Snijders’ 1920 visit to Atjeh was the retired Generaal C. J. Snijders’s return to Atjeh in the course of his first post-war Indies journey (April–September 1920), undertaken in his capacity as chairman of the Vereeniging “Ons Leger” to attend the Algemene Vergadering of “Indië Weerbaar” at Bandoeng on 24 May 24 May 1920. During his tour of Sumatra he paid a visit to Atjeh, where he laid a wreath on the grave of Generaal-Majoor Pel at the European cemetery of Kota Radja — closing a personal circle forty-six years after his baptism of fire under Pel’s command in the Benting Kota Alam operation of 13 November 13 November 1874. He then made a tour through the interior from Medan to Padang.
The First Indies Journey (April–September 1920)
In 1920 Snijders, as chairman of the Vereeniging “Ons Leger,” undertook a journey to Nederlandsch-Indië to represent “Ons Leger” at the Algemene Vergadering of “Indië Weerbaar” at Bandoeng. He was accompanied by Kapitein van den Generalen Staf E. H. A. van den Akker as secretary. A transport workers’ strike forced him to give up his intended passage on the Wilis; with some effort he secured a berth on the English mailboat Delta of the P&O Line, leaving Europe on 7 April 7 April and arriving at Tanjung Priok on 16 May 16 May.
The Bandoeng meeting of 24 May 24 May (the second Whitmonday) was followed by lectures on the defensie-vraagstuk at Surabaya on 14 July 14 July, at Semarang on 21 July 21 July, and at Medan on 12 August 12 August, in addition to several lectures on air-traffic matters in connection with the K.L.M. interests that he had also undertaken to pursue. On his tour he was received hospitably by the Governor-General Graaf Van Limburg Stirum and by the Susuhunan and the Sultan of Surakarta and Djokjakarta. During his stay with the latter he attended a performance of the Serimpi dance and was presented by the Sultan with a walking-stick with a golden knob engraved with the Sunan’s monogram.
The Visit to Atjeh
On Sumatra Snijders paid a visit to Atjeh. The biographer Van den Berg records the visit in a single sentence: “Op Sumatra bracht hij een bezoek aan Atjeh, waar hij o.a. op het kerkhof te Kota Radja eene krans legde op het graf van den Generaal-Majoor PEL, en maakte hij van Medan uit nog een tocht door de binnenlanden naar Padang.”
The wreath-laying on the grave of Generaal-Majoor Pel at the European cemetery (kerkhof) of Kota Radja is the symbolic heart of the visit. Pel had been Snijders’ commander in 1874–1875; he had been promoted major-general by extraordinary Royal Decree of 18 February 18 February 1875 and had died suddenly of an arterial rupture at kampong Tonga on 24 February 24 February 1876 in the middle of the campaign against the XXII Moekims. He had been buried at Kota Radja. The wreath-laying of 1920 thus closed a personal circle: the young engineer lieutenant who had been decorated for the Kota Alam and Longbatta operations under Pel returned, as the most senior Dutch soldier of his generation, to honour his old commander’s grave.
Return
From Atjeh Snijders travelled to Medan, made a tour through the interior to Padang, and on 2 September 2 September left the Indies on the Insulinde. On his return to the Netherlands he resumed his agitation for the defensie-vraagstuk; in April 1921 the Proeve eener oplossing van het legervraagstuk was published, the work of a commission of six under his chairmanship.
Significance
The 1920 visit is the only documented return of Snijders to Atjeh after his service there in 1874–1875. The wreath-laying on Pel’s grave is a small but symbolically important moment in the commemorative history of the Atjeh-oorlog — a personal gesture by the officer who, four years later, would become the Opperbevelhebber van Land- en Zeemacht of the Netherlands, in honour of the commander under whom he had served his baptism of fire.
See Also
- Cornelis Jacobus Snijders
- J. L. J. H. Pel
- Koeta Radja
- Acheh
- Benting Kota Alam operation (13 November 1874)
- Missigit Longbatta operation (31 December 1874 – 13 January 1875)
- Aceh War
- Militaire Willemsorde
- Atjeh-medaille
- Medan
- Padang
- Bandoeng
- Surabaya
- Semarang
- Tandjong Priok
- K.L.M.
- 1920
Source
D. van den Berg, Cornelis Jacobus Snijders (1852–1939): Een leven in dienst van zijn Land en zijn Volk (Voorburg: September 1944), pp. 131–132, 142. Koninklijke Bibliotheek shelfmark 0301 4872. The biography’s footnote records that “talrijke bijzonderheden omtrent het verblijf van den Generaal SNIJDERS in Nederlandsch-Indië bij verschillende gelegenheden ontleende ik aan een, in 1932 van de hand van den Majoor b.d. W. G. de Bas in Actueel Wereldnieuws verschenen opstel: Generaal Snijders 80 jaar.”