Schetsen uit den strijd op Groot-Atjeh (1911)

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tagsdocument, book, dutch, colonial, military, aceh-war, memoir, 1911, beuming
aliasesSchetsen uit den strijd op Groot-Atjeh (1911), Schetsen uit den strijd op Groot-Atjeh, Sketches from the struggle in Groot-Atjeh, Beuming's Schetsen, Schetsen uit den strijd op Groot Atjeh (Beuming, 1911)

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Schetsen uit den strijd op Groot-Atjeh (Sketches from the struggle in Greater Atjeh) was a Dutch-language collection of military sketches by P. H. R. Beuming, a former non-commissioned officer of the Netherlands Indies Army, published at Amsterdam in December 1911 and sold for ten cents a copy for the benefit of the projected convalescent home for state civil servants. Illustrated with a specially prepared map of Groot-Atjeh and with photographs, it narrates in seven chapters the author’s own experiences and those of former comrades on Groot-Atjeh in the years 1893 to 1897, and is a principal eyewitness source for the Anak Galoeng patrol of 7 March 1896, the three-day battle in the Beradin pass, the surprise of Anak Galoeng and the patrol to the Goeah Teroes.

Purpose and publication

The title-page describes the work as met speciaal vervaardigde kaart en toepasselijke photo’s bewerkt door P. H. R. Beuming, oud-onderofficier van het Ned.-Indische Leger and states that it was uitgegeven ten bate van het te stichten Herstellingsoord voor Rijks-Ambtenaren. The minimum price was fixed at f 0.10, or f 0.13 post-free within the Netherlands and f 0.18 by Rgd overseas.

In his preface, dated Amsterdam, December 1911, and signed from Beukenweg 52, Beuming described himself as Administratief Ambtenaar in Rijks dienst (administrative official in state service) and set out a двойной purpose. He had been gedreven door een onweerstaanbaar verlangen om naar bescheiden krachten mede te werken aan de verwezenlijking van een ideaal — driven by an irresistible desire to co-operate, according to his modest powers, in the realisation of an ideal, namely the founding of a convalescent home for state civil servants. He therefore wished to make his experiences on Groot-Atjeh, supplemented by particulars obtained from former colleagues, fruitful in two respects: first to help promote the object of the Vereeniging tot Ondersteuning van Burgerlijke Ambtenaren en Beambten in ‘s Rijks dienst, and second om de belangstelling in de krijgsbedrijven van het Nederlandsch-Indisch leger, en in verband daarmede ook de sympathie — waarop dat kranige leger recht heeft — meer algemeen te doen worden — to make more general the interest in the military operations of the Netherlands Indies Army, and with it the sympathy to which that gallant army had a right.

The net proceeds were to be handed over to the board of the philanthropic association as a contribution to the founding capital for the Herstellingsoord. Beuming noted that since many men regularly passed from the army into civil state service, he hoped that soldiers too would sympathise with his effort and that the sketches would find a good reception zoowel in, als buiten de kazerne — both inside and outside the barracks. He closed with thanks to all who by their information had enabled him to compose the sketches.

The volume carries as epigraph a passage from Mevr. Goedkoop’s Hilda van Suijlenburg: Niet gelukkig zijn, is de bestemming van het leven. Arbeiden, nuttig wezen, zich geven, mooier en rijker maken het gemeenschapsleven, is de eeuwige wet, die elk menschenbestaan beheerscht — not to be happy is the destiny of life; to labour, to be useful, to give oneself, to make the life of the community more beautiful and richer, is the eternal law that governs every human existence.

Contents

The table of contents lists seven pieces:

The volume closes with a folding Kaart van Groot-Atjeh 1874-1895 showing the XXII Moekims, XXV Moekims and XXVI Moekims.

Illustrations

The photographic plates are themselves documentary. They include an Acehnese trading or smuggling prauw lying in the lagoon at Oleh-leh, captioned as having been seized and condemned as prize in 1896 for carrying arms and ammunition destined for Panglima Polim; the former benting of Biloel, with a cross marking the sentry-box that was the particular target of the enemy marksmen; the Atjeh river at Anak Galoeng with the former Dutch benting on the bank; a portrait of Toekoe Oemar in de dagen van zijn glorie; the former dwelling of Toekoe Oemar at Lampisang, a gift of the government, destroyed by bombs and shells after his defection; the former benting Boekit Seboen on the road to Kroeng Raba, abandoned after 1884, with the Glé Daroe pass visible behind; the main gate of the Petjoet cemetery at Koeta Radja; and a portrait of Pastoor Verbraak in his decorations.

Character as a source

The book is a soldier’s memoir rather than a staff history. Beuming writes from the standpoint of the onderofficier in the benting, and his sketches preserve the vocabulary, humour and daily texture of garrison life — the groote pijp (the sergeants’ club-room at Koeta Radja), the rimboe, the baleh-baleh of split bamboo, the tandoes, the tong-tong, the morning and evening gun, and the barrack nicknames gladdekker for Toekoe Oemar and knodsen for the 6.5 mm repeating rifles. At the same time he reproduces precise operational detail: unit designations, officers’ names, and in the case of the patrol of 7 March 1896 the Algemeen Stamboek service numbers of the European rank and file killed.

See Also

Source

Schetsen uit den strijd op Groot-Atjeh, met speciaal vervaardigde kaart en toepasselijke photo’s, bewerkt door P. H. R. Beuming, oud-onderofficier van het Ned.-Indische Leger (Amsterdam, December 1911; uitgegeven ten bate van het te stichten Herstellingsoord voor Rijks-Ambtenaren). Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen, Br N 82-144

Acknowledgement of sources. The material in this article derives from Schetsen uit den strijd op Groot-Atjeh, met speciaal vervaardigde kaart en toepasselijke photo’s, bewerkt door P. H. R. Beuming, oud-onderofficier van het Ned.-Indische Leger (Amsterdam, December 1911). Dutch passages are quoted in the original with an English rendering.

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