L. A. Snell — universally known in the Netherlands-Indies army by the nickname Old Hand — was a Netherlands-Indies officer who served sixteen years in Atjeh, for most of that time with the Korps Maréchaussée, in which he served in every rank; a ridder of the Militaire Willems-Orde; the officer sent from Java in 1925 to end the resistance on the west coast of Atjeh; and, at the time of the corps’s fortieth anniversary in 1930, colonel and commander of the 2nd Regiment of Infantry at Bandoeng. The 1930 jubilee number of Het Nieuws van den Dag voor Nederlandsch-Indië carried a long interview with him under the title Een boom met “Old Hand”.
Decorations and service record
Snell was a knight of the Militaire Willems-Orde, twice Eervol Vermeld (honourably mentioned), and bearer of the Eereteeken voor Belangrijke Krijgsbedrijven (Decoration for Important Military Operations) for: Atjeh 1906–1910; Atjeh 1911–1914; Westkust Atjeh 1925–1927; and New Guinea 1907–1915. The knight’s cross of the Militaire Willems-Orde was presented to him at Bandoeng in April 1927, on which occasion he was fêted in the midst of his family.
Promotion
The interviewer recalled having last met Snell at Magelang, when he was still a captain. Snell was promoted major on 2 May 1926; the next promotion followed swiftly, and on 21 December 1926 he was appointed lieutenant-colonel. By 1929 he was colonel, commanding the 2nd Regiment of Infantry at Bandoeng. At the time of the interview his adjutant was Captain L. N. W. Vogelesang.
Early service: the tempo-doeloe of the Atjehsche Garde
Snell spoke of tempo-doeloe — the old days — when as a second lieutenant he made his entry into the Atjehsche Garde to learn “het vak” (the trade), accompanied on his wanderings by a handful of maréchaussées who did not fear the danger threatening from every side. The enemy’s trail had to be followed in order to surprise him in his hiding place; the party plodded on along untrodden ways, looking for a suitable camping place, for water, or for a settlement at which to replenish exhausted supplies of food.
He described the endurance the work demanded. The Maréchaussée was never discouraged, not even when nightfall compelled the troop, after a day of fruitless searching, to bivouac — often in the middle of a downpour, on the mountains, where there was no opportunity to pitch tents, while the wounded were carried along in tandoe. Plagued by hunger and cold, they awaited the dawning of the new day, a rock or the branch of a tree having served as resting place; sometimes the night was even passed hanging from a root. All misery was borne with resignation, and no complaint was ever heard.
Life on the posts
Snell described the apparently monotonous life of the posts as full of variety and emotion. The birthday of the Queen, so highly honoured by the maréchaussées, was celebrated with joy, as were Christmas, New Year’s Eve, the Inlandsch Nieuwjaar (indigenous New Year) and wedding feasts. “‘k Zie ze weer voor mij,” he said laughing — I see them before me again — the revellers in festive dress, in a blue atilla with white trousers, with the bivouac band in front, making their way to the officers’ quarters to invite them to take part in the feast, an invitation the officers accepted with eagerness. There reigned, he said, a tone of binding comradeship, without discipline being disturbed for a single moment: “wij begrepen elkander volkomen” — we understood one another perfectly.
Of his men he said with pride, “‘t Zijn prachtkerels, onze Maréchaussées” — they are splendid fellows, our Maréchaussées — and he spoke of the engagements in which he had taken part; but his voice sank when he spoke of those who had fallen, and he described the grief of the widow and child left behind. The women, he said, awaited the return of the brigades to the post with fear and trembling, to learn whether their husbands might be among the dead and wounded, and counted themselves fortunate when their men were “only” wounded, since then hope of rescue remained.
The men he remembered
Asked about the old vuurvreters (fire-eaters), Snell answered that when he spoke of them he saw pass in review before his mind’s eye “den zoo beminden Scheepens, den levenslustigen Veltman, den altoos vroolijken Darlang, den onverzettelijken Christoffel, de stoere Geertsema Beckering, Watrin, Schmidt en zoovele anderen” — the much-loved Scheepens, the high-spirited Veltman, the ever-cheerful Darlang, the unyielding Christoffel, the sturdy Geertsema, Beckering, Watrin, Schmidt and so many others — men apparently exuberant and carefree in the soos (officers’ club), but who in the rimboe (jungle) developed rare energy and courage, coupled with superhuman perseverance and an appreciation of their adversary. “Ik heb Atjeh en zijn bewoners lief gekregen!” — I have come to love Atjeh and its inhabitants.
He named as the great pioneers who had made the corps what it became: Graafland, “den vader der Maréchaussées” (the father of the Maréchaussées), Van Daalen, Colijn, Swart, Van der Maaten, and above all “den grootste onder de grooten: den pacificator van Atjeh, generaal J. B. van Heutsz, onzen nationalen held.”
But when names were named, he added, the simple of soul ought also to be rescued from oblivion — and he listed Marks, Frank, Mosselman, Heynen, Emond, Rugebregt, Salawono, Kasir, Wowor, Nussy and Kromo-di-Koro, “te veel om op te noemen, de dappersten onder de dapperen” — too many to name, the bravest among the brave. Many had fallen, but their spirit lived on in the corps; and busts of Scheepens, Darlang, Vis and Webb adorned the Kerkhof Peutjoet as symbols of moed, beleid en trouw.
The Westkust command
When in 1925 trouble began again on the west coast of Atjeh and it was decided to send experienced rimboe-officers from Java, attention fell at once on Captain Snell, “den oud-Atjeh-krijger” who during sixteen years had more than earned his spurs — “een old hand,” as the press called him, in a choice generally applauded. Greeted with joy by his old and tried comrades in arms, he “maakte met zijn steeds van een glimlach vergezeld gaande bevelen een eind aan het verzet” — made an end of the resistance with orders always accompanied by a smile. It was during that action that Captain J. Paris was killed in the engagement in which command of the brigade passed to the wounded Kromo-di-Koro and then to Suwoek.
On the meaning of the corps
Snell dwelt on the value and significance of the Maréchaussée, and pointed particularly to the work of peace it had performed: the numerous roads traversing Atjeh, the many engineering works it had constructed, and the order and quiet created “in de vroeger door onderlinge veeten van elkander gescheiden staatjes” — in the little states formerly divided from one another by mutual feuds — order and quiet which had allowed prosperity to unfold.
On the Atjehnese
Snell’s closing reflections were markedly more sombre than the editorial framing of the issue. Hatred, he said, still reigned in the hearts of the former enemies — and could it be otherwise among a people with as much onafhankelijkheidszin (spirit of independence) as no other people in the Archipelago, with so strongly developed a feeling of self-worth and self-consciousness? Despite a struggle lasting tens of years its mentality had not changed: “Het is onderworpen, doch niet verzoend” — it is subjected, but not reconciled.
“Wij hebben,” he continued, “het Atjehsche Volk leed, zeer veel leed berokkend. Onze plicht is het dat weer goed te maken” — we have caused the Atjehnese people harm, very much harm; it is our duty to make that good again. Hatred must disappear, to make room for appreciation and friendship, but that was a long process running over generations. To the younger men that task was allotted, “verheven en schoon” (exalted and fair); it demanded self-control, tactful conduct, the execution of orders without unnecessary bloodshed, and justice. “De Atjeher heeft zijn onafhankelijkheid met groote dapperheid verdedigd en eerst, na decennia van heldhaftigen strijd, het hoofd gebogen; een dapper vijand verdient de hulde” — the Atjehnese defended his independence with great bravery and only after decades of heroic struggle bowed his head; a brave enemy deserves the tribute.
The son of the Maréchaussée
The interviewer closed with the judgement that if Lieutenant-Colonel Graafland was called the father of the corps, Snell had the right to be called “de zoon der Maréchaussée” — the son of the Maréchaussée, of whose several sons he was the Old Hand, a worthy successor of his great predecessor.
See Also
- Korps Maréchaussée te voet in Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden
- G. J. W. C. Graafland
- Gevecht waarin kapitein Paris sneuvelde (Westkust van Atjeh, 1925-1927)
- Westkust Resistance (1925-1927)
- Uitreiking van het vaandel aan het Korps Maréchaussée (2 April 1930)
- Kerkhof Peutjoet
- L. N. W. Vogelesang
- Militaire Willemsorde
Source
Het Korps Maréchaussée in Atjeh: De Atjehsche Garde, 1890 - 2 April 1930, 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.