Jhr. Graafland — kapitein Jhr. Graafland, in Kruisheer’s ATJEH ‘96 identified in fuller form as Jhr. G. J. W. C. H. Graafland, Kapitein Infanterie, Jonkheer — was the Dutch officer who, in het laatst van 1895, succeeded kapitein Notten as commandant of the Korps Maréchaussée. His succession marked, Zentgraff writes, the end of the slappe periode der geconcentreerde linie: “Het is, niet zoo heel lang daarna, volkomen veranderd. In het laatst van 1895 trad kapitein Jhr. Graafland op als commandant van het korps Maréchaussée, en in het laatst van Maart 1896 liep T. Oemar naar den vijand over.” He is one of the vier vermaarde maréchaussée-officieren in Zentgraff’s photograph — “links beneden: Graafland”. He also appears in the 40-year jubilee photograph of 1930 — though in the listing of senior officers the Kapitein Jhr. Graafland of 1895 is not at the 1930 dinner.
The Aneukgalong overval, 28-29 March 1896
The fall of Aneukgalong was the éclatantste wapenfeit (most splendid feat of arms) of the young Korps Maréchaussée in the year 1896. Onder Graafland was de benteng in den heel vroegen ochtend vrijwel volkomen omsigeld, zoodat de bezetting, figuurlijk gesproken, met den rug tegen den muur stond. — Under Graafland the benteng in the very early morning was virtually completely surrounded, so that the garrison, figuratively speaking, had its back against the wall. The Atjehers vochten als leeuwen: sommigen stortten zich liever in de brandende barakken dan zich over te geven (fought like lions: some flung themselves into the burning barracks rather than surrender). It was a bitter, hand-to-hand fighting; kwartier werd niet gevraagd en niet gegeven — no quarter asked and none given.
The march had gone from Lambaroe at half past midnight on 28 March 1896, with two battalions and the maréchaussée under the command of overste Van Heutsz, kapitein Van Daalen as chef van den staf. By a quarter to five in the morning of 29 March the first shot was fired; by five the benteng was taken. One hundred and ten Atjehers lay dead; among them Tgk. Mat Amin di Tiro, eldest son of Tgk. Sjech Saman di Tiro. Two lightly wounded boys of five and six fell alive into Dutch hands.
Spring 1896 Operations in Kruisheer’s ATJEH ‘96
Kruisheer’s ATJEH ‘96 identifies Graafland — under his full name Jhr. G. J. W. C. H. Graafland — as the principal Dutch maréchaussée commander of the first semester of 1896, the officer whose brigades of the Korps Marechaussée provided the vanguard (voorhoede) and the storm assault capacity in nearly every major operation of the spring and early summer campaigns. Graafland’s command record spans the full operational arc of the first semester: 8 brigades maréchaussée as voorhoede in Van Heutsz’s column on 17 April 1896 (the battle of Senelop), 6 brigades during the 2 May 1896 diversie (in which he personally “gave the signal for the assault on Senelop”), 10 brigades as voorhoede commandant in the bergcolonne on 23 May 1896 (the storming of Tjot Tjako), the maréchaussée against Lam-Tjroeng/Lam-Poelau on 25 May 25 May and the burning of Anak-Paja, the korps maréchaussée in the Lam-Krak expedition on 9–10 June 1896 (4 officers, 226 minderen), and the maréchaussée in the attack on Teupin Batee, Lam-Nga and Lam-Pasei in June 1896.
The Battle of Senelop, 17 April 1896, and the 2 May Diversie
Graafland’s first major command in ATJEH ‘96 was the 8 brigades maréchaussée as voorhoede in Van Heutsz’s column on 17 April 1896 — the battle of Senelop. The engagement, which targeted the hostile stelling (defensive position) at Lam Bada and Senelop, saw the storming of the versterking (fortification) at Bralon by 1e Luit. Rijnen and Eur. sergt. Sergeant Panman (the first into the fortification), with the amb. marechaussée Savie heavily wounded and Walewangko the first into the enemy fortification along with Lt. Rijnen. The engagement also produced the loss of a 7 cm bronze field gun and a mitrailleur (machine gun) in the confusion of the retreat — the same gun which Panglima Polim would subsequently recapture and display at Senelop. The 2 May 2 May diversie to Montassik was Graafland’s next major command: 6 brigades maréchaussée, with Graafland personally giving “the signal for the assault on Senelop”. The assault was successful — the Amb. maréchaussée Simin being the first to enter the versterking at 9:10 AM, only to find “the birds flown” — and the post of Senelop was reoccupied by the Dutch.
The Three-Day Offensive of 23–25 May 1896 and the June Operations
Graafland’s most famous command of the spring was the 10 brigades maréchaussée as voorhoede commandant in the bergcolonne on 23 May 1896 — the operation which stormed Tjot Tjako as part of the three-day offensive against Umar’s stelling. The bergcolonne, under Van Heutsz with Kapitein Van Daalen as Chef van den Staf, advanced on the Tjot Tjako height, and the Luitenants Wagener and Vis and the maréchaussée Wongsodikromo and Todikromo were the first to reach the summit at 5:43 PM. On 25 May 25 May Graafland led the maréchaussée against Lam-Tjroeng and Lam-Poelau and burned Anak-Paja. The June operations placed Graafland at the head of the korps maréchaussée in the Lam-Krak expedition on 9–10 June 1896 — 4 officers, 226 minderen — where his maréchaussée conducted the battle of Ateuh Raja on 9 June 1896 and the combat at Baha (where inlandsch korporaal Brodjo engaged ~30 of Toekoe Hoesin Lhongbatta’s men near Beradin on 4 June 4 June). In the 16–17 June V Moekims Montassik tuchtiging Graafland led the maréchaussée in the attack on Teupin Batee, Lam-Nga and Lam-Pasei, and the 1e Luit. Dijkstra afdeeling drove Achehnese forces from the Tjot Maraja stelling and the Panteh-Karang redoute. The continuity of Graafland’s command — eight major operations in less than three months — confirms his centrality to the Dutch maréchaussée-led war effort of the first semester of 1896.
Significance
Graafland’s commandantship opened the great period of the Korps Maréchaussée. The omzetting (conversion) of the korps’s role from the slappe periode — under Notten and the governors of the geconcentreerde linie — to the offensief period — under Van Heutsz and Van Daalen — is dated by Zentgraff to Graafland’s arrival. The Aneukgalong overval of March 1896 was the first proof of what the korps could do; the overloopen of Teukoe Oemar at the end of March 1896 supplied the political shock that turned the new doctrine into the energieke krijg (energetic war) Snouck Hurgronje had called for.
Kruisheer’s ATJEH ‘96 adds a further dimension to Graafland’s significance: he was the principal maréchaussée commander of the first semester of 1896 — the Kapitein whose brigades provided the voorhoede and the storm assault capacity in nearly every major operation of the spring and early summer campaigns. His personal role in giving “the signal for the assault on Senelop” on 2 May 1896 and his command of 10 brigades as voorhoede commandant in the bergcolonne of 23 May 1896 (the storming of Tjot Tjako) confirm his direct tactical engagement in the most important Dutch assaults of the spring, and his sustained command of the korps maréchaussée through June 1896 — including the Lam-Krak expedition (4 officers, 226 minderen) and the V Moekims Montassik tuchtiging — confirms his institutional centrality to the Dutch maréchaussée-led war effort.
Sources
Oost-Indisch Journael: Palaver om de tafel met het gat, by Merac, Toekan-Serie no. 2, ed. G. L. Tichelman (Haarlem: De Gulden Pers, 1947), the chapter on den zieleherder
Gilles Graafland was a Marechaussee commander of the Korps Marechaussee van Atjeh en Onderhorigen in Aceh, the figure whose name — in Oost-Indisch Journael by Merac (1947) — gives the Graafland era its name: the era that began when the unsound system of the concentrated line was abandoned, and that was the “period of the offensive to the utmost, in which the Marechaussee covered itself with glory.”
Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu, by J. Jongejans, Oud-Resident van het Gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, with a foreword by Dr. H. Colijn (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 413.
Account from the Maréchaussée Jubileum-nummer (1930)
In the 1930 jubilee number of Het Nieuws van den Dag voor Nederlandsch-Indië Graafland appears as the officer who took the initiative for the decisive change in the role of the Korps Maréchaussée, and as the man remembered in the corps as de vader der Maréchaussées — the father of the Maréchaussées.
The extension of the corps’s role in 1896
From 1890 to 1896 the Maréchaussée had confined itself to police and administrative work inside the geconcentreerde linie. From 1896 it also entered the purely military field and sought out the enemy in his hiding places. The jubilee editorial ascribed that change to Graafland: “Ziedaar de groote verdienste van den toenmaligen kapitein der Maréchaussée, Jhr. G. J. W. C. Graafland; hij had het initiatief daartoe genomen en voerde het met ontembare energie uit” — there you have the great merit of the then captain of Maréchaussée; he had taken the initiative for it and carried it out with untameable energy. “Zijn naam prijkt dan ook bovenaan op de lijst van geridderde Maréchaussées.”
First in the register of honours
The Overzicht van Onderscheidingen printed in the same issue opens with his name: under 1897, the Militaire Willems-Orde 3rd class to Kapt. Mar. Jhr. G. J. W. C. Graafland.
Father and son of the corps
The jubilee number refers to him in his later rank as overste (lieutenant-colonel). When Colonel L. A. Snell was sent from Java to the west coast of Atjeh in 1925, the paper called him “een waardig opvolger van overste Graafland; hij heeft diens sporen gedrukt,” and the interviewer closed by observing that if Graafland was the father of the corps, Snell had the right to be called its son. Snell himself named Graafland first among “de groote pioniers, die van het Korps gemaakt hebben wat het geworden is,” before Van Daalen, Colijn, Swart, Van der Maaten and, above all, Van Heutsz.
See Also
- Notten
- Korps Marechaussee van Atjeh en Onderhorigen
- Fall of Aneukgalong (1896)
- Van Heutsz
- Van Daalen
- Tengkoe Mat Amin di Tiro
- Tengkoe Sjech Saman di Tiro
- Teukoe Oemar
- Defection of Teukoe Oemar (1896)
- Aneukgalong
- Lambaroe
- Geconcentreerde linie
- Battle of Senelop (17 April 1896)
- Battle of Senelop (2 May 1896)
- Three-day Dutch offensive of 23–25 May 1896
- Tuchtiging of Lam-Krak Moekims (9–10 June 1896)
- Tuchtiging der V Moekims Montassik (16–17 June 1896)
- Bisschoff van Heemskerck
- G. K. Dijkstra
- 1895
- 1896
- 19th-century
- Aceh War
- Oost-Indisch Journael
- Musket
- Geconcentreerde linie
- Gouverneur-Generaal Van Heutsz
- Van Daalen
- Campioni
- Christoffel
- Van der Maaten
- Scheepens
- Watrin
- Webb
- Colijn
- Geertsema Beckering
- Darlang
- Nussy
- Salowono
- Pongoh
- Atjeh-oorlog
- 29 March
- Het Korps Maréchaussée in Atjeh (Jubileum-nummer 1930)
- Overzicht van Onderscheidingen toegekend aan het Korps Maréchaussée in Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden (1890-1930)
- C. A. Snell
- Korps Maréchaussée te voet in Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden
Account from Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu
Great merit was his: from 1896 the marechaussée would also enter the purely military terrain and track the enemy in his hiding places.
Source: J. Jongejans, Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 413.
Source
Atjeh, door H.C. Zentgraff. Gedrukt bij Drukkerij “De Unie”, 1938, Batavia. OCR-filename: 20260709_002148_DLP-81-Atjeh_OCR.txt.
ATJEH ‘96, door A. Kruisheer, Kapitein der Infanterie O.I.L., met 2 kaarten en 4 portretten (Weltevreden: N.V. Boekhandel Visser & Co, 1913). Instituut Kern, Leiden. OCR-filename: 20260715_163243_DLP-89-Atjeh_96_Met_2_kaarten_en4_DOORA_KRUISHEER_Kapiteinder_Infanterie_nemoretriever-ocr-v1_OCR.txt, pp. 52, 53, 117, 149, 154, 173, 184, 186, 230, 232, 245, 292, 297–298, 300, 304–305.
Het Korps Maréchaussée in Atjeh: De Atjehsche Garde, 1890 - 2 April 1930 (“The Corps of Maréchaussée in Atjeh: The Atjehnese Guard”), Extra Jubileum-nummer of Het Nieuws van den Dag voor Nederlandsch-Indië issued for the fortieth anniversary of the corps (1930), pp. 1-16. Offprint DLP-143, Bibliotheek KITLV, accession 621 116 794.