C. Meulders was a lieutenant of the Netherlands Indies Army Maréchaussee who, as commander of one brigade of the Vde divisie detached from Captain Boucherie’s third stelling in mid-March 1942, conducted a two-week guerrilla in the terrain north-west of the Bireuën–Takengon road, twice attacking marching Japanese with klewang charges and inflicting dozens of killed, before being captured and — together with the European sergeant Kerrebijn — summarily executed by the Japanese. In the Dutch staff history’s account (Deel VI, Hoofdstuk V), Meulders’s guerrilla is the principal Dutch diversionary manoeuvre of the central-Atjeh theatre and is the staff history’s clearest case of a Japanese summary execution of a Dutch Maréchaussee officer captured in the field after capitulation.
Detachment from Boucherie’s stelling
The third stelling of Palmer van den Broek’s three-position defence — halfway between Bireuën and Takengon — was held by four brigades of the Vde divisie under Captain Boucherie. Captain Boucherie sent one brigade under the command of Lieutenant C. Meulders in a north-westerly direction along a footpath, with orders to report the enemy’s approach from that direction and thereafter to pass over to guerrilla warfare.
The klewang charges
From the terrain north-west of the road, between approximately 17 March 17 March and his capture some days later, Meulders twice launched klewang charges against marching Japanese columns, in which the enemy lost dozens of killed. The staff history notes the Japanese troops’ dependence on Atjehnese porters for the carrying of their weapons and ammunition — a dependence that, at the moment of the klewang charge, left many Japanese unable to react, since their weapons and ammunition were very often carried by accompanying Atjehnese, so that at the moment of the fire attack many Japanese were unable to do anything.
Capture and execution
Together with a number of loyal men, this officer ultimately fell into Japanese hands. The Japanese released the indigenous soldiers of the detachment, but Lieutenant Meulders and the European sergeant Kerrebijn were put to death. The staff history records the execution without further detail; the use of afgemaakt — literally “made away with” — frames the killing as a summary execution of prisoners.
Significance
Meulders’s guerrilla is, in the staff history’s Atjeh chapter, the principal Dutch diversionary manoeuvre of the central-Atjeh theatre, and his summary execution together with sergeant Kerrebijn is the staff history’s clearest single instance of the Japanese treatment of Dutch Maréchaussee officers captured in the field after 19 March 19 March 1942 — the date of Palmer van den Broek’s capitulation order at Takengon. The Meulders episode is cited in the Japanese interrogation of Lt Van Pesch as one of the losses the Japanese held against the Dutch — a citation that confirms the operational effect of Meulders’s guerrilla on the Japanese advance.
See Also
- Nederlands-Indië contra Japan
- Korps Marechaussee van Atjeh en Onderhorigen
- Vde Divisie Marechaussee
- L. A. Boucherie
- W. van Pesch
- Major W. F. Palmer van den Broek
- Bireuën
- Takengon
- 1942
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. 144–147.
C. Meulders was a lieutenant of the Netherlands Indies Army Maréchaussee who, as commander of one brigade of the Vde divisie detached from Captain Boucherie’s third stelling in mid-March 1942, conducted a two-week guerrilla in the terrain north-west of the Bireuën–Takengon road, twice attacking marching Japanese with klewang charges and inflicting dozens of killed, before being captured and — together with the European sergeant Kerrebijn — summarily executed by the Japanese. In the Dutch staff history’s account (Deel VI, Hoofdstuk V), Meulders’s guerrilla is the principal Dutch diversionary manoeuvre of the central-Atjeh theatre and is the staff history’s clearest case of a Japanese summary execution of a Dutch Maréchaussee officer captured in the field after capitulation.
Detachment from Boucherie’s stelling
The third stelling of Palmer van den Broek’s three-position defence — halfway between Bireuën and Takengon — was held by four brigades of the Vde divisie under Captain Boucherie. Captain Boucherie sent one brigade under the command of Lieutenant C. Meulders in a north-westerly direction along a footpath, with orders to report the enemy’s approach from that direction and thereafter to pass over to guerrilla warfare.
The klewang charges
From the terrain north-west of the road, between approximately 17 March 17 March and his capture some days later, Meulders twice launched klewang charges against marching Japanese columns, in which the enemy lost dozens of killed. The staff history notes the Japanese troops’ dependence on Atjehnese porters for the carrying of their weapons and ammunition — a dependence that, at the moment of the klewang charge, left many Japanese unable to react, since their weapons and ammunition were very often carried by accompanying Atjehnese, so that at the moment of the fire attack many Japanese were unable to do anything.
Capture and execution
Together with a number of loyal men, this officer ultimately fell into Japanese hands. The Japanese released the indigenous soldiers of the detachment, but Lieutenant Meulders and the European sergeant Kerrebijn were put to death. The staff history records the execution without further detail; the use of afgemaakt — literally “made away with” — frames the killing as a summary execution of prisoners.
Significance
Meulders’s guerrilla is, in the staff history’s Atjeh chapter, the principal Dutch diversionary manoeuvre of the central-Atjeh theatre, and his summary execution together with sergeant Kerrebijn is the staff history’s clearest single instance of the Japanese treatment of Dutch Maréchaussee officers captured in the field after 19 March 19 March 1942 — the date of Palmer van den Broek’s capitulation order at Takengon. The Meulders episode is cited in the Japanese interrogation of Lt Van Pesch as one of the losses the Japanese held against the Dutch — a citation that confirms the operational effect of Meulders’s guerrilla on the Japanese advance.
See Also
- Nederlands-Indië contra Japan
- Korps Marechaussee van Atjeh en Onderhorigen
- Vde Divisie Marechaussee
- L. A. Boucherie
- W. van Pesch
- Major W. F. Palmer van den Broek
- Bireuën
- Takengon
- 1942
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. 144–147.