F. Steinhorst was a captain of the Netherlands Indies Army who commanded the airfield garrison of the Lho’Nga airfield west of Kotaradja in early 1942. When the Japanese landings of 12 March 1942 cut him off from Lt-Col Bekkers’s column retreating from Kotaradja, Steinhorst led his company across country to join Captain Kloprogge at Lam No on the Westkust — a march that placed the Compagnie Steinhorst at the head of the rear-guard action in the Westkust evacuation. Steinhorst was killed by insurgents after the Lae Boetar capitulation of 29 March 29 March 1942, having refused to surrender.
The Lho’Nga command and the march to Lam No
The Lho’Nga airfield had been garrisoned in December 1941 with a single company equipped with automatic weapons; the garrison had been further strengthened in February 1942 with the dissolution of the Oorlogsdetachement Sabang. On 12 March 12 March 1942 the telephone link from Kotaradja to Lho’Nga was broken within five minutes of the Japanese landing report. Steinhorst, cut off by the Japanese landing at Kotaradja, was unable to follow Bekkers’s prescribed route via Seulimeum and Lam Meulo to Tangse; he resolved to march west overland to the Westkust and to join Kloprogge.
Steinhorst’s company, reinforced with some Maréchaussee brigades, was encountered by Lt M. C. Thomson at the river crossing at Lam No on 13 March 13 March 1942. From Thomson’s men Steinhorst learned of the Japanese landing at Kotaradja and the march of a Japanese battalion-strength force down the Westkust. He decided to attach himself and his company to Kloprogge’s command.
The rear-guard action south of Lam No
In Kloprogge’s plan for the evacuation of the 3,000 Westkust women and children, the Compagnie Steinhorst — reinforced with Maréchaussee brigades — formed the principal rear-guard column, charged with fighting the rear-guard against the Japanese battalion marching down the Westkust while the convoys moved south to Lae Boetar. The staff history records that the rear-guard action achieved little success: every bridge destroyed by the Dutch was immediately repaired by the Atjehnese, and every position and ambush was immediately betrayed to the Japanese. The Dutch troops were reluctant to fight in the neighbourhood of the camps where the women and children were still concentrated, because they feared the Japanese would vent their fury on the women and children still present in those camps.
Refusal to surrender and death
At Lae Boetar on 29 March 29 March 1942 Steinhorst, with Lt Mathus, Lt Thomson and the medical officer V. A. C. L. Dingemans, refused to surrender with Kloprogge. Steinhorst’s group attempted, with a few loyal men, to forage — that is, to break through to the still-fighting Dutch forces near Blangkedjeren. The staff history records: Captain Steinhorst was captured, together with a few loyal men, by insurgents and killed. Lt Mathus and the medical officer Dingemans 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
Steinhorst’s death is, in the staff history’s Westkust narrative, the moment at which the post-Lae Boetar Dutch resistance collapses. His march from Lho’Nga to Lam No — a cross-country movement by a company-sized force, cut off from its parent column — is the staff history’s example of the improvised operational cooperation that characterised the Westkust campaign, set against the panic and demoralisation of the noordkust troops.
See Also
- Nederlands-Indië contra Japan
- Compagnie Steinhorst
- Captain L. H. J. Kloprogge
- M. C. Thomson
- E. F. K. R. Mathus
- Lho’Nga
- Lam No
- Lae Boetar
- Evacuation of women and children from the Westkust of Atjeh (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)”), pp. 129–137.
F. Steinhorst was a captain of the Netherlands Indies Army who commanded the airfield garrison of the Lho’Nga airfield west of Kotaradja in early 1942. When the Japanese landings of 12 March 1942 cut him off from Lt-Col Bekkers’s column retreating from Kotaradja, Steinhorst led his company across country to join Captain Kloprogge at Lam No on the Westkust — a march that placed the Compagnie Steinhorst at the head of the rear-guard action in the Westkust evacuation. Steinhorst was killed by insurgents after the Lae Boetar capitulation of 29 March 29 March 1942, having refused to surrender.
The Lho’Nga command and the march to Lam No
The Lho’Nga airfield had been garrisoned in December 1941 with a single company equipped with automatic weapons; the garrison had been further strengthened in February 1942 with the dissolution of the Oorlogsdetachement Sabang. On 12 March 12 March 1942 the telephone link from Kotaradja to Lho’Nga was broken within five minutes of the Japanese landing report. Steinhorst, cut off by the Japanese landing at Kotaradja, was unable to follow Bekkers’s prescribed route via Seulimeum and Lam Meulo to Tangse; he resolved to march west overland to the Westkust and to join Kloprogge.
Steinhorst’s company, reinforced with some Maréchaussee brigades, was encountered by Lt M. C. Thomson at the river crossing at Lam No on 13 March 13 March 1942. From Thomson’s men Steinhorst learned of the Japanese landing at Kotaradja and the march of a Japanese battalion-strength force down the Westkust. He decided to attach himself and his company to Kloprogge’s command.
The rear-guard action south of Lam No
In Kloprogge’s plan for the evacuation of the 3,000 Westkust women and children, the Compagnie Steinhorst — reinforced with Maréchaussee brigades — formed the principal rear-guard column, charged with fighting the rear-guard against the Japanese battalion marching down the Westkust while the convoys moved south to Lae Boetar. The staff history records that the rear-guard action achieved little success: every bridge destroyed by the Dutch was immediately repaired by the Atjehnese, and every position and ambush was immediately betrayed to the Japanese. The Dutch troops were reluctant to fight in the neighbourhood of the camps where the women and children were still concentrated, because they feared the Japanese would vent their fury on the women and children still present in those camps.
Refusal to surrender and death
At Lae Boetar on 29 March 29 March 1942 Steinhorst, with Lt Mathus, Lt Thomson and the medical officer V. A. C. L. Dingemans, refused to surrender with Kloprogge. Steinhorst’s group attempted, with a few loyal men, to forage — that is, to break through to the still-fighting Dutch forces near Blangkedjeren. The staff history records: Captain Steinhorst was captured, together with a few loyal men, by insurgents and killed. Lt Mathus and the medical officer Dingemans 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
Steinhorst’s death is, in the staff history’s Westkust narrative, the moment at which the post-Lae Boetar Dutch resistance collapses. His march from Lho’Nga to Lam No — a cross-country movement by a company-sized force, cut off from its parent column — is the staff history’s example of the improvised operational cooperation that characterised the Westkust campaign, set against the panic and demoralisation of the noordkust troops.
See Also
- Nederlands-Indië contra Japan
- Compagnie Steinhorst
- Captain L. H. J. Kloprogge
- M. C. Thomson
- E. F. K. R. Mathus
- Lho’Nga
- Lam No
- Lae Boetar
- Evacuation of women and children from the Westkust of Atjeh (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)”), pp. 129–137.