W. E. Kroesen was a lieutenant-general of the Indies army, commander of the Indies army in the early 1870s, who in July 1871 instructed the then colonel J. H. R. Köhler, military commandant of Sumatra’s Westkust, to collect all possible military data about Atjeh — a proposal accompanied by a simultaneous suggestion to send a captain of the Indies army aboard the Djambi to inform himself locally of conditions, which the Indies government refused. Before the first Aceh expedition Kroesen concluded on the basis of all the data he had been able to collect: “that the troops would probably not even come to fight; that the matter would soon be over, and this was also necessary, in view of the bad monsoon to be expected.” His optimistic estimate proved disastrous.
The Instructions to Köhler, July 1871
In July 1871 Kroesen instructed the then colonel Köhler, military commandant of Sumatra’s Westkust, “to collect all possible data about Atjeh, important from a military point of view.” At the same time a proposal was made to the Indies government to send a captain of the Indies army aboard the Djambi to inform himself locally of conditions. This proposal was refused by the Indies government. The refusal, together with the absence of a general staff in the Indies, left the first expedition badly prepared when it was finally dispatched in March 1873 under Köhler’s command.
The Optimistic Estimate
Before the first expedition Kroesen, “on the basis of all the data he had been able to collect, came to the conclusion, ‘that the troops would probably not even come to fight; that the matter would soon be over, and this was also necessary, in view of the bad monsoon to be expected.’” This optimistic estimate proved disastrous: the battle of the missigit on 10 April 10 April 1873 met unexpected stubborn resistance; Köhler was mortally wounded on 14 April 14 April 1873; the council of war of 18 April 18 April 1873 advised against renewed attack; and the transport fleet left the roadstead of Atjeh on 29 April 29 April 1873.
Account from Verstege’s Een beroep op het Nederlandsche volk (1886)
Verstege places the army commander’s earlier warnings at the centre of his demonstration that the war readiness in the Indies had been chronically neglected by the government. From the sworn testimony — taken in the inquiry into the first Atjeh expedition — of kapitein G. C. E. van Daalen, formerly head of the cabinet of the Kommandant van het Leger, generaal Kroesen, the pamphlet gives the main content that this general officer in 1869, 1870 and 1871 “herhaaldelijk heeft gerapporteerd, dat het personeel en materieel van het leger, aan gehalte en kwantiteit, was beneden hetgeen in redelijkheid en in het belang van den lande moet geëischt worden; dat die Kommandant van het leger alles gedaan en voorgesteld heeft om hierin verbetering te brengen, maar dat de Regeering en de Ministers geweigerd of getalmoud hebben aan zijne voorstellen gevolg te geven” (“repeatedly reported that the personnel and materiel of the army, in quality and quantity, were below what justice and the interest of the country demanded; that the commander of the army did and proposed everything to bring improvement therein, but that the Government and the Ministers refused or delayed to give effect to his proposals”). Far from being taken by surprise by the war, the government, as Verstege shows, consciously neglected the requirement of preparation (see Stieltjes on the April 1874 debate; cf. also the civil contrôleur Kroesen, a different official of the same name).
See Also
- J. H. R. Köhler
- Indies Army
- First Aceh Expedition (1873)
- Battle of the Missigit (10 April 1873)
- Sumatra’s Westkust
- Aceh War
Source
De geschiedenis van Nederland in onzen tijd, by J. A. de Bruyne, Directeur der Hoogere Burgerschool te Zierikzee. Deel IV. 1872-1883. Nieuwe uitgave. Schiedam: J. F. Dupont, 1912, Hoofdstuk I, pp. 12-13.
W. E. Kroesen was a lieutenant-general of the Indies army, commander of the Indies army in the early 1870s, who in July 1871 instructed the then colonel J. H. R. Köhler, military commandant of Sumatra’s Westkust, to collect all possible military data about Atjeh — a proposal accompanied by a simultaneous suggestion to send a captain of the Indies army aboard the Djambi to inform himself locally of conditions, which the Indies government refused. Before the first Aceh expedition Kroesen concluded on the basis of all the data he had been able to collect: “that the troops would probably not even come to fight; that the matter would soon be over, and this was also necessary, in view of the bad monsoon to be expected.” His optimistic estimate proved disastrous.
The Instructions to Köhler, July 1871
In July 1871 Kroesen instructed the then colonel Köhler, military commandant of Sumatra’s Westkust, “to collect all possible data about Atjeh, important from a military point of view.” At the same time a proposal was made to the Indies government to send a captain of the Indies army aboard the Djambi to inform himself locally of conditions. This proposal was refused by the Indies government. The refusal, together with the absence of a general staff in the Indies, left the first expedition badly prepared when it was finally dispatched in March 1873 under Köhler’s command.
The Optimistic Estimate
Before the first expedition Kroesen, “on the basis of all the data he had been able to collect, came to the conclusion, ‘that the troops would probably not even come to fight; that the matter would soon be over, and this was also necessary, in view of the bad monsoon to be expected.’” This optimistic estimate proved disastrous: the battle of the missigit on 10 April 10 April 1873 met unexpected stubborn resistance; Köhler was mortally wounded on 14 April 14 April 1873; the council of war of 18 April 18 April 1873 advised against renewed attack; and the transport fleet left the roadstead of Atjeh on 29 April 29 April 1873.
See Also
- J. H. R. Köhler
- Indies Army
- First Aceh Expedition (1873)
- Battle of the Missigit (10 April 1873)
- Sumatra’s Westkust
- Aceh War
Source
De geschiedenis van Nederland in onzen tijd, by J. A. de Bruyne, Directeur der Hoogere Burgerschool te Zierikzee. Deel IV. 1872-1883. Nieuwe uitgave. Schiedam: J. F. Dupont, 1912, Hoofdstuk I, pp. 12-13.
Een beroep op het Nederlandsche volk in zake het Atjeh-vraagstuk, door J. J. W. E. Verstege (Amsterdam: J. H. de Bussy, 1886), pp. 123-124. OCR: DLP-158.