The Dutch East Indies Army (KNIL) was the colonial military force maintained by the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the East Indies, responsible for conducting the invasion campaigns against the Sultanate of Aceh.
Role in the Aceh War
The army mobilized 3,300 troops for the First Aceh Expedition in 1873 under Major-General Johan Harmen Rudolf Köhler and over 8,200 soldiers for the Second Aceh Expedition in 1873–1874 under Lieutenant-General Jan van Swieten.
Despite capturing the Kraton of Aceh, the army suffered high casualties from combat and cholera epidemics, leading to decades of static defensive deployment along the Concentrated Line and aggressive counter-guerrilla campaigns under commanders like Karel van der Heijden and Jacobus Pel.
See Also
Source
De expeditiën naar Atjeh 1873-1874, W.W.F. Herfkens, Koninklijke Militaire Academie, 1900, pp. 7-10, 29-32, 69-70.