E. F. K. R. Mathus was a lieutenant of the Netherlands Indies Army who, after the Lae Boetar capitulation of 29 March 29 March 1942, refused to surrender with Captain Kloprogge and instead attempted, together with Captain Steinhorst, Lt Thomson and the medical officer V. A. C. L. Dingemans, to break through to the still-fighting Dutch forces near Blangkedjeren. Mathus was captured by the Japanese and, together with Dingemans, executed some time afterwards. In the Dutch staff history’s account (Deel VI, Hoofdstuk V), Mathus and Dingemans are the staff history’s clearest case of Japanese execution of prisoners of war after the formal capitulation of a Dutch force.
Refusal to surrender at Lae Boetar
When Captain Kloprogge announced at Lae Boetar on 29 March 29 March 1942 that he would capitulate with the remnant of the troops (about 140 men), a number of officers had, however, withdrawn themselves from the surrender in order to try to make contact with troops still fighting elsewhere. These officers — Mathus among them — were unaware of the bad state of affairs in the Blangkedjeren area and of the general capitulation, and intended to reach the Blangkedjeren theatre. Mathus was joined by Captain Steinhorst (killed by insurgents), Lt Thomson (eventually captured on 26 April 26 April) and the medical officer V. A. C. L. Dingemans.
Capture and execution
Captain Steinhorst was captured, together with a few loyal men, by insurgents and killed. The staff history records the fate of Mathus and Dingemans in the same sentence: the medical officer Dingemans and Lieutenant Mathus fell, with a few others, into Japanese hands and were executed some time afterwards. Only Thomson escaped, eventually reaching the Medan area before his capture on 26 April 26 April 1942.
Significance
Mathus’s execution is, in the staff history’s Atjeh chapter, the principal case (alongside the medical officer Dingemans) of a Japanese execution of Dutch prisoners of war after a formal Dutch capitulation. The staff history’s use of “executed” rather than “killed in action” or “murdered” signals a quasi-judicial killing, distinct both from the insurgents’ killing of Steinhorst and from the franc-tireur doctrine that the Japanese would later apply to armed Dutch soldiers captured in the field. The Mathus–Dingemans execution is the staff history’s principal evidence that Japanese summary execution of Dutch officers was not confined to the franc-tireur category but extended to officers who had simply refused to recognise a capitulation they had not witnessed.
See Also
- Nederlands-Indië contra Japan
- Captain L. H. J. Kloprogge
- F. Steinhorst
- M. C. Thomson
- Lae Boetar
- Sumatra capitulation (28 March 1942)
- 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)”), p. 137.
E. F. K. R. Mathus was a lieutenant of the Netherlands Indies Army who, after the Lae Boetar capitulation of 29 March 29 March 1942, refused to surrender with Captain Kloprogge and instead attempted, together with Captain Steinhorst, Lt Thomson and the medical officer V. A. C. L. Dingemans, to break through to the still-fighting Dutch forces near Blangkedjeren. Mathus was captured by the Japanese and, together with Dingemans, executed some time afterwards. In the Dutch staff history’s account (Deel VI, Hoofdstuk V), Mathus and Dingemans are the staff history’s clearest case of Japanese execution of prisoners of war after the formal capitulation of a Dutch force.
Refusal to surrender at Lae Boetar
When Captain Kloprogge announced at Lae Boetar on 29 March 29 March 1942 that he would capitulate with the remnant of the troops (about 140 men), a number of officers had, however, withdrawn themselves from the surrender in order to try to make contact with troops still fighting elsewhere. These officers — Mathus among them — were unaware of the bad state of affairs in the Blangkedjeren area and of the general capitulation, and intended to reach the Blangkedjeren theatre. Mathus was joined by Captain Steinhorst (killed by insurgents), Lt Thomson (eventually captured on 26 April 26 April) and the medical officer V. A. C. L. Dingemans.
Capture and execution
Captain Steinhorst was captured, together with a few loyal men, by insurgents and killed. The staff history records the fate of Mathus and Dingemans in the same sentence: the medical officer Dingemans and Lieutenant Mathus fell, with a few others, into Japanese hands and were executed some time afterwards. Only Thomson escaped, eventually reaching the Medan area before his capture on 26 April 26 April 1942.
Significance
Mathus’s execution is, in the staff history’s Atjeh chapter, the principal case (alongside the medical officer Dingemans) of a Japanese execution of Dutch prisoners of war after a formal Dutch capitulation. The staff history’s use of “executed” rather than “killed in action” or “murdered” signals a quasi-judicial killing, distinct both from the insurgents’ killing of Steinhorst and from the franc-tireur doctrine that the Japanese would later apply to armed Dutch soldiers captured in the field. The Mathus–Dingemans execution is the staff history’s principal evidence that Japanese summary execution of Dutch officers was not confined to the franc-tireur category but extended to officers who had simply refused to recognise a capitulation they had not witnessed.
See Also
- Nederlands-Indië contra Japan
- Captain L. H. J. Kloprogge
- F. Steinhorst
- M. C. Thomson
- Lae Boetar
- Sumatra capitulation (28 March 1942)
- 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)”), p. 137.