Royal Netherlands East Indies Army

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The Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (Koninklijk Nederlands Indisch Leger; KNIL) was the army of the Netherlands in its former colony of the Netherlands East Indies (also known as the Dutch East Indies, and later known as Indonesia). Along with the Royal Netherlands Navy, it comprised the Dutch armed forces in the Netherlands East Indies.

[edit] History

KNIL was formed by royal decree on March 10, 1830. It was not part of the Royal Netherlands Army, but a separate military arm specifically formed for the Netherlands East Indies. Its establishment coincided with the Dutch drive to expand colonial rule from the 17th century boundaries to the far larger final boundaries of the Dutch East Indies, established seventy years later, which remain the present boundaries of Indonesia.^[1]

As such, KNIL was involved in many campaigns against indigenous groups in the Netherlands East Indies including the Padri War (1821-1845), the Java War (1825-1830), crushing the Puputan (the final resistance of Bali inhabitants to colonial rule) of 1849, and the prolonged Aceh War (1873-1901). Letters by KNIL officer Hendrikus Colijn (a future Prime Minister of the Netherlands), to his wife, speak openly of atrocities committed during the Aceh War:

I have seen a mother carrying a child of about 6 months old on her left arm, with a long lance in her right hand, who was running in our direction. One of our bullets killed the mother as well as the child. From now on we couldn't give any mercy, it was over. I did give orders to gather a group of 9 women and 3 children who asked for mercy and they were shot all together. It was not a pleasant job, but something else was impossible. Our soldiers tacked them with pleasure with their bayonets. It was horrible. I will stop reporting now.^[2]

After Aceh, the Netherlands East Indies were considered "pacified", with no large-scale armed opposition to Dutch rule until World War II, and the KNIL served a mainly defensive role protecting the Dutch East Indies from the possibility of invasion by foreign countries.

The KNIL was the main defense against the Japanese invading the Netherlands East Indies during World War II. Dutch forces had been severely weakened by the defeat and occupation of the Netherlands itself, by Nazi Germany, in 1940. Nevertheless, at the start of the Pacific War, in December 1941, Dutch forces in Indonesia numbered around 85,000 troops, a combination of European and Indonesian soldiers, militia and civilian volunteers.^{[citation needed]} The KNIL air force, Militaire Luchtvaart KNIL (ML-KNIL) was sizeable, but was largely outclassed by superior Japanese planes.^{[citation needed]} (The Royal Netherlands Navy Air Service, or MLD, also had significant forces in the NEI.) Nevertheless, when the Japanese attacked the Dutch colony they encountered a stubborn resistance.^{[citation needed]}

Following World War II, the KNIL was used in two large military campaigns in 1947 and 1948 to re-establish Dutch control of Indonesia during which . In the course of this, the unit became far more controversial, being accused of war crimes. Dutch efforts to re-establish their colony and Netherlands recognition of Indonesian sovereignty came on 27 December 1949. The KNIL ceased to function after July 26, 1950. However, its legacy has lived on in the Regiment Van Heutsz of the Royal Netherlands Army.

[edit] Recruiting

In its early history the KNIL was largely made up out of foreigners, similar to the French Foreign Legion. Until the Aceh War, it recruited many Europeans of other nationalities (especially Germans, Belgians and Swiss), native (Malukans, Timorese, and Manadonese) and even the Ashanti, an African tribe from the present Ghana, to fight in the jungles of the East Indies.^{[citation needed]}

After the Aceh War, the KNIL consisted of Indonesians, Eurasians, and Dutch colonists living in the East Indies.^{[citation needed]} It was against the law to send Dutch conscripts from the Netherlands to the Netherlands East Indies.^{[citation needed]} The ratio of foreign troops to Dutch troops was 60% to 40%.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] References