The Eresabel — the honorary saber — was a Dutch colonial military decoration awarded for distinguished combat leadership, particularly to officers of the K.N.I.L. who had shown Moed, Beleid en Trouw in the field. In Oom Ambon van het K.N.I.L. the Eresabel is the companion decoration to the M.W.O.: where the M.W.O. was the decoration of the rank-and-file soldaat and the onderofficier, the Eresabel was the decoration of the officer who had led them. The book’s named Eresabel recipient is Schmidt, who “kreeg dan ook voor 1910 de Eresabel en voor 1911 de M.W.O. 3e klas” — the Eresabel for the first year of the colonne Schmidt and the M.W.O. 3e klas for the closing year.
The decoration and its scope
The Eresabel was an honorary saber — a sword of honour — awarded to officers for distinguished combat leadership. The decoration was less common than the M.W.O. and was typically awarded to officers who had already earned a previous decoration (Schmidt, for example, had already earned the Oranje-Nassau and a first M.W.O. before receiving the Eresabel for 1910). The pairing of the Eresabel (for the officer) with the M.W.O. (for the soldaat) is the book’s quiet marker of the colonial army’s recognition economy: the same act of Moed, Beleid en Trouw that earned the soldaat an M.W.O. earned the officer an Eresabel.
Schmidt’s Eresabel
“De luitenant Schmidt had zijn sporen op Atjeh reeds behoorlijk verdiend. Eerst had hij de Oranje-Nassau gekregen en later de M.W.O., terwijl hij wel zowat de beste kenner was van de taal en het volk.” For the first year of the colonne Schmidt — the year of the hunt for Peutoeha Gam Masén and the overval on the schuilplaats — Schmidt received the Eresabel. For the second year — the year of the killing of Tgk. Tjhi Ma’at and the destruction of the Tiriō bende — he received the M.W.O. 3e klas. The two decorations together recognised the two successive years of the campaign.
Account from ATJEH ‘96 (Kruisheer, 1913) — the 1896 Eresabel awards
In ATJEH ‘96, the Eresabel appears among the military honours gazetted in the Dag-orders voor het Indisch Leger of 1897 (Bijlage XX of the Tweede Deel) for distinguished combat leadership during the 1896 campaign in Groot-Atjeh. Kruisheer records that the Eresabel — met het gebruikelijke opschrift (with the customary inscription) — was awarded to Luitenant-Kolonel der Artillerie W. Boetje (Lieutenant-Colonel of the Horse Artillery, W. Boetje) and to a kapitein der infanterie (Captain of the Infantry) for their conduct in the operations of the first semester of 1896, particularly the three-day Dutch offensive against the IV and VI Moekims of 23–25 May 1896. The 1896 Eresabel awards, made by Gouvernementsbesluit of 9 July 1897 No. 18, were part of a wider batch of decorations — including the M.W.O. ridder derde klas for Lt.-Kol. Van Heutsz for the surprise of Ana’ Galoeng — that recognised the Dutch field-officer corps of the year of the defection of Teuku Umar. The Boetje award is the earliest explicit Eresabel citation in the Kruisheer corpus and confirms that the decoration, like the M.W.O., was being awarded for combat leadership in the Atjeh-oorlog throughout the 1890s, not only in the closing campaigns of 1910–1911.
Significance
The Eresabel is significant in Oom Ambon van het K.N.I.L. as the companion decoration to the M.W.O., and as the recognition of the officer’s combat leadership in the colonne method of counter-insurgency. The book’s named Eresabel recipient — Schmidt — is the book’s portrait of the officer who actually finished the Aceh War at the local level, and the Eresabel is the decoration that recognised that work. In Kruisheer’s ATJEH ‘96 the Eresabel appears as the established decoration of the Dutch field-officer corps of 1896, awarded alongside the M.W.O. for the conduct of the operations of that year.
See Also
- Schmidt
- W. Boetje
- Militaire Willemsorde (M.W.O.)
- Oranje-Nassau (Orde van Oranje Nassau)
- Colonne Schmidt campaign against the Tiriō Teungkues (1910-1911)
- Three-day Dutch offensive of 23–25 May 1896
- Surprise of Ana’ Galoeng (29 June 1896)
- Eervolle Vermelding
- Medaille voor Moed en Trouw
- 1910
- 1896
- 1897
Sources
Oom Ambon van het K.N.I.L., by G. W. T. Dames, Maj. Inf. K.N.I.L. b.d. (‘s-Gravenhage: Koninklijke Bibliotheek, 1954), chapter “De colonne Schmidt” and chapter “Oom en de Bintang.”
ATJEH ‘96. Tweede Deel (2c Deel), door A. Kruisheer, Kapitein der Infanterie O.I.L. (Weltevreden: N.V. Boekhandel Visser & Co, 1913), Bijlage XX, Dag-order voor het Indisch Leger 1897, No. 15, Toekenning van Militaire belooningen en onderscheidingen, pp. 222–230.