The Arrival of Vetter and Dismissal of Deykerhoff (7 April 1896) was the landing at Koeta Radja of Lt.-Gen. J. A. Vetter — Commandant of the Dutch Indies Army — aboard the steamer or Bantam with the 9th Battalion Infantry and the immediate honorable relief of Gen.-Maj. C. Deykerhoff from his functions as Civiel en Militair Gouverneur of Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden. Vetter came vested with full authority as Regeeringscommissaris — Government Commissioner — to take civil and military command of the residency in the crisis provoked by the defection of Teuku Umar of 29 March 1896. As described in Kruisheer’s ATJEH ‘96, the arrival of Kol. Stemfoort and Maj. Breijer aboard the same vessel — together with the 9th Battalion — also marked the formal transfer of strategic direction of the Atjeh-oorlog from the colonial civil-military administration to the metropolitan high command.
Background
By the first days of April 1896 the strategic situation in Atjeh had collapsed with a speed that talso the colonial administration in Batavia by surprise. The defection of Teuku Umar on approximately 26 March–29 March 1896 had been followed immediately by the siege of blokhuis Aloer Oe, the investment of the posts of Biloel and Lamkoenjit, and the open repudiation by Umar of his oath of 30 September 1893. Gen.-Maj. Deykerhoff — who had been warned by Controleur Gisolf of Umar’s “more than suspicious attitude” but had refused, “in any case little inclined to give credence to the various reports” (in any case little inclined to give credence to the various reports), to countenance the arrest of his ally — was held politically responsible. The Koloniaal Verslag, quoted by Kruisheer, would subsequently observe that “Waar de afval van Tockoe Djohan, aanstonds tot so ver strekkende gevolgen aanleiding gaf, dat al het sedert 1893 verkregene, was, as it were, set on loose screws, moest wel ernstige twijfel rijzen, of de Civiele en Militaire Gouverneur den toestand te voren wel inderdaad juist beoordeeld had” — given that the defection of T. Djohan gave rise at once to consequences so far-reaching that all that had been gained since 1893 was, as it were, set on loose screws, serious doubt must arise whether the Civil and Military Governor had in fact correctly judged the situation beforehand.
The metropolitan government in The Hague, acting through the Governor-General in Batavia, resolved to send the Army Commander in person. Lt.-Gen. Vetter was appointed Regeeringscommissaris for Atjeh — a position of extraordinary authority that, in the colonial constitution, superseded the ordinary chain of command. With him were dispatched Kol. Stemfoort — destined to take over provisional military command and ultimately the civil-military government itself — and Maj. Breijer of the General Staff, who would serve as Vetter’s adjutant. The 9th Battalion Infantry was embarked as immediate reinforcement.
The Arrival of 7 April 1896
On 7 April 1896 the steamer Kruisheer records an alternative tradition that names the vessel Bantam entered the roadstead of Oleh-leh and disembarked Lt.-Gen. Vetter, Kol. Stemfoort, Maj. Breijer, and the 9th Battalion at Koeta Radja. Vetter came ashore vested with the full authority of the Regeeringscommissaris — authority that, in the colonial constitution, gave him not only supreme military command in Atjeh but also superseded the ordinary civil jurisdiction of the Civiel en Militair Gouverneur. The first act of his mission was the honorable relief of Gen.-Maj. Deykerhoff. Kruisheer records the formula used: Deykerhoff was “eervol ontheven van zijne functien als Civiel en Militair Gouverneur” — honorably relieved of his functions as Civil and Military Governor. The choice of the word honorable was deliberate: it permitted Deykerhoff to retire without formal censure even as it held him responsible, in political fact, for the catastrophe of the defection.
Resident van Langen — Resident voor Atjehsche zaken en de scheepvaartregeling — was temporarily charged with civil affairs pending the formal transfer. Kol. Stemfoort was temporarily charged with military command. The arrival of the 9th Battalion immediately stiffened the garrison at a moment when every company was needed for the relief of Biloel and Lamkoenjit that Vetter would order on the very next day.
Aftermath
The relief of Deykerhoff and the arrival of Vetter inaugurated a wholly new phase of the Atjeh-oorlog. Vetter immediately issued the secret operational instructions for the relief of Biloel and Lamkoenjit of 8 April 1896 — an operation he placed under the command of Kol. Stemfoort. He issued, on 12 April 1896, the proclamation ordering the evacuation of the two posts. He received Teuku Umar’s second and third letters, and countersigned the 11 dismissing Umar from his posts. He ordered the bombardment of Lampisang on 27 April 1896 and the naval demonstration in the Kroeng-Rababaai of 1 May–4 May 1896. He launched the three-day offensive of 23–25 May 1896 and the tuchtiging of the Lam-Krak mukims of 9 June–10 June 1896. He would depart Atjeh on 28 June 1896 (after his farewell parade of 27 June), having restored the strategic situation, destroyed Umar’s stelling, and razed the principal Achehnese bases in the western mukims.
Significance
The arrival of Vetter and the dismissal of Deykerhoff on 7 April 1896 were the political and military pivot of the first semester of the Atjeh-oorlog. They signified that the metropolitan government had lost confidence in the colonial administration’s handling of the native-allied policy and had decided to commit the full weight of the Indies Army to a conventional campaign against the unified Achehnese resistance. The decision also marked the formal end of the 1893–1896 experiment of war-by-proxy through Teuku Umar’s legioen: from 7 April 1896 onward the war in Atjeh would be fought, in the first instance, by Dutch and Ambonese troops. The installation of a Regeeringscommissaris — an extraordinary office, used sparingly and only in moments of supreme crisis — underlined the gravity of the situation. Vetter’s three-month mission would result in the restoration of the ordinary civil-military government under Kol. Stemfoort on 28 June 1896, and the lessons drawn from his tenure would shape Dutch strategy in Atjeh for the remainder of the war.
See Also
- J. A. Vetter
- C. Deykerhoff
- J. W. Stemfoort
- J. F. Breijer
- K. F. H. van Langen
- Regeeringscommissaris
- Civiel en Militair Gouverneur van Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden
- 9e Bataljon Infanterie
- Defection of Teuku Umar (late March 1896)
- Relief of Biloel and Lamkoenjit (8 April 1896)
- Departure of Vetter and Restoration of Civil and Military Governor (28 June 1896)
- Vetter’s Farewell Parade (27 June 1896)
- 1896
- Aceh War
Source
ATJEH ‘96, door A. Kruisheer, Kapitein der Infanterie O.I.L., met 2 kaarten en 4 portretten (Weltevreden: N.V. Boekhandel Visser & Co, 1913). Instituut Kern, Leiden. OCR-filename: 20260715_163243_DLP-89-Atjeh_96_Met_2_kaarten_en4_DOORA_KRUISHEER_Kapiteinder_Infanterie_nemoretriever-ocr-v1_OCR.txt, pp. 14, 37, 48, 57–58, 60, 1222.