'Beecham' was the British operation to reoccupy the Padang area of the island of Sumatra in the Netherlands East Indies after the Japanese surrender (October 1945).

On 4 October 1945 a convoy carrying the headquarters of Major General H. M. Chambers’s Indian 26^th Division, Captain G. B. Sayer, the naval force commander, the headquarters of Brigadier H. P. L. Hutchinson’s Indian 71^st Brigade, and other elements including the 1/Lincolnshire Regiment, 6/South Wales Borderers, 1/18^th Royal Garhwal Rifles as well as supporting administrative and technical elements sailed from Madras in southern India for Sumatra. At sea the convoy divided, the naval headquarters, headquarters of the Indian 26^th Division, headquarters of the Indian 71^st Brigade, the Lincolns and the Garhwalis making for Padang, half-way down the south-western coast of Sumatra, while the headquarters of the Indian 26^th Division’s artillery with the South Wales Borderers made for Medan on the north-eastern coast. Each part of the convoy had five tank landing ships, some of which joined en route from Malaya, Colombo and Chittagong.

At Emmahaven, Padang’s port, Japanese representatives, led by Major General Nakao Yahagi, chief-of-staff of Lieutenant General Moritake Tanabe’s 25^th Army, went on board the large infantry landing ship Persimmon on 10 October to receive their orders, and on the same day other representatives of the 25^th Army went on board the destroyer Venus at Belawan, the port of Medan. Both towns were occupied on the same day, and on 12 October Chambers established the Headquarters Allied Forces in Sumatra in the town hall at Padang.

Three days later the Indian 26^th Division came under command of the Allied Force Netherlands East Indies, and on 21 October Chambers received the formal surrender of the Japanese forces from Tanabe and the senior Japanese naval officer in the island, Vice Admiral Sueto Hirose.

As on Java, the primary task of Allied forces in Sumatra was to rescue and evacuate Allied prisoners of war and internees, maintain law and order in key areas, disarm and concentrate surrendered Japanese in preparation for their repatriation, and arrest those wanted for war crimes.

When the Indian 26^th Division arrived it found Medan and Padang in a state of intense nationalist fervour, with the red and white republican flag well in evidence and numerous political parties, most of which contained a hard core of armed youths (Pemoedas) trained by the Japanese in guerrilla warfare and all violently anti-Dutch. Members of the self-styled 'Government of the Sumatran Republic', whose headquarters were in Medan, gave assurance that they were prepared to co-operate with the British, but it soon became clear that little would be forthcoming unless Dr A. Soekarno’s 'Central Government' in Java approved. They accused the Amboinese and the Netherlands Indies Civil Administration (NICA), whose head, Generaal-majoor A. I. Spits, had arrived on 13 October to confer with Chambers, of organising terrorism, but agreed to hand over their arms provided the Amboinese were also disarmed.

The general population at first was indifferent to the British-led forces but started to become hostile after it learned that the NICA was working with them.

When the occupying forces reached Sumatra, the Japanese had been ordered to vacate Palembang, but on 16 October they reported that the situation in that area had deteriorated: Indonesian police had attacked an armoury and removed weapons, which the Japanese were trying to recover, and attempts were being made to kidnap Dutch civilians. Reports from Recovery of Allied Prisoners of War and Internees' sources requesting permission to suspend concentration of internees in Palembang confirmed the Japanese statement, and as result Chambers ordered the Japanese to increase their forces in the town, restore order and ensure the security of the oil refineries. He also asked for reinforcements to enable him to have troops in that area, and on 24 October the 1^st Burma Regiment of Major General E. C. R. Mansergh’s Indian 5^th Division arrived at Palembang from Malaya.

Mansergh was warned that no official recognition was to be given to the self-styled 'Republican Government', although individuals belonging to it could be met as private citizens. He was to use the local police as much as possible to control the populace, retain Japanese civilians in key posts and make every effort to persuade the local leaders to arrange the surrender of all arms other than police swords. He could use Japanese troops to enforce law and order, particularly in Palembang town and in the oil refineries, all orders to them being issued through Lieutenant General Shigeji Hakugin, latterly commander of the 9^th Air Division, whose chief-of-staff was to be summoned to battalion headquarters to receive them. Dutch armed forces, however, whether European or native, were to be used only for the close guard of internee camps. The arrival of the small Allied force at Palembang quickly restored order and the concentration of prisoners and internees from outlying camps was resumed.