Marechaussée in Atjeh is a Dutch-language military book co-authored by M. H. du Croo and Kolonel Schmidt, describing the Korps Marechaussee te voet (military police) and its role in the Aceh War. Published sometime after du Croo’s service in Atjeh in the 1920s, the work is a key source for the Dutch officer’s view of the long Aceh conflict and a companion volume to the same authors’ Generaal Swart.
Content and Character
According to Dr. J. W. Meyer Ranneft, the book presents “het beeld van Atjeh en de Atjehoorlog, zoals dat in die officieren heeft geleefd” — the image of Aceh and the Aceh war as it lived in those officers. It includes “oude suggestieve officiersportretten tussen de tekst” (old suggestive officer portraits among the text), giving a vivid, insider’s perspective on Marechaussee operations and life on patrol in the rimboe (jungle) of Aceh. The work captures the ethos of the K.N.I.L. officers who saw the region as “het lastige kindje dat Atjeh heette” (the troublesome child called Atjeh), a phrase preserved in the memorial for du Croo by the Dutch journalist Johan Luger.
Authors
- Maurice Henri du Croo served in Atjeh from 1925, participating in patrols and later as staff officer, and was decorated Knight of the Orde van Oranje-Nassau with Swords in 1927.
- Kolonel Schmidt was a fellow K.N.I.L. officer who also collaborated with du Croo on Generaal Swart.
Significance
The book is an important period document for the Aceh War, reflecting the colonial military mentality of the interwar years. It pairs with du Croo’s other writings — including Generaal Swart and the pseudonymous Sergeant Weers en de Zijnen — that depict the life of Dutch soldiers in the Indies. As a co-authored work by two serving or former K.N.I.L. officers, Marechaussée in Atjeh belongs to the body of Dutch colonial military literature that shaped metropolitan memory of the Aceh pacification in the decades after the formal end of the war.
See Also
- Maurice Henri du Croo
- Schmidt (Kolonel)
- Generaal Swart (book)
- Korps Marechaussee van Atjeh en Onderhorigen
- Aceh War
- K.N.I.L.
Source
In Memoriam Maurice Henri du Croo (1951), p. 5 (biographical timeline); tribute by Dr. J. W. Meyer Ranneft on Marechaussée in Atjeh; tribute by Johan Luger.