F. Wetzels was a captain of the Netherlands Indies Army Maréchaussee who commanded the IIIde divisie and, in that capacity, the second stelling of Palmer van den Broek’s three-stelling defence of the Bireuën–Takengon road in mid-March 1942. In the Dutch staff history’s account (Deel VI, Hoofdstuk V), Wetzels’s stelling — held by five brigades drawn from the IIIde and Vde divisie — was the second of the three positions at which the Japanese advance was delayed.
The second stelling
The second stelling was located approximately 25 km behind the first stelling held by Lt Van Pesch. It was held by a total of five brigades from the IIIde and Vde divisie, under Wetzels as commander of the IIIde divisie. The stelling’s orders were “‘s vijands nadering door guerrilla-acties te vertragen” — to delay the Japanese advance through guerrilla actions rather than to fight a set-piece defence. The third stelling, halfway between Bireuën and Takengon, was held under Captain Boucherie.
Operations
The staff history gives few operational details of the second stelling, noting only that Wetzels “agerende troepen werden tot 19 Maart hinderlagen langs de weg gelegd.” When Palmer van den Broek ordered the capitulation of Takengon on 19 March 19 March 1942, “werden deze troepen krijgsgevangen gemaakt” — that is, the troops operating behind Wetzels’s stelling were captured along with the rest of the Takengon garrison.
Significance
Wetzels’s command is, in the staff history’s Atjeh chapter, the middle element of the three-stelling defence — and the one whose guerrilla-acties are most directly continuous with the pre-war doctrine of the Korps Maréchaussee in Atjeh. The staff history’s emphasis on the doctrinal continuity — “zoals tevoren in vredestijd reeds was beoefend” — frames Wetzels’s stelling as the operational expression of the Maréchaussee’s kleine oorlog tradition, set against the gevechtsopstelling of Van Pesch’s first stelling.
See Also
- Nederlands-Indië contra Japan
- Korps Marechaussee van Atjeh en Onderhorigen
- IIIde Divisie Marechaussee
- Major W. F. Palmer van den Broek
- W. van Pesch
- L. A. Boucherie
- C. Meulders
- 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.
F. Wetzels was a captain of the Netherlands Indies Army Maréchaussee who commanded the IIIde divisie and, in that capacity, the second stelling of Palmer van den Broek’s three-stelling defence of the Bireuën–Takengon road in mid-March 1942. In the Dutch staff history’s account (Deel VI, Hoofdstuk V), Wetzels’s stelling — held by five brigades drawn from the IIIde and Vde divisie — was the second of the three positions at which the Japanese advance was delayed.
The second stelling
The second stelling was located approximately 25 km behind the first stelling held by Lt Van Pesch. It was held by a total of five brigades from the IIIde and Vde divisie, under Wetzels as commander of the IIIde divisie. The stelling’s orders were “‘s vijands nadering door guerrilla-acties te vertragen” — to delay the Japanese advance through guerrilla actions rather than to fight a set-piece defence. The third stelling, halfway between Bireuën and Takengon, was held under Captain Boucherie.
Operations
The staff history gives few operational details of the second stelling, noting only that Wetzels “agerende troepen werden tot 19 Maart hinderlagen langs de weg gelegd.” When Palmer van den Broek ordered the capitulation of Takengon on 19 March 19 March 1942, “werden deze troepen krijgsgevangen gemaakt” — that is, the troops operating behind Wetzels’s stelling were captured along with the rest of the Takengon garrison.
Significance
Wetzels’s command is, in the staff history’s Atjeh chapter, the middle element of the three-stelling defence — and the one whose guerrilla-acties are most directly continuous with the pre-war doctrine of the Korps Maréchaussee in Atjeh. The staff history’s emphasis on the doctrinal continuity — “zoals tevoren in vredestijd reeds was beoefend” — frames Wetzels’s stelling as the operational expression of the Maréchaussee’s kleine oorlog tradition, set against the gevechtsopstelling of Van Pesch’s first stelling.
See Also
- Nederlands-Indië contra Japan
- Korps Marechaussee van Atjeh en Onderhorigen
- IIIde Divisie Marechaussee
- Major W. F. Palmer van den Broek
- W. van Pesch
- L. A. Boucherie
- C. Meulders
- 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.