The Handboek der Pionierkunst voor het Nederlandsche Leger (Handbook of Sapping for the Dutch Army) was the multi-volume engineers’ textbook written by Kapitein (later Generaal) C. J. Snijders in the years 1880–1887 (with one part delayed to 1894) during his first tenure as a teacher at the Koninklijke Militaire Academie. The Handboek drew directly on Snijders’ Atjeh experience of 1874–1875 — particularly on the Benting Kota Alam and Missigit Longbatta operations — for its treatment of field fortification under fire; it was introduced as the official textbook for the cadets of all arms at the KMA soon after the appearance of the first parts, and was also officially adopted as the handbook for the Korps Genietroepen. A revised second edition was published in 1903–1908, in main part reworked by Kapitein J. H. A. Mijsberg under Snijders’ supervision.
Composition and Adoption
The Handboek appeared in twelve parts over the years 1880–1887; one part, however, was delayed by particular circumstances and did not appear until 1894. Soon after the appearance of the first parts the Handboek was introduced as the official textbook for the cadets of all arms at the KMA, and it was also officially adopted as the handbook for the Korps Genietroepen — in connection with which the last two parts were prepared in collaboration with Kapitein J. H. A. Mijsberg of that corps.
The Second Edition of 1903–1908
In 1903–1908 a much-shortened second edition of the Handboek appeared, in main part reworked by Kapitein Mijsberg under the supervision of the then Majoor Snijders. The second edition reflects the further development of Snijders’ thinking on field fortification in the decades after the Atjeh-oorlog and his work on the Stelling van Amsterdam and the Nieuwe Hollandsche Waterlinie.
Significance
The Handboek is the principal published embodiment of Snijders’ Atjeh experience. The technical detail of benting construction under fire — the use of vrije koelies and dwangarbeiders, the bamboe-doerie hedge, the ranjoe planting, the sandbag parapet, the traverses with Friesche ruiters — which is recorded in the 1944 biography by Van den Berg from the contemporary lecture of Merz, is systematised in the Handboek for the instruction of the next generation of Dutch engineer officers. The Handboek is thus one of the channels through which the Atjeh experience was transmitted to the Dutch army of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
See Also
- Cornelis Jacobus Snijders
- Koninklijke Militaire Academie
- Bataillon Mineurs en Sappeurs
- Korps Ingenieurs, Mineurs en Sappeurs
- Benting
- Bamboe-doerie
- Ranjoe
- Vrije koelies
- Dwangarbeiders
- Benting Kota Alam operation (13 November 1874)
- Missigit Longbatta operation (31 December 1874 – 13 January 1875)
- Aceh War
- 1880
- 1887
- 1894
- 1903
- 1908
Source
D. van den Berg, Cornelis Jacobus Snijders (1852–1939): Een leven in dienst van zijn Land en zijn Volk (Voorburg: September 1944), pp. 38–39. Koninklijke Bibliotheek shelfmark 0301 4872.