Between the devil and the deep blue sea - University of Canterbury

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Too MANY INDIANS, NOT ENOUGH CHIEFS
A professional soldier in the anned forces was not a desirable career path for most
Netherlanders. 7 This meant that the Anny and Navy traditionally had problems in attracting
enough potential officers in sufficient quantity, let alone quality. 8 Officer shortages beset
the armed forces years before the outbreak of the Great War, and were never adequately
addressed. During the mobilisation of August 1914, the consequences of this shortfall hit
home, especially in the area of Anny administration. 9 From an early stage, almost all
military circles were affected, from the running of depots to the direction of troops, from
the instruction of conscripts to the management and distribution of supplies. As a result,
General Headquarters' staff made it one of their chief priorities to remedy the deficiency.
They urged many retired officers to come back, called up Netherlands' Indies Anny
reserves, and used the 1913 Landstor711wet to oblige ex-officers under the age of 40 to
return to service. 10 These measures ensured that by the middle of 1915, the Anny was only
missing about 280 officers under established strength. 11
Neveliheless, a fundamental problem remained (which had plagued the country for
years) namely: how does one entice able persons into a military career? Throughout the
war, the officer problem stayed foremost in the minds of military planners. With the
mobilisation of new landstorm sections from late 1915 onwards, as well as the induction of
new conscripts (intakes year 1914 onwards), the demand for competent officers began to
rise dramatically into the thousands. Not surprisingly, therefore, much of the Anny's 1916
investigation into the mobilisation focused on the officer corps (the rest of the investigation
concentrated on clothing and equipment shOliages).12 One report highlighted what was clear
to most militmy observers; not only were there insufficient officers, of those available many
7 See: Chapter 2, p. 61.
8 Klinkert, Het Vaderland Verdedigd pp. 339 - 343.
9 See: Chapter 3, pp. 115 - 118.
10 Commander-in-Chiefto all mayors, 31 July 1915, in ARA, "Archiefvan het Hoofdkwartier Veldleger" entry no.
2.13.16, inventory no. 282; "Schets voor het, door het Departement van OOl'log openbaar te maken Mobilisatierapport"
[Sketch of mobilisation report to be made public by Department of War] [1916 - 1919] no page numbers,
section "Het op voet van oorlog brengen van de bezettingstroepen", in SMG/DC, "Mobilisatieverslag" 91A/3;
Bosboom, In Moeilijke Omstandigheden pp. 81- 83.
11 Bosboom, In Moeilijke Omstandigheden p. 84.
12 The archives of the General Staff and Field Army dedicate several files to the investigation (conducted in February
1916) into the state ofthe mobilisation. For an example of the questions posed, see: ARA, "Archiefvan het
Hoofdkwartier Veldleger" entry no. 2.13.16, inventory no. 195.