L. A. Boucherie was a captain of the Netherlands Indies Army Maréchaussee who commanded the Vde divisie and, in that capacity, the third stelling of Palmer van den Broek’s three-position defence of the Bireuën–Takengon road in mid-March 1942, and who, after the stelling was outflanked by the Japanese (guided by Atjehnese along off-map local paths), conducted a ten-day march with a four-man group toward Blangkedjeren in an attempt to rejoin the Dutch forces there. In the Dutch staff history’s account (Deel VI, Hoofdstuk V), Boucherie’s stelling is the staff history’s principal instance of the betrayal of Dutch operational positions to the Japanese by the Atjehnese population.
The third stelling
The third stelling was located approximately halfway between Bireuën and Takengon, about 10 km south of the second stelling held by Captain Wetzels. It was held by four brigades of the Vde divisie under Boucherie’s command. The orders were to close off the connecting roads converging on this position. The Japanese advance was to be delayed principally by guerrilla actions. Boucherie detached one brigade under Lt Meulders to the north-west to report and delay any Japanese approach from that direction; Meulders would later be captured and executed together with sergeant Kerrebijn.
The engagement of 17 March 1942
Around 17 March 17 March 1942 Boucherie’s stelling observed a Japanese car driving up to within 1 km of the stelling, then turning and returning. By noon the stelling — whose location had evidently been betrayed by the Atjehnese — came under machine-gun and mortar fire. The brigades, armed with carbine and klewang, could achieve nothing against this. Heavy rifle fire was then heard on the right flank, threatening a breakthrough, and Boucherie decided to abandon the stelling and to pass over to guerrilla warfare. With his little group — four men in total — he resolved to make for Blangkedjeren.
The march to Takengon
The four-man group marched for ten days through the terrain, achieving little operational result apart from the shooting of a few Japanese motorcyclists. The group attempted to obtain food in a small kampong; this was refused. The kampong lay about two days’ march from Takengon. Evidently the population in this area had already gone over to the Japanese, for suddenly a number of Japanese appeared, captured them, and brought them to Takengon. At Takengon the Japanese asked Boucherie why he had not surrendered on 19 March 19 March 1942, when the order had been given; Boucherie replied that the order had never reached him because he had been in the forest. The argument was accepted, and Boucherie was imprisoned in the camp at Takengon.
Significance
Boucherie’s stelling is, in the staff history’s Atjeh chapter, the principal narrative instance of the betrayal of Dutch positions by the Atjehnese population — a betrayal the compilers treat as the operational expression of the F. beweging rising. The four-man march to Blangkedjeren and the capture in a kampong whose population had already gone over to the Japanese is the staff history’s clearest single illustration of the impossibility of sustained Dutch guerrilla in the face of a hostile population.
See Also
- Nederlands-Indië contra Japan
- Korps Marechaussee van Atjeh en Onderhorigen
- Vde Divisie Marechaussee
- Major W. F. Palmer van den Broek
- F. Wetzels
- W. van Pesch
- C. Meulders
- Bireuën
- Takengon
- Blangkedjeren
- 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, 147–148.
L. A. Boucherie was a captain of the Netherlands Indies Army Maréchaussee who commanded the Vde divisie and, in that capacity, the third stelling of Palmer van den Broek’s three-position defence of the Bireuën–Takengon road in mid-March 1942, and who, after the stelling was outflanked by the Japanese (guided by Atjehnese along off-map local paths), conducted a ten-day march with a four-man group toward Blangkedjeren in an attempt to rejoin the Dutch forces there. In the Dutch staff history’s account (Deel VI, Hoofdstuk V), Boucherie’s stelling is the staff history’s principal instance of the betrayal of Dutch operational positions to the Japanese by the Atjehnese population.
The third stelling
The third stelling was located approximately halfway between Bireuën and Takengon, about 10 km south of the second stelling held by Captain Wetzels. It was held by four brigades of the Vde divisie under Boucherie’s command. The orders were to close off the connecting roads converging on this position. The Japanese advance was to be delayed principally by guerrilla actions. Boucherie detached one brigade under Lt Meulders to the north-west to report and delay any Japanese approach from that direction; Meulders would later be captured and executed together with sergeant Kerrebijn.
The engagement of 17 March 1942
Around 17 March 17 March 1942 Boucherie’s stelling observed a Japanese car driving up to within 1 km of the stelling, then turning and returning. By noon the stelling — whose location had evidently been betrayed by the Atjehnese — came under machine-gun and mortar fire. The brigades, armed with carbine and klewang, could achieve nothing against this. Heavy rifle fire was then heard on the right flank, threatening a breakthrough, and Boucherie decided to abandon the stelling and to pass over to guerrilla warfare. With his little group — four men in total — he resolved to make for Blangkedjeren.
The march to Takengon
The four-man group marched for ten days through the terrain, achieving little operational result apart from the shooting of a few Japanese motorcyclists. The group attempted to obtain food in a small kampong; this was refused. The kampong lay about two days’ march from Takengon. Evidently the population in this area had already gone over to the Japanese, for suddenly a number of Japanese appeared, captured them, and brought them to Takengon. At Takengon the Japanese asked Boucherie why he had not surrendered on 19 March 19 March 1942, when the order had been given; Boucherie replied that the order had never reached him because he had been in the forest. The argument was accepted, and Boucherie was imprisoned in the camp at Takengon.
Significance
Boucherie’s stelling is, in the staff history’s Atjeh chapter, the principal narrative instance of the betrayal of Dutch positions by the Atjehnese population — a betrayal the compilers treat as the operational expression of the F. beweging rising. The four-man march to Blangkedjeren and the capture in a kampong whose population had already gone over to the Japanese is the staff history’s clearest single illustration of the impossibility of sustained Dutch guerrilla in the face of a hostile population.
See Also
- Nederlands-Indië contra Japan
- Korps Marechaussee van Atjeh en Onderhorigen
- Vde Divisie Marechaussee
- Major W. F. Palmer van den Broek
- F. Wetzels
- W. van Pesch
- C. Meulders
- Bireuën
- Takengon
- Blangkedjeren
- 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, 147–148.