2de Garnizoensbataljon

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tagsorganization, military, dutch, colonial, knil, atjeh, world-war-ii
aliases2e Garnizoensbataljon, Tweede Garnizoensbataljon, 2de Garnizoensbataljon Atjeh, Kotaradja garrison 1942

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The 2de Garnizoensbataljon was a garrison battalion of the Netherlands Indies Army stationed at Kotaradja and on the noordkust of Atjeh during 1940–1942, and one of the four garrison battalions (together with the 1ste, 3de and 4de) that formed the Dutch garrison-infantry strength of Atjeh on the eve of the Japanese invasion of March 1942. In the Dutch staff history’s account (Deel VI, Hoofdstuk V), the 2de Garnizoensbataljon is the noordkust and Kotaradja-theatre battalion whose command was successively held by Major Palmer van den Broek (until July 1941) and Lt-Col C. J. Bekkers (from July 1941), and whose demoralisation and flight from the “Poort” stelling at Tangse on 13 March 13 March 1942 precipitated the collapse of the noordkust theatre.

Organisation as of 1 January 1940

As of 1 January 1940, the 2de Garnizoensbataljon was grouped as follows:

Total: 30 brigades (each brigade of garrison infantry numbering 21 men, for a battalion strength of about 630 men).

The battalion’s principal task was the defence of Kotaradja and the noordkust approaches, and the maintenance of order and tranquillity in the sagi der XXII moekims (whose sagihoofd was the eldest son of the late Panglima Polem).

Reorganisations of 1940–1941

In February 1941 eight brigades of the 2de Garnizoensbataljon were sent to Sabang to form, together with the two brigades already there, a war detachment equipped with automatic weapons. In the course of 1941 the 2de Garnizoensbataljon received the bulk of the dissolved Oorlogsdetachement Sabang (two companies) at Kotaradja, bringing its Kotaradja strength to four companies by February 1942. The companies at Kotaradja were equipped with light machine guns from the dissolved Sabang detachment.

The battalion was transferred from Palmer van den Broek to Lt-Col Bekkers in July 1941. The staff history notes that Bekkers had not previously served in Atjeh — a transfer the staff history implicitly faults for the loss of Atjeh experience at the top of the Kotaradja garrison.

The March 1942 campaign

The 2de Garnizoensbataljon, under Bekkers’s command, formed the 2de hoofdgroep of the Dutch defence after the Japanese landings of 12 March 12 March 1942. The battalion retreated from Kotaradja via Seulimeum and Lam Meulo to Tangse and Geumpang, where it was to hold the “Poort” stelling. The IVde divisie Maréchaussee brigades from Lam Meulo and Sigli were attached to the battalion’s command at Tangse.

The battalion’s collapse at the Poort stelling — first on 13 March 13 March 1942 (panic induced by fireworks) and finally on 17 March 17 March 1942 (a Japanese flanking movement guided by Atjehnese along unmapped local paths) — was the immediate cause of Bekkers’s capitulation on 18 March 18 March 1942. The staff history’s judgement is that morale among these and the other troops had deteriorated sharply, and that desertions and the failure to carry out orders occurred repeatedly.

Significance

The 2de Garnizoensbataljon is, in the staff history’s Atjeh chapter, the principal narrative instance of the demoralisation that overtook the Dutch garrison troops in the noordkust theatre. The staff history’s contrast between the 2de Garnizoensbataljon’s collapse at the Poort and the IIde divisie Maréchaussee’s sustained resistance on the Westkust under Captain Kloprogge is the compilers’ principal evidence that the structural cause of the noordkust collapse was the loss of experienced officers through the 1940–1941 reductions and the appointment of Bekkers — who had not previously served in Atjeh — to command.

See Also

Source

Nederlands-Indië contra Japan, Deel VI: De strijd op Ambon, Timor en Sumatra, bewerkt door C. van den Hoogenband en L. Schotborgh (‘s-Gravenhage: Staatsdrukkerij- en Uitgeverijbedrijf, 1959), Hoofdstuk V (“De strijd in Noord-Sumatra (Atjeh)”), pp. 114–140.

The 2de Garnizoensbataljon was a garrison battalion of the Netherlands Indies Army stationed at Kotaradja and on the noordkust of Atjeh during 1940–1942, and one of the four garrison battalions (together with the 1ste, 3de and 4de) that formed the Dutch garrison-infantry strength of Atjeh on the eve of the Japanese invasion of March 1942. In the Dutch staff history’s account (Deel VI, Hoofdstuk V), the 2de Garnizoensbataljon is the noordkust and Kotaradja-theatre battalion whose command was successively held by Major Palmer van den Broek (until July 1941) and Lt-Col C. J. Bekkers (from July 1941), and whose demoralisation and flight from the “Poort” stelling at Tangse on 13 March 13 March 1942 precipitated the collapse of the noordkust theatre.

Organisation as of 1 January 1940

As of 1 January 1940, the 2de Garnizoensbataljon was grouped as follows:

Total: 30 brigades (each brigade of garrison infantry numbering 21 men, for a battalion strength of about 630 men).

The battalion’s principal task was the defence of Kotaradja and the noordkust approaches, and the maintenance of order and tranquillity in the sagi der XXII moekims (whose sagihoofd was the eldest son of the late Panglima Polem).

Reorganisations of 1940–1941

In February 1941 eight brigades of the 2de Garnizoensbataljon were sent to Sabang to form, together with the two brigades already there, a war detachment equipped with automatic weapons. In the course of 1941 the 2de Garnizoensbataljon received the bulk of the dissolved Oorlogsdetachement Sabang (two companies) at Kotaradja, bringing its Kotaradja strength to four companies by February 1942. The companies at Kotaradja were equipped with light machine guns from the dissolved Sabang detachment.

The battalion was transferred from Palmer van den Broek to Lt-Col Bekkers in July 1941. The staff history notes that Bekkers had not previously served in Atjeh — a transfer the staff history implicitly faults for the loss of Atjeh experience at the top of the Kotaradja garrison.

The March 1942 campaign

The 2de Garnizoensbataljon, under Bekkers’s command, formed the 2de hoofdgroep of the Dutch defence after the Japanese landings of 12 March 12 March 1942. The battalion retreated from Kotaradja via Seulimeum and Lam Meulo to Tangse and Geumpang, where it was to hold the “Poort” stelling. The IVde divisie Maréchaussee brigades from Lam Meulo and Sigli were attached to the battalion’s command at Tangse.

The battalion’s collapse at the Poort stelling — first on 13 March 13 March 1942 (panic induced by fireworks) and finally on 17 March 17 March 1942 (a Japanese flanking movement guided by Atjehnese along unmapped local paths) — was the immediate cause of Bekkers’s capitulation on 18 March 18 March 1942. The staff history’s judgement is that morale among these and the other troops had deteriorated sharply, and that desertions and the failure to carry out orders occurred repeatedly.

Significance

The 2de Garnizoensbataljon is, in the staff history’s Atjeh chapter, the principal narrative instance of the demoralisation that overtook the Dutch garrison troops in the noordkust theatre. The staff history’s contrast between the 2de Garnizoensbataljon’s collapse at the Poort and the IIde divisie Maréchaussee’s sustained resistance on the Westkust under Captain Kloprogge is the compilers’ principal evidence that the structural cause of the noordkust collapse was the loss of experienced officers through the 1940–1941 reductions and the appointment of Bekkers — who had not previously served in Atjeh — to command.

See Also

Source

Nederlands-Indië contra Japan, Deel VI: De strijd op Ambon, Timor en Sumatra, bewerkt door C. van den Hoogenband en L. Schotborgh (‘s-Gravenhage: Staatsdrukkerij- en Uitgeverijbedrijf, 1959), Hoofdstuk V (“De strijd in Noord-Sumatra (Atjeh)”), pp. 114–140.

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