bodies were found murdered afterwards.^[4]

Soerjo was buried in the Sasono Mulyo, a monument built to commemorate his services which is located in Kedunggalar, Ngawi. which was inaugurated on 28 October 1975 by Pangdam VII/Brawijaya Major General TNI Witarmin.