1940

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tagsyear, colonial, dutch, military, pre-war, troop-reduction, 20th-century, publication, literatuur-overzicht, oil, gold, world-war-ii, aceh, wartime, indonesian, medicine, ophthalmology, groot-atjeh
aliasesYear 1940, 1940 in Atjeh, 1940 (year), the year 1940

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1940 was a pivotal year in the Netherlands East Indies and, in particular, in Acheh, marked by the German invasion of the Netherlands on 10 May 1940, the enactment of the Regeling op den Staat van Oorlog (War State Regulation) from the Indisch Staatsblad 582, a substantial drawdown and re‑organisation of the Dutch garrison in Acheh, the publication of H. van Meurs’ Literatuur‑Overzicht over het jaar 1939 and the commencement of major mineral exploitation (gold dredging on the Geudong Concession and peak oil production in North Sumatra). These developments together signalled the transition of the colonial administration from peacetime governance to wartime defence and foreshadowed the collapse of Dutch authority during the Japanese invasion of 1942.

Garrison strength on 1 January 1940

At the start of the year the Dutch forces stationed in Acheh comprised:

Total: 107 brigades of garrison infantry (≈ 2 250 men) plus 60 brigades of Maréchaussee (≈ 1 200 men) = roughly 3 450 men.

1940 drawdown and re‑organisation

The drawdown that began in 1940 unfolded in several stages:

  • April 1940: one company of the 4de Garnizoensbataljon was sent to the Riouw Archipelago; a second company followed in May 1940 to Java. Consequently the 4de Garnizoensbataljon (“Mobiele Reserve”) disappeared from Acheh.
  • May 1940, shortly after the German invasion of the Netherlands: outposts at Bireuën, Langsa and Kotatjane (12 brigades) were evacuated and reassigned to wartime duties outside Acheh. The Westkustcolonne of nine brigades was assembled from the Tapatoean, Meulaboh and Tjalang detachments; Tapatoean and Meulaboh were dissolved, and Tjalang was reduced by one brigade. The Westkustcolonne was dispatched to the Oostkust van Sumatra, eventually reaching Lawe Sigalagala where a German internee camp was located. Its soldiers never returned, and their families were relocated to Kotaradja.
  • A uniform reduction of two men per brigade was applied to all remaining Acheh brigades to form an additional company that was also sent to the Oostkust van Sumatra.

Staff records note that these transfers reduced the overall strength of the Acheh garrison by one quarter.

The Regeling op den Staat van Oorlog entered into force on 10 May 1940, granting emergency powers to the military hierarchy and shifting authority from civil to military command. Contemporary Dutch military reports state that the regulation “set the legal basis for the deployment of units such as the Marinebataljon and the Legioen Mangko Negoro in defensive operations across the archipelago, including the Aceh peninsula.” The regulation proved decisive during the rapid Japanese advance in March 1942.

Military preparations and mobilisation

In response to the loss of the European homeland, the colonial administration issued directives for heightened defence readiness throughout the Indies, including Aceh. Reports in the De geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche Korps Mariniers record increased recruitment, training of colonial troops, and the organisation of new reserve companies. Two marine companies of 125 men each were formed at the Marine Barracks Goebeng, creating a mobile reserve capable of rapid deployment across the archipelago.

Seizure of German vessels at Surabaya

On 10 May 1940 the marine detachment in Soerabaia captured three German ships that had entered the harbour, placing them under judicial seizure and averting potential sabotage. This action illustrated the immediate impact of the European war on colonial security and underscored the strategic importance of Surabaya.

Mineral‑economic developments

M.A.E.M. Geudong Concession gold operation

Production at the Geudong Concession began in 1940 under the auspices of the M.A.E.M.. Two bucket dredges (6 ft³ each) with a combined capacity of 270 000 yd³ per month extracted gold and platinum. The deposit consisted of 55–60 % boulders and 40–45 % fine material. Two gold grades were identified: fine gold with higher silver content (easily amalgamated) and coarse gold with lower silver content (more difficult to amalgamate). Platinum output was measured in kilograms per month, and processing employed amalgamation and Wilfley tables.

North Sumatra oil production

In 1940 total oil production in North Sumatra reached 920 755 tons (each ton = 1 000 kg). The B.P.M.‑operated fields (Aru Bay, Telaga Said, Bulu Telang, Tamiang, S. Aru Bay) contributed 769 644 tons (83.7 %). The N.L.A.M.‑operated Peureula field in the Atjeh oil complex added 48 219 tons (5.2 %). The East Atjeh oil block recorded no output in 1940 (production would start in 1941), as would the Pasé oil field and Pulu Pandjang fields. The Tamiang block alone supplied 709 625 tons (77.1 % of the North Sumatra total), marking the high‑point of the colonial mineral economy in Acheh before the Pacific War.

Scholarly publication: Van Meurs’ Literatuur‑Overzicht

The year also saw the publication of H. van Meurs’ Literatuur‑Overzicht over het jaar 1939 (issued by M. Nijhoff in ‘s‑Gravenhage). In his Voorbericht Van Meurs asserted that the Institut published the volume “in de overtuiging, dat de bijzondere tijdsomstandigheden niet den minsten ongunstigen invloed mochten uitoefenen op het verschijnen van deze publicatie,” i.e., despite the German occupation that began in May 1940, the Dutch colonial scholarship persisted. The survey’s Sumatra chapter listed key 1939 publications on Acheh, including the Damsté edition of the Hikajat Eitia Toedjoh, Jongejans’ Land en volk van Atjeh vroeger en nu, Doorman’s notice of the death of Toeanangkoe Mohammad Dawat, and van der Linden’s commemoration of the third centenary of the Atjeh martyrs. The simultaneous military drawdown and scholarly output underscore 1940 as a year of both contraction and cultural resilience.

Significance

The events of 1940 constitute a watershed in Acheh’s colonial history. The Regeling op den Staat van Oorlog provided the legal framework for the rapid militarisation of the archipelago, while the drawdown of the Dutch garrison and the formation of the Westkustcolonne stripped Acheh of much of its defensive capability. At the same time, the start of large‑scale gold dredging on the Geudong Concession and the peak oil production of 1940 represent the zenith of the colonial mineral economy, a prosperity that would be abruptly terminated by the Japanese invasion of 1942. The publication of Van Meurs’ Literatuur‑Overzicht marks the last major Dutch scholarly effort on Acheh before the occupation of the Netherlands and the subsequent collapse of the colonial state. Together, these military, economic, and intellectual developments illustrate how 1940 was the terminus a quo of Dutch pre‑invasion authority in Acheh and a prelude to the profound transformations that the Pacific War would bring.

Publication of the Groot-Atjeh eye survey (1940)

In 1940 the Geneeskundig Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch-Indië published, in Afl. 19 of Deel 80, Dr. C. E. Gomperts’s Oriënteerend oogheelkundig onderzoek bij de Atjehsche bevolking van Groot-Atjeh gedurende 1937, the report of the eye survey he had conducted three years earlier. The paper had been received by the editors on 25 October 1939; it was printed at Batavia-Centrum by G. Kolff & Co. and occupies pages 1191 to 1238.

The report is the fullest statistical account of eye disease among the Acehnese population in the colonial period, and the principal published criticism of the working method of Dr. J. Tijssen. Its eleven-point summary concluded, among other things, that xerophthalmie and keratomalacie shared one common underlying cause; that they were in all probability the leading cause of blindness among the Acehnese young; that trachoma did not occur in the surveyed area; and that operative treatment on Tijssen’s method was “zelfs ongewenscht” for Groot-Atjeh.

See Also

Account from Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu

(Expected year of next census — would tell about population increase or decrease in Aceh.)

Source: J. Jongejans, Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 94.

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. 114–117.

  • Literatuur‑Overzicht over het jaar 1939 van de Taal‑, Land‑ en Volkenkunde en Geschiedenis van Nederlandsch‑Indië, door H. van Meurs (‘s‑Gravenhage: M. Nijhoff, 1940), Voorbericht.

  • The Geology of Indonesia, by R. W. van Bemmelen, Vol. II: Economic Geology (The Hague: Government Printing Office; Martinus Nijhoff, 1949), p. 9 (Table 4: Oil production in the East Indies in 1940 and 1941), p. 121 (Basin of Meulaboh, M.A.E.M. Geudong Concession production started in 1940).

  • De geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche Korps Mariniers van 1665‑1945, OCR edition, page 415 (reference to “In 1940 was dit trouwens een fractie van de huidige formatie”).

  • De geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche Korps Mariniers van 1665‑1945, OCR transcription, pages 429‑430, 20260707_232246_DLP-55-De_geschiedenis_van_het_Nederlandsche_Korps_Mariniers_van_1665_1945_OCR.txt.

  • De geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche Korps Mariniers van 1665‑1945, OCR text, pp. 436‑442.

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. 94.

Oriënteerend oogheelkundig onderzoek bij de Atjehsche bevolking van Groot-Atjeh gedurende 1937 (“Orienting Ophthalmological Survey among the Atjehnese Population of Groot-Atjeh during 1937”), by Dr. C. E. Gomperts, offprint from the Geneeskundig Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch-Indië, Afl. 19, Deel 80 (1940), pp. 1191-1238 (Batavia-Centrum: G. Kolff & Co.). Received by the editors 25 October 1939. Offprint DLP-157, Bibliotheek KITLV.

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